Chapter 7: Day of Dusk
"We're here!"
"Yes," breathed Blueblood, "we're here." When Sonata said she liked 'looking at old stuff', she must have meant it, because she loudly exclaimed that they'd reached their destination; Archive Harmony: History of Today, every time they passed a place with red ribbons on the exterior of the building. As Hearths Warming was coming up, that was about a third of them.
Approaching the podium at the front of the building before a crowd of around thirty, he whispered to the sanity hazard at his side. "Please, wait here."
To his immediate surprise, Sonata just nodded, standing still just off stage while the curator motioned for Blueblood to join him.
"He-llo, Your Highness," said the curator with a wider smile than was strictly necessary, "so glad you could join us here!" He was a relatively thin stallion, light-grey fur, black, slicked back mane, a purple blazer his choice of attire for the grand opening of his establishment.
"Of course," Blueblood said with a practiced grin, "I'm always pleased to come out and meet the ponies." It was a lie, but with one of his guests nearby, he had to behave. Besides, things always went smoother when he just went along with things.
Might have saved some time with Miss Dusk, come to think of it... Was she just testing me? Was it because of how things went with Miss Blaze?
The curator's voice bubbled up to the forefront of his awareness. "-ke to begin?"
"Certainly." Blueblood took telekinetic hold of the comically over-sized scissors and waited for his cue.
Nearly beaming, the curator stepped behind the podium to face the crowd. "Welcome! We are pleased to announce that Equestria at last has halls dedicated to the preservation and remembrance of the events that shape our world as we live and breathe, a temple to the betterment of our lives, a shining cathedral to the accomplishments of the heroes of our age, particularly the saviors of our world; Princess Twilight Sparkle and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony!" There was a bit of eye-rolling by two or three older-looking ponies in the crowd, but he didn't seem to notice. "And so, without further ado, I wish to declare Archive Harmony: History of Today-" The crossed blades sliced effortlessly through the red cloth barring the doors. "-open!"
His part essentially done, the prince paid no mind to the light applause and ponies moving to follow the curator inside, instead turning toward Sonata. "So, would you like to go in now, or-" He paused. She was staring at him wide-eyed, as though he'd just grown wings. "Ehm. Hello? Miss Du-"
"How did you do that?!"
Taken aback, he quickly scanned the area. "Do what?"
She waved her forehooves in the air as though conducting an orchestra. A more level-headed one this time. "The, the floating, with the scissors and the ribbon without needing to tie them to things so they don't get stuck to the ceiling!"
He was hesitant to respond, as the answer felt deceptively simple. It was like she was winding up another mental trap and if he replied with the obvious answer, he'd be stuck here another ten minutes desperately trying to follow her twisted machinations. Still, as it was the only hope he'd had so far of getting a better understanding of the trio he'd invited to the castle, he dared take the plunge. "Telekinesis." She only stared back at him. "It's a basic spell, rather useful?" She only kept staring, a thousand terrible things likely working through her head as all fought for the chance to fling themselves from her tongue, willing to die for the honor of being first to further scar Blueblood's bruised psyche.
Before the first strike could be launched, however, they heard the curator. "Prince Blueblood? Are you coming?"
"Oh, yes," he called over his shoulder, "be right with you." Returning his attention to Sonata, he cleared his throat. "Shall we proceed?"
She smiled. "Let's go!"
As they entered the building, Blueblood at last felt some small sense progress. She'd never seen telekinesis before... He noticed her taking notice of the ponies around them before looking him in the eye.
"Are these all friends of yours?"
He nearly laughed out loud. Those in the crowd joining them at that moment, while mostly familiar faces, were by no means 'friends.' He'd barely call them acquaintances. Now how to explain that to somepony that might only be asking to mess with his head later?
"There are certain kinds of ponies," he began quietly, "that attend, frequent, or at least make a point of making appearances at facilities catering to particular areas of interest. Each have their own reasons for doing so, perhaps they're studying the related field, perhaps it pertains to their place of business, and maybe they're simply curious." Sonata seemed to be following along, or at least keeping eye contact in expectation of more, so he went on. "Then there's another sort of pony that may attend in hopes of being confused for one of the aforementioned sorts of pony, whom they are not at all." He spared a glance to find mostly just that last category, ponies he'd seen who claimed to be 'really interested' and 'deeply invested' in some other things they'd demonstrated no recollection of a few weeks after.
