• Published 3rd Jul 2018
  • 43,703 Views, 5,433 Comments

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'.

  • ...
189
 5,433
 43,703

PreviousChapters Next
To Begin Again (Edited By RB, GT4 And CC)

The trip back to the castle was eerily silent. Ever since he woke up, the prince didn't want to do anything but to follow Death’s advice and just embrace his new family like he wanted to. Yet even when he showed more affection toward his aunt Celestia, Blueblood couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, especially since she and the other Elements seemed to be distant from him.

Not out of hatred or fear, but more out of concern, it seemed. Well, except Rarity, who was continuing to give him the cold shoulder for some reason. The prince wanted to ask what was happening, but the moment his aunt told him that they needed to talk, he knew that it was something serious.

Wanting to keep it private, he kept quiet and complied with them as he was discharged from the hospital after saying goodbye to Thorax and Spike. The two of them excused themselves, saying that they needed to take care of some important business and would come back later on.

Since using magic was still dangerous for his health, Twilight and Celestia resorted to using a special magic bubble that created a mirage around him, making him look like a colt to any pony that sees him. All that and the occasional glances that Princess Celestia kept giving Blueblood were enough to make the whole walk rather tense.

The moment they entered the castle and the funhouse spell was lifted, the prince was guided to the living room where the Elements, Starlight, Luna, Cadance, and Shining Armor were already waiting for him. The chairs in the room had been rearranged to form a circle, all of them facing a couch.

Oh boy, I think I know where this is going...

"…Is this some kind of intervention?" Blueblood asked Celestia while faking confusion. Each pony went and took a seat, leaving the couch for him.

"It is, nephew," Princess Celestia replied with a nod, motioning with a wing to the couch. "Please take a seat."

Blueblood sighed but did what he was told. Once settled in, he looked around the group and asked, "Okay, so, what’s this all about?"

"Before we begin, we just want you to know that everyone here loves you, Blueblood," said Celestia.

"And we’re concerned for your well being," Twilight continued.

"That is why, if there’s something that you would like to tell us, we’ll be more than willing to listen, cousin," Cadence said with a smile, placing a hoof on her chest. "Aunt Celly and I have been talking with the others, and they told us that you might have…experienced something bad." Her expression turned to concern. "So please, help us banish our fears and tell us. Is there something you want to talk about?"

Blueblood’s eyes widened in surprise at the question as everypony’s gazes landed on him.

They know? How? I was very careful about hiding it, when did they find… The prince closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No, no more lying! Time to come clean.

The prince exhaled and opened his eyes again before meeting everypony’s gazes. "Actually, there is something that I need to get off my chest," he declared. Everypony breathed a sigh of relief and seemed more relaxed at his statement (besides Rarity, whose scowl deepened). Blueblood coughed then continued, "Unfortunately, it’s something kinda hard to explain..."

"There’s nothing to worry about, Blueblood. You can trust us," Starlight reassured him. "Whatever it is that you want to tell us, we’ll believe you."

"Plus, you have me on your side, dear nephew," Luna informed him, smiling. "You have my word that I will back you up."

"Thanks, auntie,"said Blueblood. Her words helped him relax more as he took a deep breath and weighed his thoughts, wondering how to start his story. "I don't know how much you know already, or even if you suspect it, so I'm just going to come up and say it. Not long ago, I had a…" He thought hard, not about whether he should tell the truth or not, but rather how to describe his current situation. "…a close encounter with my own death," he finally revealed, earning a collection of gasps throughout the room. "No, it was more than that," he continued with a shake of his head, before looking at everypony in complete seriousness. "I, Prince Blueblood, for a very brief period of time, actually died and then came back to life."

"Wha…what?!" Celestia yelled in alarm.

Luna reached out and put a hoof on her sister’s to calm her down. "Sister, please be still and let our nephew explain." Celestia looked back at her. "We promised that we’d listen, didn't we?" Luna reminded her.

After a moment, Princess Celestia nodded and, after taking some deep breaths, managed to sit down. "Please continue, nephew."

