Endoscope looked up from the cards in her hooves as the white door opened, the quarantine charms etched into the stone frame parting to reveal Gentle Restraints, the normally placid yellow earth pony looking to be in a thunderous mood from his last round with the new mystery patient.
“What parasprite crawled up your plot?” Endoscope did her best to grin disarmingly as Gentle turned his vitriol on the sitting unicorn, his red eyes boring into Endoscope’s own nervous snow-blue eyes, before he slumped down onto a couch.
“Aren’t there supposed to be two of you out here? Where’s Steady?”
“Had to visit the little mare’s room, she shouldn’t be more than a minute” Gentle looked down at the table as Endoscope’s horn shimmered with a low light, pushing several of the cards she’d been looking at over to the other side of the table.
“And you thought you’d best make sure her cards didn’t change in the meantime?” He snarked as she blushed at his comment.
“She’s won the last five hoofs in-a-row,” Endoscope shot back, “I just need this one win, then I’ll be able to turn it around without having to sneak a peek.” Gentle’s disbelieving stare let her know exactly what he thought of her argument, the unicorn shifting under his focus as the earth pony’s eyebrow crept upwards, until the noise of hoofsteps came closer and Steady Hooves trotted out from the muddle of medical ponies, approaching the two of them.
“Sorry for leaving you with her Gentle, did I miss anything important?” Gentle Restraints turned at the shout to see the smiling face of Steady Hooves, the mint green unicorn pulled out her own chair as Endoscope stiffened in her seat.
“Just talking about Mister Frankenreins in there, ain’t that right Gentle?” Endoscope picked up her cards as Steady Hooves settled into the chair opposite, frowning slightly at the response.
“And is there any news on the state of our patient, Gentle?”
“His vitals have remained stable since the last check-up, there were a couple of new scars which were hidden under the nape of his mane, his ear was twitching a bit in time with the machine, so he’s at least reacting to external stimulation. I put everything down in the charts, but I’m blowing out now, I made reservations for a winery tour with Viney this evening.”
“Well in that case don’t let us keep you here, although if you could pass on any updates to Director Bleeding Heart before you go. I believe he’s in the Walnut Room with the Princesses.” Steady Hooves scooped her cards up with a quick burst of magic, a slight frown creasing her snout before the door next to them exploded with noise.
“HOLY SHIT! I CAN TALK?”
“And if you could tell him that the patient has woken up, as well, please?” Gentle was already sprinting away before Steady had finished speaking, the two doctors dropping their cards and rushing through the door.
* * * * *
Rainbow Dash yawned internally as Blueblood and Princess Celestia chatted with the lawyer, or rather the lawyer talked at the other two, citing examples and sources with every other breath. It wasn’t that they were talking about something boring; well it kinda was, but the maroon pony was making what should have been a five minute explanation last for what felt like hours. She’d immediately tuned him out when he started throwing around ancient dates and the names of long-dead ponies. Instead choosing to watch Princess Luna as her expression twisted and changed.
Rainbow Dash didn’t consider herself that observant, so it amazed her that the lawyer could continue talking even as Luna’s expression jumped between guilt, hope and carefully practiced indifference if she thought somepony was looking at her, as he yapped on and on about inheritance rights. There had been something to do with murders in there and Rainbow’s ears had perked briefly before he’d followed it up with talking about fashion, so she’d tuned him out again.
At least the doctor had been interesting, all talking about scars and fake body parts, although if anypony asked she hadn’t felt ill at all during his report. Not like Twilight who’d looked nauseous enough to start blowing chunks then and there, at least until she’d reached out a wing to pat Twilight’s withers which seemed to bring some colour back to her friend’s cheeks. Though she wasn’t sure why everyone was so off put by a few scars, if anything he was like a more beat-up version of Barbed Retort from ‘Daring Do and the Lost City of Shangri-Baa’.
Another brief flick of her ears told her that the lawyer was still going on, this time about ‘inclusion periods’ whatever that meant, although both Luna and Celestia were looking interested about something he’d said, and she could see Luna’s lips moving as she whispered into her sister’s ears too quietly for her to eavesdrop. Not that she wanted to, she just needed something to distract her.
