The mind is an odd thing, especially when one was asleep. In most cases a person has no power in the realm of dreams. They are at the mercy of their own mind, only protected from their psyche if they are under a certain Princess of the Night’s watch or if they have the knowledge to mold their dreams by themselves.

Unfortunately for Blueblood he did not have the luxury of knowing how to dream-walk, and at the moment his aunt had not started her sacred duty. At that moment, as he lay there, he was at the mercy of his mind. He could have dreamed of a paradise on earth, he could have dreamed of nothing, or he could have imagined up nightmares that would haunt him for the rest of his days. And given the way that he had been put to sleep it was a wonder why he wasn’t having the mother of all nightmares at the moment.

But no, Blueblood did not have a nightmare, nor did he have a “good” dream. In that moment of time, as he dreamed, Prince Blueblood of Equestria was dreaming that he was sitting on top of a large body of absolutely crystal clear and still water as though it were a solid thing. To his left was a tree made out of what looked to be pure crystal hanging upside down with its roots reaching out far into the sky. In front of him, oddly enough, was a simple wooden table that had a pair of tea cups, a kettle full of tea, and a small plate that was piled high with lemon tea cakes.

While all of this would normally send an average pony into a fit of hysteria, as before mentioned, this was a dream. One could see something a thousand times more twisted,magnificent, or different and they wouldn’t think anything of it. Which was why, as Blueblood sat there sipping his slightly too small cup of tea, he thought nothing of his childhood friend Sir Paddington suddenly appearing at the other end of his little table and pouring himself a cuppa.

Sir Paddington and the good Prince had a long history with each other. Blueblood had knighted the small teddy bear when he was just a young blank flank on the grounds that Paddington would be his companion through thick and thin, through the highs in his life and its lows, along with doing all that he could to protect Blueblood from the monsters under his bed and keep him from having nightmares.

Though this would seem like a daunting task for most people, Sir Paddington had taken to it with a zeal usually not seen by a plush doll that couldn’t move under its own power. Paddington stayed by his Prince’s side as he finished kindergarten, first, second, and third grade. He was there every time Blueblood wanted to play or had to study and he had even been known to have accompanied him to a birthday party or two.

The teddy bear also managed his second task with a skill few had ever and would ever see. Not once in his young life had Blueblood been attacked by the many monsters under the bed, in his closet, or that big demon in the toilet that always threatened to attack him whenever he attempted to sit down. And though Blueblood could recall of having more than a few nightmares in his young life, not once did he have one so severe and terrible that it had woken him in the middle of the night or leave him wanting to keep every single light on in his room as soon as the sun had set and the darkness swept the land.

Sir Paddington excelled at his job, took up little room and asked almost nothing for his services. His knighthood had been enough for him since the beginning and he was still satisfied with it long after Blueblood had put the bear in his closet and buried under a mountain of clothes and dusty old book. He was a knight of unparalleled valor, honor, and skill, and it showed in the aging, slightly torn up teddy bear’s voice as he spoke.

“My lord, you must rise. There is still much for you to do.”

Blueblood looked at his old companion from the top of his tea cup, an eyebrow slowly rising. “Whatever do you mean, Knight of the Nine Pillow Forts?” Putting his tea cup down the Prince waved his hoof around. “All seems well. There is not a monster in sight, the upside down tree seems to enjoy flying, and I haven’t been bothered by a single marshmallow cloud today.”

Sir Paddington’s black button eyes combed over the Prince’s features for a long moment before he shook his head. “Nay my lord, all before you is naught but a mockery.” The teddy bear waved his crudely made wooden sword though the air as if slashing at an opponent. “You are not in the realm of the living, you are in the realm of dreams.”

Blinking in confusion, Blueblood looked around at his surroundings. “…Truly, sir knight? All before me is nothing but the trick of the mind?”

Grimly, the teddy bear nodded. “Aye my lord, and you must awaken from this dream at once. There is a monster for you to fight and a princess that you must save.”

With wide eyes the Prince remembered all that had transpired when he was awake. Fleur, Chrysalis, everything came flooding back with an almost startling amount of clarity.

In the blink of an eye the world around him started to melt as he got up out of his chair and stood up. “Yes, I believe that you are right, good knight, there isn’t enough time to be sleeping the day away as I am now!” Blueblood was about to take a step forward but he stopped, his ears pinning back as he looked back at his old, old friend. “Though I do believe that a faithful knight companion would greatly—“

Sir Paddington shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, my lord, but the task before you is one that you must face alone.”

Blueblood opened his mouth but then closed it, looking down with a sigh. “Yes… I figured as much…” Looking back up the Prince saw that the good knight was now at his side, his little wooden sword slipped through his belt.

“Whatever challenges that you face in the waking world I am sure that you will overcome them with the greatest of ease, my lord,” the teddy bear said with the utmost confidence.

Barely managing a smile, Blueblood nodded. “I suppo—“

The Prince couldn’t help but yelp when Sir Paddington drew his sword and whapped him on the side with it. “You will suppose nothing, my lord.” the teddy bear snapped, his voice cracking like a whip. “You will do what all good Princes must do when faced with overcoming odds.”

Blueblood managed to keep from yelping again as his old faithful knight once again smacked him. “You will fight, you will crawl, you will paw your way through all that stands in the way of your Princess! Whether you use might or mind you will outpace, outthink, and outfight your enemies.”

Sir Paddington’s eyes hardened to the point where the Prince was having a hard time looking at him. “Not because you fight for yourself! No! You fight for another, one that you care about more than life itself! And it is a fight that you will win! Do you understand my lord?”

Blueblood looked down at the teddy bear that he had (with some regret) forgotten over the years, his mind milling over the knight’s every detail while he repeated everything that he had just heard to himself.

“…I believe that you are right, my good knight!” The Prince cried, all of the anxiety and fear that had started welling up inside him the moment he had realized that he would have to awaken vanishing in a blink of an eye. “I must go at once to save my… Princess. And I will not lose the ensuing fight! No matter what I have to do I will free Fleur and show that bug what happens when one crosses this royal!”

Sir Paddington, now slowly melting along with the landscape grinned, his eyes gleaming. “Excellent! But there is something that my lord needs to do first!”

Blueblood once again looked at his old friend, a smile coming to his face that matched the bear’s. “And what is that, my ever faithful knight?”

