Final Curtain

by Purple Patch

Chapter 9

“I don’t care what kind of cart it is, as long as it doesn’t have another damn pony pulling it along!”

Honeysuckle’s exasperated hiss ran into the transceiver as she positively crouched in the corner of the great hall, trying hard not to either scream or whisper, every hoof-step and voice around her causing her to jump. She was dressed in her full attire, clothes she could neither put away nor leave. A beret with an ebony-beaded veil, a blue-grey mink coat and as much jewellery as she had been granted by her late fiancé.

She’d require a fast car to get her safely to the station. Rented steam-powered cars were few and costly.
But it would be worth it.

“Yes, Sanguine Hall…Honeysuckle…” she repeated into the transceiver before sighing in frustration.

“Any station! I don’t care! Just please get me there!” She paused as the listener replied “Any chance of it coming sooner? Fine, fine, it’ll have to do...thank you.”

Throwing down the transceiver, she turned and saw the approaching butler with a concerned look in his elderly gaze.

Putting on a syrupy smile, Honeysuckle spoke.

“Aethcylus! There you are, you thilly old thing.”

“Can I be of service, madam?”

“You can, old colt…you can.”

The chaos of yesterday’s accusations and revelations seemed not to have touched the Sanguine family in the early morning. Breakfast was being served as usual with a selection of dishes on faux-silverware.

The Sanguines weren’t ridiculously rich, or at least chose not to show it. Their frugality was seen as curious by their equals but they nonetheless held onto the power a vassal state could possess.

Maeve Sanguine was sitting down with a scant portion and her head in her forehooves, the withdrawal headache blamed on the draughty night.

Ninienne sat down between her children, chortling as she held up a miniscule cream finger pastry.

“Do you know, I heard the most startling rumour that we won the Crystal War.” she hooted “If that’s true, I wonder how one can account for pastries this small?”

“Perhaps its Sombra’s secret weapon.” Blueblood piped up with a goofy grin. Ninienne chuckled lightly while Gwendolyn shook her head.

“Honestly, Gormless, you’re a complete nuisance.” Rowena sighed.

The young stallion shot her an imperious glance.

“That’s ‘Honestly, Prince Blueblood, you’re a complete royal nuisance’ if you don’t mind, Rowena.”

“Blueblood, we shall have less of that.” Gwendolyn said calmly as Rowena rolled her eyes at Bayard.

“Oh come on, mummy. What’s the point of being a prince if you can’t let ponies know it?” Blueblood sighed “I’m sure dear old papa was no stranger to reminding others the first time the title was his, isn’t that right Aeschylus?”

“Hm? Oh yes, sir.” The old stallion had just entered “I do recall, the old master did consider it quite necessary. Though, if I may say sir, your good father did once say that a true prince has no need to remind others of his standing.”

“A wise saying, Blueblood, you should take it to heart.” Gwendolyn added to which her son weighed his words and nodded.

“It will be good to start making some real changes back when I get to Canterlot.” he rubbed his hooves together “I’ve plenty of ideas to make the Sanguines that much more splendorous. I’m sure old Uncle Percy can be counted on to back me up, isn’t that right, old colt?”

“Oh…er…yes, of course…ahem, congratulations.” Persnickety sat groggily over his untouched breakfast, his appetite miniscule after last night’s endeavours.

“I’m sorry, Aeschylus, we rather cut you off. Was there something you wished to say?” Gwendolyn asked the befuddled-looking butler who shook his head and mumbled.

“Ah, yes, yes. Apologies, madam, beg your pardon but Miss Honeysuckle asks if she might have a word.”

At this, Gwendolyn tilted her head slightly, her gentle smile fading to a look of suspicion.

“I would ask why is she not asking this herself at the table?”

“Miss Honeysuckle is taking breakfast on the west terrace.”

“Aeschylus…” the mare raised an eyebrow “Are you saying that she expects me to come to her?”

“…If I may say so, madam, Miss Honeysuckle informed me that she is about to leave. She asked me to have her bags taken down a moment ago.”

All heads at the table turned to one another with alarm.

“She’s leaving?” A smile crept across Blueblood’s face “Do you mean the barnacle is finally letting go of the HMS Papa Herod’s Cash?”

“Good riddance, I say.” Cordelia clucked, turning to her nephew’s valet “Conkers, dear chap, on this occasion I shan’t mind at all if you throw her luggage around a bit. I might help you with it if there’s time.”

