Prince of Errors

by David Silver

33 - The Horror

Daisy and Lily watched the slumbering prince from either side of the bed. Rose was gently watering flowers. "Watching him won't make him wake up any faster."

Daisy glanced over at her fellow flower-themed earth pony. "There's a stallion... in our space. This is very unusual."

Lily nodded softly in agreement. "Highly so. And with such a strange name. Jacob?"

"That was the last thing he said before he passed out. His name is Jacob." She set down the watering can carefully and turned back to the others. "He seemed nice."

"He seems... odd." Lily kept glancing between his horn and wings, almost but not quite grasping what she was seeing. "Something feels... off."

"He has all the parts a unicorn stallion should have," argued Daisy with a shrug. "That's what bothers me."

Lily canted her head. He did have a horn, but... She reached and gently brushed one of his wings. "Do unicorns have these?" She couldn't quite vocalize it, but it refused to entirely leave her senses, her perception just a step too far for the curse to fully shroud it.

Rose popped up between the two and gently pushed them away in either direction. "He's obviously a pegasus. Trixie said so."

It was Daisy's turn to frown. "Do pegasi have this?" She tapped at his horn awkwardly from where she had been displaced to.

Rose felt a headache threatening, as did they all, minds warring with the magic involved. "He must.... be...." She shook her head violently. "He has both? Jacob is one strange pony..."

Lily sagged with relief. With the acceptance that he had both, the magic lost a grip on them, and the tension flowed away. "Yes, he has both," she repeated, taking that as a fact. "Kind of a crummy princess though... Starting with the stallion parts."

"Tell me about it," sighed out Daisy. "Ten bits says he awkwardly makes a pass at us."

They all tittered, but it broke off as he stirred. With a soft grumble, he opened his eyes to discover three sets of them looking down at him from different angles. He squeaked and scrambled back against the baseboard of the bed he was in. It took a moment to realize who he had been snatched by. "The flower sisters?"

Daisy snorted at that. "We may be sisters in a social kind of way, but not, you know... We don't share parents."

Lily nodded swiftly as she reached for the other two, hugging them. "We may as well be at times, but we're not sisters. How are you feeling?"

"You passed out so suddenly." Rose was watching him intently. "Just as you said your name."

Jacob went still. "Which you... forgot?"

Rose hiked a brow high. "Jacob? Not a hard name to remember. So unusual... But not bad. Hello, Jacob."

"Hello... Rose." He sat down stiffly. "Roseluck! Sorry... I forgot."

Rose waved it away. "Thanks for remembering, but Rose is alright too." She leaned forward, restrained by Lily's grip. "Why do you have wings and a horn?"

Jacob ran his tongue over his lips. Why were they remembering so much? "I'm honestly not sure... Pinkie calls me a prince."

All three laughed at the very idea. Daisy was shaking her head. "You are very clearly not a prince. Can you imagine the colors Blueblood would take if somepony told him that." She stuck out her tongue. "Ugh, typical stallion."

Jacob felt his ears pinning without his input. "Don't like stallions?"

Lily softly bopped Daisy on the head. "Smooth."

Daisy huffed as she glanced away. "Not all stallions, just most of them. They... act..." She trailed off, peering at Jacob. "Ugh, it's not the same with you staring at me."

"Sorry!" He sat up a little, trying to be less awkward. "I mean, I can't really help being one of these. My parents made that decision before I was here."

Rose nodded softly. "Too true. Stop being such a downer, Daisy. I know some perfectly nice stallions, and so do you. Would you say any of that to Big Mac?"

Daisy sagged a little in place. "The one good one, snatched by a mare from a whole other town..."

Lily elbowed her forlorn sister. "That's what happens when you never even try to make a move."

"But artless passes annoy me so much!" She clopped a hoof down. "I don't want to be the same thing, but a mare."

Jacob felt some tension fleeing. They were literally arguing about not understanding the social rulebook. He could understand that... "Have you tried just saying hello, and asking if they want to hang out?"

All three pairs of eyes turned to him at once.

Daisy waved it off with a frown. "It can't be that easy!"

"Um, sometimes..." Not that he was any great expert, but... "If a pretty mare asked me to just hang out... I don't think I'd say no."

Lily suddenly burst into airy giggles. "He just called you a pretty mare."

Rose was grinning lecherously. "That was a pass, but a good one. You lose the bet."

Daisy groaned loudly. "Not fair... Um... Do you mean that?"

"Yeah, just... ask?"

Daisy tilted her head left and right and left and right, looking quite uncertain. "This is too much! Alone, with a stallion? What if he tries something?!"

Rose put a hoof over her face. "They're still ponies, Daisy. Look, there's one right there, talking with us just like anypony else. Sorry about her, Jacob."

"It's cool." He really wasn't sure how much he liked having his name used. It had been so distant and forgotten, only to return at full strength. "Um... That should be it though."

Daisy suddenly thrust a hoof forward, pressing it against Jacob's furry chest and nudging him back against the bed's backframe. "So you're saying all I have to do is... say hello?"

"Um..." He didn't really know any advanced techniques for the art. "Yeah?"

"I don't believe you." She crossed her arms petulantly. "Anypony can say that."

Rose rolled her eyes dramatically. "We have a stallion right here. Have you tried your 'new technique' on him yet?"

Lilly was too busy giggling at the entire exchange, a hoof over her mouth.

Daisy glared at Rose, then smiled at Jacob, an uncertain one full of her doubt. "Oh, well... hello."

"Hi." Jacob tried to smile easily, but he wasn't sure how well he was pulling it off. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, fine, just... there's a stallion in our bedroom and I have to ask him out and I'm getting more and more nervous and I'm afraid I'll pass out..." She laughed nervously, hoof behind her head.

