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The Prince of Ponyville

by Kavonde

Chapter 4: The Prince Gets to Party

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Blueblood wasn't sure who had come up with the idea of wheelchairs. After all, Equestria didn't really have any famous torturers in its history.

Sitting in the damned thing was bad enough. It forced him to bend at a strange angle and, given his size, put far too much pressure on the part of his spine just below his shoulders. The lack of a backrest meant that he had to either hold his head up straight or let it hang off the back of the chair until his neck cramped. And something about the sensation of rolling around, suspended in the air with no actual contact with the ground, made him feel disoriented, nauseous, and generally out-of-sorts.

So, while he was excited to be released from the hospital, he was less than thrilled about the required means of conveyance.

"Please just let me walk," he whined to the short, plump, candy-maned nurse.

"Sorry, love," she replied with a shake of her head. "Hospital policy."

He grumbled something ungentlemanly about hospital policies and potential receptacles in which to store them.

Cheerilee, Cloud Kicker, and Blossomforth were standing outside Ponyville General's front entrance, chatting amongst themselves. Well, that was inaccurate; Cloud Kicker was chatting, Cheerilee was listening with an amused smirk, and Blossomforth was trying very hard to pretend that she didn't know either of them and couldn't hear what they were talking about. She was the first one to notice Blueblood's approach, and shushed her friends.

"Ladies!" Blueblood said with a smile as he was pushed out the hospital's doors. The moment he crossed the threshold, he put his hooves down to stop the chair and, with a groan of mixed pain and relief, pushed himself out of it. He ignored the nurse's disapproving frown.

Cheerilee smiled and hugged him gingerly. "Free at last, huh?"

He nodded. "And not a moment too soon. I was out of books to read."

"How do you feel?"

"Awful, but alive." He winced as he took a step forward, and frowned at his injured leg. "And this still isn't healed yet."

"Hairline fractures," Cloud Kicker observed. "Nasty stuff."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, the first time I ever had one, I was down in Las Pegasus, and I kinda got to drinking with a pack of Chippenhoof dancers, which led to... "

Blossomforth facehoofed. Cloud Kicker grinned at her. "Well, anyway, hairline fracture in my rear left leg. But totally worth it."

The four ponies began walking towards town, slowing their pace to let the injured prince keep up.

"Actually, Bluedude, that might be a career idea for you, if farming doesn't work out."

"What? Becoming a Chippenhoof?"

Cloud Kicker nodded. "Sure, yeah. You've got the right build for it. You'd need to do some toning up, you know, work the abs a bit, but I'm sure Blossom can help you with that."

The white pegasus squeaked.

"I mean, look at her! All svelte and sleek and sexy. I don't know how she does it. I mean, she never bangs anypony, at least that she tells me. That's the best way I know to work the stomach muscles."

Blueblood realized a moment later that he was staring at Blossomforth's body and quickly averted his eyes. Cloud Kicker shot him a wide, knowing grin. "See what I'm talkin' about? Totally smoking, right?"

"So, Twilight let you borrow the rest of the books in that series?" Cheerilee asked pointedly.

The prince nodded. "Oh, yes, even after I accidentally insulted them. They were rather good. It was very kind of her."

Cloud Kicker arched an eyebrow at Cheerilee, then leaned in closer to Blueblood. "You know, Blossom's kind of a closet nerd, herself."

"I'm right here," the pegasus in question muttered.

"Well, I certainly encourage everypony to embrace their interests," Cheerilee said. "Although there's something to be said for wearing them on your sleeve for everypony to see."

"Sure," Cloud Kicker countered, "but some ponies just get way too obsessed with their hobbies. You don't wanna be with a pony who's gonna forget things all the time 'cause she's too wrapped up in something dorky."

"I don't know, anypony with that kind of dedication obviously has a lot of passion to share."

"Sure, but then, the minute you become less interesting than her latest experiment or whatever, that passion's all directed somewhere else."

