The life of an odd Prince

by Lucen Aurora

Crazy like a... crazy... pony?

Crazy like a...crazy...pony?
By Lucen Aurora

"I cannot believe," began Captain Skyline, "That they all agreed to meet you in the middle of canterlot tomorrow at noon. You know what? I still don't believe it, they probably won't even show up."

Skyline angrily stumped head, up the crystal lined corridors, swearing under his breath and occasionally turning to shoot a murderous glare a Parts.

"I don't know why you can't believe it, Skyline. They will show up," the Prince replied as he ambled along, parts straggling behind.

"Why? This whole scenario is ridiculous!" he shouted as he rounded about on the prince, "Every last part of it."

"Since when has that stopped me before?" the Prince asked, clearly amused.

Skyline ground his teeth for a few moments and then started to take deep, long breaths.

"And what about those two changelings you paraded around the room?" Skyline asked.

"I didn't parade them, Skyline, I held them over the meeting chamber table," the Prince replied.

"How do you know they even believed you? Your word against their own kind!" Skyline retorted.

The Prince chuckled softly.

"Did you know that Changelings have a shared mind, Skyline?" the Prince asked.

"What?" Skyline asked with a frown.

"A shared mind, like, they all can hear what all the other hear, and all can see what the others see, they know what their fellows are thinking, that sort of thing," the Prince replied.

"Sounds damn creepy," Skyline said crossly as he eyed the private who was sitting a bit behind, looking shocked and sullen.

"Well, to make a long explanation short, Queen Chrysalis used to use their shared mind to control the Changelings. The problem for her was that Princess Twilight Sparkle quickly figured out how to monitor the shared mind, so after the invasion had failed, the changelings left in Canterlot had to go to ground and sever the connection to Chrysalis. Shortly after they did so, they started to take on individual personalities and all that jazz, and now here we are, a colony of individualistic changelings."

"That doesn't explain why they would take your word over the word of their own, and also, are you saying they didn't have any individualism before?" Skyline asked with a frown.

"Well, they had some, just not a great deal. And it explains everything, the changelings never lost the ability to look into each others minds. Even as we were sitting there, they were collectively looking into the minds of Hortensia and Desmondia. They would have known those two were up to something."

"Creepy, alright, so lets say they believe you now about the traitors, what about him?" Skyline asked, jerkin his head back to indicate Parts, a look of disgust on his face.
"What about him?" the Prince asked, clearly puzzled.

"He helped them, didn't he? Lied and spied for enemies of the state, no less," Skyline spat the last sentence out like a curse.

"Didn't you hear my explanation earlier, Skyline? He was under duress," the Prince replied in a patient tone.

"He betrayed the trust of the guard and the kingdom," Skyline shouted, his voice echoing off the walls.

"Under duress," the Prince replied impatiently

"And that makes a difference?" growled Skyline.

"All the difference in the world!" the Prince replied, jumping to his feet and sticking his muzzle in Skylines' face, his eyes ablaze with fury.

Skyline backed away, clearly unnerved by the Princess unusual aggression. Private Parts was looking up, mouth agape at the Prince, whose wings were spread wide in agitation.

"Do you know how many guards have sold private information about the comings and goings of the nobles and the royal family over the years? And for pure monetary gain no less! It's not as if we pay our guards poorly Skyline, you know that. So why haven't you locked them all up, you might ask? Because my mother believes in second chances, and thirds and fourths, for that matter, "the Prince pushed past Skyline as he spoke in an impassioned voice.

"Fates, Skyline. Do you really think we are going to shunt aside this poor young stallion, for doing what he had to do to try and protect his sister? Do you suppose he had any real choice?" the Prince asked.

"There is always a choice," Skyline replied stiffly, "He's not much of a guard if he doesn't have any backbone.

"Yes, yes," the Prince replied, rolling his eyes and waving a hoof dismissively, "But if we are honest with each other Skyline, we both know that the vast majority of the guards employed by crown are just glorified bellhops. The country, nay, the planet has been at peace so long that hardly anypony even knows what a fight is, let alone how to fight."

"Not all of us, are useless," Skyline said, looking rather hurt.

"None of you are. Not a single one. Every pony has a purpose and a place, it's just not always easy to see; just look atyour father."

"My father was," Skyline began but as cutoff.

"Your father was one of the best damn guards we have ever had, he just didn't have any knack for leading others."the Prince finished. .

"Y-you really aren't going to punish me," the Private asked in a quavering voice.
The Prince turned and smiled at him, "I didn't say THAT, Private. The Captain is right, there is always a choice, and choices have consequences; I understand your situation, and any punishment you do receive will be fitting the trespass."

"And you still didn't answer my question Lucky, why would they trust you when you trust him? Why would they show up at the appointed place when any sane pony, or changeling would flee," Skyline persisted.

"Because they are loyal citizens of the realm," the Prince replied cooly.

"Your putting a great deal of trust in that, when the typical guard would sell out a list of the contents of your chest of drawers," Skyline replied.

"But they aren't well paid guardsponies, silly, they are changelings. Oh, and I might have let them take a peek into my mind through that hivemind thing," Lucen replied.

"You really are crazy," the Private blurted out, his eyes wide.

Prince Lucen threw back his head and laughed uproariously, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Maybe I am, Maybe I'm not, does it really matter?" he finally managed to gasp out when his mirth had subsided to a fit of giggles.

"I, well," the Private stammered.

He looked to Skyline who was watching the exchange with sour look on his face.

"But, how will you stop her, she has the backing of most of the noble houses, surely the peasantry won't support the Princesses if they knew she allowed Changelings to live amongst us," the Private managed to mumble.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure everypony really is on Bluebloods side. Like I said before," he paused to walk over and put a comforting hoof around the Private shoulder,"leave that to us."

Comments

[mastermenthe]

oh damn, this is the last chapter.