"These will be your rooms for the time you will be staying here," Kibitz said, watching as Prince Haakim and the two guards who accompanied his group looked inside the three luxurious bedrooms in the guest wing of the Canterlot Palace.
"Is this my bedroom?" Vizier Jafar walked into the bedroom, his eyes looking over the expensive drapes on the window, the soft pillows on the bed, and the comfortable chair in the corner of the room. "I don't remember buying this closet." The old Unicorn mumbled as one of the guards followed him inside, giving the other delegates an apologetic smile as he tried to rein in the old Unicorn.
"These rooms are wonderful," Prince Haakim quickly turned back to Kibitz, giving him a thankful look. "Is there anything we should know before we settle our belongings?" His eyes motioned to three nearby maids, who all held a small mountain of suitcases on their backs. He gave them an apologetic smile before returning his focus to the old butler.
"Yes," Kibitz began, "Your rooms each house-" Haakim zoned out the Equestrian Unicorn as he began to babble about boring things that didn't interest him that much.
"-And finally, some of our guards will come to pick you up in thirty minutes so you can begin your trip." Kibitz told him, "Please do enjoy your stay in Equestria, and do make yourself at home~" And with those parting words, the Majordomo of Canterlot Castle left the Saddle Arabian delegates at their rooms, the maids that accompanied him taking the delegates belongings and placing them in their respective rooms before leaving as well.
Haakim entered his room, thanked the staff of the castle, and closed the door behind him.
He let out a sigh of exhaustion, his eyes moving to look at the large bed, almost mesmerizing him with its softness, trying to lull him into its fluffy embrace.
"Maybe a short nap would do me some good~" Haakim thought to himself as he placed one of his hooves on the bed, feeling its texture, his eyes closing as he imagined how comfortable he could be right now.
Only to have to open his eyes as the door to his room burst open, a tall pink pony with a wavy purple mane loudly entered his room, glaring at everything in her sight, as if the lamp near the bedside table personally offended her.
"Can you believe him?!" Princess Amira asked loudly as she looked at her brother.
"I understand that our rooms back home are more fanciful but-"
"Not the rooms, you idiot!" Amira interrupted her brother, who quickly shut his mouth and remained silent, not wishing to interrupt his sister, "The Prince!"
"..." Haakim stayed quiet, only to open his mouth and speak once he saw his sister glare at him, "What about the prince is unbelievable?"
"You- Do you not remember it either?!" She asked incredulously.
"Of course I remember!" Haakim lied in order to avoid his sister's wrath, "I can't believe you would insinuate I would forget!"
Haakim had no idea what was making his sister so angry, and he did not want to know. As long as the next two-and-a-half days go through with no more incidents, He can be on his way to Maretonia without the press writing any crazy stories about him or his family.
"Good, in that case, you can understand why I'm so mad at him." Amira nodded, her glare letting up as she began to calm down.
"Of course I do, you're angry at him because of-" Haakim racked his mind in search of the answer, only to find absolutely nothing, "-the thing he did."
"Exactly!" Haakim let out a sigh of relief as Amira continued to speak.
"And he doesn't even seem apologetic in the slightest!" Amira complained, "It's as if what he did was so minuscule and unimportant to him, it's as if- as if- GAH! I just want to slap him again!"
"But you can ignore it for the rest of our visit, right?" Haakim asked his sister, only to once more close his mouth shut as she turned to glare at him.
"Ignore it? Are you crazy?! I'm going to get back at him! Tenfold at the least!" Amira proclaimed before she turned around and exited his room, returning to her own room, presumably to plan for whatever it is that she must do in order to get back at Prince Blueblood.
Haakim felt his shoulders sagging as he sat down on the bed, giving himself a moment to relax from-
"Hey! Wake up, you lazy bum!"
Prince Haakim opened his eyes, tired and annoyed, to see his sister looking down at him.
"We're leaving to go visit some famous art museum here, get up!"
Haakim already felt that it was a mistake to allow his sister to come on this trip with him.
With a tired sigh, the prince of Saddle Arabia got up, quickly entered the bathroom to wash his face, and exited his room. Trying his best to act as if he didn't want to go back to sleep.
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Starlight Glimmer sat at the front of a flying carriage, beside the driver, as four Pegasi Royal Guards hooked themselves up to the carriage.
Next to her head rested a small window to the inside of the carriage, where her Boss, his adoptive Mom, and the two Saddle Arabian Royals sat.
In a nearby carriage, the two Saddle Arabian guards sat with the old Arabian Unicorn, prepared to follow the royal carriage as they made their way into the sky, only to swiftly come back to land at the Canterlot Museum of Art, which was empty of visitors and swarming with Royal Guards.
For the first time in what might be months, Starlight Glimmer had to do her job and take it seriously. Last time something like this happened, the train they rode on got attacked by Changelings.
As a red carpet rolled out from the Museum and towards the carriage, Starlight could already feel a headache start to form. The flashing cameras from the journalists and photographers who stood aside behind a barrier only served to heighten her headache as she got off the carriage, moved to the door, and opened it, letting Princess Celestia walk out first, a charming smile on her face as she got off the barrier, giving room for Prince Blueblood to walk after her and stand by her side, allowing Prince Haakim to get out after before finally letting Princess Amira walk out, a sea of flashes following as the four royals made their way towards the Museum, leaving Starlight and the carriage behind before they moved out of the way to give Vizier Jafar's following carriage the room.
Indeed, for the first time in a long while, Starlight Glimmer had to do her job.
And as she watched Princess Amira try to put her leg in front of Blueblood in an attempt to trip him, only to somehow trip herself, just to be caught by the Prince, Starlight knew that the next two days would be long and arduous.
Still beat serving 30 years in prison though, so she won't complain too much.
She'll still complain, just not too much.