"Well, with the right stallion, I think she could be drawn out of her shell."

"I think you'd just be setting that stallion up for heartbreak. He'd be better off dating a sweet, relatively normal girl."

Blueblood and Blossomforth looked at eachother. In silent agreement, they slowed down to let Cloud Kicker and Cheerilee get ahead of them.

"Sorry," Blossom said after a moment.

"As am I," the prince sighed. "It's nice to have friends who care about your love life, but... "

"Sometimes it'd be nicer if they'd just shut up."

They grinned at eachother. You know, she is rather pretty, Blueblood thought. Delicate features, and those light blue eyes, like the sky on a summer day...

He abruptly realized that several seconds had passed, and he was still staring at her. She was starting to blush. He looked away quickly, turning a bit red himself, and cleared his throat. "Listen, ah, this might be a bit awkward given the circumstances, but, um, would you like to have dinner sometime?"

"Like... a date?"

"Well... yes, you know, getting to know eachother, preferably without Cloud Kicker providing colorful anecdotes about her... adventures. We haven't really ever gotten to speak."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "She does kinda take center stage when she's around. I mean, I'm not the most talkative filly, but around her sometimes I might as well be mute."

Blueblood grinned back at her. "So... dinner?"

She laughed. "Sure, why not?"

"Great!"

Ahead, Cheerilee and Cloud Kicker paused in their rather indirect argument to glance back at their friends. Seeing their embarrassed yet cheerful expressions, the two mares stopped and looked at eachother. Cloud Kicker stuck out her tongue. Cheerilee scowled at her in reply.


"Cheerilee!" Pinkie Pie cried happily. "I haven't seen you in forever! Ooh, and Cloud Kicker? Since when do you girls hang out? Where's Blossomforth? Oh, she's over there! Hi, Blossomforth! Who's your new-"

She deflated so abruptly that Blueblood swore he was suddenly looking at a different pony. "Uh, hello, Miss Pie."

"Ohh, if it isn't Prince Meanypants!" The pink pony gave as close an approximation of a snarl as she could manage. "I see you're out of the hospital! I mean, I'm glad you're okay, I don't like anypony getting hurt, but you're still a big, stupid jerky-faced jerk, so yeah!"

Blueblood sighed. It was a little before the noontime rush, so Sugarcube Corner wasn't yet packed to capacity (and beyond), but there were still more than a few customers giving him that same hostile, mistrustful glare that had led to a confrontation the last time he was here. "Okay, look, if I apologize for calling you an annoying little twit, will you stop harassing me? I really don't need another beating."

Pinkie closed her eyes shook her head stubbornly. "Only if you apologize to Rarity first!"

"I already did."

She opened one eye. "Really?"

"Yes, at the hospital, several days ago."

She looked at him skeptically. "You swear?"

"I swear."

"Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?"

"... Why would I stick a cupcake... ?"

Cheerilee put a hoof on his foreleg and shook her head. "Just roll with it."

Blueblood quirked an eyebrow at her, sighed, and turned back to the pink little madmare. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake, or another pastry of your choosing, in my eye."

Pinkie looked at him for a long moment, frowning intensely. Then, abruptly, she transformed once again into her ebullient normal self. "Okay!"

"Okay?"

"Okay!" she repeated. "What can I get for you?"

Cloud Kicker pushed herself to the front. "We need a cake, Pinkie. Gotta celebrate Bluedude getting out of the hospital."

"Celebrate? Celebrate! You're right! We totally need to celebrate!"

Blueblood grimaced. "Please, this doesn't need to be an event. I'd just like to spend some time with my friends... "

"Hey," Pinkie snapped, looking insulted. "I'm your friend!"

"What? Since when?"

"Duh! I forgave you, so now we're friends!"

"... I'm fairly certain that you're missing a step there somewhere."

She frowned at him. "So you don't want to be my friend?"

