Prince Blueblood switches bodies with Feather Bangs to get away from royal duties.
Blueblood was just another snobby prince from Canterlot. Although his life was full of pampering and special treatments, it comes at the cost of royal duties that makes him sick just from the thought of it. Blueblood finds a spell that allows him to switch bodies with a pony similar to him. He thought it would be perfect as nopony will notice the differences and he will get out of his royal tasks. Blueblood finds the perfect candidate by the name of Feather Bangs. Little did Blueblood knew, switching bodies with this stallion was a very big mistake.
In one of Canterlot's royal gardens, a small party was being held. The guests were made up of wealthy ponies who often flaunt their rich status like first-place trophies. Among the guest was a pure white unicorn stallion with dark blonde manes that looked like they were brushed more than usual. Everypony attending the party could easily recognize this stallion as Prince Blueblood as they have seen his appearance from previous gatherings or from magazines and newspapers. The young prince was considered to be the main topic of most of the conversations during the party as he was Princess Celestia's nephew.
"Prince Bloodblood!" One of the noble ponies said as he approached the prince. "It is so nice of you to join us for this small get-together."
"It is my pleasure," Blueblood replied. "I do enjoy attending parties like these."
"I am glad that you are happy." The noble pony said as he left the prince alone. A few minutes passed before a well-dressed unicorn mare approached the prince.
"Why hello, Prince Blueblood." The mare said as she used her magic to pull out a fan and moved it closer to her face. "Are you enjoying the party?" The mare batted her eyes to give off a flirty look.
"This party is wonderful." Prince Blueblood said with a smile.
"Indeed it is. Say, perhaps you could give a mare a tour of Canterlot Castle? I know that tours of the castle are often given to common ponies, but it would be interesting to explore the castle with a help of a handsome prince such as yourself." The mare continued to bat her eyes while waiting for the prince's answer. Blueblood just smiled and said,
"I will see what I can do." The mare giggled as she made her way to a group of noble ponies.
'Not on your life,' Blueblood thought as he continued to listen and make small talk with the party guests.
"Ahh! I hate my life!" Blueblood whined as he stomped into his bed chambers. He used his magic to take off his bow tie and collar before he landed face first into his bed. Blueblood was given all the luxuries a prince would ever ask for. He gets allowances that could pay to feed a small third-world country. The castle's maids and servants do whatever Blueblood says. He even gets invited as a VIP to important parties and sporting events. Even with all of the privileges given to Blueblood, he thinks it's not so glamorous. Whenever the prince buys something expensive, he begins to get bored from it and he throws it away. The maids and servants don't give what Blueblood exactly what he wanted as he was very precise. He attends the events because his Auntie Celestia told him to go and he needed to keep up a good public image of himself in Canterlot's rich community. To Blueblood, this was the cost of having the title of prince. It's a lot of work and he doesn't get everything he wants in return. He turned over to stare at the ceiling while trying to process how his day went. Blueblood thought those noble ponies were so annoying from their attempts to kiss up to him to possibly get connections from royalty. He especially despised the mares who try to flirt with him as they probably wanted marry into royalty so they could get the same privileges he gets. The thought of mares reminded Blueblood of a bad memory from that one year during the Grand Galloping Gala. He met a mare who had followed him like a baby chick following its' mother. Throughout the night, the mare demanded Bloodblood to treat her as if she was royalty herself. The mare even made Blueblood taste disgusting commoner foods that were given out by some country bumpkin. The mare then started yelling at Blueblood for simply dodging a falling cake. It wasn't his fault that the mare was in the way. The worst part of the night was when the mare started shaking the cake off as if she was a dirty dog. Most of the cake splattered on to Blueblood and other ponies nearby. The prince shuttered from the last memory as he had to take multiple baths to remove what was left of the cake. That night taught Blueblood that mares were full of trouble. Blueblood grumbled as he remembered that he has more plans for tomorrow such as attending an important tea party with his auntie and attend an orchestra. He looked at his night stand and used his magic to retrieve what appears to be framed photo of a younger version of himself. It was a reminder of how simple his life was as all he did as a foal was play around and get things. Now he was an adult and had more responsibilities as a prince. He yelled in anger as he threw the photo at a nearby bookshelf. The photo's glass broke and it fell to the floor. Blueblood laid in silence until he prepared for sleep. He first made his way towards the bookshelf to clean up the mess as it would take too long for the maids to clean it up. As he levitated the photo, he looked to see that some of the books also fell to the ground. The books in Blueblood's shelf were just about proper manners and old fairy tales he used to read when he was a foal. As he levitated the books, he came across a familiar book. The cover showed two similar looking stallions standing next to each other. One of the stallions was fully dressed like a king while the other stallion was dressed in rags.
"The King and the Commoner?" Blueblood read the book's title out loud. He began skimming the pages and he began to remember what this story was about. It told the tale of a king who had met this one pony who looked very similar to the king. Blueblood recalled that the king and the other pony exchanged outfits so they could switch places. The common pony got to live like a king while the true king got to live as a commoner. Blueblood immediately closed the book as an idea came to his mind.
'If I were to switch places with somepony else, then I could avoid all of my responsibilities and actually enjoy some piece and quiet!' Blueblood thought as he cheered in victory. His cheering stopped when he realized something.
'If I were to switch places, then I would have to give up my title as a prince and live as some commoner.' Blueblood began to gag just from the thought of not being pampered for being royalty. But he shook it off as he really wanted to get out of his duties. Another thing Blueblood realized was that it would be difficult for him to find a pony with the exact appearance as his. Blueblood thought it would make sense as nopony could imitate his good looks. The prince pondered until he came up with a soultion. He used his magic to bring out a scroll and a quill to began writing for his plans.
The Canterlot Archives contains almost all of Equestria's most important books and scrolls. Some of these books and scrolls contain spells that were so powerful that they were locked up to prevent any more harm. Blueblood looked around the hallways that lead to the archives to make sure nopony was around. The prince thought it would be easier to just switch minds with another pony and the archives might have some spell for that. Even though Blueblood was a prince, he wasn't allowed to enter the archives such as Princess Celestia and a selected few. When the cost was clear, Blueblood quietly trotted down the halls until he reached the archives' entrance. He used his magic to unlock the door and made his way in. It was a surprise to the prince it was that easy to break into the archives. He couldn't help but chuckle from how pathetic his Auntie Celestia sets up the castle's security. Blueblood gawked from how large the archives was. He thought it would take centuries for him to search the whole place just to look for some spell. Blueblood began searching one bookshelf before he groaned and gave up. He would normally hire a scholar pony to search for certain books, but he didn't want any pony to ask him questions.
'I'll be as old as Auntie Celestia when I find a spell!' Blueblood whined internally. Suddenly, a book fell and hit Blueblood on the head.
"Ow!" Blueblood hollered. He used his magic to levitate the book towards him. "Stupid book." Blueblood complained. He then noticed the title of the fallen book. It said: Forbidden Mental Spells for Beginners. The prince felt relieved to stumble upon what could possibly be his ticket to freedom. He held the book and made his way back into his room.
Blueblood placed the book on his table and he began to skim it in search for the right spell. He still couldn't believe that the book he was searching for conveniently fell on top of his head. Plus, the book wasn't in some foreign language so it was easy for him to read. Blueblood continued to skim the pages until he came across a possible spell. It was a mind-switching spell that switches minds with another pony with similar traits and personalities with the spell caster. Blueblood believed it was the perfect spell for him. He read that the spell required some chalk, a bowl of water, and a hair sample from the spell caster. Blueblood used his magic to retrieve a piece of chalk from a nearby chalkboard and the bowl that he usually used to hold his fruits. He filled the bowl up with water from his bathroom’s sink. Blueblood also retrieved his mane brush to pull out a leftover string of his mane so he didn’t have to pull some out from his lovely head. Blueblood began to use his magic to draw a spell circle with the chalk. He then began to read out loud the first part of the spell. The drawn circle began to glow in some blue light. Blueblood placed his mane thread into the water bowl and it too glowed in a blue light.
“Show me a pony who is similar to me.” Blueblood requested. The water in the bowl rippled until the content revealed an image of a light yellow stallion trotting his way down some street. His mane was light brown and was well groomed. The stallion stopped in front of two mares to swing his head to flip his mane and smiled with confidence. It caused the mares to swoon from how charming the stallion was.
“This stallion is similar to me?” Blueblood questioned. “Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.” Blueblood levitated a tied up scroll on the table and he set hooves on the magic circle. Blueblood looked inside the spell book and began to chant the rest of the spell. As he chanted, the circle grew brighter and Blueblood suddenly felt electricity flowing throughout his body. His eyes then glowed a blue light and the whole room was covered in a flash of light.
Feather Bangs was eating a freshly made salad for dinner. He enjoyed his usual day in Starlight’s village where he always go out and say hi to the locals. His favorite part of the day was flirting with some strolling mares who looked like they were interested in him. Feather always thought he was quite charming to the mares. But he sometimes wished that he was somepony more noticeable. Most mares would go after stallions who are quite extraordinary such as Royal Guards or Wonderbolts. Feather only has his looks, his poetry, and his singing. Those traits can only help Feather so far as having a few mares turn their heads at him and nothing else. Feather's thoughts were interrupted when his body suddenly felt like it was being electrocuted.
'What's happening?!' Feather thought as he gripped his chest. 'Am I dying?!' The next thing Feather knew, his eyes suddenly glowed blue and a flash covered the entire room.
Blueblood groaned as he began to wake up. He slowly raised his head to notice that his face was covered in lettuce leaves. As Blueblood cleaned off the lettuce, he noticed his hooves that were now small and light yellow. Blueblood got up from his seat to take a good look at himself. He brushed his mane with his hooves to notice that it wasn't dark yellow and now it was brown. There was also no horn on Blueblood's head. Blueblood looked at his flank to see that his cutie mark was now a couple of hearts with a feather in the center. It's official, Blueblood was now that stallion he saw in the water bowl.
"It worked! The spell actually work!" Blueblood cheered until he realized that his voice also sounded completely different. "I sound completely weird." Blueblood said. He noticed that he was inside of a small house. 'This must be this stallion's home.' Blueblood said as he began to trot. He stumbled a bit considering that he wasn't used to being this short. Blueblood searched around to look for any information about this other stallion, specifically the stallion's name. Blueblood found some opened letters that were for a Feather Bangs. 'Looks like this stallion is named Feather Bangs. Sounds perfect for a commoner's name.' Blueblood thought. He felt a sense of success as now he was able to get out of his royal duties and actually have some fun. The prince also wondered how this Feather Bangs is reacting to being in a new body.
Feather slowly regained consciousness and he began to open his eyes. He saw that he was laying face down on the floor. Feather took his time as he got up on all four of his hooves. He noticed something was wrong as he felt taller than what he usually felt. Feather looked down on his hooves to see that the bottom of his hooves were grayish blue and his forelegs were completely white. Feather panicked when he realized that those weren't his hooves. He felt something strange on his forehead and placed a hoof on a unicorn horn. Feather recalled that he didn't have a horn of any kind ever since he was born. He noticed that he was inside of some kind of suite. Feather trotted around until he saw a bathroom. He entered to turn on the bathroom's lights and he took a good look at the mirror. Feather looked in horror as he was now a completely different stallion. His physique was more muscular and his manes were yellow instead of its' usual brown color. Feather looked at his cutie mark which was now a four pointed star.
"What happened to me?!" Feather yelled before he clapped his hooves to his mouth. His voice sounded deeper than his usual voice. Feather took another look at himself in the mirror.
"I could've sworn I have seen this stallion before." Feather said before he tries to remember. "Prince Blueblood!" Feather said as he recognized the prince from pictures in newspapers. Confusion increased in Feather as he had no idea why he looked and sounded like a royal prince. He exited the bathroom and spotted a rolled up scroll on a large table. Before Feather could trot over to get it, his horn glowed white and the scroll began to float towards him. Feather yelped and the scroll fell to the ground. He assumed that his horn reacted to getting the scroll and his horn tried to levitated the scroll. Feather trotted up to pick up the scroll to unwrap it and read what it said.
Dear Sir,
If you are reading this, it means that you have awakened and you now look like me, Prince Blueblood. The reason for this sudden event is that I have switch minds with you. I apologize for doing this without your permission, but the purpose of this was to complete an assignment given to me by Princess Celestia. It required that I switch minds with another stallion and you were the perfect candidate. I can't go into further details of the assignment as it is classified. While I'm away, I need you to pretend to be me. You don't have to worry about not being able to pull off acting exactly as me. I mean, how can anypony imitate all of my amazing traits? Just ask the castle's servants to help you do certain tasks. Worst case scenario, ask my Auntie Celestia. But don't tell her that you're not me! She wants this situation to be a secret. You will be rewarded with a decent amount of bits when I complete my assignment. Send me letters to your address so I stay informed about your progress and to make sure you're not doing a terrible job in impersonating me. I wish you good luck in pretending to be me.
Sincerely, Prince Blueblood
Feather took a moment to process what he had just read. It was a lot to take in for Feather as he switched minds with a prince of Equestria. Feather doesn't even know how to act like a prince. But Feather thought he shouldn't hesitate as he is helping Prince Blueblood for an important duty.
'I just got to act all prince like and ask for help if I need it. It should be good, right?' Feather said in his mind. He suddenly yawned and felt tired. He looked at a clock to see that it's late. 'Maybe a good night's sleep will help calm my nerves for tomorrow.' Feather said as he made his way to the prince's bed and snuggled under the blanket. He rested for his first day as a prince.
Feather slowly opened his eyes and he sat up from his bed. He looked around the royal bedroom to realize what he experienced last night was not some crazy dream. Feather truly did become Prince Blueblood. He got out of the bed and stretched his body. Feather felt a bit weird being in another stallion's body as it was a rare occasion. He trotted over to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. Feather looked at himself in the mirror to still see Prince Blueblood in the reflection. The prince's looks reminded Feather of one of those charming princes he would see on pictures from fairy tale books.
'I guess being royalty helps some ponies stay well-groomed all the time.' Feather thought. He spotted what looked like Prince Blueblood's toothbrush and decided to brush his teeth. As Feather inserted the toothbrush into his mouth, he felt weird using somepony else's toothbrush to clean his teeth. Feather then doubted that the idea was gross as he was in Prince Blueblood's body, so it was still sanitary.
Feather made his way to what looked like a closet and opened it with his magic. The closet doors swung open to reveal the many outfits Prince Blueblood had worn for different occasions.
'Which outfits do I need to where today?' Feather said while scratching his mane. Feather then remembered that he needed help with living as Prince Blueblood, he could get help from the servants. Feather looked around to spot a small bell that was on the nightstand. Feather used his horn to concentrate on moving the bell towards him. The bell shook a bit while it approached Feather.
'I'm getting the hang of this horn magic.' Feather thought. He took the bell and gave it a few shakes. At first, Feathre looked around to see no pony coming. That was until a few seconds passed and the doors opened. A well-dressed, butler unicorn stallion with white manes entered the prince's room.
"Good morning, Prince Blueblood." The butler pony said while bowing to Feather. "How may I be of assistance?" Feather blinked as he wasn't used to have ponies asking if they could help him.
"I need to pick out an outfit to where for today?" Feather guessed.
"Very well, Prince Blueblood." The butler bowed as and his horn glowed with green aura. A nicely made, blue suit was retrieved from the closet. "You are to attend another private tea party at 10 a.m. and you will be a special guest at a tennis match at the Canterlot Country Club. I highly recommend that you wear this during the day." The butler pony levitated the suit to Feather.
"T-thanks," Feather said nervously. He attempted to put on the outfit. Feather was able to put on the suit and pants, but he was having a hard time tying his tie in the right knot. Feather turned to see that the butler pony was still standing in front of him. "Umm, is it alright that you help me with this?" Feather requested. The butler showed no reactions as he trotted up to Feather and used magic to tie Feather's necktie in the right way. The butler was finished and stepped back. Feather took a look at himself through the large mirror nearby and he was amaze of how nice he looked while wearing his suit.
"I appreciate it, umm..." Feather said as he had no idea on what his butler's name was.
"Bellhopper, your majesty." Bellhopper responded. "It is always a pleasure to be assisting you." Feather took one last look at himself before he felt ready to be a prince.
"I'm all ready then," Feather announced.
"Follow me and I'll escort you to the dining room." Bellhopper said as he and Feather exited the room. As both stallions trotted slowly down the large hallways, Feather noticed that some mares dressed as maids moved out of the way and bowed before him.
"Good morning, Prince Blueblood." The maids said to Feather. Feather felt weird to have ponies bowing to him as this hasn't happen to him very often.
"Umm, thank you." Feather said nervously before he quickly trotted to catch up to the butler.
'This is going to be a very uncomfortable day,' Feather grumbled as he continued to follow Bellhopper.
The tea party Feather was attending first took place at a rich pony's manor. Feather sat close to a small table that was filled with tea sets, tea snacks, and shiny silverware that were well-organized. Feather looked up to only see some wealthy looking ponies sitting around the same table as him. Feather gulped as he didn't often attend tea parties and he doesn't even know how to act in a tea party as fancy as this one. The ponies were talking among themselves about various topics that Feather couldn't even understand. He decided to play it safe by staying quiet and observing what other ponies were doing. Some of the unicorns were using their horn magic to lift their tea cups and sipped its' contents.
'That could be a start!' Feather thought as he concentrated on his horn in attempt to retrieve his tea cup. The tea cup was able to be lifted from its' plate, but Feather's lack of experience with his horn also made the tea cup shiver while levitated. The tea cup got close enough towards Feather's face. Feather moved his lips closer to the tea cup to take a sip from it. Feather thought the tea tasted really good as it felt soothing while it went down his throat. Feather's relaxation had caused him to lose his focus and magic surrounding the tea cup disappeared. Feather watched in horror as the tea cup and plate quickly fell to the ground. Feather winced and closed his eyes as he was prepared to hear the sound of shattering tea cups and plates. A few seconds passed and Feather noticed that he hasn't heard any plates breaking yet. He slowly opened his eyes to see that the tea cup and plate was levitating close to Feather. Feather didn't know what was going on until he noticed that the aura sounding the tea cup and tea plate was the color green. Feather thought the aura's color was familiar and looked around the room. He spotted Bellhopper standing on the side of a wall while positioned in a still manner. His horn was glowing for a bit and he had one eye open. Feather could only smile as the butler had saved Feather from drawing unwanted attention.
'Thank you,' Feather mouthed to Bellhopper and the 'prince' used his horn once again to levitate the tea cup and tea plate. Feather then resumed sipping on this tea cup while listening to the upper-class ponies talk among themselves.
Feather approached the VIP seating area where ponies will watch the tennis match. Feather looked around to find what looked like his seat as it was labeled with Blueblood's cutie mark. He took a seat and waited patiently for the match to start.
"Good afternoon, nephew." A mare's voice said next to Feather. Feather turned to have his jaw dropped as Princess Celestia was standing before him. Feather was loss for words as he had always seen Princess Celestia only from pictures in newspapers. Having the ruler of Equestria actually talking to Feather was a completely new experience to him.
"I-er..." Feather muffled as he didn't know what to say.
"Are you alright, nephew?" Princess Celestia asked.
"Y-yes! Your majes-I mean Auntie!" Feather laughed nervously as he adjusted his collar. Princess Celestia giggled as she sat down on her seat that was large and was labeled with her cutie mark.
"It is actually a delight to see you arrive early to a tennis match." Princess Celestia said. "You would usually arrive fashionably late and make everypony notice you."
"Well, I...just thought that being here early....would...um...bring me more attention from the other ponies, yes!" Feather lied. "It would show the other guests that I would arrive early to show my passion for tennis!" Princess Celestia raised a brow.
"But you have mentioned that you preferred not to play tennis as you didn't want to be all tired and sweaty." Princess Celestia informed. Feather began to sweat crazy as he thought the princess was catching on to him. Feather then thought of an idea.
"Just because I'm incapable of playing tennis doesn't mean I can't enjoy watching it. It's the least I could do to support the players who play this sport." Feather said while grinning. It was enough for Princess Celestia to shrug and turned towards the tennis court as the players began to trot to their positions.
'I can't believed that worked!' Feather thought as he tried to relax while watching the ponies hit the tennis ball.
It was nighttime when Feather finally returned to Blueblood's room and he collapsed on the bed. He felt really tired from even just standing near all of the rich and important ponies. Feather felt lucky that he was able to survive his first day as a substitute prince. He began to feel respect for Blueblood for being able to do these kind of things since birth.
'I just hope that Blueblood gets his assignment done soon so I could go back to living my life.' Feather thought. He then remembered that he had to write about his progress to Blueblood. Feather used his horn to retrieve a quill and a piece of paper. When Feather was done writing, he inserted it in an envelope and wrote down his address. Feather rang the bell to have Bellhopper enter the room.
"How may I help you, Prince Blueblood?" Bellhopper asked. Feather levitated the sealed envelope to the butler.
"Please send this letter to the address written on the envelope." Feather requested.
"Yes, Prince Blueblood." Bellhopper nodded as he exited the room. Feather got ready for bed and went to sleep while hoping that the next few days will get better.
The sun rose as a sign that the morning had begun. Blueblood slowly woke up while feeling really groggy. He had a bit of a difficult time sleeping last night as he wasn't used to sleeping on a bed that wasn't as soft and refine as his luxurious bed at Canterlot Castle. Blueblood would normally panic if he had to sleep in a commoner's bed, but he remembered that he didn't have to do any royal duties as that Feather Bangs pony will do all of the work. Blueblood decided to get up and enjoy his first morning of not being a prince.
Blueblood went to the bathroom to almost faint from seeing how rustic the bathroom looked. There were no shines coming off of anywhere in the bathroom. The shower's curtains weren't as decorative as Blueblood's royal bathroom. Blueblood spotted a small, green toothbrush that was in a cup next to the sink. Blueblood tried to use his magic to retrieve it, but he then remembered that he didn't have his horn anymore. So he carefully picked up the toothbrush with his bare hooves and began to scrub his teeth. Blueblood felt like he could gag as tasting another stallion's toothbrush was horrifying.