"Yeah, please explain, because ever since they told me about this, I’ve been having a hard time believing that you actually died," Rainbow added, crossing her fore-hooves.

"Wait, you knew?" Blueblood asked, perplexed.

Twilight nodded slowly. "We all had our suspicions at first."

"Ah can tell when somepony’s afraid, sugarcube," Applejack told him. "And when we met at the farm ya looked like ya just saw a ghost, somethin’ that by no means was easy. With all that fur of yours, Ah almost didn't notice how pale ya were." She chuckled and tipped her stetson his way.

"Also, before going out for ice-cream, you clearly looked like you had just cried," Twilight pointed out.

"And ever since the garden I’ve been having this feeling that you’ve been hiding something," Cadance chimed in.

Twilight nodded. "We all had our suspicions, but it was Fluttershy who really helped us understand.”

"Really?" The prince looked at Fluttershy.

"My little animal friends can sense when a pony has had an experience, or apparently in your case, if they’ve come back from dying," Fluttershy explained as Owlowiscious flew in and landed on one of the chairs near Blueblood. "To them, you feel like a loved one that has returned. That’s why all of them are and probably will always be so friendly toward you," she finished as Owlowiscious nuzzled his face.

"So that's why? I was kind of wondering why animals were feeling very friendly lately..." the prince said with a small chuckle before resuming his story. "But you’re right, I found out not too long ago and, well, that kind of revelation is kinda scary so I didn't want to tell you at first."

"I still don't understand," Celestia said. "How did this happen?"

The prince shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't have the answer for that one. When I realized what was happening, I was already on the Soul Road."

"I can confirm it. sister," Luna interjected, looking back at Celestia. "I don't know all the details, but when I explored his mind, his memories showed me his experience there. All of what he is saying is the truth.”

"Wait, you knew?" Celestia glared at her in anger. "And you never told me?"

"Our nephew was scared and needed to clear his mind," Luna defended herself. "I was confident that he would tell us as soon as he was ready."

"But you could have trusted me..." Celestia said, feeling hurt.

Blueblood sighed and looked away. "I was scared. I thought that if you knew the truth, you would destroy me."

"...What?!" Celestia uttered. "Why would I do something so horrible?"

"Sister, please!" Luna pleaded. "Let him finish."

"There’s more?!"

The prince nodded before addressing everyone in the room again. "Unfortunately, this is where things get more complicated, so I need you all to promise, no, to swear to me that you will believe me. Because as strange as this is gonna sound, I...am...serious," he said, marking the final words with a clap of his hoof.

The others glanced at Applejack, who rolled her eyes at them. "He’s being serious," she confirmed.

“Just checking,” said Rainbow.

"Is this by chance related to why you have lingering muscle memories that weren't there before?" Luna asked with a raised eyebrow, to which the prince nodded.

"You see, right now I'm the Prince of Canterlot, Blueblood,” the prince explained, his voice cutting out for a moment before he cleared his throat and continued. “But in my previous life...I was known as Albert Vasilios, a human being from another universe.” He closed his eyes and waited for the gasps of shock from everypony in the room, which, right on schedule, happened a moment later.

"Wait, so you’re telling us that you came from the world that Sunset lives in?" Twilight’s voice made him open his eyes and jerk his head upwards immediately.

"Wait, what?! You…you know what a human is?" he asked, not believing what he had heard.

"I’ll explain later, right now we’re talking about you,” Twilight replied, raising a hoof. “How did you end up with a human soul?"

"A-Are you, s-some kind of ghost?" Fluttershy wondered, shrinking back.

“See?" said Blueblood, pointing at her. "Right there, that’s exactly why I was so wary of telling you about this." His annoyed tone made Fluttershy whimper and back away at his reaction.

"Nephew, please calm down," Luna ordered, narrowing her eyes at him. “She didn’t deserve that.”

“Well, how do you expect me to react to a statement like that?” he retorted. “Especially since, for a long time, I thought I actually was a ghost!”

