The Bloodless Blue Skies Affair: A Novel Incident In The Historie Of Equestria

[Night Sky 870]

The Bloodless Blue Skies Affair

A Novel Incident In The Historie Of Equestria

The Bloodless Blue Skies Affair is a dramatic, curious and above all, an unjustly overlooked footnote in the history of Equestria. Call it a somewhat humorous near miss. It occurred during in the epoch of the Mane 6 which humans often refer to as Season 6. This was a halcyon time, even by Equestrian standards. The Crystal Empire had had two years to readjust under the caring and effective rule of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor. The changelings had seemingly been repelled and contained to the south, and Tirek had been returned to Tartarus. The new infiltrations and invasion by the changelings and the Storm King were yet to come. Anything that passed for a problem during this time was quickly addressed by the Mane 6. The EUP Guards were at least entertaining the idea of increasing security, even if that only meant watching the borders and the royal family just a little bit more closely.

Against this most serene backdrop, a long brewing upheaval threatened to given rise to an all out insurrection, or possibly even a civil war.

Prince Blueblood is justly remembered as a flippant fop, a spoiled and entitled play pony and something of a goof. It is considered bad manners in Equestria to remember that he was somehow a relation of Princess Celestia. And for this reason, there most certainly was a time in his life when Prince Blueblood absolutely did regard himself as a legitimate pretender to the throne.

With an eye to further legitimizing his claim, he had attempted to court the Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, whom he mistakenly regarded as the heiress apparent. It is considered even worse manners to bring up this part of the story, but we may put it simply that Princess Cadence scorned his advances. Princess Celestia, and probably his own relatives, in addition to various influential voices in Canterlot society had all quietly yanked on his chain. Polite history would have you believe it had ended there. In point of fact, Prince Blueblood was left seething by his perceived humiliation.

He had a vast amount of real wealth, as well as intangible social capital, plus many valuable investments and NFT’s. He was technically a prince of the blood, even if it had now been clarified to him that he was most certainly not in line for the succession. However, Prince Blueblood was not yet ready to relinquish his dream of ascending to the throne. Both Princess Celestia and his family were aware of his agony, but there did not seem to be an easy way forward. Despite his wealth, Prince Blueblood was hardly an attractive match for most noble pony princesses.

This impasse ultimately had the effect of galvanizing Prince Blueblood into attempting to realize his ambitions. It was no comfort at all to Prince Blueblood that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor would also not ascend to the throne of Canterlot. They had been installed as Princess and Prince of the Crystal Empire, under the suzerainty of Canterlot and Princess Celestia. In a human monarchy they might be compared to an Archduchess and Archduke. Who then would would reign in Canterlot? Of course, Princess Celestia remained infuriatingly opaque on the matter. The discussion was quite simply off limits. Certainly not her younger sister Princess Luna, who had spent a thousand years in exile as an enemy of the realm. Who then?

In one of the few moments of decisiveness in his entire life, Prince Blueblood decided not to wait, he would act, take matters into his own hooves and present his great aunt with a fait accompli. He had no supporters within his own immediate or extended family, indeed quite the opposite. Therefore, feigning that he was in need of a vacation to cool off and broaden his horizons, Prince Blueblood set off on an extended jaunt all the way down Equestria’s eastern seaboard. He further announced that it was his intention create and supervise a pan-Equestrian soccer buck league, free to play and open to all. His real intent was to gather unto himself every single malcontent, republican or criminal pony he could find. These could then be sorted into cohesive and capable companies under the umbrella of the sports organization.

Soccer buck, despite its name, actually more closely resembles the game humans know as croquet. And by this point, it was regarded as an obsolescent past time that even conservative Canterlot society might have raised a rye eyebrow at.

Needless to say, Princess Celestia was in no way fooled by her erstwhile nephew’s ploy. The Secret Section of the EUP Guards had been keeping an eye on Prince Blueblood, since there had already been a couple of roof raisers in the halls of Canterlot Castle. But keeping an eye on Prince Blueblood would no longer be enough, nor was it likely that he could be quelled by words alone. It would be necessary to take real steps to checkmate him ahead of time.