“I need you to wake up, my lord.”

“Wake up.”

“Wake up!”

“Prince Blueblood, Sir, wake up!”

Thrown out of his dream with a violent amount of force, the first thing that Blueblood noticed before he opened his eyes was the face that he seemed to be rolling and tumbling head over—

BANG!

The poor Prince groaned in pain as he hit something hard and flat hard enough to make his head spin. “Oh sweet gods above what could have—“

“Prince Blueblood? My lord!”

With another groan Blueblood finally opened his eyes to see one of the many guards at the castle, Captain Terracotta if he remember correctly, looming over him with his ears pinned back and a look of utter worry and panic on his face. Another moment’s inspection of the pony in question also showed that the captain appeared to be trapped up to his neck in what looked like some sort of glowing green slime.

“Captain? Is that you?” the Prince asked, slowly getting to his hooves with a pained grunt. By my aunt’s beard, I’m going to be feeling THAT in the morning…

The Captain nodded. “Sir yes sir, like the others I was captured by those bugs when my back was turned. All I remember was getting bashed in the head with something before I woke up like… this.”

…Wait, he said like the others? What did he—

Blueblood froze as he looked around what was obviously one of the larger rooms in the castle that had had all of the furniture taken out of it. From the twenty foot tall ceiling to the carpeted floors the whole room was covered in that same glowing slime, and in that slime were the Solar and Lunar guard, all of whom looked various levels of upset and distraught.

The Captain nodded in understanding when he saw his Prince’s slack-jawed expression. “We didn’t notice that the Changelings were slowly infiltrating our ranks until it was far too late,” he said.

Blueblood’s heart nearly stopped. “Sweet stars above! Do you know how many are in the castle right now? Or if they’ve gotten any of my aunt’s or—“

“I know that Queen Chrysalis is in the castle at this moment, sir,” the Captain interrupted, his tone becoming orderly and professional. “I suspect that she doesn’t have her main force in the city as of yet, and that she wanted to subdue all of the Princesses first before calling them so that she wouldn’t have the same trouble as last time. At this moment she might not have more than twenty Changelings in the city with her if I had to spitball a number.”

Though Blueblood wanted to sigh in relief at the fact that he wasn’t going to open this door and fight a thousand Changelings to get to Fleur, but then he stopped. Even though there weren’t as many of the bugs as he was expecting twenty of them had managed to take out the entire guard without anypony being any the wiser.

“Well… at least that’s better news than I was expecting,” the Prince muttered before looking back at the Captain hopefully. “You wouldn’t happen to know when that horrid Queen is planning to make her move do you?”

With a snort the captain nudged his head down to his encased body. “As you can see she’s already incapacitated all of us. If she was going to try and neutralize the Princesses the best time to do it would be now before anypony started wondering where we all went.”

“That means I don’t have much time!”

The Captain blinked in surprise as Blueblood made a dash toward the door, blowing it off its hinges with his magic. “Wait! Free us first Sir! Now that we know—“

“I don’t have time! I have to save everypony!”

“How the hay are you going to do that by yourself?!”

Blueblood didn’t even pause or look back, sprinting out of the room as fast as his hooves could take him. “I have absolutely no idea! But I’m going to do it! Somehow!”

The Captain tried to wiggle out of his goo prison as the other guardsponies looked on. “Wait! At least tell us what spell you used to get out of—oh horse apples, don’t go without freeing us!…”

Seeing the only pony that could possibly free them had left to run around the castle most of the guard started groaning in annoyance and irritation. Some of the stallions had been glued upside down to the ceiling for nearly two days, and more than a few of them had to go to the bathroom. But, unfortunately for them and the ponies trapped underneath them, it looked like they’d be trapped a little longer until the situation somehow resolved itself or one of the maids happened to come across the destroyed door in the hallway.

“Fiddlesticks,” the Captain muttered, looking at his soldiers to the best of his ability with a sigh. “So, lads, remind me… Who’s turn was it again?”

A bat pony that was stuck against one of the corners of the room started wiggling around excitedly. “Oh, oh! It was my turn! Alright, I spy with my little eye…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“—“Have at thee Daring Do!” cried Captain Windhelm, his sword flashing in the moonlight as he pointed it at the adventurer. “For tonight we will see—“

Celestia sighed in contentment, nuzzling Anny’s shoulder as she quietly followed along with him in the book as he read.

There was a gentle breeze making the trees rustle and the branches rattle, her sun looked like it was about ready to be set, it was starting to get a little bit nippy out and Celestia honestly couldn’t feel her butt with how long she had been sitting here, under this big, beautiful maple tree. And she loved it so much that it darn near hurt.

The Princess of the Sun had been under this tree with her date, cuddled up to him with her head on his shoulder and a wing lazily draped around him, for what seemed like an eternity. The two of them had spent hours, only drinking or getting a bite out of the picnic basket that she had brought when they really needed it, reading to each other, and in that time Celestia realized that Anny really did have a lovely speaking voice.

Though at first he had seemed reluctant and nervous reading to her aloud it had only taken an hour or two for him to get into the swing of things. And get into the swing of things he did. The way he tried to give the characters or scenes he was reading just a little more life by deepening or making his voice a higher pitch, and the way his excitement in his tone grew and grew as both him and her poured through the book made her smile.

In her many years as a Princess she had listened to many, many ponies (among other things) speak and sing and act, and in her time she had learned to do that and more with the best of them but it seemed a little different listening to Anny. It felt… better, everything that came out of his mouth made her want to lay under with tree with him until her sun set and her sister’s moon rose and their throats were too sore to speak aloud anymore.

With another happy sigh she just closed her eyes and let Anny’s words wash over her, her wings tightening around him ever so slightly. Like their last date had been, and the one before that, she was having the most fun that she had had in years. It seemed like the simpler things, silly things like reading outside or having a picnic in the park, were the things that she and Anny were going to have to do whenever they went out from now on.

Yes… little dates like this always seem to work best for us, as they surely do with everypony, Celestia thought, her smile widening when she felt Anny lean against her just a little bit more. In fact I cannot fathom why other ponies would want to do anything more than this! Why would you go to some fancy dinner or an opera when two ponies can have a lovely evening outside under a tree?