“There you all go again. Why are you all being so beastly to her?” Bayard sighed, throwing down his napkin.

“Oh, drop the chivalrous act, cousin of mine!” Blueblood scoffed “You’re fooling nopony.”

“For once, I have to agree with your cousin, darling. The mare’s a horror and you know it.” Ninienne said curtly “If I hadn’t stepped in, she’d be tying you round her hoof before Papa was even buried.”

“Mother…that’s simply not true.”

“Everypony please, do not fret.” Gwendolyn stood up in her stately manner “If Honeysuckle is due to leave, then I shall not stop her.” she shook her head “And if it means that she will cease this horrid game she’s tried to play on us all this time then I am utterly at her call. The west terrace, did you say, Aeschylus?”

“Yes, madam.”

“Give her what for, mummy.” Blueblood raised his teacup with a victorious smirk.

“Oh don’t worry, Blueblood.” she drew herself up primly “Just this once, I intend to make my opinion of her…quite clear.”

Smiles were passed around each other among the Sanguines as Blueblood added another sugar-cube to his tea and chuckled.

“What a lovely day this is going to be.”

In a cream and ink-black floral-patterned dress, Gwendolyn Aerie Sanguine appeared to glide along the terrace path in the early morning. The birds and blossom were particularly abundant at this time of year.

Sanguine Hall looked glorious this morning.

And it would all be Blueblood’s, she thought to herself, warmed inside more than she could ever remember.

Years of drudgery for a belligerent egocentric who barely remembered his own son or how dear she had been to him.

It hadn’t all been bad of course but really, for all that had been done, this was the least she or her son deserved.

At last she could rest.

Honeysuckle was indeed taking breakfast on the west terrace, though her plate was empty and untouched and she was tilting an empty teacup in her hoof, a cigarette in her mouth. Another teacup sat opposite waiting for her daughter-in-law.

She gave a sardonic grin. Not her usual, toothy, sickly-sweet smile she wore around Prince Herod.

The façade was gone.

And Gwendolyn was glad of it.

“I knew you’d be having breakfast so I sent for an extra cup.” she said flatly in a lower, harsher voice than before “You want to sit down?”

“Thank you.” Gwendolyn said as she did so, her calm, measured tone betraying nothing “How can one resist being invited to take a seat in one’s own home?”

“I suppose you’re wondering why I asked to see you before I left…” Honeysuckle began, her smile still fixed on her features as she poured both of them tea “It’s because you’re the worst of them. You hate me the most.”

“My dear Miss Honeysuckle, you are mistaken.” Gwendolyn said, blinking perplexed at her words “I do not hate anypony.”

“Yes, you do.” Honeysuckle’s tone was sharper and colder, her eyes burning with indignation “You hate me more than everypony in that damned house put together! At least they had the decency not to cover it up!”

“Miss Honeysuckle, I will say truthfully, the methods by which you have lived by and risen in this household I find highly distasteful but I have never…”

“Oh, stop it. Just stop!” Honeysuckle snapped “Honestly, do you think you’re fooling anypony? All this sweet little mummy act day in day out but inside…I know what you are.” Her smirk returned “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I just wanted you to know that if you’d been half-way decent to me, I would’ve gone shares. Honest.”

“You don’t say.” Gwendolyn spoke just as calmly as ever.

“Listen, I like money. Who doesn’t? It’s a hard life for a filly on her own.” the young mare was blinking rapidly, fixing Gwendolyn with a look of loathing “But what I say is enough is enough!”

She angrily stamped the cigarette into Gwendolyn’s saucer, then threw down her chair and turned her back to the breakfast table. As she looked out toward the green around Sanguine Hall, the house she had once assumed would be a paradise, she began sniffing, rubbing at her eyes and muzzle.

“You’re wrong about me! All of you!” she snarled “I’m not greedy! But I won’t be treated like I was dirt under ponies’ hooves! I have feelings!”

“I know. That’s why my father-in-law is dead.” Gwendolyn did not look her in the eye. She simply sat as straight and properly as ever, stirring both their teacups, her distaste now evident in her voice “We know all too well what sort of feelings you have.”