Princess Celestia summoned her younger sister, Princess Luna. In the feigned interest of continuing her reintegration into the fabric of the Kingdom, Princess Celestia created her sister the Duchess of Cloudsdale, and awarded her a dazzling endowment of gold to go along with the title. It was Princess Celestia’s hope that her sister would take all reasonable steps to see to the betterment and further prosperity of Equestria’s skies, however she saw fit to do so. As a matter of fact, Princess Luna had several very good ideas about how to honor her elder sister’s wishes.

Meanwhile, Prince Blueblood was feeling a confidence and a sense of power as he had never felt either before. There were pockets of hostile outliers near Rainbow Falls and Hollow Shades, and small bands of republican separatists on Trottingham Island. The cities of Manehattan, Filidelphia and Baltimare all hosted sizable cadres of republican, separatist, anarchist or socialist ponies. The frontier towns of Dodge City and Appleloosa were home to many pioneer ponies who were highly independent, but somewhat confused in their politics. Prince Blueblood knew that he had to be careful though, Appleloosa was effectively a holding of the Apple Clan in all but name, and he absolutely could not risk rumors of his agitations reaching Applejack’s ears in Ponyville.

The mayors and city councils of the eastern cities were not close friends of Princess Celestia, or the EUP Guards, especially not the Secret Section. Neither would they ever be so foolish as to get mixed up in high jinks such as those Prince Blueblood was now preparing, nor were they much inclined to intrude upon or unduly harass his comings and goings.

Everywhere he went, Prince Blueblood seemed to attract willing recruits to his cause, while the organization’s growing membership generated good press in the media, and was sparking interest among investors. That money could come in handy. Prince Blueblood was quickly discovering that raising an army was an expensive hobby. There plenty of ponies joining up who had no idea what the soccer buck league actually was, and that did present a problem. But Prince Blueblood was already assigning ranks and creating a halfway cogent command structure among his followers, and as yet secrecy had seemingly been maintained.

Mining and manufacturing contracts with the Diamond Dogs would produce slings, and rocks to be slung. Limited numbers of excellently crafted lances had been purchased from the yaks, and similarly inadequate stocks of javelins and darts had been acquired from several griffin merchants. There would not be many opportunities to train large numbers of ponies together, and a lot of contraband would have to be kept hidden. Equipping and supplying his followers like a regular army which could go toe to toe in a protracted campaign against the EUP Guards seemed unrealistic, even to Prince Blueblood. This would therefore have to be a putsch, fast, devastating and precisely sprung upon Canterlot without any warning.

Prince Blueblood seriously considered seeking out Queen Chrysalis and asking for changeling support, but he ultimately decided against it. The Changelings could only be unreliable allies at best. But perhaps more value could be extracted by painting them as the insidious others who must be defeated at all costs. A war against the changelings, requiring the service of every single pony in Equestria, was likely the only way Prince Blueblood was really going to be able to hang on to power, once he had acquired it.

All of these tentative musings about the future of Equestria had been withheld from all but his closest and most trusted followers. Prince Blueblood understood that the vast majority of ponies he was now recruiting were not expecting to replace a liberal monarch with a hardcore absolutist.

Once they had served their purpose, they would need to be brought to heel, or liquidated. But only if Prince Blueblood could convince the EUP Guards that he was the lesser of two evils. He would present them with a crisis first, and then win over their loyalty as he led Equestria through a glorious war with the changelings. A war which would be entirely of his own making.

Princess Luna had pocketed one eighth part of the endowment for Cloudsdale that her sister had bestowed upon her. She therefore bought herself out of the process, under certain terms and conditions. Another three-eighths part of the gold was turned directly over to the city hall of Cloudsdale, to be used as their conscience dictated, for the good of the city and its surrounding environs. This was a substantial investment, and all of Cloudsdale rejoiced. The weather factory always required expensive maintenance and upgrades. The stone facades of the city needed a certain amount of care, and several new public works projects could now be seen through to completion.