“So, uh, Princesses? I got a question.” Rainbow’s voice cut through the lawyer’s monotonous drone as everypony turned to look at her.
“Yes, Dame Rainbow Dash?”
“You said it was impossible for this guy to be a ‘Crown Prince’, but what about Twilight’s brother, isn’t he the Prince of the Crystal Empire?”
“While our nephew-in-law is indeed a prince, he is a Prince Consort by his marriage to Our niece Cadenza, and not a Crown Prince by current circumstance. Should both our Nephew and this new pony perish, then the title of Crown Prince would fall to Shining Armour’s sire, Night Light, before it fell to Shining Armor, who would have no use for the title as it is lower than his current ranking in the peerage. The reason I claim it is impossible for any other Crown Prince to be found however, is that all the other Royal Bloodlines are extinct. Those bloodlines, other than our nephew’s house have all fallen, and the creation of more during our exile made impossible by our hooves.” A pained expression fell over Celestia’s face as Luna finished, before a white wing wrapped around the the dark alicorn, her expression still utterly impassive as she was pulled to Celestia’s side.
“Luna, we’ve been over this, none of that was your doing, none of Nightmare Moon’s actions were your doing.”
“As you say, Sister.” Luna’s expression flickered into guilt, before her mask returned.
“I, uh, don’t think I’m following this.” A cyan hoof scratched at Rainbow’s scalp as both celestial sisters expressions darkened, before Luna continued quietly.
“The Crown Houses were the direct descendents of Our Sister and I, Dame Rainbow Dash, at least by the time of Nightmare Moon, and most were heavily involved in helping us administer the running of Equestria.” Celestia’s wing tightened around Luna as her voice started to perceptibly shake. “When, when we fell to the Nightmare’s madness and influence, one of our first actions was to cruelly curse those we felt should have seen our loneliness and sorrow. We cursed our sister, who was then known as ‘The Mother of Equestria’, to be barren and deadened, and set upon her descendents a creeping malediction that would turn their fortunes against them, such that even if we were to fail in our mad desires, the pain of abandonment we had felt would follow our Sister as her bloodlines collapsed around her. What we were unaware of was the Nightmare reworking our magic as we cast it so that even our, even mine own bloodlines would be destroyed.” The room was still, even Twilight’s ever-scratching quill had stopped, Luna’s breath hitched while she struggled to continue speaking through her own sobbing and Celestia’s tightening wing.
Rainbow felt her eyes widen as the implications of Luna’s speech started to sink in. Her mouth fell open to tell the shaking princess she understood, that she didn’t have to say anything more, that she hadn’t meant to open up such old wounds again so close to something that had already brought them to the surface, but the words died on her tongue as the Lunar Princess continued. The storm cloud had been kicked and Rainbow was in the path of the lightning now.
“We, I cursed mine own children to die an ignoble end out of spite.” Luna’s eyes darted over to stare at Blueblood, pain and guilt swirling underneath her tears, before they once again locked onto whatever imperceptible thing she was seeing in the distance. “That even one of Our many bloodlines survived this malediction is no small miracle, but they shall be the last, until Niece Cadenza starts her own dynasty. Even if the curse was cleansed away with the Nightmare, no foal deserves to have me as their dame, for their own sakes.”
Luna finished quietly, leaving the room utterly silent as everypony struggled to comprehend what they had just heard. Both Twilight and Bleeding Heart looked close to being ill, Celestia’s auroral mane hung static over her face to hide her tears from view, Blueblood’s pupils had contracted down to being black specks drowning in a sea of blue, even Obfuscating’s professional mask had dropped enough for his shock to show through.
Rainbow struggled for something to say, anything she could think of seemed flippant even for her, but the silence she had caused was eating at her. She needed to break the tension somehow, and for a second she wished she had Pinkie or Rarity’s way with words as her brain kept drawing blanks and the silence just grew deeper and more oppressive.
Until the door to the room burst open, and a bright yellow earth pony stuck his head through. “Director, the mystery patient in room 312 has woken up.”
