The Prince and the Tyrant
"Hey! Hey, cute guy! You okay?"
Water splashed on Blueblood's face. He sputtered and coughed, raising a hoof to protect himself. "Auntie, I wasn't cloppi- oh. You."
The purple pegasus grinned down at him. She was flanked by two more of her kind, one white with a mane streaked green and pink, and the other an oddly wall-eyed mare with a gray coat and yellow mane.
"What happened?"
"Funny story. As soon as Fluttershy noticed that you were about to get cooked, she jumped right out of my hooves, flew over to that dragon, and bucked it right in the face. Then she scolded it. And it flew off." She shook her head, her smile almost reaching her ears. "Damn, that pony is fine."
Blueblood shook his head, trying to clear some of the fog from it. He was lying next to the stream he'd landed in, though several feet away from his point of impact. A wide, blackened circle denoted where the dragon's breath had scorched the earth, though, oddly, the center was untouched. The prince gaped at it. "But how did I survive that?!"
"I think Twilight's brother did that," the white pegasus suggested. "One of his shield things appeared around you."
"Yeah, you guys should totally bang."
"Uh, what?" asked Blueblood.
"Just ignore Cloud Kicker," she suggested. "I'm Blossomforth, and this is Derpy Hooves. Or Ditzy Doo. One of those."
"Want a muffin?" the gray pegasus asked, offering the prince a pastry.
"Uh, yes, thank you." He took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. "You know, I think I met your daughter."
Cloud Kicker glanced up. "Hey, Fluttershy's back with Rainbow Dash. Time to get going."
The yellow mare landed gently near the group, supporting the weight of another pegasus, this one blue with a rainbow-hued mane. This one looked rather weak and exhausted; the jagged scrape on her thigh suggested the reason. The moment she caught Blueblood looking at her wound, though, she scowled at him. "I'm fine."
"Shush," Fluttershy told her sternly. "Um, are you okay, sir? I'm sorry, I didn't ask your name earlier... "
He extended a hoof with a smile. "Prince Blueblood."
The girls recoiled with a collective intake of breath.
"You're the one Mrs. Cake said raised the skeletons!" Blossomforth shouted.
"You tried to hit on Cheerilee, and got all creepy when she shot you down!" Cloud Kicker yelled.
"And you were a big, stupid jerk to Rarity!" Fluttershy squeaked.
Blueblood sighed. "Sort of, no I didn't, and yes, sorry about that. Look, it's a long story. But I can get you into the city to save Auntie Celestia. Will you please just let me help?"
"Do it."
The gathered ponies looked up. Shining Armor, one foreleg tucked up against his chest and his centurion's helmet missing, frowned down at them. "My soldiers broke through their western line and are falling back towards Trottingham. But the princesses need help, and I can barely walk. Take him."
"Oh, you're hurt," began Fluttershy.
"I'll be fine, miss. Just go."
Blueblood stared at his old rival. Shining Armor met his eyes.
"I will never forgive you for hurting her."
"Neither will I."
They held the shared gaze for a moment longer, and then Armor nodded. Blueblood picked himself up and turned to the cluster of pegasi. "Come, then, ladies. Destiny awaits."
Canterlot Castle exploded.
Celestia rocketed into the sky, firing blasts of radiant energy as hot as the sun into the rubble below. Tyranny rose after her, snaking past the shots and idly returning fire with a snap of his talons. The princess jerked as firey blue claws wrapped around her, pinning her wings at her sides. With a cry of effort, she shattered the constructs and darted away, putting more distance between herself and the draconequus.
"My, you really have let yourself go," the monster cackled. "Blasts and bubbles? Where is your imagination?"
Celestia's snarled, and a pack of golden phoenixes suddenly appeared and dove towards Tyranny, circling the creature so rapidly that they created a vortex of fire. The draconequus laughed delightedly, and suddenly the phantasmal birds were trapped in individual cages that plummeted to the earth below.
"Better!" he cackled. "But still far short of your best work. Whatever happened to that thing you did, with the snowflake that turned into complex shackles? I rather liked that one."
"Be silent!" the princess roared. A pillar of white light as thick as her body erupted from her horn, shearing the creature in half. Tyranny glanced down at his severed form, rolled his eyes, and sprouted a new pair of legs.
"Honestly, Celestia, are you even trying? Don't you remember how you beat me the last time? I believe you and Luna opened portals to the moon and sun, blasting me with flame while freezing me with the cold vacuum of space. Oh, but I suppose you'd need her here for that. Too bad I hit her with a train."
Celestia fired another rapid series of blasts. The draconequus easily weaved past them, all while idly inspecting his claws.
"Marvelous invention, trains. I'm rather impressed with the things your ponies have come up with! They'll make excellent subjects, I think. I must try not to crush their wills too thoroughly."
"Never!" she screamed. "You may defeat me, Tyranny, but you won't rule Equestria. My ponies will find a way to bring you down. I promise you that."
"Yes, hmm," the creature said vaguely, brushing its knuckles on the front of its robe. "Well, I'm afraid this is getting really rather dull, my dear. I think I'll turn you to stone and place you next to my idiot brother. I think he'd enjoy that; he always did have a bit of a crush on you, you know."
"You--"
Celestia's response was cut off abruptly. One moment, she was the furious Princess of the Sun, glowing with radiant power and righteous wrath. The next, she was a statue of a meek little filly, barely old enough to have earned her cutie mark. Tyranny examined his handiwork and smiled. "And now to conquer the world."
"Yuck, good thing Rarity isn't here," Rainbow Dash observed dryly.
The pack of ponies were moving through an ancient, secret passageway that, thanks to a burst pipe somewhere, was also serving as an unofficial sewer. This turn of events must have come within the last few years; Blueblood distinctly remembered the tunnels being free of anything worse than cobwebs and the occasional spider. He made a mental note to have the sewage line found and repaired as soon as possible.
"We'll pass a few doors soon," he told them. "Take the second one on the right."
Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth nodded back to him.
Blueblood fell back into his thoughts, putting aside a bit of mental power to keep his horn lit. He didn't have much of a plan beyond "find the other Bearers, blank, profit." And judging from the distant explosions that kept shaking the entire mountain, he wasn't sure that plan was going to be relevant anymore. Twilight Sparkle and the others might well be dead by now, along with almost everypony else in Canterlot. Hay, if it wasn't for the continued battle, he'd be worried that Celestia and Luna were gone, too.
