Hi there. I'm Prince Helio. Let me tell you a story…
As usual, I woke up to the skillfully crafted morning sky my sister makes.
"Good morning, Helio! Do you really still need others to get you out of bed and to get you to remove the stars?" my other sister, Luna, teased me as I groggily climbed out of bed.
"No, Luna. I'll handle the stars in a minute. Maybe after breakfast…" I grumbled. I then walked to an open area of the room to put my armor on. "I'm still only fifteen. Cut me some slack."
"No, you're getting to the stars, now." she commanded. "Now, let's get some light in here." As she opened the curtains, I hissed at the presence of light.
As I finished collecting my armor, I cast my signature spell. But then I noticed something missing, something very important to me.
"Oh no, where's Totsuka-no-Tsurugi?! Luna, I swear, if you did anything to it, I swear on each and every god of this planet-"I began my threat.
"Helio," Luna shouted to shut me up, which it did quite well, though I kept eying her suspiciously. "Your staff is just fine. Tia has it. She's in the Dining Hall." she assured me, opening the door.
"Oooh, I love you, but I'm going to kill you if anything happened to Ten-Fist!" I warned my sister, eyeing her suspiciously. "Wait, where's your armor? Luna, we've got the negotiation at the Draconic Empire today! Suit up!" she giggled at me as if I had said something stupid.
"Little bro, the negotiation is tomorrow. You know, Helio, I would think a fifteen year old prince would be able to keep track of his own schedule." She teased. Now I began to get irritated.
"What, Why didn't you tell me that earlier?!" I nearly shouted.
"Well," she began, "as I had said, I thought you had known already."
"Fine, then. If you need me," I grunted as I took off my armor, "I'll be at the dining hall." I then stormed downstairs to retrieve my staff.
"Good morning, Helio." Tia greeted me as I entered. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes I did. Thank you for asking." My expression then dropped to one of seriousness. "Down to business, where's Totsuka-no-Tsurugi?" her expression underwent the same changes as mine.
"My apologies Helio, but I must deny your request." Tia replied, using her regal wording. "Whenever you get ahold of that one staff, you practice your astral magic until you black out from starvation or exhaustion. Now, sit down with me and eat your breakfast."
Okay, let me fill you in on the whole 'astral magic' stuff. I, as an alicorn, can invent any spell that pops into my head. With this power, I have decided to make a series of spells that incorporate cosmic or symbolically cosmic traits. The only way that anypony else can learn these spells and be able to use them, including other alicorns, is by the creator of the spell itself transmits the spell into your internal magic supply. As a result, there are certain ponies capable of magic conjuring who created a brotherhood of followers that worship only me, and not my sisters. They use their direct loyalty as an offer where, in turn, I make appearances at meetings and teach a select few all of my astral spells, which I attend occasionally. I am not the only one of my sisters who has one of these groups; both of my sisters have their own spells based off of their Sun and Moon. The reason I practice it so much is because I want to have more magical power and skill than my sisters, because I don't surpass them in anything important.
Anyway…
"Wait, Helio? Where's your armor? Helio, we have a negotiation today at the Draconic Empire! Breakfast will have to wait. Go get your armor, now!" I was still a bit irritated by Luna earlier, but I kept a lax face.
"Tia, the treaty negotiation is tomorrow. I made the same mistake. But then Luna…" I trailed off just before I heard Luna laugh villainously. "By the stars, Luna," She entered the dining hall dramatically. I growled as I shoved past her to recollect my armor.
"What's your problem, dearest brother?" she teased me. Right then, I let loose on her.
"Really?!" I yelled. "You woke me up in a very assertive manner, teased me about it, lied to me, teased me some more about what you had just lied to me about, and now are gloating about it, using my dismay as comedy relief! What do you think is wrong?!" she remained in place with her eyes pointing towards the ground. Tia gave a light chuckle, which I replied to with a glare.
"What?" she asked with a face of surprise.
