The next day, the princes were in the library again with the three younger brothers gawking at how horrible their older brothers look. They had bags under their red eyes and their hair was scuffled up like they didn't bother to comb it.
Spike was the first to ask, "Are you guys alright?"
Cheese said, "Yeah, you look like a herd of horses trampled over you." hoping to add levity to the situation.
The three glared at him before Discord replied with a groan, "I had a fight with my wife."
Capper added, "And I had to let him stay in my room while our wives were in his."
"Oohh…" the younger trio responded.
Flash asked Soarin, "What about you?"
The second prince grunted, "I don't want to talk about it… Especially not to you…"
Flash slack jawed as well as the others and before they could dive deeper into what was going on Fancy walked in seeing the sorry sight of the older princes and concern grew over him.
Capper quickly updated him on his and Discord's situation and the noble let out a sigh, "Looks like it's time I teach you boys the facts of marriage." he reached for the chalk and wrote on the nearby chalkboard as he spoke, "You see boys, marriage has be treated as a foundation of trust, compromise, and communication. Take me and Fleur for example, we trust each other that we will never stray from the other but more importantly that we trust with each other with anything from our most guarded secrets to consent. That is to say we don't have our own fights every now and then and from there we need to compromise make both spouses happy. Then with communication we're open with each other as we tell each other what's upsetting us and we try to make it better.
"So you see boys, marriage isn't simply when two people in love make a commitment to each other and live happily-ever-after, it's so much more than that. It's a partnership between best friends or at least that's how I see it. Fleur is my best friend to be sure because I can share with her this connection that only she would ever understand. Not only that but she loves all of me, flaws and all and I do the same for her. So you see, marriage is not just romance, rather that's a perk and should be treated as such."
The boys were stunned by this lecture and looking back to when they met the girls and went on their dates with them, it's just as Fancy had said it wasn't just romance they were feeling with them but a strong connection that brought them closer.
Soarin remembered how anxious to see Rainbow again after they agreed they would run away and when he did his heart practically burst with joy as he held her in his arms. While still upset on how good she was at certain things he couldn't let that affect the fact that he loved her for who she was. And who she was, was just amazing…
Fancy addressed Discord, "So in the meantime give your wife the space she needs, eventually it'll work out and you two will be back together."
The oldest prince sighed, "I guess…"
The girls were in the parlor waiting for Fleur and as they were Fluttershy and Rarity had told the others about what happened last night.
"I didn't like kicking him out but he was crossing a line and I had to put a stop to it."
Rarity stated, "You did the right thing, dear. And as much as I hate being away from my husband, you needed me more."
Pinkie commented, "Wow, I didn't think we'd have marriage problems this soon! Thank goodness Cheesy and I still have a stable relationship going."
Rainbow made a worried look and rubbed her arm, "Soar did seem a little cranky this morning and when I tried to ask him what was wrong, he just blew me off! Do you think it was something I did?"
Applejack said, "Could be but you won't know for sure until he says what's bothering him."
By then Fleur came in to start the next round of lessons until she saw the troubled looks on her students' faces and inquired, "Is everything going well with you ladies?"
The girls immediately told Fleur the problem to which she responded, "Ah, marrying was easy, young ladies, but now comes the truth of domestic life. Not everything will go as you plan and we must adapt to the situation come what may." she told Fluttershy, "I think you handled the situation as well as you could but you might have been a bit harsh in this case. Prince Discord is not used to being told what to do and he's certainly not used to having a wife. You must ease him into it by giving him some ground rules, of what your boundaries are. Does that help?"
Fluttershy smiled and nodded, while saying, "It does, thank you."
Fleur then told Dash, "As for Prince Soarin, normally he has a better temperament than this so it's possible he could be sick and it needs to be looked into."
Rainbow covered her eyes, "I'm a horrible wife!"
"No, no sweetie." Fleur went to her and crouched down, "You just need to understand his quirks and behavior better and that goes for all of you, after all am I to understand that you only met with them a few times before getting married?"
