Blueblooded Bluebell

by David Silver

25 - To the Next Level

Fancy gazed out a window, watching the city below with its many occupants bustling about, unaware of him save for his reputation in that moment. None of them were looking up at him. None of them were likely thinking of him in that instant. He was alone.

Well, not really. The animated chatter of Blue Belle, his sister, and Fire Paradox was drifting in from the next room over, but he had not rushed to join them.

"Fancy?" There was Blue. "Why are you hiding in here?" She strode in, right rear leg connecting with the door to knock it shut along the way. "Is all this talk of fashion boring you?"

"No! No." He waved that thought off, turning to face the mare. "Nice hat." She had a new one, with such wide brims she almost didn't make it through the door. It was ostentatious, which was a bit of her style. "I gather it was a success."

"But you aren't there to see it," she got out in a bit of a whine. "Why?"

"I can see some of it now." A little smile, too little.

"What's wrong?" She stepped in place, looking him over with little leans to the left and right. "Something's off, I can feel it."

"It's..." He trailed off to a sullen silence.

"Tell me." She began marching towards him. She was a pri--baroness! Either of those titles meant a pony walked when they wanted to walk! "This is not like you." Close enough for it, she raised a hoof to his chin, forcing it upwards half an inch. "Did you drop something on the floor, the way you keep looking?"

"Blue..." He sat back on his haunches, eyes meeting hers, though sliding away. "I was thinking..."

"A concerning habit, some say." She chortled, amused with her own humor. "What about?"

"I have... confessed my feelings, and you yours, but there are steps outside that." He looked back to the window. "And most of them are complicated, since all parties know you as a stallion, and the questions that result..."

Blue sucked a loud hissing breath. "Oh." Humor was gone. The weight of what was being thought of like a physical impact. "But I'm not a stallion anymore."

"Lady Belle, you are aware of this, and I am aware of this." He danced a hoof between them. "But neither my parents... nor yours... is aware of this. Both must be consulted, if we are to do this properly."

And properly was exactly the way that Fancy Pants did things, Belle knew. It was a thing she liked about him, even if it was not bringing him joy at that moment. "Beside that..." His eyes fell, searching for whatever he had dropped, not that Belle thought he had actually dropped anything. "I start thinking about how I feel. I do still remember you, before. I did not want to kiss that."

Blue's cheeks colored darkly. "And... that... did not want to be kissed by you. That is gone." She waved it away in a violent motion. "Prince Blueblood is dead. Long live Baroness Blue Belle." She rose herself up as high as she could go, nose upturned. "And she is the one that has an interest in you, not any dead pony."

Fancy inclined his head faintly before he gathered himself up. "That is not a bad way to put it, my lady. You are still, at once, a mare I am new to knowing and one whom I have years of experience with. Are we moving quickly, or is this a classic tale of a childhood friend turned to romance? Both situations have... expectations." He slowly changed his footing, one hoof to the next, eyes on Blue. "For that matter, we still haven't--"

Blue stepped in and touched her nose to his, silencing his complaint for the time. Eyes locked, she angled her head, and he, the other way, and their lips met in the middle. Delicate equine lips, capable of gently brushing, moving more than any human could even dream of. They snorted faintly, inhaling the scent of the other as they pressed in closer, kissing with all the passion they had been brewing but holding to themselves.

It was their first kiss. Blue could feel her heart thumping loudly in her chest, and yet, she felt as if she were drifting so slowly down a stream, carried away in the moment. She wasn't excited. She was elated. Her eyes on him, she could but wonder if he felt the same.

His hooves came up and wrapped around her. She gasped through their met lips as he drew her in closer, and she could but return the favor, wrapping her arms around him, pressing her hooves into his back as she drew him tight. She could smell him, smell the stallion she favored, and in that moment, that was exactly what she wanted. He had soft hints of a cologne he applied gently and tastefully. Was he enjoying her perfume? She hoped she hadn't put on too much! Nopony wanted to be mashed against a pony that stank of overdone scents.

"Excusez moi." In came Fleur's snout, only for her eyes to go wide. She withdrew right back out the way she came, the door clicking shut behind her.

Despite any attempt to leave quickly, the magic was broken instantly. They separated from one another, struggling to catch their breath, Blue more loudly than Fancy, who insisted on looking proper despite it all.