*

Cadence’s gilded hooves were almost chipping into the cobblestones as she and Shining Armour galloped to Sanguine Hall through the forest-side path, Colonel Peregrine, Captain Toyle and a squad of Equestrian and Marchion guards not too far behind. This path was longer but it avoided traffic and pedestrians. There’d be no chance they would be waylaid.

The Lady of Canterlot hoped to Celestia it would pay off. If she’d made a mistake, it would cost an innocent pony their life. Or perhaps several ponies.

She didn’t want to think about just how far the murderer would go.

*

“You are the one who fools nopony, Miss Honeysuckle. The guard are very likely at this moment rushing to Sanguine Hall. You’ve left it far too late to run.” Gwendolyn raised her teacup calmly “You’ve been found out.”

“No, I haven’t.” Honeysuckle sat back down with a smug sneer “Because I haven’t done anything. Never did. I’m as innocent as the flowers that bloom in the spring. Too bad for you. You can set them on me all you like. I’ll just smile and cry and flutter and before you know it, I’ll be out of there. Which means you’ll…” She waved her hand around Gwendolyn and the dining hall she’d exited from “…be out of here.” She drew her hoof around Sanguine Hall “Do you know, I reckon you ought to be grateful it ended here. I could have gone further…” she grinned “I could have married your little Gormless.”

“His name is Blueblood.” Gwendolyn’s eyes flickered.

“Whatever he’s calling himself now, he’ll be called worse than Gormless when this is over. But I tell you, he’d have done anything for the inheritance, he’d have even gotten married! Can you imagine what sort of husband he’d make?”

“Madam, you have no right to judge my son.” Gwendolyn’s tone was growing far darker than usual “You don’t know him.”

“Don’t want to. I’m not that desperate. Just remember that. He was the one begging for bits…not me.” She raised her teacup, cocking an aggressive glance at the frowning mare before her “And, just in case you’re getting any clever ideas, you might as well not bother contesting that damn will because I’ll fight it. And when I do…” she sipped “I usually win.”

There was a pause.

Honeysuckle cleared her throat as if she’d caught something in it.

Calmly, Gwendolyn picked up her teacup, brushing away the cigarette ash her nemesis had left, and raised it to her lips with one final retort.

“We shall see, Miss Honeysuckle…We shall see.”

“Stop!”

The alicorn soared into view, landing just before the west terrace. Honeysuckle spun round in shock, staring blankly at the alicorn as a breathless Shining Armour followed up behind. Cadence’s face was a picture of terror as she bellowed.

“Don’t drink from that cup!”

Nearly jumping in her seat, Gwendolyn placed the cup down snappily and glanced bewildered at Cadence.

“Why shouldn’t I? Is there something wrong?”

Cadence looked at the stately Gwendolyn Aerie Sanguine who’d smiled and spoken so calmly and politely all the while.

Then she spoke, her voice loud and fierce.

“I wasn’t talking to you, Gwendolyn!”

Shining Armour watched, speechless, as everything changed in a heartbeat.

Honeysuckle stared, goggle-eyed and open-mouthed, her half-empty teacup crashing upon the terrace tiles. One of her bejewelled hooves clutched at her stomach as her hind legs steadily gave way. Small cries of pain became drawn-out wails of agony as she desperately reached out with a shaking forehoof.

“Help…Oh gods, help!”

“D-don’t worry!” Cadence called from the other end of the garden, hooves ready to run “We’re here to help.”

“Not necessary.” The murderer’s horn glowed a misty blue and a field of impassable magic rippled in front of them.

Shining drew back while Cadence looked from one mare to the next frantically.

Gwendolyn stared at them with a look that seemed alien.

Gone was the patient, mild-mannered, ever-responsible widow and mother that did all she could and asked for nothing.

Standing before them now was a mare who had murdered a pony.

Very intentionally.

And wasn’t afraid to do so again.

“Walk away.” she said flatly “There’s nothing left for you here. It’s over.”

“No! I’m not letting you do this!” Cadence yelled, her horn glowing magenta as she let up a counter-spell.

A dilemma sprung in her mind. If she exhausted her magic on dispelling the shield, her magic would be useless in curing the effects of the poison Honeysuckle was suffering. Looking at the poor mare, clutching at her chest, face contorted with pain, time was fast running out.

Cadence shook her head frantically, almost screaming.

“You...you can’t do this!”

“Yes, I can. And I fear I must.” Gwendolyn answered flatly.

