It was one of those days again.
Specifically, one of the more frustrating days that wanted to make Celestia tear out her mane. Outwardly, she was the perfect picture of calm. Alas, she had a reputation and public image to uphold. Mentally sighing, she shook her thoughts of political regicide out of her head and turned her attention back to her subject, patiently waiting for the mare to finish her inane rant.
The yellow unicorn mare, Upper Crust, had a light purple mane and tail, with one white stripe going through both, and she wore a white shirt with a pink sweater tied around her neck along with some eyeshadow. The mare’s bearing and attitude was unmistakable: she was a noble through and through — stiff, stuffy, overbearing, overambitious, overdramatic, utterly boring, and probably a little insane.
"…so as you can see, my concerns regarding your nephew are more than well-founded, your Highness," Upper Crust finished, nodding her head once in finality.
FINALLY! Celestia screamed in her head. "And I appreciate the…inordinately detailed explanation, Miss Upper Crust. But as I told you yesterday, there is no reason to worry. Prince Blueblood is away on personal business."
"Oh? But Your Highness, leaving without notice doesn't seem like the prince at all! As one of his closest friends he always tells me when he is planning business trips, so I could always have the first say in the best inns and hotels to stay."
Celestia had to resist the urge to do something terrible and irreversible. It may have involved a giant trebuchet and an uppity nobel unicorn in low orbit. "And again, as I’ve told you, his business is none of my concern, be it a last minute emergency meeting or a simple vacation."
The noblemare began to giggle. "And to think, there are rumors saying that you decided to banish him forever to the Badlands. I mean, could you just imagine such a thing, your Highness?"
"Truly, the imaginations of some ponies is a staggering thing, no?" Celestia joked with a practiced smile.
"Well, can I at the very least know when he’ll be back, your Highness?" Upper Crust asked.
The princess replied quickly: "I'm afraid I am not privy to that information. The situation he’s dealing with is his own."
"Oh…such a shame. Oh well, thank you for your time, your Highness. I will inform the plebeians behind me that you will now see them." Upper Crust gave her a small bow, following up with, "Have a nice day, your Highness."
"Likewise," Celestia replied with her usual smile. As soon as the noblemare was out of sight, Celestia let out a long, suffering sigh and slumped in her throne. How are these rumors spreading so quickly? Celestia thought to herself. Nevertheless, there was more work to be done, so she sat up straight, rolled her shoulders, straightened her crown and politely asked the guard on door duty,: “Next petitioner, please.”
The guards at the door nodded and stepped outside. Shortly after, the next petitioner approached the princess.
As day court continued to move forward, Upper Crust continued further down the hallway until she spotted a familiar white pegasus, waiting for her behind one of the large, ornate pillars.
"How did it go?" the white pegasus asked Upper Crust curiously.
"You were right, Sharp Shot, the princess is evading the question,” Upper Crust replied with a sour frown. “What about you? Did you find anything about his whereabouts?"
He shook his head. “Prince Blueblood is nowhere to be found. The ponies in my social network have searched everywhere. Even Fancy Pants’s inner circle has found no sign of him and we both know that subtlety isn’t exactly his forte."
"This can only mean one thing. Something did happen to him and the princesses are trying to cover it up. It’s a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top!"
Sharp Shot nodded. “This could also be a golden opportunity for us. If Celestia really has caused Blueblood to vanish, the nobility would finally obtain the bargaining chip against the princesses that we have been waiting years for.”
"Plus the gossip! Or even better, if he isn’t found, one of us could move up in nobility. I could finally become a duchess!" Upper Crust swooned.
"And that could be just the tip of the iceberg," the stallion agreed before looking around. "For now though, we need to focus on the bigger picture. See what else we can find and, most importantly, discover where exactly the prince ended up. It shouldn’t be too difficult. The pompous idiot would be impossible to miss." He began slipping back into the shadows. "For now, we should go. The guards will arrive here soon on their usual patrol and we should not be seen together. We should meet at our usual spot at the usual time."
Upper Crust nodded, “Of course. My place for tea and cookies at one o'clock.”
The two schemers headed in different directions. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t as careful as they should have been. Behind another pillar, a yellow-coated maid let out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. She leaned against the pillar to regain her composure. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, it had just happened, but now she was glad she did.
I need to inform the princesses! The maid thought before darting toward the throne room as fast as her frilly uniform would allow.
Back in Ponyville
"Go long, New B!" Scootaloo yelled, throwing a rubber ball as hard as she could.