"Yeah Blueblood," Rainbow Dash echoed, crossing her hoofs. “How exactly do you expect us to react to a statement like that?”

Blueblood froze, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish for a moment before he nodded and looked away.

"If you’re telling the truth and you are a human,” said Shining. “How did you end up in that body?"

"And, more importantly, where is the original Blueblood?" Cadance asked with a raised eyebrow.

The prince sighed and kicked at the floor. "That is the only thing I don't know. The only thing I know for sure is that he and I ended up on the Soul Road at almost the same time." He then looks at the princesses. "Then you made a wish on a shooting star that was aimed at him, yet instead of its original target, it found me, and in doing so, brought me back to life."

"...And Blueblood?" Princess Celestia whispered. In her heart she knew the truth, but she wanted to hear it from him.

Her fears were confirmed once he shook his head in shame. "I'm sorry, auntie...everything happened so fast. The last time I saw him, he…" The prince closed his eyes at the memory, which was still fresh in his mind. "…he got too close to the light, and was engulfed in flames before disappearing."

The room fell into stunned silence. No one really knew what to say or think, or how they should react, until the prince tried to grab Celestia’s hoof. "Aunt Celestia, I…"

She jerked back her hoof with a glare and stood up, trotting out of the room without a word.

"Tia, wait," Luna softly called, giving chase. Looking worried, Cadance followed suit shortly after.

Twilight stood up and was about to do the same when she stopped and looked back at the prince, who just kept looking down in shame. "You should go after her as well," Blueblood stated without looking up.

"Agreed, let's go," Twilight declared, beckoning the others to follow, yet Blueblood remained seated.

"What are you waiting for, Blueblood? Let's go," Starlight urged.

He shook his head. "Right now I'm the last pony my aunt wants to see. To her, I'm just a reminder of how she lost a relative. I’m an impostor in her eyes."

"Cousin..." Twilight tried to reach for him with her hoof but he backed away with his eyes closed.

"Just go. I need a minute to process everything as well.” He looked up at her. "Alone.”

Twilight opened her mouth to object, but at Shining’s subtle shake of his head, she retracted her hoof. With a reluctant, defeated sigh, she and the others left him alone in the room, with only Owlowiscious to keep him company.

It’s done. The prince looked at a picture of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna on the coffee table. It's all in the open now. The only thing left is to wait and hope for the best.

The owl flew up to him and nuzzled his neck again, trying his best to comfort the lost prince. Blueblood could only gently pet his head in thanks.


In one of the castle’s empty guest rooms

After checking that no one was using the room, the Princess of the Sun entered, closing the curtains and locking the door behind her before kneeling in front of the bed. She remained in that position for a moment before finally letting go of her mask to whimper and cry. Memories of the good times she spent with her nephew flashed in her head as painful reminders of her failures and how, despite how hard she tried, she created a monster. Now she would have to live with knowing that her blood relative ended up in Tartarus because of her. Fear of being haunted causing her to shiver and break out in a cold sweat, the memories feeling like hot knives in her heart.

An explosion erupted behind her, and she didn’t care.

"Tia, what are you doing?" Luna asked her as she entered the room, her horn smoking from a recently-fired spell and the door lying in pieces around her.

"Luna?" Celestia asked, looking up at her in surprise. "How did you find me?"

"Come on, Tia, even if we’re not twins, I can always tell where you are. But that doesn’t matter right now --- why did you run off?"

"Lulu..." Celestia looked back at the bed in shame. "Am I cursed? Is everypony I genuinely love destined to be tormented with suffering and pain?"

"What?"

Celestia snapped back to her. "I sent you to the moon, I constantly send Twilight on life-threatening missions, our family died because of me, and their last offspring is now gone forever because I did a lousy job raising him. He isn't even given eternal rest! As we speak, he’s probably being tortured in Tartarus, and all of this is my own fault!" she cried out with tears in her eyes.

