P.B. and J.

by TheAmazingMe

P.B. and ... Memories

Idly, I wondered when Joe would be back. He'd never given a specific time, so he could've been there at any moment. I took a tray of cinnamon rolls out of an oven and sighed. It reminded me of our time together. Setting the tray down, I covered my face in my hooves and groaned. Why had I insisted on waiting?

"I'm home!" Joe practically sang as he walked in the front door. I ran out of the kitchen to see him.

There was a stallion standing beside Joe, leaning on him casually. Intimately, even. He was another unicorn; he was red with black legs and muzzle. His tail was black while his black mane had a shock of white. While Joe's eyes roamed around the shop, the mystery stallion's green eyes were fixated on Joe with complete devotion.

"Joe!" Sue Chef exclaimed happily. "Good to see you again! How was Las Pegasus?"

"Better than I could have imagined!" Joe replied, turning to touch noses with the stallion beside him.

"J-Joe?" The name escaped my throat before I could stop myself. "I-I thought..."

Joe looked at me with pity. "Halfway through the trip, I hit a pretty big low. I found the new love of my life, though and he's made me nothing but completely happy

Joe looked at my shocked expression and nudged my shoulder. "You'll find someone who can love you as more than a friend. And you'll love them, too. I just hope whoever it is can match your standards. Celestia knows I couldn't." Joe said with a smile.

What? When was more than friendship on the table? "Joe, no, you, I..."

"Anyway, we have to go. Bye Blueblood." Joe announced suddenly. I blinked and noticed both of them dressed in white suits.

"Where are you going?" I asked, my heart in my throat.

"Why, to get married of course!" Joe laughed.

I blanched. "Joe, you just met..."

"The love of my Life, remember? Why would I wait!" The pair laughed as they turned around and walked away.

It finally clicked. This had to be a dream. "Luna! Aunt Luna! Please!"

The shop melted away, to be replaced by a sea of stars. I floated in the night sky as a warm breeze fluttered past. "I am here, nephew. I'll admit, I wasn't sure that you would call on me."

Luna glided down through the endless heavens and took me in her hooves. I relaxed in her embrace; the racing in my heart from the heightened emotions slowed. I pulled away to speak to her.

"How much of that did you see?" I asked.

"Only the end, when you called me. Princess' Honor." She held up a forehoof and placed the other over her heart. "I did see two stallions leaving dressed in white. One looked surprisingly familiar."

I sighed. "Which one?"

She smiled. "Brown coat, darker brown mane, striking resemblance to a certain favored baker. You seemed most upset to see them go."

I buried my face in her shoulder.

"Isn't this a good thing?" She asked, wonderingly.

I protested. "How could it be?"

She snorted. "Finding a pony with whom you share affection is usually seen as a positive thing."

"But, this pony..." I drifted off.

"Helped you in the middle of the night. Stood up for you in my Court. Let you stay with him when you were down emotionally. Has taught you how to bake, which is his talent and passion." She pointed out helpfully.

"When you put it that way." I replied.

She smiled. "Makes one seem oblivious, does it not?"

"Thank you, Luna." I said, nearly exasperated.

"You're welcome." She said, likely intentionally ignoring the attitude behind my words.

I ran a hoof through my mane. "What do I do? I’ve never shared my past with anypony!"

Luna placed a hoof on my shoulder. "You cannot bear to see him with another pony, correct?"

I fought with myself over the answer, but in the end there was really only one. "I can't. Call me envious."

"I shan't." She assured me. "Well, I shan't if you confess your love in return."

"Love! We’re just friends!” I protested further.

“Not to sound too much like your nightmare version of me, but didn't you say you weren’t even friends previously?” She asked, eyebrow arched.

“Thanks for reminding me about that,” I said, half-heartedly. “I don’t know if I love him. Or anypony. Am I even capable of it or is it just my possessiveness?" I asked.

"Do you want to own him? Control him? Have him with you at all times?" Luna asked seriously.

I thought about it. "No."

She smiled. "Then, I would err on the side of love. Although, if you would like a more experienced opinion, I'm sure Princess Cadence would--"

"No!" I replied. Trying not to think of my experiences with the Princess of Love. The starry surroundings shifted subtly, as if the stars decided to fall slowly.

Luna looked around and spoke hurriedly. "Careful, nephew. I did not mean trigger a memory, and in this realm it is easy to fall back into one. Just don't think about whatever it is that's troubling you."

It was easy for her to say. I tried not to think about it, but the more I tried, the less effective it was. The stars spun out of control until a new setting built itself around us. Walls rose, decorations sprouted like leaves on a vine and a young white-coated blond pony appeared. Before Luna could react, we stood in the hall outside Celestia's quarters.