As for the remaining half of the endowment, Princess Luna abruptly abdicated as Duchess with the wish that the duchy be devolved into a march. The title of Marquess would be bestowed upon a candidate that she, her sister and the citizens of Cloudsdale could all agree was fit to govern. Princess Celestia assented and once again, the citizens of of Cloudsdale rejoined.

Cloudsdale’s elevation to a march was still a great advancement and honor. And this way, all the other counties of the kingdom would now have less cause to be bitter or jealous than they might have had if Cloudsdale had truly became become a duchy. Better still, the new lord would be one of their own, not some fancied Canterlot Pegasus who may never have even seen Cloudsdale before.

Princess Luna had reserved the right to advance a candidate first. She nominated Night Sky. He was a Cloudsdale native, and came from a semi-noble family who had lived there since before anyone could remember. He was a sworn retainer of Princess Luna, and his family had served the Canterlot regime for centuries. Night Sky’s ancestors had served Princess Luna before the years of her exile. During her time on the moon, they had sworn fealty to Princess Celestia and continued to look after the nighttime skies as a founding clan of the EUP Guards.

Night Sky’s father, the Great Aurorus and his wife the Widow Albeda had been especially decorated servants of Princess Celestia. She had eventually appointed the Great Aurorus as High Steward of the Skies of Equestria, a very high level position which he held for a few years towards the end of his life. When the Great Aurorus died, it widely agreed that he had worked himself to death in the service of all Equestria. The Widow Albeda had retired to Cloudsdale, and in her old age she kept busy as a philanthropist. She was widely regarded as one of Cloudsdale’s most beloved citizens.

Both Night Sky and his sister Penumbra had followed the family tradition of serving in the EUP Guards, though Penumbra had only served for a few years before retiring to a low key private life in Cloudsdale. Night Sky had become a career officer in the EUP Guards and had found success. He had already achieved the rank of Major by the time of Princess Luna’s return from exile.

With Princess Celestia’s leave and blessing, he had renewed his family’s ancient oath of loyalty and service to Princess Luna, offering to follow her just as his ancestors had. Princess Luna was not at that time overwhelmed by ponies looking to serve her and she gratefully restored Night Sky to her service. Night Sky remained an active duty member of the EUP Guards and was promoted to Colonel by Princess Celestia.

Thus, Night Sky served both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, and his staunch loyalty to the Canterlot regime was much remarked upon. While Night Sky owned a condominium in Canterlot, and could often be found there as duty frequently required it, he always considered Cloudsdale to be his home. He never allowed himself to become a stranger to his beloved hometown. His family owned several impressive properties in Cloudsdale.

Night Sky had served for many years as a scout and deputy steward of the night time skies of Equestria. Patrols, surveys and training exercises, among other responsibilities required him to be all over the place for various reasons. His personal responsibilities to Princess Luna were said to be more sensitive and esoteric. And even though he was a pegasus and not a unicorn, there were rumors among some of his peers about Princess Luna’s powerful magic, and the possibility of secret rituals.

At this time there were also internal whispers within the lower and middle echelons of the EUP Guards regarding a secret base in the Crystal Mountains. And Night Sky’s name had repeatedly come up in connection with these vague notions. It was said that Princess Luna and Princess Celestia had sanctioned the development of some kind of magical construct, or vehicle, or device to protect Equestria from its enemies.

In order to place a bulwark between themselves and Prince Blueblood’s machinations, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna created Night Sky the 1st Marquess of the March of Cloudsdale. Further, he was promoted to the rank of General in the EUP Guards, one of only several. He was assigned to the position of Vice-Marshal for Princess Luna’s Own Formations of the EUP Guards. Thus he was in direct command of a sizable number of guards ponies.