The girls made sounds of agreement.
"I thought so, so really it's not your fault because normally a courtship would take longer than that, I know it did for me and my husband."
The princesses took comfort in that.
Fleur then got up and suddenly said, "You know what? Let's forget about princess lessons today, instead I am going to give you everything I know about your husbands and hopefully you'll be able to use it for future use."
The girls gawk to that before smiling brightly at the lady.
Fancy had noticed the mood brighten immensely since his talk on marriage. But he still could see the older boys were still troubled by something and if he had to guess that something was their father. It made him scowl thinking that Tirek could hurt these boys by using their emotions against them. He feared the same will happen to the younger boys, especially since they were more sensitive than their big brothers.
Just then a page came in making the boys quake particularly Flash. And when the page called for him the prince slowly got up and looked back to his brothers who tried to often him reassuring smiles but even they knew that he was going to have a hard time if not harder.
Flash took a deep breath and went with the page.
Fancy looked with worry and prayed that everything would be alright.
The page announced, "Prince Flash Sentry de Vigilante, your grace."
Flash walked into his father's study as he saw the steely gaze of the king watching his every move. Until he motioned, "Sit."
The prince did as he was commanded.
There was nothing but silence making Flash more uneasy by the minute.
Finally Tirek spoke, "Tell me, son, why do you suppose I chose you as an heir?"
Flash rose a brow and wavered, "I… I wouldn't know Father, your ways are your ways. I have no right to question that."
"An excellent response. I'm impressed."
"You are?" genuinely shocked by that.
"But of course, you always know how to speak the right words but that also disappointed me since you would only talk instead of taking action like I always hoped you would."
"W-what do you mean?"
"When you were young I saw you playing around with a wooden sword and would imitate the guards. I figured for you as battle worthy and would be fit at commanding our armies only to see this weaker side of you as you grew hence why I tried to make you tough by being harsher to you than your brothers."
His eyes widen to this revelation as it all made sense now. All those years of harsh words and emotional turmoil… it was to mold him into something tougher and stronger. Then anger steeped in and he scowled and perhaps for the first time in his life he felt brave enough to stand up to his father.
He slowly started, "You mean… to tell me…" his voice grew stronger by the word, "that you were forcing me to be something I wasn't?! I may like swordfighting but it does not define who I am!" and ended up standing up to stare his adoptive father down.
Tirek showed no emotion as he stood up, coolly asking, "Oh? Does that upset you?" and slowly made his way to the mantle.
Flash shouted, "Yes that upsets me! How can it not?!"
"You do not wish to be a king that can fight any battle that comes your way?"
"Not like this!"
Tirek then grabbed for the swords on the mantle piece, "Then let us strike a bargain, if you can best me in a duel then I shall reevaluate my methods to you and shall let you be the king you want to be." he tossed a sword to Flash which he caught, "Fair?"
Flash looked at his reflection in the sword, making a determined look, and readied himself, stating, "Fair."
Tirek lifted his own and braced for the fight that was to come.
The swords touched together as the king said, "On the count of three. One… Two… Three!" and the swords clashed.
The battle between father and son commenced as Flash thought of all he had been through in the past. To lose his kind and caring parents and their place was a father that refused to love him back and just wanted him for one thing only. During the fight he almost bump and tripped over things in the room and started wishing they had did this outside.
Tirek saw this and smirked, "Holding back are we? I was told you were the best among your brothers is that wrong?"
"No it's not!" he yelled and clashed his sword more to his.
Lost in his anger he bumped vases and artifacts as they crashed to the ground.
Tirek in the meanwhile was keeping control while letting his son lose it. Flash's rash behavior was destructive and he took that to his whole advantage.
"Such a temper, it's a shame you don't display it more. You could be a fierce warrior, proving my point of how battle worthy you truly are…"
Hearing that made Flash's blood run cold and he looked around to see what he had done.
