The normal life of Nitpick Bittersweet

by Ryusun

Chapter 71 - How we became friends! - Blueblood!

First, let me properly introduce myself! My name is Arbelth Blueblood, the 22th prince in a long lineage of Kings! As you may all know, the Blueblood lineage has exercised ultimate authority since the day Equestria was founded in the 17th century! Everything started for us with the revolution that was taking place in the Old Great Equine when Queen Chrysalis the Third, the Corrupter of Blood, tried to control the masses through the fires of turmoil and distrust, making the people wary of her!

But like in any revolution, heroes rise from the shadows to lead the people, giving them a newfound source of hope!

My lineage of nobles and its descendants tried, and succeeded, in giving a new home to the refugees from the conflict! The first noble, later king, Albrecht von Blueblood, using his cunning and immense genius on finances, raised enough funds to buy several galleons from the neighbor countries in less than six months and sailed away with the lucky rebels to what would eventually become our prideful country: Equestria!

Oh! I can see your faces of boredom! HMPH! Very well, I shall skip the royal tale to a more current date.

….
….

Miss Sparkle raised her hand.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Could you tell us more about the Blueblood lineage history?”

“Sparkle, no… Stop…” Sugarcoat closed her eyes slowly. “Please.”

“Why? It would be so fascinating to hear the tale of the founders of the Old Equestria from one of the Royal members themselves! Imagine the perspective we could hear from a direct descendent instead of what the books of history offer! Or… you have heard the tale from him already?”

“No, but-!”

“Miss Sparkle! I’m so humbled to hear such pure interest in my family history! But, this is not a history class to speak of the past! Perhaps for another time! For now, let’s go back to a more recent date: My arrival to Crystal Prep Academy!”

….
….

I enrolled at Crystal Prep as the rest of my compatriots during middle school. As you know, Crystal Prep Acadmy has several schools across the land, and I had to enroll during my youth on the one located in the capital. There are things that are simple unavoidable as a noble such as myself. Although current times embrace a democratic ideology to rule the land and bring people the safety it needs from a form of government, the Royalty still makes the final call behind the scenes.

It is true that sometimes our decisions have brought struggles to the land, especially during the time of the Civil War of the Northern Lands. We aren’t that proud in that point in that facet of our heritage, but we are just humans.

Sometimes is unavoidable to make mistakes.

For that very reason, every member of the Blueblood lineage must assist to peace conferences around the world, whether a school is in charge of it or not. Last time, my sister and I assisted to one of those for over a month in the capital. They aren’t as interesting as you think they would be. Some of them are just political nonsense to keep the public happy with a false sense of hope and peaceful accomplishment.

Sadly, thanks to those forced lessons, I wasn’t present during the first few weeks of classes during my enrollment in the main insititution. I was jailed in one of those conferences with little else to do but hearing old dinosaurs mumbling about their dirty schemes. Reem got lucky that time and managed to get away thanks to our Mother. The only thing that kept my humor in the yellow zone was that my butler, Tobias Star, my Father, Arland Blueblood, and very few governors of the land were more active in actual solutions to the country than most of the other politicians.

Once that all that tiresome experience was over for the time being, I was happy to go back to my sister’s side! But I wasn’t aware that my own blood was having her share of struggles like me...

Or so I thought…that she was having a personal trouble, that is.

It was a peaceful night during September 26th, Thursday, when I was going back in the family plane to the mansion of Crystal State. I was having my usual martini with some parmesan crackers as appetizers, when suddenly my royal butler emerged from the other room.

“My Lord! Terrible news from Rosaline Star! It seems that Lady Oakwood was bullied at school!”

My martini fell to the floor from my brusque movement. “WHAT DID YOU SAY!?”

“It seems that her aggressors threw her inside a trash bin! And worse of all, Lady Oakwood has chosen to let them go!”

“They shall face a punishment of thousand tortures! Of thousand deaths! Each more painful than the last! Tobias! Tell Rosaline Star to make a thorough investigation of those punks! I want to know their weaknesses! STALK THEM IF YOU MUST!”

….
….

“YOU ACTUALY STALKED THEM!?”

“No, Miss Sparkle! I calmed down later but you cannot blame me! I was angry at that time! How would you react if someone close to you was in danger or hurt?”

“B-but even so, that is illegal!”

“No, Miss Sparkle! That’s called ‘Using your resources wisely’!” I gave her my shiniest smile.

“Lucky for us, and unlucky for him, that didn’t work well!” Gilda said.