Fancy brushed a hoof along his shirt as if to straighten it and himself out. "We shouldn't leave them waiting."

"Too right." Blue took a slow step back, only to reconsider. "Fancy... I know it may be improper to... as they say, kiss and tell, but this is the pony you kissed, so... do tell..." She leaned in. "Did you like it?" She just had to know. That was her first romantic kiss as a mare. Did she do it right?! Was it good?!

Despite his best attempts at composure, his cheeks darkened. "You..." Even he, in that moment, struggled with what the proper answer was. "I should like to do that again, another time... When the time is right." And he made her heart skip by leaning in and touching his nose to hers as she had done, their sensitive snouts rubbing for that precious little moment. "For now..."

"We should stop being rude." Blue swiveled in place towards the door. "Fancy, if you haven't an objection, let's see my parents first."

Fancy matched her step, both heading out. "Have you spoken to them, about this?" He waved at her whole of being, top to bottom.

"I haven't," she admitted in a small voice, admitting then and there that there was some hesitation. "But I should... and I'm going to do that, I may as well completely update them, hm? The son you had is gone, and your daughter's heart has been won over."

Fancy did not look nearly as confident in how that would go. "I will accompany you." It would be quite improper to leave her on such a request. "Do you ever miss it?"

"Pardon?" She turned an ear at him as her horn opened the door for them. "Miss what?"

"Your old... self?" He shook his head. "I apologize if that is a rude question. I honestly do not know, and would... like to understand you better."

She stopped, turning in place towards him. "Do you remember? You used to wear a different coat." The coat he had on was practically what everypony expected him to be in, but it wasn't always the case. "The beige one? dotted hang down tie?" She gestured towards the spots each article would have been on.

He cringed with a smile. "I thought I could make a fashion of it..."

"A great attempt." She sat to bring her hooves together in a single clop. "Do you miss that?"

Things were quiet a moment before he nodded. "I see. Thank you." He advanced past her. "I feel I understand better now."

"Lovely." Blue hopped back up to her hooves and trailed after him. "I don't regret the past, but I am not eager to return to it."

"You'll pardon my admitting that I do regret that." Fancy chortled, joined by her in their communal agreement that his fashion sense had improved since then. "What was I thinking?"

---

"What was I thinking?!" Blue twirled in place to face Fire Paradox, who had perched on the bed, as she favored doing.

"You smell." Fire smirked at Blue's affronted reaction. "You smell of stallion, and a different perfume than usual. No..." Her nostrils flared. "No, cologne. You get some action?" Her brows wagged salaciously. "Go on, tell me all about it."

"That is none of your concern." Blue turned away, nose upturned high. "What is is that I agreed to visit my parents."

Fire brought her hooves up to press them together. "Aw, gonna bring me home to meet the parents?! Is that a noble thing these days? Introduce your first servant to the folks?" She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "That's kinda sweet, but also kinda dumb."

"This isn't about you! Well, in part I suppose it is." She pointed firmly at Fire. "You are coming."

"Duh." Fire rolled her eyes, heart-tipped tail swaying. "As if you'd let me wander around outside your sight for that long."

"Right." Belle took a slow breath, trying to calm herself. "But this is to display my boyfriend, not my servant."

Fire burst into laughter, almost a cackle as she flopped to her side and then her back, hooves pedalling in the air. "Oh! Now I recognize it. That's Fancy's stink on you. Did he cover you too, or just his cologne?"

Her cheeks darkened as she slammed a hoof down. "Fire Paradox!" Fire flinched, perhaps accepting the anger in that outburst. "You will not use such crude and vulgar language to describe Fancy Pants. He is a complete gentlepony."

"Just a joke," Fire grumbled as she flopped over to sit up on her haunches. "So he didn't, huh?"

"No he did not!" Belle practically shrieked before taking a measured breath. "Since you will not leave me alone on this matter, we experienced our first kiss. It was lovely. There, happy?"

"Yes." Fire brought the heart of her tail to brush just under Belle's chin. "I bet you were cutely awkward. Wish I'd seen it. So, tell me, did you want him...?" She pedaled a lone hoof through the air, trying to encourage Belle to go on.

