Quarrel
“Have any… twos?” Blueblood tried, peeking over his cards hopefully.
“Nnnope,” I answer, popping the p. I have to fight the smirk down as Bluey groans and throws his hooves up. I really want to learn poker so that I can own my brother at it. He takes wearing his heart on his sleeve to the next level, though, perhaps that's because he doesn’t wear sleeves.
“You cheat,” he declared, slamming his cards down and crossing his hooves with a harrumph.
I take this as a declaration of surrender and finally release the grin I was holding back. “I win again then? How ‘bout best three out of five?”
“No, you cheat. You’re a cheater.”
“Come on, do you really think I would be that deceitful with you?”
“To win? Yep.”
I give him a playful shove and the first inklings of a smile begins to break through his soured visage. “You know, maybe if you didn’t give up so quick, you could actually turn things around,” I propose.
“For he that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day,” Blueblood recites confidently, quoting Grandpa Shield and ignoring my incredulous stare.
“Riiight, I don’t think that works in Go Fish.”
“Yes it does, you just don’t think so ‘cause you're not smart like me.”
“Oh yeah?” What’s six plus eleven?” I counter with narrowed eyes, feeling triumphant as my brother sputters and blushes.
“It’s, uh, it’s… um sixteen.”
“Seventeen,” I correct, getting a glare. “Who’s the smart one again?”
“Well… Well, you’re the one teaching me math, so my wrong answer is your fault. You’re a bad teacher!”
I gasp at the accusation, pushing the hoof thrown in my face to the side. “You take that back, you little ingrate! You wouldn’t even be able to count your hooves if it weren’t for me!”
“No,” is his witty response. He even goes so far as to stick his tongue out at me in the ultimate sign of disrespect. Oh, he was going to get it.
What followed was a battle for the ages as brother and sister fought for the title of smartest twin. The subjects of Playroom were divided into opposing factions and soon knew the horrors of war as their leaders made them take up arms. Friendships shattered, families were torn apart, and all knew only sadness and sorrow. For ten minutes the war waged on, the once kind and benevolent rulers not yielding even as buttons were lost and innocent stuffing spilled.
The war waged until, in a display of dastardly cunning, Prince Blueblood twisted Fluffykins, Duchess of Cotton Balls, and used the noble hare to strike down her own princess.
“Yield!” Blueblood shouts, bringing the stuffed bunny down in a swift strike upon my head. “Yield!”
“Ne- oomph- never!” To think my own brother would sink so low as to turn my own toys against me. Has he no shame! “I will never yield to a malefactor such as you!”
“I don’t know what that is!” Blueblood yells, smacking me again with the bunny. “Yield!”
“Villian- oomph! Delinquent- grunt! Miscreant- ack! Contemptible cur!”
“You’re just making stuff up now!”
“Oof- Huh! See, I am the smarter one! I read the dictionary!”
“That makes you boring, not smart.” Blueblood says, stopping his assault to give a flat stare.
“Does not!” I retort as I struggle to my hooves, my bunny-battered body shaking slightly. “Learning is cool, Mom says!”
“No it’s not.”
“Yes it is!”
“Nooo it’s not.”
Tackling the colt to the ground while he’s distracted, I wrestle Fluffykins from his hooves. “Yes. It. Is!” I punctuate each syllable with a righteous blow, and Blueblood is left to fruitlessly try and shield himself with his hooves.
Suddenly, we hear a door slam somewhere in the house before a familiar voice yells something. Both my brother and I gasp before Blueblood bucks me off and shouts, “Grandpa Shield will agree with me! That’ll prove I’m the smart one and you’re the boring one!”
“No, he’ll agree with me!” I say as I chase after my brother. It’s taken a year and eight months, but I’ve mastered this new body enough to run without tripping every three steps, which is too bad for Blueblood. Putting my all into a sprint and leaping forward, I catch his back legs, causing him to fall down and allowing me to overtake him.