"Enough, Tia!" Luna proclaimed, jolting Celestia out of her rant. Luna sat next to her and draped a wing over her. "For pony’s sake, you need to stop with this ridiculous blame game. What happened to the old version of our nephew wasn't entirely your fault. Yes, you spoiled him, nopony is arguing that, but you also treated him with love and care befitting him. You raised him, you cared for him, and treated him royally. He could have chosen to take that love you had for him and share it with others like you had taught him, but in the end, the decision to turn into an inconsiderate, self-centered, and manipulative brat was and always will be his choice. He picked that road and nopony else made it for him. Not me, not the nobles, and especially not you."

"But Luna…"

"But nothing. Yes, justice must be served to whoever ended his life, and there will come a time when we truly will mourn his loss, but right now you don’t realize what you’re doing," Luna chided, pointing to the wrecked door frame. "Out there, there’s a scared soul with nopony to love him, and nopony he can truly call family or friends yet. One that has to suffer just as much as we did about his previous life, and you’re ignoring him."

"I’m not ignoring him! I’m just--"

"Feeling sorry for yourself? Believe me, I know that feeling more than anypony, but I never ignored my family.”

Both sisters fell silent at that, and Celestia’s ears drooped in sorrow. Luna sighed and stood up. “It's not my place to tell you, Tia," she said. "It's his story, and he has the right to tell it. But I can tell you this: just like us, the only thing he wanted was to start anew, and it took a lot of coaching and a chat with the personification of death itself for him to let go of his fears and let himself be happy. And I’ll be damned if we don’t give him that happiness."

"But…what happened to our nephew…"

"What’s done is done," Luna said. "Life goes on, sister. We both know this more than any other pony in the world. Ponies come and go, but memories last an eternity." She smiled and offered her hoof to her sister. "So let’s honor Blueblood, the real Blueblood, and his memory by welcoming this new Blueblood into our family. It might not have been like we wanted, but this is still our wish, Tia. We made this happen, and that boy deserves a chance.”

Celestia glanced down at the offered hoof, hesitating.

“Please, sister,” Luna pleaded. “Let’s be a family once more. His soul may be different, but the spirit of the old Blueblood from before he became a bully has been reformed. He is our nephew, and right now, he needs us more than ever. Please don’t push him away like I once did to you.”

Celestia sighed and nodded, taking Luna’s hoof to bring her sister into a hug. "You’re right, Lulu, and I have been a fool. We shouldn't dwell in the past anymore. Our nephew needs us just as much as we need him."

"You especially," Luna remarked with a sly smirk. "I already had my heart-to-heart with him."

"Yes..." Celestia ended the hug and gave her sister a small, playful glare. "We’re going to have a long talk about that later."

Luna chuckled and shrugged. "You snooze, you lose, sister."

"You control the dream realm!"

"My point exactly."

Celestia was about to retort when the Cadance’s voice caught their attention. "Aunt Celestia?" she asked from the entrance, as the rest of the Elements walked in with her, all of whom having worried expressions. Twilight was particularly concerned, seeing how the door was destroyed. "Are you okay?"

Celestia smiled and stepped closer to them. "Yes, I'm fine now, Cadance. I apologize for my earlier outburst."

"Aw, shucks, it’s okay, princess. We get it," Applejack replied. "Family is family, and it always hurts seein’ somepony go."

"Even if that somepony is an unapologetic, inconsiderate, egotistical, rude, petulant little…" Rarity began to rant until she noticed everypony glaring at her. "Eheheh...right, not the time, my deepest apologies,” she amended with an embarrassed blush.

"What we’re trying to say here is that this is a bittersweet moment,” Cadance continued. “It’s sad that his old version died, but at the same time he kinda came back…sort of, and he’s nicer now and wants to be a better pony."

"Yeah! Instead of only being sad that a bad pony died, we should celebrate that a very nice one arrived!" Pinkie cheered.

"Erm, I’d hold off on that last part for a while, Pinkie..." Rainbow suggested. "You know? Maybe until after this whole thing stops being weird?"

"Okie dokie loki!" Pinkie quickly said with a smile.