"I, no, yes, wait, I would certainly like to be your friend, but-"

He was suddenly bowled over as Pinkie dove over the counter and wrapped him in a hug. "Yay! I'm friends with Prince Blueblood! This calls for a party!"

"Leg! Stitches! Hurting still! Let go!"

She recoiled with a look of intense concern. "Oh, I'm sorry! I get carried away sometimes."

Blueblood gave her a level look. "You don't say."

She giggled. "You sound just like Twilight! Only, you know, different because you're a colt. Hey, what kinda cake do you want?"

"Surprise us," Cloud Kicker offered with a rather ominous grin.

"Ooh, surprise you?! I can totally surprise you! I'll make the most surprisingly surprising surprise cake that anypony has ever been surprisingly surprised by! Be right back!"

Blueblood had never seen an earth pony move so quickly. One moment, she was standing over him; the next, she was banging around in the kitchen. He decided to blame the painkillers.

Blossomforth helped him to his hooves, and the four ponies found themselves a booth near one of the shop's windows. Outside, the rebuilding of Ponyville continued apace. From here, Blueblood could see that repairs on city hall had been finished, and the swarm of contractors had moved on to other parts of the town. No sign of life around the Carousel Boutique yet, he noted.

"Where's Rarity staying?" he asked aloud.

Blossomforth gave him an odd look. Cheerilee just smiled. "I think she's been staying with Fluttershy, Blue. Why?"

He shrugged. "It seems like they were more worried about fixing the town hall than with rebuilding ponies' homes."

Cloud Kicker shrugged. "That's government for ya. Um... no offense."

"None taken. Though that seems out of character for Auntie Celestia."

Cheerilee joined him in gazing out the window. "Well, she probably doesn't know. Like you told my class, most of the day-to-day governing in Equestria is done by the bureaus."

Blueblood frowned. "Or on a more local level. Which reminds me, do any of you know a large, green earth pony stallion with a hacksaw as his cutie mark?"

Blossomforth and Cheerilee shook their heads. Cloud Kicker nodded, but looked noncommittal. "I've seen him, but don't know him. Think he's from out of town. Seems to be in charge of one of the contracting companies."

"I think he was one of the ponies that attacked me."

The others gaped at him. "Why didn't you tell Twilight that?!" Cheerilee demanded.

"I couldn't really see anything in the dark, and I'm not about to make things worse for myself by throwing around baseless accusations. Besides," he sighed, "I deserved that beating."

"Blue... "

He shook his head. "I did. And frankly, I deserve worse. Cheeri, ponies died because of me. Half of Ponyville was burned down because of me. If it weren't for you, Macintosh, and Zecora, all of Equestria might have been lost... because of me. And what punishment did I receive? I was asked–asked–to leave Canterlot. A few cuts and bruises hardly touch the debt I owe."

To his surprise, Cloud Kicker rolled her eyes. "You are such a freaking downer, Bluedude."

Blossomforth put her hoof over his. "You helped save Equestria, too, you know. We were there."

Her companion nodded. "Dude, you trolled a draconequus. It was pretty awesome."

"And even if we hadn't shown up, you still managed to free Princess Celestia," Cheerilee added.

"Sure," Blueblood allowed, "but that... it still shouldn't have happened. Things shouldn't have gotten as far as they did."

Cheerilee added her hoof to the stack. "You made mistakes, Blue, but you're still a good pony."

"Maybe."

"No maybe," the teacher insisted, looking him in the eye. "Whatever flaws you have, at the end of the day, you were willing to risk your life to protect others."

"Yeah!" added Cloud Kicker. "Like with that dragon!"

Cheerilee looked at her. "Dragon?"

"What, he didn't tell you about that?"

Blueblood reddened. "It wasn't that big of a deal... "

"Okay, so," Cloud Kicker began, ignoring him, "me and Fluttershy bust him out of this little cell in Shining Armor's camp. But then Fluttershy spots this skeleton dragon thing and totally freezes up. So I pick up her and Blueblood both, and the dragon sees us and comes right after us. But we're going too slow, see? Too much weight. So Bluedude tells me about this secret passage into Canterlot and makes me drop him. And then he turns around, and he freaking shouts puns at the dragon."