With another sigh, Celestia nosed Anny’s neck, wrapping a hoof around him. Soon she would have to get out of this comfortable, comfortable position she was in and she’d have to read aloud a book that she had memorized. And after reading to her wonderful date she’d have to walk Anny home and lower her sun so her sister could see to her duties.

But now? Now she was right where she wanted to be, listening to one of the most wonderful stallions in the world, a stallion that she knew (or at least hoped) cared for her as much as she cared for him, while the two of them sat out in this lovely weather under this lovely tree on this lovely, lovely day. And with all of her heart she hoped that there would be many, many more days like this.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“Fleur? Fleur? Where are you?!”

The halls of the castle were vacant as Blueblood moved down them as quickly as he dared, his ears perked up and his body ready for action the second that he thought he heard a Changeling. He didn’t know what he was going to do to a Changeling or Changelings if he found him, but by gum he was doing to something!

The Prince ran up and down halls, he opened doors and looked into rooms, he ran around places of the castle even he, somepony that had lived there all of his life, had no idea existed in the hope that he’d find his best friend and the mare that he had been in love with since before he had gotten his cutiemark. The Changeling invasion could wait, he could tell his aunts that Chrysalis was in the castle some other time, and the guards looked remarkably comfortable in their goo prisons so he was sure that they’d be fine where they were for a little longer.

What mattered at that moment to the Prince was finding Fleur, freeing her from whatever mind control she was under, and flushing the bug that had done all of this down the toilet where she belonged.

Though his muscles were screaming at him to stop and his lungs were burning with all the running that he had been doing, Blueblood just pushed himself harder.

“Fleur? FLEUR! If you can hear me say something! PLEASE!”

Trying his best to keep his breathing under control, Blueblood poked his head around a corner, checking to see if it was empty of Changelings, before charging around and making a beeline down it.

I MUST have checked half of this blasted castle by now! He thought, dismayed. Where could they be hiding? Did that dreadful bug leave the castle or—

“Bleu… Bleu…”

Skidding to stop, Blueblood looked around the hallway with wide eyes. “Fleur? Is that you?”

His heart pounding in his chest, Blueblood strained his hearing as much as he could, desperately hoping what he had just heard was actually Fleur and not something that his mind had conjured up to mock him.

“Bleu… Bleu…”

Wait… it sounds like it’s coming from behind me… Swallowing the lump in his throat and charging up his horn to do… something, Blueblood slowly looked over his shoulder. There down the hall, looking all glassy-eyed and walking toward him so slowly that she may as well have been crawling, was Fleur de Lis.

“FLEUR!” the Prince cried, ignoring all of the warning signs blaring in his head as he spun around and sprinted toward her.

The supermodel didn’t react as he ran up to her and wrapped his hooves around her neck, simply staring ahead and trying to walk forward like he wasn’t even there. “Bleu… Bleu…”

With tears in his eyes Blueblood broke his impromptu hug, grabbing Fleur by the cheeks and forcing her head down so he could get a proper look at her face. To his dismay her eyes were as green and unfocused as they had been the last time that he had seen her. But that was okay! Even though Fleur was still somewhat under that Changeling Queen’s spell the mare must have retained enough of herself to wander away from that blasted bug when she wasn’t looking. And now that he had her in his hooves he could figure out a way to fix her and get her out of the castle to keep her safe!

“Bleu… Bleu…”

“Y-yes, yes, it’s me! Bleu’s here Fleur!” the Prince said, pushing a bit of Fleur’s mane out of her face and putting it behind her ear. “And Bleu’s going to get you out of here so he—“

“So he can what?”

Before Blueblood could so much as register what had been said an invisible force picked him up and tossed him down through the air. The world once again flipped end over end for the Prince until, for the second time that day, he landed onto the cold, hard stone with a painful thud.

“Urgh!... Fleur!... Got to…” Blinking away stars, Blueblood rolled to his stomach and looked up to see a grinning Chrysalis slowly making her way toward him from the other end of the hall, a wicked smile on her face.

“Oh? And what is this? The pompous prince somehow managed to free himself from his feeding unit and decided to run around my castle to play the heroic hero?” With an amused giggle, Chrysalis stopped in front of Fleur, patting her cheek with a hoof. “How… quant.”

The second that the Queen touched his friend Blueblood saw red. “YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER AGAIN YOU BEAST!”

With a roar that would usually come from an angry hydra, Blueblood rose to his hooves, lowered his horn, and unleashed a hell-storm on the still grinning Changeling. Though the Prince didn’t know a proper offensive spell to save his life his magic seemed to obey his will as if he had been studying the offensive arts all of his life.

The Prince unleashed fireballs, bolts of ice, fire, lightning, and air, he tore up bits of the wall and floor to throw, he even sent beams of magic screaming toward the Changeling. Wave after wave after wave of destruction Blueblood sent through the air while he screamed and cursed at the top of his lungs.

Chrysalis, being a Changeling that was quite a bit more experienced in this sort of thing than he was, smiled gleefully at his rage. “Oh… this is adorable.”

Once again slowly making her way toward him the Queen went about the task of dismantling all of his spells with terrible efficacy. His fireballs were extinguished with a flick of her horn, his bolts of magic bounced off a quickly made shield as if they were nothing, and she didn’t even bother blocking or dodging the bits of rock that Blueblood threw at her since every single one of them missed her by a mile.

Blueblood increased his barrage until the massive amount of expended magic made his vision blur, the Prince doing everything in his power to at least push the Changeling back or slow her down, but he might as well have been spitting at her. Chrysalis’s steps didn’t waver, nor did the mocking smile on her face.

“What a feisty little morsel you are, trying to attack your new Queen as though you think you have the slightest chance of even touching me.” With a flick of the Queen’s horn Blueblood’s head snapped up, and with another flick the Prince was sent careening into a wall.

“Un…hoof me… you… beast!” Blueblood demanded, struggling against the invisible force pinning him against the wall while Chrysalis continued her leisurely pace toward him.

“I’m afraid that you’re not in the best position to make demands of your new ruler, meat.”

Blueblood snorted. “The day… that I call… you my Queen… is the day… the sky turns… purp—urk!”

