Chapter One: Humble beginnings
The last traces of morning ticked off of Celestia’s clock, and her sun reached the highest point of the day. It was high noon in Ponyville, and things were ordinary. The young fillies were all in school, and the older residents were doing what they usually do. Applejack and Big Mac were working the farm, Twilight was studying and minding the library, you get the picture. One could imagine that Princess Celestia herself might take a minute out of her busy routine and gaze upon her subjects with a relaxed smile.
On this fine day, Fluttershy was tending to the needs of all of her little animal friends. She hummed a little tune as she worked. However, she stopped on a dime when she heard the sound of choking. Her pet bunny, Angel, had managed to swallow part of his carrot without properly chewing it first. She quickly managed to dislodge the carrot chunk from his throat, leading to a sigh of relief from both of them.
"Angel, you need to be more careful. I've told you this before." Fluttershy said warmly, but sternly at the same time. Angel frowned, but nodded in agreement. He wasn’t about to argue after she graciously saved his life.
Later that day, Fluttershy went for a walk. She meant to stop by Rarity's house today. The two of them had promised to spend some time together, as they had both been too busy to talk lately…at least Rarity was. She stopped walking when she noticed a house. She had heard rumors buzzing about a new house being built around the area. This could only mean one thing...someone new was moving into Ponyville.
Oh, that's nice. It looks like we'll soon have a new pony among us. I should tell Pinkie Pie. She really gets excited when someone new comes to town.
Fluttershy was partially wrong; Ponyville's newest resident was already there. He just happened to be inside the house unpacking his things. The stallion didn't have a whole lot of possessions, just the essentials and some keepsakes. Among the obvious things needed to survive, he had a record player for entertainment. This pony was a big fan of music. He looked over toward the mirror. He saw his blue body, complete with a pair of dragon-like wings. His mane was brown and slightly spiked. He also wore a red cape, which covered up his cutie mark. At first, he was against having it covered, but he grew to love the cape and wore it all the time.
"Now that is one good-looking stallion. Stay classy, Blue."
The last thing he had to unpack was the most important to him. It was a framed picture of his grandfather, who had died just a couple of months before. He took the picture and carefully placed it on the table in the center of his main living room. He smiled warmly at the picture, and began to tear up.
"I miss you, gramps." The Pegasus said. He was startled by a sudden knock on the door.
"Come in!" he said. Quickly drying his eyes, he turned around to meet the eyes of the Mayor of Ponyville.
"Oh. Hello there. I'm Royal Blue." He extended his hoof.
"Greetings, Mr. Royal. I am Mayor Mare, the Mayor of Ponyville. I came by to welcome you to our humble little village." She shook hooves with him.
"Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here."
"If you like, I could show you a few important places in Ponyville." Royal thought about it for a moment. He'd just finished packing literally minutes before she arrived. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing else he had to do.
"Sure. Let's go, Miss Mayor." He joined her in exiting his new home.
"And so polite, too." Royal chuckled.
"Well, you can thank my grandpa for that. He was the best coach." The middle aged mare nodded, and then she caught what he had said.
Was? Oh, dear.
"Um, let's start the tour, shall we?" she said, desperately trying to change the subject.
The kindly old mare proceeded to show him around the small community. He was introduced to such Ponyville landmarks as Sweet Apple Acres, Sugar Cube Corner, and the Carousel Boutique. At each stop, Mayor Mare offered to introduce him to the ponies in charge, but he politely declined. He would come back and meet them on his own time. After all, he was here to stay. Finally, they came to the library, home of Ponyville’s resident bookworm and her #1 assistant.
"And this is our library. Dear, I'm afraid this is where I have to leave you. I have some important things to do. We're still recovering from Discord around here."
"No problem, Miss Mare. Thanks for showing me what you could." With this, the mayor left. Royal stood in front of the library door.
Discord...I wanted a piece of him, but some pony beat me to it. Oh yeah, the library. Should I go in?
This decision was made for him. The door opened, and out stepped Spike. The baby dragon was rambling about...something when he walked right into Royal's leg.
"That's odd. I don't remember there being a blue tree here." He looked up, and Royal looked down. It was an awkward moment, to say the least.
"Can I help you?" Royal asked him. Spike took a step backwards so he could actually see the face of the unfamiliar pony.
"Oh, sorry about that. I was just about to run an errand for Twilight. Wait, I've never seen you before. Who are you?"
