//------------------------------// // Royal Jester (SL 96) // Story: The Humble Prince // by Lighting Ace //------------------------------// As the morning rays of the sun bathed the castle, both Princess Celestia and Prince Blueblood had a nice little stroll in their garden as she levitated some books with her magic. “What are we doing here so early Aunty? Not that I'm complaining or don't like your company but isn't this the time when you are preparing for day court?” Blueblood mentioned with a raised eyebrow. "Before yesterday, I would have agreed with you Blueblood, but due to the recent events with the noble you captured and that proclamation of groups planning a regicide, security measures had to be put in place and my usual duties put on hold. Until the problem is resolved at least." She mentioned before looking back at him with a smile "Besides, threat or no threat I did promise you that we will study some advanced magic as soon as you recovered, and I intend to keep it." That caught the attention of the prince "Wait, so you are going to teach me new and more powerful spells?" He asked, getting excited by the idea as his aunt nodded with a smile. "Indeed, but not here, in the open it's too dangerous, usually I would have just invited you to one of my classes and teach you with all my other students, but since we are under alert right now, it will be safer if we train in secret." She explains as they continue to walk and eventually stopped once they reached the entrance of the labyrinth. The princess used her magic to open a secret entrance tunnel with a dusty concrete road on, the path located on the ground near its entrance. "Only Luna, Cadence and I know about this room, it will be the perfect place to start our lessons," She tells before stepping aside "After you." The prince nodded before entering the tunnel, the princess soon following and closing the door behind her, before illuminating the room with her horn, revealing ancient pictures of past wars and battles on its walls. "What is this place?" Blueblood asks as they walk through the tunnel. "The vault of war, Canterlot history and recollection of past battles, wars and conflict that we have endured and overcome since its creation." Celestia explained "Every major event that has ever happen in here has being recollected and painted in this wall so they can endure the pass of time." She mentions as they continue to advance until they reach a spacious and well-lit room thanks to some diamonds that act as a source of light, equipped with training dummies, some weapons, training equipment and a ring in the center. "And here we are, mine and Luna’s personal training room." Celestia tells as she stepped inside and put her regalia on a nearby dummy and the books on a wooden table. "In the past this room served to train unicorns in dark arts, but now I mostly use it when I wish to polish my moves and where no pony will bother…" Before she has time to finish that sentence they hear some humming near them and when they turn around, the two discover some weird snake type of creature made out of what looks to be different animals parts, casually drawing on the walls with some crayons. "…us..." "Ammm, Aunty do you also see…?" The prince slowly asks as he raises his hoof toward the creature. "I'm seeing it Blueblood," She tells in irritation before approaching him, the creature seemly ignorant of their presence "Discord!" The princess yells in anger, startling the creature and causing him to crumble into pieces before re-assembling in front of her. The acting managing to scare and force Blueblood to back away a little. "Oh princess, you scared me," He tells with a smirk before looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "You know it's rude to sneak up toward others while they are in their secret painting room." "Secret painting…Discord this place is an ancient room used to train the best warriors Equestria ever had, not your personal studio!" The princess tells in irritation Wait a minute, Discord? Discord? Why does that name sound familiar? Blueblood pounders as the princess and the creature continue to argue. "Well excuse me, princess. No pony seems to be using it, and when I saw all those drawings on the wall on the way here I believed this place served another purpose." He then notices that she wasn't wearing her regalia "Although it seems that it serves for more than just training." Celestia doesn't let his staring bother her as she continues "Those drawings are portrayed of past battles and…" The princess sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose "Discord, please tell me you didn't paint over any of those drawings?" "Oh tsk, tsk, tsk, Celestia, you think so poorly of me I would never interfere with the work of a fellow agent of chaos." Discord tells her as he appeared wearing a brush, a painting table with some colors and a beret. After taking a breath to calm down the princess looks back at their unexpected guest much more relaxed. "Well that is a worry I can lift off my shoulders. Now, can you explain why are you here? Normally I wouldn't mind your unexpected visits but today is not a good time." "Is that so?" Discord looked at her with a smirk while snapping his fingers and returning to normal. Wow, how did he do that? Is he like this world's version of the genie? Blueblood wonders in surprise at his antics. "Could it perhaps be related to why Canterlot is being so chaotic recently?" He asks in intrigue. "I took some days off from my busy schedule of bringing some chaos here and there and what do I find when I return? Nobles panicking everywhere? Old laws being revived? A pony transform into a statuette? Honestly Celestia, throwing a chaos party and you don't invite me? I'm deeply offended!" He mentions as he wraps himself around the princess like a snake. "That’s because all of that, was out of my control." Celestia defended herself before smiling "Besides, it couldn't be call a 'chaotic party' if you plan for it, right? So, how can I invite you, when not even I knew what was going on?" Discord was about to respond pointing at her only to be left silent and then unwrapped himself. "Well played." He then starts to lazily float around the room, rocking himself back and forward on his body, pretending that he was on a hammock "So care to