If the other Bearers were dead, then it was very likely over. There were enough ponies here to make a new group, but he wasn't exactly confident that any of the potential replacements, including himself, would match any of the Elements. Derpy could probably take Generosity, and Cloud Kicker was pretty Honest about her desire to copulate with anything on four legs, but...
The lead pegasi reached the indicated door. Blossomforth moved to push it open, but to no avail. "It's locked."
"What? It is the second door on the right, isn't it?"
She rolled her eyes. "Well, let's see. One," she pointed to the door Blueblood stood next to, "two. I'm pretty sure, yes."
"Sorry, I just meant... that door shouldn't even have a lock. This is an escape route known only to a handful of ponies."
"Um, did you try knocking?" Fluttershy suggested.
"Oh, come on, Fluttershy," Dash groaned.
Derpy shrugged, pushed past the others, and knocked politely.
"Uh... who's there?"
The others jumped, but Derpy just smiled. "Hi, Applejack! It's me, Ditzy. Can we come in?"
There was some muffled discussion from the other side. "How do we know it's you?"
"Well, remember how, the other day, I delivered you that thing that you really didn't want me to tell anypony about? The one that kept buzzing inside the box, because somepony accidentally turned it--"
The door opened. An orange earth pony in a Stetson hat ushered them in, her cheeks burning a bright scarlet. "Ditzy! Good to see ya! Come in, come in!"
Blueblood followed the others in. The room beyond was as he remembered: an ancient waypoint for those needing to escape the mountain, equipped with a few barrels of dried food, fresh water pouring gently from a hidden opening above, and a few uncomfortable but serviceable cots. On them sat five ponies; two of them were clearly guards, while the other three were a familiar-looking set of two unicorns and a bright pink earth pony.
"FLUTTERSHY!" said pony cried. "DASHIE! You're okay!"
"Hey, Pinkie," the rainbow-hued pegasus said with a weak grin. She cringed as her friend went to wrap her in a massive hug, but fortunately, the other pony noticed the wound in her flank first.
"Oh, Dashie, what happened?! Here, lay down on this cot! Somepony get me some bandages, some hot water, and 50ccs of methadone, stat!"
Blueblood stared at the pink pony in confusion, but the others seemed to be ignoring her, so he decided to follow their lead. Meanwhile, the other Bearers gathered around Fluttershy, hugging her and asking quiet, intense questions about her journey.
"We were so worried... "
"What took you so long? ... "
"How'd Rainbow get hurt? ... "
Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth stood a little to the side, clearly not part of the main circle here. Derpy was a bit closer, evidently waiting her turn for a hug, too. With a shrug, Blueblood turned to the guards. "What happened?"
"Castle's evacuated. Something happened to Princess Luna when those things first showed up. We're under orders to guard the Elements and get 'em out of town."
"New orders. We have to get them upstairs so they can fight Azure."
"Dashie isn't fighting anypony," Pinkie scolded, surprising the prince by suddenly appearing right in his face. "She's hurt! She needs serious medical attention!"
Blueblood matched her stare with his own. "And Auntie Celestia needs your help or she could die, you annoying little twit!"
All conversation stopped, and all eyes turned to Blueblood. One of the ponies, a white unicorn with an indigo mane, began to seethe as recognition sank in. "You!"
"Oh, here we go," Blueblood growled. "Listen, just shut up! All of you, just shut up! I know I'm a bad pony, okay? I know none of you like me. But do you hear those explosions? Do you feel the ground shaking? Auntie Celestia is fighting for us up there, alone. You are the only ponies that can help her. So stop yammering, stop fussing over eachother, and get to it!"
Rarity's nostrils flared. "Listen, you arrogant, uncouth, snobbish piece of... "
"He's right."
Everypony turned to Rainbow Dash. Despite her obvious pain, despite heaving to lean on Pinkie for support, her ruby eyes were shining with defiance. "He's right. We hafta get up there. I keep telling you guys, I'm fine. And it won't matter how hurt I am if we're all turned into skeletons or something, right?"
Grudgingly, the others nodded agreement. Twilight Sparkle reached into her saddlebags and began wordlessly passing out the Elements of Harmony. Nopony looked at Blueblood. Even the guards were staring at the floor uncomfortably.
"Okay, then," Twilight said, once the girls were ready. "Um. Wish us luck."
"Good luck," said Tyranny. And then the Bearers were gone.
"Well, this has been a rather productive evening, I must say," the draconequus told his audience as he lay draped across the remains of Celestia's throne. "Captured two goddesses, banished the only threats to my power to the moon, and became the undisputed ruler of Equestria. I wonder what I'll be able to knock off my to-do list tomorrow?"
Blueblood said nothing. Beside him, Cloud Kicker struggled to make herself heard through the rags stuffed unceremoniously in her mouth. Blossomforth heard enough to roll her eyes.
"Perhaps I should thaw out my brother. Let him see what I've managed to accomplish, while he found himself turned to stone, not once, but twice by the same magical doodads." He laughed. "I think it might be fun to crush his will. Maybe I could get him to stop making that stupid chocolate rain."
He smiled at the thought for a moment, before turning his attention to his captives. "You know, Blueblood, I'm rather surprised at you. I almost wish you were my grandson. You showed such cunning, such intelligence, such courage in the face of certain death. Why, if you kept it up, you might even make other ponies like you some day. I mean, you were ready to make your last words a series of awful jokes directed at a dragon. You've got style, boy."
Blueblood just glared at him.
"Speaking of style... You wouldn't happen to know what happened to my queen, would you? I was rather looking forward to showing off her new look to our subjects. Why, I have a feeling that it would soon be all the rage." He chuckled weakly. "All the rage? Queen of Wrath? No? Hm."
"Oh, I get it!" Ditzy chirped.
"Thank you, my dear, I'll kill you last."
"This isn't over yet," Blueblood said calmly.
Tyranny quirked an eyebrow. "Really, boy? I'd say it very definitely is. My army holds the city, everyone who might oppose me is gone... really, I think you're out of cavalry."