"My name is Royal Blue. I just moved here."
"Oh. Nice to meet you! My name's Spike." Twilight opened the door.
"Spike, we don't have time for idle...oh, hello. Do you think you could help me? Come in, come in!" Royal followed the pair into the library. Twilight resumed her frantic search.
"Oh, why can't I find that book on exotic recipes? I need it for Pinkie's party today!" A brightly colored book caught Royal's eye. It was sitting on the second shelf. He pulled it out and glanced at the cover. He pulled it out and gave it to Spike. The pair inspected it.
"9001 Exotic Recipes for Exotic Equines. Is this it?" Royal asked. Twilight heard him and rushed over.
"Yes! Yes! How did you find it?" The purple unicorn said; her eyes full of joy.
"The colors kind of stood out among all the other books. I mean, what an odd color scheme." With this knowledge, Twilight gathered herself.
"Thanks for finding it. I apologize for that little outburst. I'm just a little stressed out right now. I was supposed to meet my friends an hour ago so we could work on some great new recipes for tonight's party. See, we're welcoming a new pony to Ponyville and..." It was at that moment that Twilight noticed Spike's gestures.
"Wait a second...you are who I'm talking about, aren't you?" He nodded. She slapped her forehead.
"Ugh! Pinkie Pie's surprise is ruined! Now I get to hear her 3 hour lecture on why breaking Pinkie Promises is bad!" Her stress levels had reached new heights. Royal tapped her on the shoulder. She opened her eyes.
"No you won’t. I'm a very good actor. Besides, I’ll probably just forget what you said anyway. Problem solved." This seemed to calm her down.
"I'm sorry. I'm so stressed, I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Twilight Sparkle." She was back to her usual, friendly state.
"My name's Royal Blue. It's nice to meet you, Twilight."
"Yes, likewise. Oh! Sorry, but I have to go. Thanks for helping me find the book!" She took it and dashed out of the library, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.
"I guess I should go too. I owe it to Twilight to try and forget what she just told me. I have a special talent for that." Spike laughed.
"Okay. See you later at that thing you're trying to forget so I won't mention it again!" Royal started to leave, but then he turned back around to face the purple dragon.
“Why would any pony need a book with over 9000 recipes?” Spike shook his head.
“I don’t know, but it sure is fun to say that number! I like yelling it loud when Twilight’s not around.” Now it was Royal’s turn to chuckle.
"See ya, Spike." Royal left the library and headed home. On his way, he walked by Sweet Apple Acres.
"I should get home and get some sleep. Traveling sure takes it out of you."
Several hours later, the royal blue pegasus awoke from his slumber. He felt like a new stallion capable of even keeping up with the Wonderbolts. The only problem was that he had no plans for the night. He had met a couple of new friends, but it wasn't like he had made any plans to hang out with them. Clearly, he had conveniently forgotten about the surprise party planned for him.
"I'm hungry. I guess I'll just make myself something. Oh, wait, I need to pick up a few things first." Just before he was ready to leave, he heard a knock at the door.
"Uh, come in!" He said.
Strange...I wasn't expecting any company tonight.
The door opened swiftly. He was greeted by three young fillies.
"Hi there! We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" The three said in unison. They all wore capes with special emblems. Who were these kids?
"Hello. I'm Royal Blue.” He greeted the girls. Were they Filly Scouts? He and his grandpa had given plenty of money to the Fillydelphian branch of the organization. Grandpa Blue loved the cookies they sold.
"I'm Scootaloo." The orange-coated filly with the spiky pink mane said.
"I'm Sweetie Bell." The white-coated filly with the pink and purple mane said.
"I'm Applebloom." The yellow-coated filly with the red mane said. Royal couldn't help but notice Applebloom's accent. It was the cutest thing he'd ever heard in his life.
"It's nice to meet you. What brings you here at this hour?" There had to be a reason why three little fillies came to the door of a total stranger in the evening.
"We've come to bring you to a p-" Sweetie Bell began, but Scootaloo stuck her hoof in her friend's mouth.
"There's something amazing that you've just gotta see! Come on, follow us!" Scootaloo said. So, the four of them left Royal's house.
Eventually, they came to a red barn at Sweet Apple Acres.
"Uh, Scootaloo, is this the amazing thing you wanted to show me?"
"No, of course not!" The Crusaders entered the barn, with Royal not too far behind. It was pitch black inside the barn.
