[PRP - loyalty] Worth the work [Royal We & Damselfly]

[Biblioburro]

Royal was never much of an adventurer. Adventure usually translated to hooves covered in muck and sleeping anywhere that wasn't his own warm bed. He preferred to wander the city and peer into store windows, so he hardly spent any of his time out in good ol' mother nature like a young pony should. This likely would have been a continued trend were it not for an impressionable young pony getting a little too much book learnin'. He was still so young, the world was new to him and the nuances of written language was something he was still getting a hold of. So when his book said that precious stones could be found in caves, he took that to mean that they would be found.

It was with single-minded determination that he darted through his home, peering in through every doorway for at least someone. Anyone.

"Mom! Dad!" Looked like parental figures were a bust, normally he liked it like that, plenty of time to walk around in too-big clothes or wear his father's crown but did they have to be gone in his time of need? Neither Lance nor Dragonfly were home either, likely on their own adventures. Without him. Which meant he had no other choice.

"Damsel, are you home?"

Luafien

 

[Luafien]

A soft crash from the girl's room signified that yes, someone was home. The soft hiccup of a whimper that followed pegged it soley on Damselfly. There was much shuffling, another little crash, before the girl's room door gently swung open, owlish gray eyes peering out, glassy from the threat of welling tears.

"I'm here," as if it could have been anyone else knocking over the row of dolls and then sniffling over it, "Do you need something?" At least she was smiling again at the sight of her brother, all current woes set aside for the much more pleasant prospect of... doing whatever it was that Royal We wanted to do! Damselfly was not very good at realizing how little patience her brother had for her.  

[Biblioburro]

Dolls. Always with the dolls. It was just one more thing that set his teeth on edge when it came to his sister. The tears, the dolls, the meek attitude, they all fused into a horrible, shambling mess of a social interaction.

But something was better than nothing, and that something was going to be dragged out of her room for sibling-enforced 'bonding time'.

"You hit the nail on the head. See Sugarpea, you and me? We're about to embark on an epic journey together. A wondrous adventure in search for treasure, with me as the handsome captain, and you as my trusty first mate. Just one quick hike up into the mountains is all I ask, and then... I guess we'll do whatever boring thing you want." He waved the last part away dismissively, as it was clearly an afterthought.  

[Luafien]

On the other hoof, Royal We was amazing in Damsel's big fond grey eyeballs. He was cool and trendy and never cried even a little bit when finding out that swans can be gay, or that the cookies dad brought home were the best cookies ever. Very natural for such a woebegotten filly to light right up at all those promising words. And then promptly looked mildly confused.

"I thought captains and first mates went on boats, not up mountains," She questioned slowly, as if sounding out the idea as she spoke it. Not that she knew anything about boats. Or mountains, for that matter, much less hiking up one. But she'd puff out her little chest and assume that, as ever, Royal We knew what he was talking about, and that he literally wasn't shitting out some hairbrained idea based on conjecture. Damsel has far too much faith in the wrong foals.  

[Biblioburro]

Royal was fairly certain that her tear ducts were hotwired to her heart, if they felt the slightest twinge of an emotion the waterworks would start up and try to drown them all. He had even picked up the habit of carrying a handkerchief around whenever he was with her in a vain attempt to protect them from the flood hazard.

"Shhhhh shhh shhh sh shhhhh shhh." His hooves squished her cheeks affectionately, to effectively shut her up. "My sweet, darling Sugarpea. My lovely little princess. My precious little dumpling. This is not a discussion of semantics. Boats, mountains, it hardly matters. We're out for riches and glory, surely we can be allowed a few flubs in our vocabulary in the process." Poor silly Damsel, she really ought to learn one day that her brother was possibly not the best person for her to be putting her trust and adoration into. He might even possibly be the worst. His only saving grace was that deep down underneeth the bratty personality and uncomfortable attitude toward her, he did actually love his sister. Deep deep deep down.  

[Luafien]

And Damselfly believed in that deep deep deep down place with all of her fragile little heard, gray eyes owlishly staring at her brother as she listened to his ramble entirely enraptured.

"I don't know most of what you said, but I believe in you!" She crowed the best she could with her face oddly smooshed as it was, hooves reaching up to squish Royal's cheeks in return. "I want glory!" She sniffled, mouth pinching in a vain attempt to keep her tear ducts from activating again, flooding her eyes and threatening to drip down.