To drive the point home, Princess Celestia came to an understanding with the current High Steward of the Skies of Equestria to retire in favor of Night Sky. Though his father had once held this title, it was not a hereditary appointment, but now it was bestowed upon Night Sky regardless.

Night Sky unhesitatingly accepted all of these great honors with his vow that though other ponies might now serve the realm under his command, that he himself remained nothing other than a humble servant, whose only priority was the good of all Equestria. Privately, he reeled. For Night Sky was already the human equivalent of perhaps 40 years of age. He knew well enough that Princess Celestia never took steps such as these except for very important reasons, and he steeled himself for what might come.

Yet again, Cloudsdale rejoiced, and this time the jubilation exceeded any celebration in recent memory. Night Sky was regarded as a perfectly serviceable choice. Other cities and noble ponies from all over Equestria fawned with somehow faint congratulations. Or grumbled listlessly, or else seemingly failed to take notice. Night Sky returned to Cloudsdale immediately, and established a headquarters and residency. But he maintained a constant line of contact with Canterlot Castle. As Princesses Celestia and Luna knew he would, he declared an elevated level of alertness for all of his march. All regional EUP units, as well as local town and fire watches were instructed to be extra vigilant.

Prince Blueblood became enraged upon hearing of these developments. An eyewitness spoke of smashed furniture and torn curtains. It was perfectly clear to Prince Blueblood what his great aunt had just accomplished. As Marquess, Night Sky did not just represent Cloudsdale and the Pegasi, he also represented Princess Celestia, the Canterlot regime, and ponies everywhere.

As a general of the EUP Guards, Night Sky would be legitimately able to act as a defender of the kingdom in an official capacity. His closeness to Princess Luna, as a sworn member of her household, and as commander of her units of the EUP only added both more authority, and an air of the mystical. At the same time, Night Sky was specifically not a rival claimant to the throne. Now, Princess Celestia would not herself have to act against Prince Blueblood. And if Night Sky were to do so, he would merely be doing his duty.

If Night Sky proved equal to consolidating his position, and seeing to it that his commands were obeyed, he could very easily become an impossible barrier between Prince Blueblood and the streets of Canterlot. Cloudsdale was not far away from either Canterlot or Ponyville. Princess Celestia had just created a loyal and courageous protector in the midst of her kingdom’s heartland.

Somepony else might have seen the writing on the wall and given up, but Prince Blueblood was now driven by some mixture of outrage, frustration and panic. He had surrounded himself only with the most obsequious and flattering yes-pony-nobodies. And now that he gave a most profoundly ill advised order, there were none who had the character to tell their Prince something he wouldn’t want to hear. Far sooner than expected, the master command was issued across the entire nascent network of the All Equestria Soccer Buck League’s messaging system.

“Your Prince turns homeward”

Prince Blueblood directed all who loved him to assemble at the northern edge of the southern desert, in a stretch of open country between Dodge City and Appleloosa. The plan was simple, having concentrated his forces at this point, Prince Blueblood intended to cross the river and proceed north. He had made arrangements with the Diamond Dogs for passage through the Rambling Rock Ridge. Thus he could bypass both Ponyville and Cloudsdale and strike Canterlot directly after one relatively brief march.

The turn out at his muster was underwhelming, if not exactly negligible. Prince Blueblood watched as a hodgepodge of losers and misfits gathered to support him. These included The Trottingham Republican Front, who sent sent some 200 ponies. The Trottingham Sovereign Fellowship had managed only 50 ponies. Perhaps 20 mountain ponies arrived from the hidden valleys near Rainbow Falls, they were tough stock but not numerous enough to matter. The Manehattan Worker Ponies Party sent the largest contingent with 300 ponies, some of whom believed that this would only be a protest, not an act of treason. The Filidelphia Commonwealth Society conjured up about 100 ponies. Various bad actors in Baltimare gathered up and sent 50 troublemakers. A theft ring from Hollow Shades showed up with a rag tag band of 25 ponies. Some 70 strange rangers from as far south as the Macintosh Hills and the Badlands drifted northwards to join up. Unfortunately some 150 ponies from the area in and around both Dodge City and Appleloosa arrived as well, including Apple cousins and even a few Apple Clan members. This rough assemblage totaled Prince Blueblood a field strength of something like 965 ponies, just barely above the strength of a single battalion.

