A Look Back

by Bluecatcinema

Big Sister Blues

Princess Dusty Speck-Crest and her husband Prince Blueblood were visiting Dusty's father Grimoire Napoleon and his wife Zecora over in Ponyville. Zecora had recently given birth to Dusty's half-brother, Arkham Ziovannia Napoleon, who was growing bigger (and more adorable) by the day. They were all gathered in the sitting room, Grimoire's pet Timberwolf Oakley snoozing on his blanket in the corner.

"We're so glad you could drop by." Grimoire smiled. "After how hectic everything's been lately, it's nice to have a little family get-together."

"Especially considering how close we came to losing you forever." Dusty declared.

"Things did look quite bad for a while there, didn't it?" Blueblood asked.

"But it all worked out in the end." Grimoire smiled. "I'm back to full health, and everything is as it should be."

"More than that my dear." Zecora declared. "For our darling son is now here."

"Like I could ever forget little Arkham." Grimoire stroked his son's mane.

"Nopony could." Dusty agreed. "He's just so adorable!"

"And so unique-looking." Blueblood noted. "Both a Unicorn, and a Zebra. You don't see one of those every day..."

"Unless you're the proud parents." Grimoire chuckled.

"Oh, buck!" Grimoire realised. "I was supposed to go see Mayor Cavallo about ammending the zoning laws. Wanted to have a nice play area for Oakley..."

Oakley barked excitedly.

"And I need to get to the farmer's market." Zecora gaped. "It closes soon. How could I forget?"

"We have to hurry." Grimoire frowned. "Dusty, Blue, could you look after Arkham for a while?"

"Um... Sure." Dusty nodded hesitantly.

"We'd love to." Blueblood agreed.

"Thank you so much." Zecora beamed. "We owe you a whole bunch."

"Don't mention it." Dusty smiled. "That's what family is for, remember?"

"This shouldn't take too long." Grimoire noted. "But you should know that Arkham's next feeding is due in about fifteen minutes."

"In the kitchen, there is some alfalfa mush." Zecora declared, placing Arkham in Dusty's hooves. "Take your time, don't rush."

"Which is more than we can say." Grimoire frowned. "We'd better get moving!"

"Indeed, with much speed." Zecora agreed.

Grimoire and Zecora rushed out of the mansion. Oakley briefly raised his head in reaction to their abrubt departure, then laid back down again.

"Well, look at us." Blueblood declared. "Looking after a foal. It's been a while since we did that. Hope we aren't too rusty."

"Then again, we did raise twins." Dusty recalled. "So one foal can't be that much trouble, right?"

At that moment, Arkham suddenly burst into tears.

"Wahhhhhhh!"

"You were saying?" Blueblood deadpanned.

"There, there, Arky." Dusty gently rocked him. "It's okay. Big sissy's here."

"Wahhhhhhh!" Arkham kept on crying.

Oakley whined, covering his ears.

"The poor thing probably misses his parents." Blueblood surmised.

"I kinda gathered that." Dusty frowned. "Come on, Arky, settle down. Mommy and daddy will be back soon, and until then, you've got me and Blueblood to look after you." She picked up a rattle. "You want your rattle?"

Arkham grabbed the rattle, and shook it. His crying temporarily abated, he started giggling as he shook the rattle harder.

"There, that's better, isn't it?" Dusty grinned, putting Arkham in his crib. "You play with your toys, and big sissy will get you a bottle and some yummy mash. How does that sound?"

"Buh!" Arkham gurgled, still focused on the rattle.

"That's the spirit." Dusty smiled.

"Nicely done." Blueblood congratulated her.

"Thanks, darling." Dusty grinned. "It's been a while, but I still know how to handle a foal. Now, I'll get that feed for Arkham. You keep an eye on him."

"With pleasure." Blueblood nodded. He knelt before the crib. "Hello, Arkham. Having fun?"

"Guh!" Arkham shook his rattle.

"Of course you are." Blueblood chuckled. "Foals just can't resist a good rattle. And I speak from experience."

Arkham looked up at Blueblood, giving him a small smile.