Blueblood searched around the bathroom to be completely shocked that Feather didn't have as many cosmetic products as Blueblood would normally have. The prince needed to use a variety of gels and lotions to make himself look beautiful.
'I guess you will have to do.' Blueblood thought as he held up a tub of mane gel. Blueblood looked back at the mirror to see that his manes were long and the bangs were starting to irritate him. Blueblood rubbed the gel on his manes to smooth it out. 'This Feather Bangs fellow will be thanking me for straightening this messy mop he calls his mane.' Blueblood thought as he continued to rub the gel into his manes.
After a few minutes of Blueblood rubbing his manes, he took a good look at himself. Feather's mane style was now similar to how Blueblood would usually set up his manes.
'There we go,' Blueblood said in his mind. 'Now I look more presentable.'
Blueblood made his way to what looked liked Feather's closet and opened it. He was shocked once again as Feather didn't have any fancy clothing. The clothes in the closet were outfits for certain times during the seasons, costumes that Feather had worn for Nightmare Night, and other clothing that Blueblood wished were thrown out to the dumps. Blueblood hung his head as for the first time in his life, he couldn't find anything decent to where.
'Great, I'll have to go out naked like a pony commoner.' Blueblood thought. He remembered once again that at least he got out of doing royal duties.
Blueblood searched the fridge to be able to find some eggs. He thought the least he could do was make a decent breakfast. The prince then realized there was just one problem: he didn't know how to cook. Throughout Blueblood's life, he didn't lift a single pot or pan as most of his meals were instantly served to him whenever he was hungry. Now he was a commoner and no servants or cooks were here to make him his food.
'This shouldn't be a problem,' Blueblood thought as he looked at an egg.
'Cooking can help me become a better prince.' Blueblood put a small pan on the stove and just threw the egg on the pan. The egg cracked from the impact and the egg whites and yolk leaded out from the former shell. Blueblood watched as the eggs and its' shell parts were heating up. A part of Blueblood felt proud as he was able to get this far in cooking an egg. His thoughts disappeared when he smelled something burning. Blueblood panicked as the eggs were already burning. He quickly lifted the pan's heat proof handle and put the eggs on a plate. Blueblood cringed as he saw how burned the eggs looked. He decided to eat it as he didn't want to put in the effort of making more eggs. Blueblood placed his plate of eggs on a table and he sat down. Blueblood then picked up a spoon to scoop up some of the eggs and took a bite. He shivered as he crunched on the egg shells. Blueblood was done only to have an awful after taste in his mouth. He noticed the window as it showed that it was another sunny day.
'I suppose it never hurts to go outside and see what kind of town this Feather Bangs lives in.' Blueblood thought as he made his way open the door and made his way to the outside. The prince was in disbelief from seeing the two long line of houses that were in the middle of a single street. Blueblood then noticed that the entire town was in the middle of some kind of wasteland as it had nothing but rocks and mountains.
'How can this peasant live in such a horrible-looking town?!' Blueblood questioned in his thoughts. Blueblood calmed himself as this was all part of what he wanted, being away from Canterlot. He patted some imaginative dirt off from his shoulders and stuck up his muzzle as he began to walk gallantly as most citizens of Canterlot would normally do. As Blueblood trotted passed some nearby ponies, they stopped to noticed that 'Feather' had on a very different mane style. Blueblood noticed this and he couldn't help but smirk.
'These peasant ponies must be gawking at how handsome I look now. You're welcome, Feather Bangs.' Blueblood thought before he accidentally bumped into a pony.
"Ow! Be careful!" Blueblood complained while rubbing his head. "I have a delicate cranium." He looked to see that the pony was a brown, earth pony stallion with red frizzy manes and tail. On his head was a yellow headband and his cutie mark was a boom box. The stallion also wore a light red top.
"Yo, Feather!" The stallion said as he used his hoof bumped Blueblood's hoof from top to bottom and then just gave a regular hoof bump. This confused Blueblood as he had no idea who this stallion was and why he decided to dirty the prince's hoof.
"Greetings, umm...." Blueblood said as he didn't know the stallion's name.
"It's me, Max Volume!" Max said as he wrapped his hoof around Blueblood's neck, much to the prince's discomfort. "Are you messing with me? That's a weird way to say hi to one of your friends!" Max said before he noticed that Feather's manes were in a different style. "What's up with your new due?"
"I will have you know that this mane style brings out my gorgeous face and I don't want it soiled by the likes of you!" Blueblood stated before he noticed that Max was staring at him in a confused way.
'I better not lose my cover!' Blueblood thought as he tried to calm himself. "I mean, I just wanted to wear a new look." Blueblood said with a fake smile. Max began to squint his eyes while Blueblood sweated nervously as he was afraid of getting discovered.
"Alright, whatever floats your boat, bro." Max said while shrugging. Blueblood internally breathed heavily as Max didn't figure it out. "So do you want to hang out? Our other bros are already at Sugar Belle's bakery." Blueblood thought about it and he believed that it would be a good idea to follow along to avoid bringing any more attention to himself. He also thought he could know more about Feather so it would be easier for the prince to act just like him.
"I accept your invitation, please lead the way." Blueblood ordered. He was surprised to see Max snickering for a bit.
"I'm sorry, but you are talking in such a funny way." Max said as he lead Blueblood to his other friends. Blueblood simply growled as Max just insulted the prince's way of speaking.
When they arrived to the bakery, two stallions were sitting near one of the outside tables. One was a blue earth pony stallion with dark blue manes and it was covered with a purple beanie. There was a bandage on one side of the blue stallion's cheek. The blue stallion also wore a sparkly blue top and his cutie mark was a golden eye with a golden crown on top. The other stallion was a pale green earth pony stallion with yellow manes. The green stallion wore a pink cap backwards and his top was light green with dark green highlights. The green stallion's hooves wore pink and green bands. His cutie mark was star and a horseshoe.
"Yo! Break Dancer, Hip Hoof! We're here!" Max shouted to the two stallions. Both stallions waved as Max and Blueblood approached them.
"Hey Max! Hey Fea-" The green stallion stopped and chuckled when he saw Blueblood's manes. "What's with your mane, Feather?"
"I changed my look to make myself look good,...what was your name again?" Blueblood asked.
"Break Dancer," The green stallion replied.
"and Hip Hoof," The blue stallion added.
"I apologize," Blueblood said. "it must've been a long time since we met and I have forgotten your names."
"But, we all met up around yesterday." Break Dancer claimed. Blueblood stammered as he tried to think of an excuse.
"Anyway, let's just order our food and eat it!" Max said to change the subject. "We got to have plenty of energy for dance practice!" Break Dancer and Hip Hoof nodded in agreement while Blueblood just stared blankly at the stallions.
"D-dance practice?" Blueblood said in fear.
Blueblood was in complete agony as he and Feather's friends were on the outskirts of the town. They were in the middle of performing some dance numbers while playing music from a small stereo. With Blueblood not having any kind of dance experience, he was a complete mess as he tried to follow along with the dance moves Feather's friends were performing. For most of the time, Blueblood ended up tripping or falling on his face. Blueblood didn't like every minute of it as sweat was ruining his manes and there were bruises on certain parts of his body. When the dance practice was over, Blueblood panted on the ground as he was completely exhausted.
"Wow Feather, you were really bad out there." Max said in honestly.
"Maybe you were having an off day?" Hip Hoof guessed. "We often have off days and it throws off our groves."
Break Dancer patted on Blueblood's back "It's alright, a few more practice sessions can help you get back on your normal grove!"
"I can hardly wait," Blueblood muttered under his breath. It was during the evening when Blueblood returned to Feather's house and collapsed on the bed. Being on a commoner's bed was now the most pleasant part of Blueblood's terrible day. Blueblood thought that taking part in that dance rehearsal was about as agonizing as attending an art gallery where rich ponies would talk about artworks that didn't make any sense to the prince. Blueblood continued to groan until he noticed that a letter slipped under the door. He went to pick it up to notice that it came from Canterlot Castle.
'I really hope that Feather Bangs peasant didn't screw up on his first day as me.' Blueblood thought as he opened the letter to read its' contents. Blueblood read that Feather's first day went fine and he didn't make a mockery of being Blueblood.
'Good, it looks like Feather Bangs was able to perform well on his first day.' Blueblood said in his mind. 'I should probably write back to him and ask him for pointers on how to be more like him.' Blueblood thought as he brought out a pen and a piece of paper. He completed writing his letter and put it in an envelope. Blueblood then wrote down a special address on the letter. He would usually get personal letters from a private address that he and important members of Canterlot Castle knew. When Blueblood was done, he put the letter in Feather's outside mailbox and raised up the red flag on the side of the box.
'At least I did something right,' Blueblood thought as he went back inside to prepare for sleep. Blueblood hoped that this can go on long enough for him to actually enjoy his time off.
The next morning arrived and Feather was in Canterlot Castle's main dining room where he is eating breakfast. Feather looked at his plate to see that it had some eggs that were made sunny-side up. It was decorated with ketchup streams lining around the plate and there was even a small piece of daisy on the top of the eggs. Feather needed to eat what Blueblood would normally eat for breakfast to reduce any suspicions. It looks like Blueblood would normally eat fancy eggs for breakfast.
'It's like eating at a fancy restaurant every single day.' Feather thought as he took another bite of his eggs. Although the eggs tasted good, the portion of the dish was very small even for Feather. Feather's stomach still yearned for more food.
'I could get noticed if I order more food,' Feather thought. 'But, I guess it never hurts to get seconds.'
Before Feather could say anything, the plate glowed with green aura and it was replaced with another plate of eggs. Feather turned to see that Bellhopper nodded and left to dispose of the first plate. Feather was starting to respect Bellhopper more as the butler was always one step ahead when serving royalty.
While Feather continued to eat, he looked and saw Princess Celestia was just sitting across from him. Most ponies would be extremely nervous if they ever sat across the ruler of Equestria. Luckily for Feather, he was able to get used to being near one of the princesses thanks to yesterday's experiences. She was also eating some eggs that were scrambled. Princess Celestia would look graceful even when she eats food. Feather wasn't quite sure what was Prince Blueblood's relationship with Princess Celestia was like as any kind of public media didn't say much about them. It would just say that they were relatives and nothing else. Feather decided to make small talk to Princess Celestia to get to know more about her and Prince Blueblood's bond.
"Um...Auntie Celestia," Feather said which caught the attention of the sun princess.
"Yes, nephew?" Princess Celestia responded.
"H-how are things while running the kingdom?" Feather asked. Princess Celestia just blinked while staring at Feather. Feather was getting nervous as he thought he made a wrong move.
"I have been doing a good job, nephew." Princess Celestia responded. "I am surprised that you of all ponies would ask me a question like that."
Feather panicked for a bit. "I-I just wanted to make sure that my Auntie wasn't overworking herself as I might also need help with my royal duties." Feather smiled nervously. The princess suddenly made a chuckle that took Feather by surprise.
"I am only kidding nephew," Princess Celestia said while waving her hoof. "I am always open to whatever help you need from me, except for increases to your allowance or 'borrowing' from my royal carriage on one of your outrageous trips." The princess then took another bite of her eggs. Feather just raised his brow as he had no idea that Prince Blueblood would ask for certain things from Princess Celestia.
For the past few days, Feather continued to attend special events that Prince Blueblood would normally attend to. As promised, Princess Celestia gave Feather advice on how to be a better prince if he needed help. Feather was actually getting better as being a prince from each day. There were even some events that Feather enjoyed going to as he never got the chance of attending due to him not being rich or famous.
During one event, Feather and Princess Celestia were attending an opera. Feather was extremely excited to see this particular opera as it was Carmare, an opera about a beautiful mare who would seduce stallions with her charms. Feather had only read about Carmare through books and seeing one of his favorite stories performed on stage felt like a dream for the substitute prince. Feather and Princess Celestia were on a balcony where all of the VIPs would be seated. As Feather waited in anticipation for the opera to start, Princess Celestia brought out a small pillow and levitated to Feather.
"Um...what is this for, Auntie?" Feather asked in the same manner Blueblood would speak.
"It is your 'usual' pillow for when you go to sleep when the operas start." Princess Celestia explained. "You were always complaining that you would get easily bored from watching these kind of shows that you would go to sleep in hope to avoid boredom." Feather was a bit surprised that Prince Blueblood would normally sleep through operas and other performances considering that he came from such a sophisticated society.
"I will be alright, Auntie." Feather placed the pillow down. "I will not sleep through this opera." Princess Celestia stared in shock at Feather from what he just said. The lights were turned down and the music began playing. Feather looked out from the balcony to watch the pony performers sing while the orchestra played their music. Feather found it difficult to watch the opera since he was at the very top balcony. Princess Celestia noticed that her nephew was trying really hard to watch the opera similar to a foal trying to take a look at a parade. A part of her was surprised and glad that her nephew was starting to enjoy attending these kinds of events. She brought out a pair of opera glasses and levitated them towards Feather.
"Here, you can use these to watch," Princess Celestia said. She saw how her nephew took the glasses and showed a face of extreme happiness.
"Thank you, Auntie. I appreciate it." Feather said as he used the glasses to resume watching the opera. Feather watched in awe as the mare who played Carmare singed with such a beautiful voice. Princess Celestia couldn't help but smile as she started to remember how Blueblood used to be excited when they went to certain events together.
When the opera was over, Princess Celestia and Feather were inside the royal carriage while riding towards Canterlot Castle. It was quiet between the two royal family members as they had a lot on their minds. Feather was really happy that he got to finally see a live performance of Carmare. He then noticed that Princess Celestia was just staring into space.
"Is everything alright, Auntie?" Feather asked.
"Hm? No, it's fine." Princess Celestia answered. "I'm still surprised that you took some interests in that musical."
Feather feared as the princess didn't forget about that topic. "I was just looking forward to that particular opera since it had a beautiful mare in it." Feather replied. Princess Celestia simply turned and watched as the carriage was passing the streets of her city. Feather couldn't help but feel sort of bad for lying to the princess as she was feeling more like a real aunt to Feather. "Aunite," Feather said which caught Princess Celestia's attention. "Thank you for allowing me to come with you to see 'Carmare'." Princess Celestia smiled once again as she felt grateful for receiving such a compliment from her nephew.
After a few days, Blueblood was getting used to living as Feather. Blueblood decided to just speak in a more normal tone contrast to his usual Canterlot accent. Blueblood also thought it would be best to keep his mane style the same as Feather's so other ponies won't get suspicious of his sudden change. Feather has written some important notes in his letters on how Blueblood should act in the village. Blueblood was a bit confused when Feather wrote that the prince needed to do things with this so called 'swagger'. During the dance practices with Feather's friends, Blueblood was getting the hang of dancing to the music. He was actually surprised that Feather's body was naturally going along with the music. Blueblood assumed that his mind needed to slowly adapt to Feather's body as it was usually in sync to Feather's mind.
Blueblood was in Feather's house while eating something that commoner ponies called cereal. Blueblood never had cereal before as he thought that it would taste too disgusting as commoners would normally eat it. Blueblood chewed on some crunchy oat squares and it tasted delightful to the prince.
'I guess there are some upsides of being a commoner.' Blueblood thought as he continued to eat from his bowl. Blueblood heard some knocking from the door and he went to open it. It revealed a white earth pony stallion with matching white manes and light blue eyes. Around the stallion's neck was a purple scarf and his cutie mark were three blue snowflakes.
"Yo! Feather!" The stallion said with a smile. "What's up?"
Blueblood remembered Feather had written about one of his friends named Double Diamond who matched the descriptions of the stallion before the prince. "Hey, Double Diamond." Blueblood said while trying to sound as normal as a common pony.
"I'm just here to remind you that we're getting ready to set up Nightglider's birthday party for tonight." Double Diamond replied. Blueblood then remembered that Feather did write that he volunteered to help out with this Nightglider mare's birthday party. Blueblood knew that he needed to help Feather fulfill his promises since he is at Canterlot.
"Alright, how can I help out?" Blueblood said as he came out of the house.
"Just follow me," Double Diamond said as he began to trot. Blueblood did follow Double Diamond until they were at the outskirts of the town. Blueblood felt a bit uncomfortable as it was nothing but empty, flat land. It wasn't until they reached a certain area where there was a large pile of wood set and there were tables filled with presents and food. Some ponies were helping put up a banner held by two wooden poles. The banner read: Happy Birthday Nightglider!. One stallion was blowing up balloons for the party. He was a light blue unicorn stallion with frizzy dark blue manes and light blue eyes. His cutie mark was a balloon in the shape of a dog.
"Yo! Party Favor!" Double Diamond called out which caught the blue stallion's attention.
"Hey Diamond," Party Favor said before he noticed that he was followed by Feather. "Oh! Hey Feather!" Party Favor said happily to Blueblood.
"Hey...Party Favor," Blueblood said as he tried to remember from Feather's letters. Feather wrote that Party Favor was the town's main party decorator since he has a talent in making balloon animals.
"Feather will help you out in decorations for the party." Double Diamond said to Party Favor.
"That's great! I'm going to need all the help I could get if we want to make Nightglider's party special." Party Favor replied.
Double Diamond turned to Blueblood. "Just follow what Party Favor says while some of our friends and I keep Nightglider occupied until tonight. Will that be okay, Feather?"
A part of Blueblood felt really uncomfortable as he has to take orders from a commoner pony. But he also didn't want any pony to catch on that he isn't Feather Bangs. "Sure, I'll help out any way I can." Blueblood said with a fake smile.
"Perfect! Good luck you two! I know you can pull it off!" Double Diamond said as he made his way back to the town. Blueblood began his tasks by helping Party Favor blow up balloons for the decorations. Blueblood didn't do so good on blowing up balloons as most of his balloons either didn't have enough air or had so much that it popped.
"Maybe it would be best that you work on the table settings?" Party Favor suggested. "Just set out the utensils and napkins." Party Favor said while pointing at one of the tables. Blueblood grumbled as he slowly trotted to the table and began to set up everything. As Blueblood continued to organize the plates and utensils, he began to remember all of the birthday parties he used to have when he was a foal. His servants and Auntie Celestia would always give him surprise birthday parties that were heavily decorated with streamers and balloons. Blueblood used to think that those kinds of parties would be easy for the adults to set up as it was mostly streamers and balloons. Blueblood never thought that just setting those up would be so daunting. Party Favor noticed Feather was feeling bummed and the party pony decided to check up on him.
"Hey Feather, how are you doing?" Party Favor asked.
"Fine, I'm fine." Blueblood lied. "I'm just trying to get all of these streamers out as I can't make a decent balloon for the party."
"Feather, Is it alright that I say something?" Party Favor said to get Blueblood's attention. "I noticed that you were acting strange lately and I think I know what is going on." Blueblood stopped in cold sweat as Party Favor might be catching on to him. "It's about my sister, isn't it?" Party Favor said.
"Excuse me?" Blueblood said while showing a confused look on his face.
"Sugar Belle, I heard that you tried to court her but she ended up choosing that apple farm stallion." Party Favor explained. Blueblood just stared blankly at Party Favor as Feather didn't mention anything like that on his letters. "It's alright if you don't want to talk about it. I just thought that you were having a difficult time dealing with your loss. I would've approved of her going out with you, but she really liked that other farm stallion and who am I to judge on who she picks." Party Favor stopped talking when he noticed that some of the napkins Blueblood set up were folded into little cranes. "Wow, that looks really amazing!" Party said as he picked up one of the napkin cranes.
"Those?" Blueblood said. "I just folded them up. I learned a lot about proper napkin folding when I started my prince-." Blueblood stopped in mid-sentence as he almost gave himself away. Party Favor just looked at Blueblood in confusion. "I-I meant origami! Yeah, I took some origami lessons before I moved to this town!" Blueblood said nervously.
"Wow, this is really impressive, Feather." Party Favor said while holding up one of the folded napkin cranes. All of a sudden, an idea came to Party Favor when he thought about the folded cranes. "Is it alright that you keep folding up more cranes for the tables and fold up some spare ones?" Party Favor asked in excitement.
"Um, sure?" Blueblood replied. "But what are the extra ones for?"
"You'll see!" Party Favor said as he hurried up with blowing up more balloons.
It was almost sunset and most of the townsponies were leading a blindfolded Nightglider towards the outskirts of the town.
"How long until I can take this off?" Nightglider said as she struggled with trotting as she couldn't see.
"You'll see soon enough!" Sugar Belle said in excitement. Double Diamond made Nightglider stop and he took off the blindfold. In front of Nightglider was a large party was set up around a large bonfire. There were folded napkin birds floating in the air as they were tied to some balloons.
"Surprise!" Ponies said as they jumped from out of nowhere. "Happy Birthday, Nightglider!"
Nightglider's eyes teared up as she felt really happy. "Aw you guys shouldn't have!" Nightglider then hugged Double Diamond, Sugar Belle, and Party Favor.
"It is your birthday after all." Double Diamond informed.
"I also really like the floating cranes. They're so cool!" Nightglider claimed.
"You can thank Feather Bangs for that." Party Favor said while nudging to Blueblood, who was just looking away to avoid attention. "He was the one who made the cranes." Nightglider flew up towards Blueblood to give him a big hug.
"Thank you so much, Feather! The cranes look so nice!" Nightglider said while hugging. Blueblood would normally call his guards if any pony tried to physically approach him without his permission. Something was different as Blueblood felt more happy instead of disgusted when getting a hug from somepony who appreciated his efforts.
"Come on everypony, let's party!" Nightglider said as everypony began to celebrate the mare's birthday.
Feather got up from his bed and did his usual morning preparations before he had to attend some events in Canterlot. He used his magic to ring the bell to have Bellhopper enter the room as usual.
"What events will I be attending today, Bellhopper?" Feather said as he checked himself in the mirror.
"None, my prince." Bellhopper replied. This caused Feather to pause as he wasn't sure what the butler said was true.
"Can you repeat that, Bellhopper?" Feather asked.
"You have no events to attend to for quite a while, my prince." Bellhopper said while bowing. "There is a time and place for ponies who require your presence. I believe that now is not the right time."
Feather was a bit shocked that he doesn't have any royal duties to attend to. Blueblood's letters didn't mention anything about what happens if Feather doesn't attend to the prince's royal duties.
"What do I do if I'm not going to events?" Feather asked Bellhopper.