put me up to speed with what is going on?" He tells while closing his eyes The princess sighed and shook her head. "Is that all you want?" He pops into existence on her mane. "I will be out of your mane as soon as you explain things up to and how your nephew is now the new hot topic." "Before we do that, can I ask who or exactly what are you?" Blueblood asked with a raised eyebrow, gaining the attention of Discord as he looks at him with a smile "Would you like to know?" He appears in the center of the room and levitates the prince before making the drawings he was making move. "Here, let me draw you a picture, it all started when a young and mischievous lord of chaos…" Discord started to explain using a drawing, a version of himself when something makes him stop and he puts the Prince down as he looked at him confused. "Wait a minute." He stood in front of him and conjured a magnifier which he used to look into his ear. "There is something wrong here, you are definitely the same prince I know and love to prank occasionally, but at the same time you are not. Almost like you are a pony I haven't seen before. You have a new look I can't understand." He tells turning into a monkey and jumping into his hair before checking for lice "New haircut?" He asks looking at the prince face to face. "Um.." Before he could answer Celestia picks Discord up in her magic and levitated him away "Ok Discord that is enough, there is no need for you to scare him." "Me? Scare him?" Discord turns back to normal and looks at her honestly surprise "He is the one that is confusing me!" He tells her pointing at Blueblood and then at himself "ME, The spirit of chaos, how can that, even be possible?" The princess just sighs and shakes her head "It's kind of a long story, but for now, I think the first thing in order is the introductions." She tells before presenting one another. "Nephew, meet Discord. An ancient magical creature and the personification of chaos itself." Celestia tells pointing at Discord "He is a…friend of the family." She tells after thinking about it for a brief moment. "Ah! I get it now, nice to meet you Discord!" Blueblood tells with a wave which just keeps confusing the lord of chaos while also making multiply question marks appear out of nowhere above his head, as Celestia turns to Discord "And Discord meet once again my nephew, Blueblood. He had a recent close encounter with death and well…" She then realized something "Wait, shouldn't you already be knowing all of this? You read the article, didn't you?" "Oh please Celestia, you really thought that I couldn't sniff out fake news?" He mentions while crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow "Yes I read it, but after looking over all the chaos that it's making, I simply needed to know what was all the commotion." He tells appearing with a notebook and a hat that says 'Press' on it making the princess of the day giggle "I suppose it is kind of pointless keeping a secret from you, isn't it?" "Yep, so tell me all about it and do not cut corners I want to know every single detail," He tells in excitement as he continues to write in his notebook so fast that it actually catch itself on fire before the ash left behind swirls back towards his hand before reforming back into the notebook. "Wait!" Blueblood yell startling the princess "I just remembered," He tells with a smile before approaching Discord "A friend of yours told me about you, she said that I couldn't possibly miss you once I saw you," He ponders before looking back at Discord "She wasn't lying." He just chuckles and poses in front of him "What can I say?" He transformed into a baseball trading card and floats toward Blueblood until he picks it up, Discord talking with him wearing a baseball uniform "I'm one of a kind." Blueblood chuckle at his antics "And that is to put it lightly, also I have a message for you." "Oh really?" Discord teleports and returns to normal. "What is it? Did Fluttershy wish for me to bring some new tea? Want to make a nice little picnic in my dimension? Oh! Perhaps she wants to make a play date with Twilight Sparkle?" He tells him constantly teleporting the three to his home, a tea shop, and even Twilight’s castle as she brushes her teeth, almost swallowing her toothbrush from the scare. "Take us back Discord." Celestia tells him with some annoyance. He rolls his eyes, causing them to fall out and roll on the floor before he picks them back up, but compiles and they found themselves back in the cave. Blueblood laughing at what happened "Oh yeah, you two really are alike, and no it's not Fluttershy who asked me for a favor." That confused Discord as he turns to him "It’s not?" Blueblood shake his head "Nope, it was Lady Death." "Lady Death? I don't know anyone by that…" Discord eyes wide in realization "Wait, you mean THE Lady Death? The grim reaper? The mare of a thousand faces? Wears a hoodie and likes to use a lot of makeup?" Discord asks with some degree of worry as he passes his claw on his face and seconds later he looks like he was wearing skull makeup. "THAT Lady Death!?" "That is the one, although I'm confused with the face thing, she looked like Pinkie when we talked, or that is also part of the 'no logic' thing?" Blueblood ponders as Celestia moves Discord away from him. "Now you understand why this is not a good moment for your visit?" She tells in sadness "A lot of things have happened and are spinning out of control these past weeks. The biggest of them all was his event with death itself, but the experience has allowed me a second chance, for me to reconnect with my family." She then looked at him with pleading eyes directly into his. "Please Discord, in the past I wasn't there for Blueblood when he needs me the most. I want to make up for lost time." Discord gets uncomfortable at the display and backs away. "Ok, ok! I get it! I will leave you two alone just stop making that face! Geez Celestia, you only needed to tell me that this was a family thing you were doing." He complains while rolling his eyes multiple times in different directions. "I know when a pony needs a moment. I learned my lesson since the worm incident." He says while shivering a bit from the memory. "Just make sure to tell me the story later, ok? I still want to know what is going on here." Celestia smile