"You'll be the best captain! And I'll be your first mate. And it's going to be s-s-s-so m-much f-f-f-fuuuun!" She cried, arms slipping around Royal to hug him ferociously. He didn't often come to her to play... or ever come to her to play. It's perfectly reasonable to be a little overwhelmed at the shocking new development in their tender and beautiful sibling relationship.

Biblioburro

 

[Biblioburro]

"As you should." He pat her cheeks affectionately, but the storm was brewing and he had no umbrella. Without even starting on their adventure he had already been caught under the unfeeling torrent of his sister's tears. Might as well go dunk his head in the sea while he was at it, because the night wasn't going to end without the stiff saltwater feeling clinging to his scalp.

"Alright, I didn't think I would have to do this but as your captain I'm enacting an adventure rule. No crybabies. If you're going to be my first mate you have to be tough. Adventures are tough, hardened. I can't be a prettyboy and you can't be a crybaby. Thems the rules." He was serious. He had even tied his hair up in a bun for maximum protection. It was an adventure bun, and so it didn't at all grate him to his very core that it was unstyled, and that he looked like a tightass librarian. He just... loved it. So much.

The point was if he could grit his teeth through his own miserable looking hair and (gag) pouches, then she could suck it up enough only to cry half of the time, at most.

Luafien

 

[Luafien]

Already far too into the mood of the adventure yet-to-start, Damselfly pinched her face, cheeks sucked in hard as if she could pull back her tears into her eyeballs. She quickly scrubbed her face with her foreleg, removing any trace that she'd been three seconds away from drenching her brother with tears of pride and happiness.

"Y-yes ca-captain!" She squeaked out, soft little voice yelping in the effort to keep contained. Little Damsel was trying so dang hard, bless her.

"I'll get dressed, too!" The distraction is what she needed to calm down, the filly turning to sift through her pretty princess pink dresses for the most adventure-appropriate gear. The best she had was a glittery purple fanny pack and a neon orange safety vest that their mom got her after Damselfly spent a whole night crying after getting lost in the park.

Needles to say, Damselfly has very little innate fashion sense, her little neon-orange and glittery-purple ensemble capped off with a headlamp flashlight and fur-trimmed booties. Faux fur, of course. Pink faux fur.

Biblioburro

 

[Biblioburro]

And so Damsel shined mercy down upon poor little Royal, sparing him and all of phony land from a flood of legend. Which was great, since Royal had neither the skill nor the mettle to craft an ark.

And just like that, Damsel rescinded her kindness, replacing it with even greater cruelty. Royal's eyes hurt from having to look at her, his heart hurt from being related. The larges wound of all was knowing deep down that their beautiful, lovely mother was responsible in at least some fashion for this travesty. Long ago he accepted that there was no fixing his sister's fashion sense, but that didn't make the pain go away.

"Damsel." He gathered her up into a hug, gently petting her poor, innocent, bewildering little head. "I- I just love you... So much." It was a gentle reminder to himself. He had no time to burn her wardrobe, now was for adventure, and small atrocities could be overlooked in the name of love and adventure. Royal could be an adult and accept his sister for the walking disaster she was. Or at least he could try his damnedest.

"Now you and me are going on an adventure!" A very ill advised one, which he would learn very quickly.

Luafien

 

[Luafien]

The filly smiled into the hug, squeezing her brother back as tightly as she could while she whispered an 'I love you' in return. She really has just the best family ever and forever. She had no idea why Royal has never been this openly affectionate with her before? Perhaps it was simply fate. Or something. Damsel didn't know how fairy tales were supposed to work other than 'it turns out good in the end!' So what could go wrong?

Absolutely nothing.

It was even a great day for adventuring! Damselfly started signing the instant they stepped outside- and opposed to a sense of fashion or the ability to keep tears inside her body, she was actually a pretty damn good singer. Which really isn't saying much, considering their entire race is musically-inclined, but she did have the misfortune of only singing songs from cartoons. Mostly, classic-age Disney.

Royal We was going to hear at least eight renditions of 'Once Upon A Dream' on their adventure.

Biblioburro

 

[Biblioburro]

BOY HE SURE DID LOVE HIS SISTER! HE LOVED HER SO VERY MUCH! Such a shame it was becoming a little less true every time he heard so much as a hint of 'I know you, I walked with you once upon a-" GOD DAMMIT!

Sleeping Beauty was quickly banned, followed by Snow White and Cinderella. He was sure she'd eventually burn her way through the whole Disney catalog and would have to eventually find new material.