Cheerilee blinked. "He what?"

"You shoulda heard it! 'I've a bone to pick with you!' I almost dropped Fluttershy."

Blueblood covered his face. "You heard that?"

"I think half the army heard that. Good thing, too, 'cause I don't think Shining Armor would have thrown one of his shields over you if he hadn't."

Cheerilee was working hard to contain a fit of giggles. "I didn't know you had a punny sense of humer."

Blueblood groaned. "I used that one."

"Ouch."

Pinkie Pie appeared next to the table so suddenly that Blueblood jumped and banged his rear knees. "You're cake-a is a-bakin'! Oh, and I went ahead and invited a few friends for your party."

He blinked. "What? We're having the party today?"

"Well, sure! That's why I'm a-baking the cake-a, silly!"

"Er. Honestly, I'm really not in a 'party' mood, Miss Pie... "

She gasped. "But you're out of the hospital! And also, I didn't throw you a party when you got into town because I thought you were a big jerk, so I've really gotta make up for it now!"

"I... understand, I suppose, but couldn't we maybe, you know, do it another day?"

"But then the super-surprisingly surprising cake I'm gonna surprise you with won't be surprisingly fresh!"

"I'll live! Please, just let me-"

The bell over the shop's door rang. A group of contractors, led by a familiar-looking green stallion, walked in. When they spotted Blueblood, grumbled threats and evil smirks spread through their ranks.

"That the guy who jumped you?" asked Cloud Kicker.

"I don't actually know if it was him... " Blueblood offered, but too late; Cloud Kicker was already storming over to the group.

"Hey!" she shouted, jabbing a hoof into the green stallion's chest. "You the one who hurt my friend?"

He scowled at her. "Who's yer friend, and who's askin'?"

"Him," she said, indicating Blueblood. He offered a weak grin and lowered his head. "And I'm Cloud Kicker. Maybe you've heard of me."

That caused a few snickers from the crowd. "Oh, I think I mighta heard of ya," their leader growled. "Word is, you'll spread your legs for anypony who-"

He never finished the sentence. Cloud Kicker's hoof smashed into his jaw, and he hit the ground, hard. The others stepped back in surprise.

"Now you know something else about me. You hurt my friends, and I will break your bucking face."

Blueblood and his companions stared in shock. The contractors bristled and began forming a semi-circle around the lone pegasus. She glared at them defiantly, not backing down an inch.

"I didn't touch that spoiled little traitor, you crazy broad," the green one growled. "And neither did my boys. Did ya?"

There were a few muttered replies and a collective shaking of heads.

"See? I want somepony hurt, I do it myself. And I don't go jumpin' ponies in the middle of the night. That ain't how you get respect in Detrot."

Cloud Kicker glared at him. "Then you'd better tell your little buddies here to back the buck off."

He stared back at her, then turned to his companions and nodded. Reluctantly, they stepped back from the confrontation. He looked back at Cloud Kicker with a scowl. "Yer lucky I don't hit dames, filly. Nopony's ever taken a cheap shot at Sawtooth and walked away after."

"You're lucky I don't beat the horseapples out of every misogynistic asshat that thinks I can't kick his flank because I'm a mare."

He snorted. The two regarded eachother silently for a moment, and then, to their gathered audience's surprise, broke into mutual grins. Cloud Kicker offered a hoof to Sawtooth, who used it to pull himself up. "You got balls, for a filly. Remind me of my wife."

"Yeah, well, she must be keeping yours in her purse."

He belted a laugh. "Alright, alright, lady, jeeze. Truce! Enough already."

Cloud Kicker regarded him skeptically. "So you didn't jump Blue?"

He shook his head and glanced at Pinkie. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, somethin' about cupcakes. Mighta kicked the crap outta him the next time I saw him, but he woulda seen it comin'."