What was the term younger ponies were using? 'Hipster'? He felt like he should know this, he was only twenty-four.
Regardless, her reaction to this next statement would almost surely be telling. "The ponies with us now? Mostly that last batch."
Sonata raised an eyebrow. "They don't really care? That's dumb! I learned that learning to learn stuff can be-" an image of an open book with a rainbow over the pages appeared over her head, "-great!"
The curator called over his shoulder the moment he heard the sound of a spell being cast. "No magic in the museum, please!"
Cancelling the spell, Sonata lowered her head, smiling sheepishly at the ponies that had turned to look at her.
Blueblood, however, was silently flummoxed. Again.
...So, not only is she not just pretending to be interested to appear intellectual, she knows the Projection spell without ever having heard of telekinesis?
Maybe it was an act. Maybe she anticipated his thoughts and said what she thought he thought she'd say if she really were a scholar. Adagio had said that it was Sonata specifically that had been looking for a spellbook for some time...
You are an enigma, Miss Dusk, but so help me, I will understand you better than I understood Miss Blaze by the end of this outing!
Another thought occurred. If she had more in common with Princess Twilight than the wanna-be's did, his explanation a moment ago probably sounded really patronizing, but she barely reacted.
Yet another layer to the mystery... Should I apologize later?
---
"Featured here are the fragments of what could be gathered from the Castle of the Two Sisters, the ancient armor of Nightmare Moon!"
As the curator stood next to the tall, black, alicorn ponnequin adorned with the broken, blue remnants of mail that likely only ever saw two battles, Blueblood opted to tune out his speeches, instead whispering to Sonata. "So, how are you finding things so far?"
She glanced at him once before refocusing her attention on the Nightmare Moon display, her face a mix of awe and worry. "Hey, um... How many winged fre-I mean, winged unicorns are there?"
"Winged...?" He glanced at the display. "You mean alicorns? Princesses? Four, that I know of." It depended what sort of mood Discord was in, really.
She looked back and forth between him and 'Nightmare Moon', pointedly his sides and it's wings. "Are all princesses alicorns?" It looked like she was genuinely confused. "Why don't you have wings?"
Irony.
It felt like Blueblood had just been offered a chance to turn the tables on a silver platter. Turn the silver platter. If this wasn't another ploy to addle his brain again, he could probably-
But, no, I'm not that petty and spiteful.
Besides, he sensed a different kind of opportunity. "Princesses are given their title and alicorn status when they accomplish something sufficiently... worthy, I suppose." Sonata blinked twice. She was cute when she was confused. "I haven't done anything 'worthy' to be on their level."
Neither did Cadenza, but I suppose Auntie's clairvoyant ways worked out on that one.
He might have argued about the validity of awarding princess status to a filly that befriended some witch in town nopony's ever heard of, but it was clear she and her oaf of a husband had the Crystal Empire pretty much handled, so good on them.
This didn't quite seem to settle her thoughts, as she again exchanged looks with the black ponnequin in the ruined armor. "Was Nightmare Moon a princess? What did she do?"
Surprisingly for a speaker at a museum, the curator said almost nothing about the Nightmare Moon display itself, talking nearly the whole time about what a great accomplishment it was for Princess Twilight and her band of merry mares. While flattering for any of the Element Bearers in attendance, (zero out of six) it would have done nothing to enlighten the blue filly at his side before the curator waved the group over to the next exhibit.
"She wasn't quite a princess," he answered as succinctly as possible, "let's keep moving."
If the glances over her shoulder as they walked to the next exhibit were any indication, that answer only made Sonata more curious. If one were to take such behavior at face value, in addition to the earlier indications that she had never seen the most commonly-used spell in the world before, it would seem that Sonata Dusk had been very, very far from Equestria for her entire life. While it wasn't unheard of that there could be ponies in other places and it seemed to fit with what Adagio Dazzle had first told him about their group, it felt off.
Very off.
'Three-horned ker-snappers' off.
She was most likely playing another game with him, another round of-
but she looked so lost, so sincere in her surprise, that I'm inclined to believe she's really never heard of Nightmare Moon.
Looking about as the curator gushed over the significance of a glass case containing a withered, black vine that evidently survived the Plunderseed Incident, it seemed that not a single sight in the room was familiar to her. There were little pedestals everywhere, containing what labels claimed were the ball used to lure Cerberus back to Tartarus, shattered fragments of a glass slipper, Mare-Do-Well posters, a pile of scrap metal purportedly part of the Super Speedy Cider-I'm not even going to read that whole title, one of those ridiculous Discord lamps, and more.