* * * * *
Steady Hooves would have used many words to describe the mystery patient patient when he was brought in: twisted, patchwork, broken, abomination, though that one was the Pariah Syndrome talking and she found herself rescinding that once he was safely behind the quarantine runes. But one word she would never have thought to use was mobile.
She was quickly reassessing that particular decision as the stallion squirmed underneath both her and Endoscope as the two doctors attempted to pin him to the floor with both magic and physical force. The writhing bundle of blue fur, prosthetics, and scar tissue was twisting and thrashing as he attempted to buck them from his back.
“Would you just calm down!” Endoscope yelled as her ice-blue magic wrapped around his rear hooves before a particularly strong buck sent her flying from his back and onto the bed, the force of her impact toppling it onto its side. Her magic winked out as her horn caught on the bed’s railings.
“You’re not taking another part of me!” The patient’s baritone voice belted out, his thrashing redoubled with the loss of weight, and Steady could feel her grip slipping as she tried to cast a sticking charm between his hooves and the ground. If there was at least one upside it was he hadn’t tried to cast magic to aid his struggling, although he didn’t seem to need it considering how much difficulty he was giving them already.
“Please, you’re going to injure yourself further if you keep this up.” She could feel her rear hooves dragging against the ground as the patient moved forwards, his mismatched hooves never leaving the ground as the sticking charm did all it could against him.
“I know what your plan is, Nurse Ratched!” Endoscope rose from the bed like an angry hippopotamian deity as Blue Beetle continued his struggle before her snow-blue magic locked his hooves together again, leaving him to totter for a second. Until gravity finally took notice and, like a Russian satellite pulled from orbit, he crashed into the ground snout first. Steady Hooves slid across the floor, leaving a trail of curses as she was thrown clear from the collapsing stallion.
“Gotcha!” Endoscope flopped from the bed, landing on shaking hooves as Steady picked herself up, her own red magic mixing with Endoscope’s as the two of them proceeded to envelope Blue Beetle in thaumic restraints. Bands of force snaked their way around his hooves, legs, horn, and muzzle.
Which was when, with a flare of golden light and an eardrum shattering pop, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Prince Blueblood appeared in the center of the devastated hospital room. The Solar Deity pausing to take in the war torn state of the room and the bound and struggling stallion laying on the floor.
“And what exactly has been happening in here, my little ponies?”
Both Doctors found themselves panickedly bowing, their glowing horns touching the ground as they spoke.
“Princesses! This isn’t what it looks like.”
“I would be hard-pressed to say exactly what it does look like, given that this room appears to have been the target of one of Tirek’s tantrums.” Luna sniffed imperiously as she glared down at the shivering unicorn mares, before her gaze flickered to the mismatched stallion who was still attempting to force his way out of the magical bonds. “However We have lived long enough to know that such a statement is often no falsehood. Explain to us why we find our newest descendant trussed upon the floor as if he were some common criminal.”
Nopony noticed Blueblood’s flinch at Luna’s words as he stood slightly behind the taller of his aunties, staring at Blue Beetle and silently mouthing the words ‘related to this thing’ back to himself, white ears disappearing under his blonde mane in dismay.
“We were stationed outside, so we could respond immediately if there was any deterioration in the patient’s condition,” Steady Hooves started speaking as the two doctors picked themselves up. “During a discussion with orderly Gentle Restraints we heard the patient shouting, at which point we sent the orderly to alert Director Bleeding Heart and yourselves while we entered the patient’s room to make sure he had not hurt himself.” The mint green doctor stopped for a second, her red magic picking up the hospital bed and righting it as Endoscope hovered Blue Beetle over to the bed from where he lay, her own snow-blue magic snapping a set of padded cuffs around his fetlocks as she lowered him onto the mattress the magical bonds faded away from his limbs, leaving him enough give to slump limply against the mattress surface.
“When we entered the patient’s room he reacted violently, screaming at our entry before throwing the bedside cabinet at Endoscope, at which point we attempted to restrain him with a minimal amount of force, only succeeding a moment before you arrived.”
All three royals turned to stare at the dented wall, a collection of splintered planks and twisted metal laying on the floor.
