"C-cousin." Blue tried to comport herself properly. "To what do I owe the... pleasure?"
"I hear you're going through quite the transition." She pointed through the mirror at Blue, her eyes scanning past her as much as Blue had looked past Fleur. "I would love to hear about it."
Blue's ears pinned on her head. "Are you going to try to convince me to stop?"
"Hm?" Cadance shook her head. "If this is just a fancy, you'll stop yourself. And if it isn't, I would be quite mean to be that obstacle." She cradled her head on the ends of her hooves. "I want to know! Please, I acted without knowing before and hurt you, and I'm very sorry. So, this time, I want to look before I leap. Please tell me."
She wasn't sure how much she could trust Cadance to not shove her nose where it did not belong. "I am advancing towards my goal. You behold not Blue Blood anymore."
"I heard!" she exclaimed with a grin. "Please, do introduce yourself, dear cousin. Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?"
"You are speaking to Baroness Blue Belle." She hiked up a brow. "Not quite on the level of an empress, we admit..."
"It's lovely." Cadance made a gesture as if she were giving a hug, but the mirror did not permit such things. "Baroness you say? Hmmm, I admit, I was a common pony by birth... baroness, baroness... How high is that?"
"It is--" Oh how smug she looked, instructing that would-be royal on the matter of noble titles. Cadance may well have been empress, but her ignorance was showing. "One of the first landed titles. Having it means that I am landed. In fact, I was considering visiting my domain, to see how it has fared."
"You have a little kingdom of your own?!" Cadance began to canter in place, looking oh so excited. "I want to see!"
"As do I," replied Blue far more evenly. "But I think, after long consideration, that I should do that after I have... completed preparations. They should witness the new me. Why confuse them with a pony caught in the middle, as it were?"
"Oh, that does make sense." She sank to her haunches, a hoof at her chin. "Still, so exciting! After all this time, no wonder you were miserable. You were in exactly the wrong place. Poor Bluey."
"That is not my name," softly grumped Blue, pouting faintly.
"Cadance is not my name," noted Cadance with a smile. "But it is far less of a mouth full than the whole thing, and, for my friends, I gladly accept it."
Blue sank with a little sigh. He knew Cadance's full name, and she wasn't wrong. It was quite the title... "Very well, I will not be the one to not return a kindness given."
She clopped her hooves, a triumphant smile on her face. "Bluey it is! A friendly nickname, between family." She leaned in closer to the mirror. "Now..." Her eyes went up and down Blue. "Are you...still a stallion? You sound the same."
"On the outside, I am unchanged. However." She stood up proudly. "I am learning how to comport myself as a mare." She was displaying the subtle differences in a mare's stance. "Behold!" Oh yes, truly something to be proud of, at least as she saw it in that moment.
Cadance peered at the stallion standing in a way that subtly implied something was wrong, for a stallion. She labored to imagine a mare just so... "Ah... yeah, I get it..." It was still an uncanny effect, the two things clashing. "You're serious then."
"Did you think I was not?" She clopped the floor, frowning at Cadance.
"I didn't mean to offend, Bluey," Cadance quickly assured. "Still, the proof is in actions, not words. Not many stallions I know would learn that particular trick just for the fun of it." She extended a hoof forward. "I'm sorry for so badly judging you before."
Blue's cheeks raised in a smile. "Your apology is accepted... I trust I will not be matched with more hopeful mares then?"
"What do you prefer?" she asked with zero shame. "I know quite a number of strapping stallions that would love to meet you if you'd rather... Or maybe you'd like a mare who wants the company of another mare? Don't look like that. I'm the princess of love." She arched a brow. "And love comes in many varieties, even if I have my own favorite."
Blue's cheeks were alight with embarrassment. "Cousin! I... have not even begun to consider that."
"Why not?" She inclined her head. "Most ponies want to find that special somepony, do they not? And I will not have my cousin being all sad and alone."
"Cousin... Cadance." She shook her head slowly. "Let us be frank. You have rarely cared much for me before you saw the opportunity to meddle. In fact, I am fairly certain you actively avoided my presence when possible." She rolled a hoof. "Why are things different now?"
"Because you are growing," she sang. "You are emerging from your shell and I want to be there... to help, if I may. The pony before me doesn't feel like the same pony anymore." She raised a brow. "I won't argue your words. I... was at times quite miffed at your... boorish indifference to the feelings of a mare." She rolled a hoof with a low huff. "But, from what I hear, you have put that aside. I will not chastise a mare for her acts as a filly. If you are putting that all behind you, I will gladly help and welcome the new you."
"Was I that awful?" Blue's ears pinned back on her head. "Those mares chased me, hoping to catch my eye and secure their right to a life they didn't earn. It wasn't terribly fair at all, dear cousin. Is all the fault mine?"
