Altruism

by Ogopogo

Chapter 3

Supper at the Royal Table was not what most ponies thought it to be. While it was true the odd day would warrant a train of butlers emerging from the swinging doors, carrying silver platters bearing the most incredible of delicacies, those days were special occasion. In truth, in spite of the high ceilings and pristine decor befitting the finest of restaurants, meals at the Royal Table were more like those found at a refined diner.

If a meal was to be ready quickly, then the kitchen couldn’t wait until the Princesses made their mind on an order. Ingredient preparation took time, doubly so for more elaborate dishes. Similarly, if the kitchens wanted to satisfy ponies’ cravings, then they couldn’t just put forward a single choice. Special requests were allowed, but otherwise royalty ate the same as any of the Castle staff. It certainly didn’t bother Twilight; it meant the meals were filling and easy on the stomach. Minestrone soup was something the kitchens did extremely well.

“Sister.”

Celestia looked up from one of her hayburgers at Luna, “What?”

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Luna rolled her eyes. “It is easy to see where Twilight gets her eating habits from.”

Twilight didn’t dare look at the splotches of ketchup and relish on Celestia’s cheeks. She didn’t need to make the comparison herself. The soup was far more interesting than the burger eating habits she most likely picked up from her mentor. Her eyes flicked up, then back down. Absolutely more interesting.

“Oh come off it,” Celestia said, taking another overzealous bite of the burger. “It’s rare for the kitchen to make hayburgers. I’m allowed to let my mane down once and awhile.”

Luna turned halfway in her seat, looking for a servant. “Ah. Tingle Dress, would you be so kind as to fetch my sister’s trough. It seems it might better suit her.” Tingle, a baby blue pegasus, smiled good humouredly from her spot by the door, but otherwise made no move to fulfill the request.

Celestia frowned, then shook her head dismissively. “It’s not that bad.”

“Any worse and I’d have moved your bed to a barn.”

She paused. “We don’t have a barn, Luna.”

Luna leaned forward onto her hooves. “Well, I’m sure Granny Smith wouldn’t mind if we borrowed theirs.”

With an exaggerated flourish, Celestia summoned a napkin and wiped her face. “Happy?”

Luna hummed and cocked her head. “The resemblance to a swine is even more uncanny now.”

Twilight didn’t know what bothered her more: the fact that Luna and Celestia squabbled like a pair of unruly siblings at times, or that no one outside the castle staff – and they were extremely tight lipped – would believe her if she told them. At the very least, their squabbles certainly made for lively dinner conversations.

“Are you still mad about...” Celestia gestured with her hooves, moving them in a little circle.

Luna’s eyes narrowed and her voice dripped sarcasm. “Now why would I ever–”

Twilight clapped her hooves together loudly. “So!” she exclaimed. “How did your day go Luna?”

She turned slowly, and raised an eyebrow. “I was sleeping, Twilight.”

Her ears folded back against her head in spite of her strained smile. “Oh, right... So what’s your plans for tonight then?”

“Nothing particularly out of the ordinary,” Luna answered, pausing to take a bite of her hay, lettuce and tomato sandwich. “Inducting new members into the Lunar Guard is liable to be the highlight of my night.”

Twilight latched onto the new topic. “Oh, how many?”

“Three. One pegasus and two moorie.”

“Moorie?” Twilight asked.

The acknowledgement sounded halfway between a grunt and a vaguely decipherable word. “I still forget you call them bat ponies this day in age. Their names are Thistle Down, Glint Wing, and the pegasus Fairweather.”

Twilight’s head tilted at the first name. “Thistle Down?”

“A parrot does not become you, Twilight,” Luna teased.

The comment earned an amused smirk. “But...”

“Yes, a bat pony by the name of Thistle Down. Do you know him?”

She nodded. “Assuming it’s him, I’d consider him an old acquaintance. We first met at the playground when I was a foal: before I was Celestia’s student. Me being myself back then, I was there reading, or at least until I was until he stole my book away from me so I would play with him and his friends.” That day had ended with Twilight begrudgingly admitting she had had fun.

“Hmm...” Luna hummed. She didn’t seem to have anything more to offer, and went back to eating her sandwich.

“So how was your day, Twilight?” Celestia asked, finishing off her last burger. The napkin quickly followed to stifle the coming comment.

Twilight sighed, losing her smile. “Good up until my meeting with Blueblood.”

“Did you take my advice?”

She nodded. “I did, but to say it worked entirely wouldn’t really be true. If I didn’t know better, I would say Blueblood was trying to waste my time, instead of just inadvertently doing so.”

Celestia sipped her water. “Did nothing good come of it?”