“She didn’t kill anypony!” Shining Armour pleaded through the field to the stone-faced murderess “She’s innocent!”

“That is not something I plan on letting others know.” she replied, her tone of voice eerily serene “Please walk away. I don’t want to do anything desperate, you've already seen what that leads to. You’ve worked very well, I do mean that, but it really is in your best interests to leave.”

“It won’t work! We know how you did it! Whatever you say won’t hold up in any court.”

“My dear lady...” Gwendolyn reached for a small fork on the breakfast table, examined the sharpness of it and rested against her neck “I have no intention of saying anything...”

“You’re...you’re crazy!” Shining spluttered.

“Make whatever conclusions you like. I really must insist you walk away.”

Cadence drew back slightly and turned nervously to Shining Armour.

“Shining, I need you to help me shut down this shield...” she whispered “Then knock her down. I need to save Honeysuckle.”

“Right...” the stallion gulped.

The two bowed their heads as their horns illuminated. Twin auras of azure and fuschia lit up behind Gwendolyn’s shield, its caster shielding her eyes and giving a frustrated scowl.

“I said walk away.” She hadn’t heard their plan nor did she fully understand it. Magic shields muffled outside sound, hence why Cadence had yelled. Beside her, Honeysuckle was grabbing at the leg of the breakfast table, her teary, bloodshot eyes staring up at her poisoner.

“Please...don’t...” she gasped “I'm sorry...You can have it...You can have it all, just...don’t do this...”

“I’m terribly sorry, dear mother-in-law,” Gwendolyn gave her dismal look “...but you’ve left it a sight too late for that.”

She turned away...

Right as the shield gave way to Shining and Cadence’s combined magic.

A sound not unlike shattering glass echoed in her ears as the defensive field broke and the full force of Shining Armour, clad in his namesake, crashed into her, pinning her down. With a scream, she tried to push him off, staring in horror as Cadence rushed over to the prone Honeysuckle.

“No! No! Stop! Don’t do that!” Gwendolyn shrieked, all her usual calmness and grace lost as she flailed around frantically “You can’t let her live! You mustn’t!”

“Yes, I can. And I fear I must.” Cadence echoed her words with fire in her eyes as her horn lit up. Pressing a hoof to the writhing Honeysuckle’s chest. Her hoof shook and pressed lightly but suddenly.

With a heave, Honeysuckle threw up long and loudly. A stagnant mixture of tea and water poured out of her mouth along with whatever poisons had mixed into it. Gasping and groaning, the mare hugged tight at Cadence’s shoulders and edged back from her attempted murderer.

“Get her away! Keep her away from me!”

“It’s fine. It’s alright. Nopony will hurt you.”

Behind them came the thunder of hooves as Colonel Peregrine, Captain Toyle and the rest of the guard galloped into view.

Peregrine gave a dour chuckle as she grabbed hold of Gwendolyn’s hooves as the murderer ran out of energy.

“Well, now, Sergeant. Is that a proper way to handle a lady?” he said as the hoof-cuffs gave a dull click.

*

“So...What was your little scenario?” Cadence asked, disdain in her face and voice “Trapped Murderess Commits Suicide?”

Gwendolyn Aerie Sanguine sat sullenly on a chair in the centre of the living room. She hadn’t needed cuffs kept on her.

Her face proved that. Her eyes were half-closed and barely awake. Her lips were drooped in a disillusioned frown.

She looked dead to the world.

“Something like that.” she replied flatly.

“It would certainly seem so.” Peregrine appeared and threw down a small white package.

Cadence knew what was in it before even opening it and where it had come from.

“Hydrated atropine.” she said aloud “Left in Honeysuckle’s room. You of all ponies, Miss Gwendolyn, wanted her and no other to fall under suspicion. The mysterious presence of the horrid drug and the smuggling thereof would be linked directly to her. Maeve would be seen as completely innocent but cut off from the drug, no matter what it did to her. But once Mr Runcible and the courts were safely convinced the Sanguines were completely spotless in terms of abiding the law, all would be well.” She turned at the stallion who cast his eye over the culprit.

“So...This was all about the will?” Peregrine supposed.

“Not the will. The wills.”

“What the blazes is going on?!” Ninienne’s shrill voice cut the silence as she and the rest of the family swarmed into the room, their faces all pictures of shock.