Cadance went quiet, considering her next words carefully. "It's never any one pony's fault," she decided out loud. "Bluey, I was a poor cousin before. Can I do better now? Will you forgive me my mistakes?"
Blue sat up, a little fire lit in her. Cadance was apologizing, and it felt sincere, from the depths of her heart. "It would... be uncouth for me to deny that while asking for the same." She extended a hoof to match Cadance's, though the mirror remained in the way. "I will give you a second chance if you return the favor, yes?"
"A deal." She brought in her hoof to rest on the glass and soon Blue's was on the other side, meeting if not for the glass and untold miles between them. "Now... When you do go all mare... I want to see! I'll help you pick out your first dress."
Blue's cheeks lit on fire. Mare though she had determined, wearing dresses remained something she'd have to get used to. "Y-yes, though I fear there are other ponies ahead of you on that line."
Cadance gasped with exaggerated horror. "You jest?" But Blue didn't look like she was joking. "I didn't think there'd be a cue for this... Goes to show me what happens if you delay things." She rolled a hoof in the air. "You will show me, at least."
"I will do that. For now, farewell, Cousin." He waved in the special way that made the mirror go dark, ending the call. "That... could have gone..."
"I never thought you'd finish," grunted Fire Paradox, blinking into existence on her bed. "I thought you hated her."
"I did." She trotted over to her wardrobe and began picking through it. "But things change. Hardly the first thing to have changed recently."
"The theme of the moon," agreed Fire Paradox, watching Blue fuss over clothing. "It's time to learn more runes. Finish what you're doing and get over here."
Though she sighed, she did hurry over to get her arcane lessons. "How close are we?"
"Telling you will just drive you crazy." She stuck out her tongue, licking with fire as it was. "Shut up and listen. The sooner you learn these, the sooner you can cast what you want to cast."
"I hear you're learning magic." There was Twilight Sparkle, walking alongside Blue. "That's quite bold for a pony your age."
Blue lifted an ear at that. Twilight was a princess, so telling her to kiss off was off the menu. "Why do you say that?" Give her a chance to explain her words, yes, that was more proper.
Twilight rolled a hoof as she walked. "Most spellcasters, myself included, learn it when they're still foals, to get in the right mindset for it." She inclined her head. "I'm honestly surprised you're advancing as well and quickly in it as I've been told." She stopped suddenly, turning to Blue. "Actually, I've only heard rumors. How far have you advanced?"
Oh ho! She was jealous, humbled before Blue's ability. Oh how she smiled with victory. "I've learned a small hoof full of spells and about two dozen symbols. I'm working towards a specific spell, you see."
"I don't see," admitted Twilight. "What spell?" She suddenly clopped her forehooves, balancing on her hinds. "Maybe I know it? We could go over it together."
Blue frowned at her, considering that. Learning from her would... not be the same, still... "Do you know the spell that makes a mare of a stallion?"
Twilight blinked with wide eyes. "That spell is... one of the hardest. To introduce the magic channels of the other three tribes into a stallion in a stable format is a task for any spellcaster. Even Star Swirl would have to approach it carefully." She set a hoof to her chin. "There was one time I pretended to do the opposite, but it was just that, a show."
That had Blue frowning in a whole new way, confusion building. "I'm sorry, what do you mean by 'the magic channels'? Are mares more magical than stallions?"
"Not like that!" She thrust up her hooves. "We have borne witness to stallions with a great deal of magic. However, males only have the magic of their specific tribe." She began counting in the air. "Pegasi stallions have pegasi magic. Unicorn stallions, unicorn, and earth ponies, earth pony. With me?"
"I'm 'with' you so far." Blue arched a brow, trying to keep up. "But you have not said how this differs from mares. A unicorn mare would have unicorn magic, would they not?"
"Not if they want to be a mother." Twilight blushed faintly as she pointed back at her own belly. "A foal of a mare may be the same, or a different, tribe, and a mare can raise that child no matter what tribe they are. Their womb is a melting pot, where much more raw, primal, magic can be stirred into exactly the right blend to grow into a foal, of any tribe."
"I see..." She did not see, though her eyes darted back to where such a thing would rest in her, were she a mare yet. "So... my... I would need to be given this 'melting pot'?"
Twilight blinked dumbly. "Wait, this is for you?"
Blue had to return the blink, equally as stunned. "I had thought you knew. You came to me speaking of my spellcasting, but you haven't even heard that?"
"Heard what?" Twilight turned to resume the journey forward. "I heard you were learning magic and got curious about it."
Blue felt certain there was more to it than that, but no hint of guile could be seen in Twilight's face and movements. The daft little commoner-princess probably didn't know anything more. "You are addressing Baroness Blue Belle, of Glistening Glade," she announced proudly, stepping with head held high and chin upthrust and straight. "I am working to address my... physical imperfections. Now, as you were saying, I will require this convergence of magic?"
