• Published 3rd Jul 2018
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The Humble Prince - Lighting Ace



A man wakes up to find he's inhabiting the body of a cartoon horse who wasn't exactly Mister Popular, judging from how shocked the locals are when he says things like 'please' and 'thank you'.

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The Meaning Of The Star (Mr. W, CC, GT4, YB And W-SS)

Returning Rainbow Dash to her original size didn’t take a very long time. A few, carefully applied spells later and she was back to her normal-sized self. Blueblood quickly apologized and Rainbow assured him that everything was “cool”. Afterwards, Twilight introduced Blueblood to Starlight, the other unicorn in the room, who seemed to be quite a powerful mage judging by how she was the one who wrote out the dispel on a blackboard that Twilight was to cast.

Once Blueblood and Starlight moved aside to discuss how Blueblood’s magic lessons would work, with Rainbow joining in to offer a few pointers of her own on how to make it “less egghead-y” for him. Twilight decided to write a letter to Princess Celestia asking for clues in how Blueblood was able to perform such an advanced spell by accident. As luck would have it, she didn't have to wait for too long for a scroll to appear in a flash of magic.

Twilight unfurled the scroll and read.

My dearest Twilight Sparkle,
I'm so happy to know that, even with his memories of magic gone, the potential of my nephew hasn’t been lost. I imagine that you have many questions right now, so allow me to clarify things. Although unusual, the showing of such extraordinary magical potential in Blueblood is not something to be surprised by because, just like you and Starlight, he too is a prodigy in magic. Many star-related cutiemarks have a direct link to the mastery of one or more of the subcategories of the ‘Intangible’ classification of magic.

Twilight paused in her reading to think back to Blueblood’s cutiemark — a cardinal star. It was something that she had never really thought much about, since a pony’s cutiemark could easily have any number of meanings. Stars could denote anything from cartography, topography, navigation, to any number of military fields like commanding, strategy, or battle tactics. A pony is not defined by their cutiemark, a cutiemark often exemplifies existing talents of a pony. However, now that she thought about it, the prince was known for having disdain for being outdoors. With a hum of increased interest she returned to the letter.

Since his early days, Blueblood had always managed to show incredible potential in several fields of magic. The day he received his cutiemark was because of an extraordinary act. He obtained it after taking five small pieces of wood and transforming them into twenty marble statues that, to this day, still decorate the East Lunar wing of the castle. He created a new spell that combined alchemy, transmutation, transformation, and duplication in a novel way.
Your cutiemark represents the study of magic, Starlight Glimmer’s cutiemark represents the experimentation of magic. Shining Armor’s cutiemark represents the mastery of defensive magic. Blueblood’s cutiemark, on the other hoof, represents the exploration of magic.
It was a real shame. He could have easily led the explorations of magic into uncharted territories, like Starswirl the Bearded once did. However, at the first signs of hardship, he would often abandon it altogether. As you could imagine that was particularly difficult for me, seeing him giving up on his passion at the first sign of adversity. Which is why it warms my heart to hear that his potential has once again been re-ignited and his passion for spellweaving can be explored once again. Do not worry about teaching him any advanced magic you wish to impart, Twilight. I know it may be difficult for you, seeing a developing magic user struggle, but I ask you to please let him rediscover his love of magic at his own pace.

Dictated but not read;
H.R.H Princess Celestia

P.S.
The castle staff doesn’t seem to mind the recent change in him, either.
- Raven

Once she finished reading the letter, Twilight placed it down on the Cutie Map and began to process what she had just read with scholarly wonder.

Prince Blueblood, a pony who seemed to have no care for magic whatsoever or any seeming aptitude for it, was a PRODIGY?!

She turned back to see Blueblood was still chatting with Starlight and Rainbow Dash in the living room while drinking tea. The cutiemark Crusaders had already left Spike for their respective homes since they still had school work to do and couldn't stay for too long. Spike had long since passed out from laughing so hard. Twilight wasn’t worried, though a nap seemed like a good idea.

And the reason why only Princess Celestia knew about it was because he just thought that the idea of hard work and determination was out of his comfort zone. So he just straight-up abandoned it before anypony knew WHAT his talent was? His own bucking cutiemark?! I just…I can't…that is just wrong!

Twilight flicked her ears and groaned in frustration. The processing factory in her inner-machinations was working overtime but had already burned through every ounce of its fuel.

Maybe we were thinking of his amnesia all wrong. Maybe his own talent just wanted some payback on him for ignoring it for so long! By Celestia, if he dares say that simple magic is too hard, I'm going to ground him for a year! Twilight thought, still venting her frustration.

