Chapter 10
Twilight pounded a hoof on the door. “Blueblood, please!” She knocked on the door again, ignoring the stares of the few ponies who walked past. “I just want to talk to you!” But no answer came, only the dull thump of the wood underneath her hoof.
The words which comprised a language were powerful tools. They were the cornerstone of society – how knowledge was passed on and how ponies communicated with one another. Yet, it wasn’t the words she had spoken that had upset Twilight so, it was the emotion behind them: anger, and the doubt which had so rapidly followed. She would have answers for Blueblood actions, but if she was to have them, then there couldn’t be any doubt.
The crux of the issue was that she was not prepared to condemn Blueblood as irredeemable if there was any reason to think otherwise. He could have taken credit for her bill for himself, but he could have taken credit of it for her. She just wasn’t sure. As the Princess of Friendship she was supposed to bridge divides and reconcile differences. Even Discord, a literal god of chaos who was likely the most singular negative cataclysm to ever impact Equestria, had shown himself worthy of the effort. Declaring Blueblood to be irredeemable would have him sharing a pedestal reserved for the likes of Sombra or Tirek. Her anger was no excuse except for the fact she had used it as one.
But even with the possibility of there being something more to Blueblood’s actions, it did not excuse everything. For instance, his usual way with words left an impression of a mother slapping the hooves of cookie-stealing-foals. It was not a harsh rebuke that could be distinctly recognized as one, but a twisting of gentle words into one. It was patronizing in all the worst ways and hardly respectful of her title or, more importantly, simply her as a pony.
The first challenge would be getting to talk to Blueblood as if he was in there – she knew he was from a maid – he refused to respond. With a sigh, she sat with her back against the door and covered her eyes with her hooves.
Think... She needed to think. She needed a way to get answers from him. Her cheek dully throbbed all the while, repeating Onyx Chalice’s betrayal in time with her heartbeat. He was another pony she would have to have words with. Twilight had once seen the butler tear into a pony – whom had been every bit the pony she had believed Blueblood to be – with such fierce fire that they were crying by the time he was done. But to see Onyx come to the defense of Blueblood, it flew in the face of what she had believed. If–
“– Twilight?”
Twilight’s ears flicked forward, followed quickly by her head, as she realized somepony was speaking to her. Paprika and – she continued looking up – a diamond dog were both looking at her. After a moment she recognized the diamond dog as Spot, an Ambassador from the Seven Burrows.
Paprika eyed Twilight with concern. “Is everything alright?” She had a cardboard box balanced on her back.
Twilight smiled, but her heart wasn’t in it. “Everything’s fine.”
“You sure?”
Inwardly the smile grew faker, but outwardly it appeared more real. “Positive. What were you and Ambassador Spot talking about?”
“Oh, well, Spot has been helping me make stuff for my experiment...” she trailed off and looked between the two of them. “You haven’t been introduced yet, have you?”
“I’ve sat in on meetings with Celestia where Spot was present, but no, I haven’t been.”
“Well...” Paprika puffed out her chest. “Spot, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle, Spot.” She held the pose for a moment before she broke with a giggle. “There we go, all introduced.”
Spot was a lanky chestnut brown Diamond dog who stood as tall as Celestia on his hind legs. Or would have if his height wasn’t compromised by the slight hunched gait so common to the unusual bipeds. It was easy to see where his namesake came, a single white dot on his forehead, but just off to the side enough to be slightly irritating to those expecting symmetry. He wore a deep blue suit jacket: immaculately styled with golden accents and without a speck of dirt adorning it. Twilight tilted her head imperceptibly as his deep blue eyes found her.
“Oh, Spot haven’t met Pretty Purple Friendship Princess yet.”
The formal diamond dog greeting caught Twilight off guard. “Err... Likewise.”
He glanced down at himself, a twinkle in his eye. “I do not recall being a Pretty Friendship Princess... Or Purple.”
“What– Oh.” Twilight winced as she realized what he meant. “You are a Big Handsome Diamond Dog.” The words out of her mouth, she blushed when she realized how it sounded.
While Spot just grinned a little wider, Paprika broke into laughter. “Oh, so does our Princess have the hots for the ‘big handsome’ ambassador?”
