Chapter 2
Lancer looked at himself at the mirror still stunned with the revelation of his true self. Rich earth pony? Try an alicorn prince! The Autobots were right; he is indeed a prince. Lancer lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. Bright Eyes was explaining the situation to his friends, and Princess Celestia was explaining the situation to his…
Lancer wasn’t sure what to call them anymore...they weren’t really his parents… yet they were the ones who took care of him... Well, when they weren’t working anyway… Maybe ‘acquaintances’ was the correct term... Maybe… But then, were there any ties that gave Celestia a reason to choose them?
“Lancer,” the voice of a little filly asked.
Lancer looked up and saw his young sister, Sky Dancer. She was a white pegasus with a pink mane and tail. She was wearing a cute pink dress and white shoes.
Lancer half grinned. “Hey, how are you doing Miss Sky?”
“Okay...but why are you a Princess?”
Lancer laughed at his sister’s mix-up. “I think you mean prince.”
“But you have wings, Prince Comet and Prince Shining don’t.”
“You forgot Prince Blueblood.”
“He’s a jerkface.”
Another laugh. “Anyway, the reason why is because they were born unicorns. I was born an alicorn.”
“But Mommy and Daddy are earth ponies.”
“That didn’t stop you from being a pegasus.”
“Oh yeah.”
“But the reason why I am an alicorn is because they aren’t my parents, I was born from a different family.”
“Were they a prince and princess?
Lancer sighed. “Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about that now.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can barely understand this myself.”
"So...I'm not your sister?"
“Biologically, no, but...” Lancer suddenly picks her up and practically puts her on the bed. It didn’t end there as he began tickling her ribs, resulting in a fit of laughter.. "I love you like my sister."
When Lancer finished tickling Sky, and Sky stopped laughing, she gave her brother a big hug. “I love you, Lancer.”
“I love you too, Sky Dancer.”
******
Outside, the others were receiving the news of Lancer’s revelation. As one would expect, everyone was shocked, Teddy and Ace most of all.
After several moments of silence, Sweetheart asked. "Will he move to Canterlot?"
“I think thats up to him to decide,” Bright Eyes said,” It’s likely, but who knows? He might surprise us.”
“But why would he not want to move there,” Melody asked. “I mean, he is a prince. He’s be living the dream over there.”
"But what about us?" Bon Bon asked.
“Oh yeah…”
“Besides,” Patch said with a smirk on her face, “I know one of his friends would really miss him.”
Bright Eyes blushed.
"Lay off, Patch." Ace snapped, "How would you like it if Garuda left?"
Now it was Patch’s turn to blush. “Well at least we plan to go to the same college.”
Almost as if on cue, Garuda landed right behind her. "Hey guys. What's going on?"
Patch immediately turned around. “Garuda!” She immediately hugged him.
"Wow. What brought this on? Not that I'm complaining." He hugged her back.
“Something about you leaving,” Ace said.
“Well of course we’re leaving. It’s pretty much the best way to go to college.”
Patch frowned at Garuda. "I don't want to think about that... I don't want to leave you, got that?"
“Hey, you’re coming with me, thus the pronoun ‘we’. What’s gotten into you guys?”
“Well… We found out that Lancer is an alicorn prince.”
"Oh...wow. That's...different. Wish I had been here earlier..."
"We were just wondering if he was going to leave."
"Why on earth would he do that?"
“Because of the fact that he’s a prince.”
"Yeah. But he'd be a lonely prince."
“I know,” Bright Eyes said. “Trust me, he wouldn’t be alone on that.”
"Well... I think he'll stay here. ‘Specially for you, Bright Eyes." Garuda grinned.
“Yeah, I- HEY! Really?!”
"What?"
“Patch teased me about it just a minute before you showed up. And now you’re doing the same thing.”
“Heh. Who knew.”
Bumblebee couldn’t help but laugh at the squabble. "Is this what you call a 'romantic comedy'?"
Garuda looked at the yellow camaro. “Did that car just talk?”
“Um… Beep! Beep!”
"Okay, Uh…”
“Garuda, this is Bumblebee,” Patch said, “Bumblebee, this is my boyfriend, Garuda.”
“You two aren’t going to kiss right here, are you?”
“Geez, you too?” Melody asked.
"What?" Garuda asked.
“Long story,” Melody replied, “but it was very embarrassing when one of them called me out for kissing Resonance.”
“Actually, I kissed you,” Resonance commented.
“Well..." Melody quickly kissed Resonance on the lips.
"AH!!! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!”
Everyone laughed at Bumblebee’s reaction just as Lancer walked out holding Sky Dancer’s hand.