Tsking, Chrysalis shook her head as the wall around Blueblood started cracking. “Oh my poor, idiotic morsel. As we speak my servants are rounding up this country’s pathetic royalty, bound and gagged, and bringing them to me.” With another giggle the Queen hopped into the air in excitement. “No little purple runts ruining my plans, no Princess of Love blasting me and my children away!”

Her smile turning more predatory, Chrysalis forced Blueblood further down the wall so she could press her nose against his. Blueblood tried to squirm away from her touch, but another bone crushing burst of magic made him still as the Queen tenderly nuzzled his cheek.

“And the second that that human and that blasted Princess of the Sun finish up with their date I’ll have them too! And then my army will come from beneath Canterlot itself! We will sweep aside everything that stands in our way until you ponies are all rounded up and placed into food pods!”

Though Blueblood tried to look away from her, a bit of magic forced him to look straight into the Queen’s glowing green eyes. “But first, my soon-to-be meal, how about you honor your new Queen and play around with her for a bit longer?”

With one last flick of her horn, Blueblood was released from her magical hold, Blueblood falling into a heap at the Queen’s hooves. With a pained groan, the Prince opened his eyes and looked upward to see Chrysalis looming over him.

“It will be a while longer until Celestia and that human of her’s are finished playing in the garden and I could use a warm up for that little… irritation.”

A part of Blueblood wanted to just lay down and give up, but, never the less, he found himself getting back to his hooves. For Fleur, he thought, ignoring his shaky legs to glare at the Queen. FOR FLEUR!

“FOR FLEUR! HAVE AT THEE MONSTER!”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“—“We need to get out of here!” Daring yelled as the walls started closing in on them. “Quick, Patsy, pass me—“

With a small smile on his face, Anny gave Celestia a little squeeze as she continued to read. Sometime during their date the two had wiggled closer and closer toward each other, partly because they needed to for the reading and partly to be in contact with each other, until Celestia was very nearly sitting in Anny’s lap, her side pressed snugly against his and her head resting on his chest. Anny, to his delight, found himself lazily holding his date with his arms wrapped around her barrel and his head on her shoulder.

From this oddly comfortable position, Anny was able to hear the Princess of the Sun as she read one of the most exciting parts of this little book. He was also able to faintly hear the thud of the alicorn’s heartbeat, feel her silky smooth fur on his face, and smell the crisp, summery, sunny scent that only Celestia seemed to have. In fact, if the Princess wasn’t anything less than an absolutely amazing speaker, there was a good chance Anny wouldn’t have heard a word she said. He would have conked out in ten minutes so comfortable was he. But, as luck would have it, Anny not only got to enjoy holding the Princess like a big ol’ teddy bear, but he also got to listen to one heck of a story being spun.

Though he had read this particular book at least a dozen times (like he did with all of the Daring Do books) the way that Celestia seemed to bring life to each word, each scene, and each character in the book made it new and exciting for him. Though she didn’t do any silly accents or change tempo like he did, Celestia’s calming and patient yet strong voice seemed to echo through his ears. The pony princess had a wonderful speaking voice, and she knew how to use it.

Anny had cheered aloud when Daring Do managed to escape the Zebra cannibals, he squeezed the princess tighter when she regaled him with how Daring Do’s father died, and a smile came to his face as his wonderful, beautiful date began the last chapter in the book, where the red-eyed adventurer would once again be teaching her students at Apple Bridge University.
And since the story was almost finished, and since the sun looked like it was about ready for someone, or somepony, to set it, Anny knew that he and Celestia were going to have to get up soon. They’d have to end their date and he’d have to go back home and tell Velvet all about it while the elderly mare tried insisting on letting her bathe him… for some reason. But Anny honestly didn’t want that.

….For the night to end, not the whole “Velvet trying to bathe him thing”. He never wanted that.

Just like with every date that Anny had been on with Celestia it had been a wonderful, amazing, grand time. Just sitting there on the bare ground with his date while the two of them read to each other made him smile and also made him feel the… rightness of all of this. If he had had the power, he would have gladly stayed there, under that crazy weird tree, and just laugh and read and smile with the Princess of the Sun. But, unfortunately, the only thing he could do was hold onto the princess while wishing that the sun would slow down just a little bit more.

I’m going to have to ask her out soon, Anny quietly realized, his stomach beginning to knot at the very idea. Our date’s almost over, and if I don’t do it soon then I don’t know if I’ll be able to work up the courage to do it another time…

Not that Anny felt particularly brave right now, he just felt that he needed to pop the question to her on this day. It was a gut feeling that had been brewing in his mind for the past few days and he couldn’t, no matter how hard he tried to shake the feeling, get it out of his head. It was almost as if the very fates themselves were nudging him along with invisible hands to his destiny.

… Or it could have been the fact that he really wanted that kiss. Either one worked for him.

I’m not going to be a baby, I’m going to be a manly man and ask her the second that she says the two of us have to go, Anny thought, desperately hoping that Celestia couldn’t hear his pounding heart or feel his now slightly shaky hands. It’ll be romantic to ask at the end like that won’t it? It’ll be like adding a cherry on top of all of this and stuff...

As discreetly as he could, Anny took a couple of calming breaths.

It’s not like I couldn’t do it right now if I wanted to or anything! I just don’t want to interrupt Celestia in the middle of her reading and—

Anny visibly stiffened as Celestia, with a sigh, closed the book. “Well Anny, I believe that it is about time for me to return to the castle so that I can lower the sun,” she said, looking over at Anny with a small smile that she was obviously using to try to hide the disappointment on her face.

Anny scooted over toward her just a little more, wrapping his other arm around her and pulling her into a hug. “Yeah… it’s about time the two of us get on home huh?”

With a happy hum, Celestia wiggled into Anny’s lap, settling her head on his shoulder and wrapping her wings tightly around him. “Yes, the two of us need to go home and get ready for bed so that we can face the day, and all that it may bring, with our best hoof forward.”

Anny’s grip around the Princess tightened as she used her magic to put down her book. “Yeah, even though this date’s been really great it has to end sometime.”

Celestia nodded. “Yes… yes it does.”

Neither Celestia nor Anny made a move to get up or even break their hug. All Anny did was scooch back a little bit so that he could lean against the big weird tree while Celestia let out another sigh. The two didn’t say a thing or move a muscle; they just sat there listening to each other’s breathing whilst enjoying their companion’s warmth and touch. Celestia let out a coo as Anny scratched her back and Anny let out a chuckle when he felt the fur on Celestia’s muzzle tickle his neck.