Twilight considered quietly as they walked, coming upon a small room, a room with a table, two comfy pillows, and plenty of books. She turned to enter, one ear on Blue. "If you became a mare without it, you'd be half a mare. Um..." She raised a hoof to her chin. "Unable to have foals. I mean, there's more to a mare than that, of course..." She inclined her head at Blue. "You're a mare?"
"Yes," she stated firmly. "I am a mare, Baroness Blue Belle." She stomped down a hoof. "Is that so bad?"
"No! No, of course not." Twilight slid up onto a pillow, seated on her haunches facing across to where Blue settled in. "That's very brave of you."
Blue inclined her head at that. "Brave?"
"I would imagine most stallions would not build the courage to declare that." She coughed into a hoof softly. "I couldn't do it. Just imagining... It gives me chills. Not that I'm unhappy being a mare." She gestured over herself. "It is what I am, and I'm alright with that, but still... Very brave." A sudden coy smile erupted on her face. "I have tried other forms, however."
He raised a brow. "But not a stallion."
"Not that," she admitted with a shake of her head. "But a breezie, and I've had wings before becoming a princess... I know... what it's like, to be altered by magic." She brought her hooves together. "It's an interesting sensation, but the spells I used were all temporary. Easier, fleeting. A few hours at most, then gone."
Blue came up short in what she was about to say. "Now that you bring it up... I have learned not a single spell with... a specific duration." She considered it, tapping her hooves. "They all last as long as I concentrate on them, or they are entirely permanent. My teacher did not instruct me on any other variety of spellcrafting."
Twilight looked obviously surprised at that. "Really? Almost all the spells taught to us were of limited duration. It's safer that way. Even if you really mess up, well, it'll undo itself in a moment." She laughed nervously, perhaps imagining her first early attempts to cast spells. "Oh! Would you like to try it?"
"It?"
"Being a breezie." She clopped her hooves with a smile. "A nice temporary spell. You go where the wind carries you. It's an interesting experience."
"I should imagine so..." She looked over Twilight consideringly. "I have not learned all the symbols. There is a chance your spell has some I do not know."
"Then you can learn them," argued Twilight with a smile. "It's not often I get to be the magic teacher. Starlight, bless her, is a gem, but I spend most of my time teaching her techniques. She knows the symbols quite well, almost frighteningly so."
"Starlight?" That was not a name he was familiar with. "An associate of yours?" Then it clicked. "Oh, didn't she get a medal from auntie? Yes, I think I remember now."
"That's the one." Twilight made a vague gesture of the shape of a unicorn. "A very talented unicorn. My peer on that front. Less talented in research, by a very small amount, but more talented in raw power. She can control magic with an ability I have not seen outside of her. It's quite amazing to behold. I'm proud to be her mentor."
"I seem to recall she attacked the Royal Sisters with her magic." Blue shook her head. "A bit of a ruffian."
Twilight blushed vividly. "She was doing her best to help! It... worked out..." She coughed into a hoof. "This aside, are you ready to learn some magic?"
Of all the things, another magic mentor was not what Blue had been expecting. "You would teach me?"
"If you want to learn." She pressed her hooves together firmly but silently. "I am a teacher. It would be my pleasure, if you accept me."
Blue smiled brightly. "My conclusions are being proven false quite often of late. I am humbled." She dipped her head, ears splaying wide. "Very well, do you have this spell written down?"
Twilight shook her head. "I do, but it's back at my castle. No matter." Magic runes began to appear over her head. "If you see a letter you don't recognize, just ask me to stop and we'll go over it. Seeing which we need to do is our first priority, so focus on that, and not trying to memorize the spell just yet."
Blue watched as the spell played out, one letter after the other. Most, she could easily identify, her own horn glowing in sympathetic echoes as they went, but that one. "Stop." She pointed at the floating rune. "What is that one?"
Twilight was all too happy to explain how to cast that rune, and give its name. What she did not do is explain what the rune did, which Blue found quite odd. "What is its purpose?"
Twilight inclined her head. "What is the purpose of the letter 'k'? To make 'kuh' noises, mostly, but not much outside of that."
Blue made a quiet mental note to ask his other magic teacher for the purpose of that letter. "I see..."
Outside that very room, Celestia walked by calmly, pretending to not pay any mind, though she took note of the meeting. They seemed to be conversing amiably. Magic letters glowed over Twilight. Were they discussing magic? That conversation, she hoped, would reveal how far he had truly advanced, and if he was learning well or some slapdashery that could get him hurt.