While it was more than reasonable to not know what some of these things were related to, (he suspected the broken glass and scrap metal were just there to fill up space until the Element Bearers did something more memorable) Sonata kept roughly the same wide-eyed bewilderment throughout.
Really? You haven't heard a thing about the Plunderseed Incident? Everypony else has, it wasn't that long ago...
---
Having eventually gotten bored and a little tired wandering around Canterlot, Aria and Adagio returned to the palace. Not that there was anything wrong with Adagio's navigational skills or anything, but Aria suggested they just ask somepony where Blueblood's room was so they could have a little talk with him. Seeing the purely practical benefits of this plan, Adagio agreed. For practical reasons.
"Alright," Adagio whispered as they stood outside his door, "there doesn't seem to be anypony around, let's move." Aria nodded as Adagio stepped forward to knock gently, her cat-coaxing voice doing nothing to diminish the menace of her smile. "Hello? Prince Blueblood? If it isn't too much trouble, I'd like to have a chat with you."
No answer. As expected. She opened the door, peering inside to find nopony at all. As expected. Stepping back, she nodded to Aria, who went inside, and took her place by the door as it shut.
Knowing Adagio would be doing her coy-flirty-I'm-just-waiting-for-Blueblood-oh-ho-ho thing if anypony came by, Aria got to work inspecting the room. She brushed a hoof against the carpet, nullifying her suspicions that it would be one of those weird, thick carpets that left imprints and marks where you touched it. Sonata had had fun brushing one of those back and forth for about two hours once, doodling with the way the fabric looked different if brushed in different directions. More importantly, the fact that this carpet wasn't one of those meant it wouldn't give away that she had walked on it, so she didn't have to worry about flapping her wings to stay off the floor and risk blowing papers around or something.
Still, she moved carefully, not so much as brushing against anything for fear of having to reset what she disturbed, lest it be noticed that somepony was in here. Obviously, not everypony-Man, I hate adding 'pony' to things-was so meticulously tidy and organized that the slightest disturbance to their quarters would raise an alarm, you could probably shuffle things all over the room and the inhabitants might not even notice, but it was a risk she saw no need to take.
Besides, Prince Jerkface is probably one of those proper-place-for-every-little-thing types.
That, she hoped, could work to her advantage as she tried to riddle out where a very organized pony might keep their evil plans and incriminating secrets.
Her first stop was the bottom-most drawer of his desk. Ledgers, documents she couldn't make heads or tails of, records, and some pens were all she found. She thought the letters in the top drawer might have yielded a clue, but there was no way she could tear them open, read them, and seal them again in a way that wouldn't be noticed. Still, that most of them were addressed to places other than Canterlot told her he had a lot of pen pals, that he must have kept in contact with ponies all over the place. Adagio would want to know that.
As satisfied with the desk as she was going to be, she replaced everything exactly where it had been and shut the drawers before moving to what she guessed was his bedside table. The little drawer-thing next to his bed. It was kind of a big bed, she noticed, even compared to the big, soft, cloudy beds back in the Pisces room. You could easily fit like, four ponies on that thing! With room to stretch out! Did he sleep on clouds too? She gingerly ran a hoof along the soft, smooth, royal-blue quilt, finding it to be cool to the touch. Pressing a hoof against the surface, she couldn't really get a feel for how soft it might have been, and stood on it with both front hooves. More of the same. She pressed her face against the bed, gently resting the upper(front?) half of her body on it before sighing contentedly. Very soft. She remembered the crick in her back she'd gotten after falling asleep on the bleachers during the early stages of the Battle of the Bands.
Stupid piano couple and their stupid lullaby. Sonata honked my nose to wake-
Aria was jolted awake by a thumping noise at the door, emitting a barely-muted shriek of panic as she smoothed out the surface she'd rested on. That noise meant the coast was clear outside and Adagio was asking for a report. Aria quietly scurried to the door and cracked it open.
Adagio didn't turn to look at her, not even changing the coquettish expression on her face as she scanned the halls. "Anything yet?"
"He's got contacts all over the place, at least five towns popping up more than once on the letters in his desk."
"Suppose that's something."
Closing the door, Aria got back to work. Time to look at that bedside table now. Opening the drawer, the very first thing she saw was a gold-trimmed, jewel-encrusted book with the word Diary in big, pointy, fairy-tale-penmanship letters.