The blush doubled. She was just trying to be polite, but her knowledge of Diamond Dog customs were lacking as was how those customs translated across languages. Maybe she should have made mention of his station instead. Or maybe it was Paprika just poking fun at her. Or both. “No, I–” She sighed. There was only one way this conversation would end. “You know, I think you’d get along with Pinkie and Rainbow just fine. So, was I interrupting anything?”
Paprika shrugged, nearly upsetting the box on her back. “Not really. I was just talking to Spot about my research. He’s been helping me with a few things.”
Twilight looked at Spot and cocked her head. “You’re a scientist too?”
Spot shook his head. “Tinkerer.”
“He’s been making some of my equipment,” Paprika explained. “Spot’s really good at creating complex shapes and surfaces. I’d be paying out the nose if I had some goldsmith make it for me.”
“So you make jewelry?” she asked.
He see-sawed a paw in approximation. “Sort of. Hobby.”
Paprika tipped the box towards Twilight. “Here, take a look. It’s awfully nifty.”
When Twilight peaked in, her jaw dropped. Rarity would have had a fit if she knew something as beautiful as this was to be used in a science experiment. There was clearly the spot to hold a shaped crystal the size of her hoof, but nothing else matched Twilight’s expectations. Six delicate brass arms extended to hold the cage for the power crystal split and swirled about the base in opposite directions. Twelve more gems, each little focusing gems the size of blueberries, were held in their arms supported by a spindly latticework of silvery metal. There was some sort of apparatus at the base, but that was a mess of gears beyond the comprehension of a single glance.
Paprika closed up the box, and picked with her forelegs. “And sorry to run off on you Princess, but I have to get going. I left an experiment running that might accidently sort of spontaneously... Explode, if I forget about it.”
Twilight shook herself from her awe, and grinned. She knew the joys of unwatched experiments all too well. “Don’t let me hold you up then.”
Paprika smiled, and darted away, quickly fluttering through the halls with the package.
“Princess like my work?” Spot asked.
Twilight turned to face Spot. “That was gorgeous.”
“Spot appreciates compliment.”
Twilight shook her head. “No Spot, it’s not just a compliment. I’ve seen ponies spend more bits on art that doesn’t even look quarter as elegant as that. Thousands and thousands of bits.”
He sheepishly ducked his head. “Just hobby, princess. Not uncommon, but there’s limitations.”
“Are all diamond dogs capable of that?”
“Metal work like that? With practice, yes.”
His words piqued her curiosity.“Forgive me for sounding ignorant, but metal work? Do you mean like smithing”
He held out his paws, palms up. The large blunt claw capping the end of each digit stood out prominently. “The magic to cut through rock and soil is in our claws,” he said. “It’s how we dig.”
“Could you explain it to me?” she asked.
“Would you prefer a demn...” his brow furrowed, “Demonstration?”
“That would be amazing if you could. But...” Twilight looked around the hall. The castle staff worked a little too well sometimes; there was not as much as a spoon left out of place. The only thing she could see was a two century old suit of armour, something a little too valuable just to satisfy her curiosity.
“Spot can handle it,” Spot said. He reached for a ball of metal at his belt, losing the cord with a swift tug from a claw, and held it flat between the pads of his paws. The ball was about twice the size of a chicken egg, but there was nothing special about it beyond – judging by the malted bronze colour – it being some sort of alloy.
There was a moment when Twilight wanted to ask what it was supposed to show, before Spot brought his palms together forcefully, flattening it into a plate shaped piece. Like freshly kneaded dough, he rolled it into a long tube before holding it gently at its middle. He crushed the bottom half till it was twice the thickness but half the length as before. With each turn, each shaping, Twilight had to remind herself it was metal he was working with.
He flipped it over and brought his claws to the thick section. Twilight’s eyes bulged when Spot started to peel it like a banana. Except, each time he pulled, he brought not a whole section of metal, but a piece whose tips he rolled between his digits to form petals which he curled back up. The first piece was a flat metallic grey, then a brilliant silver, then copper, gold...
Twilight’s eyes were full of wonder. “You’re separating the metals!”
Spot nodded, but didn’t answer any further. He worked around the tube quickly, pulling alternating metals from the solid shaft. When he had finished all the way around, he took the innermost petals, made of gold, and twisted them into one center point between his fingers. With a few more deft turns of his claw, he passed the flower to Twilight.
