Untitled Journal in Blueblood's Study

by Crowne Prince

IX.

The next evening after I finished a meeting with a Zebra tribesmare who had come a very long way to visit Canterlot, Cumber saw me off.

“Goodbye, Prince Blueblood.”

Evening and night classes were in session at the School for Gifted Unicorns when I arrived. Despite the chilly fall air, a group of unicorns were observing the stars. A few others were out on the field taking the opportunity the cover of night gave them to keep an eye on the magic trails of their spells, which were harder to see during the day. I went directly to the top floor of the school and down the corridor to Magick’s office. She was already there, waiting among the knickknacks that cluttered her office. The space still had the appearance of being well-organized.

“Welcome. Please come in.”

There was no chair or cushion, so I stood and watched the backwards sand hourglass on Magick’s desk. Little white granules rose from the bottom of the glass and filled the top half.

Magick had her forehooves settled on top of a plain envelope resting on her desk. She also looked at the hourglass. Besides us, it was the only thing in the room that moved. "Given the circumstances, I believe it is time you knew your role in this game. Tell me, Prince Blueblood, do you know what makes Equestria different from other nations?"

My heart leapt at the horrible finality of the first part of that statement. Maybe I did not want to know what Magick was going to say. I steered back to answer her question. "There's no one thing, but I presume you are referring to the leadership structure. Princess Celestia has no equivalent in any of our neighboring nations. Not only does she have the final word by rule - she also has the power to back it up."

"Where do you think that power comes from?"

Obviously her tremendous mastery of magical energy. I said so.

Magick left the envelope and went to the floor-to-ceiling window where I could see Canterlot Castle’s swirling towers glowing under the night sky. She turned so I could not see her face and gazed into the dark. Night light illuminated the unicorn’s silhouette and cast a long shadow behind her. "Belief. The Princess’ true strength comes from the belief ponies have in her. Magic must come from somewhere, and for Princess Celestia it has and always will be the faith others put in her to guide, love, and protect them. Without that belief, she grows weaker. She may even cease to exist altogether, just as heroes and villains disappear when the legends forget them.

"Someday there will be a time when Princess Celestia is no longer needed, and she chooses to move on. This is not that time.

"There is a danger, one I am sure you are well aware of after studying with De Lis. Equestria is not like other nations because it does not have any mechanism for transfer of leadership. Princess Celestia has been our sole ruler for a very long time. In another land, the elite would grow restless and use the system to replace their leader. Here, there is no outlet for those emotions save a full scale revolt.

"Some of the elite in Equestria wish to become what the Princess is, to take her place for glory and fortune and recognition: not bad desires necessarily, but misguided in this case. These ponies wish to become part of the royal family, no matter the cost. They want to be the highest ranking nobility in the nation.”

A pony did not need to go to the town gossiper to know the young Princess Cadence received solicitations and outright declarations of love often.

Magick raised her head to see the sliver of moon in the sky. “But there is one way to humble those restless hearts, to remind them what is important in life. And so after much deliberation many, many years ago, Princess Celestia decided to invent a Prince.”

Invent? “What are you saying?”

“The truth is, Blueblood, you are not a prince. Your father was not a prince. There is no royal family. Your ‘parents’ held the role you will now assume. You were separated from your real family because they would have interfered with your training. It’s true there is some history on your mother’s side of the family that would have made you a duke eventually, but that was not enough. Nopony falls for a duke the way they do for a prince.”

I realized I was sitting on a cushion. At some point the impact of the shock had made me sit down hard, and Magick had made a cushion appear, knowing it would happen.

My parents…

It was all contrived…

I was not a Prince. I was a lie. Who was I?

The sand kept flowing into the top of the hourglass no matter where I fixed my gaze. Magcik locked eyes with mine and I could not look away.

“Now listen, because what I shall say next is very important. Everything you learned on how to behave: from now on, you are to do the exact opposite. Use what you know to abuse the rules."

Finally my confused outrage manifested into words. "Excuse me?"

The silver unicorn walked a circle around me, her eyes following me as she did so. “In order to scare every pony away from any desire to be a part of the royal family whatsoever, make them hate you. Make them believe you are a snob, Prince Blueblood. Remind them how valuable it is to be a pony who cares, and not one who is completely consumed by selfishness.”

I lifted a forehoof and stared at the powder blue surface. “You want me to… go against everything I am. You want me to intentionally push ponies away, until I have no friends and only enemies, until even my own family – the one you made me think wasn’t mine – is ashamed of me.”

“Yes.”

I was going to give up my identity. History would forever remember me as the unworthy scum of high society: an ignorant, offensive stallion determined to make life miserable for Equestria’s upper echelons. The only ponies who would ever know the truth would be me, Magick, and the Princess herself.

Does the truth matter if no one knows it?

I stared defiantly into the twin silver pools of old, bitter wisdom. “No,” I said. “I won’t do it.”

“Then you have condemned Equestria to misery.” The door to the Headmaster’s office flew open. “Go, and reflect on what you’ve done.”

She let me walk away so easily.

Comments

[Crowne Prince]

I'm going to come up with a way to wrap up this story more quickly than I set it up to do. I love the interpretation I have on why Blueblood's character is the way he is, but I'm not satisfied with my delivery and there doesn't seem to be that much interest.

Eh. Feeling torn about it.

[Dozy Dreamer]

Dude - no. There's a lack of reviews, certainly, but your views stat clearly demonstrates that the majority of people reading this are lurkers, like me. Write the story you want to write - if you're having difficulty making it work (which isn't apparent from the story), then take a bit more time to polish each chapter. Perhaps find a pre-reader, tell them where you think you're going wrong, and ask what they think on the matter.
And remember - you're writing for yourself. Readers acclaim is always nice, and constructive criticism is a necessary aid for any author, but, ultimately, if you're not enjoying yourself when you put pen to paper (so to speak), then at best, you're going to produce work of a lesser quality than that which you are capable.

As for this chapter... wow, that's a little unfair. Don't get me wrong, I quite agree with the general principle of having a figurehead whom the people can direct all their hate towards (although, my preferred take on this is more the invoked Evil Chancvellor, or perhaps The Kid with the Leash, where the 'kid' is the actual ruler), but it is a role that a person needs to choose for themselves - forcing someone into it results in a 'Then Let Me Be Evil' or the leash snapping (see exhibit A - Princess Luna/ Nightmare Moon). Raising a person to 'defend the realm', and when they are ready, telling them they must actively make everyone they know hate them, and then trying to guilt them into it with 'service to the nation'... Yeah, that's a recipe for disaster.

[Crowne Prince]

3021786 Yes, it's unfair, and it is a recipe for disaster. Hence the tragedy tag.

Hm. I'll consider what you've said. Part of my dismay is that I actually don't know how the story ends, and I'm the type of writer who begins with the end already in mind.

[that1dude]

This is pretty interesting, man. Hope to see more soon.

[Chaos da FaceWhacker]

That's why he was a total botch to Rares at the Grand Galloping Gala!!!

[KiaraGate]

So she is like a FFXIV Primal basically, got it.