Jackpot!
She opened it.
Dear Diary,
...
...
...
Aria swore under her breath.
It wasn't that he had written unflattering things about her so much as that he had written nothing at all. Flipping through it from cover to cover, she found that 'Dear Diary' was the entire extent of the words in that book. Why did he have the damn thing?! Whatever. Waste of time. Adagio didn't need to know about that.
Replacing the not-diary exactly where it had been, she kept picking through the obvious places, the tabletops and storage compartments, before checking under the bed, behind paintings, and in the back of the closet.
There were fancy clothes in all three locations, perplexingly, which at least put to rest her thoughts about his proper-place-ness.
What would she think if I told her the guy she's pretending to be hot for is off his nut? Doesn't matter, I need to find something substantial before-
Another thump at the door. Aria gulped. Desperately glancing around the room again, she took in every detail she could bake into a pie of information to stuff down Adagio's throat.
That was a weird metaphor... Anyway!
One step toward the door, Details! Blue stuff everywhere, is he a narcissist?
Two steps, Not likely, only mirror is in the conjoining bathroom.
Three steps, Wait, did I check in there?!
Four steps, No. No, and don't be an idiot.
Five, Oh, I know!!
She cracked the door, Adagio's question coming in the form of a curious glance. "Got a theory," Aria whispered, "apart from some clothes stuck in weird places, his room is totally normal. Err, normal for a rich guy's. Sit-com, even." Adagio arched a brow as she looked at Aria out of the corner of her eye, waiting for more. "No books, no posters, nothing to show he has any hobbies, nothing to set it apart as a room somepony lives in. I think he's got another room, another house somewhere, the place where he actually hangs out during the day."
Adagio nodded a little, still alert for others coming down the hallway. "That or he's very, very dull. Either way, I can work with this. Anything else?"
"That's about all I've found in there, unless you want me to check the bathroom." The last part was said sarcastically, but for a few seconds it looked like Adagio was actually considering it.
"No," she decided, "best we get out of here while the coast is clear. Come on."
As Adagio stepped away from the door, still cautiously glancing about, Aria slipped out of Blueblood's room and gently closed the door behind her, the two of them casually walking down the hall to await Sonata's return in the Pisces room. Or lunch, if they could remember where the dining room was.
"I didn't even hear anything outside," Aria started conversationally, "did you keep anypony from asking what you were up to without a word, or...?"
Adagio chuckled. "No, nopony even walked by. You were clear the whole time."
Something about this irked the sneaky pegasus. "You mean I didn't even need to be quiet? Come to think of it, couldn't you have gone in yourself?"
"Nopony came by, but if they had? I'd rather the one of us better at hiding have some measure of warning if the other couldn't keep the visitor out." Aria looked back at her in what she meant to be a 'yea, I agree' kind of way, but Adagio looked slightly embarrassed. "I know, I know," she said with a light shake of her head, "my hair doesn't exactly blend in, ever, and we don't have the proper means of concealment in this world."
There was a pause. "The way you move is kinda wonky too."
"What?!"
"That 'I own everyone and everything here' walk? Not good for going unnoticed, and you do it constantly, even as a pony."
Slowing her pace for a moment, Adagio felt very self-conscious. She moved with her shoulders up, back lightly arched, her behind swaying gently with each step, and her head held high. She couldn't quite argue. "Thanks for the tip," she hissed.
Aria smirked. "Any time."
They were quiet for a few minutes of hallway wandering. "For the record," muttered Adagio, "it's an 'I own everyone and everything everywhere' walk."
---
Things were going well.
He still hadn't gotten much out of Sonata in terms of information, but as far as aneurysms were concerned? Doing great! She was much more tolerable company than Aria Blaze had been, at any rate, content to ask questions rather than recoil from them. However, this meant there was almost no time to ask much of anything about Sonata herself, let alone the others.
The group stood before a blank pedestal labeled 'King Sombra's Horn', which sounded a little grizzly even without the curator talking about getting the ponies of the Crystal Empire to part with it.
"I know the dark, tyrannical monster that enslaved them all is part of their history, but surely they see that the horn is part of the rest of Equestria's history too? They tell me every time I write that the horn, seen falling just after Sombra was magnificently dispatched by our heroine Princess Twilight Sparkle, simply hasn't been located since, but somepony must have happened across it by now."