"I believe you can just spend some time off." Bellhopper suggested. "There is nothing wrong with taking a break every once in a while." Feather thought this could give him a chance to be himself for once. While being Blueblood, Feather yearned to write some decent poetry or trotted around to admire some cute mares. Feather also considered looking around Canterlot without going to some party.
"Thank you for the possibilities, Bellhopper." Feather said before he thought of something. "How about you take some time off too?" Feather offered.
Bellhopper opened his eyes as he was surprised to hear such a thing from Prince Blueblood. "Are you sure about that, my prince?"
"You deserve to have some time off as you always help me out." Feather mentioned. "I will be fine with taking care of myself." Feather then noticed that Bellhopper was smiling for the first time since the both of them met.
"Thank you, my prince. I'll just inform the other servants to help you while I'm absent." Bellhopper said as he went to the door. "May I escort you to the dining room, my prince?" Bellhopper offered.
"I will be alright," Feather replied. "I have been following you so often that I memorized where the dining room is."
"Very well, I believe that Princess Celestia has something to speak to you about inside of the dining room." Bellhopper informed before he exited Blueblood's room. Feather was concerned of why Princess Celestia wanted to speak with him.
Feather used his horn to levitate a piece of pancake into his mouth. Princess Celestia came back into the dining room with some more plates filled with freshly cooked pancakes. Feather discovered that Princess Celestia would often make pancakes for herself and sometimes for Luna whenever she was in the mood for it. Feather was really surprised that the sun princess was actually a good cook when it came to pancakes.
"I brought some more pancakes from the kitchen." Princess Celestia said as she levitated the plates on to the table. "I already put a plate of pancakes in Luna's room so she doesn't get left out."
"Thank you, Auntie!" Feather said while bowing to his 'aunt'.
"It's no problem," Princess Celestia replied. "I simply wanted to show how proud I am to see you working hard when attending royal events." A part of Feather felt happy as he was being acknowledged by such an important figure of Equestria.
"I appreciate the pancake breakfast, Auntie." Feather said as he got up and exited the room. "I will be going to explore the streets of Canterlot for a bit!" Feather informed.
"Don't forget your usual disguise and your bodyguards!" Princess Celestia replied.
'My what?' Feather thought in confusion.
Feather was at the Canterlot Museums to observe some of the latest paintings. He felt uncomfortable as he was wearing a green fedora and a fake beard on his face. Feather was also wearing a dark red turtle neck and a pair of black pants that covered up his lower half. Apparently, Feather had to wear a disguise whenever he wanted to go out in public. This was to reduce drawing attention to Feather as he was 'royalty' as Princess Celestia had put it. There even a pair of unicorn guards, who were also in disguises, stood beside Feather for extra precautions. Feather honesty thought that he was getting more attention as the two guards were standing extremely close to him and they were also so muscular that it scared some of the nearby ponies.
'I guess this is one price of being royalty.' Feather thought as he tried to enjoy his time at the museum. He couldn't help but be completely in awe of how artist ponies interpreted their creativity in their creations. Feather could feel like his creativity was coming back to him and he was inspired to make new poems. Luckily for Feather, he brought a notebook and quill to write down some new verses for his new poetry.
It was around lunchtime and Feather was getting hungry. He thought that having some fast-food wouldn't hurt Blueblood's body. When Feather and his bodyguards were inside of the cart, Feather asked for a hayburger meal and the bodyguards simply nodded. One of the bodyguards exited the cart while one bodyguard stayed to watch Feather. A few minutes passed before the bodyguard returned with a paper bag and a drink in his hooves. He carefully gave them to Feather. Feather opened the bag to see a freshly made hayburger that came with some hay fries.
"Thank you," Feather said to his bodyguards before he took a bite from his greasy sandwich. Feather thought that it was sort of weird for the bodyguards to just stare at him while he was eating.
'They must be really professional if they could stay expressionless for that long.' Feather thought as he took another bite on his hayburger.
The next place Feather and his bodyguards went to was a mini golf place as Feather wanted to have some kind of fun. When the bodyguards and Feather checked in and received their clubs, the bodyguards started to analyze their and Feather's clubs with their magic to see if any curses or bugs were planted. When the checking was done, Feather was able to play mini golf. The bodyguards weren't playing as they were too busy looking around to see if any pony would try to harm Feather. Whenever Feather hit the ball with his club, the bodyguards would simply clapped their hooves to congratulate him on his efforts. Feather wasn't sure if the bodyguards were really obligated to clap each time he swings.
The last place Feather and his bodyguards went to was the Canterlot Movie Theater so Feather could see the latest films. One bodyguard was leading Feather into the theater while the other bodyguard was behind Feather to make sure no one was following the 'prince'. The bodyguards even scanned the theater room to possibility check if some spy or crazed fan was hiding. When the bodyguards were done, Feather finally got to sit back and enjoy the movie. The film was a typical pirate film where a damsel gets kidnapped by a nasty pirate and a handsome swashbuckler stallion comes in to save the mare. Although the film's plot was typical, Feather still enjoyed it as he wished that he was like that handsome swashbuckler who only wants to save his mare. Feather was then reminded that he still hasn't found that one mare who would take his breath away. Even as a prince, Feather wasn't able to meet mares who would be perfect for him. Feather has met a few mares during some events he had attended. Unfortunately, those mares were too snobby or too sophisticated for Feather's tastes. Feather then began to feel sad as he wasn't able to find love even in Canterlot.
When Feather's carriage finally arrived back to Canterlot Castle, Feather was able to take off his disguise and made his way back to his room. Feather honestly thought that he had a great day as he was able to do normal things like he used to do as a common pony. He was so distracted in his thoughts that he didn't notice the pony coming from around the corner. Both Feather and the other pony ended up crashing into each other which made the both of them fall to the ground. Feather was the first to quickly get back up and attempted to help the other pony he bumped into.
"I am terribly sorry!" Feather said as he offered a hoof to the pony. "I was not paying attention and-" Feather stopped when he saw the mare who was on the ground while rubbing her temple. She was a pure white unicorn with beautiful purple manes that was shining from the light. Her cutie mark was an image of three blue diamonds. She looked up to Feather to show off her crystal blue eyes that caught Feather off guard. Feather had seen the mare in the cover of a lot of fashion magazines. He couldn't believe that he was standing face to face with Rarity, owner of three popular boutiques, one of the saviors of Equestria, and the Element of Generosity. Before Feather could say anything, Rarity's face turned sour when she saw him.
"Oh not you again!" Rarity growled as she slapped Feather's hoof away from her. Feather was shocked to see Rarity react in disgust to him as if he was a skunk.
"Excuse me?" Feather said in confusion.
"I don't have time to deal with likes of you, Blueblood! I have an important meeting I must attend to!" Rarity said as she huffed and stormed away from Feather.
"Did I do something?" Feather asked while he was still confused.
"You know what you did!" Rarity yelled back as she exited the corridor. Feather was left alone as he was still surprised from Rarity acting in such a way.
Blueblood was relaxing inside Feather's home. He didn't have dance practice today and there wasn't anything going on in town right now. This left Blueblood to completely open to do whatever he wanted.
'Now this is the kind of leisure I've wanted when I switched minds with Feather Bangs.' Blueblood thought as he took a sip of a cup of lemonade that he made for himself. Blueblood was currently sitting on Feather's bed while reading some books he found in Feather's bookshelf. Most of Feather's books were mostly about poetry and fairy tales that parents usually read to their foals during bedtime. Blueblood also found some notebooks that were filled with Feather's old poems and decided to read those as well.
'My goodness, most of Feather Bangs poems are mostly about the mares around town or gushy stuff like the 'beauty of nature'.' Blueblood thought as he gagged when he was reading certain parts of Feather's poems. The prince decided that he was done with reading and went outside to see what other things he could do in the town. Blueblood strolled down the single street while looking at the similar looking buildings. He was able to at least tolerate the bland designs of the buildings as he had seen them multiple times.
"Hey Feather," A trio of mares said saucily to Blueblood. The mares were none other than Swoon Song, Fond Feather, and Dear Darling. Blueblood had heard from Feather's letters that these three mares were Feather's biggest fans. Blueblood shivered as he remembered all the times when he was bombarded with fanmares who really adore the prince. Blueblood would normally try to avoid fanmares, but now it felt different as he was another pony that most was almost unnoticeable. So it felt sort of refreshing as he was being admire for not just being a prince.
"Ladies," Blueblood responded while winking at the mares. All three of the mares couldn't help but swoon and faint in response to receiving a wink from the stallion they admired.
'And here I thought this Feather Bangs fellow was just some pathetic pony who couldn't win the heart of at least one mare.' Blueblood thought as he continued to trot confidently on the street. The next pony Blueblood spotted was Double Diamond while he was holding his purple snow skis.
"What's up, Double Diamond." Blueblood said with some modern slang in his sentence.
"S'up, Feather." Double Diamond responded. "I was just heading over to the huge pond to join up with our other friends, do you want to come?"
Blueblood tapped his chin while thinking of an answer. He didn't have anything important to do very soon and he thought that Double Diamond's friends would feel gratitude for Blueblood for joining in.
"Alright," Blueblood said while nodding. Double Diamond lead Blueblood down by a large pond that was also on the outskirts of town. The only other ponies who were there were Party Favor and Nightglider. Party Favor was setting up what looked like a picnic judging from the large table cloth on the ground while Nightglider was stretching her hooves and wings.
"Yo, Double and Feather!" Nightglider said while waving. "Glad that you guys came!"
"It's no big deal," Blueblood with while waving a hoof. "I was really bored and I discovered that you guys were here."
"I didn't want to miss an opportunity to use these bad boys again!" Double Diamond while as holding up his skis.
"Great! Let's get everything set up!" Nightglider said as she flew away and came back with some rope.
"What are you guys doing?" Blueblood asked.
"Double Diamond felt pretty bummed that he couldn't ski until winter arrives, so we're trying to help him experience water skiing as it also involves using skis." Party Favor explained.
"This is going to be epic!" Double Diamond said as he put on a life vest and put on his skis. Nightglider attached the rope on to herself and one end of the rope to Double Diamond.
"Are you all set, DD?" Nightglider asked as she prepared herself to take off.
"Ready!" Double Diamond hollered. Nightglider flew over the pond which caused the rope to tug Double Diamond and pulled him straight into the water. Thanks to the fast speed Nightglider was flying in, Double Diamond was able to slide across the pond's surface thanks to his skis.
"Woo! This is way better than skiing on snow!" Double Diamond claimed as he leaned which caused him to turn.
"Way to go, Double!" Party Favor cheered as he watched his friends from the side of the pond. Blueblood couldn't help but think that riding across the water like that looked really entertaining. It wasn't long until Nightglider got tired and decided to stop. Double Diamond agreed and the both of them made their way back to enjoy a lovely picnic with their two other friends.
"Now that was such a workout!" Nightglider said as she drank from a juice box.
"It was so amazing!" Double Diamond included as he bit on a sandwich.
"I have to say, what you did was pretty impressive." Blueblood commented while chewing on his sandwich.
"You have got to have a turn, Feather!" Double Diamond suggested. Blueblood almost chocked on his sandwich for hearing such a risky idea.
"I-I'm not sure if I have the same capabilities as you to ride on the skis, Double Diamond." Blueblood said in attempt to avoid doing something dangerous.
"Come on! It will be fun!" Double Diamond pleaded. "If you want, Nightglider could take it nice and slow if you want to be safe." Blueblood thought that it not actually a bad idea as he won't be at risk of getting hurt if the speed was slow.
"Alright, I'll have a turn." Blueblood said with a small smile.
After lunch, Blueblood had on his life vest and he wore Double Diamond's skis on his hooves. Blueblood also held the rope that was attached to Nightglider. She was currently flapping her wings above the pond.
"Are you all set, Feather?" Nightglider said from the air. Blueblood made one last check before he was going to 'ride the waves'.
When Blueblood confirmed he was all set, he yelled "I'm ready!" Nightglider began to fly forward while pulling Blueblood into the water. Blueblood's heart raced as he was actually doing something stunt related for the very first time in his life. He would normally just watch athletic ponies compete in sports and what he was doing was way out of his comfort zone. Although Blueblood felt extremely terrified in the inside, he couldn't help but feel excited from feeling the wind blowing through his manes and the rocking motions from him riding on each wave of water. To Blueblood, this was the most fun he had ever had since he could remember while as a prince. He turned to see Double Diamond and Party Favor cheering for him as he water skied across the pond. Nightglider, however, wasn't pleased of flying at such a slow pace even though she is doing it for a friend.
'Ahh! This is taking forever!' Nightglider complained in her thoughts. She suddenly formed a wicked grin on her face as an idea came to her. Nightglider prepared herself as she flew faster and Blueblood was getting pulled along with her speed. The prince was starting to get a bit worried as he felt like Nightglider was going faster than usual. What's worse was that Blueblood was starting to jump from each time he was riding up the pond's waves. As Nightglider began to turn, Blueblood rode along in the same direction. The rope end Blueblood was holding snapped and Blueblood flew up on a big wave. He panicked as he flew away from the pond and his mind blacked out when he reached the ground.
Blueblood slowly woke up to see blurs of colors. Blueblood's sight began to get better and the blurs of colors were actually three ponies standing above him. Blueblood could easily recognize two of the ponies as Double Diamond and Party Favor. The other pony was an elderly, unicorn stallion who was dressed up like a doctor. Blueblood also looked around to see that they were all inside of Feather's bedroom.
"Feather! Thank goodness you're safe!" Double Diamond said in relief.
"W-what happened?" Blueblood said as he tried to get up. He yelped in pain on one of his hindlegs. Blueblood looked down to see that his right hindleg was covered up in a cast.
"You're a lucky pony for surviving such a fall like that." The doctor pony informed.
"It was my fault!" Nightglider yelled as she flew up to Blueblood. The prince saw that Nightglider's face showed lots of sadness and guilt. There were even tears streaming down her face to show that she was crying earlier. "I-I wanted to go a bit faster and I did! But I didn't know that the rope would snap and you flew! I'm so sorry!" Nightglider yelled as she cried on Blueblood's side.
"It's quite alright," Blueblood said as he patted Nightglider's mane.
"B-but I was the one who caused your injuries." Nightglider said while her lips quivered. Blueblood would've indeed demanded that Nightglider should be sent to the dungeons for attempt of murder on a member of royalty. He would do that to any servant or common pony who would harm the prince because of an accident. But now Blueblood doesn't feel like doing that as he saw how sad the mare was for accidentally hurting him.
"True, but you had no idea that I would fly up from the pond. Besides, at least I'm still alive." Blueblood assured. Nightglider couldn't help but smile as she was glad that one of her friends wasn't angry at him.
"The only downside would be that you have to stay in bed until your leg is all healed up." The doctor informed. "Don't worry about paying me, your bill was already paid for." The doctor said as he exited Feather's home.
"Welp, I guess I'll have to lay here for a while." Blueblood said as he slumped back on his bed.
"It's alright, Feather!" Double Diamond said. "We can all take turns taking care of you until you get better!" Blueblood just looked at the ponies in bewilderment.
"You really don't have to do that." Blueblood said while waving his hooves.
"It's the least we could do to make up for what happened. Besides, you're a part of this town and we all help one another so our community can stay strong!" Party Favor said. Blueblood felt a bit uncomfortable for having a bunch of strangers taking care of him until his leg was healed.
On the plus side, it wouldn't hurt to be treated like royalty once again.' Blueblood thought as he was actually glad that he had this accident.
It was early morning when Feather was inside of Blueblood's room. Feather was reading Blueblood's response to Feather's daily updates. Feather informed that he stumbled upon Rarity and she was easily angered when she saw him. Feather even asked what happened between the two of them. This was Blueblood's response:
Dear Feather Bangs,
I am impressed that you managed to maintain your cover for this long. As for the matter with Rarity, DO NOT AFFILIATE WITH THAT MARE!
Feather paused as he was surprised to read such a response from a prince. Feather continued to read on:
That mare is nothing but trouble! She came to the Canterlot Castle during one Grand Galloping Gala and she demanded me to pay attention to her! She wanted me to open the door when I didn't want to dirty my hooves on the door knob. She insisted that I pay for her friend's food when I already have other ponies to pay for my things! The worst part of that night would be when a large cake was about to land towards me and I used that mare to block the splatter so I did not get any stains on my coat. But that mare began to shake off the cake and my coat became filthy! I have no clue on why the princesses still allow that mare to take part in events in Canterlot. There was one time when my Auntie Celestia allowed that mare to stay at the castle! I had to stay in my room until she returned to wherever dirty town she came from! You will appreciate my advice of staying completely away from that Rarity! It is for the sake of my good name and to prevent you from potential disasters that would ruin my good name!
Sincerely, Prince Blueblood
Feather couldn't believe how awful Prince Blueblood was to such a beautiful mare. Feather thought that Blueblood only acted a bit snobby as it was expected for royalty, but Feather began to think that Blueblood was a downright meanie.
'If I were Blueblood, I would've treated Rarity like any beautiful mare I came across to.' Feather thought before he noticed his reflection at the large mirror.
'Technically, I am 'Blueblood'.' Feather thought as he thought of many possibilities of wooing Rarity.
'But I could get in trouble for not following Blueblood's advice.' Feather said in his thoughts. He then noticed a decorative vase that was sitting by the window.
'Well, I guess it never hurts to apologize to Rarity for Blueblood's sake.' Feather thought as he used his horn to start writing a letter.
Canterlot Carousel was bustling with customers as they shop for the latest outfits made by Rarity. As usual, Sassy Saddles was running the register while Rarity was helping out mares pick out dresses that were best suited for them. A short, unicorn stallion wearing a bellhop uniform entered the boutique while carrying a vase full of flowers with his magic.
"Excuse me! I'm looking for a Ms. Rarity!" The bellhop stallion announced.
"I'm Rarity," Rarity said as she approached the bellhop stallion.
"Special delivery!" The bellhop stallion said as he placed the flowered vase on the counter. Rarity looked in awe from how beautiful the flowers were.
"Ooo! A gift from a secret admirer?" Sassy Saddle smirked.
Rarity levitated a small card from the center of the flowers. "It says, I apologize for my past actions, I hope that this vase full of flowers says otherwise. Sincerely.... Blueblood?!" Rarity said with rage in her voice.
"Wow, a gift from the prince!" Sassy Saddle said in amusement. Rarity just levitated the flowery vase and smashed it to the ground. Rarity panted heavily as she was angry Blueblood had the nerve of sending a vase full of flowers in a lame attempt to apologize to her. Rarity stopped when she noticed that most of the customers stared as the sound of the crushing vase caught their attention.
Rarity quickly cleared her throat and turned to the customers. "My apologies for startling all of you, my faithful customers. I will clean up this mess, please resume with your shopping!" Rarity levitated a broom and a dust pan and brush up what was left of the flowery vase. The bellhop stallion gulped as he hurried out of the boutique.
'Wow, Rarity must really hate Blueblood if she made such a scene.' Feather thought as he recently heard from the bellhop stallion of what happened to his gift. Feather looked out of from his glass window as he tried to think of some other way to be on Rarity's good side. It was difficult for Feather as he was impersonating the one stallion Rarity despises the most. He remembered from one conversation he heard at one of his tea parties that a charity ball was being held to donate clothing and money to the poor and unfortunate. Feather also overheard that the event was sponsored by Canterlot Carousel and Rarity was the host for the event. Feather quickly rang his bell and Bellhopper entered the room.
"How may I be of service, my prince?" Bellhopper said while doing his usual bow.
"I would like to attend a certain event." Feather requested. Bellhopper raised his head as he was startled from hearing the prince actually wanting to go to an event.
It was the night of the charity ball and it took place at the Canterlot Garden. A majority of Canterlot's elites came to the ball as it involved Rarity who had already made a big name for herself. Rarity wore a sparkling, light blue dress and her mane was done up in a more curly mane style. Rarity was currently speaking to some of the party guests about certain topics.
"Rarity!" Sassy cried out while trotting towards the unicorn.
"What is it?" Rarity asked.
"I have some news to tell you and I'm not quite sure you will like it." Sassy said while biting her lips.
"What do you mean?" Rarity said until she looked behind Sassy and understood why Sassy was worried. Rarity saw Blueblood standing by the food tables while acting as casual as possible. Some of the nearby guests started to whisper about Prince Blueblood. Rarity growled heavily as just the sight of Blueblood made her blood boil.
'That snobby prince had the nerve of crashing one of my important events!' Rarity thought as she began to march towards Prince Blueblood.
'Uh oh,' Feather thought as he saw an angry looking Rarity approaching him. Rarity reached a certain distant and was about to say something until Sassy ran up between her and Prince Blueblood.
"Prince Blueblood! It is such an honor of you to attend our charity ball!" Sassy said while bowing.
"It is no problem," Feather responded. "I do enjoy attending elegant parties such as this one. You have really outdone yourself, Ms. Saddles."
Sassy gasped. "Y-you know who I am?!"
"Of course, I have read about you from many fashion magazines." Feather replied. "You managed to help many ponies run such successful fashion boutiques. And might I say that you are doing an amazing job running Canterlot Carousel."
"Why thank you," Sassy giggled. She then moved over to reveal Rarity who was very confused. "But you have thank Ms. Rarity for all of the credit. It was her idea of opening another boutique in Canterlot."
"I do apologize for coming to your event without your knowledge, Ms. Rarity." Feather said while bowing. "I promise that I will keep a safe distant and behave while attending this ball." Before Rarity could say anything, Sassy grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Will do, your majesty! Rarity and I must mingle with more guests!" Sassy then pulled Rarity away.
"Look, I know that you and Prince Blueblood had bad history together." Sassy whispered to Rarity. "But try to grin and bear it until he leaves or the charity ball is over. You don't want everypony to see your ugly side, do you?" Rarity put some thought into it and she indeed needed to keep up in a calm manner and not scare any pony.
"I apologize, Sassy. I will do my best to keep my distance from Blueblood." Rarity said as she calmed down.
"That's great!" Sassy smiled. "Besides, maybe Prince Blueblood really is trying to make it up to you. That flowered vase was a bit of a good start and he just promised to behave himself while he is here." Rarity sighed as she tried to control her emotions. She then realized what time it was and hurried on to the stage. The spotlight immediately shined when Rarity trotted up to the stage and used her magic to levitate a microphone.