"You are thoroughly incorrigible." Belle tapped her troublesome employee on the end of their nose. "Speaking of that, why aren't you dressed?" Her demonic cohort was right back to being nude.

"I thought that was for being fancy." Fire shook her head slowly. "Don't need to be fancy to talk to you."

"Being in my employ is already being in a state of fanciness," she almost sang out. "You should always endeavor to look the part of your station." She leaned in and over her sitting servant. "Be proud. You are the only servant of royalty! No other pony can even claim the title, and even if one could, well, you'd still remain the first."

Fire buffed her chest with a hoof. "Well, I guess there is only one of me."

"So be proud." Blue nodded firmly. "And look it." She directed towards their shared dress collection. "Go on. We got a selection, so find the one that speaks to you today and look your best!"

Fire slid down her front to her hooves on the floor, trotting over to that grand collection of clothes. "I have three, which is already more than I need. How do you even keep track of this many?" Her eyes darted over the dizzying array of dresses, hats, and other accessories that Blue had for herself. "Were you this way before? I remember you having a lot of the same thing."

"Becoming a mare has awakened the joy of dressing up." Blue began clopping her hooves, a giddy smile on her face. "Each one has a different story to tell, and selecting the one that tells the world what I have in mind is a serious decision, but one that brings joy to me every day."

"Yeah..." Fire trailed a hoof across the three choices she had. "This one says 'My boss made me wear this but it isn't bad I guess.' She went to the next. "This one says, 'Maybe she'll let me go out and have some fun!'" And on to the last. "And this one! Now this one..." She tapped it rapidly. "This one says 'Ha Ha, look at me, all pious, and a demon.' It makes me laugh, and that's the only person that matters." She had the smuggest grin on her face.

The dress was as pious as she had claimed, looking more like a nun's habit than anything else. The face did not have a veil as some habits did. "Yeah, going with this one." She was soon garbed as a demonic nun, her back end swaying as she giggled. "I'm lookin' good!"

Blue considered Fire and her getup. "I admit, I don't understand your specific attraction to that, but it is made well, and you wear it well! I argue the second part is more important." She nodded firmly. "Now that's better. Don't you feel better?"

"No." Fire bounced right back onto the bed. "So we're going to your folks' place?"

"Oh, yes... yes." Blue sighed sufferingly. "And they get to meet the new me."

"And if they don't like it, they can take a long walk off a short pier." Fire's smirk grew three sizes that day. "You've already taken over baroness duties. What can they do, file a formal complaint?"

"Don't be so uncouth." She glared at Fire, but only for a moment. "They are still my parents. We do not... socialize as much as perhaps we should... but their approval still has some measure of value, to me. You are correct there, I will admit."

"I usually am." Fire sat up, watching Blue pace. "Which part, to be specific?"

"Oh, I have claimed the barony." She swiveled on Fire. "They abandoned it in a shameless display. It's mine now. I don't think any pony would side with them on that front. I am Baroness Blue Belle." She set a hoof on her chest, pointing at herself. "Kind and benevolent ruler of Sire's Hollow. Faithful subject of the crown, long may her reign be."

"Long has her reign already been." Fire rolled her eyes. "Always figured ponies would be used to royalty coming and going. Celestia really threw that habit out of things, didn't she?" Her coif bouncing on her head as far as her ears allowed it to, holes in place to allow them to poke right through. "Now, me? We're used to that kind of thing."

"We?" Belle's horn glowed as she set her hat down and she instead selected a pin that she put in her mane. "Mmm..."

"We." Fire waved at herself with a snort. "Demons? We don't die of old age. You are so ignorant, it's almost cute."

Blue stuck out her tongue at that. "A most distasteful thing to consider." She, flush with the vibrancy of youth! Well, young adulthood? Well... adulthood. "So you've had precisely one ruler for... all time then?"

"As if." Fire rolled her eyes at the thought. "Everyone wants to be on the top of the pile. Better to be the one with your butt planted on someone else's head than to be the one holding up somedemon else." She waved a hoof as if to banish an odor. "Trust me, been there, not rushing to get back to it."

"Vulgar." Belle inclined her head as she turned in place. "Then have you been their ruler?"

"Flatterer." Fire stood up on the bed. "Demons... like me don't often get that job. We're good at what we do, which isn't smashing skulls in, so when push comes to shove... Well, they tell us to shove off." She sank to her belly, waving her tail with a wry look on her face. "I bet we'd do alright, if they gave us a chance."