The entire process had taken less than five minutes.
She took it reverently, astonished by the delicacy of the work. It was a rose made of many different metals. Yet seconds earlier, she had seen him manipulating it like clay. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
“If Princess likes, you can keep.” When she looked at him, she noticed his shoulders were drooping with the effort it had taken.
“What? Oh no, I couldn’t!”
“Those balls are just meant for training magic. Metal is very very soft and meant for it. Spot not that good either.”
Not that good? A thousand questions flowed unbidden into her mind. She silenced them till one remained: how much didn’t she know? It was easy to understand now why her proposal had been received so poorly: it was poorly wrought. Her idea had been founded on improving magical education of unicorns foals in Ponyville, and looking back on it, it never really evolved beyond that point. Even in her later annotations to the bill pending a second draft, it was the same fundamental concept at its core haphazardly modified to cover the other races.
“Twilight?” Spot said.
Twilight shook her head clear of her musings. There would be plenty of time for that later. She concentrated and teleported the flower to her room in a burst of purple sparkles.“Spot, would you be willing to talk more about magic later?”
He nodded. “Will try. However, I’m not much of a scholar.” He cocked his head. “ Is something else bothering Princess Twilight?”
She chuckled weakly. “Is it that obvious?”
“Like a pup trying to hide a torn pillow,” he said, “Acts like nothing is amiss, but feathers are everywhere.
“Blueblood... I...” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I messed up. I was so convinced I had Blueblood figured out that I couldn’t see what he was trying to tell me. It’s not like he was particularly polite about it,” she added quickly, “but still...”
Spot snorted, a sound that sounded halfway between a growl and a sneeze. “He’s far from blameless.”
“What do you mean?”
Spot tapped his ears. “Diamond dogs have very good ears. Prince Pony plays games well, but he doesn’t know when to stop.”
“Spot, what do you exactly do you mean by ‘game?’ ”
He regarded him with a look that she couldn’t place. “The game he believes his station requires of him. Why...” he trailed off and shook his head. “Come Princess, I think we both know what I mean.” Before she could protest, he reached past Twilight and rapped high on Blueblood’s door. “Prince Pony, it’s Spot!” he called. Spot turned to Twilight, and reached down for her hoof, while his other paw went to his vest’s pocket. Holding her foreleg up, he placed a plain gold... No, brass pocket watch into her hoof. He regarded her with a smile, turned and started strolling down the hall.
The door opened a crack.
“Spot, now’s not really the-” Blueblood froze at the sight of Twilight.
“I’m sor–” The glow of his magic around the door was Twilight’s only warning. She threw all her weight against the closing door, only managing to stop it before it could latch.
The door opened enough for a sliver a shadow to look out. “I think you said everything you had to.” His voice was scarce more than a whisper.
“I’m sorry Blueblood. I was wrong to–” She jerked back when the door shut forcefully. Ears lying flat against her head, she knocked again.
“What!” he snapped, leaving the door just wide enough to see a bloodshot eye.
Twilight held up the pocket watch. “Ambassador Spot wanted me to give this back to you.”
Blueblood hesitated. “Is that what he said?”
She examined her shuffling hooves closely. “I wasn’t really ready to talk to you. He insisted.”
There was a pause, a sigh, then the door opened. He levitated the offered watch.“That’s something the two of you share,” he said, walking back into his room towards his desk; the watch bobbing in the air behind him. “You both simply love to meddle.”
Twilight stepped into the room cautiously; the open door was an invitation but far from a verbal one. Where she had been expecting to see some hint of Blueblood’s personality reflected in how he kept his room, there was nothing. There weren’t even any baubles or small decor flourishes to make it more than what could be any other empty guest room at the castle. A bed, bookcases with generic titles, a desk, a carpet... It was all mundane, or as mundane as a room in the castle could be.
The prince himself sat himself at the desk, the tip of a quill dancing visibly over his shoulder. But whatever expression he wore was hidden.
“Blueblood, I want to apologize...”
“No you don’t.”
“I... Pardon?”
“You don’t want to apologize, you want to understand.” He scratched a line with the quill. “An apology is simply a tool for how you intend to get your explanation.”