"Thank you all for coming to the Canterlot Carousel's Charity Ball!" Everypony in the crowd clapped and cheered.
"I appreciate all of those who have donated for such a noble cause!" Rarity was about to continue until Sassy hurried over to Rarity, whispered something in her ear, and have Rarity a small card.
"It appears we have one last donation for our charity ball! And the amount donated is....one thousand bits!" Rarity said in complete shock. Everypony in the crowd reacted with surprise to hear that a large amount of cash was given.
"The one who gave this huge amount of money is...." Rarity looked at the card to be completely shocked again. "Prince Blueblood?!" The crowd was shocked again and noticed that Feather was coming up to the stage followed by a well-dressed unicorn mare using her magic to levitate a check with a thousand bits written on it.
"Yes, Yes, I wanted to show my support for not only for charity but also for Rarity who has been working hard in her fashion career. I do hope that she strives as one of Equestria's fashionable mares." Feather said to the crowd. He too was also shocked when he realized that Prince Blueblood had such a large amount of bits at his disposal. What Feather was donating didn't make any dents to how much Prince Blueblood had. Feather offered a hoof to Rarity to shake. Rarity was still in complete shock that the stallion she despised the most was for once giving. She had a gut feeling the prince was doing this for another reason besides what he just said. Before Rarity could say anything, Sassy went up next to her.
"Wow! This is such a nice thing for you to give us this amount of bits, your majesty!" Sassy said out loud. "Rarity would love to accept this donation so we could help anyway we can. Is that right, Rarity?"
Rarity knew that she couldn't turn down such an offer especially since she was in front of a whole crowd. She only smiled and shook Feather's hooves.
"I humbly accept your donation, Prince Blueblood." Rarity said through her teeth. The crowd cheered once again from Prince Blueblood's act of 'kindness'.
'You're not convincing me, Blueblood' Rarity said in her thoughts as she continued to smile as photos were taken.
It was morning and Blueblood never felt more relaxed as he lodged on his bed. He thought that's one benefit of getting hurt from water skiing, he gets to sit on his flank all day. What made things better was that Nightglider was one of his temporary servers until his hindhoof gets healed. If Blueblood needed anything, he simply had to call out and Nightglider will immediately come to help him.
'I have to thank that reckless pegasus for causing my injury.' Blueblood thought. 'I missed being pampered like this.' Blueblood looked down to see his signed cast. When word got out that Blueblood was injured, almost all of the villagers visited him and signed his cast with messages about him getting well soon. Blueblood felt a bit better as these commoner ponies were willing to see him even though he doesn't know them that much.
Blueblood's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the door opening.
"Hey Feather!" said the voices from the door. Blueblood turned to see a trio of mares standing in front of the entrance. One mare was a light red earth pony and her brown manes were tied up with a red bow. The second mare was a light green unicorn and her blonde manes were tied up with a green bow. The third mare was a light purple pegasus and her light blue manes were tied up with a blue bow. Blueblood remembered in Feather's letters that the mares' names were Swoon Song, Fond Feather, and Dear Darling. He had seen these three mares as they often wink and giggle at his direction when he trots down the town's street. Blueblood knew that as a prince he was quite attractive, but he didn't expect Feather to be attractive enough to get these pretty mares' attention.
"Hi girls," Nightglider said. "What are you three doing here?" Nightglider was confused when the trio of mares gave angry glares at her. She gulped as it was making her nervous.
"If you must know, we're here to pamper our precious Feather Bangs." Swoon answered.
"Indeed," Dear added. "Ever since we heard about Feather's accident, we gathered as much supplies as possible to help him feel better while he recovers." The green mare used her magic to levitate a brown picnic basket.
"Healing requires a lot of attention and care." Fond included.
"Oh, well thanks for coming." Nightglider said while smiling. "I could use all of the help to comfort Feather." The three mares continued to glare at Nightglider.
"We believe that Feather will recover much faster if we take it from here and you leave." Swoon commented.
Nightglider felt a bit offended from receiving such a comment towards her. Blueblood noticed this and thought of something.
"It's alright, girls." Blueblood called out. "Nightglider can stay. It's the least she could do and it never hurts to have a mare who can fly fast and get supplies if I need them." The mare trio turned back to glare at Nightglider but then their expressions went calm.
"Very well," Swoon said. "If Feather says you can stay, you can stay."
"But we'll do most of the work while you can just retrieve stuff if we need them." Dear said.
"Yeah," Fond added.
Nightglider couldn't help but smile at Blueblood for sticking up for her. Blueblood would normally accept the opportunity of making a troublesome pony leave. But Blueblood decided to let it slide as he needed to rest up.
The mare trio began their spoilage on to Blueblood. Swoon started with feeding Blueblood some grapes that were extremely sweet when he chewed them. Dear went behind Blueblood and started rubbing his shoulders to make him feel more relaxed. Fond used her wings to hold a large paper fan and fanned Blueblood to make him feel the cool breeze. Blueblood could already feel less pain on his hindlegs as he was so occupied with the mares' pampering. Since the three mares were so focused on Blueblood, Nightglider decided to tidy up his house.
"Are you feeling better, Feather?" Dear whispered to one of Blueblood's ears.
"It feels so nice, Dear." Blueblood responded. "I appreciate you three for taking such good care of me."
"Ponies can excel at anything if they have the right motives." Swoon said. "We're really motivated to see you recove from that horrible accident." Swoon said her last sentence loud enough for Nightglider to hear. Nightglider glared at Swoon before the pegasus turned back and resumed washing some dishes.
"The accident wasn't that bad." Blueblood commented.
"Oh no, you accident was terrible!" Dear included. "Anypony who can give you these kinds of injuries obviously shows no concerns about your safety." Nightglider heard that sentence and she just continued to scrub hard on the dirty dishes.
"But not to worry, Feather." Fond said while still fanning. "We'll be here to take extra good care of you."
"Alright," Blueblood said as he laid back to enjoy his special treatment. It was around lunch time when Blueblood's stomach began to growl.
"Can one of you bring me some lunch?" Blueblood requested.
"I've got just the thing!" Swoon said in excitement. She reached for the brown basket to pull out what looked like a perfectly wrapped hay sandwich with its' crust completely cut off."Here you go! One hay and jam sandwich, just the way you like it!" Swoon took one half of the sandwich and brought it near Blueblood's mouth. "Open up and say 'aah'!" Blueblood wasn't sure if he should eat something he hasn't eaten before, but he also didn't want to get suspicious for turning down stuff that Feather usually likes. Blueblood took one bite from the sandwich and chewed it in his mouth.
'Wow! This sandwich tastes really good!' Blueblood thought as he enjoyed the tasty combination of the fried hay and the sweet tasting jam. Blueblood continued taking bites from the sandwich halves that Swoon was feeding him.
"I'm glad that you like it, Feather." Swoon said. "I made the sandwich myself."
"It tastes delicious, Swoon." Blueblood praised.
"Oh thank you, Feather." Swoon said while blushing. "In the meantime, is it alright that you call me by another name?"
"What would that be?" Blueblood asked.
"Mrs. Bangs." Swoon said with a wide smile.
Blueblood paused from what he just heard from Swoon.
"W-what was that?" Blueblood asked nervously.
"Or you could call me 'honey', 'sweetie', or even 'wife to be'." Swoon batted her eyelashes.
"Swoon!" Dear and Fond yelled at the same time.
"What?" Swoon said while acting innocent.
"That's not fair to have Feather call you those kinds of nicknames!" Dear complained.
"Why not? He already claimed that he enjoyed what I made." Swoon replied.
"The sandwiches were made from our combined effort, Swoon!" Fond spoke. "As in we get equal credit for taking care of Feather!"
Swoon, Fond, and Dear started growling and glared at each other. This made Blueblood extremely uncomfortable from seeing mares act in such a way for a stallion he was impersonating as.
"Um, could I get some tea, please?" Blueblood pleaded. The three mares turned to Blueblood and he flinched as he was afraid of any bad outcomes for speaking up.
"No problem, Feather." Swoon said as she turned to her friends. "How about we put this aside and get Feather some tea? We wouldn't want Feather to be afraid when he should be getting better."
"I'm willing to do just that as long as you don't try anything to make Feather fall for you. I also want Feather to recover from his injury." Dear said while glaring at Swoon.
"So we're all in an agreement." Fond said as all three mares nodded as a sign that a truce has been made.
Blueblood sighed internally as he was able to avoid getting involved in a cat fight between the three mares.
"Nightglider! Could you get Feather some tea?" Swoon requested.
"I'm on it!" Nightglider said as she began preparing some tea for Feather. The other three mares went back to resume taking care of Blueblood while Nightglider was making tea. After several minutes, Nightglider finished and carried a small tray with a steamy cup of hot tea towards Blueblood. She carefully trotted in a slow pace to make sure not to spill any tea.
"Alright, Feather," Nightglider said as she made it to Blueblood's bed. "Here's your tea!" Nightglider moved closer before she accidentally tripped. This caused Nightglider to spill the tea from the cup. The glob of tea was about to fall towards Blueblood's lap and Blueblood was terrified when it was about to reach impact. Before the tea was about to splash on to Blueblood, the tea instead splattered on a small yellow force field made of magic. Blueblood was confused from how the force field appeared as he wasn't able to use any magic without a horn. Blueblood turned to notice that the source of the magic shield was Dear as she was fast enough to conquer up a magic barrier to prevent the tea from spilling on to him. The other mares sighed in relief as the tea didn't burn Blueblood.
"That was a close one." Dear said as she turned off her horn and the tea spilled on to the floor.
"I'm so sorry, Feather!" Nightglider pleaded. Feather's fanmares stood in front of Nightglider while giving her angry glares.
"What were you thinking?!" Swoon said with lots of anger. "You almost burned Feather thanks to your clumsiness!"
"I-it was an accident! I swear!" Nightglider pleaded some more.
"An accident, huh?" Dear said suspiciously. "You mean like when you launched Feather up in the air to make him break his hoof!"
Nightglider couldn't help but tear up as her guilt was increasing.
"You're only making it worse for Feather!" Fond added.
"Enough!" Blueblood cried out to get every mare's attention.
The three mares felt nervous as they saw how angry Blueblood looked.
"Nightglider didn't do anything wrong! The tea was just an accident! Nothing more!" Blueblood said. "Same goes for that water skiing incident, it was just an accident as well!" Blueblood paused to let the three mares soak that in.
"B-but she was the one who caused your injury." Swoon said.
"Why do you think I let her take care of me?" Blueblood responded. "At least she's owning up to her mistake and I deeply appreciate it."
A part of Nightglider felt touched to hear such a thing from Feather.
"You girls on the other hoof, are not making things better for me as well." The three mares were shocked from what they heard. "I understand that all three of you like me and want to be my marefriend. The only problem is that all three of you are acting like the complete opposite of what I want in a marefriend."
After Blueblood's last sentence, the three mares were paralyzed as they didn't know how to respond. All three of them quickly galloped through the door, leaving Blueblood and Nightglider the only ones in the house. There was an awkward silence between the two ponies as they didn't know what to say.
Blueblood was extremely baffled from what he just said to the three mares. Never in Blueblood's royal life had he stood up for another pony. He always thought that butting into others' matters was extremely pointless. That was until Blueblood got to know more about the ponies around here and he felt bad for Nightglider for unintentionally causing all of this. Blueblood's thoughts were interrupted when Nightglider spoke up.
"F-Feather," Nightglider said with hesitation. "I appreciate you for telling those mares off. I didn't know what could've happened if you didn't speak out."
"N-no problem," Blueblood spoke with nervousness.
"I still thought that I deserved to be yelled at since this was my fault to begin with." Nightglider lowered her head.
"Like I said before, you had no idea this would happen to me." Blueblood replied. "If you did intended to break my hoof, I would've filed charges against you to make sure you received the proper punishment. But look where we are now."
"For what it's worth, I appreciate you understanding." Nightglider said while bowing.
"It's no biggie." Blueblood replied.
"So is there anything else I could get you? I'll make sure to be more careful with taking care of you until your hoof gets better."
"How about getting me a simple glass of water?" Blueblood suggested. "That won't burn me if you trip again and it spills."
Nightglider giggled from hearing Blueblood's humorous request.
"One glass of water coming up!" Nightglider said as she flew to the kitchen area.
Blueblood laid back down as he tried to relax. Although Blueblood would love to be pampered by some attractive mares, he settled with a good friend taking such good care of him.
Feather was taking part in another fashion show that featured new lines of clothes made by upcoming fashion designers. He sat in the VIP area which allowed him to see the show better. Feather choose to take part in this event as Rarity's new clothes lines will also be featured. He guessed that Prince Blueblood wouldn't come to one of these fashion shows unless it was necessary. Feather thought that it wouldn't hurt to attend some events just for the fun of it. Plus, 'Prince Blueblood's' presence in the fashion show increased more publicity and the audience got more excited.
"You," said a mare's voice. Feather turned to see Rarity standing in front of the same row he was in. Rarity glared angrily at Feather as he was the last pony Rarity wanted to see. She turned to the usher who had lead her.
"Is there any way you can put me in a different seat?" Rarity asked.
"I'm sorry, ma'am." The usher said. "All of the other VIP seats were booked. You'll have to sit next to Prince Blueblood." Rarity huffed while her face turned red. She quickly calmed down before she trotted and sat down on the empty seat next to Feather.
"Not say one word, your 'highness'." Rarity whispered sternly. "It's bad enough you crash my charity event and gave me money out of pity, but now you're coming to all of my events?! I should file a restraining order on you!" Rarity turned to the front while crossing her hooves. Feather said nothing as he didn't want to add oil to Rarity's fire. The fashion show went on until the announcer presented Rarity's line of new clothes. The clothes' theme was underwater as the dresses were made up of seashells, underwater patterns, and one dress looked like it was completely out of seaweed. Feather was astonished that Rarity made such beautiful dresses. He clapped and cheered whenever Rarity's models appeared. Feather thought showing his support was the least he could do for Rarity besides talking to her. The other ponies in the crowd notice Prince Blueblood showing support and decided to increase their cheers as well since he was royalty after all. Rarity on the other hoof felt offended to see that the crowd was just cheering because a prince was cheering first. She was sure that this was some sick joke that snobby prince came up with just to get back at her. 'I can't believe that prince!' Rarity thought. Rarity got up and left her seat as she needed to calm herself down before her anger got out of control.
Rarity was back at Canterlot Carousel and she was moping on the store's counter. Rarity watched Sassy Saddles take care of customers since Rarity wasn't in any mood to make new clothes or run the store. Even pony watching didn't help Rarity calm her anger down as she still thought how annoying Prince Blueblood has been for the past few days. When the now satisfied customers left the boutique, Sassy trotted towards Rarity.
"Rarity, I heard that your fashion show was a huge success!" Sassy cheered as she levitated a magazine to Rarity. "It's already on the latest fashion magazines!" Rarity groaned loudly before her face hit the counter. This made Sassy a bit concerned. "Are you alright, Rarity?"
"No, that fashion show was a 'huge' success because a certain prince had the nerve of cheering for my clothing just to irritate me!" Rarity complained.
"Oh," Sassy said as she knew who the certain prince was. "I'm sure that he won't be attending the next fashion show. He is a prince after all, he has royal duties to attend to."
"By royal duties, do you mean making my life miserable? If that were the case, then yes." Rarity said as she slammed her face on to the counter a second time.
"Perhaps this could be a sign that he wants to redeem himself to you? It's quite rare for stallions to change just to satisfy the mares they care about." Rarity only rose her head to give a growl at Sassy. Sassy stayed quiet as she slowly trotted to the next room.
'Curse that good-for-nothing prince! Something must be done!' Rarity thought as an idea appeared in her mind. 'And I think I know what to do it.' Rarity' smirked as she knew what to do.
"What do you mean you can't help me?!" Rarity said as she was talking to Princess Celestia in her throne room. "I-I mean, I apologize for that outburst. But I just request that you prevent Prince Blueblood from attending my events."
"As I said before, Rarity, I don't think I should do that." Princess Celestia responded. "My nephew has actually been doing a lot better as of late. I don't see why I should have him stop as he hasn't cause any trouble."
"But he has," Rarity said. "he gave me a lot of bits for an event that he wouldn't gain anything back except attention! Not to mention that he cheered for when my clothing appeared in the runway and that made the other ponies cheer as well!" Princess Celestia got up and approached Rarity. This made Rarity a bit terrified as she may have angered one of the rulers of Equestria. Instead, the princess placed a hoof on Rarity's shoulder.
"Rarity, I know that you and my nephew had a bad encounter in the past, but that was from a long time ago. Did I act harshly to Luna after she came back from the moon?" Rarity couldn't help but agree with Princess Celestia on Luna's return. "You may have faced bad experiences with certain creatures, but second chances can be made if you and the other creature allow it." Rarity sighs in defeat as Princess Celestia thinks that her nephew has been making good progress. Rarity grumbles while she trotted towards the exit.
Rarity returned to Canterlot Carousel and started organizing some of the displays.
"Rarity!" Sassy hollered as she galloped towards Rarity.
"What is it?" Rarity asked. She was a bit concerned to see Sassy acting excited for unknown reasons. Sassy levitated an opened envelope with a letter inside.
"You would not believe it! We're invited!" Sassy said. Rarity was still confused until she levitated the letter for a closer look. It read:
You and a guest are cordially invited to a party at the Royal Gardens in Canterlot Castle tomorrow night. The party will be hosted by none other than Prince Blueblood.
Rarity's face glowed red while she growled from reading the letter. "I should have known that snobby prince would have the nerve to irritate me again!"
"But Rarity, Prince Blueblood is inviting us to one of his parties! This is such a big deal!" Sassy said gleefully. Rarity responded by crumbling up the letter and tossing it to the trash can. Sassy gasped dramatically "Rarity! We can't turn this invitation down!" Sassy said as she levitated the letter from the trash can.
"I am not attending that party with Prince Blueblood being the host." Rarity said with a huff.
"But this is a golden opportunity!" Sassy pleaded. "Many well-known nobles will definitely attend this party as it is hosted by Prince Blueblood! We can expand our network and get Canterlot Carousel more customers!" Rarity put some thought into it and she thought Sassy was making a good point. Rarity still remember that the downside of going is to deal with Prince Blueblood. Rarity sighed in defeat. "Fine, we'll go. But I won't be making any interactions with Prince Blueblood. I do want to get my boutique more attention after all." Sassy cheered as she ran to the next room.
"We'll need to look our best if we're going to the prince's party!" Sassy hollered from the doorway. Rarity grumbled as the thought of being at a close distant with that prince again disgusted her.
The royal garden was heavily decorated with gold ribbons and flowers to show how high class the party was. There was a small stage and several musicians were playing slow and elegant music. The attendees were made up of were well-known all throughout Canterlot. They mingled and discussed about various matters. Feather was standing at the entrance to introduce himself to the incoming guests. He felt sort of glad that he was able to pull this off. Feather thought that inviting Rarity to this party could allow her to find more potential clients for her boutique. He was surprised that so many of the nobles came to his party. Feather guessed that no pony in Canterlot would want to miss out on a party hosted by royalty. As Feather continued to say his thanks to more guests coming in until he spotted Rarity and Sassy entering the garden. Sassy wore a dark blue and black dress while Rarity had on a dark purple dress.
"Rarity! Sassy Saddles! I am so glad the two of you decided to come to my little garden party." Feather said with a small bow. Rarity stayed silent while she turned her head away from the prince. Sassy grinned a nervous smile and responded.
"I apologize, your majesty. Rarity is just a bit tired from making some last-minute dresses. I'm sure she is as grateful as me that you invited her to your garden party." Sassy then turned to Rarity. "Isn't that right, Rarity?" Rarity only huffed as she trotted pass Feather and made her way to the other guests. Sassy quickly trotted closer to Feather. "Thank you so much for inviting us." Sassy said as she bowed and hurried along to find Rarity. Feather was able to introduce a few more guests before he was allowed to attend to his own party. Most of the nobles wanted to speak to Feather about how swell the party was going. Luckily for Feather, he was able to handle talking to party guests thanks to his past experiences as a prince. Rarity watched Feather getting all friendly with the nobles.
'I should've known that prince wanted to invite me just so I can see him flaunt his title to the wealthy guests.' Rarity thought as she took a sip of her drink.
"This is an amazing garden party!" Sassy said as she approached Rarity. "I was able to interact with most of the nobles here. Some are even considering clothing requests from Canterlot Carousel as it is really popular as of late."
"That is very good, Sassy." Rarity said while still watching angrily at Feather.
"Come now, Rarity. You should be enjoying the party as well!" Sassy said.
"I'm sorry, I still unable to enjoy the party seeing Prince Blueblood at a close distant." Rarity then noticed that Feather was trotting towards her. "I'm going to powder my muzzle in the mares' room." Rarity said to Sassy before leaving. Feather saw that Rarity was moving faster so he picked up the pace.
"Ms. Rarity, wait!" Feather called out.
'Oh great, now he is chasing me!' Rarity thought as she trotted next to some large bushes. The bushes rustled before a large, light blue unicorn stallion wearing a black ski mask and turtle neck pop out and grabbed a hold of Rarity. The other guests gasped in shock to see that an intruder had crashed the party.
"Rarity!" Feather called out as he hurried to Rarity.
"Don't move! Or else this mare gets it!" The masked stallion said. Feather stayed where he was so Rarity wouldn't get hurt. "Everypony else stay where you are! You are all completely surrounded!" More ponies wearing ski masks and turtle necks popped out from the bushes. The masked ponies then stood by the stallion who was still holding on to Rarity. "Alright, now I want all of you noble ponies to remove your jewels and other expensive belongings. Once you are done with that, put them in the bags my associates have!" The masked stallion nudged to his friends and they opened up empty sacks that were for the guests' items. Feather was a bit scared as his party has become a robbery. Fueled by anger, Rarity stomped on the masked unicorn's hoof, causing him to let go of her. Rarity then used one of her hooves to smack the masked unicorn right on his face.
"How dare you lay your hooves on a mare!?" Rarity yelled out.