"I got it, I got it!" Blueblood shouted as he chased the airborne ball. Feeling like he was going to miss, he jumped and came close to catching it when a cyan blur suddenly swooped down and caught the ball. He fell to the ground in surprise, letting out a small grunt from the impact. “I didn’t get it…” he muttered into the grass.
"And Rainbow Dash makes the save!" Rainbow Dash cheered, landing on the ground and spinning the ball in one of her forehooves with a cocky smirk.
"Anypony get the number of the carriage that hit me?" Blueblood asked as he stood up, brushing himself off.
"Rainbow Dash!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders cheered in unison, rushing towards Rainbow.
The cyan mare let out a small chuckle and ruffled Scootaloo’s mane with her free hoof, looking down at her warmly. "Hiya, squirt! Did ya miss me?"
"Who wouldn’t?” the orange filly replied, smiling up at her. “Did your mission go well?"
"Did you bring us any souvenirs?" Sweetie Belle asked with big puppy eyes.
"Was it dangerous?" Apple Bloom asked with curiosity.
“Was it awesome?!” all three of them cried.
Before the mare could speak of her “awesome” mission, Blueblood approached the four and coughed. "Ah, miss?" This caught their attention, Rainbow especially considering she hadn’t met the colt before. "Can we have our ball back?" He asked, pointing to the rubber ball in Rainbow’s hoof.
"Sure thing, kid." She gave him the ball back, following up with a question of her own: "Who are you? Are you new in town?"
"He’s Twilight’s cousin, New Blood!" Sweetie Belle answered, withdrawing from the mare and approaching the prince with a smile. "Rarity told me all about him!"
"Twilight’s cousin, huh?" Rainbow looked at them with a raised brow before looking at Blueblood. "I don't exactly see the resemblance."
"We’re kind of distant cousins," Blueblood clarified.
At that moment, the Crusaders gasped in realization and pulled Rainbow away from Blueblood, who was preoccupying his attention with the ball. "Rainbow, you need to be careful not to spook him too much," Scootaloo whispered.
"What? Why’s that?"
"Applejack told me ‘bout it," Applebloom said. "Apparently, somethin’ really bad happened to him recently, somethin’ that scared him so much that he lost all of his memories!"
"Whoa, really?" Rainbow whisper-shouted, looking back at Blueblood again.
"It’s true, Rainbow. Rarity told me about it too, and Fluttershy confirmed it. Something very bad happened to him…he almost died.” Sweetie’s voice became quieter as she mentioned that bit. “That’s why he doesn't even know how to use magic. He’s probably still very scared."
"Wow, that sounds really intense…" Rainbow said softly before an irritated look came across her expression. "That’s totally not cool."
"Uh, excuse me?" Blueblood called to them, his attention lost from the ball. "Is something wrong? Why’d you all suddenly gather around and start to whisper?"
"Oh, nothin's wrong! We were, uh…we were…" Applebloom started, but couldn’t think of what else to say.
"…W-weeee just remembered about a surprise party for Diamond Tiara that Rainbow agreed to assist us with!" Sweetie Bell finished for her friend.
"Uh, I did?" Dash asked quietly before being given a small nudge from Scootaloo. "Er, I mean yeah, I did!"
"And we needed to whisper in case she was nearby. Y’know, to keep the surprise!" Scootaloo finished with a nervous smile.
You were totally talking about me. Rude much, guys? "Well, that explains the whispering, I suppose," Blueblood said.
Geez, is he that gullible? Maybe he really did lose his memories, Rainbow Dash thought as she approached him with a beat of her wings, kicking some dust up into the air. "Anyway, nice to meet ya, kid! The name’s Rainbow Dash but you probably already knew that."
"Yeah, you’re like the big sister of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, right?"
"That’s right, I'm the…wait, what?" Rainbow Dash was confused.
"Yeah, how else would you explain why they’re so happy to see you?"
"Well, duh, because I'm so awesome! Even if you don't remember, it’s impossible not to know who I am!" She struck a heroic pose.
"Uh, sorry Miss Dash, I really don't."
That caught her off guard. Breaking the pose, she darted to him and grabbed him by the shoulder. Lifting the colt up into the air, she started firing off titles. "Rainbow ‘Danger Dash, fastest flier in Equestria? Element of Harmony who saved the world, like, a bajillion times? Newest member of the Wonderbolts?"
"…Who are the Wonderbolts?" Blueblood asked.
Dash gasped in horror, almost dropping the poor colt to the ground. "HOW COULD YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN THE COOLEST FLYING TEAM EVER?!" she cried, shaking Blueblood.
"Rainbow Dash, put him down!" Scootaloo cried out in alarm.