"There's still me."
That elicited a derisive snort, followed by a gail of laughter. Blueblood did his best to keep the annoyance off his face as the draconequus roared with such mirth that he almost fell off the throne. After more than a minute, he finally began to settle... and then he looked at Blueblood again, snorted, and broke into an even longer giggling fit.
"Okay," Tyranny finally gasped, wiping a tear from his eyes. "Okay. And how, exactly, are you going to stop me? You're shackled to a wall in my throne room, boy."
"I'm going to talk you into surrendering."
The draconequus tilted his head, a wide grin splitting his face. "Do tell."
"I destroyed the construct you made from Cadance's power. That means that the burden of powering your army now rests on you alone."
"Hardly a drop in the bucket, boy. I still defeated both of your princesses."
"Sure, but eventually, that toll is going to start to wear on you. Especially when Celestia, Luna, and Twilight start fighting against whatever spells you've cast on them. You're going to have to choose; do you keep the undead horde, or do you keep your enemies trapped?"
"Again, you're wildly underestimating my power."
Blueblood shrugged as best he could. "Maybe, maybe not. Meanwhile, I know Shining Armor. Right now, he's out there gathering every pony that can carry a spear. You'll have to raise every skeleton in the Everfree Forest before you stop him."
"Go on."
"Then there's the fact that Cadance's powers are free. Once she has them back, she's going to come after you. And I know her, too; she's smart. She won't fight you directly. She'll free Auntie Celestia, and then the two of them will find a way to release Luna and the Bearers."
"Fascinating."
"And then, you'll be faced with three pissed-off goddesses, the Elements of Harmony, a knight who doesn't know the definition of the word 'yield'--I'm being serious on that, I literally don't think he does--and every ally and resource they can call up. You should just save yourself the beating and get out of town while you still can."
Tyranny stroked his chin thoughtfully. "An interesting proposition. I'll take it under consideration." He paused for a moment, then pantomimed crumpling a piece of paper and throwing it over his shoulder. "Nah."
"Well, your funeral." He fell silent, staring at the wall behind the draconequus' head.
Tyranny watched him. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw nothing there. He looked back at Blueblood and saw him grinning. He frowned. Blueblood's grin widened.
"Okay, I admit, you're sort of creeping me out now."
The prince just smiled.
"Ooh... kay. This needs to stop. How about a nice execution? You, the annoying one, you're up first."
The shackles around Cloud Kicker's limbs disappeared. She floated over to the center of the throne room, and Tyranny rose from his throne to pace a circle around her. "Let's see, how should we do this? It's been a few millenia since I tortured a pony to death. Do you have qyzincks? I forget."
He glanced over at the prince. He was still staring into the distance, smiling that creepy little smile.
"Well, we can start with the basics. How would you like to be flayed, girl?"
Cloud Kicker's response was lost in her gag. Tyranny smiled and, with a snap of his fingers, the rags disappeared. "Could you repeat that, dear?"
"I said, 'I love gettin' flayed.' Though you're not really my type."
The draconequus chuckled. "Tell me, little pony, what is your name?"
"Duke Stenchwind the Flatulent of the nineteenth district of Up Yours."
"I see. And what is it you do for a living?"
"I'm a professional sex toy engineer. I test 'em on Blossom. Oh, and sometimes I collect my own feces and do hoof paintings with it."
The pegasus suddenly went rigid, as if she was being stretched taut in every direction. Tyranny leaned forward, his eyes level with hers, and put a hand to her head. "Let's try that again."
"My name is Cloud Kicker," she said in a hollow monotone. "I am a weather pony in Ponyville. I am one of Rainbow Dash's assistant managers."
Blossomforth gasped. "What are you doing to her?!"
The draconequus rolled his eyes. "I'm named 'Tyranny' for a reason, girl. I'm bending her to my will. I thought that was rather obvious. Now then," he continued, turning back to his chosen victim, "of the ponies in this room, which would you least like to kill?"
"Blossomforth."
"Good, good." He grinned. "Kill Blossomforth."
Cloud Kicker fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Slowly, she rose to her hooves, and then lifted herself into the air. She began advancing on her friend, hooves outstretched.
"No," the white pegasus whimpered, trying to struggle free of her shackles. "No, please, Cloud Kicker... "
Tyranny laughed, low and menacing. He glanced at Derpy and saw her mouth hanging open in wordless horror. His eyes fell over Blueblood...
And he was still grinning.
"Stop that!" he shouted, pounding a hoof on the floor. "I am literally causing one of the worst tragedies imaginable, and you're still smiling off into space like a lunatic! Pay attention to me!"
Blueblood blinked and glanced at the draconequus. "Sorry, what?"
"If you hadn't noticed, I am forcing one of your friends to murder another!"
The prince glanced at them, frowned, and shrugged. "Eh, we'll be rescued before that happens."
"What?!"
"Cadance just freed Princess Celestia, and they're working on getting back Luna. Two minutes, tops. Then they just need to get the Bearers, and... "
"You're lying!"
Blueblood shrugged.
The draconequus went into a fury. He smashed the throne to kindling with a flick of his hand, sent a wall exploding outwards with another, and cracked apart the flagstone floor with a frustrated stomp. "You're lying! I know you're lying! If Celestia were free, I'd know it! Look!" He waved, and suddenly a statue of a terrified young filly appeared floating beside him. "You see?! Still here!"
"That doesn't look like Auntie Celestia."
"Of course it doesn't, you idiot!" Tyranny roared. "I reverted her to a foal before I imprisoned her!"
"So you know what she looked like as a foal?"
"I... " He paused, doubt flashing across his face.
"Turning ponies to stone is one of Auntie Celestia's trademarks, Tyranny. Do you really think she'd let you do it to her? I'm sure she felt terrible about using some poor filly in her place, but come on, bigger picture."
"No! It's her! Look at the cutie mark!"
"How do you know it wasn't just etched onto the statue?!"
"You- I'll prove it!"
There was a flash of light, and then Princess Celestia, looking a bit dazed, hovered beside Tyranny in all her adult glory. "See?!" the draconequus cried.
"Eeyep," said a large, red stallion as he slammed into the creature, knocking it onto its back.