That was certainly one way of putting it. “It’s not that you’re wrong, but... I do want to understand. In any case, I was still cruel with what I said whatever the reason was. That I did it without first understanding why only makes you more deserving of one. So, I’m sorry, Prince Blueblood.”
He finally turned, meeting her eyes for the first time since she had entered. Both were faintly red-rimmed and bloodshot. “Unlike elected officials, we – the royals of Equestria – are appointed into our positions by our peers. All the same, we still serve our subjects. It’s them who allow themselves to be ruled, and it is them we are supposed to represent.” He rose. “Who do you represent?”
“I–” Twilight hesitated. “I like to represent everypony if possible.”
An eyebrow rose. “Oh? So you’d like to represent ponies who wish to forbid non-equines from Equestria.”
“Well, no, but–”
“Then what about the warmongers? Ponies who think we should expand our lands by conquest?”
“No. Blueblood–”
“Then who do you–”
“Blueblood!” Twilight shouted. “Can you please stop talking down to me!” She took a few short breaths. “If anything, that’s what bothers me most about you.”
“I’m... Well...” He sighed. “I’m sorry Twilight. It comes too easy to me sometimes.”
“Thank you.” She took another breath to calm her nerves. “I’d like to speak for everypony, but I know it’s not realistic. Instead, I’d like to spread friendship and hope to be able to represent everypony, or everycreature, one day.”
“So, change.”
“Change?”
“You represent change to so many ponies. Change in the form of progress moving forward. I know it might not be apparent to you, but you speak from your heart and are remarkable honest, and that’s surprisingly rare in the government. Ponies look up to you and see somepony they’d trust to bring progress, and you act on that trust. That’s admirable.”
The clear praise struck Twilight as almost misplaced coming Blueblood’s lips. “Err... Thank you.”
“It’s also why I took credit for your bill. Ponies need you for what you are, not your mistakes.”
An inkling of a suspicion crept into her mind. “Who do you speak for Blueblood?”
“Well. If your change, Luna is tradition, Celestia is... Well many see her as almost a motherly figure so family I guess. Cadence is a little tricky, but speaking for love does make sense in a roundabout way.”
Twilight couldn’t help but giggle. “I think you’re stretching things a lot to try and make a point. It’s not what I would call them... But,” she said, sobering, “I noticed you didn’t answer my question.”
Blueblood sighed. “I represent whomever it’s the in the crown’s best interest to represent.”
“So, the rich snooty nobles... That’s in your best interest? I sincerely doubt that. I mean, have you even read what the newspapers say about you?”
“In the crown’s best interest, Twilight, not my own best interest.”
“If you’re saying what I think you’re saying...” Twilight let the words hang. “You better not be.”
“How is it wrong?”
“How is it wrong!” she cried. “Blueblood, how is it right?”
“Because some has to,” he snapped.
Her mouth flapped wordlessly. “I... What! Blueblood, are you really that full of yourself? Is your ego really that big? Do you seriously believe for a second that you’re the only one who can handle them in some manner, or that no one would help you if you asked? Celestia would help you in a heartbeat! As would Luna, Cadence, or... Or maybe even me for that matter.”
“I wouldn’t dream of subjecting you to this, I respect you far too much for that.”
Twilight frowned, then a realization struck her. The signs were there, she just hadn’t put them together. “Is that why you were crying?”
“Wh– I...” She could see the answer clear as the day as he strangled back the words.
“Blueblood, please.”
When he sighed, he deflated and practically sunk into his chair. His expression was flat, and the shallows of his eyes were dull. It was the most defeated she had ever seen him. “What do you want me to say? That you’re right?” he offered lamely.
“I don’t want you to say anything! The way you talk... there’s always a catch, some spin or hidden hook that I have to watch out for. Just for once, please, can you speak plainly?”
“About what?”
“This. Or to paraphrase Spot here ‘this game you play.’”
He didn’t reply; not immediately. He sighed. “Do you think I’m deaf? Twilight, I know what ponies think of me. I hear it all the time. From the moment I leave my room till I fall asleep. All the names, insults... If it weren’t for the scant respect I’ve curried, I would tell you they don’t even have the decency to say it out of earshot. But I’ve grown use of it. If it's for the better of others I can tolerate it.
