For His Majesty

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter XVI: Blueblood’s Nightmare

Author's Note:

A huge thank you to His Holiness Storm Butt in giving me guidance for this chapter.

At the ship’s wheel, Fancy steer the sails of the ship as it bobbed up and down among the clouds. In a blue naval overcoat, he screamed in excitement as the boat was going faster. Above him was the clearest blue sky that he’d ever seen, below and to the sides of him, he navigated through the ever-changing white as they continuously transform with every passing second. Behind him, a rather strong wind was pushing the sails further forward. Flinging the wheel counter-clockwise, he made the ship a rather sharp turn away from a wave of fluff that nearly capsized the boat. It cut through the lumps of cloud and over hills of snowy mists until he reaches a calmer sea of sky.

“That was quite maneuvering, Captain Pants,” the unicorn blinked. He looked around on the deck and by the mast, he spotted a rather tall blue alicorn in a black navy uniform. She saluted, “I beg your pardon of crashing into your dream, but your beloved consort is in need of assistance.”

Putting a loop on the ship’s wheel to keep it in place, the blue-maned unicorn to where he walked down over to her. “Why? Has something to Bluey?” Her reply came when she pointed a hoof forward. Fancy turned around to an open door that was directly underneath the navigation deck. Through it, he saw a white door with gold trimming, and above it was a ball of light that glows a deep red. “What is it?”

“That there is the doorway to my nephew’s dream. Since he helped you out last time, I think now would be the opportunity to return him the favor.”

Fancy took a few steps towards the open door but hesitated, “What sort of nightmare is he having?”

“It’s hard to say. However, I can say that he does need you right now.”

“And if he’s having a dream that has a monster chasing after him?”

“Not to worry, I’ll be in the shadows overlooking you both. If at any point where either of you is in danger, I will come.”

Facing towards Blueblood’s door, the unicorn took a moment to brace himself as he marched forward with a purpose. Lighting up his horn, he turned the handle as he entered. However, he stopped for a moment in confusion. Not because of what he was seeing, but as to where he was.

Luna made the observation as she too entered. “Interesting, we’re at the palace.” She looked up and down the halls. “But there’s nopony around. Why would he be having a nightmare here?”

“Isn’t this the floor where his apartment is?” Fancy inquired.

“It would seem so. Perhaps we should start looking from his room then.”

The unicorn agreed and the two of them walked towards the familiar gilded doors that bare Blueblood’s cutie mark. Fancy was the first to knock on the double doors, calling out his coltfriend, but there was no answer. He repeated this a few times and started to become a concern when nopony was answering it. So the Night Princess opened the doors, only to find a mirror blocking their way.

“What?” Fancy put a hoof on the glass, “Why would this be here?” In his curiosity, he leaned his head and an ear flat against the reflective surface. He heard something from behind the looking glass, only he couldn’t make out what it was. “I think he’s behind the mirror.” The unicorn looked around and spotted a marble bust on a nearby pillar. Picking it up in his aura (and finding it surprisingly heavy) he muttered “I’m sorry Blue,” before he swung it against the glass.

The first blow sends a spider’s web of cracks, a second hit made his reflection unrecognizable. But the third attempt was able to send the towering, shiny wall to come crashing down. Luna quickly lit up her horn in time before the jagged pieces could stab them as it revealed a nearly dark abyss behind the doors.

Fancy was the first to enter, carefully stepping over the broken glass upon the marble floor. Glancing over his head, he saw the Moon Princess fade into the darkness until he was unable to see her. Yet, the older unicorn pressed on. The first thing he noticed was that the foyer was much bigger than the one in reality. The second was that all the blue curtains were not only drawn, but the color had changed into black, completely blocking out the windows. The third as he lit up his horn was that the entire floor was covered in shards of broken mirrors, many of which had an empty frame hanging above, but also scraps of newspapers that lay chaotically on the checkered marble.

Curious, Fancy Pants picked up one of these papers and was immediately confused at what he saw. It was a front-page cover where there was a picture of them at the masquerade ball. But it was the headline that he found puzzling:

Prince Missed One Too Many Steps at Ball.

He picked up another, this time he was greeted with a picture of them at the movies with a headline that read:

Disastrous Date! Consorts Find it a Bore!

“What in Equestria?” Then picking up several at a time, Fancy got another look at the other headlines.

Prince Leaves Too Much on His Plate!

Royal Clothes Out of Date!

One Too Many Hairs out of Place!

Lost in Translation: Prince Nearly Causes War for Using Wrong Word!

Blueblood Forgets Celestia’s Birthday!

Top 10 Reasons Why Blueblood is Prince Charmless!

“I’ve Gained a 100 Pounds!” Declares Prince.

Couldn’t Tell a Van Gogh from a Child’s Painting!