This went on for some time— the two just lying there holding each other— then for some more time, then for even more time until Celestia finally let out a quiet giggle. “You know Anny…” Her grip tightened around her friend. “I’m sure that my sister would be more than happy to lower my sun and raise her moon herself.”

“Oh?”

The Princess nodded, the fur on her face tickling his neck and cheek. “I might get a bit of a yelling later because I didn’t tell her in advance but I’m sure she won’t be too sore about it.” Celestia let out another coo when Anny’s hand started scratching the middle of her back. “I’ll just tell her that time ran away from me when I eventually make my way back to the castle.”

Practically glowing, Celestia removed her head from Anny’s shoulder so that she could look him in the eyes, shifting her weight away from the center of his lap and placing her hooves on either side of Anny’s neck to steady herself.

Anny couldn’t help but idly note that their noses were nearly touching. If he really wanted to he could have just leaned over a little bit and they’d be kissing. The Princess wouldn’t even be able to do anything if he hurried up and did it either. Though from the warmth in her eyes and the smile on her face that made Anny’s heart ache he was starting to think that he wouldn’t have to dart in and steal a kiss if he really wanted one. And he realllllly wanted one...

Anny looked up at the Princess of the Sun, who was bathed in the glow of her celestial body in a way that not even the finest painters could ever hope to copy, and smiled. It was a gentle, unsure smile but one of the most honest ones that Antaeus had ever had in his life.

“Well… it is getting cold out here,” Anny whispered, his hands finding their way to the Princess’s sides. “And I don’t think my jackets gonna cut keeping me warm.”

Celestia leaned in and, for a moment, Anny thought that she was going for a kiss. To his disappointment (and relief) she just nuzzled his cheek before once again placing her head on his shoulder.

“See? Now I have even more reason to stay out here with you, my little human.” Celestia’s wings tightened around him ever so slightly. “I need to make sure that you’re warm enough so that you won’t catch a cold; a duty that I will see through even if I have to stay here all night with you under this tree and my sister’s stars hanging above our heads.”

Anny had to resist the urge to grab Celestia’s cheeks and kiss her right there. “I’d appreciate it, Celestia.”

The Princess was quiet for a long moment before Anny felt her tail wrapping itself around his legs and lower body, fully trapping him underneath her. “No, my dear, dear little human, I can assure you that the pleasure is all mine.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“Omph!”

“Argh!

“Ah!”

Chrysalis let out a hearty chuckle as she threw Blueblood down the hall. “Aw, did I tenderize my meal a little too hard?” she asked mockingly. “You hardly seem to be doing any more than letting me toss you around, my dear. I’m starting to get a little worried that you’ve given up.”

Though the hallway was in ruins, with its walls blackened from flames licking at them, or great sheets of ice that covered spans of it, to even whole parts of it missing or broken, Chrysalis stood without a scratch and barely out of breath. In fact she almost looked energized despite how long she and the Prince had been “fighting” each other. Blueblood, on the other hand, felt like how this hallway looked.

Every part of his body felt battered and bruised, most of his tail had been burnt off from a fireball that had been knocked right back at him, he could feel ice and soot on what was left of his vest and most of his fur, and he was exhausted. So utterly, unbelievably exhausted, in fact that he couldn’t find the strength to get to his hooves; which meant that he was forced to drag himself along on the cracked and broken ground in an attempt to get away from his attacker.

The Prince wasn’t stupid, he knew that he hadn’t stood a chance in the first place. His attacker was simply too strong and he was simply too weak and too inexperienced to do anything. He had lost and he had lost badly; so badly in fact that the only reason why he wasn’t any more hurt than he already was because the Queen, who was humming a little tune as she slowly walked toward him, didn’t allow it. The Queen’s skill was also the reason why, in the midst of all of this destruction, Fleur, who hadn’t moved an inch during their entire little “battle” looked as pristine and untouched as she had been the first time Blueblood saw her this morning.

And, knowing that, even with his best effort, he had failed, Blueblood forced himself to drag his battered body toward Fleur de Lis. He might have bucked up, and he might get turned into a snack for the Queen in the very near future (very, very near future in fact if he didn’t pick up his pace) the Prince wanted to look upon and speak with his very best friend one last time before the winds of fate took him where they will.

“Bleu… Bleu…” Blueblood could hear the supermodel mutter as she gently rocked back and forth, her slowly blinking eyes staring at nothing.

“I’m… here Fleur… I’m here…” the Prince managed to rasp out, gritting his teeth as he did his best to quickly close the gap between him and her. “I’m… coming…”

From behind him he could hear Chrysalis chuckling. “I don’t even know why you’re bothering, meat. My dear Lady Fleur is nothing but my puppet at the moment; one who I can control on a whim.” The Queen licked her lips. “She cannot hear you and I promise you that you would have a better conversation with the floor that you so happened to be dragging yourself on.”

The Changeling Queen’s words didn’t even faze the Prince, who, somehow, managed to drag himself to his hooves just as he came within a few feet away from Fleur. Though he had to lean against the wall to walk, and he nearly lost his footing more than once, the Prince finally found himself nearly touching noses with his best friend and the mare that he loved more than anything else in this earth.

Though he was overcome with the sudden, yet aggressive, urge to cry, Blueblood managed to smile at his friend. “I do… believe… that I should… have taken those… self-defense… classes with… you, my dear. They…. Would have come… in handy… at the… moment.”

Wincing in pain Blueblood raised a hoof and cupped Fleur’s cheek with it, his heart aching when she didn’t even react to his touch. “In fact… I should have… done quite a… bit more things… with you…”

With just a few feet away from the Prince, Chrysalis stopped, a cruel smile coming to her face. “Oh? And what is this? Does my little snack have something to say? Does he want to pour his heart out to the mare that he has feelings for?”

Her jab once again went unnoticed by Blueblood, who, with a shaky breath, leaned forward until his and Fleur’s foreheads were touching.

