"And what lies were these, Blueblood?" asked Celestia. She looked almost excited by what was going on.
"Some purple mare told me you weren't really my aunt! I laughed in her face, but then, then she had the audacity to show me an obviously faked scroll of lineages." He then began to get huffy. Well, huffier. "She even faked your signatures!" He crossed his forelegs in anger as he ended that sentence.
"Blueblood, she did not forge the scroll. We signed it. Luna was with me when we signed it. Right Luna?" Luna nodded in agreement, enjoying the unfolding comedy, wishing she had popcorn.
"Auntie Luna, is she telling the truth?" Another nod from Luna. Blueblood's face assumed a look of pure horror. He sputtered incoherently for a few moments before he regained some form of calm. "So my lineage is a lie?" he asked, before he fell onto his side, and curled into a little ball. He then began crying.
------------------------------
15 minutes of incoherent blubbering, one guard patrol dismissal, two handkerchiefs and one nap later...
-------------------------------
"You're sure this spell is temporary?" asked the first voice.
"Yes. Tia has used it on herself many times before, and has told me of its abilities and limitations," said the second.
"Quiet now. He's waking up," said the third.
"I'll go hide," said the last as she giggled. A click was heard.
Blueblood woke up. "Did you have a good nap, Blueblood?" asked Celestia. Blueblood couldn't place what was off about his aunt. "Here, come sit with me." Celestia patted the cushion in front of her. Cadance and Luna were sitting on either side of her, snickering about something. He thought to himself about how curious that was. He then wondered where that stallion who'd been with them had gone. Celestia poured herself some tea, then took a sip.
He sat down in front of her. "I had the most horrible nightmare, Auntie. You had said I wasn't related to you at all! Even Auntie Luna was in it!" A wicked grin appeared on his Aunt's face. It then dawned on him what was off about her. The coloration of her ethereal mane and tail, which were normally tricolor, were now different shades of blue, and her solar cutie mark was replaced by a blue shield with a purple star on it. "Where is Auntie Celestia?" he asked with fear in his voice.
"That wasn't a nightmare, Blueblood." The guise vanished with a poof, and instead of the facsimile of Celestia, sat the stallion from his nightmare. He said in a rather gruff voice, "That was reality. You can come out of the closet now, Princess. How'd you like my impression?"
A click, and the closet door opened, revealing the real Celestia, who had been watching through a keyhole. "All in All, Shining, your impression was very good. You even got the way I sip tea correct. You just need to work on your posture. I'm usually more relaxed, save for when I deal with the nobles of House Telvanni." She shuddered at the thought of dealing with those ponies. "Still, well done."
"Thank you, Ma'am." Shining had a wry smile, and his face challenged Cadance's in terms of pinkness.
"You're family now. It's alright to call me Grandma." Celestia smiled more warmly than Blueblood had ever seen her smile in his presence. "Just don't say it in front of the guards, or we'll never hear the end of it," she said as she giggled to herself.
"I would prefer the term 'granny', however." Everypony looked to Luna with confusion. "Think about it: 'Granny Luna'. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" They conceded it did roll off the tongue.
"May we get back to how I'm not related to Auntie Celestia?" Everypony then looked forward, toward the former prince whose life had been shattered.
"I'm sorry Blueblood, but what Twilight told you is, indeed, the truth. She and Shining Armor, not you, are the descendants of our foals.' She looked at him, and smiled. "Your family, while it is noble, never saw me marry into it. Nor were any foals they claimed were of Luna's line truly part of it. Our foals more preferred the laid-back, fun-loving, salt-of-the-earth, as opposed to the comparatively stuffy, boring, and wasteful nobles of the time."
She started to tell a story. "I remember this one guard Luna's daughter Starry Sky fell in love with. He was part of the same guard company as her, and they exchanged stories about who had the tougher job. Six months of dating in secret later, she invited him to meet the family. Needless to say, he was awestruck when he saw us in all our 'majestic glory'. The best part? The story she'd told him is that she had to guard the throne while both her Mother and her Aunt were right next to her." Celestia had been steadily losing her composure as she recited the story. She eventually started rolling on the carpeted floor, laughing like a madmare.
She regained her air of calm contentment. "Dearest Posey on the other hoof, fell for the caretaker of her gardens. She would fly her beloved up to the highest treetops to help her keep the top branches from becoming a bother. After that, they'd cuddle in a little alcove, and watch the animals that would skitter about the treetops. I don't know how many times I found them napping in each other's embrace as I walked through the garden."