“Now Celestia... She schemes and comes up with delightfully complex plans, but is always relying on other ponies as part of them. Very few ponies who don’t know me would ever want to help me, and those who see pass the veneer respect my requests. But you meddle. You’re not afraid to get your hooves dirty and work yourself to the bone if you feel something isn’t right. So when Celestia asked me to help you – something I very much did not want to do – I made sure you had a less than favorable opinion of me so that you’d never even think of helping me in return. It was the best way to continue my work, so I told myself that I could handle you saying those same things about.” He swallowed. “But I was wrong.”
“Then why couldn’t you simply tell me!” Twilight cried. “Why do you insist on this... this... Emotional whiplash? I still can’t even decide on whether you like, tolerate, or despise me!”
“It’s not that simple!” Blueblood shouted. “If somepony thought me your ally, it would reflect poorly on you.”
“So you admit it then.”
“I would sooner worship the ground you walk on then rebuke you; you’re everything I wish I could be. So yes, and in private I wouldn’t hesitate to admit so, but I’m not you and in the public’s eye I can’t be you. I need to be your rival. You’re the one hope this kingdom has for change, and if playing the villain guarantees your success then I can live this."
“And why can’t Celestia, Luna or Cadence help you? You’re not alone, Blueblood, you just have to let us help!”
He shook his head desperately. “They can’t. Celestia is stuck in the past. She tries so hard to move forward, but memories pull her back. And ponies hold her on such a pedestal that she can barely see the real world from her height. She struggles so desperately to keep up with the new, but it's like sand in her hooves. With time, Luna could, but she is still catching up and stuck observing the world. She has a good heart, but rumor and speculation hang over her head making ponies slow to offer help. Cadence... Raising a child, reintegrating the Crystal Empire, and bringing change to Equestria? No, there’s no way I could ask that of her. It is you. It has to be you.”
Twilight fell silent, thinking. “There’s one thing your missing, Blueblood.”
“And what’s that?”
“It won’t be me.”
Blueblood blinked. “What?”
“ You want me to bring change because of who I am, and in the same breath asking me to take advantage of you. You’re asking me to be a pony I’m not: a pony you’re pretending to be.” Blueblood stiffened as if struck, and Twilight continued. “I can’t speak for the future, but right now, this is who I am. I can’t help you with this.”
“You don’t have to help,” he replied, his ears folded. “You just have to let me act.”
“And just watch you do this to yourself?” she gestured to his current state. “No. So how can I help you? Not this... Act. You?”
“How can you when you just want to tear it all down?”
Twilight’s expression softened.“Blueblood...”
“Just... Look...” He sighed, then straightened. “Nevermind that,” he said with a shake of his head, “Did you at least figure out the problems with your education bill?”
It would have been so easy to press the point and ignore the redirect, but Twilight let it go. She understood him more in the past few minutes than she ever had. There was always later to grill him further. “I did.”
“And what about why there was a problem to start with?”
“My education bill was a product of my own experience and successes. The problem was I didn’t stop and think that what worked for me wouldn’t work for everyone. Ultimately, that even meant I focused too much on problems unique to unicorns.”
“Correct, but I would caution you on the last thing you said there. Just because a problem unique to unicorns now, doesn’t mean that it will never be for others. With magic, we only know what we know. However, we don’t know the limits of what magic is. I trust you recall Paprika’s experiment?”
She nodded. “By all accounts and purposes, true gravitational spells are thought to be near impossible. But that conclusion was a unicorn one, not a pegasus one.”
“If we extend the possibilities to pegasi, earth ponies, crystal ponies, bat ponies, ch–”
“Moorie,” Twilight interrupted.
Blueblood leaned back in his chair. “Bat ponies work fine.”
“It’s the proper name.”
“In their original tongue,” he countered. “Bat ponies is the more common term nowadays.”
“Many still do prefer to be called by that name.”
“I think we’re getting a little sidetracked, but I’m sure you understand the point I was trying to make. Why, Celestia even told me about the time you tried to figure out Pinkie... Pie, was it? Her pinkie sense.”