She considered that for a second, then nodded. "Okay, fine. But you ever find out who did it, and you let me know."

"Deal."

Blueblood stared at Cloud Kicker in awe as she returned to her seat, grinning fiercely. "Um... thank you."

"No problem," she said airily. "Besides, I wanted to be the first one up there so Blossom wouldn't go into berserker mode."

He glanced at the white pegasus, who, to his surprise, was smiling broadly. "I get pissed sometimes," she shrugged.

"Okay, so, party later?" Pinkie Pie asked, leaning over the table.

Blueblood shrugged. "Fine, I suppose."

"Yay! Let me just get through the lunch rush–hee hee, that rhymed!–and we'll get this part-ay start-ayd!"

She disappeared in a flash, somehow springing up behind the counter again a moment later with her apron and hat back on. The prince watched her, then looked at his friends. "Run."


Blueblood sighed in annoyed contentment. The remains of his third slice of cake–some monstrous yet delicious amalgamation of three different kinds of breading, half a dozen flavors of icing, and a mind-boggling array of toppings ranging from fresh fruits to white chocolate-covered almonds–lay on the plate before him, next to a nearly-empty plastic cup. Blossomforth leaned against his shoulder, snoring gently. Party music with far too much bass thrummed steadily in the background, ever present yet somehow easily tuned out by those who didn't particularly care to hear it.

On the dance floor, Pinkie was still a ball of manic energy, swooping and jumping and spinning madly. Twilight Sparkle was still out there, too, dancing determinedly with a stallion who looked more than ready to lie down somewhere and sleep. Blueblood had been trying all night to ignore the pained glances the purple unicorn kept throwing his and Blossom's way. The rest of the Bearers had shown up as well, as had, it seemed, most of the town. Most ponies were content to leave Blueblood alone–he doubted they even realized the party was in his honor, which was well enough–and so he'd spent the evening talking and laughing with the small group of ponies he was most comfortable with.

Not a bad way to spend one's time, he supposed. All in all, it had been a pretty good evening, even if he would rather have been home.

He was distracted from his reverie when Cheerilee slid into the booth, a plastic cup hanging from her mouth. She gave the prince a cheerful grin. "Radical party, huh?"

Blueblood arched an eyebrow at her, and shot a pointed glance at her drink. "Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"Nope! It's Friday! Party on, dude!"

He laughed and shook his head. "Hey, where's Macintosh? I haven't seen him all night."

Cheerilee's expression abruptly went dark. He frowned at her in concern, putting a hoof over hers. "What's wrong?"

She sighed. "I... haven't really seen Macintosh in a few days."

"What? Why?"

"It's... kind of a bogus time for bummer relationship stories, Blue. We're just taking a break."

He looked at her skeptically, but let it the issue drop. "Where'd Cloud Kicker get to?"

That brought Cheerilee's smile back, at least somewhat. "Think she picked up a couple of those contractor stallions from Detrot. That girl is a freak."

Blueblood grinned and jostled his shoulder slightly, causing Blossomforth to mumble something in protest. "I think we'd best see about getting Blossom home, then. Do you know where she lives?"

"Sure, sure. Let's get some air."

It took some convincing and some cajoling, but the two of them finally got Blossomforth on her hooves. She tried to lean on Blueblood for support, but with his own injuries, they both just ended up leaning on Cheerilee from opposite sides. The inebriated teacher took it in good cheer, declaring the two of them to totally be her best friends, aside from Lyra and Ditzy, but they bailed early, so they totally could eat her socks. At some point, and at Cheerilee's insistence, the three of them broke into an enthusiastic rendition of Bon Poni's "Shot Through The Heart."

And then they came across a lavender pegasus with a yellow mane lying in a broken heap in the middle of the road.

There was a piece of paper next to her, stuck to the ground with her blood. It read, simply: "TRAITOR."

Next Chapter: The Prince Gets a Clue Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 19 Minutes
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