"You like your brother-in-law Blueblood, don't you?" Blueblood asked.

"Bleh!" Arkham waved his rattle.

"Well, I must say, you've taken to me faster than your father did." Blueblood declared. "Sometimes I thought that old stallion of yours would never accept me. But you're not like that, are you?"

Arkham suddenly threw his rattle at Blueblood, conking him on the head.

"Ow!" Blueblood yelped.

Arkham giggled loudly.

"Of course, I could be mistaken." Blueblood rubbed his forehead. "I had no doubt your father wanted to do that to me not long after our first meeting. Just not with a rattle..."

"Okay, everything's ready!" Dusty called from the kitchen. "Bring Arkham in!"

"Coming!" Blueblood called back. He lifted Arkham out of the crib. "Come on, you. Time for lunch."

"Guh!" Arkham squealed.

Blueblood brought Arkham into the kitchen, where Dusty had already set up his high chair.

"Here you go, little fellow." He eased Arkham into the chair. "Time for your num-nums."

"Okay, Arky." Dusty smiled, digging a spoon into the jar of mush and pulling it out. "Ready for some delicious alfalfa mush?"

"Nuh!" Arkham shook his head.

"Come on, you know you want to." Dusty held the spoon by his mouth. "Open wide!"

"Nuh-nuh!" Arkham snarled. His horn suddenly lit up a pale yellow, and flung the spoon out Dusty's hoof, the contents splattering against the wall.

"There go those magic surges again..." Dusty scowled, "Vito was quite a hoofful because of those."

"Let me try." Blueblood declared, lifting up the spoon with his own magic. "See if he can fling the spoon away now..."

"Be my guest." Dusty shrugged.

"Okay, little guy." Blueblood floated the spoon in front of him. "Ready to eat now?"

"Nuh!" Arkham said stubbornly.

"I don't remember Vito or Pureblood ever being this fussy." Blueblood frowned.

"That's got to be dad's mule-headedness." Dusty frowned. "Good thing I didn't inherit that..."

"No, of course not." Blueblood rolled his eyes. "Wait... maybe this will work."

Blueblood made the spoon fly all over. Arkham watched it, transfixed.

"Here comes the dragon, flying into his cave..." Blueblood cooed. "Come on, open up..."

Arkham actually opened his mouth.

"Success!" Blueblood grinned, putting the spoon in.

"I can't believe that old trick worked." Dusty mused.

"Here, you try." Blueblood offered.

"Okay." Dusty took the spoon. "Here comes the dragon!"

Dusty mimicked Blueblood's movements, but Arkham refused to open his mouth.

"What the-?" She frowned. "You opened up a second ago!"

"That's odd." Blueblood mused. "Here, give it back to me."

Blueblood took back the spoon and repeated his movements. Arkham gleefully opened up.

"Interesting..." Blueblood declared. "Perhaps he likes the glow of my magic."

"Or perhaps he just likes you." Dusty pouted.

"Now, don't think like that." Blueblood told her. "He's probably just fussy, like I said." He turned back to Arkham. "Now, let's finish up here, shall we?"

"Yuh!" Arkham opened his mouth for more.

After Arkham had eaten the last of the mash, Blueblood burped him.

"There we go." He grinned. "Let it all out."

"Thank Faust that's over with." Dusty sighed.

"Here, you can carry him back to the crib." Blueblood offered.

"Yeah, sure." Dusty took Arkham. "Let's get you back to your nice crib, with all the fun toys. That sounds fun, right?"

Arkham suddenly grimaced.

"What's the matter, Arky?" Dusty asked.

Arkham spat up on Dusty's front.

"I had to ask..." She scowled.

As Dusty carried Arkham back to his crib, Arkham grabed her braid, and started pulling on it.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Dusty yelped, while Arkham giggled. "No, Arkham! My mane is not a toy!"

As they reached the crib, Dusty managed to yank Arkham free. Deprived of his new toy, the foal started bawling again.

"Wahhhhhhh!" He screeched.

"Look, you can't have my mane." Dusty told him firmly. "But I'm sure there's something else you can have fun with." She looked around, and saw a stuffed dragon. "How about this?"