Twilight looked down into her bowl of soup: cream of mushroom with a hint of pepper. “I wouldn’t quite say that much.” She sighed again. “It just wasn’t the most efficient use of my time.”

After Blueblood gave Twilight a near complement for expressing her reasons for wanting to learn, she had hoped the remainder of her time with him would be different. It wasn’t. In fact, if anything, he pushed her to side even more, forcing her to wait in silent hallways or, even better, small windowless waiting rooms. The meetings and conversations he involved her with, two of them, were with the most aloof ponies she had ever met. They had been beyond even the point of satire.

“Celestia told me what happened,” Luna said, reclining in her seat. “I cannot say I’m fond of how Blueblood acts, but it is not my place to dictate how he should.”

“Surely you could talk to him.”

She rocked left then right. “Talk, most certainly, and talked in the past I have. But to dictate, to order, no.”

“Do have any advice for dealing with him at least?” Twilight asked.

“For all his talk, verbal maneuvering and wordplay, he is very direct,” Luna replied. “Don’t bother with trying to ease into a subject; he’ll only take away the point you’re trying to make. Nothing more, no matter how it’s delivered. He acts as he receives in that way.”

Twilight set down her spoon. “So... Get to the point when talking with him?”

She inclined her head. “Correct.”

She nibbled on her bun as she thought it over. Surely there was something she had missed in their conversations. She was fairly confident she hadn’t been beating around the bush, so what could it have been? Her mind drifted through their earlier conversations. “Would either of you be familiar with Lady Rosa?”

The sisters shared a glance. “Yes,” Celestia said, “why?”

“Well, Blueblood met with her today. Apparently she is looking for an endorsement to be a crown advisor. And, well, I was wondering what sort of pony is she?”

“A mare forged in fire and iron,” Luna said darkly.

It was not what she had expected to hear. “What!” Twilight exclaimed.

Celestia sighed and pressed the flat of her hoof to her forehead. “What Luna means to say is Lady Rosa was a blacksmith at a very young age.”

Luna stifled a giggle. “Is that not what I said?”

She ignored her sister. “She was just barely a mare before circumstances led her to Canterlot. Not long after that, she won her title.”

“What do you mean by won?” Twilight asked.

Celestia flicked her hoof. “Just a figure of speech. Lady Rosa was instrumental in coordinating and enacting the rescue and relief efforts during the Clovenshire Landslide. She was very much deserving of the title she received thereafter, and there is some talk that she should have been knighted. As for her personality... I would say she is proud of her roots, but tempers it with a strict patience.

The doors to the dining room opened. “As Twilight seems to thought fit to start this conversation without me,” Blueblood said as he entered, “then let me also add that Lady Rosa is young and inexperienced. She too often speaks from her heart rather than her head.”

“A pleasure to see you, nephew,” Luna said in greeting.

“Yes, I am sure,” he half mumbled. “For the matter of Lady Rosa’s endorsement, I feel there is no reason to discuss the matter.”

“But you said–” Twilight started.

“I said ‘we’ll see.’ Not probably, not maybe, and definitely not yes,” he said sharply. “I can scarcely approve of someone so young, so inexperienced for such a weighty role. I was willing to give her a pass if her actions made her stand out from her peers, but nothing less than that.”

“Being too young is a reason? How old is she?”

Blueblood gave her a once over. “About your age I suppose,” he said pointedly.

Twilight’s jaw fell open at the slight. Her expression tightened and a retort started–

“Blueblood!” Celestia shouted, rising from her seat. Her brow was furrowed crossly. “Could I speak to you in private for a moment!”

He shrugged indifferently and followed her off into a side room leaving Luna and Twilight Sparkle alone.

“That... He...” Twilight sputtered, fuming at the insult.

Luna frowned. “I’d be the first to admit, even for him that was too far.”

“You think!”

“I suspect something happened since you last saw him,” she said. “Let us wait and hear his explanation.”

But, after a few minutes of waiting, it was only Celestia who returned. “Blueblood sends his apologies, but he won’t be joining us again tonight.”

“What was that all about?” Twilight cried.

“Suffice to say we caught him at a bad time.”

“Dare I ask how?”

It was rare for Celestia to let the weariness brought upon by her age show, if only for a moment as the expression flickered across her face. “You’ve grown up in Canterlot, so you are obviously aware of arranged marriages.”

“Unfortunately, yes.” It was a topic which anypony in Canterlot would have heard of.

“Despite my best attempts to crack down on the practice by ranking houses of old nobility, there is only so much I could do without overstepping my bounds. Fear of disownment is a powerful tool parents use to convince their son or daughter to do as they are told.” She shook her head in frustration. “It’s only worse when the parents treat their offspring as little more than a resource to be bought or sold for the right price.”