"What the--"
"Cutie Mark Crusader Royal Liberation Squad, ATTACK!"
Before the draconequus knew what was happening, three young fillies had pounced on him and were gnawing industriously at his legs and arms. Tyranny shrieked in outraged fury, but was cut short when a zebra dropped a ball of some acrid, green powder into his mouth. Coughing and gagging, he managed to roll away, only to find a magenta earth pony clutching a warhammer in her mouth. He cringed back as the hammer smashed into the stones where his head had been, and, finally coming to grips with the situation, leapt to his hooves and reared up.
"ENOUGH! I will not be defeated by- by commoners and, and CHILDREN!"
"No, you won't."
A blast of blazing blue energy slammed into the draconequus, knocking him back to the floor. He tried to rise, but another hit him in the chest and then spread to pin down each of his limbs.
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, her mane a halo of rose-hued energy, stared down at him with righteous fury in her eyes. "It's over, Tyranny."
He sighed. "Discord's never going to let me hear the end of this."
"It's okay, Cloud Kicker," Blossomforth sighed. "I forgive you for trying to kill me."
"I'm so sorry!" she purple pegasus sobbed, burying her face in her friend's chest.
"It's okay. Tyranny was controlling you, you weren't-- h-hey!"
Cloud Kicker grinned. "You taste nice."
The throne room was packed with ponies. More and more had filtered into the ruined castle after the skeletal horde had, without explanation or preamble, suddenly collapsed into lifeless piles of bones. Guards, nobles, peasants and merchants alike milled about the halls, gossiping to eachother and trying to figure out what, exactly, had happened.
"Princess Celestia, I'm so sorry!" Twilight Sparkle told her mentor, tears streaming down her face. "We were on our way to help you, and then we were just... "
"Shh," the princess murmured, striking her student's mane. "It isn't your fault, Twilight. Tyranny was always smarter than his brother. Not, of course, that that's saying much."
Twilight wiped a tear away and flashed a wry grin in the direction of the pony who'd helped save the day. "Good thing, huh?"
Blueblood caught her eye and her smile, and returned it in kind. He frowned a bit when Twilight immediately burst into giggles. With a shrug, he turned back to Cheerilee and Big Macintosh. "I can't thank you enough. Finding Cadance, risking your lives to distract Tyranny for her... you saved Equestria."
"Aw, shucks," Macintosh blushed, scraping a hoof across the ground.
"I'm just glad that you're okay," Cheerilee told him with a smile. "I mean, after all you've been through... "
He shook his head. "This, all of this, is my fault. I'm glad you were there to save the world despite me."
"Destiny is a two-edged sword," Zecora told him, putting a hoof on his shoulder. "But those who chase it are rarely bored."
He managed a small smile, which grew in size when three fillies in tattered red capes leapt up and wrapped themselves around his neck.
"We love you, Prince Blueblood," Sweetie Belle told him, punctuating the statement with a smacking kiss on his cheek.
"Well, yeah, I suppose ya ain't all bad," Applebloom added. "I mean, I reckon 'love' might be a li'l strong, but..."
She was silenced as her friends pressed themselves closer in another group hug.
"Girls," called Cheerilee, "Prince Blueblood needs to breathe sometime. And I think he has somepony who wants to speak to him."
The fillies disentangled themselves, and Blueblood looked up to see Princess Cadance, her newly ethereal mane billowing around her head, looking at him with an unreadable expression. He gulped and followed her out of the room.
They walked in silence, ignoring the ponies calling for their attention as they passed further into the castle. Finally, they reached the old library they'd spent countless hours in as foals. Cadance opened the door and waited for Blueblood to enter; he did.
They stood there for awhile, not looking at eachother, and not speaking.
"Cadance," Blueblood finally said, "I'm sorry."
"I don't know if that's good enough."
The words hit him like a stone. He bowed his head.
"What you did... Blue, I could have died. And, and, your fixation on me... honestly, it's not good. I'm married, Blue. Even if you can't let go of your obsession with me, you need to respect that. We will never
be together."
He nodded. He couldn't speak past the lump in his throat.
"We don't know how many ponies died because of this. We don't know how many families were broken apart, how many lives were shattered. We don't know how many little foals will grow up without parents because of you, because of your... I don't even know what to call it, Blue."
"Stupidity?"
"That's a start, yes. Blue... I don't want you here anymore."
He swallowed back tears. "I understand."
"Thank you for helping me defeat Tyranny. If you hadn't recognized my telepathic voice, if you hadn't been able to stall him so we could surprise him... I don't know if I could have beaten him in a fair fight. And getting him to release Celestia, well... I admit, that was an extraordinarily clever. Reversing his de-aging spell might have been... complicated. So... thank you for that. You did well."
She turned to look at him, and he lifted his eyes to meet hers. "But you can't stay here any longer."
He nodded. He moved towards the door.
"Blue, you... you don't have to go yet. Get some rest. Pack your things. I'm not just throwing you out."
"No," he said, forcing a smile. "It's okay, Cadance. You're right. I need to get out of here."
He moved past her and into the hall. "Oh, and Cadance?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for calling me 'Blue.' "
She pretended not to hear him cry.
Dear Auntie Celestia,
I'm doing well here. I admit that Ponyville is a bit more... well, rural than I'd like, but the folks here are friendly and hardly seem to hold the destruction of their town and livelihoods against me.
(I think it helps that the Cutie Mark Crusaders loudly and vehemently shout down anypony they hear saying a bad word about me.)
I've taken a part-time job at Sweet Apple Acres. As it turns out, I've got a decent head for numbers. Just by going over expenses and adjusting a few prices, I've set the farm on the path to the largest profits they've seen in years. Apparently, Granny Smith is going to get a new hip soon. Would it be too much to ask for a referral to one of Canterlot's better surgeons? I'm not sure I trust Dr. Sawbones.
Also, yes, I am dating. Thank you for inquiring. Constantly. With every letter. And no, I am not going to tell you who. I know you, Auntie; you'll be planning weddings in no time. I will say that you have met her. And that is all the hint I am going to give you. (And don't you dare send spies.)
