Prince of true blue blood

Morning had arrived a while ago, and Mark’s manor was filled with life, as usual. The maids had started to do their daily chores. Some of them mopping the long corridors of the house, others preparing food for her fellow maids, while others were dusting the multiple monuments in the house yet to be discovered by Mark, who, speaking of which, was already exploring again the whole manor.

He had awoken feeling refreshed, with a feeling of calmness… which in certain ways concerned him. But the half of his brain that was awake told him that it was alright. He had given a mare a good time and it was everything that mattered.

Speaking of which, he was already starting to get nervous again, at least while having more than four maids in the same room giving him the bedroom eyes and lustful gazes. Some of them even going as far to almost strip naked in front of him.

That was one of the main reasons as to why he didn’t stayed on the same room for more than a couple minutes, just to give a quick inspection, try to memorize what was in there and leave before any other maid tried anything on him.

However, there was still somethings that, he realized, were slightly strange… Like the fact that he had more than a hundred of maids on his house and seemingly no butler or any other male in there save for him. He made a mental note to ask somepony of confidence about this… maybe Scarlet?

Still, he realized that he himself needed to do something. Hundreds of mares, and he barely had heard the name of barely over a dozen of them.

His thoughts were interrupted as a maid walked directly to him.
“Master, there is somepony at the door who wants to see you.”
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know. I was only told to go and retrieve you, Master.”
“Hmm… I wonder who that could be.” Mark thought as he asked the maid to lead the way toward the door, instantly regretting it as his eyes got glued to her rump, which seemed to sway in a not too normal way for a mare. It was with an enticing purpose.

After few minutes, they finally arrived to the grand hall. The door to the exit could be seen at the exit. Thanking the mare, he started to walk toward the door, still wondering who could it be.

However, when he finally opened the door, he was greeted with the two ponies he didn’t want to see at that moment: the very same princesses Celestia and Luna.

Still resented about their “test” of the day before, he couldn’t help but glare at them slightly. Noticing his glare on them, Celestia decided to speak first.
“Caeruleo… We know you are angry at us… and maybe you have good reasons for it… That’s the why we’re here.”
“We came here to ask for your forgiveness, dear nephew.” Luna finished as they both started to look uncomfortable under his apprehensive look.

Mark simply analyzed them for any sign that they might be lying to them. However, after a few moments, he finally noticed that both seemed true to their words. After another few moments, he sighed.
“Just promise me that you’re not going to do anything like that again.”
“I promise, by our title of princesses, for us to never do such stupidity again.” Luna said as she lifted one of her hands.
“... Alright, I’ll trust you two.”

Both smiled in relief, while Mark simply held a serious look towards them. He felt relieved that they both seemed true to their word about the topic. That was until Luna spoke again.
“To celebrate, we are about to invite you to something very special. It’s something no other male has ever been in or even seen...”

Mark’s mind suddenly found itself wandering very dangerous territories, while his eyes held a look between worry and curiosity.
“You’ll have the honor… of training with us!”
“…”

Mark suddenly found himself trying very hard not to laugh. At first, his mind was picturing very dirty things. But now, she just said that they wanted to…
“Wait, what? Training!?”
“Of course, dear nephew. Tis only a privilege conceded upon the ones who are trusty enough to us, which until a few moments ago, only Tia was the only one.”
“Why’s that? Do you have some techniques that nopony knows about?”
“Those are techniques used only on enemies. That’s the why it’s almost unknown. Every living being who have seen them, save for Tia, are dead.”

Mark gulped loudly as he started to picture Luna slaying uncountable enemies as in some of his more violent games back in his past life.
“... Uhh...”
“So, what do you say, dear nephew?” Luna asked almost too eagerly. Mark couldn’t understand how a pony who provoked so much fear and respect on him could make such cute eyes.
“... yeah… sounds fine.”
“Huzzah!” Luna yelled suddenly, too loudly for the prince, who was knocked flatly on his back. “We shall see you tonight, dear Blue.” Luna said as she turned to leave.

Celestia, meanwhile, walked toward the prince, who was looking at the ceiling with a terrified look.
“... I think I’m going to regret it.” Celestia couldn’t help but giggle at his comment.
“Worry not, Caeruleo. While she may seem a little too… enthusiastic about it, she is very kind and careful. None of yours bones will be broken, I promise.”
“You sure?”
“Of course. When practicing, she never broke one of mines.”