“Yeah… His vengeance was so anti-climactic!” Nitpick and she made a bro-fist.

“Ehem… Shall I proceed?”

….
….

The first thing I did the next morning was to immediately look for Champion Silverwind to aid me in locate the aggressors, much to her surprise. It seems that the Sugarcoat of that time wasn’t the accepting individual who owned her failures unlike the current one, so Silverwind was unaware that such things happened at school.

She made a call to Moondancer, the overlord of the hall monitors of Crystal Prep, to ask for any information regarding my old problem. Much to her dismay, it seemed that Moondancer was fully aware of those particular cases, summoning the wrath of Silverwind.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY A THING ABOUT THIS? …NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR YOU? … … … Fine! I’ll let it pass this time!” She ended the call harshly. And rather annoyed, if I might add. “It seems that your case is one-hundred percent veridic! But why my trusted second in command didn’t say a word about this?” She asked in a dubious manner. “Something is wrong!”

“Perhaps they are too much trouble for her current abilities and she is ashamed of facing you, my beautiful Silverwind.” I caressed her chin.

“Don’t speak to me so casually just because you are royalty, Arbelth Blueblood!” She shunned me away while walking to the window. “Outside the school you may be a prince, but here, you are just like anyone else: a Crystal Student! Besides, I trust Candie Sugarcoat’s competence well enough to ever believe that she would be afraid of me! That is preposterous!”

“Point taken. Even so, I want justice to be made by your hand, or I’ll take care of this by myself. And it will be loudly, if I might add!”
She was having a severe headache at that time. Her facial gestures were ruining her beautiful face. “Alright, Blueblood… I’ll fix this somehow.”

“Excellent!” I clapped with approval. “Shall I accompany you?”

We met again when classes ended to face the mongrels who assaulted my sister: Gilda Heavensbane and Nitpick Bittersweet! At that time, I was rather calm on the surface. But on the inside… I just wanted one thing from them… One single purpose I wished of them…

Their suffering.

….
….

“Why I am starting to feel that the Royal Family is the vengeful kind?” Miss Sparkle took a bit of her quesadilla.

“Hypothetically speaking, if your dog is assaulted and humiliated, and you had the means to do what you must to avenge him, wouldn’t you search for his assailants to apologize one way or another?” She stopped eating. After a moment of silence, she mumbled something rather quietly. “I beg your forgiveness but I didn’t catch that.”

“I would hunt them down…” She said with darkening… pinkish eyes?

“Oh… OH!”

“That’s what I call an honest answer, Sparkle.” Sugarcoat said… somewhat in praise. “Blueblood, continue.”

“As you wish, Little Maiden!”

….
….

Our search didn’t take so long. They were walking near the school fields towards the exit. Champion Silverwind went straight to challenge them, saying ‘Halt!’ in the process… only to end up inside Champions the Trash Bin.

“Huh… so direct assault isn’t recommended.” I was considering my options, but to be honest, I was too angry to plan a well-thought approach. So, I simple walked inside the Lion’s den. “HALT!”

“Nit…” Gilda looked angry, but tired.

“I know… This is a guy so I’ll deal with it this time.” He turned around with an annoyed expression. “And who the hell are you?”

“My name is Arbelth Blueblood! Prince of Equestria!”

“Ah… what do you want?”

“You dare to speak so casually to Royalty, commoner?”

“Here you are just a normal student so stop preaching your noble privileges on us! I’ll ask again: what do you want?”

“Your insolence shall not be forgiven! I came here to avenge my younger sister who was thrown to the trash bin the day of yesterday by you, rude pair of twins!”

“Did you say younger sister?” Nitpick’s face turned reluctant.

“Look, lady brat! We aren’t twins and we don’t care who-!”

He raised his armed in front of Gilda. “I completely understand your feelings as I am an older brother as well.” He stood in front of me and vowed his head. “I apologize for that and I’ll accept any beating you have in mind.”

“…What?” Gilda and I were in awe.

“But Nit, you can’t be serious!”

“I-I… God, I didn’t expect this kind of answer. Very well, I can sense your honesty in your words so I won’t do anything harsh!” I still wanted to make them suffer. “But still! You can’t go unpunished! SO I, PRINCE ARBELTH BLUEBLOOD, CHALLENGE YOUT TO A ROYAL DUEL NOW!”
The students who were present quickly spread the word and half of the school was gathering on the school fields. With a snap of my fingers, the people in charge of the sports gear of the school quickly brought to us the fencing gear.

“Do you accept my challenge, simpletons!?”