Cadence noted Blueblood wasn’t present.

She dreaded how he’d react.

“Honoured Sanguines.” Cadence said, making sure to take the pride of achievement well salted “I have discovered the culprit behind the sordid goings-on at this Hall.”

“Wh-where?” Persnickety glanced around, adjusting his monocle.

Clearing her throat softly, Cadence held a hoof in front of the seated Gwendolyn. From how she looked, it was uncertain if she was actually looking at her family.

All mares and stallions entering slowly worked things out.

Slowly, they all sat down at the couches and settees present. The usual Sanguine pride and glamour was gone.

They all stared with wide, stunned eyes, open mouths and trembling hooves.

“Aunt Gwen...” Rowena murmured “It can’t be true.”

“I’m afraid so.” Peregrine said gruffly.

“But...I mean...What about Honeysuckle?!” Cordelia spluttered “All the evidence pointed to her!”

“As Gwendolyn always intended.” Cadence replied “The anonymous letters, the missing rat poison, and of course, the death of Prince Herod.”

“But...how?! And why?!” Ninienne gasped.

At this, Cadence turned to Gwendolyn with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you want to tell them or shall I?”

In a somewhat tired fashion, Gwendolyn looked up at Cadence and, to her surprise, smiled slightly.

“Oh by all means, my lady, the honour is yours...”

An eerie silence hung over the room before Cadence sighed and began her revelation.

“It all started with the two wills written by the late Prince Herod many days prior to the evening of his murder.” she explained “His murder was a premeditated act. It could only have been fully planned out at least a day before the reading of his will. Yet Prince Herod kept both wills in his room at all times. That left only one pony who could have read them without Prince Herod’s permission; the housekeeper.” she glanced at Gwendolyn “Where did you find them?”

Gwendolyn gave a shrug.

“Under his old theatrical costumes. He told me to prepare his Macheath garb for his portrait two days before Miss Alma Rose arrived.”

“Ah...” Cadence nodded, everything falling into place.

“Purely by accident, just doing your rounds...And there, you see it. The sword swinging above your head.” The alicorn shook her own head “What better proof of his megalomania and the damage it could reap upon you? The two wills. One of reward and long-lasting security, the other of punishment and total calamity. So now you know the contents of both of them yet you have no real clue which one Herod will announce, given his erratic temperament. So there you decide to put an end, once and for all, to the old stallion’s power games.” She continued pacing around.

“You order fine crayfish for the birthday feast, knowing full-well that your discouragement of such a thing will only make him more insistent on it. ‘Putting your hoof down’ after all, has only worked against your favour thus far. And then, if the champagne doesn’t do the trick...you give him a helping hoof.”

Her eyes darkened at the murderess whose own expression hadn’t changed.

“You spike his Milk of Magnesia with a lethal dose of thallium. Then you pour out an extra helping, just in case.”

“In case of what?” Bayard asked tentatively.

“In case of Will Number Two, the one that leaves everything to Honeysuckle.” Cadence answered “If it was announced there and then, Honeysuckle would never have lived to collect. But that was what the atropine was for. It would be stashed in her room and left waiting. And once Honeysuckle had ingested the thallium in say, an evening or morning drink or tonic, the drug would be strewn around her to give the impression of a fatal overdose...provided of course, the coroners got to her quickly before the post-death symptoms would show or rather failed to show, as they did with Herod before his hair fell out.”

“That’s why I’m still sick then.” Babbles said flatly, the quietest she’d been since Cadence had known her “And why Scaramouch died?”

“It would seem so.” Cadence answered before holding out her hooves almost theatrically “But then disaster strikes! All your plans ruined. All because of the portrait...and what your son does to it.”

“No!” Gwendolyn snapped suddenly, fire in her eyes as there never had been before “He never wanted to. That infernal succubus tricked him!”

“Believe what you will, the effect doesn’t change. Prince Herod signs the second will and dies. It never would have been an issue...If it hadn’t been for Alma Rose’s unique inquisitiveness.” She noticed Gwendolyn sighed at this. not out of any resentment, merely disappointment.

“So the objective turns, not so much into proving Honeysuckle’s guilt to us...but to Honeysuckle herself. Driving her over the edge, one suspicion after another. So that when the time came for her to die, just as it had been for Herod, Honeysuckle would be the top suspect. And when we came on the scene, you demonstrated just how far you were willing to go." She breathed deep "You would have tried to kill us if you could...then yourself. All so that Honeysuckle would be blamed for every wrong inflicted on the Sanguine family that they and the police would know of.”