Twilight smirked, glad that his lazy and self-centered side was gone. She teleported the letter to the desk in her study then returned to the rest of the group just in time to hear the end of Rainbow Dash’s story of the formation of the Wonderbolts.

"…And ever since then the Wonderbolts have been known as the greatest, coolest, most skilled team of Pegasus flyers in all of Equestria!" Rainbow was saying. “And it’s also why you should have me as your personal physical education instructor.”

"Incredible," Blueblood uttered, clearly impressed. "So they’re like the air force for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"

Rainbow put a hoof to her chin. "In case of a war, yeah, I suppose,” she answered. “They’ll instantly be field promoted to generals and will be in charge of leading the troops who will kick the flanks of anypony that threatens Equestria!" Rainbow puffed out her chest in pride.

I see, so they’re a little like the Blue Angels, Blueblood chuckled. Who knew Equestria had their own version of them? Thought Blueblood.

"Otherwise they keep themselves in top flying form by performing in Cloudsdale and competing in races or stunt-flying," Rainbow finished.

"Gee, that sounds like fun! No wonder you want to join them, Miss Dash."

"Join them?" she echoed, raising a cocky eyebrow. "Who says that I haven’t already?"

"Well, you seem to admire them more than talk as if you are one of them and if you’re on active duty you usually have to stay where you’re deployed, right?"

"Okay, first off, that is not how the Wonderbolts work, and second, that is not how the military works, either." Rainbow corrected him. "Besides, other than being an awesome team, being part of the Wonderbolts is not so different from having a regular job. So, of course I’ll have time off." She shrugged. “Plus, the Wonderbolts gave me a special posting here as Ponyville’s primary Wonderbolt. So, in case the town is attacked by Everfree monsters, I’m in charge of coordinating the defense with Mayor Mare and Twilight.”

"That’s so cool!" Blueblood commented.

"Rainbow is right, New Blood," Twilight said, stepping into the conversation. "Being part of the Wonderbolts doesn’t mean you have to leave everything behind to serve your country. It's about being part of a team and becoming a symbol for other pegasi to aspire to: a pride of peak body conditioning."

"You said it, Twilight!" Rainbow said with a proud smile.

"How could I forget? You remind us of it constantly," Twilight snarked back with a giggle, to which Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"I have to keep saying that because you girls are always calling me tiny but I’m just aerodynamic! Well anyway, now you know the story, you no longer have an excuse," Rainbow pointed at Blueblood.

"Are you blaming me for having amnesia?" Blueblood asked with a raised eyebrow, causing Starlight and Twilight to glare at her.

Rainbow realized what she was doing and backed away. "No, but you know, it was kind of hard to forget something so incredible and… Look, I'm sorry for shaking you like that. That wasn't cool of me," She offered her hoof to him. "Are we good?"

Blueblood nodded and grabbed her hoof like he normally would if he had a hand. "We are. And sorry again for shrinking you to the size of a fly," he apologized.

"Like I said, squirt, it’s all good. Although, what are you doing with your hoof?" Rainbow asked, confused.

"What do you mean? I'm just shaking your hoof."

"Yeah, but why? You grabbed my hoof and moved it up and down like a minotaur would. Dude, did you also forget you’re a pony?" Rainbow observed.

"Do we not shake hooves?" Blueblood asked innocently, ending the gesture and looking at his hoof.

"Geez, Twilight, you weren't kidding. He really has no idea what he’s doing," Rainbow smirked. "But now you won’t have to worry, you’ll have the coolest pony in Equestria on your side!” She brought him into a hug using her left wing. "I’ll teach you everything that you would need to know and under my wing you’ll one-hundred percent in no time! Maybe even one-hundred twenty-percent!"

"Thank you, Miss Dash," he said, nuzzling her side until one of her feathers tickled his nose, which caused him to want to sneeze again.

Rainbow’s eyes widened and she flapped away as fast as she could, barely avoiding the magic beam that shot past her and hit a teapot. Before anypony could say or do anything, the teapot began to sing opera through its spout.

"Excuse me," Blueblood sniffled.

"Yeeeeah, maybe before I teach you how to be cool it might be better if somepony taught you some lessons on magic control." Rainbow exclaimed. Starlight nodded in agreement.

"That would be a good idea," Blueblood agreed. "When do we start?"

“Why not now?" Starlight suggested. "There’s lots of daylight left and from what I've seen you could use some pointers" She looked at the teapot. "But maybe we should do it outside."

"Well then, let’s go," Blueblood said with a smile as they both left the room.