"No…" he uttered.
While distracted Tirek took the opportunity to disarm him and knocked him to the ground with his foot and held his sword tip to Flash's chest.
The prince looked right into the king's cold stare and fear once again filled him.
Tirek firmly spoke, "You are what I think you are. No more will I see that weakness of yours, from now on I expect you to be tough and hard. Is that clear?"
Flash was on the verge of tears, "Please… Don't make me be something I'm not…"
Out of nowhere a hand struck him in the face making roll to the side. He felt blood coming from his nose. Then he felt his hair getting grabbed with Tirek yelling in his ear.
"Stop acting like a child! It's time for you to grow up!" then he let go but kept him down. "Do you wish to test me further?"
Flash shook his head.
"Good… Now get up and get out of my sight."
The prince didn't waste a second as he cupped his nose and quickly left the room.
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You nail it on the head. (slow claps) Well done.
9644611 I try.
Tarik You were good, I thought you would have bruises on the eye and the stuffed mouth, just made the nose bleed.
Oh, my gosh! Girl, WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BABY?! Oh, it's okay, sweet boy. You can cry all you want. Let it out.
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Believe me I took no pleasure in doing so. If anything Tirek's behavior was a metaphor to that of the Flash haters.
NOOOOO! Not Flash! Oh...poor guy.
Twilight! You have to save him!
Well, that happened...
As much as I might not like Tirek... I'm actually disappointed with Flash, not that he lost, I expected a the first time they clash that Tirek would win, but that Flash so... well childishly lost his cool.
In other news, I wonder what Fleur will share with the girls? Hopefully something that will be most helpful.
So that leaves Cheese and Spike..... this is going to get darker before it gets brighter
9645378
Well it was a breaking point for him to learn the real reason Tirek was always so harsh to him and if you'll recall he displayed this kind of behavior in Rainbow Rocks and yes, I know he was under the Sirens' spell but chances are he could act like that in other situations that made him angry but it's debatable.
9645378
If this line is anything to go by, Flash is probably even more disappointed in himself than you are. I don't know what scared him more, realizing he had a dark side or the implication that the man who raised him will keep abusing him unless he uses it more. Is it bad that I want Flash to disown Tirek to his face? I want Flash (and by extension, the rest of the princes) to disown Tirek to his face!
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They definitely wish they can but in the chapter where they try to run away shows that Tirek will never stop coming after them so they are that stuck on where they are.
My God..... Flash..... (TIREK, YOU NEED TO GO TO TARTARUS!!!! *proceeds to mercilessly punch useless excuse for a king in the face and stretches* Ah... That felt good)
I have no words for this. Well done. *Turns to Twilight* Twi, you need to get your husband stat and tell him who he really is and what he means to you. He needs to hear that. There's a very special book that can help you do that.
*Turns to author* I commend you, oh great Weaver of words--- you have played with my emotions to point of no return. Nicely done.
When's the next chapter?
Well, at least the couples are learning how to be supportive and cooperative couples. It's great how Fancy can still help the boys out... He's a pillar to truth and trust and strength for them... I just hope Tirek doesn't find out about Fancy's illegitimacy and manipulate his sons into thinking Fancy is trying to win their trust in order to win the throne.
Then again, just having one of the Prince's find out could prove rather... strenuous.
But I think they'd get over it, talk it out and form a deeper understanding with the boys.
Also...
TIREK YOU MONSTER! Flash, it's normal to be emotional, don't let that manipulative bastard force you to be something you're not, you're stronger than you think!
P.S. It's been over a year now since your last update... I hope you're ok @CartoonNerd12
P.P.S. I am waiting patiently for the next chapter, as I can hardly wait to keep reading this masterpiece!
update ?
this book is amazing
continueee I love the story I am intrigued with what is going to happen also I want more soarindash I need more soarindash
Update
Ouch Flash. I mean ouch. I really hope Tirek gets what's coming for him.