and nods. "You have my word." "Plus I want you to consider my idea for your day court too, Celestia. I mean come on! Just think about it. A Royal Jester? Say Goodbye to a boring meeting for life." He offers her with a smile as she rolls her eyes with a smile. "You really want to wear that hat with the bells don’t you?" "No pony should be torture with so many hours of uninterrupted boredom." Discord complains. "I will consider it." Celestia finally tells him as they go back over to Blueblood who looks at both confused. "Did something happen?" The princess shake her head. "Not at all, I was just explaining to him why this wasn't the best moment for a visit." She mentions pointing at the books "Nothing against him but due to how advanced the spells are, concentration is needed and we can't afford distractions." "You know if you want to teach him some new magic I could be of help." Discord offered lifting one of his claws but Celestia stoped him using one of her wings "Don't." He just rolls his eyes and looks at Blueblood. "Yeah, that and because this sounds boring, I decided to leave for now and come back later but before that, didn't you say you have a message from old Death?" "Yep," The prince tells with a nod "D asked me to tell you that she is ready to cash in that favor you own her." The prince explains, as the princess slowly turns to Discord with a raised eyebrow "Favour you own her? Why would the lord of chaos own death herself a favor?" "Oh I could tell you, but look at the clock!” He tells her while conjuring a cuckoo clock that he was wearing as a wrist clock "I'm going to be late for my head polisher!" He tells taking his own head off and starts to clean it like its a bowling ball. "I would love to stay and chat but I have to bounce bye!" Discord then turn into a ball and bounced off the wall before he was swallowed by one of them like it was made of water leaving the prince confused and startled by all that. "Well…that was definitely random." He says before turning to Celestia who just chuckled and shook her head. "That is Discord for you, a random and chaotic being that just does what he likes, comes unannounced and loves to play harmless pranks from time to time. But at the end of the day, he is still a kind and good guy you can always count on. He even saved Equestria once." Celestia explains. "Wait really?" Blueblood looked at her in surprise. "Yes, I will tell you about it some other day. For now what do you say we start our lessons?" She says with some excitement as she levitates a book and starts to skim through its pages before stopping on one. "Ah here is a useful one, I believe it could help you escape if you are ever encountered by a difficult situation in the future. The 'Teleportation Spell.'" She explains as she goes toward him and shows him the pages. "Now Blueblood listen closely, in order for you to perform this spell the first thing you need to do is clear your mind and have a mental image of your entire body, try your hardest to not leave anything out." Meanwhile in the realms of souls The Discord ball bounced into existence as Death picks it up and start to play with it. "Discord!" She throws it and the lord of chaos reappeared shaking his head from the dizziness. "Did you miss me?" Death asks poking his stomach "Admit it, you missed me." The lord of Chaos just chuckled as he looks at her "D, I see you are still as creepily happy as ever." He tells her while being a bit uncomfortable. "Aw, are you still weirded out that I'm like that pinkie pie character you told me about despite my job description?" She tells him while prancing around him in the middle of the air. "Yes, and it doesn't help that now you decided to take the shape of her as well." Discord comments making her stop. "Would you have preferred my other form?" She asks him with a smirk before growing until she is the size of Canterlot mountain and has a black dress ending in fog and a very big hat made of thorns. IS THIS BETTER?! Her booming voice was enough to make everything shake violently. "Aw! Ok, ok! I take it back! Now change into the other form!" She goes back to looking alike Pinkie "I knew it." She says with a smirk as she pulls an oz from her mane and used it to draw in the dirt floor the two were. Clearing his ear Discord decided to follow along. "I meet with Blueblood today." "The prince? Oh, he is a great kisser!" She tells with a giggle before looking at him "So I imagine that he delivered my message?" "Yes." Discord nods as he floats to look at her face to face. "So you finally want some chaos in your life, eh Death? I knew you would eventually get bored of all that partying of yours." "Ah? Nah, I'm living the dream Discord! And I love it! I just need your help with a small project I gave the green light to." She tells not looking at him as he finishes with the drawing. "Some old friends want to go for a visit in Equestria." She explains pointing at the drawings on the ground making Discord raise an eyebrow in intrigue "Them?" "Yup, but you know the drill. I can move souls, but can't give them solid bodies like you can, so what do you say Discord? For old times sake, would you help me give them a solid body for a bit?" She asks him with hopeful eyes. Discord thinks it over before responding "Well the idea of them walking around town certainly sounds like it could be very chaotic, can we invite more ponies for the party?" He asks with an evil grin. "Nooooo!" D tells him still in her cheerful matter. He sigh and shake his head "Such a waste, fine I will help, but after that, we are even." "Yay!!" Death tells as she lifts her oz and from it, a white light starts to shine as three souls go and merge with the drawings on the floor. He then thinks of something "And now you will owe Blueblood a favor." "Oh I don't mind owing him a favor." Death tells while continuing her incantation "He is not that kind of naughty as you are." She tells with a giggle making Discord flinch. "Honestly Death, sometimes even I don't know what is passing through that head of yours, and that is saying something." Discord mentions as he grabs her oz and lends some of his power to her. The eyes on the three drawings open as they start to rise from the ground. Death blocking the view of the three figures as she looks behind and smiles "Foreshadowing!"