The next day, just as she had promised, Starlight had come to pick up Blueblood after his class and bring him with her to Twilight’s school so that they could continue their magic lessons. It was something that both of them were looking forward to, both to relieve boredom and to learn (or teach) magic.
After a long walk past Twilight’s castle, the two finally reached a very impressive school that looked almost like a castle. The school itself bore Twilight’s cutie mark on a shield above the courtyard, and the entrance had a stained glass window image of her, with a split waterfall on either side of the door, offering a welcoming sight for students and newcomers alike.
Blue gave a low whistle in admiration. "Okay, that is impressive.”
"I know, right?” Starlight replied with a proud smile. “It's a school made and managed by one of the five princesses of Equestria, so of course it needed to be impressive. It’s not like anypony would sign up to join a school that looked tiny and plain," she said as she walked up to the entrance.
Blueblood paused and tilted his head at her. “What about Ponyville’s schoolhouse?”
Starlight blinked and thought about what she said. “...Huh, I suppose you’re right there. Well, anyway, are you ready for the tour?”
"As ready as I'll ever be," Blueblood answered.
Starlight chuckled at that. "There’s nothing to be worried about, I promise. You’re gonna love this place." With a dramatic swirl of magic, she opened the door and let him see the inside.
Okay, this is awesome, Blueblood thought. It’s basically Hogwarts!
Blueblood stepped past the gate’s threshold and gazed around at the school’s courtyard in sheer awe. The entrance opened up to a wide open garden with a stream flowing through the middle. A small island with a fountain on it stood in the middle of the stream, with several bridges going across it. Multiple teenaged and young adult students milled about, chatting amicably in groups and moving onto their next classes. Blueblood would’ve kept staring in wonder had it not been for him stumbling into something fluffy, snapping him back to reality.
"Hey, watch it!" the prince heard a voice say. When he looked up, his jaw dropped in surprise at the sight of a blue griffin holding his head in pain.
"You’re…you’re…!" Blueblood stammered, his lips curling up in unabashed joy.
"Oh, Gallus, I'm sorry for that," Starlight said as she walked toward them. "I was just showing him around the school."
"You're a cat-bird!" Blueblood finally managed to say in complete euphoria.
"C-cat bird?!" Gallus glared at him in anger.
Blueblood stood up and began trotting around Gallus as if he was a wonder of the world. "You’re so big, and blue! You're like a big blue cat-bird --- the tail, the feathers." He lifted one of Gallus’s claws with a hoof. "My entire face fits in your claw!" he exclaimed like a kid at Hearth’s Warming Eve, which was apt considering that he used to be obsessed with griffons when he was young. Well, younger.
Needless to say, Gallus quickly got uncomfortable with all the attention and jerked his claw back. "Okay, okay, enough of that!" he said, backing away from the lunatic unicorn. "What’s the matter with you? Never seen a griffin before?"
"Nope," Blueblood answered.
"...Excuse me, what?" Gallus tilted his head to the side, not expecting that answer at all.
"Ugh, I should’ve seen this coming…” Starlight muttered to herself. She stepped up to Gallus and put a hoof on Blueblood’s shoulder. “I'm sorry, Gallus. Please forgive him, he’s lost his memory and the world around him is still pretty new right now."
"And it just got awesome!" Blueblood cheered. "Oh please, please, pleeeeease tell me that there are more like you."
Gallus blinked twice and relaxed slightly, nodding in understanding. "Oh, you bet, kid. Also, just a friendly reminder, I’m a griffon, not a 'cat-bird'. Griffin, got it?"
"Got it, Mister Gallus!"
Gallus rolled his eyes. "Hey, none of that ‘mister’ stuff, I'm not that old," he grumped.
"Sorry."
"Hey, Gallus, you coming or what?" somepony called. When the prince glanced behind Gallus, he gasped when he saw a yak, an orange dragon, a light blue changeling, and a light pink hippogriff (although only the yak and dragon were easily recognizable to him).
Almost immediately, Blueblood scurried towards them. "Wow, you’re like Spike, only bigger," he said to the dragon, before looking at the yak. "Your fur looks so big and fluffy canIpleasepetit?!”
