"Down!" Platinum's demand still pounded in his ears as Blueblood's body hugged the ground for all he was worth. His body screamed with the sudden lack of pain as he desperately inhaled the sweet air around him. There had been fire, there had been a dark frost tearing through his body, and then the world erupted into agony. Now, other than his ragged breath and racing heart, there was no sign of any of it.
He was not a coward, and yet his heart hammered in his chest so hard he thought it might explode. He knew enough to know there had been a lot of magic flowing through him, dangerous, potentially lethal levels of power.
"What happened?" He asked as he opened his eyes. The view that greeted him was not what he expected. Instead of the rolling grasslands or whatever it had become in the aftermath of the attack, the world had been replaced with an endless sea of mottled colours and shifting lights. Even the smooth ground under him blended seamlessly with it. "Where in Equestria?"
"It was the only way I could save you, my Prince." Even sounding so solemn, Platinum's voice was as perfect as ever.
He followed the sound to look at her. For a moment, he did not recognise her. Her platinum white coat was burnt away and frozen solid in patches, and her normally styled sapphire mane was in total disarray. She looked utterly exhausted as if she would topple over in even the softest of breezes. "What happened? What did you do?" He asked, concern heavy in his voice as he got to his hooves and moved to support her.
"Celestia's magic was too strong. I had no other choice" The beautiful mare trembled as she turned her shimmering eyes away.
He carefully pulled her into an embrace, accepting most of her weight as she toppled against him. "Well, you clearly saved us."
The fact it there were only the two of them here planted seeds in his heart. It was like a hole opened in his chest. His new guards, his friends from the duelling circuit, even the workers he hadn't ever asked the names of, were they all gone?
Her expression fell even further. Now, there was no doubt about the shame she felt, not with it painted so clearly on her face. "Only because I changed you without your consent."
Changed me? That was not what he had been expecting. It was both a relief and a worry. Any change that would have that look of shame on such a normally resolved face was definitely not a minor thing.
As subtly as he could, he checked himself over. All his limbs were there. He still had his horn. Nothing hurt. Nothing looked or felt out of place. "You changed me?"
She nodded.
"I do not feel any different. Am I missing something?"
"Protecting you and saving your retainers took more power than a mortal pony can safely channel."
"I don't feel like you burned out my horn." He said, his hoof reflectly reaching for it.
"It would be most accurate to say I caused your body to be vaporised…"
"For a pony that suffered such a fate, I seem to be doing remarkably well, all things considered."
"And you will be doing better soon, my Prince."
He raised his eyebrow in a way both his aunts liked to use.
"The only way to wield the needed power was to start you on your path of ascension, my Prince."
"Ascension… I'm going to be an Alicorn?"
"If you survive."
"There is risk involved?"
She nodded. "Yes, my Prince, but fear not, for I am here to guide you."
"I don't mean to criticise, but you hardly seem like you're at your best…"
"I am more than capable of what is required here and now."
"You have my thanks for turning certain death into merely the chance of death." He said as his mind truly started to process the future that now lay before him. How envious he had been of the 'lesser born filth' that had dared ascend, Cadance and Twilight both. All the amazing things they had accomplished and how worthless they made him feel.
"What should I expect?"
"This place will show you your life. Every defining moment, whether you remember it or not, will be clearly laid bare for you to review."
"There will be things that Aunty Celestia has taken from me?"
"Yes."
"That does not seem too terrible, not with already knowing how she treated me."
"After that there will be your magic forming your new body."
"So what do I have now?"
"This is a place where sentient minds have form just by their very nature."
"Where is the danger?"
"All that is only the first part of an ascension. There is still one final trial that must be completed… and the sooner it is done, the higher the likelihood of success. With myself here to guide you through it, it is almost a certainty, but it is still a risk, no matter how small, that today will prove to be your last."
"I knew when I took up the blade in earnest that I might court death."
"Very well, My Prince. Then, when you are ready." She pointed her horn off behind him. "Your past lies that way."
"Will you be alright?"
"Fear not, kind Prince, I will be fine and waiting for you on the other side."
He knew not how long he walked. It could have been merely an hour. It could have been a century. Images like moving paintings flanked him on his entire journey. Knowing what it had been like to be warm and safe in his mother's womb had been a bizarre start. Seeing the change in his aunty from kindly to disappointed would have been soul crushing if he did not know it was coming.
She had loved him so much, had taught him and then what should have been the best day of his young life happened. The magic lesson had started the same as normal, but at the time, the young foal he had been had not spotted the coldness of her eyes. Somehow, those windows to her soul were worse than anything he could imagine on Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon wanted to be loved. Celestia's frigid eyes saw only the dust he would be in a thousand years.
Celestia sighed. "You are not what I seek… such a waste." The white mare lit her horn, and the Blueblood in the image screamed.
He looked away from the image, but the echo of pain still reached him. The crawling feeling in his head, the terror as everything he was being devoured bite by small bite.
He fled, his hooves galloping. Days or weeks later, he slowed, the fear of his foalhood self once more in the past as his adult mind could assess things. Now, the images showed that the foal he had been was gone. They were never the same after that. Something was missing, and the poor foal had no way of knowing what he had lost. So, instead, he turned to other things to fill that void.
Noble arrogance replaced his confidence. Cruelty and entitlement supplanted his curiosity and integrity. The pictures revealed all the times he had abused his positions, all the times he had just taken what he wanted and even who he wanted were like lead weights on his hooves. He knew he had changed. He knew he was only that way due to his aunty's machinations, but still, he could not look away.
There were so many ponies he did not even remember were out there. Their lives turned for the worse just because they ran across him. I will set things right, I swear. His oath did not lessen the weight, but it gave him the strength to move on.
Twilight's enraged look as she sent him for an unexpected but clearly deserved bath. At least I have already apologised to both her and Candice.
Seeing a dark shadow slip into his sleeping form was odd, but it was not until the morning after was shown that he put two and two together. Platinum's arrival in his life and everything that followed.
As he walked through the more recent events, his mind kept going back to that shadow. What was it? There was no way it was a coincidence, not with how he had changed and Platinum's introduction only hours later.
As he got to the end of the memories, there she was, waiting for him. Despite her ragged appearance, there was no longer any weakness in her stance, and her mane had been brushed at least.
"We need to talk." He started.
"I know, and we will."
"Are you who you say you are?"
"Almost. I knew Princess Platinum, and I know she would be proud of you."
"How did you know her?"
"I had a similar role for her as I do for you, My Prince."
"You still call me your Prince?"
"Happenstance and the meddling of another brought us together. It was my choice to stay with you. It was my choice to protect your mind and advise you."
"Why did you stay?"
"Because I saw the potential in you, My Prince, because I saw how Celestia had hobbled you, crippled your magic to make you a plaything in her political games, and because it was what Princess Platinum would have wanted."
A little bit of anger tried to rise, but it was barely a whisper against all the other emotions trying to swamp him. Instead, he turned to his curiosity. "Are you being truthful?"
She nodded. "The only thing I left out was that I was part of Luna at the time. Luna gifted parts of herself to those with potential to help guide and train them, to allow them to be everything they could be."
Pride added itself to the medley of his emotions. "Why did you choose now to tell me?"
"Because there are a lot of things you are going to need to learn about being an Alicorn."
A glow started from inside his chest. "Platinum?"
"We will continue this later, My Prince… good luck."
Everything disappeared in a flash of white.