Right next to a younger version of myself.

"Civil's wrong. I need to talk to Celestia about this. It isn't right that everypony else knows what their talent is, but I don't!" Younger Blueblood said aloud to psyche himself up to the task of talking to Celestia.

"I'm sorry, nephew. I can leave, if you'd like." Luna said to me, turning to the hallway.

"Get back here!" I hissed. "Can't you stop..."

"Blueblood, what are you doing here?" A young Cadence asked.

Young Blueblood stiffened. "If you must know, I am here to speak to my Aunt."

"Our Aunt." She corrected. "The House of the Heart is nearly as old as they come."

Young Blueblood puffed out his chest. "I am a prince of the House of the Day, a much older house by far. You're just some lucky lesser noble who got to be the Princess' hoof-maiden."

"Prince Blueblood, you wouldn't know a hoof-maiden from a barfly." Cadence said. "And if you think your annoying little games are going to get to me..."

"My annoying games?” Young Blueblood asked primly. “You give me too much credit, you simple-minded maiden. This is how the aristocracy works. Wake up from your little romance novels and realize that you play them just like everypony else."

Her eyebrows shot up in indignation. "I do not!"

"How do you think you got to where you are? Wait, let me guess, 'because I'm a good pony.'" Young Blueblood made a face. He started circling the mare. "Like it has nothing to do with mommy and daddy talking up a storm about you every chance they get at Court. 'Oh, Cadence is such a sweet mare.' 'Oh, you wouldn't believe how sweet she is with the filly she foalsits!' You're benefiting from this game just as much, if not more, than I am."

Cadence shook her head. "And what good does anypony have to say about you?"

"Good, bad, what does it matter? All anypony cares about is what other ponies can do for you." Young Blueblood flicked his tail, idly sitting with his back to Celestia's door. "So why don't you ditch the sweeter-than-syrup nonsense and just be who you really are inside?"

"Blueblood." The young Blue cringed. Both ponies turned to face Princess Celestia. "Is that any way for a young gentlecolt to speak to a mare?"

Young Blueblood bowed deeply. "I'm sorry, Aunt Celestia..."

She shook her head. "Don't apologize to me, Blueblood."

The young Blue turned to face Cadence and bowed to hide his expression of disgust. "My apologies, Lady Cadence."

The scene froze. "Sorry, that took a little longer to work than usual. Strong memories aren't as easy to stop as a made-up dream."

I shook myself as the scene faded into mist. "Good night, Princess Luna." I turned to walk away, but couldn't seem to make any progress. Sighing, I turned back around.

Luna looked worried. "Blue, please don't shut me out. I know you didn't mean for it to happen, but we should discuss--"

I snapped. "How your sister has treated me since I came to Canterlot? How I was left in the care of a pony whose only thought was her own advancement? Or maybe we could talk about how well she treated, and continues to treat, Cadence and Twilight?"

Luna shook her head. "Celestia does not know how to handle family. She's never been good at it. Our own parents weren't..."

"I don't care! She had hundreds of years to get over that. I don't have that kind of time." I turned away angrily. "Why? Why did I ever convince myself that she loved me?"

"Blueblood, be careful..." Luna's voice trailed off as ponies materialized before us. Celestia sat, her hoof brushing aside the hair of a foal version of me to expose a black eye. A third pony, the orphanage director Mrs. Tender Care, stood anxiously with one hoof over her mouth.

I moaned. This was an early memory that I'd tried to forget. My parents died just a few months before this and I hadn't had time to grieve for them before I started grieving for myself. I thought things couldn't get worse until the princess visited our little run-down home. An older colt had knocked me down for trying to avoid him. Unlike usual, he'd made a mistake and hit me where the bruise would be most noticeable. My feeble attempt to cover it up hadn't worked.

“I beg your pardon, my princess, but Mrs. Care didn't know. I hid it from her.” The foal Blueblood said. My parents had been proper-minded ponies and taught me manners before they passed.

The princess regarded him seriously. “Is that so?” He nodded. “Why would you hide this?”

Foal Blue opened his mouth to answer, then snapped it closed.

She smiled. “Young colt, a princess is not used to repeating herself. Please answer my question. Why hide this?”

He shook his head. “If I hadn’t, I’d get asked all sorts of questions. Then somepony would get in trouble and that would only make him madder at me.”

Celestia nodded. “Him, eh? So it is another colt? Have you ever told Mrs. Care or another adult about the problem with this other foal?”

“No ma'am.” He answered plainly.

The princess turned to Mrs. Care. “Were you aware of any problems with other foals?”