Prince Blueblood’s troops were very poorly equipped, almost entirely untrained, disorderly in the extreme, and utterly impossible to govern. There could be no question of commanding these ponies, only of aiming them at Canterlot and keeping them fed and marching in the correct direction until the time came to wreak havoc on the streets of the capital.

At an expense that made him wince, Prince Blueblood was able to hire a company of 25 griffin mercenaries for air support. Not a fortnight after Night Sky had arrived triumphantly in Cloudsdale, Prince Blueblood’s army of flunkies marched on Canterlot. They crossed the river and made contact with sympathetic Diamond Dog guides without incident. The griffin mercenaries, the mules who had been hired as a baggage train, and even the caterers had all shown up on time. As the Pretender made his way across the Rambling Rock Ridge, he could even tell himself with some justification that so far, so good.

However, as he had feared they might be, and despite or because of the fact that some of them had even gone over to his side, the Apple Clan would indeed prove to be instrumental in the undoing of Prince Blueblood’s plot to steal the throne of Equestria.

A patriot group of perhaps 40 ponies of the Apple Clan boarded a train bound for Ponyville and asked the engineers to step on it. They sped northwards through the Froggy Bottom Bog, across the Ghastly Gorge and along the edge of the Everfree Forest, arriving in Ponyville long before the Pretender had completed his journey across the Rambling Rock Ridge. They found Ponyville almost entirely bereft of its famous heroines.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, Spike and Fluttershy were elsewhere on some errand, it is not known where, or with what matter they were occupied. Pinkie Pie was also away visiting with her family on the Rock Farm, far to the southeast. Rainbow Dash was attending a formation at the Wonderbolts Academy.

Applejack and Rarity had remained behind in Ponyville however, and upon being informed that Prince Blueblood was heading straight for Canterlot at the head of almost a thousand ponies, they did not hesitate to take action. Gabby Griffin was immediately dispatched to Canterlot to raise the alarm, and if given leave, to return with reinforcements.

Mayor Mare declared a state of emergency in Ponyville. Two companies of able bodied ponies were formed. One unit of approximately fifty Ponies would stay behind to protect Ponyville and make ready to support the logistics of any larger operations to come. A second smaller company of twenty five volunteers joined with the 40 Apple Claners, along with the very small EUP Guards detachment that quietly kept an eye out for Princess Twilight Sparkle. It was thus that Ponyville sent a force of approximately 70 ponies eastward in great haste, across Saddle Lake and into the general path of the Pretender’s battalion.

Applejack and Big Mac jointly led the Apple Clan patriots but only carried simple pitchforks. Rarity had long been altering a full set of EUP plate armor as a secret pet project. The armor segments had been elegantly trimmed, etched, burnished and polished to perfection. Rarity wore the armor and helm above a skirt of mail and a padded battle frock. She carried a flanged mace on a strap around her hind legs, and a long poleaxe which she slung across her back. This advance party’s objective was to catch sight of the Pretender’s battalion and if possible to harass or hamper his progress.

Gabby Griffin arrived in Canterlot with great speed, and was granted an audience with Princess Celestia after only a brief delay. Gabby was stunned by how unperturbed Her Majesty remained upon hearing of the Pretender’s boldness. Ten griffins had been present in Canterlot for various reasons on that particular day. Relations between the griffins and the ponies had been much improving of late, and a good deal of new amity had already been fostered. All ten griffins volunteered to defend Canterlot. For here was a chance to showcase their great strength to their new allies, and a valuable pretext by which they might strongly assert themselves within griffin society. Princess Celestia placed them all under Gabby’s command, and bid them proceed on to Cloudsdale, so as to warn the Marquess and to follow his orders from then on.