“His prosthetic horn works?” Celestia said, turning her focus back to the pony in the bed, his own umber eyes glaring back at her.
“No,Your Highness, he threw it, with one hoof. I’m just lucky his aim was off, or that would’ve been my head, and despite what Steady tells you, my skull ain’t that thick.” The soft thunk of flesh hitting hoof accompanied Endoscope’s words as she rapped her hoof against her skull, ignoring Steady as she rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics while she inserted several IV needles into the crook of the stallions leg.
“I see,” Celestia’s expression remained inscrutable as her eye scanned back and forth, from the doctors to the stallion laying in the bed. “I am sorry to ask this of you, but my sister and I wish to talk privately with this stallion, could the two of you please wait outside?” Her eye flickered to the band of force that was still wrapped around the stallion’s muzzle, “and if you could also dispel the binding you have on him?”
Endoscope’s mouth fell open, before Steady jammed one of her forehooves in there, wrapping the other around her partner’s neck as she started to drag her towards the door. “Of course, Princess, if you need us at all just call, we’ll be right outside.” The mint unicorn spoke as quickly as possible, the light around her horn dying out as the door closed behind the two unicorns.
“Right outside, and listening at the door no doubt.” Luna muttered to herself as the lock clicked shut and Celestia approached the bed, ignoring her grumbling sister.
“Good day, my little pony. My name is Princess Celestia, may I ask what your name is?” Celestia spoke gently, as if she was dealing with one of the many colts and fillies she’d had to deal with over the years. The young ponies that were enrolled into her school’s boarding halls were terrified after leaving behind the comfort of home for the unfamiliar dorms they’d be staying in, so a gentle voice did wonders in helping them relax.
Not that it did much good here, the mismatched stallion just continuing to glare silently at her as she waited for his response, the silence stretching on until he finally spoke, his baritone voice ruined by an obviously fake Shettish accent.
“Give me your full name, Princess, and I shall give you mine.”
The entire room blinked, before Celestia responded, “My full name may take some time, the short version however should suffice for now. My name is Princess Celestia Sol Invictus.”
“Blue Beetle.”
“Very well, Blue Beetle,” Celestia smiled gently as she sat next to the bed, lowering her head until it was level with Blue Beetle’s. “Do you know where you are?”
“Being held against my will?” Came the immediate response, leaving Celestia to chuckle for a second, as both Luna and Blueblood crept up behind her.
“Not quite, Blue Beetle. You’re currently in Canterlot Castle’s medical wing.” The amusement drained away from Celestia’s expression, leaving only motherly concern in its wake. “I had you brought here after you were found on the edge of the Everfree Forest, with both physical and magical wounds that the local hospitals were not equipped to handle. Can you remember anything from before you woke up here?”
“Yes.”
The silence stretched on from his reply, Blue Beetle glaring into Celestia’s eyes as she continued to sit there, matching his indignation with compassion, until Celestia spoke again. “Are you going to tell us anything?”
Blue Beetle didn’t break eye contact as he lifted one of his forelegs as far as it could go, rattling the cuff around his fetlock against the bed’s railing before letting it drop back to the bed again.
“My apologies, Blue Beetle, I forget how zealous some of my little ponies can be sometimes.” Celestia spoke as her golden magic wrapped around three of the four restraints holding Blue Beetle to the bed, the metal clinking as the cuffs around his fetlocks disengaged leaving the restraints to dangle freely from the railings around the bed. “Now if you could please tell us anything you remember?”
Rolling his shoulders Blue Beetle pulled himself into a more comfortable sitting position, ignoring the tug of the IV needles that had been taped into place. “Well, the last thing I remember is dying.”
“You... died?”
“Well what else would you call it when a demon picks you up and tries to use you as an impromptu bludgeoning tool? Yes, I died, and then I woke up here.”
All three royal ponies just stared at Blue Beetle as he spoke. His blase tone and casual posture set against a disaster that hadn’t happened in millennia. The last demonic incursion had happened before even Discord’s time, creating the chaos that had brought the Mad King’s attentions to Equestria in the first place. If another incursion were to have happened there was no telling what would follow.