Cheerilee's been kind enough to invite me to her class again. I was supposed to talk about the First Equestrian Bank, but somehow, I ended up regaling the students with the story of that private eye from Fillydelphia who uncovered the bank's corruption. Regardless, the students rather enjoyed it, and she and Macintosh even bought me dinner in gratitude.
All things considered, I couldn't be doing much better. I am... happy. How strange it is to write that and actually mean it.
Please, give my regards to Cadance and Shining Armor, and give Auntie Luna a big hug on my behalf.
Thank you, once again, for your eternal love and patience. I love you, Aunt Celestia.
Your Devoted Newphew
Blueblood
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Annnd, that's it! All done. Except for going back, proofreading, and editing where needed.
Somehow, this story I projected to be about 12k words turned into more than twice that. It's even longer than Coins and Crowns! Frickin' ridiculous.
In the end, I had a lot of fun writing it. Not to sound like a completely pretentious poser artiste, but I reached into some of the darker parts of my soul to write Blueblood, and I think it turned out well.
I also got to have a pony valiantly pun a dragon in the face of death. So definitely a win.
Those of you who've been following along, thank you for the encouragement! I hope you enjoyed reading this thing as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Also, in honor of the story going in a somewhat different direction than I expected, I've changed the title to "The Strange Destiny of Prince Blueblood," which I think better reflects the nature of the beast.
Thank you all for reading! And please, any comments, criticisms, or suggestions for the editing process are more than welcome.
- Kavonde
good story Kavonde, you finished it alot quicker then i thought you were going to, but thats not a bad thing. Though now, im left wondering if there is potential for a third episode in this branch you have created.
Redemption Fic statistics: Trixie: about 95% of the ones which feature her. Gilda: 60%. Chrysalis: 20%, generous. Blueblood: 2, not percent, just 2 that I've read. Including this one.
Also, this has been great.
796019 There is no greater win than shouting puns at an undead dragon while redeeming yourself for almost dooming a nation. Or at least very few.
796054
Yeesh... I hope not
796062
Is the other one "The Blueblood Chronicles?" Because if not, I highly recommend checking it out. Fantastic stuff.
(I didn't start reading it until I was about halfway through this, so our Bluebloods don't have much in common. His is a much, much better pony.)
796084 Actually, I was thinking of Best Day Ever and its sequel, This Platinum Crown. I'll be sure to read this Blueblood Chronicles story right away. It's odd how there are so few people redeeming Blueblood, when they do redeem evil chaos gods and invading buglike infiltrators. It's not even that it's the more extreme antagonists are in more dire need of redemption or something. Trixie, who didn't do too much antagonism herself also got heaps of redemption fics. So why pick on Blueblood?
It ended fantasically although i wont lie i WANT TO KNOW WHO HE IS DATING... >.< i know its one of those things were we can just choose and be happy about it but cmon. as a fellow author give a nigga a clue :p
796108
Well, I think there's two reasons:
One, he's a classic villain archetype, but he didn't actually get much screen time or any development. We don't know what his motivations are, we don't know what happened to make him such a jerk. He's probably the most flat and one-dimensional character on the show. We know Trixie is aware that she's a liar and a fraud; we know Discord is kind of a goofball; we know that Chrysallis has mouths to feed. But Blueblood? All we know is that he's a jerk. So, I can see why most folks never really stormed the gates and demanded 'fics of him.
Two, he was mean to Rarity, and Rarity is best pony.
797106
Hey, I'll give ya the same clue that Blue gave Celestia... It's someone she's met
796108
Okay, just read "The Best Night Ever." Dude. Just... dude.
Calling it fantastic doesn't do it justice. One of the best stories, period, that I have ever read.
799683 Excellent.
799683
The best night ever is the reason i like Blueblood stories
I personally think that the relatively small library of Blueblood adventures we have put together makes up for in quality what it lacks in quantity. Thanks for the fun read.
I have no regrets about the hour I spent reading this. None. Who did he start dating?
817142
You are correct, sir! Though "'til" (with an apostrophe) is used much more commonly in the U.S. (my base of operations) than "till," it does need an apostrophe to be correct according to the Chicago Manual of Style. That li'l thing is one of my pet peeves, though; I hate little grammatical rules that (in my mind) don't serve any real function and disrupt the flow of a sentence.
Still, I caved on my abuse of elipses and em dashes, I s'pose I can start using "'til" correctly, too. Well, when I change all the Cadences to Cadances (sigh) on my next pass, I'll fix that, too.
(I'm never going to understand why it's spelled with an "a." I'm really not.)
And, Cadance proves to be as much of a jerk and a moron as her husband. In this world you've created, these two truly deserve each other! Clearly, Blueblood was beyond the whole creepy crush bit, or he wouldn't have taken the route he did on the mountain. He would have tried to force her to love him. Doesn't really matter if it would have worked or not. The point is, he would have tried. But he didn't.
797736 I thought from the second I read it it was Blossomforth, though I couldn't say why.
818151 I hate "'til" with a passion. In one of my college English classes, I was marked down a point for using "till" instead. My next essay was all about how "till" was the correct spelling and "'til" was an improper back-formation that was 500 years younger than "till". Not only did I get an A on that essay, I got the point back from the essay before it.
818825
Well, in fairness to Cadance and Shining Armor, the story's written from Blueblood's perspective, so we've seen him change a bit. The last time Cadance saw him, he acted like a slasher movie villain and then used her in a really obviously evil arcane ritual, after which she was locked away somewhere for weeks with no way to contact the outside world. Shining Armor, meanwhile... well, I didn't really get into his past with Blueblood (sequel hook?), but suffice it to say, the disdain was mutual. Combine that with the fact that Armor'd been fighting all day and had seen a lot of good ponies die, and, well, he didn't take the news of his wife being sacrificed to raise the army of the undead responsible all that well.
As for Blue's new squeeze, well, that's a definite sequel hook. Ideas are percolating.
As for "'til" and "till" and "until," I dunno, I might just be weird, but having two "Ls" at the end of "till" bugs me. I realize there are legitimate etymological reasons for its existence, but hey, language evolves over time. And if the ultimate purpose of language is to facilitate communication, why do we need two distinct but functionally identical words for the same idea? Throw off the shackles of grammatical tyranny, I say! Fight the power! Free your mind!
