• Published 10th Apr 2013
  • 881 Views, 4 Comments

The Ballad of Royal Blue - PonyWithAPen



A young stallion moves to Ponyville after his grandfather dies. A chance encounter with an arrogant griffon sends his life into a whirlwind.

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Setting his concerns aside, Royal tells all at Twilight's treehouse

Royal fell asleep again. It was hard not to while watching Scootaloo curl up against him. They slept until about 11:00, which meant both of them popped out of bed with youthful vigor. They knew they weren’t going to let themselves miss this of all opportunities.

Eventually, the pair made it to the park.

“This looks like the place. Lots of wide open space here.” Royal said.

“Yeah, this is where me and Rainbow go all the time.” As soon as she said that, a rainbow streak sped right between them and continued into the sky.

“Look at that, Scoot. She started without us! That’s not fair!” He took off into the sky with Scootaloo riding on his back. Royal soared until he spotted her, basking on a cloud. He flew over and stepped onto the cloud.

Huh. I forgot I could walk on clouds. The joys of being a Pegasus. Royal tapped her on the head, which got her attention. She opened her eyes.

“Oh, hey. It’s about time you and the kid got here!” she said.

“Rainbow, you told us to be here at noon, and we’re 15 minutes early.” Royal snarked. Rainbow quickly made it to a standing position.

"Really? In that case..." she purposely took her legs out from under her, causing her to fall back into her previous state.

"come back in about 15 minutes." Royal moaned. Scootaloo, who had been on his back the whole time, whispered something in his ear. He lifted his head and grinned.

"Go for it, kiddo!" he whispered back to her. He turned his body to the side so the filly had plenty of room to jump. Scootaloo mimicked a diving board routine, leaping off of Royal's back and plunging flank-first into Rainbow's stomach. That woke her up in a hurry.

"Hey! What's the big..." she opened her eyes to see her favorite kid's grinning face.

"Rainbow Daaaaaaaaaaaash! I want to go flying! You said we were gonna go right nowwwwwwwwww!"

"5 more minutes, kid. I need my beauty sleep." Royal laughed, much louder than he intended. Rainbow turned her head up to look at him.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Beauty sleep, huh? Since when does the great Rainbow Dash use beauty-anything as an excuse?" he said, trying and failing to stifle another giggle. Rainbow suddenly turned beet red. She looked like a completely different pony.

"Come on, Scoot. Last one to the ground's a Fillydelphia Fried chicken!" Royal said. Scoot hopped on his back and the two of them took off, leaving a still-embarrassed Rainbow Dash in their wake.

Royal Blue, I am going to get you for that!

"Wait for me, you two!" she yelled as she chased after them. Royal was still laughing as he soared through the sky, pulling off basic flight stunts along the way.

A couple of minutes later, Royal came in for a landing and let Scootaloo off of his back. Almost immediately, he was tackled from behind. He turned his body to look up. Standing triumphantly over him was Rainbow. She wasn’t mad, but her expression was one of amused annoyance.

“You told her to do that, didn’t you?” she pointed at Scootaloo, staring Royal in the face. Royal innocently scratched the back of his neck.

“Who, me?” Rainbow scowled, but then she smiled.

“D’aaaaw, I can’t stay mad at you guys. All right, Royal. Show me what you’ve got!” Royal raised his eyebrow.

“Is that a challenge?” Dash nodded.

“Of course. Just who the hay do you think I am?”


Rainbow and Royal showed off for the young filly, thought it was mostly the Rainbow Dash show. Royal was just as awed as Scootaloo at the tricks Rainbow was pulling off. But there was something tugging at the young one’s mind. Rainbow looked down after finishing her latest trick. She descended from the sky and landed next to Scootaloo.

“What’s up, kid? You’ve been pretty quiet for the last few minutes.” Scootaloo looked up.

“Could you…could you take me up to the nearest cloud?” Rainbow nodded. When they reached their destination, Scoot hopped down from her idol’s back and stared into the sky. Rainbow was dumbfounded.

“You know kid, if you wanted to do that, I could have just left you on the ground.” She got no response from Scoot. Moments later, however, the filly finally spoke.

“Hello, mom.” Scootaloo began. Rainbow’s eyes went wide. Of course! Today was Mother’s Day. How could she have forgotten? It was a very tragic Mother’s Day in light of current events. Scootaloo’s shoulders began to shake.

“It’s Mother’s Day today, and I just wanted to say that I love you. I know that we were mad at each other the last time I saw you, but none of that matters now.” A tear dropped from her eye. Rainbow quietly crept up next to her.