"I am being rushed this way and that way to get ready for the negotiation as is, then Luna gets this great idea to stall my process by lying to me, and now you're using it for entertainment as the middle mare with a front row seat!" she stared at the ground in guilt. "Sorry, sis," I turned to Luna and looked her in the eye, which was still directed at her hooves. "As for you, Moon Cheese," she winced at the nick-name I use to scold her. "You need to learn how to treat me with more respect, right after you learn to grow up! You're not a filly anymore, you're a grown mare, now act like one! You are twice as powerful and old as me, yet I am the one who has to keep your behavior in check!" she began to tear up. I began to regret scolding her so harshly. I sighed and placed my hoof on her shoulder to calm her down – by the way, her shoulder is very hard for me to reach. "Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you the way I did, really. I just, well," I sighed once more, "I need to keep everything in order so I can stay sane. If one thing slips out of place, my brain begins to malfunction. I then have to double check that nothing else is awry, and that process can be time consuming. So, when I found out you lied to me, I, well, I didn't think it was as funny as you and Tia found it." I held my forelegs up for a hug. "Hug?" I suggested. She just kept her focus on the floor, but her expression seemed to lighten up a bit. "How about before my hind legs give out on me? What do you say, Luna? Come on, you know you want to." She put her forelegs up and walked towards me to accept my hug.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled into my mane. "I was just trying to have a bit of fun, but I guess I got carried away."
"It's okay, hugs make everything better." I said into her shoulder.
"Pardon me, but, what is going on?" Celestia's secretary, Gleam, asked with concern. "Prince Helio? Princess Luna? Are you alright? Is Luna crying?" Tia just gave a light chuckle.
"Yes, everything is just fine, Gleam. You look quite lovely this morning! How are you?"
She smiled warmly at the complement. "Why thank you, Princess! I am doing well today. However, I don't think Heartshade's morning has been as good as mine has. He seemed stressed about something, but I can't get him to talk to me."
Luna pulled her head out of my mane to face Gleam and to dry her eyes. "Really?" she asked, confused. Gleam nodded to ensure her. "I'm going to go see what happened. I hope it's nothing bad…"
"Well of course you hope nothing bad happened to your dearest Heartshade! Even if you didn't care about the guard that accidentally impaled himself with a spear during morning practices last week." Score one for me!
"No, I just want to make sure my friend isn't hurt!" she snapped back. My turn, now.
"Don't think I haven't noticed the way you look at him, or the way your posture suddenly becomes flawless when you see him, or how your voice drops two octaves whenever he's within earshot." The score is now 2-0, my favor. "Not to mention, when you asked to go to the ball with him – on professional terms, of course – he denied and told you it was because he didn't know how to dance. Funny how you didn't ask anypony else, professionally or otherwise." I now lead by three points.
"Well," she began both angry and embarrassed, "have you asked anypony to the ball at all, Helio?" by saying that, she set up her own trap.
"Yes, actually, I have. I asked Crimson Blaze, and unlike Heartshade, she can dance. Plus, she is very beautiful and said yes when I asked her. She even agreed to accompany me for the rest of the Gala." She stood there, awestruck. 4-0!
"W-wow, Good job, little bro1 I'm proud of you!" she had apparently moved from being argumentative to being a kiss-ass. "I mean, I knew Blaze had a little 'thing' for you, and I'm sure Tia can agree with me on that, but I didn't think you liked her back. Anyway, I still have to go check up on Heart. So, I'll see you later!"
"Wait, Luna," Tia stopped our sister, "what about breakfast?" but by then, our sister was already halfway down the hall. Tia sighed. "That sister of yours, Helio…"
Before I pass it off to Luna, let me fill you in on Heartshade. He's a good stallion. Luna first met him at a local market. He would guard stands from theft or any other potential crime for free. Because Luna saw honorable traits in him, she offered him the position of the assistant commander of the Celestial Armada, but he declined because he thought nopony else would take up his responsibility if he left. She assured him that she would find a proper replacement for him. He was nearly convinced, but claimed that he would only accept if he also could be her personal bodyguard, which Luna accepted.
Heart and I became good friends very quickly. Sometimes, I think he might have a crush on Luna. But hey, what do I know? I'm only fifteen.
