Director Bleeding Heart stood by the door to his office, his hooves jittering against the tiled floor from a combination of coffee and nerves as he waited for Celestia to arrive. She had taken an interest in the new patient after seeing the state he was in and had very politely requested that she was kept informed of any anomalies. His eyes flicked back to the pair of reports held under one wing.
This would definitely count.
The only problem was figuring out how to explain it to her without a repeat of the no cake incident.
So lost in his thoughts was he that Bleeding Heart didn’t notice Celestia’s approach until a gentle cough brought his attention to the pure white alicorn who was standing in front of him with a look of concern on her snout as he whipped his head up from staring holes into his office wall.
“Princess!” Somehow Bleeding Heart managed to turn his leap of surprise into a grovelling apology, missing Celestia’s quiet sigh as his hooves shook against the floor. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
“Peace, Director Heart.” Golden magic picked up the pegasus before setting him on four quavering hooves. “There is no need for apologies or grovelling, unless you know something I do not.” Bleeding Heart’s pupils shrank down to the size of pinpricks at his princess’s words, before he started babbling.
“Oh no, not at all Princess, I was simply trying to think of the best way to tell you about our patient’s condition, and I was so lost in thought I didn’t notice you, and I have a duplicate report here for you.” A brown wing snapped out with a manila folder clutched between its primaries.
“Bleeding Heart,” Celestia’s eye narrowed as she stared down at the trembling stallion, “what are you not telling me?”
“I wouldn’t hide anything from you, Princess, it’s all in the report, just let me walk you through it,” the trembling progressed to full blown quaking, unshod hooves clattering against the ground. “Please, I need the normalcy with this patient.”
“If you feel it is that important, Director, then I shall bow to your expertise.” Celestia’s glare softened, although it didn’t quite disappear as she took the folder in her magic, before she followed Bleeding Heart as he started to trot towards the medical rooms.
“Patient is a male unicorn with blue fur and metal grey mane, name unknown, age unknown, although we do estimate him to be somewhere in his early thirties.” His shaking fading away as he fell into a comfortable routine.
“A unicorn, Director?” Celestia interrupted him before he could continue. “I was under the impression that his horn was a crude prosthetic.”
“There were still visible remnants of horn grooving in his skull, and the scans we ran revealed the existence of a well-developed neural-thaumic gland in the patient's frontal lobe. Hockam’s plough implies he was born an unicorn, and the other options are too terrifying to consider.”
“I see, please continue”
“Yes, where was I, name unknown, age unknown, family, that’s one of the confusing parts so I’ll get to that, cutie mark is a pair of wrenches crossed over a pentacle,” Bleeding Heart slumped, his trot turning into a slow plod as he flipped a page in his report, “and now we get to the confusing parts.”
“I have every confidence that you and your staff will be able to handle whatever ailments this stallion is suffering from, Director.” It took every ounce of Celestia’s control to not reach out and pat the downcast pegasus on his head with a wing. Her staff never appreciated that.
“It’s not like we’ll be needed for that, besides the coma he’s currently in and looking like he survived a round through a gryphon M.A.S.H, our mystery stallion is physically healthy as a horse.”
Celestia stopped, one hoof in the air as the image of the scarred and twisted stallion flashed back into her head. “You mean to tell me he is in perfect health while he is in that state?”
“His temperature is holding steady at 37.3°celsius implying that there is no infection from any of his wounds or under his prosthetics which we have so far been unable to remove, his pulse is remaining regular at thirty four BPM which is slightly lower than the royal guard average, and he has a resting respiration rate of nine breaths a minute with no noticeable problem breathing. A small miracle considering there were scars on the side of his neck that implied he had received surgery for laryngeal hemiplegia. As far as I know neither the minotaurs, the deer, nor the zebra have a surgical method for dealing with that particular condition, preferring internal medicine, and our own method is heavily reliant on magical healing. If he received that treatment in the gryphon territories, without suffering complications, he has Discord’s own luck.” The wing not holding a folder ruffled in frustration as Bleeding Heart finished almost bitterly.
“You said he was fine physically,” Celestia cut in before he could continue his rant, trying to change the conversation to a new subject. “What about magically, or mentally?”
“Mentally, we won’t know until he wakes up or he starts dreaming enough that our dreamwalkers can take a look. Either or at this stage.” A heavy sigh escaped Bleeding Heart as he led Celestia down another corridor. This one containing several white robed healers sleeping on scattered couches and chairs while others hurried from room to room, checking on the, mercifully few, ponies that were injured before they could be rescued. “Magically speaking, he’s suffering from one of the most extreme cases of Pariah Syndrome I’ve ever heard of.”
“What?” Bleeding Heart missed the brief flicker of heat around the princess’s fetlocks as he flipped to the next page.
“Pariah Syndrome, or Ivory Tower Sickness is…”
“I know what Pariah Syndrome is, Bleeding Heart, how could I not? It was the root of my sister’s fall to the Nightmare and her attempt to bring about eternal night. It caused Starswirl’s insanity, leading him to write a spell that would forcibly switch ponies cutie marks with anypony nearby. Twilight Sparkle fell into a mania that made her curse the entirety of Ponyville with a ‘Want-it, Need-it’ spell thanks to a relapse to her isolation before she saved my sister of her own madness.” A heated snort washed over the back of Bleeding Heart’s neck, making the tan pegasus flinch, as Celestia’s voice grew cold. “What I wish to know is how one of my little ponies was neglected severely enough that this happened?”