My not-yet friends made a step forward. “We do.”

When it was all said and done, it was time for us to have our formal Deathmatch! As you may know, Crystal Prep students practice a lot of sports of Olympic level. At that time, I was unaware of the scholar history of these two… until the moment I saw how they were holding their foils.

UGH! It was horrible!

"I suppose I can explain the rules and what you are wearing.” I held my mask on my left arm. “First, the weapons on your waist are called Foils! Thrusting swords used in the ancient world to decide a feudal problem through chivalry! Which in this case, is my sister’s honor! Second, you are using an especial protective jacket that has in its design a Sous-Plastron, or under-arm protector. A chest protector is there as well! The breeches of our school are specially designed to be made of reinforced cotton, like the rest of your gear!”

“Why?”

“Because it gives you a sense of weight during training, and during official matches, the cotton is not that heavy. You know. The psychological illusion of being a feather weight and such when wearing the official variant.”

“What are the rules?”

“Since you don’t have a clue about this sport, I’ll have special handicaps on myself. You only have to touch me and it will be considered a point, where I must follow the rules of attacking you with the foil in the allowed angles. This gentleman who gave us the gear will be our referee! You can’t use your fists or kicks, only your weapon! If I disarm you, you lose! Only one of you can challenge me at a time! Any questions? No? Then please step on the piste!” They looked around the field to find what I was talking about. “The strip over there…”

“Oh!”

Nitpick was the first to step in. The referee taught him the appropriate etiquette that must be done before a match starts, including how to use a sword. He was a quick learner to my surprise.

Or so I thought.

We saluted to each other and then to the public. Then we assumed the ‘En-garde’ position, which means that our chests were facing directly leftward, so that all we see from each other are our shoulders and the right side of our torsos. The referee asked of us if we were ready, and we nodded our head in affirmation.

“FENCE!”

Nitpick made a full, circular swing to my quarte in which I responded with a simple bend on my wrist and immediately I twisted it smoothly in a small clockwise semicircle. This technique is called coutre-carte and it is used to parry… not to disarm. When our foils clashed, his weapon flew away from his hand.

“NO! You are holding the grip too lightly! How shameful would it be of me if I win with such ease! Let’s start over again!” He held his weapon once more and the match started. We clashed our swords and I could feel the struggle in his wrist when I unintentionally disarmed him again. “NO! You must use your wrist strength at the last minute! How are you supposed to build up momentum if your technique is so lacking?”

“I don’t know how to do this shit!”

“I can clearly reaffirm that! And it’s FENCING! The sport of the chivalrous, commoner! Look at my hand!” I was holding the pistol grip not too tight or too soft. “Your arm must be the primary strength control, only use your muscles when you actually make an action. Many attacks and parries require from your wrist to be very flexible in order to properly execute parries, counter-parries, envelopments, disengages and coupes.”

“…what?”

“I can’t believe that Crystal Prep Academy allowed an uncivilized dog such as yourself to enroll! No matter! Let’s start over again!”

This time, he managed to withstand some of my assaults efficiently for a few seconds. Even so, his technique was so horrible that I could barely keep up my vengeful thoughts intact. It came to a point that my anger was redirected towards his ineptitude instead of my sister’s honor.

“ARGH! I have never seen a new learner being so incompetent! Please, switch with your friend over there! Let’s see if she has the finesse that you clearly lack!”

“You heard the prince! It IS your turn! He is all yours, Gilda!”

“At last!” She cracked her fists. “Okay!” She took her weapon in an appropriate manner on the first time, giving me a sense of hope for an honorable duel to take place. “I’m ready!”

We repeated the ceremonial introduction again. The referee asked of us if we were ready and once again I found myself nodding in affirmation.

“FENCE!”

Gilda rushed with an impressive lunge attack, making my blood pump with excitement. But she made a grave mistake… or so I thought. She made a full swing downward and I tried to parry with all my skill… which was a bad idea. Although I was firmly holding my foil after her assault, my wrist was in pain. She didn’t have an ounce of finesse, but gracious heavens, it was compensated by her RAW POWER!

She was swinging her foil like a berserk while I tried to dodge in the little space that the strip allowed me to. Since technically she wasn’t doing a foul movement with the rules I gave to them, the referee couldn’t stop her assault, much to my horror.

“WAIT!”

“I WON’T STOP, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!”