Blueblood had heard it was actually a combination of Spike The-Dragon and Princess Cadence (that there might have earned her title, at least) that dealt with the monster, but he wasn't much interested in that right now. Again, Sonata looked at him with that strange, wide-eyed, feed-me-knowledge face. He couldn't tell what it said that they were getting to the point that words weren't always necessary so soon. "Dark overlord, reigned over the Crystal Empire until his shenanigans got him banished to a glacier." Short explanations were best, he had learned.
"Bani-shenanigans? I'm starting to see a pattern here."
Nearly every time the curator introduced an exhibit of something related to one of Princess Twilight's adventures, a similar exchange took place, until the curator announced the end of the tour. "Well, that concludes the highlights of Archive Harmony: History of Today, but I'm certain there'll be more to see in the coming years." He ended the statement with a little chuckle before saying they were more than welcome to take a look around for themselves and that an assistant would be happy to answer any questions. A moment later, a pony Sonata vaguely recognized walked in with a tired expression.
Fired, then hired, in the same day, Suri couldn't decide if she was lucky or unlucky to be working at a museum that only brought her in because they needed more staff to open. Still, after the incident at the library and the argument with her employer that followed, this was a job, at least. Forcing a smile, she looked to the band of ponies that were already beginning to wander around glancing at things. "Hi, welcome to Archive Harmony. I'll be here if you have any questions, heheh, okay?"
"Ooh, ooh, over here!" A blue, waving hoof caught her attention, as did the blue face next to it. "I have questions!"
Suri's jaw nearly fell open in shock. It was all she could do to not cry out 'YOU AGAIN?!' in an accusing and get-talked-to-in-the-back-room kind of way. Gritting her teeth, but keeping a smile as best she could, she moved towards the filly that got her fired yesterday. "Y-yes...?"
Sonata smiled a little. "Can I see the nightmare princess again? I'm wondering how she got her wings."
"Queen," Blueblood corrected quietly, "Nightmare Moon considered herself as more of a queen." He'd never heard of a 'king' or 'queen' that wasn't evil somehow. Zebra Emperor, Buffalo Chieftain, etc., even the Diamond Dog Alpha Male, was a decent, if dumb fellow, but the Changeling Queen was decidedly vile.
"Yea, what he sai-" It was then that Suri noticed that next to her newest nemesis was none other than Princess Celestia's nephew. Eeek! "Hello," she said in a mechanical monotone, her eyes wide and not focusing on anything at all, "Prince Blueblood. Haha. Nice of you to visit."
"Indeed."
A minute later, they again stood before the remains of Nightmare's armor.
"So," inquired Sonata, "How did she get wings?"
She tried to forget the presence of the guy that would... do, something to get her in serious trouble if she acted weird to focus on the pony that had already done that once. "W-what?"
The image of a close-up of the ponnequin's wings floated over Sonata's slightly incredulous head. "Hellooo, the flappy, feathery things you see on birds?"
"I know what wings are." The given question just wasn't the sort of thing Suri had been briefed on in terms of things to say about the exhibits, not helped by the other mare's tone. "I'm not really sure how she got 'em, okay?"
"For realzies? You're not very good at this."
That she said it so matter-of-factly only aggravated Suri further as Blueblood turned away to cough into a hoof, pointedly obscuring his mouth. Was he laughing at her? "I think," she said in as level a tone as she could manage, "she kinda always had them? Like you've always had a horn?"
"I haven't always had a horn," replied the 'unicorn' filly with a perfectly straight face.
Now Suri's jaw did drop.
Is this bitch just messing with me?!
She glanced at Blueblood, sure he'd be laughing even harder, but he looked just as surprised as she was.
"I-I'm sorry," he half-mumbled, looking at Sonata, "what?"
Noticing the perplexed looks she was getting, Sonata forced a wide, guilty smile. "Haha, did I say I didn't always have a horn? I did! Have a horn, I mean! That's what I meant. To say."
Suri slooowly closed her mouth. She wouldn't fall for it this time. She'd ask no questions, make no assumptions, give the newest bane of her existence nothing to work with, and walk away. And that's exactly what she did, whatever-her-name-was's stupid questions be damned.
Feeling like that little tidbit was the most he could have ever reasonably hoped for, Blueblood cleared his throat. "Well, I, uh, suppose we should be heading back soon. Shall we?"
Sonata smiled more normally. "Uh-huh!"