"Plus, there’s still so much more that I need to ask," Starlight interjected. "I mean with all that’s happened, we didn't even ask his story, or how he died or anything of his previous life. He must’ve had a very active life if he knew how to make flips like those..."

"It is indeed a very…interesting story," Luna commented, looking away. "But it’s best if he tells it himself."

Celestia looked at the group with some confusion. "And where is he now?"

Twilight sighed and looked down. "He decided to stay in the living room, princess," she replied. "He thought that you wouldn't want to see him after what happened."

Celestia winced. "Oh…I see..." She began walking to the remains of the doorway. "In that case, I should go and clean up the mess I created."

"Yes, you should," Luna whispered as she and the rest of the group followed suit.


Back in the library

In an attempt to distract himself from the tension, the prince resorted to looking around at the books on the bookshelf, trying to find something to read and stopping occasionally on a title he found interesting. Yet when trying to use a spell, the ring on his horn activated, stopping his attempt and giving him a small jolt at the base of his horn.

Gah! Stupid magic dampening ring...

The prince muttered a few curses while scratching at his horn, finally resorting to using his teeth to pull out the book. This had the unintended but not entirely unexpected result of a bunch of other books falling on top of his head. With a grunt of defeat, he crawled out of the pile, feeling a little pathetic. He flinched and closed his eyes, gingerly feeling his injuries. He’d have a large bump on his head for a few days, he imagined.

After he stood up and dusted himself off, he got quite a spook when Princess Celestia stepped into the room, looking at him with some worry. The rest of the group behind her, following her gaze.

It was a little off-putting.

"Aun…I mean, princess," Blueblood greeted, looking away. His words dug a hole into the princess’s heart. "Sorry for the mess, I'm still getting used to this whole ‘no magic’ thing. Don't worry, I’ll clean--"

Before he could pick up a single book, the princess used her magic and levitated them all back to their shelves.

"…them up," the prince finished lamely, looking between the shelf and the princess, who kept staring at him. "Look, princess, I understand how you must be mad at me right now. What happened to the prince is something I deeply regret, and I'm truly sorry for your loss.” He kicked at the floor. “Believe me, I have no intention to replace him, that would be insensitive. I...I just wanted to start over as part of a family. A real family. B-but if you want me to move out of the castle and never return, I’ll understand and…"

Before the prince could say anything more, he found himself brought into a tight, tearful embrace. "Please forgive me..." Celestia whispered in-between sniffles. "What kind of aunt am I, to ignore her nephew’s suffering? Please don’t leave me.” She pulled back and gazed into his eyes. “I’ve already felt the pain of losing a family member, please don’t make me feel it again.”

Blueblood frowned. "I don't understand...aren't you mad at me for taking over your nephew’s body?"

Celestia shook her head and choked out a sob, smiling at the end. "No...no I’m not. Because no matter how it happened, no matter what soul you have inside you, you’re still my beloved nephew, and that is never going to change. I don’t just love Blueblood, I love you."

As if a weight had lifted off of him, Blueblood felt lighter and relaxed in the princess’s embrace. He wrapped his forelegs around her and nuzzled her neck. "I love you too, auntie."

All of the gathered ponies felt their hearts warm up from the sight. Cadance put a hoof to her chest and leaned into her husband, who put a hoof around her and kissed her on the head. Twilight felt her eyes tearing up as she smiled. Pinkie and FLuttershy looked about ready to burst.

Only Rarity seemed to be able to keep a straight face. She was happy for the princess, of course, but no matter what was said or done, she couldn’t trust the prince that had broken her heart so long ago. Still, she gave a respectful nod to the princess and stayed silent.

Rainbow quickly blinked her tears away (she would deny having them later) and coughed, getting everypony’s attention. "So, do we just keep calling him Blueblood, or…?" she asked.

Everypony stared at her with unblinking eyes.

She shrugged. "Whaaaat? I just want to avoid future confusion."

The prince chuckled as he and Celestia ended their hug. "Blueblood is fine, Rainbow,” he answered, glancing wryly at Celestia and Luna. “It kind of grew on me."

PreviousChapters Next