"Nuh!" Arkham batted the toy away.

"Or this?" Dusty picked up his rattle, shaking it.

Arkham flung the rattle away with his magic, then started crying again.

"What happened?" Blueblood rushed over. "What's gotten Arkham so upset?"

"The fact that I won't let him use my mane as a pull toy." Dusty said sourly. "And nothing else seems to be calming him down."

"Um..." Blueblood glanced around, spotting a pacifier. "How about this?" He pulled it over with his magic.

"Worth a shot." Dusty nodded. She leant down. "Here, Arkham. Nice little pacifier."

Arkham dodged Dusty's first two attempts, but on the third try, he accepted it. He started sucking on it passively, the grabbed the dragon he had batted aside earlier.

"Finally." Dusty sighed. "Maybe now, we can get some peace and quiet."

"Let's hope so." Blueblood nodded.

For the next hour or so, things were indeed quiet. Arkham seemed content to stay in his crib, playing wth toys. The only eventful thing was Oakley scratching at the door, wanting to be let into the backyard. Just as Dusty and Blueblood were starting to think they were out of the rough waters, Arkham started crying again.

"Wahhhhhhh!"

"Oh, dear..." Blueblood cringed.

"Must be time for his bottle." Dusty sighed. "Keep him busy. I'll go get it."

"Sure, give me the hard job..." Blueblood said under his breath. He rushed over to the crib. "What's the matter, Arkham? Hungry?"

"Yah!" Arkham slammed his hooves on the stuffed dragon.

"Well, don't you worry." Blueblood smiled. "Your big sister is coming with some yummy milk."

Over in the kitchen, Dusty quickly prepared the milk. After dripping some on her hoof to ensure it wasn't too hot, she rushed over to the crib.

"Here you go, little guy." She offered him the bottle. "Drink up."

Arkham turned his head away.

"I thought this was what you wanted?" Blueblood frowned.

"Exactly." Dusty nodded. "Come on, Arky. Be a good little brother and drink your milk..."

As Arkham continued to refuse, his magic flared up again. The bottle floated out of Dusty's hooves.

"Hey!" Dusty yelled. "You put that down, little mister!"

The bottle rose above her head, then squirted some of its contents right in Dusty's face.

"...Great. Just great." Dusty scowled.

Arkham started giggling again. His concentration broken, the bottle dropped, and was caught by Blueblood.

"Okay, you've had your fun." Blueblood declared. "Now drink your milk, little fellow."

Once again, Blueblood succeeded where Dusty had failed; Arkham gleefully accepted the milk.

"There we go." Blueblood smiled.

"Are you kidding me with this?" Dusty frowned. "Unbelievable!"

Dusty stormed out of the room.

"Dusty?" Blueblood called, worried.

Once Arkham had drunk all the milk, he laid down on his stuffed dragon, and fell asleep. Grabbing a baby monitor (just in case), Blueblood went after Dusty. He found her in Grimoire's study, looking very forlorn.

"Dusty?" Blueblood asked.

"Why is this happening?" Dusty frowned. "Why?"

"So you're a little rusty in the foal sitting department." Blueblood declared. "I'm sure you'll get back in the groove soon-"

"It's not that, Blue." Dusty scowled. "It's Arkham."

"Arkham?" Blueblood frowned. "What about him?"

"Can't you tell?" Dusty pouted. "He hates me!"

"Of course he doesn't!" Blueblood assured her.

"Oh, no?" Dusty asked. "He wouldn't let me feed him, or give him his milk. And he yanked on my mane."

"He's just a foal." Blueblood told her. "It doesn't mean-"

"It means more than you think." Dusty insisted. "He hates me. It's like he can sense that we're only half-related, and he doesn't like that one bit."

"Even if that were true, you just have to give him time." Blueblood declared. "He'll come around to you sooner or later."

"What if he doesn't?" Dusty asked. "What if I can't deal with being a big sister after being an only child for so long. There is a serious age gap between us, after all. What if its too big for us to overcome? What if there's always going to be a wedge between us? My own half-brother will never like me..."