“Blue Beetle, my little pony, it is critically important you tell us where this attack happened.” The concern had drained out of Celestia’s expression, leaving her as stony faced as the dark blue alicorn sat behind her. “If any of the fiends of Tartarus are loose in Equestria there is no knowing what sort of horrors they may unleash.”
“Chicago.” Blue Beetle missed Celestia’s blink of confusion as he paused, his snout scrunching up in confusion, before exploding into a rant. “What the hell? Why can I say Chicago, but not Fillynois?”
The Solar Princess turned away as Blue Beetle continued his rant, names and terms she’d never heard before mixed with places she recognised, the stallion’s shouting fading into a distressed grumble as the three royals huddled into their own conversation.
“We, I may not be be familiar with the newest cities of Our realm as you, Sister, but I have not heard of this ‘Chicago’.”
“Indeed, Auntie, unless he means Chicoltgo,” Blueblood paused before turning to look at Blue Beetle who was still raving unintelligibly in his bed. “Although judging by his current tantrum that may be the wrong answer.”
“Nonetheless.”
“Nonetheless what, Sister?”
“It does not change the facts we have at hoof, and attempting to add more now will only muddle our course of action. This stallion has been with us for the last day and as far as I am aware, neither of us have heard of any troubles in Chicoltgo. We will launch an investigation once we are done here, but for now we mustn’t panic or rush to conclusions.” The white alicorn paused, looking to her sister for a moment, before continuing. “Luna, what happens here is your choice. What do you want to do?”
The Lunar Princess looked down at the floor as she scuffed her hoof. “I would rather leave this to you, Sister” A frown creased Celestia’s brows for a second, disappearing as Luna looked back up, opening her mouth to speak before Blueblood interjected.
“Aunty, you cannot be serious about this?”
“And who art you to tell Us what We can and cannot be serious about, Nephew?”
“I refuse to believe I am related to that, that, that modern Amalthea!” Blueblood hissed back at Luna as she glared down at him.
“Why Blueblood, I thought you derided Frankenreins as ‘sensationalist rubbish that only lent pointless credence to the myth of the tragic necromancer’.”
“It was written by a friend, I would be remiss if I did not read it. As I told Miss Shelley however, liking it is another matter. As is your attempt to deflect this matter away, Aunty, I know the law you have prepared and as the oldest member of my family I refuse to accept that I am related to that thing.”
“You are the oldest living member of your family?” Luna scoffed, “Did you not find it odd that you call my sister ‘Aunty’? Or that we just conversed upon the matter of our descendents? Or.” A sudden yawn ripped through Luna’s speech forcing her to cover her mouth with a hoof before she continued. “Sister, may we be done here soon, I wish to salvage what little rest I may.”
“Very well, Luna.” Celestia nodded her assent before turning to Blueblood who just glared sullenly up at her. Opening her mouth to say something to the dour prince, she thought better of it, snapped her mouth shut, turned around, and started trotting back to Blue Beetle’s bedside with both Luna and Blueblood following behind her.
The mismatched stallion looked at her as she sat on the floor next to the bed, his own stormy expression almost perfectly matching Blueblood’s sullen pout.
“Are you three done figuring out what exactly you’re going to do to me yet, or did you have more questions?”
“I have plenty of questions for you, my little pony, but they can wait for now. Firstly, we need to talk about how you are going to fit into your new life.” Celestia smiled gently as Blueblood snorted heavily behind her, his titanium shod hooves pawing at the ground. “Thanks to the unique nature of your birth, you are a perfect genetic match for my nephew Blueblood. With the added fact that your birth was not performed with the intention of bringing harm to, or replacing, any of my subjects that leaves your status as a legal citizen of Equestria firmly in my hooves.” The solar alicorn paused, letting her words sink in as Blue Beetle’s tail thrashed and his eyes darted back and forth, before a wide smile split her muzzle. “Welcome to the royal family, Blue Beetle.”
Blue Beetle froze, not responding as Blueblood stomped his way out of the hospital room, grumbling under his breath. Not flinching at the sudden flash of light, and cracking report of Luna’s teleportation. It was only when Celestia leant down to nuzzle him that he gave any response.
“What?”
CHAPTER END?