"You little pain!" The masked unicorn said as he light up his horn. Feather reacted by running up to push Rarity out of the way before he got blasted by the masked unicorn's beam.
"Ah!" Feather yelled out in pain as a large burn mark was on his torso.
"Blueblood!" Rarity cried out in horror.
"That's what you get for playing hero, little colt!" The masked unicorn mocked. A green beam flew through the air and blasted the masked unicorn and he ended up falling to the ground.
"Young Lord!" Bellhopper cried out as he ran towards Feather. Royal guards already appeared to surround the remaining robbers. The masked ponies were then captured and tied up with metal chains. Bellhopper got close to Feather to see how hurt the prince was. "Quick! Get me a medic pony!" Bellhopper said to one of the guards. The guard quickly went to find the medic while Bellhopper was comforting Feather. Rarity was still in shock from being saved by Prince Blueblood. Feather continued to wince in pain as his burns were still fresh.
Blueblood was inside Feather's house while reading the latest letter from Feather about his progress as a prince. 'Looks like Feather Bangs is making good progress as me.' Blueblood thought as he read the letter. 'I should've switched minds with a commoner a long time ago! I'm feeling really great without all doing any of my royal duties!' Blueblood recalled his daily routine as Feather. All Blueblood has done was relax at home and hang out with Feather's friends. There was even a time when Blueblood took part in a sport called Buckball with Double Diamond and the others. Blueblood thought it was dangerous as it could ruin his coat and manes, but he then remembered that he was in another pony's body. That meant he could fall and get dirty all he liked without feeling completely messy. Blueblood put the letter down and took a look at the clock. "I better get going." Blueblood said as he got up and exited the house.
He looked around to see that everypony in the village was decorating the whole town with an assortment of party decorations. Two pegasai were hanging up a large banner that says Founder's Day on it. Blueblood recalled that today was the anniversary of when the ponies here gathered and formed this town. From what Blueblood gathered from the locals, this town was founded by some unicorn named Starlight Glimmer and she tried to establish the perfect place where everypony is equal. Blueblood then assumed that this Starlight Glimmer's plan worked and now the village was preparing to celebrate this day by hosting a festival. What's more, the villagers were making the town more decorative as Starlight Glimmer will come back to join in on the fun. Blueblood remembered hearing that Princess Twilight Sparkle had a student named Starlight Glimmer. But Blueblood doesn't recall any more info about this Starlight Glimmer as he was always too busy with attending his royal duties and such.
Blueblood made his way through the single street to find Double Diamond helping some ponies with some crates.
"Hey Double Diamond," Blueblood called out. "how can I help?"
"Feather! I'm glad you're here!" Double Diamond said. "Can you help us set up these ribbons on the other side of town?" Double Diamond pointed at a box filled with ribbons.
"Sure thing," Blueblood said as he put the box on his back and made his way to where Double Diamond mentioned. Blueblood would normally delegate some servants into doing these kinds of duties as he thought it was too difficult, but now he realized that certain tasks are way too easy to do. He started putting up the streamers on some parts of the town. It took some time before Blueblood was done with his task and his box of streamers was empty. For once, Blueblood felt sort of proud for the hard work he has done with his own hooves. Blueblood then noticed that a couple of mares were struggling with putting some crates on a wagon. "Mind if I help you mares?" Blueblood asked as he approached them.
"Sure!" One mare said as Blueblood picked up a crate. Once Blueblood put the last crate on the cart, he patted the dirt off his hooves.
"Thanks a lot, Feather." The other mare said as she batted her eyes at Blueblood.
"It's no problem." Bluelblood said as he made his way back to Double Diamond. Blueblood started to hear the two mares started giggling and he couldn't help but smile. Blueblood would normally accept mares giggling near him because he was a prince and he was good looking. This time felt different for Blueblood as he received those mares' giggles for something that he actually did instead of just passing by. As Blueblood continued to trot, he suddenly felt the ground shaking.
'Is this an earthquake?!' Blueblood thought as he fell on the ground. He covered his face with his hooves so he wouldn't see anything. The shakes started to get more rapid and Blueblood could hear ponies screaming in panic. Blueblood then heard the sound of rocks crumbling and falling until it landed. A few minutes passed before the quakes slowly stopped, causing the whole town to be completely silent. Blueblood looked up to see dust clouds almost covering the whole village. He got up to slowly trot forward to see if anypony was around. Blueblood started to see ponies panicking and moving almost everywhere. He also saw that the roofs of the village houses were smashed by some large rocks. Blueblood assumed that the earthquake caused the rock formations to drop some large boulders on to the houses. He also saw Double Diamond being surrounded by some ponies who were freaking out by the whole disaster. Blueblood could see that Double Diamond's face showed nothing but confusion and stress as he was not sure on how to handle this kind of situation. Blueblood kept staring at the panic that was all around him. He too was about to join in as he was just as terrified as everypony else. Out of nowhere, Blueblood started to remember a past incident that happened in Canterlot.
An earthquake also occurred and the citizens of Canterlot panicked from all of the chaos. Blueblood was in the throne room while having a conversation with some noble ponies. The earthquake occurred and Blueblood was panicking while the noble ponies quickly ran out of the throne room. Before Blueblood could rush out as well, he saw his Auntie Celestia trotting through the throne room. He noticed that she didn't show any signs of panic on her face despite what was happening outside. Princess Celestia made her way towards one of the balconies where she could see almost all of Canterlot. She used her horn to conquer a small yellow ball that floated towards her throat. Princess Celestia cleared her throat before she spoke with a booming voice.
"Citizens of Equestria!" Princess Celestia's voice echoed throughout Canterlot, causing all of the ponies to stop panicking and turn towards where the princess was. Princess Celestia looked around before she continued to speak. "I understand that the earthquake was terrifying, but it has ceased. I have already ordered a majority of the Royal Guards to go out and aid any pony who needs help. If any of you are willing to help, assist the Royal Guards by finding more survivors. Ponies who are hesitant on helping, follow the Royal Guards as they will lead you to a safe place. Panicking will only make this situation worse!" With that said, ponies no longer panicked and started to do what Princess Celestia instructed.
Blueblood was shocked to see how quickly his aunt had handled the situation. He then notice that Princess Celestia was trotting towards him.
"Are you alright, nephew?" Princess Celestia asked.
"Um, yes. I'm just fine." Blueblood replied.
"That is good to hear." Princess Celestia said in relief. "I had to calm the other ponies down before things went from bad to worse."
"Yes, well...I could've done a much better job." Blueblood lied.
Princess Celestia giggled a little. "Well, if you do choose to calm a crowd down, remember this: if one pony panics, everypony else will also panic. But if one pony steps up, everypony else will also step up." Princess Celestia exited the room, leaving a confused Blueblood behind.
Blueblood knew what he had to do and galloped towards the center of town. There, Blueblood sees a stage set up for the festival. He looks around to find a microphone and some large speakers already set up. Blueblood climbed on stage and turned on all of the speakers. He then made his way to the microphone and cleared his throat. Blueblood saw that the townsponies continued to panic.
'Just do what Auntie Celestia did.' Blueblood thought before he spoke through the microphone. "Everypony, listen!" Blueblood's voice echoed through the speakers and it caused everypony to stop what they were doing. They all turned to Blueblood who only smiled nervously. He shook his head before he spoke again. "We should not be panicking right now! We got to make sure everypony is alright! Some pegasai should fly up and check from above to see if any pony needs help! If any unicorn knows spells that could heal the injured, levitate heavy objects, or gather some medical supplies, apply those spells as soon as possible! The earth ponies can use their strength to help the unicorns lift some of the fallen debris! To ponies who have other skills that could help, please use them! If anypony is unable to help due to injuries or some other reason, gather around this stage so we won't worry about any pony missing!" It was dead silent as everypony looked at each other in confusion. Blueblood was a bit worried that his words didn't spark anypony to do anything. That was until he saw Night Glider flying upwards to get some of the ponies' attention.
"You heard what Feather Bangs said! We got to fly out and check the area! Let's go!" As Night Glider flew out, some of the pegasai followed her. The rest of the pegasai flew up to lift some of the boulders off from the roofs. Party Favor ran up to one of the houses and attempted to levitate one boulder.
"Here, let me help you." said a nearby unicorn and she used her magic to help Party Favor get the boulder completely off from the house. It wasn't long until more unicorns started to use their magic to remove the boulders and debris. Double Diamond and the rest of the earth ponies checked each house to see if there were ponies inside. Luckily, there were only a few ponies and none of them were hurt or stuck under rubble.
Blueblood too was helping the cause by also checking on some houses for any distressed ponies. When Blueblood returned to the stage, he saw more ponies gathering around the area and helping each other by patching each other up with bandages or just comforting one another. A part of Blueblood felt sort of glad to remember what his Auntie Celestia did to calm a crowd down.
Night Glider and her group of pegasus were back and they were carrying an earth pony who looked injured.
"We're back from the further part of town. We only found this pony. Nopony else was there as everypony was busy preparing for the festival." Night Glider informed.
"Thanks, Night Glider." Blueblood said. "Just take that pony to the stage area and see it that he gets some medical attention." Night Glider nodded and led her group towards the other ponies. Blueblood was then approached by Double Diamond and Party Favor along with the other ponies who helped with debris removal.
"We were able to remove most of the rocks and got everypony to the stage area." Double Diamond said.
"That is good to hear." Blueblood said. "Now we just need to count everypony and make sure they're all here. Do we have a list of the residents' names?"
"Yeah, it's at my place since I'm in charge here." Double Diamond responded.
"Great, get the list and count everypony." Blueblood requested. Double Diamond nodded and hurried to his house. Blueblood turned to Party Favor and the rest of the ponies. "Let's head back to the rest of the townsponies to see if they need more help." The other ponies nodded and followed Blueblood back to everypony else. When Double Diamond returned with the list, he called out each pony's name and he or she replied.
"What happened here?!" said a mare's voice. Blueblood turned to see a light purple unicorn mare with dark purple and light blue manes galloping towards the rest of the townsponies.
"Starlight!" Party Favor said as he, Night Glider, and Double Diamond trotted towards the new mare Blueblood assumed was Starlight.
"Is everypony alright?" Starlight asked while showing a worried look.
"An earthquake occurred and some rocks fell on top of the houses." Night Glider explained.
"Oh no! Is anypony hurt?" Starlight asked.
"A few ponies have minor injuries, but we're all still fine." Party Favor said.
"That is a relief." Starlight said. "I felt the earthquake while I got off the train, so I hurried as fast as I could to reach you guys."
"Don't worry, Starlight." Double Diamond assured. "We were able to gather everypony and get all of the rocks off from the houses."
Double Diamond turned to Blueblood who only responded by just looking away as if he wasn't interested in their conversation. Double Diamond guessed that Feather Bangs didn't want any credit in this and he kept it that way. Starlight suggested that they should start by fixing up the houses since some were damaged. The townsponies put in a lot of work in their houses' repairs. It only took a few days before the houses were good as new. Since Founder's Day was interrupted by the earthquake, the townsponies decided to celebrate it along with celebrating their hard work on their houses. Nighttime came and everypony in the town continued to dance and be cheery. Blueblood only sat on a chair while watching the other ponies. He wasn't in the mood to join the others as he was still thinking about his recent actions. A part of him questioned why he helped as he would normally care less about the ponies living in a backwater town. But Blueblood remembered all of the panics. He just felt that something needed to be done so the town wouldn't fall apart. Blueblood's thoughts were interrupted when Double Diamond approached the stage.
"First off, I want to say thank you all for your efforts in making this Founder's Day celebration possible!" Everypony cheered in response. "I know it was delayed because of the earthquake, but we were able to pull it off, didn't we?" Everypony cheered once again. "We were able to work together like a good town should, but it also wasn't possible without a single pony. Feather Bangs?" Everypony turned to Blueblood who was completely shocked to hear Double Diamond calling him. "Please come to the stage." Blueblood didn't know what to do. He decided to just slowly trot up to the stage to avoid any more attention. When Blueblood made it on stage, Double Diamond continued to speak. "It was thanks to Feather Bangs we were able to repair the town. He got everypony's attention and had us do some productive stuff. If he didn't give us those orders, we would've continued to panic until Starlight arrived." Double Diamond raised on hoof in the air and hollered, "Let's hear it for Feather Bangs!" Everypony began to cheer louder and clapped their hooves for Blueblood. Blueblood was lost for words as he listened to everypony's cheers. He turned to see Party Favor and Night Glider were cheering and whistling for him. Feather Bangs' three fan mares swooned for Blueblood as they thought he was a hero. The only response Blueblood could give was just a smile while tears of joy poured from his eyes. It was at this moment when Blueblood found a new kind of happiness.
Feather slowly opened his eyes to see a bright light. His vision cleared to see that he was in some kind of hospital room. Feather attempted to get up, but he collapsed from a large jolt of pain on his chest. A mare dressed as a nurse entered the room and rushed to Feather.
"Easy now." said the nurse mare as she readjusted Feather to lay back down. "Try not to hurt yourself while getting up."
"What happened?" Feather asked quietly.
"You took quite a hit from a magic blast, Prince Blueblood" The nurse mare replied. "You were very lucky that the doctors treated you before you felt any more pain." Feather looked down to see that his chest was completely covered with some bandages. Feather recalled that he pushed Rarity from getting hit by the robber pony's horn blast. "You just rest easy while I tell the doctors you're awake." As the nurse exited the room, Feather was laying down while thinking about his current situation. Feather was concerned as he just let Prince Blueblood's body get injured for saving Rarity. Who knows what Prince Blueblood will do if he finds out? Feather decided to rest to calm his nerves. A few minutes passed before the doctor entered Feather's room.
"It's good to see that you're awake, Prince Blueblood." The doctor said with a smile.
"I appreciate that." Feather said with a weak smile.
"Your injury wasn't too severe, just a minor burn on your torso. It will heal after a few days. For now, it would be best that you stay here and rest for the time being."
"Thank you, doctor." Feather said.
"It's what I do, just get some rest." As the doctor trotted to the door, he stopped and moved aside. "By the way, you have your first visitor." When he said that, Princess Celestia entered the room.
"Auntie Celestia, what a surprise." Feather said to the princess.
"How could you act so reckless and get yourself hurt like that?" Princess Celestia said. Feather noticed that the look on Princess Celestia's face showed some concern towards him. Feather couldn't blame her as it wasn't often that her nephew gets attacked and sent to a hospital.
"I-I'm sorry that I worried you, Auntie." Feather replied. "I had to so I could save Rarity."
"Yes, one of the royal guards informed me of what happened after the robbers were arrested. I grew worried while you were getting treated. Please don't put yourself at risk next time."
"I promise," Feather responded. "How is Rarity?"
"Rarity is safe." Princess Celestia replied. "After the robbers were taken away, Rarity and Sassy Saddles exited the royal garden along with the other guests. My guess is that Rarity went back home."
"That is good to hear, considering that she was taken hostage by one of the robbers." Feather said.
"Try not to worry too much." Princess Celestia said. "Rarity and her friends have taken on evil beings and a robber wouldn't scare her one bit. I must return to the castle to make sure there won't be any more robbing attempts. I have some of my royal guards here to keep you safe from any unwanted guests. Try to rest up while I'm gone." Princess Celestia said as she exited the room.
The day went on with Feather continuing to lay on his bed while recovering. The nurse came by every now and then to check up on Feather to see if he was alright. The next pony who visited Feather was Bellhopper.
"Greetings, young prince. It is good to see that you are recovering." Bellhopper said as he entered the room. Feather noticed that Bellhopper was being his usually calm self in contrast to how he felt when Feather was shot.
"Um, thanks Bellhopper. I appreciate that." Feather said. Bellhopper used his magic to carry a small blue vase with yellow flowers in it while making his way to Feather.
"I brought these to help you feel much better while recovering." Bellhopper said.
"Oh Bellhopper, you shouldn't have." Feather said while feeling touched by the butler's gift.
"I insist, young prince." Bellhopper said as he placed the vase on a nearby nightstand. "I know that you already have a nurse taking care of you, but I am still willing to assist you if you need anything."
"Thanks, Bellhopper." Feather said with a smile. "Perhaps you can help me send some letters to yesterday's party guests to apologize for what happened yesterday. I know that incident wasn't my fault, but I just wanted to let them know that everything is fine."
"If that is what you want, I will get right on it." Bellhopper said with a bow and trotted out of the room.
The next day came and Feather felt much better. The nurse and doctor checked up on Feather to see that he was making good progress on his healing. Feather was also starting to receive flowers, get-well-soon cards, and balloons from his associates and most of the guests who came to his garden party.
'I guess word must've spread about my injury.' Feather thought while reading some of the cards. The door opened and the nurse entered the room.
"Hello, Prince Blueblood, you have new visitor today." The nurse said as she moved aside to reveal Rarity as she trotted through the door.
"Rarity?" Feather said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I came here to see you, of course." Rarity replied and turned to the nurse. "Would you please give us some privacy?"
"Of course, but be careful. There are royal guards at the doorway." The nurse said as she trotted out of the door to show a pair of royal guards standing on each side. When the door closed, Rarity turned back to Feather. She gave Feather a stern look that wasn't too menacing. Feather stayed silent while looking at Rarity as he had no idea how he should respond to a mare who completely hates Prince Blueblood's guts.
"The reason I came here is to see if you were really injured." Rarity confirmed as she looked at Feather's bandaged torso. "I have to say, those bandages look really convincing." Feather was confused from Rarity's words. "Wasn't it just a coincidence that the moment I trotted away from you, those robbers just popped out of nowhere and grabbed me to make me a hostage? Was that robbery a part of some sad attempt to impress me?"
"Rarity, I had no idea those robbers would appear at the party." Feather responded.
"Of course, of course." Rarity said with sarcasm in her voice. "To tell you the truth, I was really surprised that you actually took a blast just to 'save' me." Rarity continued. "Normally, you would just cower behind some ponies or throw a pony to take your fall. But taking a hit for me only proved that you were really desperate." Rarity started to slowly clap her hooves in a mocking way. "Bravo, Prince Blueblood. That was quite a performance." Feather could tell that Rarity was still not convinced that he was innocent.
"Whether you believe me or not, I'm just glad that you're safe, Rarity." Feather said. Rarity huffed and turned away to avoid eye contact. Feather decided to continue speaking. "Since you're still here, I also want to apologize for making you uncomfortable for the past few days." This caused Rarity to raise her head as Feather had caught her attention. "I admit that I did attend most of your events whether I was invited or not. But it was to make amends and show that I support you. I had no idea that it only made things worse for you. I also must admit that it was completely rude of me for what I did that night during the Grand Galloping Gala." Rarity turned back to Feather to give him an extremely angry glare that startled him.
"You were beyond rude during that night, Prince Blueblood." Rarity said. "It was really foolish of me to go look for you to find out if we were meant to be together. After we met, I was a bit appalled from your behavior because it was completely opposite of a fairy tale prince. Even though your behavior was a bit rude, I thought those were just small things about you and I tried to respect that. My breaking point was when you used me as a living shield when that cake splattered in front of us! Let me tell you, I had no regrets shaking that mess on to you!" Rarity panted heavily from all of her yelling. Feather was lost for words from how much anger Rarity released. Feather may have already heard about what happened between Prince Blueblood and Rarity, but hearing it from Rarity made him feel really terrible for her.
'Maybe it's best to drop this,' Feather thought in realization. Feather now understood that Prince Blueblood didn't want to do anything with Rarity as the prince burned away any chances with her. Feather also thinks that Rarity wouldn't have it any other way.
"You're right, I'm not good enough to be forgiven. Try not to worry, I swear that I won't attend any more of your events." Feather said.
Rarity was surprised to hear Prince Blueblood to say that, but she quickly shook her head and turned around.
"You better keep your word, you spoiled prince." Rarity said before she slowly trotted out of the room, leaving Feather feeling defeated.
It was like any other day at Starlight's Village. Blueblood was helping pulling a cart of produce to the shopping stalls. When Blueblood found out that Feather Bangs didn't have a specific job in the village, Blueblood decided to take part in some odd jobs to help around. Ponies said hi whenever they walk past Blueblood. Blueblood would normally get peeved from seeing common ponies standing at a close distant from him. But now he felt grateful to see the village ponies happy and going along their merry way. Blueblood arrived to the shopping stalls and started giving the produce to the vendors.
"Feather!" Double Diamond called out as he made his way towards Feather.
"Hey DD," Blueblood replied. Blueblood thought calling his new friends by their initials was kind of neat. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to talk to you about something." Double Diamond replied.
"Just let me finish up with my deliveries." Blueblood said. "A lot of ponies need their veggies." When Blueblood's job was done, he and Double Diamond trotted side by side while talking.
"My friends and I wanted to do a little game night at my house." Double Diamond said. "I was wondering if you would like to join us."
"I would love to!" Blueblood said. "Do I need to bring anything?"
"Naw, Sugar Belle is bringing a lot of pastries while Party Favor is setting up the games. We should be fine with that."
"Then I'll be sure to make it tonight." Blueblood said.
"Awesome! See you there!" Double Diamond said as he hurried to another part of town.
'I guess ponies in this town can be more decent than I thought.' Blueblood said as he trotted back to Feather's house.
It was nighttime and Blueblood was making his way to Double Diamond's house. As Blueblood was making his way, he noticed that most of the houses were pitched dark from the windows.
'I guess most of the ponies here tend to sleep early.' Blueblood thought. He arrived to Double Diamond's house and knocked on the front door. The door slowly opened by itself, much to Blueblood's surprise. Blueblood noticed the lights in the house were off. He guessed that Double Diamond wasn't home yet and is still getting supplies. Blueblood decided to just go inside and wait for the others. When Blueblood entered through the door, the lights went back on and he heard a large crowd yelling 'Surprise!' in front of him. Blueblood stood before almost all of the villagers in the living room with confetti shooting out. A banner saying Happy Birthday, Feather Bangs! was hung over the ponies.
"What is going on?" Blueblood said in confusion.
"We thought it would be nice to throw a party for you since today is your birthday!" Double Diamond said as he walked out of the crowd.