‘PUM’

She leaved a little hole when her foil made impact to the floor, much to my terror. The foils of Crystal Prep were of tempered Maraging steel, making them quite resilient to brusque impacts. I could see her face straight from a horror movie looking at me through her mask. The face of a brutish murderer wearing a big and disturbing smile straight at her victim, in this case me, filled me with…uncertainty.

“P-perhaps we could choose an alternative for this matter!”

“No, no, no! You. Will. DIEEEEEEEEEEE!”

“GYAAAAAHHH!”

“Pffff Hahaha Gilda, stop! Stop it! This is too much!”

The griffonian suddenly calmed down and stopped her barrage. “But Nit! I’m having the time of my life!”

“I know but you are going to break him down!” He walked to the referee’s side. “Look, I believe I know how to duel better! Let me switch with my friend, okay?” He convinced him to switch with her.

I felt a sense of relief.

“Ok.” I retook my composure. “If I disarm you this time, you lose! No excuses!”

“I accept the terms! Let’s skip the formalities and fight!”

We didn’t even put our mask on the last duel. We simply rushed and the tips of our foils met with the bloodthirst of a bull. This time, my not-yet friend was fighting far more skillfully than before, giving me the chance to fight to my heart’s content.

But something went wrong.

He started to push me backward, my feet getting near the line. I was about to put in motion my last resource when suddenly… I saw his face. He had the same vicious face as his friend. His eyes turned piercing, like if a beast was savoring every minute of the hunt. Fear made me step back, making me lose my balance, fall to the floor and lose the match.

It was over.

“Well, that’s it! Let’s grab something to eat!”

“NO! This isn’t over!”

“COME ON! WE WON!” Gilda stomped the floor.

“Look, I know that these kinds of sports are about technique but… well, if you don’t have enough fortitude, then you are screwed. You are really prideful if I must praise you!”

“And stupid!” And both laughed at me. “Admit defeat!”

“You filthy-!” Suddenly, my butler came to deliver my cellphone. My sister was calling. “Sister, what is it? … … Yes, I’m aware of that! Right now I’m exacting vengeance for you! … … … You want me to do what? … … … BUT! … … Alright, I’ll do it for you!” I hanged the call. ”It seems that Reem wants to invite you to her birthday party!”

“Who?”

“My sister!”

“Ah… why?”

“I don’t know! She asked of me to do so! Mmm, this gives to me a more peaceful solution! If you deliver a present to her, and she likes it, I will stop bothering you!”

“Really?”

“You aren’t joking?”

“Royalty never jokes about matters of pride!”

“Well… alright! We’ll get a good gift for her!”

“Don’t expect something expensive because we aren’t that rich!”

“We enrolled because some kind of special scholarship… which we are about to lose if we don’t study, Gilda!”

“I know but… it is so boring!”

Not only were they brutes but they were also poor!

“Just… make sure it’s something nice!”

….
….

“And what did you gave her for present?”

“That’s for the next and final part, Miss Sparkle!” Reem said.

“Let’s better put the boring part out of the way.” Gilda said. “After being invited to Oak’s party, we stumbled with Sug in the Maximus Plaza that evening. Oak had invited her too, and like us, she was searching for a good birthday present.”

“Since I barely could see them at the face because I was furious with them at that time, I decided to just give them my share of the money and I let them decide the kind of present they would buy… I’m rather happy with the outcome to be honest.”

“Me too…” Reem said with a joyful reflection, touching her gift rather pleasantly.

“Her birthday was supposed to be on Saturday, but… this Princess gave us the fucking surprise of our lives! Never again, Reem Oakwood!”

“Whatever you mean, my beloved friend! I believe everything worked out well for all of us in the end!”

“Yeah…”

“Right…”

“Indeed…”

“Exactly…”

I could see that all of us started to remember the day of that fated birthday. When it was all expressed through our grim-like faces, Miss Sparkle looked at us with skepticisms.

“Something tells me that this is not a normal finale…”

Author's Note:

It really took me more time than I thought... writing this chapter, that is.

I didn't know how to proceed in this particular part of the story. I even wrote another chapter with the deleted lines of this one. As best as I could, I tried to make the duel realistic, considering that Nitpick and Gilda have never done this kind of complex sport in their life. That and taking in consideration that a prideful noble wouldn't accept victory THAT easily. I know that the Blueblood on the series has been pretty shallow (haven't read his comic with Shining Armor yet) but that gives me more liberties with his human iteration.

It doesn't mean I'll make him a hero or some kind of Gary Stu... only the main six could play those roles at my current idea of where this story is going.

As always, leave your thoughts on the chapter.

Comments

[Powerfull3000]

Amazing!