“But...why?” Ninienne’s voice cracked as she stared at her sister-in-law with streaming eyes “Paradise above, Gwen, how could you?!”

“How could I?! You ask me how could I?!” Gwendolyn’s face became angrier than Cadence had ever seen as she shot to her hooves, eyes boring into her in-laws. Peregrine stepped between them sternly.

Cadence made to ready a spell.

Then she noticed Gwendolyn eyes were full of tears alongside her family.

The hurt. Years of it.

It all showed clearly on her face for the first time.

“For the same reason you and Cordelia kept quiet about the elopement over there!” she gestured with a hoof, shaking with fury, at the stunned Rowena and Bayard.

There was a pause.

Gwendolyn’s answer came choked and cracked, rage giving way to despair and the self-pity.

“For our children.”

*

Shining Armour hadn’t known what to expect from a Marchion Hospital.

Since coming here, he’d reminded himself they were still technically in Equestria and the two cultures had influenced each other since Laurelore’s time. All in all, there was a bit less white and a bit more sepia but otherwise he didn’t find anything greatly different about the general place.

He stood beside Honeysuckle’s bed, Captain Toyle outside, as the mare finally came around.

“Oh gods...my throat...” she croaked, wrestling her bloodshot eyes open.

“Ah, Miss Honeysuckle.” he gave a polite salute and passed her a glass of water “How are you feeling?”

“How do you bucking think I’m feeling?” she growled, grabbing the water and taking a grateful swill of it “Sweet Tartarus, what did she give me?!”

“About three-hundred millilitres of pure thallium.” Shining answered flatly “Certainly enough to kill but slower. I believe it was Gwendolyn’s intention to wait until you could no longer speak then rush for help only for it to arrive too late. At least, provided we didn't show up when we did.”

Honeysuckle stared blankly into space before twisting the edges of the blanket in indignation.

“The sick little nag! She poisoned me! She...she poisoned Roddy?”

“All to avoid the inheritance going to you.” Shining answered “Cadey, I mean Lady Mi Amore Cadenza, worked it out early this morning. Gwendolyn had found both wills and...I suppose she saw it as betrayal. She used Babbles’ medicine, planned it all out. But then you and Blueblood messed around with that portrait and Herod brought out the second will. She had to act fast to frame you for the murder. Then when you announced you were leaving, I suppose she saw it as her last chance.”

“She’s a nut! She’s completely round the twist!”

“I’d say she was desperate. Tipped over the edge.” Shining said gravely “She’d worked all her life to get where she was at the end of it all. She’d come from nothing, fallen in love with a noble Sanguine, and spent every moment after braving the scrutiny of his family.”

There was a pause.

Honeysuckle spoke in little more than a whisper.

“Like me.”

“In a way.”

“...So what happens now?”

“Well, once you’ve recovered, you’ll be moving into Sanguine Hall. I believe the family will all be vacated to resume their...various positions as per the terms of Prince Herod’s second will, barring Gwendolyn of course.”

There was another pause.

“No.”

Shining Armour turned to Honeysuckle who looked at him with a resolute gaze.

“Miss Honeysuckle?”

“You heard me. I don’t want it. Not the house, not the money, it’s all cursed to me. I’m done with the Sanguines.” she shook her head “You think this’ll be the end for them? I take up roost in their Hall and it’ll be like serving a life sentence. Looking over my shoulder, changing the locks every day, choosing where and when to sleep. I don’t want to live like that, no matter how many bits you have to show for it...” She looked him fully in the eye “They can keep it. They can keep it all.”

“But...” Shining was nearly speechless “If you formally refuse the terms of Prince Herod’s second will...that would technically mean the first one stands, I suppose I'll have to talk it over with Runcible once he gets here.”

“You can save him the trouble! I don’t want one ploughing coin!” Honeysuckle snapped “Let them have it and let the lot of them poison each other over it as far as I’m concerned!”

“So...” he tilted his head “What will you do now?”

She shrugged with a slight smile.