“I’m Skinny as a Pole!” Blueblood Hides in Shame.

Extra: Prince Doesn’t use Dessert Fork!

Then there was one headline that made the unicorn stare at in complete disbelief. It showed him with a scowl on his face that read in big, black letters:

“We’re Finished!” Fancy Pants Breaks Up With Prince: Blueblood Brings Disgrace Upon Royal Family!

But before Fancy could read through that particular article, his ears caught something. At first, he couldn’t make it out but it was the sound of somepony muttering. But as he drew closer to the sound, keeping mind of the broken glass around, he started to make out that it was the sound of his coltfriend. He pulled back one of the black curtains in which he found the Prince’s bedroom, only it was much different than the one in reality. The walls were in a very dark purple and the Rococo trimming was gone. Over the fireplace, a new portrait hung over the fireplace of two ponies that looked over to the bed with disapproving eyes. It didn’t take long for the older unicorn to guess who those ponies were.

Like the enormous foyer, the floor was covered in broken glass and a lake of newspapers, each and everyone had a poisoned tipped verbal attack on the stallion that was frantically going through one headline after another. Fancy paused as he saw Blueblood looked like he hadn’t had sleep in years. His mane was long, tangled and in disarray, he wasn’t wearing any of his signature clean suits, and his eyes… They were bloodshot; a stream of tears stained his cheeks as he tore from one overcritical paper after another.

“Okay, I should bathe a little less so nopony would think I care too much of my appearance.” He spoke in a whisper as he went to the next newspaper. “And work more on my Neighponse so at least those dignitaries would understand me,” then to the next, “And should have chosen a more interesting date since the lasts ones were so dull,” then the next, “Oh you stupid fool! How did I forget Princess Twilight’s graduation?” He slapped himself on the forehead. “Of course I knew I was forgetting something, you idiot! What does this one say?” He picked up another paper, “Okay, tone down on the flamboyance next time. Ponies think I’m a bigger faggot then I’m already am.”

Fancy watch on silently, completely stunned, not because of what he was hearing, but he understood what this nightmare was all about. Blueblood was consciously putting himself down over an unrealistically high standard of perfection. Even worse were all the insults that his coltfriend was giving himself that tore at his heart. “Blueblood?” he tried calling out, but the blond unicorn still kept muttering to himself, going through the papers on his bed. “Blueblood Everfree?” he said louder but still got no response. “Bluey?”

Yet, the Prince kept ignoring him. The blue-maned stallion tried to think of a way to try to get his attention and away from all that razor sharp, unfair critique that he was giving himself. He wished that he had so way to get him to notice him as he did with a piano before bumping into a grand piano. Fancy nearly jumped at the sudden object that just appeared out of nowhere, but he reminded himself that he was in a dream. Lighting up his horn, he opened the lid, uncovered the keys and hoped to Celestia that this would work.

With his back turned from the Prince, Fancy concentrated on the piece in which as soon as he raised his hooves as if to conduct an invisible orchestra, he heard stings begin solemnly before the winds that gave the empty black room a soft, moonlight glow. He was relieved that he no longer heard his consort’s muttering as he knew that this time, he was listening. Even though he didn’t see it, the old unicorn could sense that his eyes were now upon him. And he knew that he really had his attention as soon as his hooves touched the black and white ivory keys.

He heard a rustling of paper as the luring melody developed. Hooves slid off the bed and touched the floor before it came closer to the piano with every crackling glass and crunching paper step. They stopped right behind him as Fancy continued on with the romantic song. For a moment, Blueblood had hesitated to come anywhere near the bench, even when there was clearly enough room for them both.

“I hope that you’d like it,” Fancy spoke up first. “It’s something that I’ve always wanted to play to an audience but never gotten the chance to. It’s Horseshoepin’s first piano concerto, the Il Largo to be precise. I’ve managed to commit it to memory about a year ago.” He looked over his shoulder to see his coltfriend had an apologetic look on his face. With a sigh, the older unicorn moved a little to the side. “Blue, come sit with me.”

The Prince obeyed, but even as the music played on, Blueblood didn’t say anything. As if he was at loss for words as to what to say exactly – but two minutes later, he did speak up, “I’m sorry.”

Fancy raised an eyebrow, “What for?”

“I…” he ran a hoof through his messy mane. “Everything. I’m so… so sorry for not being the kind of coltfriend you wanted me to be.” He sunk his head low, “I did try to be your Prince Charming, like how Shining was to cousin Cadance, but I’m afraid that I’ve failed you in that regard. Celestia, I’ve probably have been the most clichéd coltfriend in history. What was I thinking? Dinner and a movie? How unoriginal am I? That I can’t even come up with a good-”

“Enough!” his consort cut him off. The blond Prince flinched at this, however, after taking a deep breath, Fancy continued, “Bluey, do you honestly take any, well,” he craned his head over the scattered pile of newspapers, “all of this seriously?”