"This is the amazing thing I wanted to show you!" Scootaloo waited in anticipation, but nothing happened. She tapped her hoof on the ground in a Sonic the Hedgehog-like manner.
"I said, THIS is the amazing thing I wanted to show you!" This time, the lights came on.
"SURPRISE!" Royal turned around. He saw several ponies, but he only recognized one pony, and one dragon. However, he was about to meet just about every other pony in Ponyville, and even a few from Cloudsdale. He figured he would start with familiarity, and talk to Spike and Twilight. He walked over to where they were standing.
"Oh, hey Royal. Glad you could make it." Spike said.
"Me? I didn't even know there was anything going on tonight. I just followed those three here." Royal pointed to the CMC. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.
"Please, enjoy yourself tonight. And welcome to Ponyville, Royal."
"Wow, I just can't believe some pony would throw little 'old me a party out of the blue like this. Who could be so nice and happy?" Royal wondered. He didn't have to wait too long to get his answer.
"Surprise!" He jumped a little bit. Turning around, he noticed a pink pony with a massive grin.
"Royal, meet Pinkie Pie." Twilight said. He extended his hoof.
"Nice to meet you, Pinkie P-" She barreled into him. That was unexpected. It took him a second to realize that she was actually hugging him. After a couple of seconds, she released him.
"Friends don't shake hooves, silly! Friends have gotta hug!"
"You don't say..." Royal said, still trying to catch his breath. No one had ever hugged him upon first meeting him, either.
"Well, you must be hungry after such a long journey. Here, have some treats! Applejack is ready to help any pony make a choice on what to eat!" Pinkie led him to the table, which had some truly tasty concoctions. While some of it had come directly from the back pages of Twilight's book, there were also several more traditional choices, such as Applejack's patented apple fritters, apple cupcakes, and apple pie.
"I...I don't know what to try first. It all looks so incredible!" Applejack happened to be standing next to him.
"Take your time, sir. We'll be here all night, most likely. This is a Pinkie Pie party, after all." He decided on an apple fritter and an apple cupcake.
"Well now, those are great choices! I made them myself. They came from right here at Sweet Apple Acres!" Royal turned around to greet an orange pony wearing a cowboy hat.
"Oh, so you must be Applejack then. I'm Royal Blue." He introduced himself. She shook his hoof aggressively, shaking him as well.
"Nice to meet ya, Royal. Hope you like it here in Ponyville. I sure do." She let go, allowing Royal to regain steadiness. He dug into the food he had taken from the table spread. Within seconds, he had finished it off. He stood there, trying to register his feelings.
This is good. Really good.
After a minute, he still had his back turned to Applejack. This concerned her.
"Somethin' wrong, Royal?" Applejack asked. He turned around with a huge grin on his face.
"Who made these incredible treats? I want to shake that pony's hoof!"
"Ya just did, sugar cube." Royal kept his grin. She had told him she was the one responsible.
"It was a long day, what with getting moved in and everything." She laughed.
"I understand. Y'all enjoy yourself now." Applejack excused herself as she noticed some more partygoers having trouble making dining decisions.
I guess I should go find some more ponies to talk to.
He didn't have to wander too far before the CMC found him.
"Hi Royal! We were just looking for ya." Sweetie Bell said.
"Oh yeah?"
"You still haven't met the most awesome pony here!" Scootaloo said. She led him along until they reached the other side of the barn. The pony in question was chatting it up with some of her friends. Royal waited while Scootaloo went to her side.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow looked over.
"Oh, Scootaloo! Hey kid, what's going on?"
"Nothing much. Still trying everything I can think of to get my cutie mark!" Scootaloo went on chatting with her idol.
Applebloom approached Royal after a couple of minutes.
"Sorry 'bout that. Rainbow Dash is Scootaloo's hero. When Scoot gets a chance to talk to her, nothing gets in the way. I'll introduce ya." Royal nodded and the two of them walked closer to Dash. Scootaloo noticed them and grinned sheepishly.
"Uh, hi. Scootaloo said you were really awesome and I had to meet you. I'm Royal Blue." Dash grinned.
"Well, I see my reputation spreads far and wide. The name's Rainbow Dash. I'm the tower of power, too sweet to be sour, I'm funky like a monkey, the sky's the limit, and space is the place!" Royal raised his eyebrow.