"It seems our foals took after us more than we thought, Sister." Luna was crying tears of joy after hearing that story. She took out a handkerchief and blew into it with a rather unprincess-like HONK.
"Both of them went on to have three foals each. However, I have little information on what happened to them. I'll have to consult the charts." Celestia put a hoof to her chin.
Luna looked at Blueblood. "Unfortunately for you, Sister has suffered numerous indignities at your family's hooves. Most notable is your behavior. Examples would include your heavy drinking, the effects of which make you surprisingly spiteful and vitriolic, your catcalls, your terrorizing of the staff (some of whom fear you'll throw them from a balcony should they speak up), at both the palace and your mansion, not to mention the numerous counts of crass behavior with your dates, including the mistreatment of one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, who rid me of the Nightmare, on whom you also wasted an entire cake at the Gala." At that, Celestia looked mildly perturbed.
"Ah yes, I remember that Gala. Rarity, the mare you had taken as a date, called you the 'Most Uncharming Prince she's ever met' and that the only thing royal about you was that 'you are a royal pain'. She also related to me how you used her as a shield against a cake flying towards you. You did so because you'd 'Just had your coat cleaned'. A Proper gentlecolt would have used himself to shield his date against the projectile. If recall correctly, however, you got your just deserts." She snickered at the pun she'd made, then became very serious. "You're actually very lucky it was a cake you shielded against; had it been stone, you would very easily have broken her ribs, or worse. Then we'd be having this conversation in a very different location. You're also very lucky I decided to pay for her medical bills." Her anger reached it's zenith. "I can tolerate drinking. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't 'indulged' myself more than a fair amount. I can tolerate catcalling, provided the party in question apologizes if they cross a line. But when a 'Prince' just stands in the path of a projectile and pulls an equine shield in front of them instead of attempting to dodge it..." Celestia's eyes were like fireballs. "I sincerely hope this is just the first time you've done that. I will admit, while I should never have let your family associate with my name, they seemed harmless enough. These events, as well as your family's previous actions, have shown me your family will continue to degrade whilst their names are associated with mine." She calmed down a bit. "I shudder to think where that will lead."
Shining knew where this was going. "May I say it, Grandma?" Celestia nodded, anger cooling a bit at hearing Shining refer to her as family. "Blueblood, you are hereby stripped of your title of Prince, and any priveleges and rights provided therein, by order of Princesses Celestia and Luna of Equestria. May their reign be eternal," said Prince Shining Armor. "Not that you were technically a prince to begin with, but that felt good. No more Blueblood terrorizing my guys, or sending them on mead runs. And deifinitely no more 'Prince' terrorizing the citizens scot-free." Shining took a deep breath, and let out a sigh of contentment.
"I do believe this has gone on long enough," said the second, different Luna. "You would honestly think this is how the meeting would go? And 'Auntie' Luna? If you were descended from me, It would be Grandma Luna."
"This is a dream?" asked Blueblood with much shakiness still in his tone, his eyes filled with such fright.
"Most certainly. Tia, while not very pleased with your past actions, would not be this harsh to somepony whose life was destroyed by a lie told centuries ago, nevermind uprooting it if it served no purpose. Shall we move this discussion to the land of the waking?" Luna then disappeared. The world looked like it was melting, flowing down a drain, swirling as it went...
"Wait! What about... the.... lie?" He quickly realized Luna was gone. As the world melted, he nervously sang to himself, 'Night-mares are made of the-ese, Who am IIIII to dis-aaaa-gree-ee...'
Please write the reactions of all the elements and their families when they next meet. These are just comedy gold as far as I'm concerned.
It's a cute story. XD But I don't see where it would connect with the one I got going.. over the same Subject. XD Let's just see where it takes us.
4500759
That I shall. I'm grinning like the Cheshire Cat at the possibilities.
4503992
Just think of both as being true. Just different worlds. Like Marvel, or DC.
4504072 Valor is kinda a story in and of himself really. I'll try to get back to that story soon but i might have to copy paste to finish I guess XD.
4504078
Lets hope your story works out. If I can build up a tolerance to sadness, I'll give yours a read.
4504105 Well it's so far the Mushy cuteness ... leading up to the saddness. It's that last bit that's causeing me to Hitaus.
4504118
Having trouble making it sad? Unfortunately, I couldn't help you there.
4504163 Don't worry I got a Funny Seguel to it
Ouch. That was really painful to read.
No, not that quality! Heavens no. But the sheer glee at seeing them shatter his life before Blueblood's eyes felt mean. Especially the utterly trollish way they did it while decrying his failings. Like kicking a guy when he's down.
