Memoir of a King’s Master Consort by Sir Spike

by CrackedInkWell

23: To Write “Blood Poisoned”

Indeed, I had thought about this favor for days. Even when I returned home, I had to examine myself if I’m even qualified for such a thing. Even if I took up such a challenge, how could I tackle it? How would I know if I get any details wrong? Would I end up writing a good story for an audience that one of which is slowly losing his memory? Would there be any point in writing this out at all?

These were only a sample of questions that buzzed around my head. Doubts and counter doubts rang in my thoughts like a complicated choir piece as I went on with my daily life. After all, I know the seriousness of such a task was, but at the time, I was unsure of myself.

Such feelings didn’t go unnoticed from Thorax. After we returned to the hive and we’ve decided to go flying, he asked me, “Is something wrong Spike? I can feel the worry from over here.”

“In a way,” I said as I indicated for him to go downwards to a clearing from the forest below. We landed, and I asked him, “Has anyone come up to you to ask you to do something that you were unsure if you could pull it off?”

He tilted his head, “You mean aside from being chosen to become king?”

“Oh… oh yeah,” I blushed in embarrassment. “I’ve completely forgotten about that.”

“What’s this about?”

Sitting on a rock, I told him how that I went to visit Blueblood and Fancy a while back. How that I’ve learned the real reason why Fancy was retiring, and his husband had asked me to possibly write down the night that I realized that I was bisexual. “But do you think that I could do it?” I asked him. “I never have done anything like this before. And besides, what would be the point of doing it if Fancy is going to forget it all by the time they’ve reached the end?”

“Spike,” the Changeling King sat down next to me, putting a foreleg around me. “As wise as you can be, I think that even you need to be reminded of your own lessons that have benefited me.”

“Like what?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s that anyone can do the hard thing. What I mean is that when we first met, I was afraid that anyone that wasn’t a changeling would only see me nothing more as a monster.” In a green flash, he reverted back to the form that I had known him. Short, with black chitin, fangs, blue eyes, and a sad expression. “For a long time, I thought that I had to disguise myself so that I would be acceptable. But you helped others to see the real me underneath – and for me to do the same.” He transformed back into his form. “And once I became king, I was scared stiff that I wouldn’t do a good enough job. Like you, I had so many doubts about myself and my abilities as a ruler since I never was one to lead. However, I did learn how by putting it into practice to see what worked and what didn’t. I’ve learned how to make compromises when doing so was the most difficult. Even to this day, it’s still extremely difficult. But thanks to you, difficult doesn’t always mean impossible.”

“So do you think you that I can write that story?”

He shook his head, “Think? No. But do I know that you can? Absolutely. I’ve seen how your mind works when it comes to telling stories to the kids. You may not see it, but you are a natural storyteller.”

“But how do I tell something like that?”

Thorax thought it over for a moment. “That’s simple, begin at the beginning, go on until you get to the end, then stop.”

“No, I mean, how exactly do I write a story in which Blueblood’s guards gave him Love Poison?”

“Oh…” Thorax admitted, “I don’t really know. Maybe you should write it like how you want to read a story. Like… maybe give the guards who slipped the stuff in his drink the reason why they did it or something.”

I had to admit, this was an interesting idea. One in which that now I had to slap myself for not ever thought of it.

“Still, you haven’t answered my last question,” I pointed it out. “What would be the point of writing if Fancy is going to end up forgetting it?”

“Whoever said that it only has to be for him?” He took flight once more, but I was rather bewildered what he meant by that. Take off too, I got close enough to repeat my question. “I mean, why not publish the story for others to both enjoy and learn from?”

“Whoa! Hold on,” I interjected. “I’ve been saying that I have doubt about writing the thing, and you want me to publish it?”

“To be fair, it wouldn’t be the only book you’ve written in which it became quite successful.”

That shut me up. Thorax did have a point. Considering that I was practically the ghostwriter for a book that threw Princess Twilight and her friends into the spotlight. However, most of the time that was just me taking dictation from her.

On the other claw…

“And I think it would be especially good for Sekto,” the Changeling King added. “After all, we don’t have too many coming out stories in our library. It would give him and, perhaps, many others like him a different perspective.”

“What? With the whole Gala incident?”

“No, well that, and also about Blueblood’s and Fancy’s relationship. Just telling it, maybe not what it was like in its entirety, but just give moments to describe in order to share the spirit of how those two managed to stick together for so long.”

Now that was another idea that I hadn’t considered. Moments. Telling a story by a series of moments that would lay out that these ponies were like. To not only give the readers but even for Sekto to look at what made this relationship work might serve as a sort of guideline for him. Not only just for him but for those who had no idea how these relationships worked. Maybe it would be best not just to write about my and Blueblood’s experience at the Gala, but maybe further than that.

“It’s a thought,” I confessed. “Perhaps I could just give it a try. But I think I need to track down a few ponies if I’m going to pull this off.”

“Really? Who?”

“Tell me, have you ever heard of the former guard’s Cloak and Dagger?”

---

To be honest, the most difficult part of writing the short story was trying to track down Cloak and Dagger. I had to dust off my old detective skills to track down whatever happened to those two. After asking Celestia about them, she recalls that the last time she’d seen either of the stallions when after they’ve been honorably discharged from the guard. But at the same time, she vaguely recalls them saying something about Fillydelphia. So going over there, it was like trying to find a diamond in a mountain.

