Blood Poisoned

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 4: Derrière le placard

“Seriously Cloak,” Dagger muttered as the two of them followed the Prince to his chambers with Spike in his aura. “Isn’t this going a bit too far? We’ve already got the pictures, a good chunk of the gala has seen them, and now he’s taking his love interest into his room.”

The Unicorn guard spoke up, “Pardon me, Your Highness, but what exactly are you planning on doing with Sir Spike?”

“I have a surprise for him,” Blueblood sang, “It’s a secret.”

Spike turned his head towards the guards following behind, “Guys help me! Don’t you see he’s gonna do something to me?”

“Oh Spike,” the prince cooed as his aura put the young drake in front of him, petting his head. “You need to have more faith in me darling. I wouldn’t dare do anything that would hurt such an adorable face as yours.”

“Seriously you guys,” Spike pleaded to the guards, “He’s really creeping me out.”

The Pegasus guard glanced over to his fellow comrade, “We have to stop this.”

Before Cloak could respond, Blueblood was picking up the pace as he headed down the hall towards the gilded doors of his bedchamber. “I wish to be remaining alone with Sir Spike,” the prince said. “I have something rather special to show him.”

The Unicorn guard’s eyes widen, “Uh… Your Grace?”

“I know you’re going to love it,” the Royal Unicorn said, looking at the dragon with… bedroom eyes.

“Wait! Prince Blueblood!” both guards made a mad dash towards the blond unicorn, but it was already too late. The Prince had crossed through, closed and locked the doors behind him.

With the guards banging away at the doors, calling for the Prince, Blueblood looked over at his new consort to see he was sweating and had a look of fear in his eyes. “My love?” he inquired, “What’s wrong?”

“L-Let me go,” Spike pleaded. “Blueblood, please, this is going way too far. Just let me go and I promise I will never tell anypony about this.”

The Prince blinked, “Spike, I have already given my word that I would never harm you.” He tried to touch the baby drake but he flinched back in his magic. With a sigh, he said, “Alright, I will release you. Only if I could at least show you something that I have never shown another pony before. It’s the reason I brought you here after all. After you take a look at it, then you are free to leave.”

Spike gulped, “Uh… okay. What is it?”

Smiling, the Royal Unicorn directed him to the walk-in closet. “It’s in here; I would think that it would be of interest in you…” he laughed as he turned on the light to the rows of clothing. “If anything, I’m quite nervous to tell you the truth. But excited too that I get to show my first consort the part of me that I have never shown before, ah, here we are.” Blueblood stopped at the very back of the closet. Setting the little drake down, he pushed away from the row of winter coats to a blank white wall. Stepping forward, he reached his hoof to the shelf that held the coats and Spike heard a soft “click,” before the wall opened up into a black void.

With a soft smile, the Prince extended his hoof into the darkened room, “After you my love.”

Gulping, Spike complied. He stepped through the darkness, “If this happens to be one of those dungeons that’s in Twilight’s secret stash, I’m out.”

Blueblood chucked, much to the discomfort of the younger dragon, but when the Prince clapped his hooves to turn on the lights, Spike’s jaw dropped.

In the back of his head, Spike heard an army of angels singing at what he saw in that secret room. Everywhere, from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, a titanic room that easily rivals that of Canterlot’s library held comic books that were sealed up in plastic, organized by genera from superheroes to graphic novels. On another bookshelf, film canisters held a battalion of movies with a projector standing at attention. Marble podiums of plastic action figures stood proudly next to the shelves of board games of both classic and things Spike had never seen before from roleplaying to cards. On the ceiling above the crystal chandlers, a mosaic of every hero the baby dragon could name was depicted in an epic battle with their arch enemies. In the very back of the room, stood arcade games with a large bowl of bits sat on a podium in front of them.

“Well?” Blueblood grinned as he saw the amazement on Spike’s face, “Do you approve?”

“Look at this place!” the little drake exclaimed as he went to one of the bookshelves. “This has everything! ‘Professor Mystery’; the entire ‘Curse of the Pyramid’ series; first edition of ‘Maneiac’s Past!’ Where did you get all of these?” he gasped, “The super rare, limited edition of ‘Clockwork’s Revenge?’ This is impossible to find anywhere in the world!”

“And I got it first before it, or any of these became rare,” Blueblood said.

Spike raised an eyebrow, “What do ya mean?”

“My love, I have a confession to make,” the Royal Unicorn closed the secret door behind him. “Is that… I’m a closeted geek when it comes to these things. Oh sure, I do enjoy the finer things that come with the benefits of a prince, but every so often I take delight in the… immature subjects that I didn’t grow up with.”

This took the dragon by surprise. “Wait, you mean that you never read comic books when you were a colt?”

He shook his head, “Nor was I allowed to play with action figures, or watch any movies that weren’t educational or play mindless games. Until I was in my late teens, I never picked up a graphic novel. I was lead to believe that they were only for common ponies… that was until I spotted one that a guard had abandoned on his break. In fact… Where was it?”

The prince trotted up to a nearby bookshelf, scanned through the section marked, “Mystery,” until he pulled out what he was looking for. Spike saw the title on the hardcover: On Moonless Nights in Manehattan.

“I believe that this was the very book that caught my attention. At first, I thought about throwing it away until I opened up the pages to these art deco style drawings. Curious, I flipped through the first page and began reading. For the whole day, I couldn’t put it down. I was so captivated by the story, the art, and the characters in that mystery that… I wanted more. So I contacted the companies that published these to send in some of their critically acclaimed comics. Whatever they gave me, horror, fantasy, classic literature… mature readings even… but as I read on, I was hooked on comic books that… I felt young again. From there, as you can see, it escalated to collecting games, films, and even these toys too. As much as I didn’t want to admit, I’ve become a geek.”