Sorry, I couldn't find it all that funny.
4504375
Sorry about that. I had intended for them to go on to more serious offences, but that felt like the mood be too dark. I don't do dark pony comedy. Although, I might have by accident.
My opinion falls in line with 4504375 .
It felt almost out of place to me. Just... "let's not explore the actual impact on the characters, just kick Blueblood", that's funny. It is not badly written, but I can hardly imagine Celestia being gleeful about hurting any one of her subjects, even him. Strangely, I just got the vibe of not owing up to it from her. "Oh, that one guy that is not charming? Pfffffft, not related."
4504400
Maybe it's just me. I like the character and sometimes get frustrated at the utter vitriol he's often dealt. Maybe I'm biased here.
Even so, after seeing a grown stallion reduced to tears after hearing his life is a lie... And then telling him that not only he's unworthy of being part of their family, but his whole lineage always had been... And then kicking him out, and kicking him in general...
Addendum: That might be one of the problems. We're told about what Blueblood supposedly did, but we can clearly see Celestia et al act.
4504437
Good point. Well, it is an Alternate Universe, so perhaps Celestia simply has a far meaner streak here..?
this seems quite unnecessarily cruel to blueblood, i mean the guy seems shocked that his entire lineage is a lie and yet celestia just responds by making a joke at his expense and allowing quite the physical harm to come to him
4504437
Think how this has been going on for 900 years, due to Celestia's eternal hope that her subjects will continue to improve themselves. Blueblood, unfortunately for him, finally proved her wrong.
Edite: Also, Cake or not, is was large and it was likely very heavy. if it were a piece of metal, would he use somepony to protect him from that as well?
4504439
It is entirely possible some of my vitriol for the character bled into the writing. Although I figure Celestia thought Cadance was just gonna kick him, not... that. I might remove that part.
Edit: I am removing that part.
I have to agree with
4504439
4504437
These two... Personally, I have no hate of the character, simply wanting to explore what makes Blueblood... Blueblood... He's hated for something that was equally Rarity's fault for forgetting her development and becoming a gold-digger...
I'm not saying he's justified, but I have my own bias for the character... and that, if he hadn't been related in some manner, Celestia would have already cleared it up, and not so cruelly as to just say 'yeah, your life is a lie, fuck you, go die'.
Blueblood aside, that any version of any character would behave like this to ANYONE is jaw-droppingly cringe-worthy. I mean, part of this motivation for tearing him down is stated to be his entire line... oh, by that logic, Cadance, let's lock you in the MOON for 1,000 years, since your dear Granny nearly brought eternal night and caused the entire death of Equestria.
4504629
4505254
From the way this chapter played out, I see it more, much to my own disgust at self for imagining this is what will be written, Blueblood commiting suicide in the asylum and everyone basically saying 'it's Blueblood, who gives a fuck?'... Yeah, I liked the previous chapter, not this one. Sorry.
4616638
I inadvertently let some of my vitriol for this guy slip in to the story. Never read a Blueblood-as-a-villain story while you write.
This is a testament to that.
4616648 I sincerely hope that next chapter clears up some issues and lets him develop.
4616655
Sure, I can do that with the next work.
He won't be a prince, but I can try squeezing in another vignette.
4616662 so long as The Princesses and Shining are called out on their heavy-handed and biased BS, and he's not insta-paired with Rarity or Trixie, because I especially doubt he'd go to any friends of the Princesses after they tore apart his life and told him to gtfo, I'll be a happy reader... But far be it for me to dictate your stories.
4616693
I can definitely say he won't wanna pair up with Rarity, and Trixie is nowhere near either county.
And I can most definitely say the Royalty will apologize to him.
4616705 okay then.
On that note, my OT-Crack-P... GildaXBlueblood.
Edit: Also, please no instant forgiveness, they really hurt him.
Hm... I dunno why, perhaps it's my bias, but the added content feels too... minor. Minuscule.
4618877
I'm still working.
Third chapter in the works.
4618879 but it says complete.
4618894
Hehe. fixed.
This is what happens when you don't hit save.
4618907 Indeed.
... *pause* Sorry our PM conversation made you feel like you needed to edit it.
4618924
Actually, you'd given me the impetus to finally institute the modifications to the story I'd been wanting to make.
... Traveled the world, and the seven seas; everypony's lookin' for somethin'. Some of them want to use you. Some of them want to be a-bused. Some of them want to use you. Some of them want to be a-bused...
Why does Blueblood get the shit end of the stick??