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Omake: The BBF's Newest Empoyee.
Stepping off a train onto the half-built train station in the Crystal Empire, a certain Unicorn took a deep breath as he prepared to start his new job.
He struggled to find a job after finishing university, most employers looking for ponies with his qualifications also want them to be able to put them into practice.
And as much knowledge and scholarly information about magic that he accrued, if he's unable to put them into practical use, he's basically just a walking library. And no pony wants to hire a library when they could just go to the library for free.
But when he learned that the Blueblood Foundation opened up a branch in the Crystal Empire, helping the Crystal Ponies rebuild the damages caused by King Sombra, all the while bringing the city up to modern standards, he knew that this was something he could be useful for.
He took the interview, got accepted, and got sent to the Crystal Empire. Now he had to find the pony in charge of operations here so they could direct him to where he'll be staying.
"Excuse me, can I ask you some-" He tried to get some workers attention, only to be ignored as they made their way across the station carrying wagons of construction equipment behind them.
"I just need directions to-" He tried to ask some nearby ponies who didn't seem to be doing anything, only to be told to leave them alone during their break.
"I'm sorry, may I ask where-" He approached a Minotaur wearing a hard hat and bright yellow and blue overalls, only for the large bipedal creature to loudly interrupt him.
"You one of the new guys?!" The Minotaur asked over the sound of construction, "Go talk to Iron Nail! Why are you bothering the workers?!"
"Oh- I didn't know where-" The Unicorn tried to explain himself.
"Did you not read the pamphlet you were given before being sent here?!" The Minotaur raised his voice as the sound of drilling increased in volume, "It explains everything you need to do!"
"Oh!" The Unicorn quickly took out the piece of paper he was given when he got this job, and read it again, finding no signs of what he was supposed to do after he got to the Crystal Empire.
"OTHER SIDE!" The Minotaur yelled as he picked up a nearby jackhammer and began to walk away, "And get out of here already! You're blocking the path!"
The Unicorn widened his eyes as he quickly made his way outside of the half-constructed train station, apologizing to every creature he came across, before he turned the pamphlet around and felt his heart crack as he noticed that it had more words on the other side.
Wiping away the tears that threatened to escape, the Unicorn quickly picked himself back up and began to make his way towards the meeting place written on the pamphlet.
It was a large warehouse, constructed quickly as a temporary living place for the Blueblood Foundation Employees and a local headquarters for the managers to store their belongings and use as an office.
He walked inside the warehouse, revealing a lobby with a front desk in front of three doors.
One door leads to the male living space, one to the female living space, and one to the manager's office.
"Are you Employee C2175?" A Donkey sitting at the front desk asked him as he locked eyes with him.
"Ah- My name is-" The Unicorn tried to introduce himself.
"On the pamphlet you were given, are you C2175 or not?" The Donkey interrupted him.
"Just a sec-" The Unicorn told him before he gave him the pamphlet, watching the Donkey read the piece of paper before he passed him a keycard.
"This keycard is your identification here, You will need it to enter and exit the living quarters, and to sign in and out when you begin and finish your work day. This first one is on the company, but if you lose it and require a new one, the cost will be deducted from your paycheck." The Donkey explained to him as he took the keycard and wrapped it around his neck like a necklace, "Your bed has your new uniform on it, and below your bed, there's a chest to keep any personal belongings you brought with you." The Donkey raised his hoof and pointed at the door that had an image of a blue arrow on it.
"Thank you-" He tried to thank the Donkey, only for the Donkey to continue talking.
"Once your belongings are placed and your uniform is on, come back here to talk with Iron Nails to get your first assignment." The Donkey said lazily.
"Of course, I'll-" The Unicorn was once more interrupted by the Donkey.
"Thank you once again for choosing the Blueblood Foundation as your place of employment..."
"...I'll just go and..." The Unicorn began to walk towards the male living quarters, ignoring the lazy stare the Donkey was giving him.
Entering the doors, he found himself staring at a large open area that took up almost half of the warehouse's interior, knowing that behind the wall on his right stood the other half of the warehouse, where the mares slept.
To his left, against the outer walls of the warehouse, were lined many beds of shapes and sizes fit for any creature that could be working for the BBF. Beneath each bed was a medium-sized chest with a magical lock that connected to their assigned keycard.
He made his way down the rows of beds, before he reached the one with his worker ID on it.
Bed number C2175.
Unlike the many beds he passed on the way here, this one, and many of the ones that he sees up ahead, were clean and well-kept, as nopony had used them yet. On top of his bed was a plastic bag with a few sets of his new uniform.
He opened the chest beneath his bed with the keycard he was given, and put the belongings he brought from home inside. Mostly just pictures, books, and clothes.
Putting on his new BBF Uniform, he watched the doors at the end of the warehouse, on the other side of the building from where he entered, open up as a Pegasus walked out, his mane wet and his uniform folded on his back. Noting to himself that the doors there lead to a bathroom.
"Oh, hey, you're one of the new guys, right?" The Pegasus stopped beside him and asked.
"Yes, I'm-" The Unicorn tried to introduce himself, only to get interrupted once more.
"I see you're on team-C? Good luck bro, I heard those guys hate working here, even though they have probably the most important work here~" The Pegasus chuckled for a moment, "Anyway, nice to meet you, I'm Curly Wind, Me and my coltfriend Wiz Kid are in team-B with the construction crew working on the new apartment buildings, so don't worry about sleeping here in the warehouse, it's a temporary thing~" The light blue Pegasus waved his wing as if to tell the unicorn not to worry about it.
"Nice to meet you," He smiled at Curly Wind, "It seems I'm on team-C, even though I don't know what we're doing~" The Unicorn chuckled for a moment.
"My name is Sunburst. It's a pleasure to be working here!"