I'm a literary revolutionary, man. I'm a rebel without a clause.
Ending was a big letdown. This is supposed to be a redemption fic. Having him go through all his trials, grow as a pony and save the day...only to be called a creep and kicked out...leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm officially calling it. Thanks to this chapter, Cloudkicker is now best pony.
This was so awesome! I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was really quite good. Blueblood's character arc came along nicely, and the ending was very satisfactory. Great job
Awesome story. I now declare Prince Blueblood the title of the Prince of KICKASS...mental kickass. I love that dude's snark so much and taunting an undead dragon requires serious kahones. I also loved how he pretty much told Rarity to stick her angry rant where the sun don't shine. Because seriously, every story with Blueblood in it has some lecture about his snobbyness or something. It's pretty much captain obvious by now and he's probably heard them all. No offense to Rare, but at that time, being near a prince that was mean to you for one night is a lot better than a skeleton army. So suck it up Rare.
I also liked how Blueblood just could not DIE. Not even if he wanted to. I bet so many fans out there want him dead or wrote about him dying, but this is much more interesting. Because of that, it also makes it almost ironic. Because when even BB is willing to listen to those fans and TRY to die, he can't. It's almost like Moe from Simpsons but we feel bad for the poor Prince.
Ad guess what? This story now has a TV Tropes page.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/TheStrangeDestinyOfPrinceBlueblood
It only took less than a week. Must be a new record.
819317
Well, I'm sorry it didn't work for ya. Though I like to think that poor Prince Blue was just carrying on the tradition of some of my favorite heroes, like Peter Parker and Tyrion Lannister.
821399
Haha, yeah, I found that myself a few days ago. I'm not sure who started it, but it was originally filed under the 'fic's previous title, "The Prince of the Everfree Forest," so I copied and pasted it all under the newer name. And then added a bunch more. And now I want to go back and add even more. Stupid TVTropes...
Cadence is a bitch. Princess of love my ass.
Definitely great stuff! I'm gonna hafta start following you. I have yto agree though, Cadence making him leave when she presumably could've taken off too left a really bad taste in my mouth. Especially as she didn't even seem to be that sorry about it. She jsut came across as very cold. More chrysalis cadence than the real thing y'know?
honestly though none of that stops this story from being tops and definitely on my recommend list.
822764
Hey, when I say I appreciate feedback on everything, I mean it. Thank ya for taking the time here.
On Rhyming: I can agree that if I really gave it a lot of effort, I could turn Zecora's rhymes into some true poetry. However, I didn't drive myself crazy making every rhyme perfect, chiefly because the "real" Zecora's rhymes are far from perfect themselves. I figure, she rhymes constantly, but not necessarily always well. Sometimes, she's just more concerned about getting to the point of what she's trying to say than with making sure her wording's perfect. And that first section, being entirely in her mind, was kind of my idea of how she goes through life when no one else is around.
In a later chapter, she talks about how she and her fellow shaman-in-training would play rhyming games constantly. It's her way of remembering them, but she also doesn't obsess over it to the point of driving herself nuts.
On Blueblood's Reading: I do disagree with this point. We know that Blueblood's fairly smart and has a decent vocabulary; these suggest, to me at least, a guy who cracks open the occasional book. He later mentions that he and Cadance used to spend time in the Canterlot library, which I could probably add a mention of in Chapter 3, but I don't think it's asking the audience to suspend disbelief that he knows how to read.
(His vocabulary and deadpan humor are also what tip Zecora off to him having more than a few brain cells, by the by. Not explicitly spelled out, but hopefully by this point the audience, by looking through his eyes, has accepted that he's a reasonably smart guy, too.)
As for the "humble" thing...hey, even Blueblood tells her she's wrong. Though, I think she's actually right; by the end of the story, he's shown himself ready and willing to discard his pride in the name of pragmatism multiple times. It's honestly one of the main attributes I wanted him to have; he never lets pride stand in the way of the smart thing to do. "Humble" might not be the exact right word for it, but hey, if I'm not sure how better to put it, how would Zecora be?
On Zecora: I'm not sure what you mean by "inconsistent characterization." She hit a really low point, but she ended up surviving despite herself and eventually found a new home. Her story sort of parallels what Blueblood's going to go through. I could have made her more outwardly damaged from the experience, but that seemed like unnecessary pathos. Life sucked, she dealt with it, now it's better. C'est la vie.
As for posting stories before I'm done obsessing over them, well, I mean no disrespect to FiMFiction here, but until I submit my stories to EqD, everything here is a rough draft. I just make 'em public so people (like yourself, which I seriously appreciate) can look at 'em and give me some feedback. It's also a healthy bit of ego-stroking, what can I say? "Look, I'm writing this thing, and it's got all these little errors and mistakes, but people still like it!
"
I definitely understand where your criticisms come from, and I definitely appreciate the input. I will take everything you said into account and give things another look, though I can't guarantee I'll change much. Regardless, thanks for caring, man
To be fair, Blueblood did start a war, kill potentially thousands of ponies, etc. The fact that he helped end it only counts for so much when, without his stupidity, it never would've happened in the first place. So I say that Cadance's decision was justified. Blueblood got off easy, really, and the relocation to Ponyville obviously went well for him.
But yeah, this turned out to be pretty damned good. I went into A Teacher With No Class last night hoping for a dumb comedy that would make me chuckle for a few minutes. I wound up getting one of the most kickass/hilarious/generally awesome Adventure fics I've ever read. *shakes head* What a
.
...and then you just about killed it with TwiBlood at the end, there.
Just about. The rest of the story more than makes up for that most greivous of sins, though. Thumbs up.
823338
Huh? TwiBlood?
*looks*
Oh. Maybe I could make it more clear that she was basically calling him an idiot.
823345
Ah. That would've been my interperetation of that scene, but then the whole 'mystery ship' thing popped up... all right. Cool. My earlier 'gripe' is retracted, then. And I have no idea who Blue wound up with...
823431
Well spote! Thank you
Haven't read it yet, did read the story that spawned this one. I just posted a "wishlist" a few seconds ago. Lets hope they come true
This is one of those stories where the writing is solid, the plot is interesting and engaging, but the premise just doesn't sit well with me.