“I should have gone with… you to the prom when we… were in school together… I should have asked… you if you would have… liked to dance at… any of those parties that you… dragged me to…”

The soft patter of tear drops hitting the stone floor could be heard in the dead silent room as Blueblood closed his eyes. “I s-should have… told y-you you were… beautiful and stunning whenever… I saw you. I should h-have… wrapped a hoof around… you whenever we… went to the movies… together. I s-should have… I-I s-should have…”

With tears now streaming down his face, Blueblood opened his eyes to look into Fleur’s. Though they were tinted green from the Queen’s influence, he could still see the eyes that he fell in love with as a young stallion. “I should… have told you… how I felt…”

Once again closing his eyes the Prince leaned up and, with a heart that was beating several miles a minute and legs so shaky that it was a wonder how he hadn’t fallen over, Blueblood kissed the girl. It wasn’t anything special, just a peck on the lips, but for Blueblood fireworks may as well have been going off all around him. Though neither he nor Fleur were at their best for kissing (at least Blueblood assumed he wasn’t after the beating that he had just gone through) that single, little tiny kiss was better than anything Blueblood could have imagined.

Awing, Chrysalis once again chuckled. “Well, though this has been amusing, that Sun Princess should be about finished with that date of hers.” Blueblood let out a yelp of protest as Chrysalis wrenched him away from Fleur, the Prince’s hooves trying to find purchase on the stone ground as she dragged him toward her. “So I do believe that I’ll make a snack out of you, my brave little morsel.”

“Fleur, FLEUR!” the Prince yelled, trying to resist the Queen’s magic with all of his might. “I love you Fleur! I LOVE YOU!”

Fleur de Lis seemed to stare at the Prince, her eyes focusing to his face. “…Bleu?”

With a surprised gasp, Blueblood nodded. “Yes! It’s me, it’s me Fleur, your Blueblood!”

Having found a bit of strength from that kiss, Blueblood turned his head around and fired a bolt of magic at Chrysalis who, in her surprise, was forced to drop him so that she could hastily throw a shield up.

“You’re going to pay for that, worm!” she growled, her horn exploding to life with magic.

Running back up to Fleur, Blueblood grabbed her by her cheeks and gave her head a little shake. “It’s Blueblood, Fleur! Listen to my voice; fight this spell you’re under! PLEASE!”

Once again the Prince leaned up for another kiss, though this one was hurried, more forceful. Desperately hoping that this would work, Blueblood held Fleur close before breaking the kiss.

“You’re being controlled by the Queen of the Changelings, Fleur!” he yelled, giving her another kiss before firing another spell blindly over his shoulder. There was an angry hiss, and for a moment Blueblood thought that he had finally managed to hit Chrysalis, but he didn’t dare look behind him, instead once again pressing his mouth against Fleur’s.

Though it might have just been his imagination, he could have sworn that the supermodel’s lips puckered ever so slightly, as if she was trying to kiss him back.

“I don’t care what happens to me, I don’t care if this overgrown bug makes me into her next meal.” Blueblood broke the kiss, fired of another spell, and darted back in for another. “But there’s no way in Tartarus that I’m going to let the mare of my dreams, the mare that I love with all of my heart, continue to be a mindless puppet!”

An invisible force tugged at the Prince’s vest but he managed to slap it away with his magic. “Come back to me, Fleur! Come back to your—urgh!“

Once again Blueblood was ripped backwards by Chrysalis’s magic though this time Fleur stumbled forward a step, her lips parted slightly. “…Bleu… Bleu…” Fleur de Lis blinked, then she blinked again, the mare’s eyes clearing up. “Bleu…? Blueblood?”

Looking around in confusion, Fleur surveyed the area. Her head throbbed as pain wracked her skull and she let out a quiet groan, putting a hoof up to her head. “Oh… what happened? Why am I—“

“Urgh!”

With a growl, Chrysalis slammed Blueblood so hard against the wall that it cracked. “I truly grow tired of this, meat,” she growled. Blueblood struggled against her magical hold, attempting to say something, only for her to tighten her grip on the Prince’s throat. “Time to die, Prince!”

Fleur’s eyes widened. “Blueblood!” she shouted, her horn sparking to life. “Get your filthy hooves off of my Bleu, Insecte!”

Though her head was throbbing and though she had no idea what was going on, who was attacking Blueblood, or why she was in the castle (just to name a few things) Fleur saw that one of her best friends was in trouble. And, being Fleur de Lis, one of the greatest models in the world along with being a noblemare who prided herself on looking after her friends, especially Blueblood, a stallion that she cared about with all of her heart, there was no way she was going to let this… monster harm another hair on Blueblood’s head.

Frowning, Chrysalis looked over at Fleur, her eyes widening when she noticed that the supermodel’s eyes were crystal clear. “What?! How did—“

The Queen let out a pained shriek as a burst of magic hit her square in the face, sending her sailing through the air and down the hall. Blueblood, no longer held up by the Queen’s magic, slumped to the ground with a pained groan.

“Oh my goodness is that going to smart in the morning,” he muttered, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth.

“Bleu!” Fleur yelled, racing over and pulling Blueblood into a hug. “Que diable se passe ?! Pourquoi suis-je ici? Qui, dans le nom de Celestia est-ce? pourquoi—“

Blueblood’s eyes snapped open, tears forming in his eyes as he looked up at his friend. “F-Fleur?” he whispered. “Is that y-you? A-Are you r-really back t-to n-normal?

Fleur ran a hoof through his rat’s nest of a mane as she eyed the downed Changeling Queen. “Can you walk, mon cher? We need to—thmp!” Fleur stiffened as Blueblood wrapped his hooves around her neck, pulled her downward, and kissed her as hard as he could. Fleur’s eyes widened as she felt the Prince’s nose brushing against her nose and his lips against her’s, Fleur instinctively trying to pull herself out of his grasp.

Letting go of the mare, Blueblood let out a shaky laugh, tears now streaming down his face, as Fleur landed on her rump with a yelp. “I-I did i-it!” he said with another laugh that turned into a sob by the end. “I s-saved y-you…”

“Bleu! What in Celestia’s name has gotten into you?!” a red-faced Fleur asked, touching her lips with a hoof. “Why would you—“

Zing!

Fleur yelped as a green bolt of magic flew over her head, disintegrating a section of the ceiling. Scrambling back to her hooves, the supermodel turned toward a snarling Chrysalis, who appeared to be missing a fang and had one heck of a shiner on her left eye.