As Gabby departed at the head of her new wing of warriors, Princess Celestia quietly ordered the garrison of Canterlot to prepare for a siege. Some preparations and precautions had already been seen to ahead of time, in addition to other salutary measures taken in the aftermath of the recent changeling attack. Canterlot was far from unprepared, and Princess Celestia had not been caught off guard this time.

There were many veteran senior officers of the EUP Guards in Canterlot society, and perhaps fifty ponies stepped forward to sally down the mountain and try to catch sight of the Pretender’s advance, or perhaps to link up with the Ponyville contingent. Princess Celestia spared an additional fifty ponies from Canterlot’s garrison. And so, not long after Gabby Griffin’s arrival in Canterlot, one hundred highly experienced, highly loyal and excellently equipped ponies charged down the mountain in search of either their adversaries, or their allies.

Gabby Griffin and her fellow fliers arrived in Cloudsdale after a hurried, nonstop hustle from Canterlot. They were immediately admitted to the presence of the Marquess. There were fully fourteen more griffins present in Cloudsdale at that time, and once again every last one of them volunteered to face off against a lawless mercenary band of their own kind. The loyalists had now matched the Pretender in the number of their own griffins, though each of those who had volunteered to fight for Canterlot were probably equal to any three of the mercenaries fighting for the Pretender.

Now the Marquess’ moment had arrived, and he did not fail to seize it. He began to issue orders without delay. Nine tenths of Cloudsdale’s EUP garrison, plus half of its town watch would fly south to meet the Pretender and his rebels. The remaining personnel would maintain order and stay in contact with Canterlot. The Marquess took to the streets, asking every adult pony he came upon if they would help defend Princess Celestia and Canterlot? Would they lend their hooves and the hearts to save Cloudsdale and all of Equestria from the tyranny of the Pretender?

A throng of cheering Cloudsdale citizens followed the Marquess to the staging points at the edge of the clouds. In almost no time at all, the Marquess had mustered a total of perhaps five hundred ponies. About half of these were either EUP Guards or at least semi professional members of the town watch. The rest may have only been regular citizens, but they strongly felt no desire to see what might befall their new Marquess and their beloved city, should the Pretender prevail. So it was that five hundred ponies and twenty five griffins all dove over the edge Cloudsdale together, and headed southeast with urgent purpose.

Applejack had sent messengers aboard the very next northbound train from Ponyville. They had been instructed to spread the word in both Tall Tale and Vanhoover. They were then to undertake the longer journey to the Crystal Empire, to request aid from Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor.

It is remembered that upon hearing the news from the south, Grand Pear in Vanhoover sent word to both his brother and to a first cousin. The next southbound train to Ponyville was overloaded with volunteers, many of them Pear Claners. Once they arrived in Ponyville, they too rushed eastward, across Saddle Lake and straight to the front. This additional force numbered perhaps three hundred ponies. Some were EUP Guards who had secured leave from their superiors, others were town watch ponies, but many were just average Equestrians who meant to defend their Princess and their kingdom.

Prince Blueblood’s griffin mercenaries had scouted ahead thoroughly on their own initiative. Now they returned to him with reports that pony contingents were arriving from all directions and would be converging soon, directly between their current position and Canterlot.

So some pony had indeed blown their cover. Three most trying days in command of a small army had very quickly taught Prince Blueblood a few lessons. With more vehemence and force than his followers had thought him capable of, Prince Blueblood now ordered his followers to halt where they stood. They would form up correctly as instructed and they would maintain those formations, come what might. If they did not all wish to be thrown into Tartarus for the rest of their natural lives, they must defeat the loyalist army which was now forming up, just a few miles ahead of them.

Prince Blueblood’s words seemingly produced the desired results. His rabble did indeed shape itself into more contiguous units and was suddenly far less rowdy than they had been so far. Prince Blueblood congratulated himself on at last instilling something resembling discipline in his own ranks. He did not realize that he had succeeded only in terrifying his own followers, and that what now seemed like cohesion was in reality little more than cowering.