The shaking was starting to make Blueblood dizzy, along with making even more dust come into the air from Dash’s wings flapping. It didn’t take long for the dust to reach his nose, which began to itch terribly. He scrunched his face up to stop the oncoming sneeze, but with the shaking and his dizziness, he quickly succumbed.The colt sneezed, accidentally fired off a magic beam which hit Dash square in the forehead which caused her to drop Blueblood.
"Hey! You sneezed on me, kid!" Rainbow scolded. She then froze in shock. Her anger quickly dissipated when she noticed the way her voice sounded. "What the…?" She scratched at her throat with a hoof. Why was her voice suddenly a higher-pitch?
"Rainbow Dash?" a deep, booming voice echoed out in front. Rainbow looked up, way, way up. She saw New Blood standing in front of her, towering far above. He was, like, super big. Gargantuan even! "Are you okay?"
"New Blood, what did you do?! You’re a giant!" she shouted up at him. Or at least she attempted to. It sounded more like a high-pitched squeak that would make Fluttershy proud.
"Actually…" another deep, feminine voice called out. Scootaloo appeared beside him. "It’s kinda the other way around, Rainbow."
"S-Scoots…please tell me that you were hit by the spell too," Rainbow pleaded. A gigantic leaf passed within her eyesight. The color drained from Rainbow’s face. They didn’t get bigger, she got smaller. It was the Poison Joke incident all over again only this time it was her getting shrunk and not Applejack.
"Okay Rainbow, don't ya panic now" Applebloom started, trying to keep her calm. Her words fell on tiny, deaf ears.
“Oh no, oh no! ” Rainbow squeak-screamed in fright.
"Well, at least now you and Applejack have something in common!" Sweetie Belle said.
"Sweetie Belle, this is totally not funny!" Rainbow shot a tiny glare at the normal-sized filly who only giggled in response.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just … not a big problem. Just a tiny one,” Sweetie Belle said with a grin.
"Come on girls, be cool. Rainbow needs a little help," Scootaloo said, trying to be mature about the situation but failing to hide her own amusement.
"You could say she’s more like a Raindrop now," Sweetie Belle quipped, causing the snickering to intensify.
"Would it be wrong for me to say that she looks kind of cute like this?" Blueblood said to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. His words caused another burst of laughter, much to Rainbow’s displeasure. Feeling that he may have upset her, he picked up the colorful pony and held her up with a hoof. "Don't worry, Miss Dash, we can fix this."
"Oh no you don’t." Dash’s miniature wings flared. "I’m going to the castle. Twilight can fix this." With that, she launched into the air and rocketed towards the castle.
The fillies and colt watched in wonder. Rainbow Dash, the world's fastest flier, wasn’t. Her wings were buzzing wildly but she had barely moved an inch, two inches, then three. She was struggling to make any progress.
Scootaloo blinked, "Why is she moving so slow?"
"I have no idea," Blueblood replied. "I’m just gonna guess… ‘magic?" Blueblood plucked her out of the air with a hoof.
"Hey! Watch the wings, bub!"
"I'm sorry, Miss Dash, but with the speed you’re going I don’t think you’ll ever make it to the castle. You should stay with us until we can get you there ourselves," Blueblood said.
At that moment, they heard the school bell ring. "Oh no, recess is over! We need to get back to the classroom!" Sweetie Belle uttered.
"What? Nonono, we are going to Twilight’s castle right now!" Rainbow demanded.
Blueblood ignored her and placed her behind his ear. He made sure she was secure enough before galloping towards the schoolhouse. "Hang on, Miss Dash!"
"But I gotta get big!" Rainbow complained. With no other choice, she held onto his ear for dear life.
Two hours later at Twilight’s castle
"…and after their race was over, Rainbow and I boarded the next train here," Starlight finished her story. She sat on Fluttershy’s throne while Twilight sat on her own.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Of course she would. Rainbow would never miss a chance for a race, especially if it’s against somepony as fast as Lightning Dust," she said with some bemusement.
"So, who won?" Spike asked, who was sitting in Rarity’s chair.
"I think Rainbow would like to tell you about that part, Spike," Starlight responded, looking at the dragon. "And it's not important right now. What is important is that the mission was a success and Rainbow got her friend back!"
"That’s good to hear," Twilight said with a smile.
"So, how have things been going here? Any world-ending threats come by while Rainbow and I are gone?" Starlight asked with a knowing look.
Twilight raised a brow. "Why would you think something like that would happen?"
"Because this is Ponyville. Even before Discord started living here it was already the Chaos Capital of the world. Something’s always happening in this…” To further her point, Starlight raised her hooves and made air-quotes, “...quiet village."