Bleeding Heart gulped nervously as he continued trotting forwards, the tremors causing his hooves to rattle against the floor having returned at Celestia’s barely contained anger. This was going to be unpleasant.
“That leads me to the third point of confusion, Princess.” Paper rustled as another page was turned with a shaking wing. “Once we discovered that the patient was suffering from Pariah Syndrome, we immediately started running genealogical tests as familial magic infusion is the best way to alleviate the harsher symptoms, barring subjecting him to the Elements of Harmony.”
“Such tests take time, Bleeding Heart, and you would not bring it to my attention in such a context unless you had answers.” Another sirocco-like snort ruffled Bleeding Heart’s mane. “What are you not telling me?”
“Once the tests were done we had the results cross-referenced with our archives, alongside sending a copy out to the national medical archives. Both results returned this morning with the same conclusion. Our mystery stallion belongs to the House of Guiding Stars, his sire would be Duke Noble Blood of Whinnysor, and his dame Crown Duchess Peerage of Canterlot, both of whom passed away in the Bugbear attack twelve years ago leaving one, known, surviving family member, Prince Monos Blueblood of Canterlot.
* * * * *
Blueblood shifted awkwardly on his oversized, and overly plush chair cushions as Celestia glared down at him from across the walnut coffee table, Luna wobbling sleepily on her haunches next to her sister as she sipped at a mug of coffee. Her eyes wandering over the room as she occasionally glanced at Celestia or Blueblood before focusing back onto nothing in particular.
Blueblood kept his eyes on the still whole sandwich in front of him as Silver Service fussed around with the teapot. Anything was better than meeting his Aunt’s eyes in this room.
Spirits, how he hated this room.
“Princess,” Silver Service’s voice cut through the light clatter of china against china, and the ticking of the clock, making Blueblood flinch at the sudden sound. “May I ask why exactly you have called Prince Blueblood and myself here?”
Blueblood felt more than saw his aunt’s glare move from him to his bâtpony before she spoke. “My apologies, Silver Service, but we are still waiting on another four ponies to arrive; I fear this matter will be complicated enough without having to repeat myself.” He shuddered at her rebuke against Silver Service, it was always there in this room. The promise of her displeasure, whether he’d earned it or not.
“I simply ask as Prince Blueblood has been forced to miss his last two meals due to work. I fear that Duchess Peerage may actively come down from the Elysian fields to haunt me if I were to let him miss another.”
Blueblood’s head shot up to stare at Silver Service, expression aghast as his aunt tittered before she started speaking again. “I was unaware you knew Duchess Peerage.”
“Only by reputation I am afraid.” Silver smiled as he poured tea into the cup sitting by Blueblood’s plate. “I often saw her with Duke Noble Blood at several of my previous employers’ parties, doting on any foals she could find.”
“Oh yes, I remember one time she brought Blueblood to one of our tea chats when he was still a yearling.” Celestia was smirking now beneath the serene smile that she always projected, Blueblood was sure of it. “She spent the entire time switching between trying to teach him proper etiquette, or fussing over him as he tried to copy what she was teaching him.” She sighed wistfully before setting her teacup down. “Oh, how I wish either of us had thought to bring a camera for that.”
“A shame, Princess, although I believe I know where the Duchess kept her old photo albums.”
“No!” Blueblood’s panicked shout echoed through the room as his hooves slammed down against the table. The noise masked Luna’s grumbling as she snatched up her coffee which sloshed against the rim of her mug. “Obsequence, I thought I told you that my parent’s belongings were not to be disturbed, save for cleaning and preservation.”
“Ah, so you did, Sir, my apologies.”
“Auntie, how much more time must I waste here? I am already behind on my work after yesterday’s fiasco and being dragged away from my study, again, only to sit in this damnable room chatting over tea and sandwiches is not helping the matter.”
“Patience, Nephew,” Luna spoke over the rim of her mug, taking another gulp of coffee before setting it back down, “We have sent out our fastest guards to retrieve the ponies my sister insists should be present for this meeting. Thou shalt not have to suffer our sister’s attempts to lighten her mood for much longer.”
The silence returned as both Blueblood and Celestia shifted against their seats, the sole unicorn in the room nibbling slightly at his sandwich while refusing to meet anypony’s eyes.
The moment lasted until the door swung open to admit one of Luna’s nocturne guards, the thestral saluting the room before stepping to the side to allow entry to Rainbow Dash, Director Bleeding Heart, Obfuscating Legalese, and a clearly uncomfortable Twilight Sparkle.
Blueblood couldn’t fault her, she had been in here just as much as he had, sometimes over the same incident, and his cousin had always taken Celestia’s interrogations and punishments far harder than he had. It was something Shining Armor was only too eager to remind the Prince of when he had forced Blueblood into the sparring ring.
He snapped himself out of his recollections at the feeling of somepony else sitting down next to him on the oversized chair. His turned head showing him a wall of purple and pink, Twilight Sparkle settling into the same contrite sitting position as him even as the other ponies took their own seats on either side of the royal pairs and Silver Service disappeared somewhere into the background.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle, my little ponies, thank you all for coming so promptly,” Princess Celestia spoke gently, cutting off the inevitable questions that were on everypony’s minds, “and know that my sister and I wouldn’t have called for you during this busy time if it was not important.”
The Solar Princess took a deep breath, clearly building herself up to something big.
“A new Crown Prince has been found.”