'It was today?' Blueblood thought before he realized that the villagers must be referring to Feather Bangs' birthday. Night Glider appeared while holding a large birthday cake in her hooves with lit candles on it. Everypony began to sing the happy birthday song until the cake was right in front of Blueblood. Blueblood decided to just go with it and blew out the candles. Everypony cheered and clapped their hooves.
"Let's party, everypony!" Night Glider said. The night went on with the villagers doing various party activities. Party Favor was busy making balloon animals for some of the ponies. Double Diamond and Night Glider were busy playing Pin the Tail on the Pony. Sugar Belle was with her coltfriend, Big Mac, while talking to some of the party members. Blueblood was standing near a wall while watching the ponies partying. Blueblood thought that he was having a wonderful time in the party. Blueblood also recalled that his parties in Canterlot were never like this. Most of the Canterlot parties' attendees would usually just eat hot d'oeuvres and just brag about how great being rich is. For some reason, Blueblood started to feel a bit sad from thinking about that part of his life. "Great party, huh?" Night Glider said as she walked up to Blueblood.
"Uh, yeah, it's really great." Blueblood said.
"I thought it would be nice to throw you a surprise party as you helped out with my birthday party." Night Glider said.
"True, you were pretty surprised with my floating, napkin cranes." Blueblood said.
"Those were good," Night Glider said. "You know, when we first met, I honestly thought you were a huge tool who was only good at flirting with mares."
"A tool?" Blueblood responded.
"Yeah, I remembered when you tried to hit on me and I threatened to pummel you unless you backed off." Blueblood cringed as he didn't want to think of that outcome. "But after I got to know you some more, I was really wrong. You're a pretty cool stallion. It's just that you're not my type." Night Glider said.
"Oh," Blueblood said.
"I guess you can say you're a great friend to me, Feather." Night Glider smiled before she trotted away. "I'm gonna go get something to drink. Be right back." As Night Glider left, Blueblood remained silent from what Night Glider said. He started to feel some enjoyment from being called a friend, especially from Night Glider, a pony he got to know for quite a while. Blueblood recalled that he was never given such praises before from his other friends. Most of the ponies he spends time with were nobles who only cared about their high-class status. The only reason those ponies spent time with Blueblood was because they thought their reputations would increase if they were with royalty. Blueblood began to feel more saddened when he thought more about his time as a prince.
"Hey Feather!" Double Diamond said as he made his way to Blueblood.
"Hey DD," Blueblood responded. "What's up?"
"I was just wondering if you are enjoying the party." Double Diamond said.
"It's been great," Blueblood said.
"That's good to know. Do you mind if we talked for a bit?" Double Diamond requested.
"Sure," Blueblood said as Double Diamond got closer to him.
"Ever since the earthquake, I started to think that we might need to make some improvements to our village as things could go wrong with what we have right now." Double Diamond explained. "I spoke with some of the villagers and we all thought that maybe we could form some kind of council to discuss about improvements we could make to our town."
"That sounds pretty good." Blueblood commented.
"We're already discussing about possible candidates. I was wondering if you would like to be part of it." Double Diamond said.
"What?" Blueblood said in confusion.
"You were doing a great job of leading us during that earthquake. I just thought we could use a stallion like you in the council to make the town a better place." Blueblood was lost for words as he didn't know what to say to Double Diamond. "It's alright if you don't want to join, I just thought it would be a good idea."
"I'll...sleep on it." Blueblood answered.
"Okay, I'll just let you enjoy the rest of the party." Double Diamond said as he trotted away, leaving Blueblood completely silent once again.
The party went on until late at night. After Blueblood said his goodbyes, he made his way back to Feather's house. He went inside the bathroom to wash up for the night. When Blueblood finished washing his face, he looked at the mirror to only see Feather Bangs' face. Blueblood almost forgotten that he was impersonating somepony else. The whole purpose of this was for Blueblood to avoid any more royal duties.
'What will happen if I want to go back?' Blueblood thought. It never occurred to him on when this whole charade will be over. He wasn't even sure how long the real Feather Bangs will last as a prince. Blueblood felt a bit sad as when he does leave, he won't get to experience more things from being in the village. What's worse, the townsponies will only remember the things 'Feather Bangs' did instead of Blueblood. Another thought occurred to Blueblood: how was he suppose to return to his original body? Blueblood honestly didn't think that far ahead as he was only focused on getting away from Canterlot. Blueblood started to feel a headache from all of his thinking. He decided to go to sleep and figure out a solution in the morning. Even though Blueblood laid on the bed, his thoughts still kept him from falling asleep.
At the Royal Castle, it was once again the Grand Galloping Gala. The attendees were having quite a time as they danced to the small orchestra's music, mingled with other famous creatures, and nibbled on some of the finest cuisines. Outside of the castle was the Royal Gardens and it contained some of the most exotic animals and plants most of Equestria has never seen. There was a small gazebo in the distance and Feather Bangs was sitting under it. He wanted to go somewhere quiet after mingling with most of the gala's attendees. Although Feather recovered from his injuries, he still felt sad from making that promise to Rarity. Feather knew it wasn't his fault Rarity hated him as Prince Blueblood was the cause of Rarity's hatred, but he thought he lost his chance to spend time with the most beautiful mare in Equestria.
'Perhaps I could meet Ms. Rarity again as myself?' Feather thought. Doubt started to form in Feather's mind as he wasn't sure if she will like his true self. Feather thought he wasn't able to be with Rarity as she was quite an extraordinary mare. Feather may felt a bit sad, but he felt some hope. Feather received another letter from Blueblood about how the prince might be ready to switch back to his original body. Blueblood wrote that all Feather has to do is read the spell book Blueblood used and perform the reversal spell. Feather felt sort of relieved that his time as a prince will be over and he can go back to his normal life.
"Hello," said a mare's voice. Feather turned to be shocked from who he was seeing. It was Rarity dressed in a gorgeous dark purple dress that was probably from her own line of gala dresses. Her mane was done up in a beautiful bun covered with purple pearls. Feather couldn't help but be in awe from how beautiful Rarity looked. He also saw that Rarity had a sad look on her face.
"Uh, hi...Ms. Rarity." Feather responded. There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Feather quickly got up. "I better be off. I don't want to ruin your night." Before Feather could trot away, Rarity blocked Feather from leaving.
"C-can we talk for a moment?" Rarity asked.
"I-I thought you wanted me gone. Is this some kind of test?" Feather questioned.
"It's no test, I just want to talk." Rarity said. Feather was completely confused on why Rarity wanted to talk to him despite warning him to stay away from her.
"Alright, what is it?" Feather asked.
"I....I want to apologize about what I said at the hospital." Rarity said. Feather became more confused from what he just heard from Rarity.
"What?" Feather said in confusion.
"I'm sorry for speaking so rudely towards you after you saved me." Rarity responded.
"Where is this coming from?" Feather asked.
"It happened after I stormed off from your hospital room." Rarity began. "When I went to bed for the night, I had difficulties falling asleep as all I could think about were those horrid memories from when we were together at the gala. I eventually did fall asleep, only to enter a terrifying dream."
Rarity woke up to find herself inside of a small dungeon. She got up and attempted to move, but she felt some chains yanking one of her hindlegs. This prevented her from moving any further from the wall where she woke up. She also saw that she was wearing a black ring on her horn. She tried to remove it, but it wouldn't budge. Rarity looked around the whole chamber and spotted a small light that was lit near a wooden door.
"Hello!" Rarity cried out. "Is anypony there?"
"Shut your trap, little pony!" said a scratchy voice. The door opened to reveal Spot, one of the Diamond Dogs Rarity has dealt with before. Spot was wearing some metal armor that made him look more like a castle guard.
"You?!" Rarity said in shock. "Why did you put me in this dungeon!?"
"I don't know," Spot said while shrugging. "I'm just the castle guard. Maybe you're in here cause you did a bad thing. Now stay quiet or else you'll be moved to a dungeon way worst than the one you're in!" Spot slammed the door shut. Rarity remained completely confused about what was going on. She tried to light up her horn, but nothing happened! Rarity guessed that the horn ring she was wearing was preventing her from using magic. She was now panicking as she had no idea on how to escape. Rarity suddenly heard some commotion from the outside.
"Hey! Hey! What are you doing?!" Spot cried out. Rarity heard the sound of metal clashing before Spot yelped. There was then a loud thud that Rarity assumed was from someone getting knocked out. The door opened to reveal a tall figure standing before Rarity. Rarity couldn't tell who her savior was as the savior's body was covered with a long, black shirt, black pants, and a black bandit-like mask. She guessed that her savior was a stallion judging from how large he was built. Rarity also noticed that the stallion was a unicorn as there was a long, white horn on his head.
The masked stallion spotted Rarity and trotted towards her. "Could you move a little further from the wall?" The masked stallion asked Rarity. Rarity slowly moved a bit just like the masked stallion said. The masked stallion lit up his horn and drew out his sword with magic. He swung his sword to break the chains off of Rarity. The masked stallion put his sword back into his belt and used his hooves to carefully remove the ring from Rarity's horn. "Are you alright, Ms. Rarity?" The masked stallion asked.
"How do you know my name?" Rarity asked. "Why are you rescuing me?" Rarity started to hear some yelling outside the dungeon's door. The masked stallion quickly grabbed Rarity's hoof.
"There's no time to explain! We need to get out of here!" The masked stallion then led Rarity down the dungeon's long hallway. Rarity continued to hear the echoed yelling while she and the stallion ran. The masked stallion opened another door and ushered Rarity through it. Rarity looked to see that she was out in some kind of forest. It was nighttime and the moon was the only light source in the sky. Rarity turned around and saw that she was locked away in a large, stone castle. "This way!" The masked stallion said as he ran into the woods with Rarity following in pursuit. Rarity galloped as fast as she could while following the masked stallion. As they ran, they heard a lot of voices yelling from behind them. "Drat! They brought reinforcements!" The masked stallion said. "Ms. Rarity, I need you to light up your horn!" The masked stallion requested.
"What!? Wouldn't that give away where we are!?" Rarity questioned.
"Just trust me!" The mask stallion pleaded. Rarity concentrated and she lit up her horn. At the same time, the masked stallion also lit up his horn. The masked stallion's ball of light split apart and it went into different directions. As the balls of light disappeared, the voices also decreased until Rarity couldn't hear them anymore. "That should confuse those numbskulls for a while." The masked stallion said. He and Rarity continued on until they reached a small opening in the forest. Before they could go through another patch of forest, they heard the Diamond Dogs making their way towards them. "It looks like they found out about my trick." The masked stallion then used his magic to pull out his sword. He also pulled something out of from his belt. "Here, use this." Rarity saw what looked like a cast-iron frying pan.
"Seriously?" Rarity questioned. "I think I'm fine using only magic."
"Hey, a frying pan is a really effective weapon. Also, it never hurts to have at least one weapon." Rarity rolled her eyes before she levitated the frying pan. The Diamond Dogs immediately arrived and they surrounded the ponies.
"Looks like we'll be rounding up two problematic ponies tonight." One of the Diamond Dogs said. All of them readied their spears before charging at Rarity and the masked stallion. Rarity quickly dodged one of the spears before she swung her frying pan right on a Diamond Dog's head, knocking him out. Another Diamond Dog tried to strike at Rarity, but she blocked it with her frying pan and then slammed the frying pan on to the other Diamond Dog's head. Both Diamond Dogs were knocked to the ground and were unconscious. Rarity was in complete shock from what just happened.
"Sweet Celestia, frying pans really are effective!" Rarity said while impressed. She turned to see the masked stallion was also doing a good job with his Diamond Dogs. The masked stallion clashed his sword against a Diamond Dog's spear. The masked stallion then pushed forward to cause the Diamond Dog to fall to the ground. The masked stallion used the hilt of his blade to knock out his Diamond Dog. All of the Diamond Dogs were now in pain and or unconscious.
"I believe that takes care of our pursuers." The masked stallion said as he put back his sword. He turned and noticed something shining from the trees. "Rarity! Watch out!" The masked stallion yelled before he ran to push Rarity out of the way. Arrows were fired from the woods and they all pierced the masked stallion's chest. The masked stallion winced in pain before he too fell to the ground.
"No!" Rarity yelled before she went to comfort the masked stallion. Appearing from the shadows was Spot with a bow in one paw and around his back was a quiver full of arrows.
"Darn, I was aiming at our prisoner for being so annoying. But this works too." Spot readied his bow for another arrow. "Now, how about you get back to the dungeon or else you'll end up like your stallion there." Rarity looked up with a furious look on her face. With all of Rarity's rage, she threw her frying pan right at Spot. Spot was able to duck and the frying pan flew right past him. "Ha! You missed!" Spot mocked. Little did Spot knew, the frying pan broke off a tree bark that fell right on top of him. Spot fell unconscious just like his fellow Diamond Dogs.
"That was a nice throw." The masked stallion said before he was coughing.
"Please, don't talk." Rarity said as she tried to figure out what to do. "I'll get you some help." She then felt her hoof touched by the masked stallion's hoof.
"I-I don't think I'll make it." The masked stallion coughed some more. "You'll have to go on without me."
Tears started flow out of Rarity's eyes. "Please no," Rarity begged. "I can't let you die."
"At least take my mask off for me." The masked stallion requested. "I want to truly see your face for one last time." Rarity slowly took off the mask. She was in complete shock as the masked stallion was none other than Prince Blueblood.
"B-Blueblood?!" Rarity said in shock.
"Yeah, it's me." Blueblood confessed.
"Why, why did you do this for me?" Rarity asked.
"It was all for you, Rarity." Blueblood said before he closed his eyes and fell unconscious.
"No....NO!!!" Rarity cried out. Terror started to overflow within Rarity as she just let a pony die in her hooves.
"Please don't fret, Rarity." A mare's voice called out from the distance. Rarity turned to see a shining light floating down from the night sky. The light dimmed to reveal Princess Luna standing before Rarity.
"Princess Luna!" Rarity said in realization. Luna nodded before she lit her horn to make Blueblood and the Diamond Dogs disappear.
"Everything you have experienced was nothing more than a nightmare." Luna explained.
"Oh thanks goodness," Rarity sighed in relief as she really didn't let Blueblood die.
"What seems to be the problem, Rarity?" Luna asked. "Not many creatures would have such a nightmare unless there is something going on." Rarity calmed down a bit before she started to speak.
"It is true a lot has been going on with me recently. Do you remember Prince Blueblood?" Rarity asked. Luna simply nodded in agreement. "Well, he has been acting strange lately. He started by giving me a flowered vase as some kind of apology gift. The next thing I knew, he starts to appear at everything that I attend as if he was stalking me. It was as if he became a completely different pony. Blueblood then invited me to one of his parties and he ends up putting himself in harm's way to save me. I would naturally think that Blueblood was just pulling something by getting on my good side, but why am I having so much doubts?"
"It is natural that one would think ill of another based on bad experiences." Luna explained. "Take me for example. When I was no longer Nightmare Moon, there were other ponies who doubted my redemption as they were afraid that I was planning on something. I didn't blame them as I have done some bad things in the past. No matter how much doubt ponies had towards me, I kept trying to redeem myself to show that I wasn't Nightmare Moon anymore. Soon enough, more ponies warmed up to me and all of that hatred vanished."
"Wow, I had no idea." Rarity said.
"I only had a few interactions with Prince Blueblood and I thought that he was like most of the nobles in Canterlot. That was until I heard about the attempted robbery. It was rare to see a pony like that to risk his own life to save another. Perhaps that is a sign that he truly has changed. Whether Blueblood has really changed or hasn't, it's up to you to decide if you should hear him out or leave things be." Luna flapped her wings and she flew up. "I must be going now. There are more nightmares I must vanquish." Luna disappeared, causing Rarity to wake up from her sleep.
Feather was really shocked to hear such a crazy story from Rarity. He has heard stories of ponies and creatures being saved by Princess Luna from their nightmares.
"I even spoke to Princess Celestia and she confirmed that those robbers were real." Rarity said. "The way you pushed me out of the way really did show that you cared about me." Rarity said. "I should've thanked you instead of yelling at you."
"It's fine, Rarity." Feather said. "You had your rights to be suspicious."
"But still, that was no excuse. I even remembered times when my old foes would make amends after doing terrible things: Starlight, Discord, Trixie, and a whole bunch more. If I could accept their efforts for forgiveness, then I should've acknowledged your efforts as well."
"So what happens now?" Feather asked.
"Just like you, I also want to start over with us. But just as friends." Rarity held out her hoof.
Feather smiled. "I would definitely like that." Feather took Rarity's hoof and shook it, claiming it as a new bond between them. "Now that is out of the way, how about I treat you to a proper Grand Galloping Gala?" Rarity nodded and followed Feather back inside the castle. Throughout the night, Feather and Rarity spent a lot of time together during the gala. They talked for long periods of time, ate horderves together, and even slow danced while holding each others' hooves. Although it was a magical night for Rarity, Feather felt really guilty as he wasn't sure if he was ready to switch back with Blueblood.
Blueblood was laying on Feather's bed throughout the day. He grew frustrated as he was waiting for Feather to activate the spell that will put themselves back to their original bodies. Blueblood already sent a letter to tell Feather about how he was ready to go. It has been a few days since the letter was sent and Blueblood was already losing his patience.
"What is taking that Feather so long?!" Blueblood said out loud. The prince thought that maybe Feather wasn't sure on how to do the spell properly. Another possibility Blueblood thought of was Feather being too busy with all of royal duties to find time to perform the spell. Blueblood should have figured that Feather would start to lose himself to all of those responsibilities. Blueblood grew more irritated as who knows how long until he could actually get back home. Blueblood brainstormed for a solution until he thought of something. He could just go over to Canterlot and help perform the spell. At first, Blueblood thought he was pretty clever for coming up with such a great idea. That was until he realized that he needs to figure out how he was suppose to get to Canterlot.
Blueblood exited Feather's house and went to look for Double Diamond. Blueblood thought that maybe Double Diamond could help since Blueblood doesn't exactly know where he was. Blueblood kept looking until he saw Double Diamond sitting at a table with Party Favor and Night Glider.
"DD!" Blueblood cried as he made his way to Double Diamond and his friends.
"Hey Feather, how can I help you?" Double Diamond asked.
"I need some help getting to Canterlot." Blueblood said. "Do you know if there is a fast way there?"
"Why do you want to go to Canterlot?" Double Diamond asked curiously.
"I...just have an important matter there." Blueblood lied as he didn't want to tell them the real reason. "I can't go into details about it."
"Alright, anything for a friend." Double Diamond said as he tapped his chin with his hooves. "Well, we do have a hot air balloon that would come here from time to time." Blueblood felt happy as he could get to Canterlot quickly with a balloon. "But the balloon won't be back for a while." Blueblood frowned as he couldn't wait that long. "If you really need to get to Canterlot, the train should take you there. The only downside is that it would take you a few days to get to Canterlot as it's really far from the town."
'Beggars can't be choosers.' Blueblood thought.
"There should be a train station not too far from here." Night Glider said. "If you want, I could take you there as I need to visit family in Canterlot."
"Alright, I just need to pack a few things before we head out!" Blueblood said as he went back to Feather's house to pack a saddle bag. Blueblood was all set and he hurried out to notice not only Night Glider but also Double Diamond and his friends waiting near the town's entrance. "What's all this?" Blueblood asked.
"We thought it would be nice if we send you off before you go to Canterlot." Double Diamond said before he pulled out a scroll. "I was also able to draw out the right path to Canterlot with this map. Here, take it."
"Oh um, thanks, DD." Blueblood said as he put the map in his bag.
Party Favor pulled out what looked like a teddy bear-shaped balloon animal. "I thought you might need a friend to come along with you, so I made this little guy."
"Thanks, I guess?" Feather said as he put the balloon bear in his bag.
"We should get going so we could catch the next train." Night Glider said as she and Blueblood started going down the path to the train station. "Goodbye, everypony!" Night Glider said while she waved her hoof.
"Goodbye! Come back soon!" Double Diamond said as he and the other villagers waved goodbye. Blueblood was feeling a bit confused from what he just witnessed.
"I keep forgetting, do they always send off ponies like that?" Blueblood asked.
"Yeah, we do it to make it easier for any pony when they leave." Night Glider answered.
"Oh, okay." Blueblood said before he remained silent for the rest of the walk. They eventually did make it to the train station to catch the next train. He and Night Glider shared the same cart as both of them will be traveling together. Once the train started moving, Blueblood watched as the mountains pass by from his train cart's window. Blueblood was quite surprised that Feather would live out in such an interesting place. Blueblood has traveled to numerous places before, but something felt different about the town and he just couldn't figure out what it was. Blueblood felt a bit relieved as he was on his way to return to the luxurious life he truly missed. But for some reason, he was also feeling sad at the same time. The prince's thoughts were interrupted when Night Glider caught his attention. "Is there something you need?"
"No, not really. I was just wondering if you were alright. You have been spacing out ever since the train left." Night Glider said.
"I just have a lot on my mind." Blueblood said. "It's been a while since I've traveled."
"We have been in the village for a while, but it's good that we're traveling now. It gives us an opportunity to see what's out there." Night Glider said.
"I'm also a bit curious on why you took the train as well. Couldn't you just fly to Canterlot considering that you're a pegasus?" Blueblood asked.
"It's true that I'm a pretty good flyer, but I would get too tired if I kept flying for a very long time." Night Glider answered. "Even so, it doesn't stop me from experiencing the perks of traveling by train. I get to see different landscapes from the window, I meet some interesting travelers on the train, and I could enjoy some of the train's tasty snacks. Speaking of," Night Glider waved her hoof and one of the train attendants came with a cart filled with candies. Night Glider picked out some snacks and gave some bits to the train attendant. She then held out a candy bar to Blueblood. "Here, try some."
Blueblood took it and examined it a bit. He hasn't had much candy ever since he was a foal. He stopped eating candy as he was told that it was really bad for his teeth. Blueblood figured it should be fine as he was in Feather's body. He opened the wrapper and took a small bite of it. Blueblood smiled as he kept chewing his candy bar. "I'll be sure to pay you back later." Blueblood said.