Due to superior motivation, skills and cooperation, all the loyalist elements were able to make contact and form up before the Pretender reached the northern tip of Rambling Rock Ridge. Therefore, the Marquess had sufficient time to organize and deploy his forces favorably on a lone hillock just south of the hills that lined the eastern shores of Saddle Lake. The Marquess had matched the pretender with griffins, and had slightly outnumbered him with ponies. The loyalist battalion now numbered nine hundred and seventy ponies against the pretender’s nine hundred and sixty five.

As he came up from the south and approached near to the hill, Prince Blueblood sent the Marquess a message. Upon his honor, Prince Blueblood pledged not to try anything clever but he suggested that they wait until dawn the following day to converge and decide the matter. The Marquess accepted the proposal, as most of his forces had traveled long and hard to reach the battlefield in time, and by now they were all quite exhausted. One decent night’s sleep for as many of them as possible could make all the difference. Both sides honored the agreement, and the night passed without incident. Griffins on both sides of the conflict kept watch and tried to discover any useful information.

At dawn the following day, Prince Blueblood stretched his lines thin, in order to try and match the length of the loyalist ranks. He then commanded his underlings to proceed to the foot of the hillock. The ascent would not be too long, but it was rather steep. To make matters worse, a three foot stone fence ran along most of the loyalist line, and it would have to be climbed over, if any bold charge were to be made.

What began as a somewhat tense stand off, quickly degenerated into a jeering and shouting match. The two armies now sought to mock, shame and intimidate, rather than to injure or kill. Applejack hurled remonstrations at her kin in the opposing army. Rarity paraded alone between the two armies, blaring at the rebels to disperse. Princess Twilight Sparkle had taught her a basic stun blast spell, and now Rarity rained it down upon the rebels, till at last she fell over in exhaustion and had to be carried from the field by the EUP Guards. Repeated spell casting and the weight of her armor in the summer heat had gotten the better of her that day. But Rarity had done her part without so much as a peep about the lack of basic conveniences on the battlefield. Insults, trash, filthy water, boos and hisses flew back and forth between the gathered combatants. The air was thick with offensive, but non lethal projectiles.

It made no sense for the Marquess to charge down the hill when the rebels could not advance towards their objective without coming up to meet him. Prince Blueblood walked up and down his own line aimlessly. He had not even donned any armor or picked up a weapon. And even after four hours he was yet to issue and commands or updates.

The scouting parties of both armies arrived back towards midday with exciting news. Las Pegasus was approaching on a gale force wind with reinforcements for the loyalists, perhaps an additional one hundred and fifty ponies.

Then word arrived that Princess Luna had spent the nighttime hours making all the elders of the eastern cities understand that their continued employment hinged upon their organizing an overwhelming and almighty response to their Princess’ call for aid. Now she was amassing a force of no less than one thousand ponies, just northeast of Canterlot.

Panic began to spread among the rebels. Some ran towards the loyalist line to stand down, while others turned around and fled back the way they had come. Prince Blueblood’s chief underlings demanded to know what his orders were. First they cursed his weakness, and then they threatened him if he did not make good on the situation. But then they all retreated in terror at the sight of the Marquess, Applejack and a freshly revived Rarity approaching. Prince Blueblood merely froze where he stood.

Lord Night Sky desired only to conclude the matter as reasonably and quickly as possible. Princess Luna would be arriving soon, and if matters had not already been settled, she would be assuming supreme command. Lord Night Sky asked Prince Blueblood to consider whether Princess Luna was the Alicorn he wanted to be negotiating with. Also, Lord Night Sky wanted there to be no confusion, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor were now well aware of all that had transpired so far. The Crystal Empire would be readying itself to come to Canterlot’s aid, probably with at least another thousand ponies, and perhaps several hundred Yak allies as well. Canterlot could summon the aid of five thousand ponies in time, if that became necessary.