“I miss you so much, mommy. I’ll always be your little girl…” Scootaloo’s voice cracked and so did she. She began sobbing.

Rainbow was quick to grab the filly in a tight hug. Royal, who had flown up to see what was happening, quietly watched them. This was their moment, and he didn’t want to impose. When the time was right, he approached them and turned his own gaze to the sky.

“Mother, I apologize. I almost forgot what day it was. Happy Mother’s Day.” Scootaloo and Rainbow looked over.

That’s right…he lost his parents when he was young, too. Rainbow remembered the story he’d told.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of you and your beautiful smile. I love you, I miss you, and I hope Dad isn’t being too much of a headache.” The young stallion emitted a small chuckle. He felt something brush up beside him. This strange sensation was Scootaloo hugging his leg. Rainbow hugged the rest of him, and he hugged them back. The three decided to watch the sunset together. From high in the sky, it looked even more majestic. As the moon came up, they caught a glimpse of Princess Luna. They waved at her and called out to her. She likely could not hear them, but she did happen to turn her head at the right time and waved back.

After this, it was time for them to head back to Ponyville. Royal carried a tired Scootaloo on his back as he and Rainbow walked back toward the library.

“So…about this meeting…how are you going to break the news that you almost died?” Rainbow asked. Royal shook his head.

“I’ll just flat-out say a group of griffons tried to kill me. It’s the honest truth.”

“Now you’re sounding like Applejack. Brutally honest to the core. I like it.”

The trio finally made it inside the library. Gathered inside were Twilight and her friends, along with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

“Well, the gang’s all here.” Royal said, noting everyone’s presence. Twilight noticed him.

“Oh good, you made it! Okay everypony, this meeting is officially underway!” Apple Bloom turned to her friends.

“That’s our cue to leave, girls!” The three of them went up to Twilight’s loft, but they ended up spying on the meeting, unknown to the older ponies. Twilight began.

“Royal, I understand you have something you have to tell us.” The richly blue Pegasus stepped forward.

“Yes I do, Twilight.” Royal paused, and then he continued.

“Last night, Scootaloo and I were stargazing. Soon enough, we decided to go to bed. After we stepped inside, I heard a knock at the door.” Royal went on to describe the entire story in detail, including how Scootaloo saved his life. Rainbow filled in on certain parts, such as how she bucked a cloud at just the right time to send a lightning strike into the fray. The other ponies were shocked, understandably, at this revelation.

“Royal dear, how did you get involved with those ruffians in the first place?” Rarity asked. He took a deep breath.

“Will you believe me if I tell it to you straight?”

“Of course we will, sugar cube. You’ve never given us any reason to doubt you.” Applejack said, offering a reassuring smile. Royal took another deep breath. He looked into Pinkie Pie’s eyes.

“Revenge.” he said.

“Revenge?!” The other ponies cried in unison.

“I ran into the leader of these griffons a few days ago while flying just south of town. Apparently Pinkie Pie emotionally damaged his friend so much that he wants to get revenge on Pinkie. As you can probably imagine, I didn’t let him, which is why I almost died. I may not be a lifelong resident of Ponyville, but I’ll protect it and its inhabitants, even if it kills me. That’s the story, up to now.” The others approached him.

“Royal, why didn’t you tell us about this earlier? You could have died and we never would have known about it.” Twilight asked. Royal shrugged.

“To be honest, I thought I could handle it myself. I was wrong, though. I guess I didn’t want any of you in danger.” Rainbow turned her head to look at him.

“Yeah, that’s real sweet and all, but we’re the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, if you didn’t know. We turned Nightmare Moon back into Princess Luna. We turned Discord back into Princess Celestia’s favorite garden decoration. We even helped Princess Cadance and Shining Armor pay back Queen Chrysalis and her pale imitation army for almost ruining the royal wedding! We can handle ourselves just fine.” Rainbow said, smiling.

“What Rainbow is trying to say is that you are very sweet for thinking of us like that, but we’ll be okay.” Fluttershy said in a soft, gentle tone. Applejack approached him.

“She also meant to say that if those griffons come back, we won’t let you fight them alone.” Finally, Pinkie walked up to him. She was close to tears, obviously having heard everything he’d said.

“So this is what you meant.” He nodded. She got a bit closer, and then hugged him. Royal hadn’t expected this. He returned her hug, feeling just a bit awkward as all eyes were on him, even those of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who still watched from the loft. Pinkie finally released him.