“Well it’s bound to make the headlines, isn’t it. Here at least and if it brought you to our doorstep, maybe Canterlot itself. The poor young wife of a family patriarch framed and nearly murdered by a housekeeper? It could make a nice play.” Her smile grew broader as she patted Shining’s shoulder with her own “You don’t need to worry about me, darling. I’ll have quite a few stories to tell and plenty of ponies to listen. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to put in a good word for you and your dear lady. Good luck with her by the way.” She gave a wink.

“S-sorry, what?”

“Well, thanks very much for saving my life and all but,” she gave a look at the door were raised voices could be heard, clamouring for Honeysuckle “I believe my public awaits.”

“...as you wish.” Shining left without another word as the doors opened. Commander Toyle cautiously made way for a gaggle of journalists who swarmed into the room, chattering over each other.

The sweet, syrupy voice of Honeysuckle returned to her as she wrung her hooves and sobbed.

“Oh, oh, thank you. Thank you for your sympathies, dear ponies. But...but you must give me a moment, it was all so...oh...so dreadful...”

“Of course, Miss Honeysuckle, in your own time.”

Toyle gave Shining a nod as he took over watching Honeysuckle as the blue-maned unicorn reached for a transceiver.

‘Just what will Cadence make of this?’he wondered.

*

“It is funny, isn’t it, my lady.” Gwendolyn’s voice sounded exhausted “We will do things for our foals that we would never dream of doing for ourselves. You ask me if I killed Prince Herod for the money left to me?” She tossed her hoof “I’ve no need nor want of it. But to see my son greet the doors of Celestia’s palace as a prince of his homeland, to see him find a life outside of the one tossed to him by his grandfather like a bone to a hound, to see him freed from the cold contempt of hypocrites!” She positively hissed at her in-laws who sat stock-still, saying nothing as she sighed.

“I would do anything. Anything at all...for all the good it did me.” she hung her head “It matters not.”

“So it would seem.” Cadence said as Peregrine replaced the cuffs on Gwendolyn. Her transceiver went, the crystal glowing and humming slightly. Holding it to her ear, she listened.

Her eyes widened.

“I see...” she said slowly “Thanks, Shiney.” Putting away her transceiver, she turned to the speechless family and announced her new findings.

“It seems that this hasn’t been an utter tragedy for the Sanguine family after all. That was Sergeant Shining Armour who was with Honeysuckle at the hospital. She has formally renounced her inheritance to the Sanguine fortune. Which means, in summary once Mr Runcible goes over it...the terms of the first will stand.”

Sanguines one and all turned to each other with stunned looks. Slowly Gwendolyn’s breaths strengthened one after the other until she burst out laughing.

Not the laughter of a madpony at all. It was relieved, positively exhausted.

“Thank the gods!” she gasped “Thank the gods...at last...at long last...”

“I don’t know what you have to laugh about, ma’am.” Peregrine said gruffly “You get nothing more than a cell...and, under Marchion law, a noose.”

“My dear officer,” she said with a delirious grin “I care not a jot. I have exactly what I wanted, what I set out to do. I regret nothing. Absolutely nothing! Do with me as you wish...my son is safe. That is all.”

“Mother!” There was the sound of a slamming door as the bedraggled, breathless figure of Blueblood rushed into the room, Conkers not far behind.

Evidently, the valet had been sent to pull Blueblood from wherever he’d been frolicking and delivered him the unfortunate news.

The young stallion gawked at the scene, goggle-eyed.

“What the ploughing hay is going on here?! Has the world gone mad?!” he screamed “What are you doing to her?!” He pointed a shaking hoof at Peregrine, his blue eyes blazing “Let her go at once, you bungling cur!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir.” the pegasus answered brusquely.

“As Prince of the realm, I command it! You!” he pointed to Cadence “Just what in Tartarus do you think you’re playing at?!”

“Solving your grandfather’s murder.” she replied evenly.

Blueblood gripped his temples with one hoof with frustration and yelled.

“Is your skull really as thick as your flanks?! Honeysuckle is the murderer, you idiots! It was obvious from the start! Why can’t you see that?!”

“Okay...firstly, head as thick as my flanks? You should count yourself pretty damn lucky I’m pretending I didn’t hear that. And secondly...” she took a deep breath and let the bit drop.

“Honeysuckle was not the culprit. Miss Gwendoline Aerie Sanguine was caught in the act of poisoning her this morning...in the very same way she poisoned Prince Herod.”