“Of course I do,” he lifted a random paper into his aura. “I really need to fix this.”

“No you don’t,” his coltfriend said sternly. “Bluey, you’re taking all of this way too seriously. I mean, all of this is completely ridiculous. These papers you’ve been reading are criticizing you over the most mundane of things.”

“But I’m a Prince,” Blueblood objected. “I can’t show weakness at all. It’ll show that I’m weak; that I’m not perfect. The public won’t accept anything less than that.”

Fancy frowned, “Now who taught you that nonsense?” his coltfriend pointed at the portrait over the fireplace. He resisted the urge to facehoof, “Never mind. Look Blue, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but everything you’ve been taught about being this self-conscious is seriously not true.”

“But-”

“Let me finish,” he cut him off. “If there’s anything I need for you to know, (and I refuse to sugarcoat this) is this: I don’t give a damn about if you’re the perfect coltfriend.”

Blueblood stared at him, “What?”

“Here, let me tell you a story about my father, one of the few lessons that I did understand. When he was first teaching me the piano, he had me playing a piece from Buch. His minuet in G Major it was. At my first recital, I was completely unprepared by the time I’ve nervously played in front of other ponies for the first time. Needless to say, I was awful. The notes clashed, they stuttered, arrived too early or too late, I had to start over several times. By the end of it all, I felt like I was ready to cry, swearing to never touch the piano again. But when my song ended, my father stood up and cheered. At first, I thought he was mocking me so I ran out of the room.”

The Prince tilted his head, “What happened next? You’re obviously practiced since then.”

Fancy nodded, “That’s true, but after I ran out, dad caught up with me and held me. I think I just broke down in how big of a failure I was that I could never be like him, a skilled concert pianist. Well, dad, as crazy as he was, had a moment of brilliance when he told me a philosophy that to this day I never forgotten. ‘The greatest works of art have a foundation of mistakes. There is no such thing as perfect anything because if there were, life would be boring. No need to improve or to rethink creatively. Fancy, even on stage when I play, there’s always a point where even I hit the wrong notes. But that doesn’t matter. As long there is a passion in you to continue, as long as you are striving to become better from each mistake you make, and as long as you live your life as if it were a masterpiece, not even you could ever hit a wrong note.’”

Blueblood pulled back his mane, “Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m trying to say, is that when it comes to having you as a coltfriend, I don’t want you to be perfect. That’s not what I’m looking for. I want to not just see what sort of things you are good at, but also the things that you’re not. Yes, I do want to see your weaknesses, your fears, your worries, your shortcomings, your limitations, because it would give me all the more reason to be privileged that I have you as somepony that I can not only help them to be happy, but also know that he will do the same back.”

The prince paused as he listened on to the music being played out by him and an invisible orchestra. Looking up, the couple saw that the darkness had now been replaced by an uncountable amount of stars and a full moon that shines down on them like a stage light. Finally, the blond unicorn spoke, “I… I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“You’re still learning old sport,” Fancy grinned as he nuzzled him. “I’m not expecting you to get it right the first time around.”

“I’m amazed that even in such a mess as I am now, that you still want to be anywhere near me.”

“That’s because to my eyes, imperfection is perfection. I accept you fully as you are. Prince or not.” When the older pony didn’t hear a reply, he glanced over to see his coltfriend’s eyes were filling with tears. “Blue? Are you-” Blueblood hugged him, but not enough to cease the flow of heavenly music.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I don’t deserve this.”

Fancy smirked, “Oh no you don’t, you are getting this and I am certainly not going to argue about it.” Blueblood pulled away. There was a pause before both stallions started giggling like school fillies. “There we are!” Mr. Pants declared, “That’s what I wanted to see!”

_*_

Fancy rubbed his eyes as he awoke into consciousness. Even though the blue curtains were drawn, he could tell from the outline of light that the sun was just barely coming up. Slowly sitting up in the Prince’s bed, he scanned over the darkened room until his good eye fell upon the still sleeping stallion. After sluggishly getting up, he quietly walked over to Blueblood and noticed that he had a look of peace on his face.

Smiling, he craned his neck down and kissed his forehead, “It’s time to wake, My Prince.”

The younger unicorn grumbled, a foreleg reached out and it hooked around Fancy’s. “A little longer, My King,” he muttered.

For a long moment, Fancy was surprised at what he heard but end up smiling as he waited a little longer for his consort to rest.

Comments

[TheVClaw]

“A little longer My King,” he muttered.

That's a bit surprising indeed. Of course, I suppose it's better than Blueblood calling him Daddy.

[Grekoy]

8112215 It would be more surprising if he said My Love.