Life is full of surprises
It is our job to make
Sure we are prepared

Because if we aren't
We could mess up everything


So the day came all the stable hands hated. Princess Weiss' birthday. They didn't hate it because of the Princess herself. They hated it because of the huge parade that always came with it.

It was early morning now and it was nothing but chaos. Stable hands ran every which way getting all the horses saddled up or harnessed to the carriages. Representatives of the King and Queen sat about making sure every little detail was right. To be truthful they were just in the way. All the stable hands knew exactly what they were doing and if the representatives would get out of their way it would go a lot faster. People Ruby had no idea who they were ran back and forth seemingly doing nothing. Ozpin was in the middle of the stable yard instructing his stable hands. In short chaos.

In the middle of this chaos no one seemed to noticed when the Queen arrived. No one except Ruby. Ruby, for some reason she wasn't sure about, ran to greet her.

"Your Majesty." Ruby said after she bowed.

"Ah Little Red. How are things coming along for the parade?" The Queen asked looking past Ruby at the mass chaos. "they seem a bit bad."

"Not at all, your Majesty. Things are coming along well. If you want I can show you to Ozpin, Ma'am." Ruby offered her this more so she could get back to work.

"That would be appreciated. I wish to speak to him."

Ruby bowed again before turning around. She began making her way to Ozpin making sure to stay out of the path of the rushing workers. Ruby finally made it to Ozpin.

"Stable Master. Her Majesty wishes a word with you." She said politely.

"Of course. What do you need, my Queen?" Ozpin said in his usual low voice.

Ruby found it interesting. Ozpin didn't seem to bend to the Queen like most people did. He stood firm and unmoving as if the presence of royalty didn't effect him at all. It was like the Queen to him was just any other person.

"Ozpin, are you sure this will be ready for the parade?"

"Yes it will, but if I may say your representatives are in the way of my stable hands. If they were gone it would go much more quickly, Your Majesty." Ozpin's tone was a respectful one, but there was annoyance seeping through.

"You know I can not do that Ozpin." The Queen said.

Ozpin didn't reply. He only stared at the Queen for a long moment. His gazed was matched by her's as she stared back at him. Then they both let out a small laugh.

"You are the same as always Ozpin." The Queen mused.

"As are you, Ma'am." Ozpin replied.

"Now I have another matter to talk to you about alone. Meet me in your office when you can." with that the Queen walked off to the stable yards tower.

Ruby was amazed at the conversation between the two, and Ozpin must have picked up on it. He spoke without turning to face her.

"I've known the King and Queen for a long time. Before either of them sat upon the throne. Those were much simpler times." His voice sounded strained. Like an old man telling a very old tell. It sounded almost wishful as if he wanted that time back.

"Well better not keep her waiting." He said as he made his way to the tower.

It was a surprise to hear Ozpin talk about his past. It was something he rarely did. Nevertheless Ruby couldn't focus on that now. She had work to do.


They were finally done. All the preparations were complete, and now all they had to do was wait for the Princess and King to arrive. Once they did they would set off for the parade. It normally took them all day to go through the entire city. Of course the only took the major roads, but it still took awhile. So the stable hands had some time to relax. Which is what all of them were doing. They all sat around in the stable hands quarters. The quarters was the towers basement.

"Why do they have to have a stupid parade for her birthday every year?" The blonde haired boy complained as he flopped on to his bed.

"Cause she's a princess, Vomit-boy. Plus her parents think she's the best thing in the world to ever happen." Yang groaned from her spot. She was on her bed hanging upside down.

"I'm with Vomit-boy on this one. It's to much work." Nora said. She wasn't on her bed like the rest of them. In fact she never made it to her bed. She was just laying face first in the middle of the room.

"Nora, please get off the floor." Ren said from his corner. The quiet boy was the only one to call Nora by her real name.

"No." was her simple reply.

"Well I for one think its nice that her parents go to such lengths to celebrate their daughter." The red haired amazon said.

"It's still to much work." Groaned Yang again. That was when she noticed the silence of the only member that hadn't yet spoken. "Hey, Red what do you think?"

Ruby was caught off guard. She hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. She had been deep in her own thoughts.

"I don't know." Ruby mumbled.

"What where you thinking about?" Yang caught on quick why she wasn't paying attention.

"Nothing. I just went blank for a minute." Ruby quickly tried to cover it up. If she admitted that she was thinking about the princess it would end in embarrassment.

"Thinking about someone weren't you, Red?" Yang's devilish grin was plastered on her face.

"N-no I wasn't." Ruby's stutter told it all.

Yang had caught it. Ruby had caught it. They all caught it. It was over for pure Little Red. Standing up Yang walked over to her sister, threw her arm around her, and grinned.

"So who was it? Was it one of the extras that were down at the stables today? Or is it that cute boy down at the market? Or is it Shadow or Vomit-boy?" Yang's face suddenly got serious. "It's not them is it, because Vomit-boy's got Amazon and Shadow and Pancakes are together."

"We're not together-together." Nora said from the floor.

"No. No. It's not them." Ruby said. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Pyrrha physically relax.

"Then it is the cute boy down at the market! what's his name again? Neptune or something like that."

"No its not him either." Ruby was trying to delay it. Trying to find a good excuse or way out. However, there simply wasn't one. She knew Yang would list ever single person in the kingdom before she gave up.

"Then who?" Yang exclaimed.

Ruby mumbled something not loud enough for anyone to hear her.

"Who? Red you gotta speak up."

"The Princess." Ruby said again.

Everybody in the room was dead silent. They were shocked for multiply reasons. First, Ruby was thinking about the princess while she was nothing but a stable hand. Second, They weren't quite sure if Ruby just admitted she was gay or not.