The growl from his lips when I stick my tongue out at him from over my shoulder has me laughing nearly all the way to the entrance. I would have kept laughing all the way into Grandpa Shield's embrace too, if I didn’t hear my father yell at him and what was definitely a hoof slamming into the floor
Slowing to a stop, I stand just out of sight at the corner and perk an ear forward. What’s happening?
I hold a hoof up to Blueblood when he tries to enter the foyer, sending him a silent message to be still. For a moment, it’s clear that he wants to argue, but another anger-filled yell has him snapping his jaw shut and hesitantly stepping closer.
“I know you had something to do with this, going behind my back, talking to the princess about me. I never thought my own son would be so traitorous,” Grandpa growls.
“Dad, I neither know what you are talking about nor what makes you think you can come barging into my house like this to berate me, but if you continue, I will not hesitate to kick you out.”
“Oh yeah, how are you going to manage that? You think just because you got the princess’ ear you’re some sort of bigshot?”
Dad sighs. “Have you been drinking? Because you aren’t making any sense. Especially if you think I can’t remove you from my own home by force.”
“I’m a soldier!”
“A retired soldier! Dad, you haven’t seen action in over twenty years!”
“My country still needs me, don’t you get that!? I can help the next generation! I can pass on what I know!”
“Do you really believe that that is really so important? If you aren’t doing work you begged the princess for, you’re sitting up at that cabin by yourself.” Dad’s voice goes from tight to having the slightest waver. “Dad, why can’t you let that life go?”
“Because it’s all I have left!” I had peeked around the corner to see Grandpa Shield with hot tears in his eyes. “I wasn’t able to save your mother, and now you’re trying to stop me from doing what little good left I can do. I can help Equestria, its ponies; the princess believed so… at least until you convinced her otherwise.”
“Dad…” the younger stallion tries, hoof rising as if to reach for his father before stalling. “Dad, what happened to Mom was an accident. It wasn’t your fault, or anypony's. Listen, I don’t know what you think I did, but I haven’t spoken more than a few words to Aunty in months, and what was said wasn’t about you.
“Maybe… maybe Celestia believes it’s finally time for you to move on; you’re supposed to be retired for a reason. It’s time for you to put aside your armor and spend time with your family. We- Ornate and I, we’ve talked about it, and we both believe it’d be for the best if you moved in with us. Sitting at that cabin, dwelling on the past, it’s not healthy.”
As he says this, Dad steps forward and makes to hug his father, but his hoof is slapped away as Grandpa Shield glares. “What? You think I’m crazy, is that what you’re suggesting? Just a crazy old stallion by himself in the woods. Is that what you told the princess? You know, she was telling me the same thing, that I should stay in Canterlot. Now I can see where she got the idea.”
“For the last time, I never spoke with Princess Celestia you stubborn-!”
“It was me!” little Blueblood shouts, pushing past me as I’m too stunned to move. As I watched the older ponies fight, my heart began to pound against my rib cage. I couldn’t keep the memories at bay, couldn’t get the image of my human parents fighting, yelling, and hating each other from the forefront of my mind. Everypony just seemed so happy here that I began to believe somewhere along the line that they simply couldn’t be like this to one another.
The mere prospect of my new family going through that, falling apart in any regard, freezes me in place as I listen to my brother continue. “I’m sorry Grandpa! I didn’t mean to make you sad, I just miss you so much when you go away!”
“Wha-Bluey? What are you talking about?” Grandpa Shield asks, kneeling down to receive his grandson.
Leaping into the embrace, Blueblood cried, “When Pure and I were at- at the castle, Au-aunty Celestia asked me how I was feeling, and-and I told her I wish I could see you more. I’m so-sorry!”
“Shh, shh, calm down little one, it’s okay.”
“No it’s not. You’re mad and yelling at daddy and it’s all my fault. I just wanted to see you more! I-I didn’t know she would take your job!”