"Now, that's enough." Blueblood said firmly. "You're overreacting."

"Seriously, Blue?" Dusty growled. "That's some words of support."

"Look, you and I both know you've dealt with bigger changes in your life." Blueblood reminded. "Being in a relationship with me, for starters."

"That's not the same." Dusty declared.

"Isn't it?" Blueblood asked. "In choosing to go out with me, you stepped into wholly unfamiliar territory. I always knew dating royalty would be quite a heavy task, but I always had faith you could work through it. And I was right. Every change that came about as a result of out love: Being thrust into the private eye, becoming a member of the royal family, bearing children... You took each one on without hesitation, facing it all head-on. That has always been what I admired most about you, my darling; Your unyielding resolve."

"Okay, the pep talk's getting a little better." Dusty smiled. "You really think all that?"

"I know it." Blueblood nodded. "I always had faith in you. And I have faith you can get through to Arkham. You just need to try a little harder."

"You're right." Dusty nodded. "And I will."

Suddenly, Arkham's cries came through on the baby monitor.

"I've got this." Dusty declared.

"By all means." Blueblood smiled.

"Wahhhhhhh!"

Dusty walked back to the sitting room, where Arkham was in his crib, wanting some attention.

"So, we meet again." Dusty declared.

Arkham glared at Dusty, then turned his back on her.

"I know you don't like me yet." Dusty declared."But I aim to change that." She held up a stuffed bugbear. "Buzz, buzz. Look at me." She waved the bear around. Arkham looked back. "Oh no, it's got me!" Dusty made the bugbear "sting" her.

Arkham giggled.

"Wanna play?" Dusty passed him the bear.

"Guh! Guh!" Arkham grabbed the bear, and shoved it in Dusty's face.

"Oooh!" Dusty mock-groaned, dropping to the floor. "You got me!"

Arkham looked down, concerned. Dusty then popped back up, a stuffed cockatrice in her hooves.

"Look out! I've got some help!" She poked at the bugbear with the cockatrice.

"Yuh! Yuh!" Arkham giggled.

"Clash of the titans!" Dusty chuckled. "I've got you now, kiddo!"

As they mock battled, Arkham managed to know the cockatrice out of Dusty's hooves.

"And we have a winner!" Dusty cheered, holding up one of the bugbear's arms.

"Yah!" Arkham giggled.

"You liked that, huh?" Dusty asked. "Yeah, I loved having stuffed toy fights when I was a kid... guess we're more alike than I thought..."

Arkham suddenly held out his hooves.

"Oh, you want uppy?" Dusty asked. "Want big sissy to give you uppy?"

"Guh!" Arkham urged.

"Sure thing, junior." Dusty lifted him her little brother up, the bugbear still in his hooves. "Let's fly you and your pal over to the play mat." She "flew" Arkham across the room. "Whee!"

"Eeee!" Arkham squealed.

"And a perfect landing." Dusty sat them down on the play mat. "Now, who's next to challenge the champ?" She picked up a stuffed hydra. "How about this sucker?"

"Yah!" Arkham waved his bugbear.

"Let's get ready to rumble!" Dusty cheered.

As Dusty and her little brother kept playing, Blueblood watched from the doorway.

Eventually, Arkham started to get tired again. Dusty placed him back in the crib.

"Sweet dreams, little guy." Dusty kissed him on the forehead.

Arkham did not resist, or get pouty. Instead, he gently rubbed his hoof against Dusty's cheek, before curling up to sleep. Dusty stood back from the crib, adoring him.

"I love you too, little brother." Dusty smiled.

"I knew you could do it." Blueblood joined her.

"Not without a little encouragement." Dusty kissed him.

"It's what I'm here for." Blueblood smiled.

"And I hope you always will be." Dusty sighed.

"Gladly." Blueblood smirked, as they snuggled together on the couch.

Barely ten minutes later, the front door opened.

"We're back!" Grimoire called as he and Zecora re-entered the mansion.

"Our errands are done." Zecora declared. "Now where is our son?"