“I don’t know how you were able to break my control over you but it is no matter,” the Queen growled, her horn unleashing another spell.

Zang!

Gritting her teeth, Fleur threw up a shield, flinching as the changeling’s spell hit it full blast.

“You are no longer important to my plans, my lady, so there is no need to keep you alive any longer. So die!”

Chrysalis marched toward Fleur, her hooves leaving cracks in the floor as she strode forward firing spells and shouting curses with equal measure.

Through the bolts of deadly magic, Fleur was able to keep up her shield, but with each blast she was forced back a little further down the hall and that shield of her’s got weaker and weaker. Though the supermodel had taken a few magical defense classes she was no Shining Armor. Eventually her magic would run out and her shield would break, something that both Fleur and Chrysalis knew.

“Bleu… you need… to run,” Fleur said, her face scrunched up in concertation as sweat poured from her body. “Go and.. find the—“

Boom!

Before Fleur could finish her sentence, a bolt of white magic flew over her shoulder, somehow missing her magical shield, and flew screaming toward Chrysalis, who was forced to stop her stomping to bat the spell away.

“You will not touch her again, creature!” Out of the corner of her eye Fleur saw Blueblood step beside her, his horn glowing brightly. “I believe that we already had this conversation earlier.”

Not giving the Queen a chance to answer, Blueblood sent another bolt of magic flying toward her. Fleur, standing back up to her full height, dropped her shield and fired a spell of her own.

Hissing in outrage, Chrysalis took a step backward. “No! I will not be made a fool of by a prissy noblestallion and one who wears fancy clothes for a living! Not after all of this planning! Not after—“

Boom!

Bam!

Zing!

Boom!

BOOM!

BOOM!!!

Though Chrysalis was a Changeling Queen that had seen her fair share of combat the sheer amount of magical might that both Fleur and Blueblood sent down that hallway toward her was simply too much for her to handle in that tight of a space. By the time she managed to block a fireball or a bolt of magic there was another one right in her face; she didn’t have enough time to throw up a shield and she didn’t have time to move away from the rain of magical destruction. The only thing she could do was redirect the magic as best as she could while retreating.

“You will not—“

BOOM!

“—stop this! I swear to the Thousand-faced God that I will—“

ZING!

“—tear you both to pieces and—“

BANG!

“—tear those pieces into little pieces until—ARGH!”

It wasn’t long until the Queen of the Changelings stopped shouting threats and started to back up just a little bit faster as more and more spells were fired at her faster and faster.

A quarter of the way down the hall the Queen patiently waited for one of her opponents to slip up so that she could take advantage of the situation. These two weren’t experienced fighters; heck, the only reason why she was in this situation was because they surprised her. She was so confident in her abilities that the second one of them casted something they shouldn’t then she’d be able to turn the tide in a blink of an eye.

ZING!

BANG!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Halfway down the hall Chrysalis quietly wished that she had made one or two of her soldiers stay with her, all the while still waiting for either Fleur or Blueblood to mess up so she could go back on the offensive. There was still a chance that she’d be able to beat these two before the Princess came to see what all the noise was about!

Zing!

Zing!

Bang

BOOM!

Having backpedaled for about two-thirds of the hallway and having to fight for her life with every inch, the Queen was starting to wonder where the heck all of her soldiers had ran off to. They should have captured Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, Princess Cadence, and Shining Armor by now! If they’d just hurry up and—

BANG!

BOOM!

—…You know what? Maybe retreat would be the best course of action at the moment; derision before valor and all of that. She could think up another plan to take over Canterlot like that! There was no need to continue what looked like a bust! She could just—

A yelp escaped the Queen’s mouth as her royal rump hit something metallic and hard. At that same moment Fleur and Blueblood’s barrage just up and stopped.

“Thou bucked up.”

Flinching, Chrysalis looked over her shoulder to see Luna, with dented and damaged weapons floating in her magical aura, Cadence and Shining, who looked a bit bruised and battered but pretty alright, and Twilight, Velvet, and Spike, all three of whom had some form of kitchen utensil, all of them dented to the point to ruin. Not a single one of these ponies looked particularly happy to see her; in fact, Velvet and Cadence both appeared to be foaming at the mouth in rage. Spike, Shining, and Twilight looked like they would be more than happy to continue where Fleur and Blueblood left off, and Luna…

…Well…

Luna just looked down at the now whimpering Queen with a shake of her head.

“Thou bucked up,” the Princess of the Night repeated, pushing the Queen away from her little group with a giant piece of metal that might have been a support beam of some kind.
Still whimpering, the Queen backed up toward the wall as Fleur, Blueblood, Luna, Twilight, Shining, Spike, Velvet, and Cadence slowly made their way toward her with murder in their eyes. The whimpering turned into a squeak as her bug butt hit the wall, effectively trapping her on all sides.

“N-Now, now,” Chrysalis said, looking at each of the stone-faced ponies. “Can’t we just t-talk about this for a moment?”

With another shake of her head, Luna tapped Chrysalis’s cheek with the hunk of metal held in her magic. Chrysalis whimpered once again, looking into Luna’s eyes to try to find something; a shred of mercy, the distaste for hitting one that didn’t fight back, something!

She found none.

“Thou bucked up,” Luna said one last time as everypony’s horns lit up brightly. “Now prepare for thy beating!”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“…That’s odd…” Celestia murmured, cracking open an eye to look up at her sun.

“What’s wrong, Celestia?” Anny murmured, not bothering to move.

“By now Luna should have tried to lower my sun or at the very least tried to contact me about it,” the Princess of the Sun said, wiggling out of Anny’s hug and getting to her hooves.

Yawning, Anny looked up at the lazily hanging sun. “Maybe she lost track of time too?”

Celestia shook her head. “No… My little sister is nothing if not punctual.” Sighing, she looked back at her date with a sad smile. “It appears that I won’t be able to spend the extra time with you like I wanted, Anny. If my sun doesn’t get set soon my little ponies might start worrying and I’d like to see if there’s anything wrong with—“

Anny’s eyes widened. Now; he needed to tell her now before she left! Come on! You can do it! Youcandoit!!!

“C-Celestia?” The human nervously interrupted. “I understand that you need to go and all of that but do you mind if I say something first before you do.”

Though she looked confused about his sudden interruption the smile didn’t leave the Princess’s face. “Oh? Well I’d be happy to hear whatever you have to tell me, my little human.”