Let's see if I can sum it up: Blueblood feels inadequate so he goes into the Everfree to die, but instead agrees to be drugged by Zecora and go off on some ill-defined quest to find his destiny, which results, after some very unpersuasive storytelling from a ghost, in his betraying the supposed love of his life to wake an ancient evil which then leads to all-out war resulting in hundreds of not thousands of deaths.
This... does not make me like Blueblood, at all. He's an idiot. A very dangerous idiot. He did deserve to have the crap beaten out of him, though by Cadance and not Shining, IMO. His sentence should've at least been a few years hard labour.
The Idiot Ball certainly gets passed around, though. Really, Zecora is the one who bucked everything up in the first place, and then made it worse by lying. (Nice Karma Houdini there.) Cadance and Shining both have their own moments, and I'd probably argue that Luna and Celestia weren't at their cleverest either. The smartest pony in all of this seemed to be Cloud Kicker.
So, well-written and engaging story, technically very good, but I didn't like it.
827472
Hey, thank you for the compliments on the actual writing and for taking the time to read this, even if it didn't turn out to be your cup of tea.
Honestly, I'm kinda glad people are coming down on both sides here. If everyone was going, "Blueblood is our hero, screw Cadance!" I'd worry that I'd wandered into Mary Sue territory with him. So knowing that some people think he was an idiot is nice; I mean, frankly, he was.
"Remember, Derpy, when I promised to kill you last?"
"Yeah, you did!"
"I lied."
All joking about Commando aside, this really was a great story. I could appreciate how hard it would be to make all those sentences rhyme, and I loved the feeling of sympathy I got for a character who was formerly one of my most hated. Good job!
831473
)
Eh, I think she basically, like Blue, lacked the drive to actually kill herself. She tried to do it passively, but survival is probably the most powerful instinct any creature can have. And I'm sure she still feels terrible about what happened, which is why she never went back home. She's just kinda made peace with her self-imposed exile. (I could explain this stuff in the story, but I dunno, I kinda like people to speculate
Oh, and I totally made the alchemy thing up. It just sounded logical
I can see where Cadance is coming from. If someone harbours a mildly disturbing lifelong crush upon my person, even after I marry, then proceeds to bring about my (albeit temporary) downfall, by involving me in some crazed thaumaturgists necromatic ritual, and still wants to bang me afterwards... I wouldn't piss em' out if they were on fire. (Now I probably need redeeming... Someone write me a personal redemption fic)
I realise thats simplifying matters somewhat, but still, Cadance's reaction is kinda understandable imo.
837456
Again, I appreciate the criticism. But I do think you're being a bit unfair.
Regarding Blue's figuring things out: I think you're applying attributes to Blue that I never included in the story. He was never dumb. A coward, a wimp, a snob, rather naive, and a maker of poor decisions, but not dumb. I admit that his whole spiel there was pretty exposition-heavy (Blue was hanging all kinds of lampshades about it, too), but being intelligent is literally his only means of self-defense. Also, calling him a "genius" is overstating it; as he said, he was just speculating, but was confident enough in his hypothesis to follow through with it.
Regarding Fluttershy: Dude, it's Fluttershy. No argument that she made a poor decision, but... it's Fluttershy. Of course she was more worried about the animals than anything else.
Regarding the Tyranny vs. the Element Bearers: They could have tried zapping him when he got off the train. Hence why he crashed it into the station and had his troops jump off while it was still moving. It would've given him time to assess the situation, had they been there. Since they weren't, he just said "hi" to Luna.
Regarding Tyranny's Appearance: Actually, check out Tyranny's description again. He shares some features with Discord, like the griffon claws and yellow eyes and scaly bits, but unlike his brother, he's got identical sets of horns, arms, and legs. He's the same species, but not as chaotic-looking.
Regarding the Wendigos: I figured he just either paid 'em off, dominated 'em, or told 'em there was good eating in pony lands.
Regarding Azure Throne: He's got more of a story to tell, too. That's something "The Prince of Ponyville" will go into.
Regarding Tyranny's Imprisonment: Ditto.
Regarding the Rating: I'm not sure what qualifies it as "mediocre." It doesn't have a ton of page views, but then, I haven't really gone around promoting it anywhere and it's only been up for, what, a week and a half? Besides, I'm writing because it's fun and because I'm trying to get my literary muscles back into shape. High viewcounts, while awesome and gratifying, aren't my primary motivation.
Gah, I hope I'm not coming across as combative, here. I'm just explaining my reasoning behind the decisions I made with the story. There are some things I could improve (if I could figure out a way to show off Blueblood's intelligence prior to his showdown with Cadance, I would), but I did my best to think about the story as I wrote it and plug any plot holes I noticed cropping up. I know it's not professional-grade work, but honestly, the whole reason I decided to start writing fanfiction about ponies was to hone my skills for eventually writing regular fiction about non-ponies. This is just practice work that I'm sharing with fellow bronies on the interwebs.
Regardless, seriously, I appreciate that you took the time to analyze things so thoroughly and point out the things you think need fixing. Even if I don't necessarily agree on every point, it gives me ideas about the sort of things I need to make clearer in future stories.
838374
In-universe, because everypony else needed carts, too, and she already felt bad about getting the biggest cart in Ponyville and didn't want anypony to be mad at her for being selfish.
Out-of-universe, because I only wanted to write Derpy, Cloud Kicker, and Blossomforth
Gotta say, Cloud Kicker's response to Tyranny was nicely done.
The story was good, but this isn't the sequel I was expecting.
796062
Diamond Tiara: 0.
850214 It reminds me very much of the sequel to "The Best Night Ever".
This first was fun, witty comedy, then the sequel veered instantly off into grimdark melodrama land where everypony was angst-ridden and death and carnage rained from the sky like cluster bombs..
I dun get it.
It reminds me of why "The Matrix" should never have had sequels.
796019
Hah. I will say as I have before on another site: I'm not pissed off at Cadance. Her disappointment was understandable, given everything. Still, it's a bit like how Celestia and company treated Twilight Sparkle during the wedding. Instead of just shooting her down, they could have taken the high road and tried to calm her down and listen to her reasoning, or tell her to explain her reasoning for accusing "Cadance" of being evil. Not pissed, just... disappointed that the Alicorn of Love could show such... I want to say 'coldness', but even that seems way too harsh a term to describe her decree. She was merciful, and as Blueblood points out in the next story, he probably SHOULD have been punished even more. I didn't want to see him punished more, but Blueblood was thinking realistically.