"Shh!" Blueblood shushed them. "He's sleeping."

Blueblood pointed to the crib, where Arkham was dozing peacefully.

"I hope he wasn't too much trouble?" Grimoire asked Dusty.

"No trouble at all." Dusty lied. "He was... a perfect little angel."

"Well, in that case, I don't suppose you'd mind foalsitting again sometime?" Grimoire asked.

"Oh... sure." Dusty cringed.

"Anytime..." Blueblood agreed hesitantly.

As much fun as they had foalsitting Arkham, both Dusty and Blueblood hoped their services wouldn't be required for a while. As adorable as Arkham was, he could be a real hoofful... but at least Dusty could rest easy, knowing they had managed to bond that day. She pledged to herself that she would fulfil all the duties of being a big sister, and always be there for Arkham.

After spending another hour or so at the mansion, enjoying some of Zecora's herbal tea, Dusty and Blueblood prepared to leave, Arkham was awake once, and in his mothers' hooves.

"Come back soon, sweetheart." Grimoire declared.

"I will dad." Dusty chuckled. She gazed down at Arkham. "Bye, cutie."

Dusty planted another kiss on Arkham's cheek. The foal responed with a hug.

"I'll miss you too." Dusty cooed.

Grimoire and Zecora saw Dusty and Blueblood off.

"Buh! Buh!" Arkham gurgled, as he waved to them.

"Bye-bye!" Blueblood waved back.

"See you soon!" Dusty added.

As they headed to their carriage, Dusty leaned against Blueblood, a little exhausted.

"Hoo, what a day." She sighed. "Arkham was more trouble than Vito and Pureblood put together..."

"Yes, those were good times." Blueblood noted.

"Yeah... I hadn't realised how much I'd missed having a foal in my hooves." Dusty admitted, as they climbed into the carriage.

"Are you suggesting we... try for another?" Blueblood asked.

"Nope." Dusty snickered. "One day was enough for now."

"Hear, hear." Blueblood chuckled, as the carriage was pulled into the sky. "But if we ever do another foal, I'm sure you'll be a wonderful mother."

"And you, a terrific dad." Dusty nuzzled against him. "Just like you're a terrific husband."

"And you, a fabulous wife." Blueblood wrapped his hooves around. "All these years, and I still count my blessings that I met somepony as sweet and beautiful as you."

"Oh, Blue..." Dusty grinned, as she and Blueblood kissed.

They continued holding each other for the duration of the ride home, still enjoying wedded bliss after all those years.

Author's Note:

Behind The Scenes:

* Ah, "The Prince And The Pauperess." What a story this turned out to be. Through this tale, Ebony Stallion and I introduced his magnificent characters, the Napoleon Brothers, and Dusty Speck, Blueblood's great love.

* (Ebony Stallion) I cannot remember how I came up with the idea of Dusty being a daughter of a mafia crimelord (I think it might had been from the shows I was watching), but when I pitched it to Blue, I believe he was hesitant at first, but when we got started on it, it turned out really well.

* After giving Blueblood some character development in our previous story, Ebony and I took things a step further, having him fall in love with one of the commoners he once had so little regard for.

* (Ebony Stallion) When I first made Dusty, she was supposed to be this shy and insecure mare, as indicated by this story. She was inspired by this girl on The Big Bang Theory that dated Raj, but was so nervous around him that she slipped out the bathroom window to get away (which Dusty did). However, as we progressed in stories, Dusty went from that to somepony like Black Widow and Bernadette from Big Bang Theory: fiery and kick-ass.

* (Ebony Stallion) At the end of the chapter "Repercussions", there was supposed to be a scene where a reporter took a picture of the couple and made to get it printed, only to be stopped by two mafia ponies, and through a couple of deliveries, get sent to Grimoire (who is off-screen-er-page), and hinting at the next chapter.

* One thought that never made it to print was the idea that the Flim-Flam brothers would be related in some way to Dusty.