Good thing it took all of his energy not to push his 'beloved' sister into a ravine where he didn't have to hear her anymore, so he didn't have any left to gripe all the way to their destination. But great googly moogly did he want to. The map had made it look like a short trot away, which in retrospect was almost incredibly dumb. So very, very dumb. So at least Royal was pretty, because apparently that was all he had going for himself.

After about an hour of their trek he had reluctantly accepted his fate and turned Damsel's little solo into a duet. It was one of the first signs of the night that he had gone mad.

Luafien

 

[Luafien]

It was a pretty long walk.... but Damsel didn't mind! In fact, she was having a very good time! The day was perfect, cloudy just enough so the sun wasn't blazing down too hotly, the trees around them shady enough to keep them cool. Thanks to her excellent booties, she has yet to get a single pebble lodged in her hooves or a chip to her pedicure. Her fanny pack was also an excellent source of crackers when they had an impromptu snack time, too.

Oh! And then there was all the friends she's made! She'd met three bunnies, four squirrels, and a whole host of small songbirds, and all of them were lovely and they would be fast friends. The butterflies were also nice, but unfortunately a little harder to befriend considering their short, short lifespans.

The best thing though, the best, is when Royal We decided to stop banning movie soundtracks and join her instead. Which was nice, because she was on Aladdin now and it's hard to do 'A Whole New World' solo.

Biblioburro

 

[Biblioburro]

It was official. He was in a Disney movie. This was his life now. He had become the wacky sidekick to his sister's antics, which was outright unjust. He was pretty enough to be a prince, dammit!

Regret was a feeling Royal was quite familiar with. Like that month he thought he could bring back ruffled shirts. All photos of that time period had since been destroyed, and family forbidden from daring to even mention that misstep. Him and regret have been inseparable since birth. Just right now he was feeling it a little more than usual.

At least they sounded fantastic. It was a small condolence through one of the worst decisions he'd ever made.

It was an absolute blessing when they finally managed to reach the base. Shame there was apparently a running theme in his life of great things being followed by some angry spirit coming to piss on his cornflakes. So joy of joys, they reached their destination, except mountains were tall. Taller than Royal really expected. He couldn't even see the summit through the cloud cover. Good thing he was stubborn and vindictive enough to take this as a challenge.

Luafien

 

[Luafien]

"-now he's dear, and so-oooooh that's..." Damselfly cut her own song off, gray eyes going wide as she stared up at the same mountain that her brother was, apparently, going to climb. With her. They were going to climb that together. They must have been walking all day by now! Her little hooved feet were starting to hurt inside of her little booties and they hadn't even gone up the mountain yet. It certainly looked very daunting to such a tiny filly.

"Hey, wait for me!" Well, Royal seemed to know what he was doing. Which was a good thing! She could trust him, even though she had some misgivings about this operation. She panted as she caught up to him, headlamp a little askew on her head but still in-place.

"This is a pretty big mountain." She said, purely conversationally, and not at all because she was hoping that he'd bestow unto her some of his plans for how they'd be getting up there to... find whatever it was they were looking for. She didn't remember what they were after, or if her brother had even shared with her what they were trying to do on this adventure.

Biblioburro

 

[Biblioburro]

She wasn't the only one with misgivings. Royal was starting to really wonder just how wise this whole adventure was, and whether or not it would just be easier to call it a wash and walk home. Would their siblings let him live down that his very first ever adventure, was more of a hike than anything else? Would Damsel? He looked into those big, trusting eyes, and his resolution solidified. Damsel may forgive him, but he didn't think she would look at him with the same adoration as she used to.

For the sake of protecting the tenuous thread of affection that connected the two of them, Royal did what had to be done. He lied through his teeth.

"It's not that big. Besiiiiides, we're not going to climb to the top. You and me are just about to fly around and hunt for the closest cave. See, the caves closer to the ground have the most jewels. We'll be done in no time, then we can fly home and watch tangled for the millionth time in a pile of our loot. It'll be easy." Royal was just as exhausted as she was, his chest hurt and it was a struggle not to puff and wheeze between words. He didn't really do sports or anything of the like after all, he was unprepared for all this. But if he kept a smile on, and pretended that everything was alright, Damsel wouldn't question him. "Ah! Look, over there! I think I see a cave! Our adventure is already taking off." There was no cave, but Royal hoped that if he flew fast enough he could spot something before her. If they even found one jewel it would salvage this whole mess.

Luafien