As Shield hushes the crying colt, Dad steps forward and sits. “Blueblood, you didn’t do anything wrong, you were just being honest. You know, if I’m to be honest, I’d like to see Dad more too, we all would.”
Leveling a meaningful look at the older stallion, Grandpa returns the gaze with a tightened jaw for a bit before releasing a sigh. “Okay, I see what you and the princess have been getting at. I… I guess it is time for me to retire for real instead of just officially.”
Stroking the colt’s mane, Grandpa closes his eyes. “It’s hard though, knowing that I can be out there, helping Equestria, keeping it safe, even if it’s not on the frontlines.”
“But you can keep us safe!” little Blueblood exclaimed. “Yeah, um, if you live with us, you can keep us safe, Mom and Dad, Pure and me! You can protect Canterlot and Princess right from here!”
Blinking a few times, Grandpa chuckles. “I guess I can, and hey, fresh recruits still train here in Canterlot, I don’t have to visit every camp in Equestria.” He rubs his chin in thought. “Hey, would you like to train with me too, lad? I whipped your father into shape growing up, I’m sure I can do the same for you.”
While the colt smiles broadly, the color drains from Dad’s face. “H-hey now, we haven’t even gotten everything worked out yet, like when and if you’ll be moving in with us, when we’ll be able to collect your things from the cabin- there’s no need to start making up workout routines.”
“Nonsense!” Grandpa declares, standing while sticking his grandson on his back. “I was planning on getting a hotel room after we… well, settled things here, but I might as well stay the night, save some bits. We’ll have plenty of time to work everything out so I’m sure it will all be settled by morning. Then I can begin this little one’s training regimen first thing in the morning.”
Dad went to say something, but the matching grins of his father and son had him sighing instead. They all seem happy now, or at least not mad, and I begin to slowly step out, legs feeling like jelly. My heartbeat has begun to settle, but I still feel nervous and afraid. “D-daddy, Grandpa?”
Dad’s eyes snap to me and the beginnings of a smile start to form before falling away. “Pureblood? Honey, what’s the matter?” he asks, walking over to pick me up. He looks over to Grandpa. “Did… did you hear us fighting too?”
“Mhmm,” is as much as an answer I can muster as I wipe my eyes dry. “Dad, do… do you and Grandpa Shield… hate each other?”
“What?” Dad replies, eyes wide. “Of course not! What would make you think such a thing?”
“Because you were yelling at each other.”
“Oh…” rubbing the back of his neck, Dad clears his throat. “Well, um, sometimes, grownups get mad and yell instead of talking there problems out properly. It isn’t right, but it doesn’t mean they hate each other.”
“He’s right,” Grandpa chimes in, regret clear in his voice as he comes closer. “I’m sorry for scaring you like that. I was mad, but I could never stop loving your father. He’s my son after all, even if he couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag.”
As Blueblood and I giggle at that, Dad glares. “Hey! Just because I didn’t join the royal guard like you kept trying to push me into doesn’t mean I’m a pushover.”
“Maybe before you moved out of the house when you were younger, but you haven’t been keeping up with your training since then. Your legs might as well be toothpicks for how skinny they are. And don’t even get me started on that gut!”
“Wha-? I’ll have you know Ornate has to beat the ladies off of me with a stick when we go out together!”
“Yes, I’ll never understand this new infatuation girls have with mareish-looking stallions.”
“Mareish? I have a mustache!”
Shaking his head, Grandpa repeats, “I’ll never understand…”
Staring out the window to the garden, Blueblood the 16th watches with a soft smile as his father plays with the twins. It was a side of the stallion he had not seen nearly enough of since his mother passed all those years ago, though he hoped that would be rectified soon.
“Blueblood? I was told you wanted to see me,” Ornate began as she entered the room. “I was only gone for thirty minutes to do some grocery shopping with Cutting Board. Surely nothing too bad has happened since then.”