Oh, Faust, he’s channeling Pinkie… Starlight rolled her eyes.
Before the female yak had time to answer, he went to the hippogriff. "You look like Princess Celestia, but with a beak and claws!"
He finally zipped over to the changeling, skidding to a stop on his two front hooves and causing her to step back in mild fear. "And you look like a giant ladybug or a butterfly!" he exclaimed, hopping in circles around them and making them all confused (and somewhat uncomfortable), minus the hippogriff who just chuckled.
“Aw, this one’s cute, let’s keep him,” she giggled.
"Oh, great...Silverstream, did you bring one of your family members here and not tell us?" the dragon groaned, rolling her eyes and looking at the hippogriff.
The hippogriff, Silverstream, shook her head and shrugged. "No Smolder, but whoever he is, I like him already, he seems like fun."
"Ummm, I'm not a ladybug," the Changeling muttered with a blush that made her face look as red as her elytra. “But thanks for the compliment.”
"You need to speak up, Ocellus," Smolder reminded her. "Otherwise he isn’t gonna hear you."
"You can pet Yona’s fur,” the yak yelled in happiness (and confidence). “All yaks have best fur!”
"Yep, kind of like that," Smolder snarked, pointing to Yona.
Blueblood was about to go pet Yona when Starlight caught him with her magic and levitated him away from the group, walking towards them with a truly mortified and embarrassed look on her face. "I'm so sorry for all that, guys. I didn't think about how he would react upon seeing other races that he has no memory of."
The prince finally managed to calm down and realized what he was doing. He looked down in shame and kicked at the ground. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle all of you," he apologized "It's just...all of you look so awesome! I mean, two days ago I thought ponies and dragons were the only living beings on the planet. I had no idea that there were even more races."
"What did you mean, 'he has no memory’?" Smolder asked. "Didn't his parents ever tell him what a dragon is?"
"If they did, I forgot," Blueblood explained with a shake of his head.
"It's a long story, but the short version is that something bad happened to him recently, and that’s why he doesn't know anything. That’s why he was so surprised just a moment ago."
"Oh, so that explains why he was acting like Silverstream for a second there," Smolder said in understanding. "He's just like a fish out of water."
"I'm really sorry for getting carried away," Blueblood apologized again.
"Ah, don't sweat it, kid. I know how awesome a dragon is, after all," Smolder replied with a smug smirk, and held out a claw. "Name's Smolder, by the way."
Yona pushed Smolder away to be in front of Blueblood, much to the dragon’s annoyance. "Yona is best yak. Yona happy to meet new pony!" she yelled, giving him a big strong hug. Her fur began to tickle his nose, which caused Starlight to gasp in horror and teleport him next to her to cover his nose before he sneezed.
"Ahhh...thank you," Blueblood murmured as the hippogriff flew toward him.
"Hi, my name’s Silverstream! I’m a hippogriff, and I'm sooo happy to meet you, and don't feel too bad, I completely understand how you feel. I get excited all the time! In fact, do you want to see something incredible?"
She was about to touch her necklace when Gallus stopped her. "Not now, Silver. I think the kid has had enough excitement for one day."
"Okay," she relented.
The changeling stepped forward and lifted a hoof to her chest. "Hello there, my name is Ocellus, and I'm a changeling," she said with a demure smile. "Please don’t refer to me as an insect, though.”
Blueblood winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."
"N-No, it’s okay, I understand, you didn't know and these wings could make anyone get confused," she admitted with a smile. "I can change them if you want."
"Whoa, you can do that?"
She nodded and closed her eyes for a moment, but before anything could happen, a loud bell rang, signaling a new period.
"And that bell means the class is about to begin," Gallus noted. "We better hurry and find Sandbar." He turned to Blueblood as the group began to trickle back into class. "You coming kid?”
"Oh no, sorry, I'm just here to tour my cousin's school, but it was very nice to meet you," Blueblood replied, waving goodbye.
"Well, okay then. Have fun, and look for us if you stay for recess," Smolder said as they all waved goodbye to Blueblood.