If anything, I wasn’t exactly sure if I would even find them, or if they were even alive at that point. Nopony in the Royal Family nor the Guard has heard of these two in years. Or even if they’ve gone to Fillydelphia at all. However, since I grew up with Twilight, the Princess of not only of Friendship but of knowledge, I have learned how to find nearly anything out. If it’s a piece of information that is about real, living ponies – go to the town’s city hall towards the room where it kept its recent census records.

I have spent hours combing through names and cross-references the ages to see if I got the right ponies. From that, I compiled a list of the most likely and thin it down to see if any of them had served in the Guard. Unsurprisingly, it was really difficult to work, but in the end, I had found it! From what I could find, there was indeed a Silver Cloak that’s currently alive. And he lived in a retirement home that was close to the sea.

So the last thing for me to do was to go over to the place and ask the staff if the stallion that I was looking for was there. Fortunately, he was, and I was given permission to interview him. I came in with a tape recorder and a notepad full of questions about that night. They lead me to a patio that that was next to a shady garden with rocking chairs underneath the trees. And there underneath one of them, was a stallion that I hadn’t seen in years, now old. The unicorn gently rocked back and forth as me and one of the staff approached him.

“Uh… Are you Silver Cloak?” I asked him. “Former Corporal Cloak?”

He looked up at me, blinking, “Do I know you?” he asked.

“Know me? Not exactly. But I think you might have seen me before. My name is Sir Spike. Do you remember Prince Blueblood?”

Nearly jolting out of his rocking chair, he exclaimed, “Oh! I remember you! You’re the dragon that got caught in our prank.”

Sighing in relief, I sat down on the grass. “I’m very glad to hear you say that because that’s what I’m here for, to be honest.”

“What? Am I in trouble again?”

“Not at all. I just was hoping if I could do an interview with you, concerning that night at the Gala. I’m trying to put a book together, but I can’t exactly do that without your help.” I looked around the garden before asking, “By-the-way, where’s Steel Dagger?”

He frowned, “He died a couple of years ago. But how did you find me?”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that. Anyway, I was able to track you down because Celestia heard you guys saying that you wanted to move here and from there it was through a process of eliminating through the census records.”

“That explains it,” he nodded. “And I know what else you’re going to say about Dagger, but I’m not so grief-stricken about it. After all, we did see this coming.”

“Ah. You know, I heard Blueblood say that you two might have dated at some point.”

He waved a hoof, “That was only once. While we both knew that it wouldn’t work out anyway, we still remained friends up to the end.”

“Okay,” I nodded as I looked down at the buttons to get the tape to start recording. “So how much do you remember about the whole gala incident, with me and Blueblood?”

“When you pulled a stunt like that, it’s rather difficult to forget something like that. Even after all these years later.”

Setting the recorder between us, I picked up at my notes. “You know, the first thing I wanted to ask ever since that night, is why did this happen at all? On Blueblood of all ponies?”

He chuckled, “Tell me, son,” Cloak lean forward. “Do you know what the prince was like before he came out?”

I shrugged, “Kinda, but not really. Sure, I practically grew up at Twilight and Celestia’s side, but I didn’t really interact with him all that much as he seemed always so busy doing this or that.”

Cloak laughed, “Then consider yourself lucky that you haven’t. Grant it, Blueblood has changed for the better. But back then in the guard, it was practically considered as a punishment if you were assigned to be his bodyguard.”

“Why? Was he more standoffish back then?”

“Oh, more than that! He was awful. In the week before Dagger and I started plotting, he got upset at us over the slightest mistake. He treated us more like servants- no. No, no that’s not a good description…” He tapped his chin with a hoof. “I would say like used up whores, but that would be insulting to them as well. Get the idea?”

“Okay… like what did he do?”

“For example, on the day that we decided that enough was enough, the Prince had asked us to go into town to get some blue ink. Sounds simple right? However, he wanted us to get a particular shade of ink for some reason and to do so as quickly as possible. We were in such a hurry to get the ink that we didn’t notice the label on the bottom that says what kind it really was. So, by the time we got back to present it to him, he flew into a temper tantrum to the point that he threw the ink in our faces. Then immediately clean the mess up.”

“Wow… I mean, I knew he was bad, but I didn’t think he was-”

“Was a rat bastard?” Cloak interrupted with a chuckle. “Oh yeah, with a guy like him, you can’t expect him to act like that and not have karma come back to bite him on the flank.”

‘This is going to be a fun interview,’ I thought as I looked through my notes.

Comments

[The Bricklayer]

Interesting chapter, and very meta, with Spike pondering over how to write one of your stories in-universe...

[musoperatica]

first the author of to love the moon (an r63 luna and twilight story. it's very good & long) & now you...it's getting so hard with following these stories!
i don't want to sound insensitive or mean but [spoiler ]are we reaching the end of this story? i'm just curious is all.
anyways love how thorax transformed himself back to his former form in my 2nd story happens where thorax's alone in his room crying over his friend's death and not wanting to see anyone (yeah spike's dead, he died defending dusk against chrysalis in a fight. it's become a quadrilogy...curse my overly imaginative brain!) except his brother shows up having a heartfelt talk and cute moment between the two. and one of the guards who severed blueblood are really great callbacks:)

[CrackedInkWell]

8715825
Yes, we're almost to the end... Although I confess, I'm trying to figure out how to end it.

[GSandSDS]

Dear Spike! I know how hard it is to write the first words of a story or a chapter. Usually harder than to write the rest. May I propose an unconventional beginning? How about... hmm... let's see... something like this?

“NO! NO! NO!” Prince Bluebood screamed, [...]

[Joeyjambo122]

8715951
I'm hoping to see the whole thing with Sekto to be resolved before the end of this story.