“But why keep all of this hidden?” Spike inquired, “I mean, this place is amazing!”

Blueblood smiled, “I thank you kindly for the compliment. But as a Prince of Equestria, I have an image to live up to. My public face must always come first my love. Up until tonight, nopony knew that I’m obsessed with high-quality comics… or a lover of films… or collects games of all sorts… or even that I prefer stallions since other than Prince Shining; we’re expected to fall in love with a Princess. But in here… I’m as free as this room lets me. My own secret place, where I could drop my mask and be free for a while, yet, it is quite lonely when you’re the only one who has such interests.” His expression softens towards the baby Drake, “Which is why I’m so happy to show this to you because I know that we have a common interest that I don’t have to hide anymore.”

“What in Equestria are you talking about? Don’t you know that Shining is a nerd too? He’s the one who got me an interest in comics and RPG in the first place! You could have hanged up with him. Plus, who cares if you like guys? I mean, I do find it weird that you… spontaneously like me, but then again, I’ve never known a guy that’s gay before. So maybe that’s on me. But the point is, even if ponies know this about you too, it does mean not gonna hurt you.”

“It wasn’t so simple up until tonight Spike,” he shook his head. “Until I first lay eyes on you, I couldn’t enter into a relationship without fully knowing how the public and the nobility would take it. But with you by my side, all those worries, those fears that need to put up a façade had melted away. Come what anypony says! Tonight, I am now free as I want to be, and I want to be with you, and there’s nothing in the universe to stop me.”

Just then, there was an explosion that came from outside of the secret game room. This was followed by a stampede of hooves along with an earth-shaking voice.

“BLUEBLOOD! IF YOU HAVE SO MUCH AS TAKEN SPIKE’S VIRGINITY I SWEAR TO CELESTIA’S PLOTHOLE THAT I WILL PERSONALLY SKIN YOU ALIVE AND NAIL YOUR HIDE TO THE WALL OF THE THRONE ROOM FOR EVERYPONY TO SEE! WHILE BARBEQUING YOUR LIVING CORPSE OVER AN OPEN PIT! SO COME OUT HERE, YOU PERVERTED COWARD!”

The Prince gulped, he glanced over to Spike, “You know, Princess Twilight can be really intimidating when she wants to.”

Spike rolled his eyes and pushed open on the door, “It’s okay Twi, I’m fine.”

A galloping of hooves rushed into the closet, taking the little drake into Twilight’s hooves. “Spike, are you alright, Rarity has told me that-”

“Twilight,” Spike interrupted, “I was completely freaked out too. But…” he looked back into the secret room where the Royal Unicorn was. “But it’s okay now. Blueblood hasn’t done anything bad to me. Honest. If anything… I know this is going to sound crazy but… Can I hang out with him for a bit?”

The Prince’s ears perked up.

“What?” the Princess of Friendship asked. “But I thought the girls told me you were trying to get away from him.”

“Yeah, I know,” he scratched the back of his head. “However, something has come up that I think he does need my help. A friendship sort of a problem that I think I can help him out with. Of course, I think something is off in how he loves me all of a sudden, but I do think that this is deeper than that.”

Twilight looked up at Blueblood, who nervously waved at her. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“I think so. But if he does do anything weird, I’ll write a quick note to ya in case I need help. Do you trust me on this?”

The lilac alicorn glanced up at the prince one more time, thinking it over. “If you think you’re capable, okay. But if he does something that you’re uncomfortable with, notify me immediately, got it.”

“Yeah,” Spike nodded. “I’ll be okay. You could tell the girls that we’ll get to hang out a little later, it just that I need to take care of something first.”

“Alright,” Twilight put him down, “be safe.” She narrowed his eyes at the prince, “And I’m serious about the skinning part.”

Blueblood nodded nervously. When Twilight exited the closet, and her hoofsteps became quiet, the stallion rushed over to Spike to draw him into a quick kiss on the lips before hugging him while saying in a high voice, “Oh thankyouthankyouthankyoutha-” but he realized what he was doing. Setting him down, he put the flushed dragon down and cleared his throat. “I mean, thank you for giving me this chance, Sir Spike.”

“Uh…” Spike’s cheeks felt like they were on fire as he avoided eye contact. “You’re welcome?”

Comments

[Mix-up]

still a lot of fun to read.

[SageBrony07]

How long before everything falls apart? I don't know, but it'll be fun to read

[Hillbe]

awkward
so a nerd?
books!

I've got dibs on his Vee Vee

she does have a point

[beirirangu]

Oh look, I found an interesting typo:

"But if he does something that you’re comfortable with, notify me immediately, got it.”

[buttonbelle]

In the back of his head, Spike heard an army of angles singing at what he saw in that secret room.

Angles....

[Alphamon_Ouryuken]

So Blueblood's a geek?

...I'm cool with that!

Also Twiliy's just peeved because this little spectacle interrupted her "alone time" with the Flash Sentry.

[Brasta Septim]

7667388 Non angli, sed angeli.

[CrackedInkWell]

7704464 One translation later... Oh, I'll fix that.

[Joeyjambo122]

7704471

The lilac alicorn glanced up at the prince one more time, thinking it over. “If you think you’re capable, okay. But if he does something that you’re comfortable with, notify me immediately, got it.”

I think you mean uncomfortable.

[CrackedInkWell]

8282045
Fixed and thanks.