“Oh no, nothing bad,” Blueblood said, turning to his beautiful wife. “Well, I suppose it could have been bad, almost was even, but no, things have worked out fine. Better even. Come see for yourself.”
Ornate raised an eyebrow. “Oookay, be cryptic why don’t you,” she said as she moved to the window to see what her husband was gesturing at. “Your father? What’s he doing here? He usually sends a letter in advance announcing his visits, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, his visit was quite the surprise, and like I said, it wasn’t shaping up to be a good one. It seems Aunty Celestia has decided to no longer send my father all over Equestria to scare trainees anymore. He didn’t take it well.”
“Oh dear, I can understand why,” said Ornate, a confused frown on her face. “But why would that lead to an ‘almost bad’ visit here?”
“Well, he got the thought in his head that I asked Aunty to do it, and he was none too happy with the idea of me meddling in his life. For a moment there, it looked like things were going to come to blows until our son came out and confessed he was the one who told Aunty that he wished his Grandpa wasn’t always gone.”
Ornate gasped. “And was he mad?”
Blueblood shook his head with a small smile. “No, his anger all but evaporated as soon as he saw his grandson. I pray that Blueblood doesn’t realize the power he has over the old soldier any time soon. He could get Dad to do whatever he wanted if he did. As it is, he’s already convinced him to move in after I failed to do so.”
“… Really?”
Blueblood gave his wife a sideways glance. “Is that okay with you? I know we’ve discussed this before, but it was always in hypotheticals.”
“No, no, I’m glad to hear it. Hopefully he’ll finally be able to start moving on, plus the twins adore him, little Blueblood especially. It’s just a surprise is all, I didn’t expect it’d be that easy to convince him, let alone for it to happen in the half-hour I left the house.”
Blueblood chuckled. “Yes, it is quite sudden, but I’m happy, it’s like a weight was lifted from my shoulders. I’ve worried about him ever since Mom passed. Worried he’d do something rash or… Well, I’m just glad that that those fears can finally be put to rest… Though I’m a bit worried for our son’s health now.”
Panic entered Ornate’s eyes. “What?”
“Sorry, I simply mean that dear old dad wants to start training our son like he did me. You remember how I told you that was like.”
Ornate relaxed a bit. “Don’t scare me like that,” she began, leaning into her husband. “With Pureblood having to visit the hospital again soon, I’ve been on edge lately. As for the training… maybe it’ll be good for Blueblood; help him burn off some of that extra energy he expends on driving the help crazy.”
“Maybe so, but no colt deserves that sort of torture,” the stallion countered. “I just hope I can get father not to overdo it. I’d rather not explain to ponies why my son is limping wherever he goes.”
“I’m sure it will be fine,” assured Ornate, smiling at the sight of her son and daughter rolling on the ground in a laughing fit, their grandfather pulling silly faces while doing a little jig. “He loves those two to bits.”
“Of course he does. How could he not when we have the two most adorable children in Equestria?” Blueblood stated proudly, chest puffed out while his wife rolled her eyes.
“The most adorable, don’t you think that’s exaggerating? They’re more likely in the top five.”
“Oh yeah, like there could ever be one foal cuter than ours, let alone two or three,” said Blueblood before mumbling under his breath, “I married a crazy mare.”
“Keep it up and you’ll be spending the night in the guest room with your father,” Ornate threatened. “Now how about we stop staring out the window like a creepy old couple and go outside? I haven’t seen my foals in nearly forty minutes now, and I’m becoming impatient.”
Chuckling, Blueblood gestured for her to go first and quickly followed behind. Spending some quality time with his family sounded perfect right about now.
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sounds cool but it would be interesting to see more of pure acting a tad bit too mature or human'e,
Whoo more update
this story is just too good. First day of school will be 'interesting' im sure 
So cool, looking forward for more
While this is adorable and worthy, a time skip would be more than appropriate at this juncture.
Another time skip will be good. Can't wait when you'll reach their adulthood.