He bought it! I am sooo smooth.
---
The Pisces room, later that day...
"So, you guys wanna hear how my day went?"
Aria rolled her eyes. "No, we all came back here to stare at the ceiling together." Sonata looked up. "Out with it, hair-brain!!"
"Hey," Sonata retorted, tearing her gaze away from the artfully-decorated ceiling, "you've got twice as much hair as me, so if anything you're even more-"
"Enough," growled Adagio, for reasons that had nothing to do with her having the most hair of any of them, "What did you uncover with the prince?"
"Oh, it was great! We went to the place with the ribbon and Blueblood cut it in half! He did it with this crazy, floaty, flying scissor magic. I gotta look that up in the book later. Then we went inside and there was a black fr-err, alla, al, alley... alicorn? A princess who didn't move or talk and wore cracked, blue stuff held on with clear tape." An image of just that appeared above her head. "I never found out how she got wings. And then, there was..."
Her descriptions continued in that fashion until she wrapped up with missing horns and bani-shenanigans. Even with visual aid of the projection spell, Aria and Adagio looked hopelessly lost.
"W-what," Adagio muttered, trying to decipher where the facts ended and Sonata began, "what sort of museum was this...?"
"A new one! The guy in purple (I guess he owned the place?) who showed us around kept saying it was stuff that happened not too long ago, mentioning Princess Twilight a lot. Did you guys know she's done the rainbow-blasty thing more than once? Usually without even singing?"
Adagio's mind flashed back to the newspapers she saw the day before, some of the headlines eerily fitting with a little of what Sonata described.
It couldn't be. How could all of that happen in such a short span of time? Everypony we see acts so normal...
"So," Sonata wrapped up, "that's how it went. What about you guys?"
Aria shrugged. She hadn't really expected much out of Sonata anyway. "We took a look around his room, or one of them anyway. Learned he's an obnoxious jerk and a boring stiff."
Sonata tilted her head. "Like, both? At the same time?"
"Yea, I was shocked too."
"Specifically," interjected Adagio, "it seems he has little in the way of leisure activity, at least in readily recognizable form. It's possible he's leading some sort of double-life and the room Aria inspected is just the one they know about here at the palace. However, as there's no time to shadow him and see what he does day-to-day, I'll work with what we've gathered thus-far."
The way she moved a forehoof suggested she wished ponies had fingers to count off with. "We first found him 'wandering' the city alone, denying anything was amiss the first time he was pressed, which means he's probably the proud type. The letters in his desk were likely business contacts, not friends, which means he would be lonely. He proved patient up to a point with Aria, and when his expectations weren't met, grew cross with her. This suggests he, as royalty, is accustomed to getting what he wants before long."
"So," Aria pondered aloud, "shouldn't he already be pressing us harder with questions, if that was what he wanted yesterday?"
"He invited us here so his colleagues wouldn't make fun of him for coming alone to that charity thing in a few days. That he seems to be acting as though your dinner date never happened indicates that is his primary objective."
Aria was sure she wouldn't have even reacted if not for Sonata smiling slyly at her, quietly sing-songing. "Aria had a da-ate~!"
The purple pony's face flushed in irritation, gritting her teeth as she grabbed Sonata in a headlock. "Shut. Your. Face."
Adagio cleared her throat, visibly annoyed. Her cohorts separated. "I need only act as his ideal partner and he'll never want to be without my company again. From what we've seen of him, that's a calm, patient sort that listens to what he says, that assures him he's every bit as good a pony as he wishes he was. Finally, did you two notice something he didn't do in our time here?" She answered before anything stupid could be said. "He never came by for... illicit reasons. Never propositioned any of us for a roll in the overpriced hay. I trust you would have told me had he approached in such a fashion?" This time she waited, Aria and Sonata nodding that he'd made no such advances toward them. "So he's not looking for an easy lay, but companionship, a pony to talk to." Adagio let out a sinister chuckle, smirking at Aria. "And as I've already heard enough about that sort of thing to replicate the desired behavior..."
Aria chuckled a little too, pleased all her time spent listening in on the Rainbooms and griping about it afterward wasn't for nothing.
Now it looked like Adagio was trying to form a fist. Dramatically. "He's as good as mine." The trio stood in silence for a moment. Adagio shrugged, moving to rest on her bed. "I'm done, you can hurt each other now."
Aria needed no further prompting to pick up where she left off, administering noogies as Sonata squirmed and complained for the next fifteen minutes.