Celestia helped the prince back on his hooves before turning around to leave.
“See you tonight, Caeruleo.” She said as she finally passed through the door.

Hearing that none of his bones would be broken brought even more worry to Mark. Not having any broken bones didn’t mean not suffering any pain. He instantly remembered that night when he saw Celestia holding a flame on her hand with seemingly no pain.

Suddenly, the light bulb on his head lit up. However, that very same idea died as he figured that his plan of using magic wouldn’t work, as he didn’t know/remember how to use it.
“I suppose I’ll just simply have to suffer.” He thought as he made his way to his room. After all, he needed to see if his body was ready to fight. Otherwise, he might be forced to use some of his past techniques from his past life.

A couple hours later…

Many maids were trying to take a peek at the prince in any way they could. In front of the door, a pile of maids laying on top of each other were trying to see something inside the room. On the window, several pegasus maids were having troubles with flying while trying to pass unnoticed by the prince. Why were all they trying to take a peek at the prince? Simple.

He was practicing his fighting skills. But that’s not what attracted them the most. It was the fact that the prince had taken off his shirt. And he was sweating.

Mark simply couldn’t understand what the couple of dozens of mares who were watching him saw on him at that moment. Yes, granted. Out of modesty, he was very handsome, and his body could be compared to that of a model. How did he got like that?

Like he’d know.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he simply kept practicing some routines of martial arts he barely remembered. But worse is nothing, so he simply kept like that, even when the looks of the many maids spying on him distracted him.

After a couple hours of taking his body to its limit, Mark was satisfied, if not impressed that it could hold on with him for that long. And the better part was that he felt prepared for everything that could happen. Well… almost anything.

This proved certain as he, after putting on some clean clothes, went to leave his room, almost immediately being buried under a small group of mares.

Taking this as normal (if one could call it normal), he simply helped as many of them back on their hooves before making his way out and towards the castle.

Once he was in there, one of the guards kindly led him to where he was supposed to meet the princesses. Thanking him, he prepared to enter.
“Good luck, Prince.” The guard said to the prince as he turned around to leave.
“Thanks.”
“You’re gonna need it.”

Mark’s mane went rigid as the comment of the guard did almost nothing to help him to relax. Taking deep breaths through his nose and mouth, he finally pushed open the door.

Instead of the grand hall he was expecting, he found himself facing a rather simple gym. On the center, a floor made of some firm yet soft material, and on the sides of the room, a couple of chairs next to a small table on which, rested a small set of tea.

In the center of the room, there were two swords resting on the floor. As he walked forward to see them closer, he got again that feeling of dizziness as his mind was filled with multiple images of swords and, strangely enough, how to use them. However, that wasn’t exactly what caught his attention. On the far side of the room, Celestia and Luna sat patiently, apparently waiting for him. Celestia with her typical white dress, but Luna, for some reason, was wearing a bathrobe.
“Ah, Blueblood. You’re in here.” Luna said calmly. Yet, the excitement was still very notorious on her voice.
“I said I would, didn’t I?”
“Indeed you did.” Luna said with a smirk as she stood up. ”I suppose you are prepared?”
“Nope.” The nervousness was evident on the prince’s voice. Luna merely chuckled as she walked to the center.
“Do not fret, Blueblood.” She said as she put a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, her eyes shone with mischief. “We will be gentle.”

Mark’s face was instantly filled with fear as his eyes widened and his ears dropped. Celestia, upon seeing this, couldn’t hold back some giggles. Still, she got closer to him.
“She’s right. Don’t fear. You have nothing to worry about.”
“BUT SHE SAID IT LIKE IF SHE WERE PLANNING TO KILL ME!”
“Oh, nonsense. She would never hurt you. In fact, she’s never going to touch you.”

Mark’s fear was replaced with confusion as he pondered about what Celestia meant.
“Everything’s set!” Luna’s voice sounded on the center of the room. As before, the two swords still rested upon their place on the floor.

Still with fear upon him, he walked slowly until he was standing just in front of the sword. With doubt invading him, he reached for one of the swords.
“Nay, Blueblood.” Luna said before his hand could even touch his sword. Lifting his eyes, he saw Celestia and Luna holding each other’s hand while their free one was being offered to him. “Whenever you are ready.”

Hesitantly, Mark reached with both hands each one of the princesses’ free hands. Even when Luna’s horn shone with such an intensity that it hurt to the eye, Mark couldn’t help but think about how soft their hands were.