7598952 The interesting thing is that as she gets older, her development will regress to the mean by necessity. She's highly unusual as a yearling, but as an older foal her initial advantage will tend to fold into her existing second life. She also may or may not have her past life fade. She might recall it as a rich childhood fantasy life, for instance. Children are plastic that way.
I love the Chemistry between siblings here. You write them really well. And it's also great that you're showing how Blue starts to learn the value of manipulating ponies (as a politician).
When I clicked on this, I thought the title was "Gelded Sister".
Don't judge me.
If your going with some of the comics as cannon then the training could be how Blueblood meets Shining armour and interating enough to make a friendship.
"A weights were?"
do you mean "A set of weights were", or "A weight was", you got a singular definer leading into a plural entity as it stands.
It's a neat mix of scenes that really work out to a lovely image overall of the play. So if you think that will be good, then odds are it should. I've enjoyed the direction you've taken this so far.
Oh to school? But they aren't even 2 yet, unless they turn 8 like the CMC.
I kind of thought maybe the training comes first than school, maybe Pure would like to be a guard?
MOAR
Will Pure go to a mixed school? That way her head would not hurt at all, unlike a unicorn school were fillies and colts keep practicing magic.
7599018
I just want Pure to meet Twilight
Like i've said before, it's not the kids, teens or adults you need to worry about. it's the Youths.
that story sounds interessting, just sad that I haven't seen it earlier. I mean the author has no reason to follow any suggestions, but there is always a chance. Well I'm curious how it is going to happen, but I hope it isn't exaclty a "the Human is forced by someone else to act how the body was supposed to act" (or the former soul) story.
I am interested to know what the results are of the next hospital visit. Maybe a training montage of the blue blood's, or flashbacks during the school days.
I love the chemistry of the family, especially the children. Will Pure ever talk about her past to her family?
Based on how things are turning out, Blue will be buddies with Shining, and Pure will be Twilight's study partner.
7599458
Twilight is younger than Pure I think. Also considering how powerful Twi is, she would end giving Pure headaches all the time. Celestia herself said Twilight Sparkle was the most powerful unicorn she had ever seen.
I have a criticism regarding this story as a whole: diction. A person's education, upbringing, lifestyle, their station - all these things affect their choice of words, how they speak, and when they speak. The issue I see is twofold: your characters all have a similar "voice," and their diction does not match their station. Here, the parents do not sound like nobles, and the grandfather does not speak like a soldier.
To quote Schopenhauer: "Style is the physiognomy of the mind."
Still, I'm interested in seeing where this story leads - so keep writing!
7599557 Doesn't mean they can't read books together.
7599557 it just means that Pure would only be able to take Twi in small doses. this is of course asuming that pure lives through the day when both a Sonic Rainboom AND twi go nuclear. ..asuming of course that pure doesn't end up being gifted in some way by that same event. never know what twists and turned can happening in an A.U.
BURN THE YAOI!!! BURN IT ALL!!!!
7599557 Well considering that she can handle Celestia without pain right now, just a warm sensation, I think she can manage Twilight sparkle.
Although I do wonder what will happen when Twilight enters the picture, maybe Blueblood will be jealous of this new filly taking up all her aunties time?
Although considering that Cadence was a teen when Twilight entered school, that's probably a long time coming.
Really good read. I have followed this since it's first chapter and just now decided to comment on the rather large following you seem to have gotten.
If i took a guess Pureblood's magic sensitivity will take on a role in her talent. Perhaps eventually she could sense things about others. Maybe she will get very good at predicting character and pasts due to it as well assuming bad ponys give off a negative magical aura that pure can pick up on.
7600480
Celestia was being nice, Twilight Sparkle has magic incontinence issues. Also Celestia wasn't practicing magic all the time with Pureblood nearby.
Let's face it, Pure will avoid Twilight Sparkle after her magic surge unless Celestia kind of forces them to be together.