Baroness Blue Belle... Some baroness. Celestia shook off the thought. It was unkind... "If one of my little ponies wishes to improve themselves, good." She was long past the door, alone with her thoughts. "I only hope it leads them somewhere better than where they began." She did not hold the greatest hopes in that instant, but still, they were her pony, and she would... make sure they weren't getting into trouble.
"There you are." Fancy came up with his cloud of followers, but he didn't banish them instead drawing Blue into the activity. "It's hardly a gathering without our baroness, now is it?" They laughed with him. It was quite improper to not follow the cues of Fancy Pants.
Blue smiled at the sight of his friend. "Fancy, I was beginning to think this was a failure of a demonstration, without you about."
"Well, we can't have that, now can we." He gestured off towards a table at a mild distance. "They have the pastries you've been wanting for so long."
"You told them to have those, didn't you?"
Fancy chortled with a little smile. "I may or may not have had a hoof in the matter, but enough of that. Come, let's enjoy them together."
As they walked leisurely towards it, Fancy asked, "I hear you met with Princess Twilight Sparkle. Was it a good meeting?"
"Hm? Oh! Surprisingly... yes."
"Surprisingly?" Fancy hiked a brow. "I feel I should remind you, that mare will one day replace our beloved Celestia."
Blue came up short, almost tripping over herself. "Come again? Auntie dearest is as unaging and unchanging as the very sun over our heads. How would any pony replace her without foul play?"
"Would that it were true." He inclined his head faintly. "But I will carry out her will and see to it things move forward with dignity and grace to the best of my ability." He huffed softly with a little smile. "Even if Twilight has no idea how to be a princess."
The others around them chuckled at the idea, easily agreeing that Twilight was not exactly princess material. Fancy threw a leg over Blue. "At least I'll have company to help me keep her on task."
"Hm?"
"Well, those of us who do know how it's done will just have to show her how to walk the walk." He waggled his brows with that mischievous smile. "And we can entertain ourselves when things go wrong. At least we of the upper crust will have our satisfaction even as we hasten to keep Equestria on the right track."
"Too right," agreed Blue, still warring with her internal feelings on the matter. "Is there no way she can be convinced not to... abdicate? She really is the best ruler Equestria has known, even our... conflicts aside."
"In this, we are in complete agreement." He squeezed Blue close from the side as he drew closer to the others, all their horns coming in for a communal touch. "She's worked long and hard. We don't deserve to ask her to work a day longer than she feels willing to. Let us honor the task she's done so far by doing our part."
"What is this?" There was Celestia, approaching with a smile. "You're all looking dour for such a festive occasion."
"I was just explaining how unreasonable my parents had been!" squeezed Blue, throwing herself on that bomb. "To think, abandoning their domain like that. Poor ponies, left adrift without guidance."
"Entirely unreasonable," agreed Fancy, rolling right with the excuse giving. "But, for now, let's finish what we've come for. We'll take care of those ponies afterwards. Have no fear!"
"You are a true friend." She smiled, tail swishing with genuine warmth. "Yes, let's put on proper faces. It doesn't do to make a sad display in the midsts of things."
"Exactly so," cut in Celestia, watching Blue penetratingly. "Blue... we should talk, about your family's holdings... After the festival, if you can?"
"Of course." She dipped her head, then they resumed the frivolities that were needed of nobility. She had appearances to upkeep!
"Is something wrong?" Blue slipped into the small room, Celestia seated on the far side of the table there. "Did my parents' foolishness extend further than neglect?!"
"Yes and no." She gestured to the other side of the table. "When your parents left, the ponies they abandoned were mildly confused, but only a short while. They fractured into two factions, you see. Some of them wanted to keep things just as they were, keep up the old traditions."
"Reasonable enough." Blue sank on the provided pillow. "And the other, upstarts?"
"In a manner of speaking." She inclined her head faintly at Blue. "They... wanted to find a new way forward. They were small in number, at first, but gained power with each generation. Why, even the name of the place changed since then."
Blue blinked at that. "What name do they go by now?"
But Celestia did not answer that. "By now, they have their own councils and organization. They don't really think of the noble family that should, in theory, be ruling over them. They pay taxes to the crown--" her crown, of course. "--but don't even think of your parents, or even know of you."
"This is the price we pay," Blue sighed out miserably. "I will put this to right."
"If you hurry in there and make proclamations, you will inspire nothing but anger," warned Celestia. "Nephew, now is a time to--"
"Neice," she cut off.
"Yes, right..." The stallion before her was, well, a stallion... "This is the time for you to show your growth. Approach them humbly and show them you are a force for positive change, not retrogression."
"Auntie, what do they call themselves? Are they hostile to royalty?"
"They are not... In fact, the conservatives will gladly welcome you back, but siding with them alone will only further fracture the town."
"Which is now called?" She rolled a hoof impatiently.
"Sire's Hollow."