However, as yet no actual violence had occurred, and it seemed less likely to occur with each passing moment. Lord Night Sky pointed out that it was not too late to come back from the brink. Therefore, Marquess suggested that the two armies escort each other back to Ponyville. From there, all ponies from both sides would return to their hometowns or regular duty stations. Lord Night Sky remained quite confident that a general pardon could be arranged for all those who had become mixed up in this regrettable misadventure. And further, the Marquess suggested that Prince Blueblood and he should travel together to Canterlot, so that they might speak to Princess Celestia.

Prince Blueblood mumbled his assent to the Marquess’ suggestions, and he visibly seemed to relax, as though from a great tension, or fear, or regret he had been struggling to contain and conceal.

He was therefore taken completely by surprise when Rarity smashed an entire pie into his face, which had been freshly baked by Sugarcube Corner in Ponyville for that exact purpose.

The aftermath was resolved quickly and to good effect. The two armies proceeded to Ponyville in short order and from there, they dispersed as agreed. Princess Celestia did indeed issue an official pardon to all ponies and griffins who had flocked to the Pretender’s banner. Even in Equestria it seemed like a miracle, but the entire affair had been resolved without a single act of actual violence between any two ponies or griffins.

All the naysayers, cranks, grouches and meanies who had rallied to Prince Blueblood’s cause now found themselves to be the object of some ridicule and pity, but there were no cruel reprisals.

Princess Celestia sent word to the Diamond Dogs that EUP patrols of the Rambling Rock Ridge would be tripled for the time being.

She also notified all the elders of the east coast that she expected them to work harder, and do better to ensure that no ponies in their cities were falling through the cracks, or becoming resentful towards the society in which they lived.

All ponies who had taken the field for the loyalist cause received a special medal, pin and certificate, minted by special royal order.

Princess Celestia also thanked Applejack and Rarity for their quick thinking and fast actions.

At the next Apple family reunion, a few private conversations were necessary, but it was overall a hoof lickin’, song singin’, smore smolderin’, grand old time, as always. Offering the first toast of the evening, Applejack reminded her relatives from the south that new ideas are not always better ideas, though they often end up being good enough for a laugh.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was livid to hear of what her former would-be suitor had attempted to do. But mainly, she was just relieved to hear that no ponies had come to blows or been harmed. Prince Shining Armor convened an EUP Guards Council in the Crystal Tower, to determine if similar pockets of discontent might be forming locally. The Council’s final report stated that a supra-majority of citizens in the Crystal Empire were happy and loyal, both to Princess Cadence and to Princess Celestia.

Lord Night Sky, 1^st Marquess of Cloudsdale was now one of the most powerful magnates in Equestria. Yet he always tried to remain approachable, and sought to keep his focus on making life better for every pony, both in Cloudsdale and beyond. Not long after the end of the Bloodless Blue Skies Affair, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor received the Marquess as their guest in the Crystal Empire. This state visit was officially made for the purpose of introducing the Marquess to Princess Flurry Heart, who seemed to take an instant liking to the Lord of Cloudsdale. But she must have understood that her parents and their guest were also having many other grown up discussions as well.

And as for Prince Blueblood? Princess Celestia could have thrown him into Tartarus as a traitor to the Kingdom. But since no pony had actually been harmed, she did something even worse and heartily laughed in her errant nephew’s face. The EUP Guards would never completely take their eyes off of him again, and he could expect the thrashing of a life time from his immediate family members who had been mortified and astonished by his actions.

Prince Blueblood’s disastrous doings had not exactly cost his family their position in Canterlot Society, but it would be a long time before they lived this one down. Even so, Prince Blueblood now had Princess Celestia’s leave to return to his wealthy and comfort filled life, as her loyal and obedient subject. Prince Blueblood’s pursed pronounced poutus protruded profoundly for a protracted period of time. But no pony took much notice, for that was not at all out of the ordinary, for haughty old Prince Blueblood.

 

Edited July 8 by Night Sky