Twilight’s frowned. “Are you saying...”

Celestia nodded. “A couple made a rather passionate attempt in convincing Blueblood to wed their daughter. As it turns out, the same daughter whose filly had been kidnapped.”

Luna gasped, her eyes wide with realization. “You don’t mean they’re connected!”

“What’s connected?” Twilight asked.

“One of the Royal Guards’ current investigations was into a missing foal case from a minor noble house,” Celestia said, “but there wasn’t much turning up. The mare whose foal went missing: that was the daughter they were trying to wed to Blueblood.” Celestia looked down at her empty plate.

Luna continued where her sister left off, a scowl darkening her features. “In our time, bastard foals were a scandalous affair to be swept under the rug. No pony would dare make a fuss over an extra foal showing up on the doorstep of an orphanage far away with convenient timing. Today, the same does not hold true, but some ponies occasionally still try it.”

“Apparently, they said a little too much. As he had overseen the investigation, Blueblood connected the dots and realized it was her parents who had abducted the foal, who then spun their daughter a tale of sympathy and sorrow. They promised her a fresh start as a princess of Equestria.”

“Wordplay,” Luna said. “I take it that’s the reason for his mood?”

“That and the disgusting absurdity of the whole scenario.”

“I don’t quite understand.” Twilight cut in. “Wordplay?”

“Hanging somepony with a noose of their own making is hardly enjoyable to start with, but to do so while trying to shield their daughter and the foal without committing to anything adds another layer on top of that. According to her parents, Blueblood is arranging to discuss their union at a later date. He’s actually using the time to find the foal, arrange the arrest, and working the legal paperwork to ensure that her parents actions don’t reflect back on their daughter’s future.”

A thought struck her. “Is that why you haven’t told me the family name?”

“Though I loathe to keep it from you, yes.” Celestia hesitated before continuing. “Unless you think it would do some good.”

“No, I understand. The only way to be sure I won’t mention it in passing is not to tell me in the first place. But then why tell me everything else?”

“It’s a very sad state of affairs that it does little to narrow things down, unless you repeated all of it. So, could you pardon Blueblood’s behavior for at least the time being?”

Twilight leaned back, not quite mollified, but close enough. At the very least, she was relieved that Blueblood wasn’t one to tolerate that sort of foul conduct. “I’d still like to revisit the subject Lady Rosa’s endorsement. Meeting her would be nice too. Do you know where I can find her?”

“Raven should have her address,” Celestia said, referring to her secretary, “but why don’t you take the rest of the evening off, Twilight. Speaking with Lady Rosa can wait until tomorrow.”

It was some reluctance that Twilight agreed with the suggestion. “Fair enough.”

“Well,” Luna said, rising from her chair, “we must be off.”

“Using the royal ‘We’ again, are we?” Celestia asked.

She turned back with a sly smile. “No, we have somewhere to be. You did promise after all.”

It took a moment, but the memory returned with a groan. “Right,” Celestia said, her ears folding back against her head. “That.”

→ ↔ ←

Celestia had been kind enough to lend Twilight her old quarters: the room from when she had been Celestia’s student. Though, calling it a tower instead of a room wouldn’t have been much of an exaggeration. Twilight dropped her bags by the door with a sigh, and flew over to the bed to flop down on it. It had been a long day, stretched longer by the pains of dealing with Blueblood. He had this way of slowing everything down to a crawl, dragging on with his pompous–

Twilight buried her head in a pillow to try and block the memories. It was done for the day. The last thing she needed to do was to dwell on it. She lowered the pillow and took a look around her old quarters. It had been a long time since she had last come here; a long time since she had been in Canterlot for a reason other than duty or an event. As she lay there, she struggled to figure out what to do for the rest of the evening.

Reading up on a few of her old favorites was out; most of the books had been moved to her castle, or were little more than ash thanks to Tirek. Her gaze drifted around the room to the tables with orderly arranged science equipment alongside the telescope. She was hardly in the mood to run any science experiments, and it was definitely a little early to try out the old telescope by the window.

Her eyes settled on her old desk. It would be a good use of her time to work on the education reform, but she just didn’t feel motivated to. Beyond getting the files from her bag, she would have to check the quills, refill the inkwell, and find some new paper. The reform could wait till morning anyway. With a sigh, she rolled over and looked elsewhere.

Her gaze drifted around the room, before it settled on the view of the city through the window. She smiled as a realization struck her: it had been a while since she had visited her parents.

Author's Note:

Edited from 14/01/2017 for grammar on 29/11/2019

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[Gizmo Gear]

Lookin forward to more!!