"I thought those were the credentials of the Macho Equine."
"Well, yeah. I'm a big fan."
"Me too! It's too bad about what happened to him."
"Yeah." Dash said, as they both went silent. "But let's not dwell on it! This is a party!"
“Indeed, let’s get back to celebrating.” Royal said. Scootaloo approached him.
"I'm sorry I forgot about you."
"Aw, don't sweat it, Scootaloo. I used to act just like you around my greatest hero."
"Oh? Who was your hero, Royal?" Dash asked. Royal paused. He didn't want to start blubbering in front of his newfound friends, especially at his own welcoming party.
"My grandfather. He raised me into the stallion I am today." It was at that moment that Dash noticed his cape.
"So...what's with the cape?"
"Oh, this. It belonged to my dad. Before that, it belonged to my grandfather. He used to tell me it was a magic cape. I didn't believe him until one day when I was outside playing. A thunderstorm came along while I was lounging under a tree. That tree ended up getting struck by lightning. I opened my eyes and saw this red aura around me. I should have died that day. Does that answer your question, Rainbow?" She nodded. Scootaloo was looking around him.
"Now what's up, Scootaloo?"
"Where's your cutie mark?" Royal smiled. He used one of his wings to hike up his cape. His cutie mark was a pair of drumsticks.
"Cool!" Sweetie Bell said.
"Why do you keep it covered up?" Applebloom asked.
"That’s just the downside of wearing a cape all the time. I haven’t gone a day without wearing it since it saved my life.”
“Well, it was nice talking to you. I’m gonna go chat it up some more.” Dash said as she dashed off. Twilight walked over to the group. She had been looking for the Pegasus.
“Royal! There you are!”
“Hey Twilight.”
“There’s someone I want you to meet. Come with me.” He followed her as she walked away, leaving the crusaders alone.
“Well, crusaders, I say we’ve done a pretty good job so far. What’s next?” Scootaloo said.
“He’s gotta meet my big sister Applejack!” Applebloom said. Applejack happened to be walking by when she said that.
“Actually, we’ve already met, kiddo.” AJ continued walking. The crusaders continued thinking.
“I know! He’s got to meet my sister Rarity!” Sweetie Bell said.
“There we go! Crusaders, away!” Scootaloo said.
Meanwhile, Twilight and Royal had reached their destination.
“Royal, I would like you to meet two very special friends. They came all the way from Canterlot for this event.” Twilight didn’t need to say any more. Royal knew who now stood in front of him. He bowed in reverence.
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! It’s an honor!”
“It’s nice to meet you, Royal. Welcome to Ponyville.” Celestia said. She nudged her sister.
“Oh, yes. Delighted to meet you, Mr. Blue.” Luna said. It wasn’t her fault she’d forgotten to act. This was her first party in a thousand years, after all, because of the seemingly-ancient Nightmare Moon business. Celestia looked toward her sister again.
Good. Now whatever you do, don’t bring up…
“Royal, you do realize I was the evil Nightmare Moon, right?” Celestia slapped her own forehead. Luna waited for his answer.
“Yeah, but that’s ancient history. You’re one of the good guys now. You don’t need to waste time dwelling on things that happened a million years ago.” Twilight and Celestia smiled. Luna felt herself break into a grin.
“Thank you, Royal Blue. You have no idea what that means to me.”
"I think I do, Princess." He said. Royal went on chatting with Twilight and the royal sisters. It turned out the royal sisters had been invited by Pinkie Pie while they made their rounds in Ponyville earlier that day. Celestia and Luna had been making visits to various locations in their kingdom affected by the short reign of Discord. The other question Royal had was why Pinkie had thrown him such an extravagant shindig. Twilight told him that Pinkie had overheard him talking with Mayor Mare about his past, and since she loves making ponies smile, she quickly put the whole thing together.
Eventually, the CMC found Royal again. He turned around to greet them.
“Hey girls.”
“You’ve still got some ponies to meet! Come on!” Sweetie Bell said. Royal looked back at the young unicorn and the actual royals with whom he had been conversing, while the crusaders surrounded him.
“Excuse me, ladies. It was very nice to talk, but my entourage has arrived.” This drew a laugh from the whole group. With that, Royal left with the young fillies.
“So, who am I meeting now?”
“My sister, Rarity!” Sweetie Bell said. Royal looked forward to his next encounter. It had been a good night, so far.