Perspective Change-
Princess Luna
Because I wanted to go check up on Heart, I decided to visit his quarters. I stopped a few paces short of the door when I heard his voice. I looked at the door to notice that it was slightly ajar. I decided to poke my head in and caught him in the middle of… something.
"One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three – wha?!" He stumbled and fell face-first into his wardrobe. I gasped and ran over to help him up.
"Are you okay, Heart?! What were you doing? Say 'nothing', and I'll lock you in here and melt the doorknob." Oh my gosh, my voice does drop when I talk to him!
He took a deep breath as he regained his posture. "You caught me. I was trying to learn to dance in time for the Gala so I could ask you to go with me and I could dance with you." When he admitted this, I hugged him tightly. As I did, he tensed, but I could feel him start to ease up and hug me back.
"That was really sweet of you, but you just had to ask me to teach you how to dance! I would have been more than happy to help you if it meant I could accompany you to the Gala."
He glanced at me with guilt before asking a logical question. "But, don't you have more important matters to attend to besides a dance lesson? I thought of that and decided to take matters into my own hooves."
I took a moment to think. "Well, we have the treaty negotiation this afternoon, but most everything else can be rescheduled. Wait, how did you learn the steps to dance? You didn't know them already, you don't have any books that tell you how, and the library has been closed since the day before I asked you to the Gala, thanks to Helio's great idea with the armadillo, wagon wheel, and chess piece." He grinned at the mention of the library incident.
"Yeah, I was with Helio when he did that. You got a fun little bro. Say, did anypony find that armadillo? I remember him releasing it, the a few seconds later, Bookworm, the librarian, screamed and then shrieked 'why is there an armadillo with a chess piece in its ass running around in my library?!', then it was gone after about five minutes of mass chaos."
I gave it some thought. "I don't think it ever was found. Oh my, Helio…"
"Anyway, Crimson Blaze, an ex of mine, is now teaching me how to dance. I think you've met Crimson Blaze, right?" I gave him a puzzled look, "Huh, I could've sworn you have met her before." As he finished, I came back to reality.
"Actually, I have met Blaze before. I was just confused by why you said she was your ex. When were you two dating? How long were you two dating? Why didn't you tell me you two ever dated? What broke you two up? I swear, if Helio did something, I'll make his death quick." He gave me a very concerned look, either for his friend's safety, or for his own. "I promise."
"N-no. Helio didn't do anything to break us up." I pondered for a slight bit then came up with a scary idea.
"Oh no, did I accidentally do something to break you two up? I only asked you if I could join you for the Gala, not a date, right?"
"Well, maybe to you it isn't, but, if it isn't a date, it's about as close as you can get to one. Blaze found out you asked me and thought that I declined solely because I can't dance, and thought that if I could dance, I would've said yes. She didn't want to be dating me if I was with another mare because, despite the polygamy law, she felt like she would be competing for my attention. Then, because of that, she left me" I gasped. "Yeah, and before I could tell her what actually happened, Helio asked her. So, I changed my game plan and told her anyway. She understood what happened. She said that if I still felt for her, she would tell Helio and go to the Gala with me. I said no because I wanted to go with you instead, plus I wanted Helio to be happy. She insisted that she still wanted to do something for me anyway, so I asked her to teach me to dance."
"Wow," I said, impressed by his sacrifice, "I'm sorry you had to do that. I didn't know. I swear, if I had known about you and Blaze, I wouldn't have asked you to the Gala, and none of this would've happened."
Heart chuckled and looked at me with a grin. "Yeah, this is all your fault." I gawked at him, surprised by how rude his comment was. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be learning to dance, I wouldn't be dating you, you wouldn't have fallen for me, Helio wouldn't be happy because he wouldn't have a mare to go with him to the Gala, heck, your social life would be so small, you would still be asking Chop for crustless toast with a chocolate spread for breakfast every morning. So yeah, I think it's safe to say that it was all your fault that everypony's lives are perfect."
We began to stare at each other as we sat atop his bed. I began to get lost in his amber eyes and then slowly leaned towards him. He seemed to be in the same trance I was in, as he too began to lean forward. Then our faces were about half of an inch away from the others and then…
Well, one must not 'kiss and tell'…