---
Meanwhile, Blueblood paced his room, trying to get his thoughts together.
Won't say where they're from, no agency in Equestria has ever heard of them, they told me they're actresses, but they haven't asked about anything suiting that career even once. Did they leave their home because they were weary of it? Tired of where they lived just as much as what they did? Possible, but they claimed to be rehearsing when I first met them. Then again, I initially lied about what I was doing there too.
Did that ghost-town patio just attract dishonest ponies? Maybe the reason it was almost always vacant was because ponies compulsively lied and nopony could stand it any more.
Stay focused! Miss Blaze was clearly hiding something, Miss Dusk was clearly screwing with me, and in both cases it worked! I know nothing about them, anything I learned since we met could be part of an act, but everything about those three SINGS trouble! If I could just-
He was startled by a knock at the door. "Prince Blueblood?" It was one of the maids. "I have this week's files from Appaloosa for you."
"Ah, come in."
Looking over the folder, he noticed the maid was still standing there. "I'm sorry, was there something else?"
"Yes, Your Grace. One of your guests asked directions to this room earlier today, I think she wished to speak with you."
"Oh? Which of them might that be?"
The maid blinked, averting her eyes for a fraction of a second. "It, uh, it was-orange-IMEAN, Miss, um, the one with-"
"-orange hair," he offered, sympathizing with not having a perfect memory for names, "Adagio Dazzle?"
"Er, yes, thank you sir, her. It was during your outing today."
He nodded. "I see, thank you for informing me. Would you inform the chefs I'll not be attending dinner this evening? There are a few matters I wish to attend to."
"Very well, Your Grace."
As the door closed, Blueblood smiled.
Miss Dazzle wishes to talk, does she? At last! Talk we will!
But first, he levitated a coat from his closet and checked the pockets. "Now where was...? Nope." Another coat. "Not here either. Maybe-ah!" He levitated a painting off the wall and the vest that had hung behind it, retrieving a slip of folded paper from the front pocket. "There you are!" Unfolding it, he looked over the little list of private meeting places he'd made note of over the last few years. The Amour des Etoiles cafe would do. Replacing the note, vest, and painting, he put on one of the non-storage coats and headed out the door. He had to make a few reservations.
---
Kibitz again came by to let the secret sirens know that dinner was served, but he didn't mention that apart from themselves, only Princess Luna would be attending. She seemed no less happy to have company, urging them to sit closer to the head of the table. Unless they preferred talking loudly? That was most acceptable too!
Adagio opted for the usual seating arrangement, making it easier to whisper to her subordinates when necessary with less risk of the princess overhearing what wasn't being broadcasted.
"How fared your day, guests of Blueblood?" It wasn't the Royal Canterlot Voice, just very, very loud.
With an uncertain measure of luck, Sonata was happy to oblige Luna's offer. "Pretty good, thanks. How was yours?"
Luna laughed. It might have been easier to do than a loud chuckle. "I rise with the moon, dear filly, through the days I sleep."
"Okay then. By the way, why are we being loud now? We've pretty much just talked normal before!"
"Yes," boomed Luna with a slightly mischievous smile, "But neither Sister nor the young prince are present. As such, phooey to decorum! Shout with me, and let us be jovial!"
"Okay!" Sonata then went comparatively silent as she nibbled on some lettuce, leaving the others to fill the silence.
Aria took a moment to clear her throat. "So, are those two doing something together, or...?"
Luna seemed to ponder this, but shook her head. "It is doubtful, he was not present for Sister's teleportation spell." She had said something about visiting Cadence. On that note... "So, which of the three of you seeks our nephew's hoof?"
It was through sheer poor timing that Aria had been trying to tune out the cacophony by taking a drink of what might have been wine, might have been plain grape juice. Either way, the liquid sprayed like a fountain before she choked out a reply, conveniently at Luna's desired volume. "WHAT?!"
By the complete absence of server ponies, Adagio guessed they had been through evenings with pretty much just Luna before. Probably for the best. "What she means is-" Mouth still full, Sonata cleared her throat meaningfully at her while nodding to Luna, making Adagio feel oddly abashed. "Er, I..."
Probably best not to risk offending a princess by refusing her whims.
"Ahem, what she means to ask is which of us is most likely to one day be more than a guest of the prince," it was while making a point of turning her head away that Adagio started to feel silly, "not that I mean to say anything of myself on the matter." Conveniently for her act, she started to blush, primarily for the realization that attempting to sound coy and coquettish did not work when speaking very loudly.