After they left, Starlight glanced down at Blueblood and patted him on the head. "Glad to see you’re making new friends," she said with a smile. "Although, you should try to contain yourself a little more in the future."
"I know, but it was just so incredible seeing so many cool races all at once, I just couldn't stop myself," he replied with a blush.
Starlight chuckled. "It's okay. Considering your situation it's completely understandable." She opened the door to one of the buildings of the school and led him down a hallway. "It’ll be a while before their lessons end, what do you say to you and I doing some more magic in the meantime?"
"Advanced magic too?" he asked eagerly.
"Of course! A promise is a promise, right?"
"Yay!" Blueblood exclaimed as they headed to Starlight’s office.
Using some incense to calm the mind, both the prince and Starlight sat in front of each other with their eyes closed and their horns shining. The curtains were half-closed, allowing only a little brightness into the room so as to not distract her young pupil.
"Can you hear me, New Blood?" Starlight asked, but instead of using her voice, she was instead projecting her voice through her horn in a form of telepathy, resulting in it coming out with an echo.
"…Yes," Blueblood managed to say in the same fashion as a smile started to form on his face.
"Your connection is breaking. Focus, New Blood."
"Sorry." Blueblood's expression returned to normal.
"Now, this is the final part of the spell. While keeping your mind clear, I want you to picture yourself expanding until you detect me."
"Expanding?"
"Yes; in this state, your magic aura is borrowing from the five senses of your body to act as a beacon. The astral perception spell allows the user to perceive everything around its area of magic as if it was its own body. So if you remain calm, the manipulation of the field can be expanded easily."
"What’s the radius this spell can reach, Starlight?"
"It depends on how large a magic pool the user has, as well as how much they can keep their focus on the task. Just remember, whatever you do, don't force yourself. If you start to feel dizzy or tired, stop immediately. Otherwise, you might start to feel your mana overheating in your horn, and trust me, it’s not a pleasant sensation."
"Understood."
Starlight began to shift her body around, but never once opened her eyes or lost her focus. "Now, extend your aura," she instructed once again.
Blueblood complied, and his mind soon began mapping her office as he expanded his magic field like a balloon, leaving a clear black and white image in his head. However, he detected nothing in front of him. His mouth morphed into a slight frown, and he tilted his head to the side, feeling a presence that visualized itself in his mind as a pink dot.
Behind him.
"I think I found you, Starlight," Blueblood intoned.
“Oh? Where am I, then?”
“Behind me...about a meter?”
Starlight smiled and moved closer to him, the dot in Blueblood’s mind moving to match her. "You did it, New Blood. I can feel your magic reaching me." She came to a stop in front of him. “Now, exhale and relax. In...out. In...out.”
The prince followed her motions and soon the spell ended. He opened his eyes to see a very happy and proud Starlight looking at him. "How’d I do, Starlight?"
Starlight ruffled his mane. "You were incredible, New Blood. You’ve just earned yourself a cookie."
"Really?" he asked happily as he stood up, only to wobble as he came up, forcing Starlight to assist him.
"Yes, really. I was intending to just give you a spell to help with your writing lessons, and then start you on with the more advanced version of it, but with each thing I teach you, it’s like you absorb it like a sponge to water," she answered, beaming with happiness. "Keep this up, and I might teach you how to levitate yourself.”
"Wait, that’s something I can do?" Blueblood asked incredulously. “That’s awesome!”
"Oh, hohoho, don't get ahead of yourself just yet, mister. That is an extremely advanced spell to learn, and we are still going through the basics. Even I have trouble keeping it up for extended periods of time. So, for now, let's play it safe and go with simpler stuff, okay? Trust me, it's for your own good."
"Okay, Starlight," Blueblood replied, slightly disappointed but understanding of the warning.
Putting the incense away and opening the curtains once more, Starlight checked the clock and saw that it wasn’t too late in the day yet. "Hmmm, I think there’s one more period left before the day ends. Do you want to go see some of the students’ lessons?" she asked.
"Sure, sounds like fun," he replied, following her out of the room.