As Luna’s horn shine stopped, Mark opened his eyes to find himself in the very same room he was before. However, there were many details that concerned him, like the fact that both princesses weren’t in the room anymore, or the fact that there weren’t two swords anymore, but only one.
“What’s going on here?” Mark asked to himself as he kept inspecting the room. Suddenly, the sound of a door being opened behind him caught his attention. Turning towards the sound, Mark saw inside the door something resembling to a tunnel. Curiosity overtook him as he started to walk towards the door.

Just as he was about to cross the door, the very same door closed itself with a solid crash. Scared and confused, Mark took a few steps backwards, only to see the door opening itself once again.

As he kept walking backwards, he suddenly felt his hoof hitting something hard. Turning around, he found the sword, still resting on the floor. It was then when he understood it. With some doubt, he picked up the sword with only one hand.

As he inspected it better, he found the sword being more a katana than an actual sword. Light, sharp and deadly. After observing it, he swished it a few times before reaching a conclusion.
…Yeah, Katanas were very different to knives or tomahawks.

Suddenly, he remembered the tunnel. Turning around, he found the tunnel still open. Holding tightly the sword in one hand, he started to walk towards the door. This time, the door didn’t close itself until Mark passed fully through it.

What showed in front of Mark was something between a training ground and a forest. On the ground, many wooden pieces rested. However, as Mark thought about it more than once, he noticed the trunks were slightly glowing with a blue energy.

To give a better inspection, he leaned forward. Unnoticed to him, the blue energy seemed to become stronger, allowing some of the trunks to float.

Mark stopped his inspection when something entered his field of vision. Turning around, his eyes widened as he saw all the trunks floating in the same blue energy.
“... Alright… I’m freaked out.” He said to himself as he watched carefully the trunks.

All of them seemed to float around in a circular formation, causing red flags to pop up in Mark’s mind, his grip on his sword becoming tighter. He watched carefully at the floating trunks.

Suddenly, one of them split from the formation, catching Mark’s attention. The trunk started to fly around faster than the others.

As Mark kept his gaze on it, the trunk stopped its flight. Changing its position, the trunk dove against him. It went with such a speed, Mark barely had any time to jump aside. The trunk flew a couple inches at his side before sticking in the ground. As Mark started to relax, other to trunks flew out of the formation, while the one in the ground lifted itself once again in the air.
“Oh, crap.” Mark said as he realized this would be one of the most brutal trainings of his life (both, this and the past one).

???

In the very same ancient castle where all started, Death stood once again in the very same position. However, this time, it was different.

Glowing runes on the floor in a circular formation shone with a mysterious light. Meanwhile, Death spoke in an ancient language long forgotten by almost every sentient being on the universe. Only a couple dozens of beings as old as the very same universe knew it.

As Death kept speaking in the language, a white orb materialized in front of him. Another soul. As the white orb seemed to regain consciousness, it shone slightly brighter.
“Where am I?” The orb asked with a deep feminine voice.
“You, my dear friend… you are… here.” Death spoke as he pointed to the room with a bony hand.
“You… I know you...”
“Of course, my dear friend… You and I have met once before. Almost four earth years now.”
“... Yes… I remember… you are… Death… I am dead.”
“Yes… However, due to some recent events, I’ve found myself wanting to do… somethings.”
“What kind of things?”
“... Second chances...”
“On what purpose?”
“Why, my own entertainment, of course.”
“...”
“On the other hand… or hoof, there’s a friend of mine whose life has been returned… again, for my own amusement.”
“Why are you saying this to me?”
“Because… there are some events I am planning for him… But I can’t do this directly. I need help.”
“And what do you want from me?”
“I want you to test him.”
“But how?”
“Doing what you were supposed to do four years ago.”
“...” The soul didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t remember much.

Suddenly, she started to remember her past. Her creation, her death… what she wanted to do.
“Do you accept what I am offering to you? A second chance, and probably, a second chance to find your fate?”
“... My fate has been already decided.” The orb said as she started to laugh maniacally. “I accept your offer!”
“... On one condition.”
“What is it?”
“... No one must know about this.” The orb started to take a darker color, almost completely black.
“You have my word of future queen about this… for I am… Nightmare Moon!” She shouted as the orb vanished from the castle to another place.

Meanwhile, Death simply smiled maliciously as he turned once again to the shining circle.
“... That’s one… let’s start with the next...”