"Well, glad to see someone's having fun," Lancer commented.
Everyone looked at Lancer. His new horn and wings immediately caught everyone’s attention. No one knew what it was about the horn and wings, but it made him look more… regal. There was no question that he was royalty.
Lancer could see all of the stares, something that he knew that he’d have to get used to. He took a deep breath and walked up to Bright Eyes. "So...what do you think?"
“I think you look very handsome with the new wings and horn,” Bright Eyes said, “they suit you well.”
“Thank you. So what are you guys talking about?”
"Kissing and talking cars, apparently." Garuda replied.
“That and whether or not you’re going to leave since you found out that you’re a… you know,” Bright Eyes added.
“Oh. Well, I still have those college plans. Kinda hard to do that and leave.”
"But what about after that?"
“I’m not ready for that. At least not yet anyway.”
"Well... Whatever you do, I'll support you 100%." Bright Eyes said.
“That goes double for me,” Garuda added. “Besides, you know where to find me if you need a personal body guard.”
Lancer chuckled, “Are you sure Patch wouldn’t mind?”
“I wouldn’t if the prince demands,” Patch said giving a playful curtsy.
"And just give a call if you ever want music for the Grand Galloping Gala." Melody followed Patch's lead and curtseyed.
"Thanks guys," Lancer grinned, "It means a lot."
“Don’t mention it,” Garuda said, “So which family were you born from? Celestia’s? Cadence’s? Blueblood’s?”
“Luna’s.”
“Wait… You mean…”
Lancer nods, “My mom is currently Nightmare Moon.”
"Well...that stinks." Garuda noted.
“Yeah… That pretty much explains why Celestia brought me here, especially after my dad… well…”
"What?”
“After he committed suicide.”
"...Ouch... That stinks..."
“Yeah, it does.”
"So...guess no one wants the root beer I brought, huh?"
Lancer gave Garuda a strange look.
"What? I'm thirsty."
Lancer rolled his eyes in amusement. "Have you guys eaten yet?"
"No..." Bright Eyes confesses, "But I'm really not hungry."
"I don't think any of us are." Clover said.
"Yeah..." Garuda drank some of his root beer.
"Well...my mom made some sub sandwiches...they're in the kitchen if anyone wants one."
"Oh...okay..." Bright Eyes replied.
“And Melody, if you and Resonance want to set up in the back yard, you’re more than welcome to.”
"Well...I don't think I could..." Melody admitted.
"Me either..." Resonance confessed.
“Oh?”
"Yeah... I think we're both recovering from the news..."
“Ah. I see. Okay then. But remember, I’m still the Lancer you know. Just with wings and a horn.”
“We know...it's just a lot to take in..."
“But I must confess, had I known about the wings, Patch and Garuda would have had a wingmate.”
Patch and Garuda stole glances at each other. "Well...you'll have to learn, first." Patch pointed out.
“I know, but it was a thought,” Lancer replied.
"Yeah...but when you do, you can come on up." Patch grinned.
“What, you guys aren’t going to teach me?”
"Well...we could...but I think Starlight's the teacher around here..."
“But who can teach an alicorn to fly better than a pegasus and a griffon,” Starlight pointed out.
"Well...I've never taught anyone anything..." Patch confessed.
“Then consider me your first. That is if you want to.”
“Oh. Um… Okay…”
“And think about it, if you and Garuda somehow end up with a kid that does have wings, you’d need to teach it.”
“That is true…”
“And we can’t say that it’s not possible; Mr. Spike and Mrs. Applebloom are about to have one.”
“Again, true…”
“What do you say?”
Patch sighed, "We'll try, but not today."
“Alright. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on someone else.” He walked away from the crowd and into the mansion looking for his parents and Celestia. He walked upstairs hearing the voices get louder the closer he got. When he reached their room, Lancer gently knocked on the door.
The talking ceased and Lancer's father opened it. "Oh...hey, Lancer."
“Hey Dad…” Lancer was still unsure of whether or not to call them that, but just to be safe.
"We were...talking about you..." Heartbeat admitted.
“I figured.”
"Well...Princess Celestia filled us in on everything... We're sorry we never told you you were adopted... We just didn't want to stress you..."
“It wouldn’t have stressed me, but when I found out, it felt like I was living a lie.”
“We never wanted that to happen.”
“If you didn’t then you could have told me that I was adopted. That would have made the alicorn thing less shocking. I mean, the next thing we know, you’re going to tell me that you knew that I’m an alicorn.”
Heartbeat and Hard Drive stayed silent.
“You knew the whole time, didn’t you?”