Blueblood’s ardour collapsed on itself like a sodden bank falling in on itself in a rainstorm.

He turned with sunken eyes and shaking hooves, looking at his mother who stood looking at him with, for the first time, true regret.

“No...this isn’t true. It can’t be...Mother, tell them.” his voice cracked “Please tell them!”

Gwendolyn shook her head and sighed.

“Oh Blueblood...” she whispered “My dear, beautiful boy.”

“Mother, what’s going on?!” his voice was descending into frightened babbling “Why are they doing this?! You didn’t do anything, you didn’t...” he fell to his knees “Mother, please...”

“Blueblood, hush.” she said softly “You’re a prince. And a prince must be strong, remember? I always told you...ever since you were a foal. All the tales and stories I told you...They’ll come true for you now.”

“But...mummy?” Blueblood broke down, sobbing in front of his mother in the middle of the room.

Cadence watched without a word. It was honestly impossible not to pity the young stallion there and then.

All he’d ever waited for, all he’d ever dreamed of.

At the cost of the dearest, truest part of his family.

“This isn’t what I meant...” he wept “This isn’t what I wanted!”

Gwendolyn’s eyes began sowing tears of her own. She turned to Peregrine with desolation in her voice.

“Officer...Please, may I hold my son...One last time?”

The Colonel gave Cadence a look, who nodded. The cuffs on Gwendolyn’s forelegs were undone and the mare swept up her son in a hug as he cried into her shoulder.

“Blueblood. Listen to me.” she whispered, kissing him on the forehead “It’s alright. I will be fine, I promise. I am content. You will be prince, live in safety and harmony and without any worries at all. I could not have wished for more.”

“Don’t leave me...” Blueblood whimpered, eyes and nose running as he wept “Please...It’s not fair...”

“Hush, Blueblood. You need to be brave for me, do you understand?” she said softly but firmly.

Motherly.

“You will be fine. I promise.” she smiled “Your father would be very proud...I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again but...I know he’ll be looking down on you...always.”

She stood up with a solemn face and looked to Aeschylus who stood stone-faced at the woman who’d killed his friend and master.

“Aeschylus...dear old stallion.” she said forlornly “I know I have no right to ask this of you after...what I’ve done. I don’t blame you for what you must think of me. But I beg you, for the love and respect you and I both had for Lockhart...please take care of my son.”

The butler looked to Gwendolyn, then to Blueblood, then to Gwendolyn again. He sniffed deeply, blinked several times, and spoke, trying to force his voice to remain strong.

“Very well...Miss Lazuli.”

There it was. Lapis Lazuli. Not Gwendolyn Aerie Sanguine. Not the name Herod had given her.

She was dead to Sanguine Hall.

With one last kiss upon her son’s forehead, Lapis Lazuli held out her forehooves to Peregrine, who placed her cuffs back on and turned her towards the door. Glancing back at the shell-shocked Sanguines, she said one last thing.

“Goodbye everypony.”

As Cadence followed, she looked back as Blueblood fell to the ground, letting out a howl of grief as his worst nightmare came to fruition.

His mother was gone.

Ninienne, once so full of smarm, rushed to his side, clasping his foreleg pityingly, unable to hide her own tears. Cordelia followed with Persnickety clutching his nephew’s shoulder. Bayard and Rowena held both him and each other between them for comfort. Even Maeve held his shoulder and Cadence noticed little Babbles walk slowly and quietly towards her once-loathed cousin and gently hold his forehoof.

For the first time she’d seen them, the Sanguines were a family.

Just now, in their darkest moment, from which they may never recover.

Bowing her head sullenly as the afternoon cloud greeted them without much merriment, Lady Mi Amore Cadenza closed the doors on Sanguine Hall.

Author's Note:

And there it is.
Sorry for the sad note.
I'm going to make a epilogue later on. Won't take me long.
It may soothe things a bit.

I set out with this story to see if I could make my audience feel genuinely sorry for Prince Blueblood. An arduous task for most.
How did I do?

Comments

[Bronycommander]

I kinda suspected it. And your question

[Purple Patch]

9029433
Good to know.

[Bronycommander]

9029435
Your welcome.

[Starlight Nova]

What is the Rejuvenationverse?

[Purple Patch]

9029510
My fic series.

[The Great Derpsby]

This... was honestly better than the ending I've seen before. Kudos.