"Nah, it's good." Night Glider said. "We're travel buddies now. Let's just focus on the journey." Blueblood shrugged and resumed eating up his candy bar. He and Night Glider continued to ride on the train to Canterlot. To pass the time, Night Glider and Blueblood played certain games like tick tack toe, charades, and even Simon Says. It was nighttime and Night Glider was fast asleep on her seat while Blueblood remained awake. Blueblood had to admit, this was the most fun he had since he rode on a train. He recalled times when he did travel by train and most of the time he would read and take naps. Blueblood didn't have any close friends to travel with as traveling was part of his royal duties. He suddenly felt more sad when he started to think about his time in Canterlot. Blueblood didn't know when will he would travel again as there wasn't much to do as Equestria has been peaceful as of now. Blueblood grew tired from all of his thoughts and fell asleep on his seat.
The train whistle blew and woke up Blueblood. He opened his eyes to see that the train slowed down to what looked like another small town. He also noticed that all of the train's passengers were getting out of their seats.
"This is the last stop!" The train's conductor announced as he walked passed Blueblood. "The train will turn around once it's ready!" This confused Blueblood.
"Excuse me," Blueblood said to get the conductor's attention. "I thought this train goes straight to Canterlot."
"That is the other train which won't come until tomorrow." The conductor answered. "Not to worry, you can just spend some time in Ponyville while you wait." Blueblood grumbled as he had to wait an extra day to return to his body.
"It should be fine, Feather." Night Glider said as she got up from her seat. "We'll just rest up at a hotel and we'll head straight to Canterlot by tomorrow." Blueblood calmed down a bit thanks to Night Glider. Blueblood and Night Glider exited the train and it went on its way. The prince looked up the mountain to see Canterlot. It felt like Blueblood was getting mocked at as Canterlot was close yet so far from him. "Feather! Are you coming?" Night Glider hollered.
"Yeah," Blueblood said as he slowly followed Night Glider. As they walked, Blueblood looked around to see that Ponyville was just as lively as the other town he lived in. Blueblood felt sad again when he remembered the other town. He quickly shook his head as it was only temporary. Now Blueblood needs to focus on getting back to Canterlot before Feather messes up Blueblood's reputation. He sped up to reach Night Glider. "So, where exactly is the hotel you have mentioned?"
"It should be around here somewhere." Night Glider said as she looked around. They walked for a few more minutes until a pink mare with dark pink manes appeared in front of Night Glider and Blueblood.
"Hey there!" The pink mare said in a cheery tone. "Welcome to Ponyville!" All of a sudden, the pink mare pulled out what looked like a small blue cannon. Blueblood panicked as he thought he was gonna get blasted. The cannon shot out colorful confetti, much to Blueblood's confusion.
"Hey, Pinkie Pie!" Night Glider said as she approached the pink mare.
"Night Glider! It's so good to see you!" Pinkie said as she and Night Glider gave each other a big hug. Now Blueblood was really confused about what was going on.
"Wait, you guys know each other?" Blueblood asked the mares.
"In a way," Night Glider said. "This is Pinkie Pie, she and her friends would come by our town from time to time to visit."
Pinkie gasped and ran up to Blueblood, practically startling him. "Oh my gosh! You're new! It's so nice to meet new ponies! I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie said as she shook Blueblood's hoof.
"Um, hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Feather Bangs." Blueblood said as he slowly moved his hoof away from Pinkie.
"Are you a friend of Night Glider?" Pinkie asked in excitement. "If so, then you must be a great friend and that means we'll be great friends too!" Blueblood became confused as he didn't know how to answer.
"He moved into our village after your last visit there." Night Glider said.
"That's very nice! I'm glad you chose a great place to live!" Pinkie said before she turned to Night Glider. "So what brings you two to Ponyville?"
"We were on our way to Canterlot. We had to stop at Ponyville as the next train to Canterlot won't be here until tomorrow."
Pinkie once again gasped from hearing Night Glider. "That means you'll spend an entire day in Ponyville! This is so exciting!"
"Why's that?" Blueblood asked.
"Because, this will allow me to show you what's so great about Ponyville!" Pinkie said as she fired another load of confetti from her party cannon.
"Actually, I prefer to head over to the hote-" Blueblood was interrupted when he and Night Glider was pushed by Pinkie towards wherever she was pushing them to. Blueblood saw that they all ended up inside a bakery. He also realized that he and Night Glider were sitting in one of the tables.
"Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner!" Pinkie said politely. "This place is where you could get the tastiest sweets!" Pinkie then pulled out a notepad and pencil from her manes. "What can I get you?"
"A slice of chocolate cake would be great for me." Night Glider replied.
"Um...I'll just have a plain donut." Blueblood said.
Pinkie jotted down on her notepad before she spoke. "Coming right up!" Pinkie ran to the kitchen and came back a few seconds later. She trotted over and placed the baked goods on the table. "Enjoy!" Night Glider and Blueblood took a bite from their pastries.
"Mmm! So good!" Night Glider said in delight.
"I'll say." Blueblood agreed. "I haven't had something this sweet since forever."
"I'm so glad you liked it!" Pinkie said. "Now we move on to the next part of the tour!"
"Wait, what?" Blueblood said before he and Night Glider were pulled by Pinkie once again. The next place they arrived to was some kind of forested area to Blueblood. There were all sorts of animals nearby and they were especially gathered around a yellow pegasus mare with long, pink manes.
"Hey Fluttershy!" Pinkie called out. The yellow mare noticed the other ponies and flew over to them.
"Hello there, Pinkie. Is there something you need?" The yellow mare asked.
"Do you remember Night Glider?" Pinkie asked.
"Oh, Night Glider, it's so good to see you again." Fluttershy said.
"It's nice to see you too." Night Glider said.
Pinkie resumed talking. "She and her friend, Feather Bangs, are staying in Ponyville until tomorrow. I'm just showing them around Ponyville."
"That's lovely," Fluttershy said. "I was just spending time with my animal friends. Do you two want to join in us?"
"Sure," Night Glider said before she followed Fluttershy. Blueblood sighed before he followed them in pursuit. Pinkie, Night Glider, Blueblood, and Fluttershy were all sitting on the grass while they watched the animals. Blueblood had to admit, he felt pretty relaxed. He hasn't seen so many animals playing around since he was in the Canterlot castle's gardens. Blueblood remembered when he was foal, he tried to play with the exotic animals living there. But they often either run away or get angry at Blueblood for bothering them. He never played at the gardens ever since. Blueblood then noticed a small kitten approaching him, the kitten went over and rubbed herself on his fur while purring.
"Aw, the kitty likes you." Fluttershy said in delight. "That also means she wants you to pet her."
"Uh, okay." Blueblood carefully placed his hooves on the kitty's head and started petting her. The kitty purred in response and snuggled along to Blueblood's hoof.
"Aw," The three mares said together. Blueblood felt embarrassed as he wasn't used to this kind of attention. But still, he enjoyed petting the kitty.
After a while, Night Glider and Blueblood followed Pinkie as she lead them to another part of Ponyville. Much to Night Glider and Blueblood's surprise, Pinkie was leading them to some kind of cave. As they walked, they couldn't help but noticed all of the shiny gems in the cave's walls. Blueblood was so shocked that no pony hasn't even considered mining these gems to make a decent profit. They reached the other end of the cave to see an enormous cavern before them.
"Whoa!" Night Glider said as she flew up and looked around. "What is this place?!"
"This is where my sister, Maud, lives." Pinkie said. "I wanted to show you how pretty her place looks." Soon, a gray, earth-pony mare with pale, purple manes made her way to the other ponies. "Maud! It's so good to see you again!" Pinkie said as she gave the gray mare a hug.
"You just saw me yesterday, Pinkie." Maud said in a monotone voice.
"Yeah, but it felt like forever since we've seen each other!" Pinkie said. "I just came by to show Night Glider and Feather Bangs how great your cavern looks." Night Glider landed right in front of Pinkie and Maud.
"Hey there, it's nice to meet you." Night Glider said as she offered a hoof shaken.
Maud reached out and shook Night Glider's hoof. "Likewise,"
Night Glider turned to noticed Blueblood attempting to pull out a large, green gem. "Feather? What are you doing?"
Blueblood froze as he was caught. "Um, nothing." He could tell Night Glider didn't look so convincing.
"Uh huh, so I didn't just see you attempting to pull out one of the gems in the cavern. Am I right?" Night Glider asked. Blueblood looked down in shame as if he was caught stealing from the cookie jar.
"It's alright if you take a gem." Maud said to Blueblood.
"Really?" Blueblood and Night Glider said in surprise.
"Sure, every gem in this place are all actually common gems." Maud explained. With that, Blueblood felt really disappointed as he couldn't make much bits from common gems.
"That's a great idea!" Pinkie said as she pulled out a pick axe and starting mining the large gem to make smaller ones. "Here," Pinkie said as she gave some of the small bits of gems to Night Glider and Blueblood. "Consider these some souvenirs to remind you of Ponyville!"
"Wow, thanks, Pinkie." Night Glider said.
Blueblood would have just tossed the gem since he didn't of any value to it. But for some reason, he didn't as he was thinking about how much of a good time he was having right now. Blueblood simply nodded and put his gem away.
"Oh! You know what? We should make some rock candy necklaces!" Pinkie said as she hugged the other ponies together.
As Pinkie, Night Glider, and Blueblood exited the cave, Night Glider and Blueblood carried some of the rock candy necklaces Maud made. Blueblood couldn't believe how tasty rock candy was. He was afraid he would break Feather's teeth, but the rocks were actually easy to crunch on. The next place they went to was a large orchard that was covered with apple trees. This amazed Blueblood as he hasn't seen so many apple trees in his life.
"Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" Pinkie said as she lead Night Glider and Blueblood towards a large barn house. Blueblood noticed an orange, earth-pony mare with blonde manes and a stetson hat was in the middle of pouring some apples into a barrel. For some reason, Blueblood thought he had seen that particular mare before. But he brushed it off as he didn't want to fret on that.
"Hey Applejack!" Pinkie called out to the orange mare.
"Hey there, Pinkie." Applejack said as she approached Pinkie. Applejack looked surprised when she saw Night Glider. "Well I'll be, it's been a while, Night Glider." Applejack said as she gave Night Glider a hoof-bump.
"Yeah, it's been too long." Night Glider said. Applejack then noticed Blueblood standing next to Night Glider.
"So who's this colt?" Applejack asked.
"This is Feather Bangs." Pinkie said as she wrapped her hoof around Blueblood's neck. "He and Night Glider were stopping by Ponyville before leaving to Canterlot tomorrow."
"Then allow me to offer you what Sweet Apple Acres has to offer." Applejack said as she went inside her home with the rest of the ponies following her. Blueblood watched as Applejack was preparing a lot of food. He couldn't remember the last time he watched somepony cook. Blueblood recalled that he would usually wait outside of the kitchen until the waiter arrived with his meals. Applejack completed her cooking and her table was filled with apple-based cuisines. Blueblood took one whiff and his stomach was already growling. "Alright, try as much of my apple treats." Night Glider picked up one apple strudel and took a huge bite out of it. Blueblood turned and picked up what looked like an apple cupcake. He took one small bite out of it and he was couldn't believe how delicious it was. Blueblood began to completely devour his cupcake and licked his lips. He started to eat up some apple salad and it was just as tasty as the cupcake. It wasn't long until Blueblood and Night Glider ate up the entire apple meal spread provided by Applejack.
"Wow, that was delicious!" Night Glider said as she sat back on her seat.
"I completely agree." Blueblood said.
"I'm so glad to hear ya say that." Applejack said in delight. The door opened and two more ponies entered the kitchen. One of the ponies was a large earth-pony stallion with short orange manes. The other one was a light pink unicorn mare with frizzy purple manes.
"Hey there, Big Mac and Sugar Belle!" Applejack said to the two new ponies.
"Hey Applejack," Sugar Belle said before she noticed her two friends at the table. "Night Glider? Feather Bangs?"
"Sugar Belle!" Night Glider said as she flew towards Sugar Belle and gave her a big hug. "I missed you so much!"
"Yeah, I missed you too." Sugar Belle said as she returned the hug. Blueblood was confused on how this Sugar Belle mare knew who he was. That was until he started to remember that Feather attempted to flirt with Sugar Belle. Blueblood also guessed that the tall, red stallion was Sugar Belle's coltfriend. Blueblood had to be careful on what he says so they don't get suspicious.
"Hey there, Sugar." Blueblood said awkwardly. "It's good to see you again."
"Um, it's good to see you too." Sugar Belle replied. "What brings you two to Ponyville?"
"Night Glider and I need to get to Canterlot. But our train won't come until tomorrow." Blueblood explained.
"That sounds fun." Sugar Belle said. "Big Mac was about to take me on a hay ride. Do you two want to come along?"
"Sure, that sounds fun!" Night Glider accepted.
"Yeah, I never been on a hay ride before." Blueblood said.
Sugar Belle turned to "Will that be alright, Big Mac?"
"Eeyup," Big Mac said with a nod.
Night Glider, Blueblood, and Sugar Belle sat comfortably in the hay cart while Big Mac pulled it. Blueblood was quite impressed that Big Mac wasn't tired from pulling all three ponies. Blueblood guessed that must be from all of the farm work Big Mac has done at the farm. Blueblood looked up to see the sun setting, indicating that the day was almost over. Big Mac kept pulling the cart until they arrived to a small cliff. Night Glider and Blueblood were amazed to see the beautiful view of the sunset as it went down to the hills close to the apple orchard. Big Mac got up on the cart and sat next to Sugar Belle.
"Oh Big Mac, the sunset is so romantic." Sugar Belle said as she snuggled up to Big Mac.
"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.
Blueblood couldn't help but smile as it was nice to see two ponies being together like that.
"Wow, that sunset is really something. Right, Feather?" Night Glider said to Blueblood.
"Yeah, it's great." Blueblood commented.
"We should come back to Ponyville once we're done with Canterlot." Night Glider said. This made Blueblood frown as he wasn't sure if he will come back to Ponyville as he will return to being a prince. Blueblood thought that maybe he could see the sunset whenever he goes out to one of the castle's balconies. "Feather? Are you alright?"
"Oh, yeah I'm fine." Blueblood responded.
"I noticed that you have been frowning for awhile." Night Glider said.
"I'm just a little tired from today. I just need to sleep and I'll be better." Blueblood said as he and everypony else continued to watch as the sun went down.
Night Glider and Blueblood said their goodbyes to Pinkie, Sugar Belle, and the Apples before they went their separate ways. Night Glider and Blueblood arrived to the hotel to rest for the night. As Blueblood laid on his bed, he couldn't help but smile as he was remembering what happened throughout the day. Blueblood thought his trip to Ponyville was the best in contrast to previous trips he had ever taken. Blueblood really wanted to come back to see what else was there in Ponyville. That was until Blueblood realized that it may be difficult considering that he has to return as a prince. Soon, he would go back to attending royal duties where he lacked his friends and temporary home. Blueblood recalled that the reason he switched bodies in the first place was to get away from Canterlot for a while before he would come back. But now he was second-guessing himself about if he truly wanted to go back. Blueblood thought that maybe he could ask Feather if he could switch places for another time. He decided to think about it later as he has a big day ahead of him.
At Canterlot Castle, Feather was walking down a corridor with a big smile on his face. He trotted on until he made it outside to the Canterlot gardens. Feather arrived to the gazebo where there was a table set up and it had some tea cups, a small teapot, and some small snacks to go with the tea. The two table chairs were placed across from each other and one of them was occupied by Rarity.
"Over hear, darling!" Rarity said as she waved at Feather.
"I appreciate you coming for tea, Rarity." Feather said as he sat down on the other chair.
"You know I wouldn't turn down some tea, especially from a dear friend like you." Rarity said as she used her magic to take a sip from her cup. Feather could not believe he was having tea with the mare he admires. For the past few days, Feather and Rarity have spent some quality time together. They even attended some newly opened art exhibits where they felt so inspired from the artists' works. Rarity claimed that she will be able to come up with more designs for the next seasons. The more they bonded, the more likely Feather wanted this to never end.
"So how are the new fashion lines coming along?" Feather asked as he took a sip of his tea.
"Oh it has been lovely, darling." Rarity said. "I would have never come up with such eye-catching ideas if it weren't for those art exhibits we have been visiting. I should be giving you some of the credit."
"You don't have to do that, Rarity." Feather said. "I just wanted to show you some of the brilliant artworks the artists were showing."
"Oh Blueblood, you're such a charmer." Rarity said as she winked at Feather. When Feather heard Rarity say Blueblood, he became very sad. Feather would feel absolutely happy for being with Rarity, except for the fact that he was pretending to be somepony else. A part of Feather knew this wasn't right and he should be going back to his original body. But still, Feather just wanted to enjoy this moment. "So get this," Rarity began. "my friend, Princess Twilight, will be having another birthday party inside the castle!"
"Yes, I heard about that." Feather replied. "I also heard that the kitchen staff are in haste to prepare for the party."
"Here's the best part, I'm going to invite you to the party!" Rarity smiled.
"Really?" Feather said in surprise.
"Yes! I have told my friends about us and they would be alright if I bring along you." Rarity said before she blushed. "You know, since we have been together for quite a while." Feather also blushed as he knew what Rarity said was true.
"It would be nice to see your friends who you have mentioned a lot times when we talked." Feather said. "I'm a bit nervous to see Princess Twilight."
"What do you mean?" Rarity asked. "Don't you usually see her around the castle?" Feather tried to think of a reason.
"It's just that I barely interacted with Twilight considering that she is Princess Celestia's pupil. You know how Twilight gets too busy with her studying."
"You do have a point there." Rarity said in agreement. "But still, I can't wait for you to meet my other friends!" Rarity and Feather continued their conversations with their teas.
A train slowly stops towards the Canterlot train station. Blueblood and Night Glider got out of the train along with the other passengers.
Blueblood didn't say anything as he felt relieved to finally see the streets of Canterlot once again.
'I'm home, Canterlot.' Blueblood thought. 'Now I just need to reach Canterlot Castle, find Feather, and reverse the spell. It should be easy.'
"Hey Feather," Night Glider said in a louder tone to catch Blueblood's attention.
"Hmm?" Blueblood said.
"I'm gonna head out now. Try not to stay in the city for too long. Otherwise, the whole town and I would miss you. Take care!" Night Glider flew away, leaving Blueblood by himself. Once again, Blueblood was already feeling a sense of loneliness as he won't get to see the town again. But then he shook his head.
'Pull yourself together, Blueblood!' Blueblood thought. 'You're a prince! You never belonged with those commoners!' For some reason, Blueblood felt a bit off from what he just thought of. He hurried towards the streets in hopes of making it to Canterlot Castle in a quick haste. Blueblood stopped at a nearby wall and took a peek around the corner. As Blueblood expected, he was close to one of the entrances to Canterlot Castle. He also spotted two royal guards posted there. Blueblood cursed as he had to figure out a way to get pass the guards. He couldn't just tell the guards that he was the true prince or they will lock him up for being crazy. Blueblood kept brainstorming until he thought of something. He recalled that his Auntie Celestia showed him some secret passageways that go from the streets of Canterlot to the castle. Princess Celestia showed Blueblood this in case of an emergency. Blueblood snuck around the streets in attempt to find one of these entrances. He kept looking until he found the secret entrance that was hidden behind a statue of his Auntie Celestia. He looked around the statue until he saw a symbol of the sun. Blueblood pressed on the symbol and turned it until the statue moved to reveal a set of stairs. 'Looks like listening to my auntie actually paid off. ' Blueblood thought before he went down the stairs and into the darkness. When Blueblood walked down some steps, the statue moved back into place. Now Blueblood was in complete darkness. 'Great, now I'll be completely lost in these tunnels.' Blueblood thought. He then remembered something and reached inside his bag to pull out a small flashlight. Blueblood turned it on and he could now see the stone chambers. 'Okay, Blueblood, everything should be easy now.' Blueblood gulped before he began to explore.
A door opened and Blueblood ran right out to slam the door shut. His mane was burned and messed up from whatever attacked him in the passageways. 'I take it back, that was extremely hard. I can't believe Auntie Celestia would add more traps.' Blueblood thought. Blueblood looked up to see that he was inside one of the corridors of Canterlot Castle. Blueblood trotted very carefully and kept looking around to avoid getting spotted. Although Blueblood avoided the traps, he knew he had to avoid the guards as they constantly patrol each part of the castle. Blueblood went down some more corridors until he spotted a pair of guards trotting towards him. He turned around to only see another pair of guards trotting from the other way. Blueblood panicked as he was going to get caught by the guards. He noticed a nearby door and hurried inside. Blueblood kept his ear to the door to hear the hoof steps of the guards. When Blueblood heard the hoof steps fading, he calmed down and sat down on the floor.
"Hey you!" said a stallion's voice. Blueblood flinched as he was spotted. Blueblood looked up to see none other than Bellhopper, his most loyal butler, glaring at him as if he was in trouble.
"Y-yes?" Blueblood asked.
"Where have you been?!" Bellhopper demanded. "You were suppose to be here hours ago for your shift!" Blueblood noticed that the room he had entered was one of the kitchens in the castle. Chef ponies were quickly preparing meals while waiters came to bring it out to a set of doors.
"Work shift?" Blueblood asked.
"Yes, it's your turn to serve our guests' food!" Bellhopper said as he levitated a waiter suit to Blueblood. "Now put that on and start your duties!" Blueblood felt a bit peeved as he was never given such orders. But he composed himself as he didn't want to get caught. Blueblood did his best to put on the suit and Bellhopper led him to a cart with tea cups and cakes on it. "Alright, just bring this cart to the garden's gazebo. Prince Blueblood is waiting for some more tea!" Blueblood felt happiness as he was given a chance to see Feather without sneaking around. Blueblood carefully pushed the cart through the double doors and made his way out of the kitchen. As Blueblood kept pushing his cart, some guards passed him and they didn't noticed him at all. Blueblood couldn't help but chuckle as he was able to fool the guards while dressed like a waiter. Blueblood continued to push his cart and he was able to make it to the garden. He stopped when he arrived near the gazebo. Blueblood looked up to see Feather sitting at one side of the table.