The silence was almost killing Ruby. She began to shift uncomfortably with everyone's eyes on her. It was Yang who reacted first. Giving her a big hug and smiling.

"So that's why you were never interested in Neptune." Yang said. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I didn't know how any of you would react." Ruby said returning the hug.

"Red, did you really think we would care?" Ren said appearing beside them.

"Shadow is right. Have we ever gave you the impression that we would stop being your friends cause of it?" Pyrrha said walking up to stand next to them.

"None of you mind?" Ruby asked. everyone one shook their head no.

"See Rubes. Nothing to be afraid of." Yang said.

"Indeed, Your sister is right Little Red." A voice said from the doorway.

Everyone turned to see Ozpin.

"We live in a very understanding kingdom. The majority of the people here would not care about your preference. Including the King and Queen." Ozpin paused a moment then continued. "Now Little Red I must speak to you in my office." Without another word he disappear.

Everyone shared a concerned look. No one knew what he wanted of course, but the last time he call someone to his office like that was when Mercury got booted back out on to the streets. Not wanting to waste time Ruby set off after him.

When she made it to his office she noticed it was smaller then she had imagined. It had a simple desk in the middle with a couple bookshelves. The stable master himself sat behind the desk.

"Little Red, do you like working here as one of my stable hands?" Ozpin's voice gave away nothing.

"Of course, sir." Ruby was slightly worried where this was going. It didn't sound good.

"Is there any other job you would rather do?" He eyed her suspiciously.

"Truthfully sir, I would rather be a knight. My father was a part of the city guard and he use to tell me all sorts of stories about them. I always wanted to be just like them. I begged him to teach me how to use a sword." Ruby's voice caught in her throat. Talking about her parents was always difficult.

"But you know women are not allowed to become knights." Ozpin said.

"Yes I do. That is why I am here. I love the horses and the people I work with. I can't imagine doing anything else now." It was true. Ruby may have only worked as a stable hand for little over a year, but that was all she could imagine doing now.

"Ruby, I like you. You are one of the best stable hands I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. That is why I will remind you of the warning that I gave you once you first arrived. You can negotiate with the King. You may be able to convince the Princess. However, never say no to the Queen." Ozpin's voice was serious. More serious then Ruby had ever heard it. It was almost terrifying.

"Of course, sir." Was all Ruby managed.

"You may go. I don't want to take up anymore of your time." Ozpin said.

Quietly Ruby left the room. She didn't hear what Ozpin said next.

"Because soon you won't have much time for even yourself."


Ruby Raced down the tower steps. Almost running into two people on the way down. She had never heard Ozpin sound like that, and why did he decide now to remind her of that warning? Well it didn't matter now. Ruby just wanted to get back and tell the others nothing bad happen.

When she returned to the stable hands quarters everyone was waiting for her.

"Red what happen?" Most of them said as soon as they saw her.

"Nothing bad happen guys. Ozpin just wanted to talk." Ruby explained most of what happened. She purposefully left out the warning.

"Well alright if it wasn't anything bad. I thing we should all just relax until the parade comes back around." Yang said happily. Everyone agreed.


It was almost sun down before the parade was finished. As soon as they got back the stable hands set to work. Getting everything back in order after the parade was no where near the chaos of that morning. Plus no one was in their way so it went much faster.

They unsaddled the horses, put each of them back in their stables, and move the carriages off to their correct spots as well. It was well past sun down before they where finished. Even with it being faster it still took time.

Once they were done all of them retired to the quarters. Except for Ruby. She stayed up a while longer thinking about what Ozpin said. The way he spoke was an ill omen. She didn't like it one bit.

"You didn't tell us everything Ozpin said did you?" Yang said behind Ruby. Of course Yang would come look for her.

Ruby only shook her head.

"What did he say that's bothering you?"

"It's not what he said. Its how he said it. I've never heard him so serious." Ruby reply her voice low.

"Hey don't worry about it now little sis. Let's go to bed." Yang put her arm around Ruby and led her back to the tower.


The next day was considerably better. Working kept her from thinking to much and nothing exciting happened. That was until someone spotted the Queen walking down from the castle. Pyrrha was the one that went to greet her. After a very short conversation the Queen went to the tower to talk to Ozpin.

It was an hour before she came out, and instead of going back to the castle she walked to where Ruby was working.

"Hello again, Little Red." The Queen said as she approached.

"Your Majesty." Ruby said as she gave a low bow.

"I get straight to the point of why I am here. I want to offer you a job." She paused for Ruby.

"A job, Ma'am?"

"Yes. My daughter is in desperate need of a new personal servant. I would like that to be you." The Queen didn't give her time to respond this time. "it will be much better pay then working here."

Ruby thought back to last night, and what Ozpin had just reminded her. Never say no to the Queen.

"I would have to talk to Oz-"

"I already have. He is completely okay with it." The Queen cut Ruby off.

So that's what it was all about. Ruby really saw no other choice. She just nodded her head yes.

"Excellent. Let us go." The Queen turned on her heel and began making her way to the castle with Ruby in tow.

All the other stable hands gave her looks of amazement and confusion. All she could do was shrug and follow The Queen up to the castle.

As they approached the castle Ruby couldn't help but wonder what she had gotten herself into.


Holy crap, I can't believe the amount of support this story has gotten already. Thank you guys so much.

So here is chapter two I really hope you guys enjoyed it, and except to see chapter three pretty soon. Like within a day or two. All the support is really making want to write so much more of this story.

And for those wondering about the update schedule for this let me just say I will update it as often as I can. It will most likely just be once or twice a week depending on how much time I get. Thank y'all again for all of the support and reviews.

Until the darkness comes.
-Roctan