Still, Celestia
didn't even get to see her nephew off. If he's going to be exiled, at least let Celestia be the one to do it, Cadence. Because you didn't, as the epilogue indicates, you got a Princess of the Sun worrying too much about him, even when he later declares that she shouldn't worry and have to badger him.
Darn... that came out a bit back-handed.
815421
799683
Glad you enjoyed it; I enjoyed relaxing and reading this fic of yours as well. I remember when you submitted it to EQD and I was glad it got through on the resubmit. As I said in an earlier comment, you've taken quite a little twist with things after that first offering, but the result was entertaining, from the puns to the rhymes to the epic showdowns to the winning-with-words. I see there's a second sequel as well, and I mean to check that out since I've got some free time at present.
I'd also second Ponydora. Blueblood is the kind of douchbag (really, he's mostly just foppish) character that really makes an author work to make him anything but a heel. His fics are few, but I think they're above average in quality. Of course, Ponydora there is the author of the amazing Flight of the Alicorn.
889724
Seriously, all I've got is a "squee." I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the story, good sir! I meant what I said; Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies anyway, and your adaptation of it was superb. I would absolutely buy it in dead-tree format. Once I'm through with finals, I need to get to work reading your sequel. (And I also need to read Ponydora's "Flight of the Alicorn," too.)
Also, concerning the writing of Blueblood, I also like that each of the redemptionny stories I've seen about him have presented very different versions of him. Considering what a blank slate Blue has actually been in his two appearances thus far, I suppose it's no surprise that writers have gone in different routes, but it's still pretty cool how distinct, say, your listless, slacker Blueblood is from "The Blueblood Chronicles'" Blue being an overall very good guy who uses his jerkish streak to ward off unwanted suitors or friends. There's a lot of flexibility in how his character is approached, and I'm looking forward to finding even more takes on him.
So let's hope the show's writers never actually get around to making him a real character and locking future interpretations of him into place, huh?
This was a fantastic fic with a very welcome massive twist that easily got this onto my favourites list
Now if you excuse me, I'm off to read the sequel!
894986 895663
Well, I've sort of discovered from previous input that the very hint of "Tyrantestia" is enough to turn some readers off permanently. So, without spoiling anything in the story, let me just say this: I like to think of Celestia as a Neutral Good version of Ankh-Morpork's Lord Vetinari. Make of that what you will
Well, I was hoping for more of a dumb comedy with an excellent giggle-factor. Instead I got a very convoluted mish-mash of ponies passing the idiot ball around. This was supposed to be a "finding one's place in the world" sort of story, and instead he nearly brings about the apocalypse, barely saves the day and gets tossed out of the palace anyway for his efforts. That and, well, what authority does CADENCE have to throw him out? Its not her house, it's Celestia/Luna's. That was a little snotty, I gotta say.
I feel like I was promised apples and got oranges instead. It's not that its a bad story, quite the opposite, the writing is excellent and the plot relatively solid (not to mention I REALLY loved Cloudkicker). But, I didn't get anything close to what I wanted, nor what I was promised. The first... eh... two chapters were just bombastically flawless, then WOOO Necromancer with an undead army its all your fault BlueBloof better go fix it! Now everypony hates him and he's been sent away from his own. He's a moron, yes, but holy crap this wasn't what was advertised.
I'm left with a sour taste in my mouth because not only did he NOT find his destiny, but he ended up WORSE off in the end. He's responsible for the deaths of hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of ponies-- Shining Armor hates his guts, Cadence has to deal with his crushing on her, at least four of the six elements hate him-- and he moved to PONYVILLE? The fact that he's dating also raises so many awkward questions I cannot even manage to conjure who he might be with right now. Zecora, perhaps? She's the ONLY one who seems eligible that doesn't want him to take a long walk off a short peir. (Her or Fluttershy, and Fluttershy doesn't make any damn sense... or Cloudkicker, but she's just a thoughtless hornball so there's nothing to invest in there. You're smarter than that.)
So... ultimately, it was a solidly-written story, but I bucking HATED where it went. I suppose I'll go on to part three, but holy crap it is hard to see such divine writing talent drop the ball like this.
~Aegis Shield
901974
For what it's worth, the point of this story wasn't to give my version of Blueblood a happy ending; it was to put a cowardly, defenseless, lonely depressive with a severe inferiority complex in roughly the role of a traditional fantasy hero, and to see how things shook out. I realize the tone of the first couple of chapters might be a bit misleading, but that was intentional: it was supposed to be a bit jarring when we see him from Cadance's perspective, and he comes across as creepy, obsessed, and obviously misguided. Blue, at least at this point, isn't capable of being a hero. Even at the end, his most heroic moments were about giving the real heroes a chance to save the day.
It was an experiment for me, and I realize that it might not have worked perfectly, I wanted to make a sympathetic... not anti- hero, exactly, but non-hero. Sorry if it wasn't your cup of tea. (And I should warn you, you'll probably feel similarly about "The Prince of Ponyville," though Blue's far less of a hopeless buck-up by the time things start going wrong.)
821747
You mean making terrible puns in the face of certain death and narrowly escaping its icy claws?
905512
Yup. And also the whole "carrying on despite prolonged, existential suffering" thing. But mostly the puns.
I have to agree with Aegis Shield, I came in expecting a fun little story, but what I got instead was an epic. But that's okay, that was a good surprise. The characters were handled well (however also need to agree about Fluttershy, but hey, she's Fluttershy) and love the Big Mac Deus Ex Machina! Blueblood just seemed to go along with the ride throughout most of the story, reacting more than acting. But that must be the intent. I'm looking forward what you do with him in the sequel.
I don't see why people complain about Zecora's rhyming, that always seems to come up whenever someone tackles that character.
Keep up the good work! Greened thumbed.
905523
Welp. I'm gonna go read the sequel. I'm hoping that it's Zecora. And not Rarity like you hinted with the emoticon. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Cloudchaser_dealwithit.png