“I wasn’t able to tell if there was any magic or...” Twilight’s eyes widened. “All of the equipment I was using was for explored magic. If I were to analyze it on the basis of–”
“I’m not saying it is or isn’t, but perhaps a second look could tell you something more.”
The conversation died from that point, leaving Twilight to look around the room in thought of what to say next. It was spartan as the first glance had shown. The only thing lively was a small planter of red roses meticulously maintained, which brought a memory to her mind, an unpleasant one.
“Blueblood?”
“Hmm?” he hummed.
“There’s something which has always...”She trailed off and scuffed her hooves along the carpet. There was no way to bring up the account without souring the mood. “Nevermind, it’s nothing.” It would just be one more thing on the pile of things to ask Blueblood about. She cast about for something more to discuss. “So what exactly do you do in your free time?”
“Work.”
Twilight shook her head. “I’m not buying that. You’re a pony, not a machine.”
Blueblood groaned and dug his face into his hooves. “You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”
“This isn’t an interrogation. If you don’t want to answer–”
“Do you feel I owe you that?”
“Well– ” The response died on her lips before what would be a lie could fully form. No, lie wouldn’t quite be right either. The conversation they shared had awoken another possibility and the realization of it shocked her. She took a deep breath. “No, I don’t. I’m just asking as a friend.” His eyes widened. “I know your personal life is not something you’d like to share with everyone, but I’d like to know you better. Please, Blueblood.”
He met her gaze unblinking and expressionless. The seconds passed slowly, and Twilight could feel him trying to find even the slightest indication of a falsehood. Despite the pressure, she refused to look away.
Nearly a minute had passed before he sighed. “... Fine.” He rose from his seat, and strode towards a bookcase. He pulled a couple of books loose, and reached his hoof into the gap left open. There was a clicking sound the bookcase swung away from the wall, revealing a door behind it. Twilight realized that it was the same type of door which connected suites elsewhere in the castle. “Here we are then.”
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Nothing will ever be perfect.
This chapter was in a mostly completed state two weeks after the release of the previous one on the 31st Jul 2018. It really should have been ready to be released four weeks after the previous ones, but then came the matter of trying to continually improve which turned into excuses. Excuses after excuses after excuses. Concerns over small things which really should have remained small things, being "tired" after my new job where I spent time writing reports and performing testing, wasting time on games with no substance, and on and on for something that I genuinely enjoy doing. The whole "days turned into weeks, weeks into months" feels cliche, but looking back now it feels fitting.
Seriously, my edit history for this chapter is hilarious. I’ve made changes to things to improve them, and many subsequent changes, only to find during a number of times writing it I revisited the same identical, word-for-word, comma for comma idea. And I don’t mean “a number of times writing” as in different spots, I mean the same spot I’ve made and altered the same thing over and over again. It took an out of the blue comment for me to finally take a step back, read my story from cover to cover, having spent so much time (a year) away from it to realize two things:
*Chapter 9 needed changes, much to the same tune as those I first made in Chapter 1 shortly after releasing it, though far more substantial.
*Editing chapter 10 had become looking for and finding ghosts where they don’t actually exists.
There are still things I’m not 100% by any stretch, but I am simply not a good enough writer currently to get it to where I (currently) think it needs to be. Naturally, even if I was a better writer I’d probably find something else to pick apart and get hung up. So, with this out of the way, I plan to have the next chapter finished being written in two weeks (its largely done but I need to redo several large components with the changes to chapter 9), with a third week to edit and publish. After that, one more chapter remains.
Next time: the second part of the Blueblood “reveal”.
Before I read this, I must know: Why would Blueblood want to keep Twilight from passing an education reform to aid foals with the study of magic?
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It's less about the idea of a reform itself for while he's trying to stop it, but more of the politics associated with the first significant government proposal of Twilight being flawed in a critical aspect while maintaining his own political position.
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Twilight is an alicorn now, but she's been born a unicorn and thinks like one. so, when she thinks of magic education she thinks unicorn foal magic education first, and even when confronted with the topic of other races and sub-races of the kingdom, she still uses that as a baseline. And that turns out to be a problem.
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Is the story discontinued?
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Been a tough couple years for me and sorting some stuff out with my writing. Its not cancelled and at the very least I'd post the next three chapters I have written out with a quick ending.