“Thank you.” The tender tone of his favorite party animal had taken him completely by surprise. He had never seen her so…calm, so vulnerable. Though, it could have had something to do with the fact that he almost died just to protect her.

Twilight resumed the meeting once Pinkie had gathered herself.

“The question remains…what do we do now? We have to expect another raid by the griffons.” Fluttershy trembled in fear. Rainbow grinned.

“Oh, I don’t think we have to worry about them.” Royal remembered the previous night as well.

“Yes, this might be in poor taste, but Rainbow scorched those griffons like a well-done daffodil burger!” The rest of the group recoiled in horror at his statement. An awkward silence followed.

“Sorry, I have a really twisted sense of humor. You girls aren’t used to it, and that’s okay. My point is that this little spat is over. Let’s all go back to our nice little lives here in Ponyville.”

“Yee-haw! Who’s up for some cider at Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow night?” Applejack said. Her friends yelled in agreement. It was decided: everything was back to normal, and Royal looked forward to growing old with his new friends and raising Scootaloo into a beautiful young mare.

Back within the limits of Griffon Village, Gilda was busy tending to a bandaged Paulie.

“The doc says you’re gonna need a few months to heal up, Paulie. Makes sense, I mean, you almost died, after all.” Paulie sat and stewed in his anger.

“I should have died along with them…but I didn’t. Do you know what this means?”

“You’re the luckiest son of a namby pamby princess who ever lived?” Gilda asked.

“No…it means something much deeper, my dear. I’m clearly meant to defeat that blue colored fiend!” He’s relaxing now, but mark my words…in a few months that boy will rest…in…peace.” He began to laugh, which saw Gilda join in with him. She wondered if it was such a good idea, however, to change their focus. She only wanted revenge on Pinkie. She had no interest in Paulie’s new antagonist, this “Blue Boy.” And when she said she wanted revenge, she maybe just wanted to humiliate Pinkie in the same way as Pinkie and her former best friend had humiliated her at the party. Dash had run her out of town like she was some kind of criminal. She had sat dormant for a little while, but now it was time to strike. In a little while, the wait would be over.

The next afternoon, Royal found himself starving. Scootaloo had not yet returned home from school, so he was alone again, naturally. As he got up from the sofa, he felt his stomach rumble. At that moment, he felt like a traitor to his body. He had given himself a lazy day…having fallen back asleep immediately after giving Scootaloo her good morning hug, and had slept until this exact time of the day. Given a few minutes, however, he was perfectly wide awake and ready to take on what remained of a beautiful Ponyville afternoon. The fact remained that he was starving.

“Guess I should go over to Sweet Apple Acres or Sugar Cube Corner.” One second later, he heard a knock at the door.

Okay, but make it quick. I’m starving. He opened the door to see Pinkie standing there.

“Oh, hi Pinkie. What brings you here?”

“Hiya, Royal!” He could see that she had the usual bounce in her step, which was good.

“Oh, where are my manners? Come in, Pinkie!” The pair moved into his main room, and Pinkie set something on the table.

The mysterious item piqued Royal’s curiosity.

“What’s that?” Pinkie smiled.

“Why don’t you open it and find out?” she said, in her typical bubbly tone. She needed to say no more. He quickly dispensed with the top of the box, which revealed a cake. His eyes immediately went to what was inscribed on it in icing:

To my #1 protector.

He sat there for several moments, reading the text over and over. After that, he turned back to her. She had moved closer to him. This allowed her to give him another hug. Royal held her again, not as shocked as he was the night before. When she eventually pulled away, she started to speak.

“Thank you, Royal. You’re the best protector ever.” They both smiled. The response was short, sweet, and above all else, it was totally Pinkie Pie.

“That’s me,” he said. Pinkie started toward the door, but then she turned around.

“I know what Rainbow Dash said last night. But even the element bearers need help sometimes.” Within a few seconds, she was back to normal Pinkie.

“See ya later, alligator!” Pinkie happily waved as she walked backwards out of Royal’s house. Royal smiled.

The bruises will heal with time. I'd get beat up a thousand times to keep my favorite party pony safe. That griffon was really full of it.

Meanwhile, “that griffon” rested in his hospital bed. He was dreaming; dreaming of a scheme to capture that meddling blue pony and destroy him. As he dreamed, a smile formed on his face. Gilda watched him sleep. She could have sworn she heard him muttering about something, but she couldn’t tell exactly what it was. Her mind just kept repeating the same thing.

I want to humiliate that little pink dweeb. She took my best friend away from me. Guess what, Pinkie? Soon…

A smile formed on Gilda’s face as she, too, fell asleep in Paulie’s room.