And due to Pureblood sickness and how powerful Twilight is, Celestia won't.
7600614 Heh, your probably right, Pure and Twilight probs wouldn't have much interaction, or the interaction they have would be strained at best, Unless Pureblood's condition has remarkably lessened by that point that is.
Although that would mean that when twilight enters the picture, the twins will probably be seeing less of Celestia, as a lot of her free time would be spent tutoring Twilight Sparkle.
:) 1000 well-deserved likes.
so is gramps going to train Pureblood as well? I mean they are twins and seem to be doing most things together as long as it doesn't involve magic.
7600774
Unlike Blue, Pure didn't ask.
Congratulations on a 1,000 likes!
One thing I don't really get...Pure is capable of communicating with everyone quite well, why hasn't the subject of her former life even crossed her mind as a conversational topic? I mean, there are reasons for her to decide to leave it be, but they haven't really been explored. Shouldn't she at some point actually decide if she's going to leave it all behind for good? Heck, when you're basically related to the local deity, the thought of consulting her for wisdom should at least pop up.
A small grammatical error:
It should be their, not there
That's pretty much my only nitpick here. Great job on this - young Bluey saves the day with his innocence! Right after causing mischief. Kids
As for the time skip to school - sounds good. It means more of this story either way, so I'm good with that
well....If we get to see the friends she is making and stuff like that I won't mind the timeskip, she already had a nice start in her life. Does she get some sort of personal maid too? I kind of start to expect that with how many servants they had or have.
It is a really good story, I just hope that she can be good at something too, something that the others can be proud of as much as they are of Blueblood for being able to do all that stuff that she didn't seems to be good at. I guess you know what I mean, her being cute isn't enough at the moment for me. I know it will probably happen, but I want to say something anyway.
7600873
yeah but I wouldn't put it past him to "draft" her into the "fun"
Ah, reading new chapters. Been so long since I've caught up with anything and been able to do this.
7601731
You mean Blueblood? Yeah he would do that. Not her grandpa since he sees her as a frail sick girl.
7601525
Because she doesn't want to talk about it? Pure is acting more and more her age and for suxh a young child a past life were she was sick, locked up and then died is not a good topic to talk about.
Why would she tell someone about it when at best they would think she made it up and at worst it would get her the wrong kind of attention?
She is happier with her new life aftef all.
that
7599020 Great idea. It would be awesome to see this Blueblood end up in the Royal Guard.
7603297 I doubt it as that would mean being unable to help the princess run things so she gets some more spare time but you dont need to be in the guard to have friends there.
7604245 You have a point there, it wouldn't work for a full time career. But most real-life princes in modern history have done a tour of duty in the military (2-4 years), so I thought he might do that.
I'm in favour of the time skip, but I'm actually not that interested in what happened to Stalwart's wife at all. I don't think the interlude is really necessary, the things we can infer from the way it's being talked about give us more than enough information.
7602215 She hasn't even made that decision 'on-screen', though. We're able to get a good deal of her perspective on things, and the thought coming up and being dismissed doesn't even happen. We don't have the chance to know her reason behind not talking, or if she even has one.
7608475
You know we are just speculating, right?
Yay, we will finally get to see the two go to school. But wait, because Pure remembers everything from her old life would she get thrown into a REALY advanced curriculum? Would that separate the two siblings? I guess I'll find out.
No need to show what happened to the wife, in this case less is more.
It would be nice if some of her old human self was shown more, with knowledge that would be bizarre to the ponies, because the problem sometimes with these stories is that the human tag is pointless if the protagonist could easily just have been a normal, but genius foal like Twilight.
7608593 I'm not speculating, I'm pointing out that there's a pretty obvious, important matter which hasn't even come up as an aside once. We don't know her attitude towards it, or anything about her thoughts on the subject, because nothing has been shown, and that was the entire point of my original comment. It just seems like a really strange thing to not even glance over.