Blue's magic grasped that heart shaped ornament of Fire's tail. "You know, you could do something with this."

Fire squeaked, batting at the magic, however little that actually accomplished. "Warn a girl before you go grabbing!"

"Terribly sorry." Blue did release it, but her eyes were still on it. "You've got the rest of you garbed, but I can think of such cute accessories for this."

"I'm not putting a sock over my tail." She rolled her eyes. "I like my heart, nice and visible."

"As well you should," purred Blue in agreement. "It's a big strong symbol of what you are. Why would we hide it?" That seemed to lessen the tension in Fire. "I want to accentuate it." Blue sat to bring her hooves together in a pantomime. "Draw eyes towards it, not hide it. We're not ashamed of it."

Fire regained her easy smile. "Once in a while, you really remind me why I like working with you." She pounced off the bed, tackling Blue in a fierce hug. "You're alright!"

Blue was sent spinning once, laughing as her magic wrapped around Fire, setting her back and down to their haunches. "I thank you for your support, I do, but first you should see what I have in mind. Once you see it, then you have my full permission to become overwhelmed with joy." She threw her hooves wide, slid up tall, and strode into her closet to root through bits of clothes. "Here we are..." She came out with a bowtie in her mouth, blue.

It had once been an accessory she wore almost every day! She had learned to enjoy many other accessories, lowering how often she needed it, besides, her new ones were sized for a mare, that one, a stallion. But that did not matter for what she had in mind! She floated it up in her magic and with a clop, it came undone, flopping free. She brought the undone tie over towards Fire's tail. "Now hold still."

Fire twisted to look over her shoulder, tail curled upwards as she watched what was going on. "I don't think a bowtie on a tail is... a style?"

"Not as a bowtie, but..." She tied it up quickly into an ornate ribbon, just beneath the heart. "As a ribbon! There we are. The blue really works well against your red, does it not?"

Fire coiled and twisted her tail, examining it and its new accessory from different angles. "Huh... Huh..."

"Overwhelmed, are we?" Blue looked so smugly confident.

Too confident. Fire booped that proud nose. "It looks alright." Well, she actually kinda liked it, but that smile was too smug, alright? She wagged her newly ornamented tail with a new grin. "Think ponies will like it?"

"They will if they aren't criminally unfashionable," scoffed Blue, rubbing her booped nose lightly. "I knew it would suit you." A new thought came up. "Since you've prodded into my affairs, turnabout is fair play, I should imagine." Blue set a hoof on Fire's chest. "Is there anycreature that has caught your eyes?"

Fire pushed Blue's hoof away. "Look, if someone turned me on that way, they'd know, you'd know, and I'd need you to not come in this room for a while." She pointed a hoof at the door. "So pay attention if I hang a 'do not disturb' sign, huh?"

Blue blanched at the idea forced into her mind. "Vulgar! Though this does bring to mind that, perhaps, you should have--"

"--No," cut in Fire.

"No?" Blue raised a brow high. "Do you not want your own room?"

"Actually, no." She wobbled a hoof. "Call it immature, but I like having someone else around when I sleep, preferably someone more powerful than me, preferably someone that..." She trailed off.

"That can protect you," finished Blue with growing understanding. "Poor thing. Forget I suggested it." She waved the idea away. "You are safe here."

"Too. Pure. For. This. World." Each world had a great big pause for meaning as Fire pressed her hooves in on either of Blue's cheeks, squishing her face between them with a big happy smile. "I love you. I mean, not romantically. You know what I mean!"

"I do... and I am touched." She drew back from the hooves that trapped her, just to dart in and touch noses on the way towards turning. "Now, about meeting my parents. They will need to meet you too, of course. I expect you to be on your best behavior! No vulgarities! They are proper noble ponies and a choice bit of... that sort of thing could very well send them swooning."

"You're giving me reasons to do it." Fire's ornamented tail wagged with the thought of literally knocking out some snooty pony with a choice unkind word.

"Restrain yourself." Blue approached a window that she threw open with her magic. "Making a good impression will open more doors than the cheap thrills of shocking them once. Besides, they occupy the very circles you wish to join, so making a poor name will slap those same doors shut."