* Ebony put a lot of work into the creation of the Napoleons. He even had his own ideas for what the brothers would sound like. Grimiore would have the voice of Timothy Dalton, Murray would have the voice of Brandon Routh, Sonny would sound like Aidan Quinn, Salt would have the voice of Jason Statham, Lars would have Jude Law's voice, Vinny would have the voice of Joe Mantegna, Slot would sound like George Eads, and Caboose would sound like Jessie Eisenberg (with O'Malley's voice being that of Liam Neeson). Their short names were strongly based from parts of their full names, Murder, Arson, Assault, Larceny, Vandal, and Manslaughter.

* (Ebony Stallion) Originally, Grimiore and Caboose were the only ones who were ever going to get character development, while the remaining brothers were background characters. But alas, I felt it would be a waste of space to not give them character, so we proceed to make them into the characters they are today.

* Caboose (and his split personality, O'Malley) was inspired by Caboose of the Red Vs Blue series.

* (Ebony Stallion) I was watching a lot of Red Vs Blue at the time of this fic, so a couple of RvB references made it into this story. You can see some of RvB's Caboose's quotes in the story (and in later stories, such as "Love, Equestria Style"), and inspiring most of Caboose's personality, including O'Malley and his cannon 'Shelia', which is the representation of RvB Caboose being possessed by AI O'Malley, and having a crush on the guidance system of the Scorpion tank, Shelia.

* (Ebony Stallion) Examples of RvB references are as followed: Caboose getting his hoof tip broken off by Caballeron (RvB Caboose getting his toe shot off), Iron Hooves threatening Caboose for his 'cow' comment (RvB Caboose making the same comment, and Church threatening him), him having 'shot' his cousin Church (same deal for RvB, in fact, he and other members appear as cousins in later stories), and in "Blueblood vs Dodge Junction", Caboose was despairing about 'pedals' regarding his cannon (which RvB Caboose did), and he was singing the theme song 'Red Vs Blue' while stomping on cherries.

* Originally, Big Red would have mentioned that "Cheery" the cherry tree had a beautiful girl in her, as part of another nod to Red Vs Blue.

* (Ebony Stallion) By "Blueblood's Forty-Something Birthday", I had realized that there were a lot of age discrepancies, that ended up getting worse by "Ponyville, With Love" and "House of the Crystal Sun"... but more on that later.

* In this story, we gave Blueblood the surname "Crest," in keeping with his royal lineage.

* (Ebony Stallion) At this point, we try to give last names to our OCs. It is a bit of goof on Shine Paladin's part, as Paladin is both a part of his first full name (Shine Paladin), but also his last name.

* In a nice piece of irony, we named the foal who would come to be a humble little Prince "Pureblood", the irony being that he was the result of a crossbreeding event. Being an Earth Pony gave Pureblood a lack of self-esteem, and made him look up to his father. In contrast, we made Vito a bit of a big-headed egotist, always rubbing the fact that he had been born a Unicorn like Blueblood in his brother's face, but with a soft spot underneath (like his father). And their middle name being Thor and Loki? Cleverness at it's fineness.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Who is Ebony Stallion?

[Ebony Stallion]

6598554 I am!

[HolyCross9]

I'm so glad that Dusty managed to bond with her younger half-brother.

[danick]

You forgot tô tag blueblood

[Spyro the Night Fury]

I have read all of your stories since a flash from romance and I have been hooked ever since. if I could make a suggestion why not make a YouTube channel and put your stories as audio dramas and then later as animations. Please tell me what you guys think because if you guys like the idea i'll explain it in a little bit more detail.
Thank you guys for making these great stories and I cant wait to read more of them.
Your friend and guardian of the Mulitverse Spyro the Night Fury
P.S. the guardian part is from my story that I haven't finished yet. let me know if anypony wants to hear about it

[moonlit scribe]

As Dusty carried Arkham back to his crib, Arkham grabed her braid, and started pulling on it.

Grabbed not grabed

[Skyfall360]

...

Wow kid.

[LunaJack]

Being an American I tended to think of Grim sounding like Robert DeNiro but I listened to clips of each of these actors and I agree with you. I especially liked Jason Stratham as Salt and Joe Mantegna as Vinny.