"Maybe give him some music lessons too, Starlight!" Rainbow called after them as they left. "That teapot has a terrible voice."

Just as she finished saying that, the teapot in question puffed out a cloud of steam and then spat a stream of hot tea onto the back of her head. Rainbow yelped and leaped into the air, glaring at the teapot. Twilight suppressed a giggle.

"Stupid piece of porcelain," Rainbow muttered. “Twi, can you zap it back to normal?.”

The teapot let loose a loud raspberry in her general direction. Twilight fired her horn and disenchanted the tea pot, returning it back to normal, and finally quieting the rude porcelain carafe.


Later that evening

After a few pointers on the basic principles of magic, Starlight introduced Blueblood to the levitation spell. The prince was currently practicing his new spell while Starlight kept an eye on his progress. He was seated in front of a wooden box with various shapes cut out of the top, hoovering a heavy, forged iron cube in his aura two hooves height off the ground.

"That's it New Blood, just like that. Keep the cube steady and slowly lower into the matching shape on the top of the box." Starlight instructed while she watched Blueblood manipulate the cube.

Closing an eye in concentration and putting more effort into his horn, the prince made an effort to keep both objects as steady as possible while trying to place the cube in its respective hole. The moment it happened, he gasped for air and let go of the cube. It immediately fell and tumbled onto the grass.

"That’s pretty good for your first try, New Blood." Starlight praised him. "From just some minor lessons on the basics to your first real practice. I must say, you learn pretty quickly, but you should try to work on not holding your breath."

"Maybe…I just…have a good teacher," Blueblood managed to say in between gasps. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with a fetlock. "Okay, give me a second." He opened his eyes and exhaled deeply out of his nose and stood straight once more. "Want me to try again?"

Starlight chuckled and floated over a glass of water. "I think this is a good place to take a break. You’re clearly tired and it's getting pretty late. For your first lesson you really made some really great progress.” She pointed to her horn. “And you remember what I told you about overusing your magic?"

Blueblood sighed, "I risk damaging my horn and the flow of my magic,” he recited from her lesson.

Starlight clapped her front hooves together. "That's right, New Blood. There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve and explore your magic but it’s important to always remember your limits. Tell you what, tomorrow I’ll take you to Twilight’s School of Friendship and I’ll give you a personal tour."

"Wait, Twilight has a school?" Blueblood jerked his head in surprise.

Starlight laughed. "Yes, she does. Unfortunately, it’s a specialized school and they don't teach a whole lot of magic. You would have to go to Canterlot for that. Don't worry, though. I'm sure Twilight wouldn't mind if I take you for a short visit." She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "To tell you the truth, it can get kinda boring sometimes and there isn't always much for me to do as the school counselor."

That caught Blueblood’s attention. "Really?"

Starlight nodded. "So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?" she asked, extending her hoof.

"Deal!" Blueblood answered almost immediately and bumped the bottom of his hoof to hers like Rainbow Dash had shown him.

"Off you go then, young colt," she grinned and pointed down the hallway.

"Okay. Goodnight, Miss Glimmer."

"Goodnight, New Blood! And please, just call me Starlight."

"Yes Miss Glimmer!" he called from the hallway.

Blueblood entered his room and closed the door. Once he was sure that nopony was watching, he tapped his necklace twice and returned to his normal size.

This is incredible! I can't believe it, I actually did magic! Real magic! And my teacher said that I'm not bad at it either! This body is incredible! But most importantly…

He flipped open his saddlebag and pulled out a book about the alphabet, a blank notebook, ink pot and feather writing quill.

…I don’t have to pick up things with my hooves any more!

Using his new levitation spell, the prince opened the first two pages, trying to keep the writing quill as steady as possible, wrote out the English alphabet. Underneath each letter he wrote its Equine equivalent.

It’s close enough to the English alphabet. It seems that this world has a total of twenty-six letters to memorize, and uses the same system to write words, so only need to translate each word…

Fighting to keep himself awake, Blueblood managed to complete a slightly sloppy alphabet and used it to translate the letters. After a while, he managed to write the words that he needed to memorize in order to start his search — “spirit, phantom, shadow, specter, and ghost”.

Blueblood gasped for air and dropped his quill to the floor. He was panting with barely enough energy to remain standing.

It’s no use…I really am at my limit now. I need to rest and then practice if I want to keep going. Otherwise, I’ll be waking up with mana burnout.

With a sigh of defeat, Blueblood looked at his reflection in a nearby window.