She led him down several hallways and a staircase, eventually stopping at Fluttershy’s class. Peering inside, Blueblood could see that all the curtains were closed and the lights were off, plunging the room in complete darkness. As Blueblood’s eyes adjusted to the new lighting, he could see Fluttershy’s form at the head of the room, where she was teaching several students how to approach nocturnal animals.
"…Now, one common nocturnal friend I want you all to meet is the bat," Fluttershy was saying as she opened a small cage. A group of bats immediately flew out and around the room, scaring the students for a moment.
"Don’t be afraid, kids, the bats are very misunderstood creatures that, like a bird, can be approached and petted if you prove to them that they can trust you," she assured them, lifting some fruits for the bats as bait.
Following her example, her students did the same, holding up the pieces of fruit their teacher had provided for them. One of the bats flew towards Blueblood out of curiosity and landed in front of him, giving him a chirp in greeting. Blueblood grinned and gently scratched the bat behind the ear, causing it to nuzzle his hoof affectionately.
Fluttershy noticed that one of her bats was missing and looked around, spotting the stray bat as Blueblood petted it. She smiled as she approached them. "Oh hello, New Blood. What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"
"I'm just showing him around the school," Starlight explained, which eased Fluttershy’s concerns.
"Oh, I'm glad to hear that," Fluttershy said, and then looked down at the bat with a giggle as it chirped contentedly. "Miss Batty said that she likes how you pet behind her ear," she translated for Blueblood.
"I'm glad she is," he said with a smile, and then an idea crossed his mind. "Isn't this a lovely night, my ladies? As the moon bathes us all in her glorious light, the children of the night avaken and greet us vith their lovely songs," he recited in a solemn voice and a raised head, confusing both mares.
"Uh, New Blood, why are you talking like Dracolt?" Fluttershy asked, when suddenly she heard some wolves howling in the distance. Startled, she looked at one of the closed windows before looking back at Blueblood with a raised eyebrow. He simply chuckled at the perfect timing.
Unfortunately,after leaving Fluttershy’s class, Starlight discovered that there were few classes still in session due to the time, which severely limited their destinations. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash's class was still in session, and to top it off, all five friends the prince had made earlier were there too, doing some teamwork exercises.
"It's too bad that all the other lessons were already over," Blueblood said in disappointment.
"Don't be sad, we can always come back tomorrow and see them," Starlight reminded him as they entered the gym. "Besides, I think you’re gonna like this."
When they both entered the spacious gym, they saw large rings hanging from the ceiling big enough for a pegasus to pass through with little trouble, as well as all the regular equipment. All the students inside were currently playing a variation of tag, using a ball to catch who would be the next one that was it, and having fun.
Wow, this must be where they play their equivalent of quidditch, Blueblood thought, taking a couple steps away from Starlight to admire the place. Dash, who was watching over the students, landed next to Blueblood with a grin as the game continued.
"You’re mine now, Yona!" Smolder yelled as she threw the ball at her yak friend, while Yona tried her best to escape.
"Yona best runner! Yona will escape!" She ran as fast as she could, but ended up tripping on her own hair and sliding across the floor on a collision course with Blueblood.
Gallus backpedaled and gasped when he saw what was happening. "Look out!" he shouted at Blueblood in alarm, but it was too late. Yona was practically on top of him at this point, and escape was impossible. The prince, fearing for his life, reacted out of pure reflex.
Igniting his horn and jumping backward, he propelled his body into the air and, to the amazement and shock of all those present, somehow performed a triple backflip in the air, landing on his hooves with the precision of a cat away from Yona. The unfortunate yak slid past him and smashed into the wall behind Blueblood with a muffled yelp. Adding insult to injury, the ball hit her head.
However, nopony bothered to check Yona, since she had not only survived much harder impacts before, but was also walking off her tumble as if nothing had happened. Instead, everypony was staring at the prince, who suddenly felt even smaller than usual, and wished he could crawl under the floorboards in embarrassment.
How did I do that? It was almost like that time...
He stared at his hoof and recalled all those lessons from Hell his dad forced him to do as he was growing up in an attempt to “purge” the love he had for video games, comics, and superheroes. Had he still had his fists, he would’ve squeezed them in anger at the memories; instead, he glared at his hoof in such a way that would’ve melted stone. Hours upon hours of learning new things, each more exhausting and painful than the last.