“Well… Yes.” Heartbeat admitted.
Lancer facepalmed. “And...you didn’t want to stress me with that...too?”
“No…” Hard Drive confessed.
“And you never thought that I’d find out?”
“We thought you would...but it’d be a while…”
“Well...why was I even an earth pony before?”
"That was my doing," Celestia said, "If Nightmare Moon were to know where you were, then she would come after you too."
"Okay... But I still thought they gave birth to me. By the way, how did you know about them?"
"Hard Drive and Heartbeat were friends with Princess Twilight Sparkle's parents."
“So...Princess Twilight recommended that my... ‘parents’ look after me?”
"Yes. We also relocated them from Canterlot in order to better mask your presence. Which Twilight also recommended.”
“Mask me from...my mom?”
"From the one possessing her: Nightmare Moon."
"Oh. Right. But she was freed once, couldn’t she be freed again?”
“Unfortunately… no. The original bearers can no longer use the elements.”
Lancer raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“Because the connection that they once has now weakened. Thankfully, Nightmare Moon is still on the moon, but should she return, there is no way to defend Equestria against her.”
“What about their kids? Surely they know something.”
“Kids…” Then it hits her. “You remember Stargazer, right?”
“Yeah… Why?”
“She’s missing.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised.” Heartbeat frowned, “She’s not exactly a role model.”
“Well, she’s been missing for a concerning amount of time. I was getting ready to show up when the Decepticons, if I heard correctly, attacked Canterlot.”
“Canterlot was attacked?!” The trio asked.
“Yes...but no one was hurt, and the damage was minimal.”
“Did you happen to see any more robots try to stop them?” Lancer asked.
“Yes, there were two, with one showing up too late to do anything.”
“Sounds like the Autobots to me, yet…”
“What?”
“Hm… How long has she been gone again?”
“Twilight said she stormed out at around 9:30.”
“And when would she have been back?”
“She’s usually back for lunch.”
Lancer thought about it. “Call me crazy, but I have a hunch that the Decepticons have something to do with it.”
“Why would they want her?” Hard Drive asked.
“I don’t know, but I have that feeling.”
“Maybe it was an accident? Maybe they just needed any random pony.”
“We’d have to know what the Decepticons are planning… For one thing, they attacked me after they got data on me and something else.”
“Hmm...you’re both Alicorns… You know each other...and you’re both royalty. It doesn’t seem like random choices.”
“But why us specifically?”
“You two are the youngest Alicorns… Not to mention neither of you spend much time in the castle.”
“True…”
“And you two have talked with each other online.”
“You have?” Heartbeat asked.
“Yes, but the conversations were innocent.”
“They better be,” Hard Drive said.
“Trust me, she’s just a friend.”
“Good, because if you were anything more, somepony would be very heartbroken.”
Lancer frowned. “I’d never cheat on Bright Eyes. Besides, Stargazer introduced me to her boyfriend last year.”
“She has a boyfriend?” Heartbeat asked.
“Yes, his name was Phoenix, I believe.”
“Hmph, strange.”
“How so?”
“I didn’t think she’d be the type to hang on to a guy.”
“Well...they seemed to like each other a lot.”
“Wonder how long that will last.”
“It has lasted for two years so far,” Celestia said.
The jaws of both parents dropped.
“I think you’re both being unfair to Stargazer. While she has made some...questionable choices… She’s a very sweet and caring young lady.”
“Well...maybe if she didn’t constantly break the law…” Hard Drive pointed out.
“Maybe, but one day, she will change.”
“Before or after she’s arrested?”
Celestia glared at Hard Drive. “I don’t condone her behaviour either, but just give her a chance.”
“It’s not all her fault. I personally think Twilight and Comet Tail don’t use enough discipline.” Heartbeat explained.
“Twilight took away her car when she discovered the pile of unpaid traffic tickets. Trust me, they are pretty strict.”
“Obviously not strict enough.”
“Wait a minute,” Lancer said as he dug out his phone. “I still have her number from the Grand Galloping Gala. Hopefully, it’s still good.” Lancer dialed the number.
After ringing a few times, a deep, cold voice answered. “Greetings, Lancer.”
Lancer jumped at the sound of the strange voice. “How do you know my name?!”
“Something your kind would call ‘caller ID’.”
“Oh. Next question, who are you and what did you do to Stargazer?!”
“My name is not important. I will release Stargazer, but only if you give me Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“She’s not even with me. Kinda hard to do that without her. Besides, why should I give her up?”
“If she does not. Her daughter will perish.”
Lancer gulped. “Let me talk to her first.”
“You have ninety minutes.” The voice hung up.