Jacob smiled gently, far more easily. There was a mare that really didn't know the book, that unspoken book. "Have you tried just asking him?"

"It's not that easy!" She threw up her forehooves. "Hey, you, wanna go walk by the pond? As if--"

"Sure."

"--he'd agree to that! Wait what?" She stared at Jacob with wide eyes. "He said yes. Girls, he said yes. I have to walk, alone, with a stallion." She suddenly went limp, collapsing much as Jacob had before being brought there.

Lily gently patted Daisy's side. "We're all a little like that."

"We get excited." Rose shrugged softly. "You will go walk with her, right? And be a perfect gentlepony." She raised a hoof to her eyes, then turned it towards Jacob. "We'll be watching. She better be treated like a princess."

Lily grinned at Jacob. "You do that too. It's nice having another pony that gets a little too worked up sometimes. It all just rushes to your head and out like a light."

Rose worked her hooves under Daisy and Lily joined in, getting her up and onto the bed. Jacob hopped off without being told.

"She'll be alright, I hope?" He reached for the blanket and pulled it up over the slumbering mare.

"She's fine." Rose had more focus on him than her. "You have a date to prepare for. We need somepony that can break this bad habit of hers, treating half the population like they're after her."

Lily rolled her eyes softly. "I enjoy my time with my sisters, but there's nothing wrong with a nice stallion. Are you one of those?"

"I try to be." He sat on his haunches with a little smile. "We'll just hang out, walk around the lake, um... talk about things?"

"Great." Rose clopped her forehooves. "I had a good feeling about you. There's... It's hard to put a word on it, but it's like you understand the female point of view."

He quietly decided to not mention the various days he'd spent as a mare, doing all the things mares did, not that it was that different from the days he was a stallion, but it was different... "We never decided what day to do this?"

Lilly waved her hooves in a flat denial. "Don't you even worry about it. We'll hash that out when she wakes up and let you know."

Rose patted the bed gently. "We have to talk her up to it, so she doesn't go flat on you again during the walk."

"Wouldn't that be something." Lily shook her head. "Have no fear, the Flower Ponies are on the case." She put out a hoof and Rose met it with a firm clop of solidarity. "You just go... do whatever it is you do."

"Which is...?" Rose was peering at him with renewed interest. "Besides watching magic shows."

Jacob put a grey hoof to a grey chin. "I usually like pony watching."

"Ooo," they both crooned as one.

Lily nudged Rose. "You were right."

"Right about what?" He took a timid step back.

"That you think a little like a mare." She reached up and tapped her head. "Pony watching is one of my favorite things too."

"Ditto," sang out Rose with a smile. "Daisy would agree too, but, you know. She'll wake up soon. " A thought soured her smile a little. "Wait a minute... Are you... I mean, do you... prefer the company of other stallions?"

Jacob blinked dumbly, lost a moment before it clicked. "Oh! No! I mean, they're cool, uh... You do different things with stallions than with mares. I mean..." He was going a darker grey in his cheeks, floundering and becoming lost. For just a moment, it felt like he was really in control of a social situation. That had fled. "What... about you?"

"I have my sisters." Rose nodded softly. "But you..."

"Are not asking about that." Lily was grinning at Jacob lecherously. "You're asking if we 'keep to ourselves' and the answer is..." She walked past Jacob just to thwip his nose with the tip of her tail. "That's a rude question, but I'm feeling generous. Daisy is scared of getting involved with a stallion. Rose has to beat them off, but I know she's been around."

"Lily!" Rose's cheeks were just as red as her vibrant mane. "I swear! Why would you share that!?"

Lily didn't even glance at Rose, her eyes on Jacob. "I think both have their appeal, in different ways. Sometimes I get in one mood, or another... At least I have my favorite mares right here."

Rose clopped up and bopped her right on the head. "You might not keep having that if you go talking like that! I swear..." She cleared her throat softly and returned her gaze to Jacob. "That was... part of the reason I asked. You weren't ogling me nearly as much as the average stallion, and I was wondering if you just didn't go for that kind of thing."

Jacob blinked rapidly. "I didn't see many ponies, uh, staring at each other, unless they were really good friends or already involved."

"It's a trick." Rose sat and brought up her hooves together. "You learn to read between the lines. The angle of the ears, the twitch of a tail. It's really obvious once you learn the tells when a pony is thinking naughty thoughts about another pony.

Jacob sat up, ears perked. "Could you show me?" He could add another little bit to his tattered book of social laws. "Please?"

Author's Note:

Jacob makes friends, yay! In some ways, he is not as socially maladjusted as he thinks.

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Comments

[badninja]

I bet Pinkie will be over the moon when she finds out! I hope the flower trio will remember him and they all become good friends. I do wonder if they will be allowed in on the secret?

[Zapper Frost]

Raise your hand if you don't get the social rulebook either ✋

[tsaukpaetra]

"look at me like one of those stallions...".

[Vaalintine]

Doesn't seem like friends to me. Just weird and hard to follow this one.

[Emperor]

Really, if Jacob is the Prince of Errors, then it's no doubt because he himself was broken to an extent. Perfect metaphor, what's that? He's slowly being fixed over time and so his errors are becoming less prominent.

[Luckyfanisaac]

She stuck out her tongue. "Ugh, typical stallion.”(——

"Great." Rose clopped her forehooves. "I had a good feeling about you. There's... It's hard to put a word on it, but it's like you understand the female point of view."

All I can think of is Jacob from Lost.

[KvAT]

9806492
Or maybe someone that don't mind an error won't be affected by it. Pinkie sees through him because she's just persistent enough to look past the errors. Flutters sees him because she got used to it.
Now Rose however, she might be an exotic one, and is actually looking for the error. Kinky.