Anny looked lost for a moment as he rocked back and forth on the ground. He bite his lip before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “You can do this… you can do this…” He muttered to himself before looking up at his date.

Celestia, now slightly concerned, placed a hoof on Anny’s shoulder. “... Is everything alright, Anny? You’re looking a little… pale.”

Anny smiled weakly. “Well… I’m going to be honest with you, Celestia I’m a bit… nervous.”

“Nervous? Whatever could you be nervous about, An—” Celestia stopped as Anny gingerly reached up and grabbed the hoof on his shoulder, holding it tightly.

“Celestia, these last few months of us getting to know each other and going on these dates and just messing around have been some of the best days of my life,” Anny said, his cheeks turning just a little red when he realized how horribly cheesy all of this was going to sound. “And I want to thank you from the very bottom of my heart that you eventually let me ask you out. Really, I mean it.”

Quietly awing, a now blushing Celestia leaned in and nuzzled the human’s cheek. “No, Anny, thank you for going the lengths you did for me even though I pushed you away at first.” With a gentle smile on her face, Celestia stroked her date’s face with a wing. “I might have thought that I was too busy for romance, and too… old, and too…well, a long list of things really. But you’ve shown me just how wrong I’ve been, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy about being so wrong.”

Her smile grew when she saw an affectionate smile making its way on Anny’s face. “So you don’t need to thank me, my wonderful, wonderful little human. You make this old mare feel a thousand years younger with all of the silly and sweet things that you do for her.” Celestia’s blush increased as she looked away from him. “In fact… one could say that you’ve been a ray of sunshine for this lonely old mare...”

Anny opened his mouth to say something else but found himself closing it as the words died in his throat. No, no more meaningless, empty words. Right now he had to say the words that were going to mean something or he may as well not say anything at all.

The nervousness that had been gripping Anny since the beginning of his date drained away in the blink of an eye. No longer was he thinking about being rejected, or not having the nerve to say what he so desperately wanted to say. All he could think of at the moment was just how beautiful the Princess looked in that sunset.

“Celestia?”

Anny’s and Celestia’s eyes met.

“Yes, Anny?”

Anny gave Celestia’s hoof a squeeze. “Now I know that we’ve only been on three dates, and if you want to say no I’d… understand, but I wanted to know if you’d… well… I was wondering if you’d do me the honor… now remember you don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to; we can still be friends or we can keep dating or whatever you want…” Gulping, Anny closed his eyes tightly. “But, Celestia, will you… be… my… marefriend?”

Anny just sat there bracing himself for the amused chuckle or the no that he had been dreading since he thought of “popping the question” as it were. His apprehension was only increased by the fact that Celestia didn’t say a word, she didn’t move, as far as Anny could tell she wasn’t even breathing at that moment.

I… I messed up didn’t I? Anny thought, terror that he had never experienced before in his young life gripping him. I did this too soon and now it’s going to be weird!

Now in full-fledged panic, Anny forced himself to open his eyes. “I’m sorry , Princess, I—thmp!”

The only warning that Anny got was Celestia roughly grabbing his shoulders before her lips crashed against his. Yelping, Anny looked at the Princess, who was so red in the face that one could mistake her for a fire hydrant (in the right light) and had her eyes clenched shut, with the fur on her muzzle tickling his neck and…

ThePrincesswaskissinghim!

Celestiawaskissinghim!

ONTHELIPS!!!!!

ONTHELIPS!!!!

Celestia held the kiss for as long as she dared (Anny not being the only one that had wanted a smooch on this date) before breaking it. Don’t you dare cry, Celestia, the Princess thought with a sniffle, wrapping her hooves around Anny’s neck and holding him close. Don’t you go and ruin this by getting too emotional… Don’t you do it...

This was supposed to be a time of celebration! Ponies weren’t supposed to cry when somepony asked them out! They were supposed to excited and happy and giggly and stuff like that! They were also supposed to say yes or no, which Celestia still hadn’t done yet.

“Yes! YES! Oh course I’d be your marefriend, Antaeus!” she yelled, her voice filled with excitement and happiness. “ YesyesyesyesYESYESYe—“ Celestia stopped her whooping and hollering when she noticed that Anny wasn’t returning her hug or yelling with her or anything. He was just kind of limply laying there, his arms splayed at his sides.

“…Anny? Is everything alright?” Celestia asked, breaking her hug to look at the obviously now unconscious Antaeus, who had a big smile on his face even while out cold.

Looking at the human, her human now she supposed, Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh my, it appears that I may have let my excitement get the better of me,” she mused with an embarrassed giggle, nuzzling Anny’s cheek before giving him another little peck on the lips, warmth spreading all along her body as she did so. “Next time I’ll be sure to let you lead in the kissing, my little human, but right now why don’t the two of us make our way back up to the castle to see where my dear sister went off to, hum?”

Giving Anny another kiss (since they were dating she could give him all the kisses she wanted now, something that she was sure to abuse) Celestia spread out a wing, and, looking it over, she grabbed one of her primary feathers, a feather a good deal bigger than the one she had already given Anny, and plucked it out.

With a final giggle and one more kiss Celestia very carefully slipped her feather in Anny’s ear. “My little ray of sunshine…” she murmured, looking him over, love and happiness practically pouring off her while—

BOOOOOM!

Her head snapping up, Celestia watched as a green blur flew out of the castle and went screaming toward the Badlands.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

BOOM!

“…Fireworks? Why would…” Celestia’s eyes widened in revelation. “Aw, Luna must have been watching Anny and I and decided to set off some fireworks in celebration... “

Keeping an eye on the sky, Celestia carefully pulled Anny onto her back and started to make her way back toward the castle. “That was really sweet of her. Though maybe I should hurry up and stop her before she fires off anymore since it sounds like they might be defective. I could have sworn that firework sounded like it was screaming...”

Looking back at her da-- at her coltfriend, Celestia couldn't help but smile softly, warmth filling her body. "What a lovely day," she murmured, starting down the path to the castle. "What a lovely, wonderful, amazing day that me and my little sunshine had together..."

Though she couldn't see it, Anny smiled in his sleep. "Sunshine and rainbows..." he muttered, nearly falling off of his brand new girlfriend.

THE END