"I'm sorry, Blueblood, this is all I can do for now. Tomorrow I’ll advance even more, I promise." He whispered at the reflection before gently pushing everything back into his saddlebag with a hoof. Without another word he headed to bed. He snuggled under the blankets, pulling the covers with his teeth over him and flopped his head on the pillow. Sleep came almost instantly.


Back in Canterlot

Both princesses looked patiently into the sky until a Lunar Guard stepped into the room, catching their attention. "Your Highnesses," he announced in a gravelly voice. He gave a small bow to both sisters. "The spy has returned with news about Sharp Shot."

"What news have you?" Luna asked.

"It is as Clean Breeze said, Your Highness. They are plotting to locate the prince and use his condition to their advantage," he reported.

"Thank you, lieutenant, that will be all for now," Celestia dismissed him.

The guard saluted with a leathery bat wing. "Your Highnesses,” he repeated, before spinning around and leaving the two sisters alone in the room.

"What are We to do, sister?" Luna asked. "Their actions may be surreptitious but none of them are breaking any law. Any action We take against them may only add fuel to the fire."

"Do not worry, Lulu, I have an idea," Celestia answered. She lit her horn and summoned a blank scroll, a quill and ink pot to hover in front of her. "I hoped not to resort to this but Sharp Shot forced our hooves. In order to halt his advances I believe we will need the assistance of a friend."

"What do you have in mind, sister?" Luna raised an eyebrow.

"I shall fabricate a story for the nobles that Blueblood was sent as an ambassador for a delicate mission. All I need to do is set the stage for one," Celestia explained as she started to write a letter.

"And how do you suppose We do that?"

Celestia smirked and faced the younger princess. "Simple enough. I will request the aid of King Thorax," she answered. "Unlike other rulers, the young king has been very receptive to our meetings and is in a unique position to add legitimacy to my little fabrication."

"So your plan is to ask King Thorax to let Us borrow some of his changelings, choose a place for a 'meeting', then ‘leak’ the information to the nobles in order to hinder their scheming?"

Celestia nodded. "Precisely."

Luna stroked her chin with a hoof. "Hmmm… maybe We could send him Our fi…"

“No fire sword, Luna.”

"Fie on you, then. But what will We offer King Thorax in exchange for this favor?"

"I'm sure I can come to an agreement with Thorax. His new hive would have many needs. I’m sure he would offer the use of some of the more experienced drones of his hive in exchange," Celestia confessed. "The important thing is to prevent the nobles from discovering Blueblood is recovering in Ponyville. I'm sure this plan could be just what we need," Celestia continued. The glow from her horn increased and, in a flash, sent the letter to the King with a teleportation spell. "I just hope that Thorax reads the letter in time."

"His kingdom has not been calm as of late. I'm worried he may be very busy," Luna warned her sister. "In the meantime, We shall keep Our ears up in the event more nobles try to start new rumors of Blueblood. Perhaps We can use some of Our own guards to seed disinformation, sowing discord in their ranks. That should buy Us more time."

"I would advise against using that draconequus’s name while He may be floating about,” Celestia warned. “It’s still better to have more than one option, after all." As soon as she finished she let out a large yawn and instinctively ruffled her feathered wings.

"The hour grows late, sister. Off to bed with you. We shall deal with the rest from here," Luna said to her. "We shall send a messenger if We receive a reply from King Thorax before you awake."

"Thank you, Luna. Goodnight." Celestia gave her a nuzzle before heading to bed.

"Goodnight, sister," Luna replied.

Once Celestia had gone, Luna picked up the medical report that Dr. Caliber had given her not long ago. She had wanted to visit the dream realm of her nephew but, with so many events happening so fast, she knew that if she visited his dreams now the only thing she would encounter is a tangle of memories that would prove to be too complex for her to unravel. Now that she finally had time to visit his dreams, a new problem had arrived. This had caused Luna to put her efforts on hold once again.With a sigh of defeat, Luna conceded that she could not help him in his dreams. So, for now, she needed to choose a new path. She cast her eyes out across the vast expanse of her night to watch her precious stars twinkle and dance in the sky.

I'm sorry, dear nephew. Tonight I will not be able to ease your dreams. Please be patient. Your time will soon come but perhaps I may help you in some other way tonight.

Luna extended her wings and took flight into the sky. With a glow of her horn she transformed into a shadowy mist. Her new mission objective lay at the Upper Crust mansion.

Author's Note:

Just so you know. That spell where Twilight used a rock and some leafs to make Spike, his smoking and she had difficulty to sustain it for more than one minute at first? Its the same spell. Blueblood made it when he was Twilight age if not younger, on his first try.

The reason she didn't knew, was because it was the time when Blueblood was more pure and shy so he didn't want his name on the book.

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