"Who gave you the right to start talking sense." Fire crossed her arms before herself and looked a bit pouty. "You're not wrong though. Fine. I'll be good, honest. Now about your meltdown?"

"Ah yes, we had put that off." Blue turned back to Fire, fear returning to her features. "They haven't seen me like this! They will ask questions, and they will doubt it. They'll probably think it's some kind of whimsical fancy... How do I even start to explain!"

Fire walked up to Blue in that panic. "You're already an adult. You know it. I know it. At worst, they need to be reminded of it." Fire waggled her brows. "You were busy fixing their messes."

"Yes, I did do that... But that won't make them accept this any more easily." Blue huffed softly, dancing from hoof to hoof with clear agitation. "I must be firm, without being offensive... I refuse to get married without having my parents in attendance!"

Fire's expression shrank in smugness as she walked alongside Blue, waving her heartshaped tail just in front of Blue, the ribbon tickling. "Oh, you're getting married now?"

"No!" Blue squeaked, coloring rapidly. "I didn't say that!" Well, she had, but she denied it anyway, fleeing towards the door. "I need to get some air, and to regather myself."

Fire watched the door slam shut behind the retreating unicorn. "Poor thing." She trotted to the dark mirror that rested in the corner and set her hoof on it. "Sometimes it's the help that has to get things done." She bade it to bring a particular pony on the line. She'd protect her owner, even if Blue never found out about it.

Author's Note:

Nothing like meeting the family! Normally the lady bringing the boyfriend home is less nervous than the boyfriend, but...

This month, every week! 4 weeks! Oh god!

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Comments

[Nez12213]

"Oh, I have claimed the barony." She swiveled on Fire. "They abandoned it in a shameless display. It's mine now. I don't think any pony would side with them on that front. I am Baroness Blue Belle." She set a hoof on her chest, pointing at herself. "Kind and benevolent ruler of Sire's Hollow. Faithful subject of the crown, long may he reign be."

Is that an intentional "he?" I'm pretty sure that's a no.

[prism heart]

I'm liking Fire Paradox a lot right now.

[David Silver]

10798250
That's literally just a typo. 'long may he rein be' is not grammatically correct. Shoulda been 'her'

[Gavier]

I love the dynamic between blue and fire

10798250
It's probably a misspelling of "her", referring to Celestia, long may her reign be.

[Nez12213]

10798313
Yes it meant her and no she meant her own reign as baroness.

[geomease]

The cheek smooshing was adorable

[David Silver]

10798760
Too pure for this world.

[Midknight Defender]

10798779
And not even pure evil, as one might expect of a demon.

[FridayPie]

10799690
Evil-ness appears side-by-side with selfishness. Fire's rather selfish.

10798284

And probably reign... unless we talk about bridle and "leash" distance :P

[David Silver]

10801293
They are ponies, this isn't impossible.

[Midknight Defender]

10801303
Silver! I didn’t think this was meant to be one of those fics! *fans self*

Where’s Rarity’s couch when you need it? Oh, my!

[Wellivazey]

10801293
I have as philosophy book that spends like 200 pages about how the only objective measure of good and evil is selfishness. Pretty much everything else is objective.

On that note I freaking love Fire Paradox, she's exactly how I had a party adopt a succubus who preceded to trick the entire party into helping her marry the barbarian. Including the whole "what's mine is yours" bit, soul and all...

[Teraunce]

This is adorably loveable.

[Atom Smash]

"Lady Belle, you are aware of this, and I am aware of this." He danced a hoof between them. "But neither my parents... nor yours... is aware of this. Both must be consulted, if we are to do this properly."

Blue really doesn't have any contact with her parents, does she? I wonder what happened as it seems they still live in the same city.

[Venlinelle]

I love Fire so much; "person who doesn't know enough to be prejudiced against a group letting a member of that group stand on their own" is such a good trope.

Also, I haven't heard anyone say "vulgar" this much since George Wexford Smith III.
(Are reference to children's books from 40 years ago relevant? Who knows)

[LilacWander]

I KNEW IT

SHE DOSE CARE!!!

I LOVE YOU FIRE🔥

this story keeps getting better...I need physical copies of this book with pictures of if this were a manga it would be my favorite!