"You know, I can't argue with that," Spike muttered before speaking up. "Actually, yeah, we have something going on at the moment. Nothing world-ending though." He gave Twilight an expectant look. "We might as well tell her, Twilight. They’re gonna be roommates soon enough."
"’Roommates’?" Starlight asked with a raised brow. “What, are you renting my room out or something?”
“No, of course not!” Twilight shifted around uncomfortably for a couple of seconds before she looked to the mare. "It’s kind of a long story, and in order to tell you, I will need you to Pinkie Promise me that what you are about to hear is not going to leave this room. Understood?"
Starlight was slightly jarred by the shift in tone, but nodded nevertheless. "You can count on me, Twilight. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She did the usual motions with her hooves.
Twilight smiled at Starlight. "Thank you for understanding," she said. "You see, for the next couple of weeks a family member of mine is going to be staying with us and the reason for that is because he needs time to recover. He had a magic accident that erased most of his memories."
"Well, that does sound serious," Starlight said with a nod. "Although, I don't see why you need me to keep quiet about it."
"That isn’t the part I need you to keep quiet about. It’s what I'm about to tell you." Twilight took a deep breath before continuing, "Starlight, I know you’re a smart mare and you’d probably figure it out on your own so I might as well tell you; it’s a cover story."
That piqued Starlight’s interest.
“Not even Twilights’ friends can know the truth.” Spike explained. ”Because if the public finds out that he doesn't remember anything they can use his memory loss for their own personal gain."
“Personal gain?” Starlight echoed.
Spike played with his thumbs a bit. “He’s…kind of a big deal in some circles?”
"Ohhh, I understand now." Starlight nodded, looking down in shame. "I'm familiar with the manipulation game."
"Oh, right, Our Town," Twilight was quick to retort. "Which is why he is here, so Ponyville can act as a safe haven."
"Safe haven?"
"When it comes to his re-education, I mean," Twilight clarified, "And until he can relearn the basics of magic and have a better understanding of the world around him."
Starlight closed her eyes and then sighed in resignation. "Okay, Twilight." She opened them and smiled at the princess. "While I am interested in knowing what this is all about, if you don’t want me to poke, I won’t poke at it. But you owe me an explanation later."
"Thank-you, Starlight," Twilight sighed in relief. "I hoped you would understand."
"Anytime. So, what can you tell me? Is there anything I could do to help?"
A light bulb turned on in Spike’s head. "You could help him with his magic lessons!" he exclaimed. "New Blood could learn from one of the best magic users around and Starlight will get to practice her friendship lessons with him."
"Spike, that's a great idea!" Twilight said, excitement in her eyes.
"’New Blood’, huh? So that's his name?" Starlight asked. "And I’m gonna take a wild guess and say it's fake?"
"Starlight, you Pinkie Promised," Twilight reminded her.
"Sorry, sorry, I swear that was the only one. And I like that idea a lot. I don't do a whole lot in the School of Friendship on some days so having some company would be great," Starlight replied with a sheepish grin.
"Plus, you can go explore more of the town with him and have fun," Spike added. Then he smirked at her. "Just don't try to insert all the knowledge into his brain all at once with a spell."
Starlight rolled her eyes. "You use a multilayered spell for a shortcut once and nopony ever lets you live it down. I see how it is."
Twilight and Spike snickered with Starlight joining in despite herself.
"So? When do I get to meet him?" she asked.
Twilight glanced at a nearby clock. "Looks like you're in luck. His first class should be over by now, so he could arrive at any time."
As if on cue Blueblood and the Crusaders trotted into the map room. Had it not been for their worried looks Twilight would’ve complimented Blueblood for his punctuality.
"Oh hey New Blood, how was school?" Spike asked, hopping off his chair.
"Oh, it was great. Miss Cheerilee is a really fun teacher and I even managed to make some new friends." He pointed at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who gave the three of them a quick wave. “But we’ve got a tiny problem here.”
"Hello! Miniaturized daredevil!" Rainbow squeaked from his mane.
Twilight, Starlight, and Spike squinted at the shrunken Rainbow Dash clinging to Bluebood’s ear.
"I had a little magic accident," Blueblood finished. He lifted a hoof up to his ear and held Rainbow up to her. "Can you fix her, Twilight?"
"Please, please, please! For the love of Celestia, Luna, Faust, Discord, and any other deity out there in the cosmos, tell me that you can!" Dash begged.
Twilight’s jaw dropped, Spike doubled over in laughter, and Starlight face-hooved.
"How did this even happen?" Starlight asked.
"Well, I kind of…sneezed?" Blueblood replied.
Today was the day when Spike learned he could pass out from laughing too hard.