Mrs. Care bowed and answered. “No, my princess. I’ve had foals take turns going bully but I’d thought they were all well in hoof.”

After a calculating look, Celestia nodded. “One of the goals of this tour is to assess the conditions the most vulnerable amongst us face. You have a lot of foals to worry about, Mrs. Care. I believe you are doing your best, just as I am certain more could be done to assist you and foals like…” She drifted off and looked back at the foal.

“I’m sorry, where are my manners? What is your name, young gentlecolt?” She asked him kindly.

The foal bowed. “If it pleases Your Highness, I, Blueblood, am at your service.”

“Blueblood?” Celestia asked.

The foal looked up. “Yes, my princess. My parents were Fresh Blood and Red Blood. They were doctors during…”

“During the outbreak.” Celestia finished quietly. She brightened, taking the foal's chin in her hoof. “I know a few healing spells. With your permission, Blueblood, I can see to that eye.”

Civil List stepped forward. “Highness, it is quite inappropriate—" Celestia silenced the pony with a look.

“If it pleases Your Highness, permission granted.” Her horn glowed, casting an aura of healing magic over the colt's black eye.

Her work done, she leaned in close. “It seems Equestria is indebted to you. I will make sure that debt is paid.” Her expression was inscrutable.

The scene changed again, Celestia stood tall over the younger version of me. The bloody nose and black eye put the earlier memory to shame. My foalhood bully, Dirt Claude, cowered as the rest of the orphanage and Mrs. Care looked on.

"Don't lay another hoof on him." It was her voice. I looked up to see Celestia bent over, one wing around me as a foal. "He is descended from a royal line of my own house thought to be gone for centuries. As such, he is a Prince and under my authority."

"Really?" The foal Blue asked in awe.

Celestia looked down on him kindly. "Really. The Blood family line is related to my own."

Through his black eye, foal Blue looked at her with hope. "So, you're like my mother? Or grandmother?"

"Let's go with aunt, shall we?" Celestia said, smiling.

"Yes, Auntie Celestia." The two faded as they walked away.

"Those memories were less clear." Luna remarked by my side. She was right, there wasn't much to them besides the ponies involved.

"I'd mostly forgotten. I've been trying to forget. It was easier not to remember a time when she was good to me." I said as I sat. "She saved me from a very bad situation. I may not practice it often, but I do have a sense of duty. I can never repay her; and I guess I stopped trying."

"There have been mistakes on both sides. Celestia needs to realize hers. Can I help you?" Luna asked.

I nodded. "I think it's time. I need to know more about myself anyway."

She looked at my mark and nodded. "I will help as much as I can with that as well."

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

Looks like Blueblood was already over the line by the time that particular conflict with Cadance happened...

It does sound like she succeeded pretty wildly in a way he did not.

... Did... Civil already say that deciding to heal Blueblood was inappropriate?

I mean... There's something to be said about someone who can be caring but harsh, or someone who has to be very politically careful but... seems like a bit of a red flag.

[TheAmazingMe]

7084721 Inappropriate for the Princess to do it herself, not for it to be done at all. Either way, Celestia wasn't having it that day.

[RadicalDishonesty]

7084855
Heh. I'm more referring to the idea that saying "oh... we should not help this child it would be improprietous" would be a slight red flag to giving the person that said it primary care of said child. Especially when this was the first significant thing they said about that child.

The "but..." comes from the idea that... it would actually be a somewhat compelling story, to have the heart-hardened political adviser learn to care for a poor orphan child.

But that might still be a pretty bad idea! And this story it hardly went well.

[Grekoy]

Is this an April fools chapter or the real thing? I thought it was an April fools chapter when the other stallion shared the same description as Life and Life was capitalized too. Either that or a crossover.

[TheAmazingMe]

7085457 Yay! You spotted the joke!

Yup, Life from Life in the Fast Lane is the other pony! This update is real though, no foolin'!

[Frankie2]

Wait. Civil List? The same Civil List that was his tutor was also head of the orphanage?? Please say it ain't so.

[TheAmazingMe]

7156425 Oh, sweet Celestia, no!

A third pony, the orphanage director Mrs. Tender Care, stood anxiously with one hoof over her mouth.

. Looking over the chapter again, I thought I mentioned Civil's position, but it looks like I totally forgot to establish her in the scene at all. oops. Civil List was an advisor for Princess Celestia before she became Blue's tutor/caretaker.

Also, thanks for the comments! I went away for a day so I could focus on work and sleep and it was very nice to come back and see someone enjoying this story!

[Frankie2]

7156739 Wheeeeew. That's a relief.