He never truly wanted to do all those activities, but his father insisted, and tried to hammer into his head that being a “hero” would only result in more pain. When that didn’t work, it was because his father wanted him to work his body until he was close to death. When even that failed to stop him from being the way he was, his father forced him to continue working so that his college application would look more presentable for the sports teams. It was Hell. It was worse than Hell.
And yet, despite not having done them in years, he seemed to still remember the moves, as he had just shown every single creature who now occupied the gym.
My body…still remembers? Is this some kind of muscle memory? No, it was definitely way better than any backflip I ever did. And I swear somehow I used magic too, but what did I use, and how exactly? Putting all of that aside, I'm a quadruped now. For all intents and purposes, I just did the impossible.
"That...was...AMAZING!!" Silverstream squealed suddenly, appearing in front of him. "Yona was like ‘aww!’, and you were like ‘nooo!’, and then your body just went ‘swoosh!’ and then you landed right there! How did you make all those flips without any wings? What’s your secret?!"
"I…I don't know, I just r-reacted," Blueblood stuttered in complete honesty.
"Well, that was pretty impressive," Smolder commented with a smirk, crossing her arms. "And here I thought doing that type of cool stuff was a pegasus thing. Who knew you unicorns could use your horns like that too?"
"Yona is sorry for almost flattening new friend," Yona said with shame as she approached the prince.
"It’s okay, Yona; it was just an accident. Besides, it was my fault too, I shouldn't have walked too close to your game." He nuzzled her side. "I forgive you."
"Yona happy now!" she yelled with a smile and lightly stomped the floor, causing a skinny unicorn stallion several meters away to fly up ten feet into the air from the force of the impact. His pegasus marefriend quickly caught him.
"Be honest, you just used that apology to have an excuse to pet her fur, didn't you?" Gallus asked with a smirk.
"Why not both?" Blueblood replied with a smile, making everypony chuckle.
"Yona fur, best yak fur!"
Meanwhile, not too far from them, Rainbow and Starlight watched as the students all began asking Blueblood questions about how he did what he did. Rainbow smirked and put a hoof to her chest. "Ha! Am I cool or what? Just being near me and the kid’s already Mr. Popular," she crowed.
"Rainbow, did you see that jump?" Starlight asked, her brow furrowed in deep thought.
"What? That awesome backflip?"
"Exactly. That flawlessly-executed triple back flip," Starlight emphasized, looking at her. "How is it possible for a colt that had trouble walking not that long ago manage to do a move only professional athletes could perform? It makes no sense, and I’m hesitant to say it, it’s almost unnatural, given how old he is. He would’ve needed years and years to get at that level." She looked back at Blueblood. “And his horn…”
“What about it?”
“He used magic during that flip, I felt it,” Starlight explained. “And yet I’ve only just begun teaching him the very basics! Somehow he tapped into his magic and used it to help him do that flip, but I don’t know what spell he used or how he did it that fast. It’s impossible. No unicorn athlete I know of has ever used a spell to perform better, nor have I ever heard of such a spell.”
Rainbow put a hoof to her chin. “Maybe he remembered something?”
Starlight’s face scrunched up. “Maybe...gah, this is all so confusing!”
Rainbow shrugged. "Hey, don’t sweat it, Starlight. He could just be a prodigy."
Starlight shook her head vehemently. "No. Doing one flip could be attributed to natural talent. Doing a triple flip is being trained. Doing it with magic is just insanity. The only way his body could do such a move instantly and subconsciously is by having muscle memory, and the only way for that to happen is for him to have gone through rigorous training. Training that he could not possibly have had at his age."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Geez, Starlight, you’ve been reading too many of Spike’s comic books, it's starting to affect that egg head of yours. Let the kid have his fun, and if that means being awesome and having some incredible moves, then what's the problem?" she asked, before leaving to approach the group as well.
Starlight, meanwhile, stood alone near the gym’s entrance, watching Blueblood with both intrigue and, to her chagrin, a little suspicion. She was so proud of him, and yet...something wasn’t right here.
How did you do that, New Blood?