"Oh-ho," crowed Luna, "Might this be the reason I hear whispers among the maids of your wish to visit his chambers?"
Adagio smiled sheepishly, a little more genuinely than she would have liked, as the statement echoed through that part of the castle. Even Aria looked embarrassed for her.
"There is no need to be so reserved, I am certain Dear Nephew would welcome company! So many hours he spends with those unintelligible forms, some time away from them would do him good." She smiled a little wider. "As it happens, I suspect he may or may not have taken a particular fascination with a recent acquaintance of his. In the event that one such somepony were to fancy him in kind, I would certainly understand if they wished to keep the matter between them until it were formally shared between the two of them."
"Good to hear," muttered Aria under her breath, giving Adagio a look she interpreted as 'this is all part of the plan, right?'
Truth be told, it was going about as well as loudly shouting her intentions could reasonably hope to. Adagio smiled at Luna, trying to convince herself the whole castle had better things to do than listen in on them. "I certainly look forward to our next meeting, whenever that may be." Considering the current phase of the plan, maybe this was good timing?
Not long after, the trio excused themselves, for reasons that had nothing to do with Luna's insistence that she was the princess of the night, and all that went on through it's duration. So they could ask her anything about those things. Really. They found their way back to the Pisces room without assistance this time.
"So," said Aria with a raised eyebrow, "guess you've got a new boyfriend, then?"
Adagio sighed with barely-contained annoyance. "Provided the target doesn't hear what most of the castle no doubt heard and take offense? It's possible. At the very least, I think I have Princess Luna's approval, which can only work to our benefit."
Sonata smiled. "Told you they liked us!"
"Surprised you would notice," scoffed Aria, "that's gotta be the first time you've ever shown awareness during a meal."
"Hmph," she replied, raising her snout not unlike some of the nobleponies they'd seen since their arrival in Canterlot, "It's rude to talk with your mouth full, everything else is fair game. If you weren't so rude, you'd know that."
"Oh, bite me!"
"See what I mean?! Rude!!"
"Tch. You're gonna turn into one of those stupid, smarmy, stuck-up stiffs."
"I am not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too."
Trying to ignore the sense of deja vu, Adagio took her place on her bed for the night. One good thing she could say about being banished? Her hair had helped to cover the ears of her other form a lot better for moments like this.
"Am not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too."
I seem to be making a LOT of bit-part characters for this story. I think Celestia, Luna, All Aboard, and Suri are the only minor characters so far I didn't have to make up as I was writing the scenes.
Luna misses just having fun with her subjects sometimes.
...Also, tell me straight, do these chapters waffle about and drag on too long? I feel like there's so much I need to have happen or shouldn't just glaze over (even if I do anyway a few times) that I can't just skip, certain things that aren't necessarily part of the immediate plot, but details I feel I can't entirely leave out, stuff that'll be more important later. The result is a story with what seems like a lot of padding, as I never intended the few days they spend trying to get Blueblood on their side to take 20,000+ words.
Everything I write turns out longer than anticipated, and I'm not sure if it's a good thing. 
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I don't think they waffle about at all. I find their length rather adequate.
Also, I AM PLEASED AT YOUR PORTRAYAL OF THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT! SHE IS MOST APPROPRIATELY BOISTEROUS!
... So many lulz. My gut bursts.
Telekinesis.
No, she's just dumb.
Of course you all.
No, she's just that stupid.
May Celestia have mercy on your soul.
Clever.
Heh.
Oh Discord is good!
Er...
What can she say? she's got a huge ego.
Of course.
HEH!
A, it was Spike and Cadence, and B, Twilight wasn't a Princess at the time.
Clever girl.
Poor Suri.
You dumbass.
No, she's just that dumb.
MY SIDES!
We'll see.
The fun is strong in this one.
HAH!
That's a mental image I love.
Wonder when the sirens will figure out just how much history they missed...
Probably is.
STEALING THIS!
Sonata forgot to 'be careful'... also, she's not a filly.
Seriously though, her hair is ridiculous!
Getting warmer...
Two words in one.
About that...
Brilliant
Waffles?! Where?! When?!
This is perfect.
This is all perfect.
What a curiously specific number of ponies you envisioned on that bed, Aria.
Man, I was smiling so hard it hurt through that whole segment.