'Feather must be having tea with an important noble or somepony just as important.' Blueblood thought. He picked up a tray from the cart and made his way to the table. As Blueblood entered the gazebo, he was completely shocked from what he was seeing. It was that snooty unicorn mare, Rarity, sitting across from Feather. Blueblood was filled with rage as he began to remember those horrible memories of that night during the Gala. Blueblood felt the urge to storm in and demand Feather to explain himself. But Blueblood was able to calm down a bit as he didn't want to make a scene, especially if there are royal guards nearby. Blueblood thought of a way to get to Feather without raising suspicion. He slowly approached the table and cleared his throat.
"Hello there, young prince," Blueblood said out loud.
Feather went silent when he heard a voice too familiar. He turned around to immediately see his own body standing before him. Feather was completely terrified about how calm the prince was despite seeing Feather having tea with Rarity.
"Blueblood, is everything alright?" Rarity asked Feather. Before Feather could say anything, Blueblood spoke first.
"Everything is fine, Madam. I was simply here to bring you some more food." Blueblood said as he placed the tray on the table. "I also have a message for the young prince. But I need to tell it to him somewhere...private." Feather picked up on what Blueblood meant and Feather turned to Rarity.
"It's fine, Rarity. I'll be back in a few minutes." Feather said as he followed Blueblood out of the gazebo until they were out of Rarity's sight.
'What has gotten Blueblood so spooked about?' Rarity thought.
Blueblood continued to lead Feather towards a more secluded part of the gardens. Feather became more nervous as Blueblood hasn't said a single word.
"P-Prince Blueblood, I can explain." Feather pleaded.
"Explain? You don't have to considering that I just saw you fraternizing with the one mare I told you to stay away from! We are way passed explanations!"
"But Prince Blueblood, I just need a few more minutes to-"
"No, I have waited for you to activate the mind spell for days. I am not waiting any longer." Blueblood argued.
"You don't understand!" Feather replied. "Rarity is a very kind mare. I can't end things with her right now!"
"Did I not warned you about her? She is like most of the snobby mares I had to deal with. Now I demand you change me back so I can take care of that mare myself!"
Much to Blueblood surprise, Feather landed a punch on Blueblood's face. Feather didn't care if he injured his own nose, he was too angry at Blueblood for speaking so badly of Rarity. Blueblood fell on his back while feeling so much pain from the punch.
"Don't you dare say that about Rarity!" Feather hollered. Before Feather could do anything else, Bellhopper and some of the royal guards arrived to where Feather and Blueblood were.
"Prince Blueblood! I am so glad you are safe!" Bellhopper said as he made his way to Feather. The royal guards aimed their spears at Blueblood to make sure he doesn't move from his spot.
"Bellhopper! What are you doing here?" Feather asked.
"There is no need to worry, Prince Blueblood." Bellhopper said. "The trespasser has just been captured."
"Trespasser?" Feather said in confusion.
"I found out that the stallion bringing out your tea cart was not a new staff member. So I informed the royal guards and came to make sure you and Ms. Rarity were safe." Feather watched as two of the royal guards picked up Blueblood while he struggled to break free.
"Let me go! I am not the stallion you should be arresting!" Blueblood yelled.
"Say all you want, trespasser." One of the guards said. "We will be taking you to one of the dungeons in the castle where no-one can hear you."
"You should be arresting that faker!" Blueblood said as he glared at Feather. "He is an imposter! I'm the real Prince Blueblood!" Feather was horrified from what Blueblood just blurted out. There was a moment of silence until the two royal guards started laughing.
"Yeah right! And I'm King Sombra in disguise!" One of the guards said while laughing.
"Then allow us to take you to one of our 'special' chambers, your majesty!" The other guard joked. The royal guards pulled Blueblood away while he continued to resist.
"I hope you are happy!" Blueblood yelled to Feather before Blueblood was completely gone. Feather was left speechless from what just happened.
"I will be off then." Bellhopper said. "Please let me know if you need anything." Bellhopper turned and trotted inside the castle.
"What happened here?" Rarity asked as she made her way to Feather. "I heard some yelling and I arrived to see that waiter being taken away by the guards." Feather struggled on what to say to Rarity. He really didn't want her to know what he and Blueblood were talking about.
"It's nothing, Rarity." Feather said. "The waiter was just a crazed fan and he wanted my autograph. Luckily, the guards came and took him away."
"I sort of understand that." Rarity said. "You would be surprised how many ponies would come to me for autographs." Rarity moved over to give Feather a warm hug. "I'm just glad that you are safe, my prince." Guilt grew inside of Feather as he realized that it was wrong to keep lying to Rarity. There was also the fact that Feather just watched the real Blueblood get taken away. "Blueblood, are you alright?"
"Yes, Yes I'm fine." Feather said as he stepped back from Rarity. "I just need to clear my head for a bit. I apologize for cutting our tea time short."
"Oh there is no need. I did enjoy it. Ta-ta!" Rarity said before she left. Feather now stood by himself while feeling completely helpless as he had no idea what to do.
Below Canterlot Castle were the dark dungeons where the royal guards would lock up prisoners until they transfer to a larger prison. Blueblood never thought he would end up in one of the cells due to his clean record and title as a prince. He wasn't chained to the walls as the cell's door was heavily locked. Even if Blueblood did get out, he would need to escape the royal guards that patrol the dungeons on a daily basis. Blueblood just sat near one of the walls as he thought escaping was pointless. Blueblood was so angry at Feather for many reasons. One of them involving Feather punching Blueblood on his muzzle. Even though Blueblood technically had Feather's muzzle, Blueblood still didn't like the pain. Blueblood also couldn't believe that Feather would use Blueblood's appearance to get close to that mare, Rarity. Blueblood should have guessed that Feather would take advantage of being royalty. Blueblood feared that he will never get out of this place while Feather was probably living it up as a prince.
Blueblood's thoughts were interrupted when the cell's door opened. He guessed that a guard would come to bring him his meal or something. Much to Blueblood's shock, standing before him was none other than his Auntie Celestia. A part of Blueblood felt really relieved that his aunt was here. But then Blueblood realized that he was still in Feather's body which his aunt would definitely not recognize. He also noticed that there were no royal guards standing by his aunt's side. It was strange for Blueblood as he always seen his aunt with at least two guards with her.
"So I take it that you know why you were thrown in here." Princess Celestia said to Blueblood.
"Because I was trespassing in the castle." Blueblood answered.
"That is correct. I was also surprised that you made the journey back to Canterlot. I assumed you would stay in that village a bit longer, Blueblood." Blueblood was completely lost for words when his aunt called him by his actual name.
"I...er....what?" Blueblood said in confusion.
"I know it is you inside that body, nephew." Princess Celestia said.
"H-how did you know?" Blueblood asked.
"Let's just say that I was the one behind you switching places with Feather Bangs." Princess Celestia admitted.
"How is that even possible?" Blueblood questioned. "I snuck inside of the castle's archives and found that book!"
"By found, do you mean having that book drop down on your head? That was also me. I hid while you were attempting to sneak around the archives that were also accessible thanks to me. I simply teleported the correct book right above you."
Blueblood didn't know how to respond as all of his efforts were mostly his aunt's. He could only slump down and feel disappointed. "How long have you planned this?" Blueblood asked.
"Ever since that night when you came back from that garden party. I was worried about you and went to check up on you. When I glanced in your room, you were reading The King and The Commoner. I guessed that maybe you were planning a way to switch lives with another pony. I decided to plan ahead by quickly finding the mind book. Once you and Feather switched bodies, I kept track of your progress along with Feather's. It was actually nice to see that Feather was able to perform your royal duties quite well. I didn't even have to lessen his royal assignments."
"Geez, how nice of you to say that." Blueblood said sarcastically.
"While I monitored your progress, I noticed that you were enjoying yourself while in the village." Blueblood was caught off guard when his aunt said that to him.
"Yeah, well...I was just enjoying my time away from the castle. You know how busy being royalty can get."
"That may be true, but I'm guessing that you found a lot more from the village than a place for time off." Princess Celestia said.
"I don't know what you mean." Blueblood said.
"If you don't want to say it, I'll say it for you. You were having the time of your life from being part of the village's community." Princess Celestia said. Blueblood didn't respond as he still didn't want to admit it. "After each day in the village, you couldn't wait for the next day to spend time with your friends." Blueblood grew more angry the more his aunt talked.
"Alright, fine! You caught me! I did enjoy my time in the village!" Blueblood admitted. "Do you know how satisfying it felt to be with ponies who just want to be with me and nothing else? It felt extremely good! I even got to do things that I couldn't do as a prince like eat pastries, water ski, and being able to break one of my hooves because of that! There was even a time that I was able to help those ponies during a disaster! So yes, I did enjoy being at that village! Are you happy!?" When Blueblood was done talking, his cheeks were reddish while tears were spilling out of his eyes. Blueblood had never been one to lash out at others as he thought doing so would be too barbaric. Now here he was, pouring out his feelings to one of the princesses of Equestria. Much to Blueblood's surprise, his aunt simply smiled.
"I am quite pleased to hear that from you, Blueblood. What you said reminds me of my former pupil, Twilight. She was so caught up on her studies and books that I had to send her away to Ponyville. The next thing I knew, she grew attached to that town along with the locals who live there."
"And that was how she became a princess?" Blueblood asked.
"Well, in a way." Princess Celestia answered. "She grew to become a better pony and was able to help others grow as well. The same goes for you too, Blueblood. When you spoke about the village, you showed a side of you that really cares about that place and its' villagers. There is nothing wrong about caring for others. That is what makes us royal in our own way."
"So what are you going to do? Let that Feather colt stay in my body while you send me away?" Blueblood guessed.
"Let us first leave this place and head back to the throne room. I believe that Feather might think otherwise." Princess Celestia led Blueblood out of the dungeons and towards elsewhere.
Back at Blueblood's room, Feather was laying on his bed. He was still processing the moment when Blueblood was carried away by the guards. Feather wasn't sure if he should return to his normal body as Blueblood might punish him or do something rash with Rarity. Feather then realized that things were getting better with his relationship with Rarity. He didn't want his relationship with her to end too soon. But deep down, Feather knew that letting Blueblood be imprisoned was wrong along with lying to Rarity about who Feather truly was.
'I just can't tell her that I'm not Blueblood!' Feather thought. 'She will be angry at me for deceiving her like that.' Feather tried to think of any other solutions that were better than the first few. All Feather could think about was making sure Rarity was safe from Blueblood. Feather then came up with one idea that he truly didn't like. Feather used his horn to write something on a scroll and have it sent. Feather exited Blueblood's room.
Feather waited anxiously in the throne room. He would look at the doors from time to time just to see if Rarity was come through them. After ten minutes, the doors opened to reveal Rarity coming inside. Feather couldn't help but feel smitten again from seeing Rarity's beautiful face. But Feather quickly shook it off as he had to focus on what he had to do.
"Hello Blueblood, did you want to see me?" Rarity asked. "You mentioned from your letter that you wanted to meet with me but you didn't mention why."
Feather gulped before he spoke. "I have to tell you something, Rarity. It pains me to say this, but I think I'll have to decline attending Princess Twilight's birthday with you."
Rarity blinked a few times. "Oh, okay. You don't have to go if you don't want to."
"There is something else I must tell you, Rarity." Feather took a deep breath before he continued. "I can't spend time with you anymore."
Rarity was in complete shock from what Feather just said. "I-I'm sorry, is there something wrong, Blueblood?" Rarity asked in confusion.
"The only issue is with me. I-I just can't be with you, Rarity. You deserve somepony better and I don't think it's me." Feather said.
"Why would you say that, Blueblood? Is someone threatening you? You could tell me." Rarity said.
"It's just too complicated to explain. I just want to end this relationship before things go bad." Before Feather trotted away, Rarity ran up in front of him.
"I hardly believe that you would end this relationship too bluntly. Blueblood, we have been together for quite some time and I got to know you better. You can tell me anything that is bothering you." Blueblood looked into Rarity's eyes and he wasn't sure if he should tell her the actual truth.
"The truth is, I'm not the stallion you think I am." Feather said.
"What are you talking about?" Rarity asked in confusion.
"I'm...not the real Prince Blueblood." Feather confessed. "My actual name is Feather Bangs." Feather could tell that Rarity was now completely confused. Feather decided to continue. "You see, Prince Blueblood switched bodies with me because he had to do a royal assignment. The prince had me take his place until he was done. I did my best to do all of his duties as the prince would. Everything changed when I first saw you. When I found out about what Prince Blueblood did to you during the Grand Galloping Gala, I felt so angry from how the prince treated you. I tried to make amends with you as I thought you deserved better. I am extremely sorry, Rarity. I just didn't want to deceive you anymore."
Rarity was completely lost for words from what Feather just said. "I-I don't even know what to say. I'm not even sure if what you're saying is true."
"It actually is, Rarity." Princess Celestia said as she entered the throne room. Feather became terrified as he thought he will be severely punished for impersonating royalty. "No need to fear, Feather. I already know."
"You do?" Feather said.
"Of course, I was actually the one behind switching your body with Blueblood's." Princess Celestia said.
"Can somepony tell me what is going on!?" Rarity demanded.
"Since Feather has told you his side of the story, I'll let Blueblood explain his side." Princess Celestia said as she moved aside to reveal Blueblood standing before them.
Rarity recognized Blueblood as the stallion who was being pulled away by the guards yesterday. "So...you're Blueblood?" Rarity questioned.
"Hello...Rarity." Blueblood said while trying not to throw up from seeing Rarity.
"Blueblood," Princess Celestia said to her nephew while giving him a stern look.
Blueblood took a deep breath before he started his explanation. "To tell you the truth, Feather, I wasn't on some royal assignment." This surprised Feather a bit as he always thought Blueblood was doing something important. "The reason why I switched bodies with you was because I grew extremely tired of my royal duties in Canterlot. Thanks to my auntie, I found a spell that would switch bodies with a pony who was a bit similar to me. Once I was in your body, I felt like I was free from being a prince. At first, I thought it was complicated living as a commoner. But I was able to fit in as you, Feather. I even got to participate in certain activities that I didn't know were actually fun. The more time I spent in the village, the more I became attached to it. I grew worried about you messing up your duties and sent you the letter to inform you to switch us back. I got impatient when you didn't activate the spell and decided to go to you. Once I did make it to Canterlot, I got angry as I saw you with the one mare I really didn't want to see again. I hope you will forgive me, Feather." Blueblood bowed his head to Feather.
Feather smiled from Blueblood's words. "It's fine, Blueblood. I'm glad you had a great time."
Blueblood made his way to Rarity. "Miss Rarity, I also want to apologize to you about my behavior during the gala. I must admit that I acted really snobby because I thought less of you since you were a commoner who was chasing after me. Staying at Feather's village made me realize that commoners possess something more valuable than wealth."
"So it was all true then. You really were lying to me, Feather." Rarity said in realization.
"Yes, I did." Feather said as he hung his head in shame.
"You must not be so harsh with Feather, Rarity." Blueblood chimed in. "From what I heard from my aunt, Feather has done a lot for you over the past few days. Although, I was a bit angry as Feather used some of my money for your donation." This caused Feather to laugh nervously as he was caught by Blueblood. "He even punched me in the face as I talked very harshly about you."
"You punched Blueblood?" Rarity asked Feather.
"Yeah, it was out of anger." Feather said while rubbing his neck. "So what do you say? Want to start over...again?"
"I do not like that you have lied to me, Feather. But after remembering what you did for me, it made me want to know the real you. I am willing to let bygones be bygones if you promise me to not keep any more secrets from me."
"That is something I can definitely do." Feather said. Feather and Rarity looked at each other with tender smiles. They were interrupted when Blueblood cleared his throat.
"Before you two have your moment, I suggest that Feather and I switch back to our original bodies. Auntie Celestia, if you may."
"Before I do that, Blueblood. I want to know what you will do next." Princess Celestia said.
Blueblood thought for a moment. "I am honestly not sure. I truly enjoyed my time in the village, but I'm not sure if I could go back as I would no longer be Feather Bangs and the villagers would act different towards me."
"I might have a solution for that, if you are willing to take part in an important assignment." Princess Celestia offered. Blueblood, Feather, and Rarity were curious on what Princess Celestia had in mind.
Back at Starlight's village, the townsponies were carrying on with their lives. Some of the ponies noticed a light blue unicorn stallion with gold manes approaching the village's main entrance. Around the stallion's neck was a gold chained necklace with a gold triangle at the center. The ponies then turned away as they thought it was just another traveler. The new stallion made his way towards Double Diamond who was talking to his friends.
"Excuse me," The new stallion said to Double Diamond.
"How can I help you?" Double Diamond asked.
"I'm new in town and I was wondering if you could tell me where to find Double Diamond." The new stallion requested.
"Oh, well I'm Double Diamond." Double Diamond said.
"Great, I'm Gold Chain and I'm suppose to deliver this letter to you." Gold Chain said as he pulled out the letter from his saddle bag.
Double Diamond looked at the envelope and read that it came from Feather Bangs.
"The letter will explain everything." Gold Chain added. Double Diamond opened the letter and began reading what Feather wrote.
Dear Double Diamond and friends,
I just want to inform you guys that I'm doing fine in Canterlot. The city itself is so great and I got to meet a lot of new friends. While traveling, I came to the decision that I must decline your offer of making me part of the village's new council. Being part of the village is great, it's just that I prefer to travel more often as I get to explore more of Equestria. I didn't want leave you guys hanging. Luckily for me, I came across my cousin, Gold Chain, and he was looking for a place to stay and work. I think it would be a great idea if Gold Chain stayed in the village and possibly be part of your council. I can tell you that Gold Chain is quite good when it comes to being a good leader. I'm letting Gold Chain stay at my place if you guys don't mind. Don't worry about me, I'll come back to the village from time to time. I hope to see you soon!
Sincerely,
Feather Bangs
"Gosh, it's a bummer that Feather Bangs is gone." Double Diamond commented. "He was doing so well here."
"Yeah, but my cousin is having a good time in Canterlot. He might be staying there for a while." Gold Chain said.
"Anyway, welcome to our village, Gold Chain!" Double Diamond said as he shook Gold Chain's hoof. "You're going to have a great time here!" Double Diamond nudged Gold Chain to follow. "Come with me, I'll show you Feather's place."
"If you could be so kind," Gold Chain said as he followed Double Diamond. The stallions arrived to Feather Bangs' house and made their way inside.
"This is it, Feather's house. I know it's not as shabby as your other home, but I do hope it will suit you." Double Diamond said.
"I think I'll be fine here." Gold Chain said as he dropped his saddle bag on the ground.
"I'll be heading out now. I can give you a tour of the entire town if you want. Just say the word and I'll start the tour." Double Diamond offered.
"I would like that." Gold Chain smiled.
"Great! I can't wait to get to know you!" Double Diamond said as he left the house. Once Gold Chain closed the door, he made his way to the bathroom's mirror. He took a good look at himself before his eyes set on his gold necklace.
"I can't believe this thing actually works." Gold Chain said as he lifted the gold triangle with his hoof. He used his magic to levitate the necklace off of his neck. Gold Chain's whole body glowed white and his form changed. The light disappeared and Blueblood was the one standing in front of the mirror. "I never thought that Auntie Celestia had such an interesting artifact."
Flashback
Princess Celestia brought out a gold-chained necklace to Blueblood.
"This necklace can allow you to change your appearance so no one can recognize you. I have used a necklace like this when I wanted to get out of the castle and explore Equestria." Princess Celestia levitated the necklace to Blueblood and he held it with his hoof.
"So how is this necklace involved with this 'important assignment'?" Blueblood questioned.
"I want you to disguise yourself as a common pony and stay at the village. While you're there, you will learn how common ponies do things. This can help you become a better prince. As you have said before, ponies will treat you differently if you were a prince. But that could change if you were a common pony yourself. You already have some experience while in Feather Bangs' body so I think you should be fine. You can return to Canterlot whenever you are needed." Princess Celestia explained. Blueblood took a moment to look at his necklace. He thought that this could be his chance to truly be with his friends in the village.
"Alright, I accept the assignment." Blueblood nodded.
"I'm glad you did. I'll let you pack your things before you leave. While you're in the village, remember to write to me about what you have experienced. It never hurts to inform me of your progress." Princess Celestia said as she left the throne room.
"Before I take my leave, I want to properly thank you, Feather Bangs, for filling in as me while I was away." Blueblood said. "As I have mentioned before, you will be compensated for your services."
"You're welcome, Blueblood." Feather said.
"It seems that we will see each other more often as I will also be staying at the village." Blueblood said.
"Actually, I'm not returning to the village for a while." Feather said.
"You're not?" Blueblood said with surprise.
"I want to spend some time with Rarity so she could get to know the real me." Feather said as he and Rarity held hooves.
"You should probably write a letter to our village friends to explain your absence." Another thought came to Blueblood. "Actually, you should also include some additional details as well."
End of Flashback
Blueblood looked out the window as he thought about his situation.
'This should work out. Not only I'll be able to stay in the village, but I'll also watch over Feather's house while he's in Canterlot. It's the least I could do for him since he has helped me. Now that I think about it, this feels almost the same as when I switched bodies with Feather. The only difference is that I'm a completely new stallion instead of somepony else. I can't wait to start my assignment.' Blueblood put on his necklace and transformed into Gold Chain. The prince turned and exited Feather's house. 'I wonder what Feather is up to right now.' Blueblood thought.
Princess Twilight's birthday party was taking place inside one of Canterlot Castle's ballrooms. All of Twilight's friends were attending the party. Rarity was standing near the entrance as she was waiting for somepony. Feather entered the ballroom and he smiled happily when he saw Rarity.
"Feather! It's so good to see you!" Rarity said as she trotted up to Feather and hugged him.
"Thanks for inviting me, Rarity." Feather said as he followed Rarity into the party.
"Girls! I want you to meet Feather Bangs!" Rarity said while her friends gathered and said their hellos.
"The pleasure should be mine for meeting the heroes of Equestria." Feather said while bowing.
"Heh, I like this guy already." Rainbow said with a smug look.
"Wait, I thought you were bringing Prince Blueblood to the party." Applejack said.
"Feather Bangs was Prince Blueblood." Rarity said.
"What?" Rarity's friends said at once.
"Yeah, it's actually a funny story." Feather began telling the story of how he switched bodies with Prince Blueblood.
