The Summer Sun Celebration
"Princess Celestia-your Highness-! You cannot seriously be considering him to be your personal student!"
The smallest frown could be seen cracking through her mask of serenity and calm, but if the pony protesting in front of her noticed, he didn't show it.
"That line has been magically dead for generations! Why you insist on keeping them a part of the royal line..."
The frown deepened.
"For Starswirl's Sake! He didn't even attempt to hatch the egg!"
"Exactly."
Celestia stood and leveled a stern look at the protesting teacher who had the good sense to keep his mouth shut.
"If I understand correctly, he took one look at the test and deemed it unfair. Not just for himself, but all hopeful students." A wry smile flickered across her face. "What was his argument again? Ah yes, 'if a full grown adult pony couldn't hatch the egg, why should a foul be expected to?' Reminds me of a pony I used to know."
"B-But what about that Sparkle filly? She shows infinitely more potential than Blueblood!"
Celestia nodded. "Indeed she does. Which is why she'll also be my personal student."
The teacher stared at her for a moment before opening his mouth again. "...Also? You can't mean you're taking two personal students?"
"Of course I am. I think it'd be good for both of them to have a little competition. Now. I have two foals to formerly greet and I expect this matter to be dropped when I return."
***
"Allow me to get this straight. Not only do you want to hold this year's Summer Sun Celebration in a backwater town that no pony's ever heard of, you want me to go down there and make sure everything runs smoothly?"
"Yes, Blueblood. I do."
"But Auntie, I don't wanna!" He whined; a childish tactic he admitted, but, desperate times called for desperate matters.
"There'll be dirt and unpaved streets! And who knows how many ponies wanting to jump stations and see me as a fast track to do so! Why can't Sparkle go?!"
"Because." There was a hard edge to Celestia's voice; the one that broke all arguments. "Twilight is attending a friend's birthday-one that she has looked forward to for moons. Besides;" Celestia's voice grew considerably warmer "You love organizing and overseeing formal events. Last year's Gala was particularly lovely."
"Hmpf."
His aunt gave a long suffering sigh. "If you're sure you don't want to go...I can ask Killbitz to oversee things instead..."
Blueblood shuddered at the thought of the castle butler going in his stead. The old stallion was a wonderful worker and had a knack of not only keeping things on schedule but also getting things done ahead of time, but he was dreadful at the finer details like color coordination.
Blueblood still had nightmares over the salmon-and-fuchsia colored Galas before he'd officially taken over their organization.
"Fine." He replied tartly.
"I'll go. But only because anything showcasing you should be perfect."
"Thank you, Blueblood. Arrangements for your departure and lodging have already been made."
"...of course they have." Blueblood grumbled as he trotted off to make sure he had everything he would need to make sure things would indeed run smoothly. As much as he hated interacting with dull witted country ponies and dirt, he hated falling behind in his preparations more.
***
He'd barely set hoof in the town before the pegasi guards who'd flown him in had unceremoniously dumped his bags and taken off again.
Watching them through narrowed eyes as he gathered his notes for the Celebration, he mentally made a new one to discuss with Celestia their behavior.
Leaving a charge, be it student, Prince, or Starswirl forbid, a regular pony was irresponsible. Without a single word of direction as well? Downright Discordian.
He was just finishing putting his papers back in order when he felt something staring at him.
Looking up, Blueblood found himself face to face with a bright pink mare with an equally bright mane. Pulling up his best 'charmed to meet you' smile, Blueblood opened his mouth only to freeze in confusion as the mare inhaled so deeply as to somehow levitate mid-air before sprinting past him at a speed that even Killbitz would be astounded at.
Turning back to his notes, Blueblood sighed. With luck, that would be the only bizarre reaction he'd receive. Otherwise, it would be a woefully long day.
***
On one hoof, he could see why this 'Applejack' had been selected to head refreshments for this years Summer Sun Celebration. There would certainly be no shortage of food or supplies on a farm. The building and surrounding acres were set up to be pleasing to the eye and the family must be considerably well off to employ so many ponies.
However.
If one more apple themed treat was placed in front of him, he was going to cancel this contract and find a new caterer. Time constraints be damned.
"Miss Applejack-"
"Shoot, yer Highness, 'AJ's' fine."
"...AJ. There's no way in Equestria I could sample all of these selections. Isn't there-"
A slight pressure on his forehoof drew his attention to the biggest pair of brown eyes he'd ever seen.
"Mr. Blueblood Sir? If ya don' try everythin', how'll ya know which is the best choice for the Celebration tomorrow?"
"..."
Tartarus those eyes were big. He doubted even Discord himself could say no to those things. Besides...the filly had a point. Things couldn't very well be perfect for Celestia if he didn't put his full heart and dedication into making sure it was. With a resigned sigh, Blueblood waved a hoof for the selections to keep coming. Even as, to his horror, the pile in front of him nearly doubled.
***
By the time Blueblood had ~~escaped~~ finished taste testing every apple dessert imaginable and selecting one for tomorrow's events, his stomach was uncomfortably full.
So; it was a mix of being absorbed in his notes and the slight pain of forced gluttony, that he never saw the blue blur coming. By the time he realized what had happened, he was flat on his back in mud with his papers scattered everywhere.
The sound of laughing didn't improve his already sour mood.
"Pffft. Hang on."
Before he could open his mouth or even get a closer look at the assailant, she was gone. Unfortunately not for long as he soon felt an onslaught of cold freezing water that could only be produced by a cloud.
"Pffffthaha. Sorry. Sorry. How 'bout this? My very own patented Rainbow-Dry!"
This time, the flying terror didn't even give him a second for the words to sink in before creating a mini tornado around him. By the time it was done, Blueblood feared he'd never see color as anything but a blurred mess again.
"PFFBWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
.....Although it may not be too terribly long until everything was just various shades of red.
Stiffly, Blueblood made a point to ignore...her and focused on collecting his notes. He couldn't help grimacing as he found most of them had either been ruined beyond magical repair by the mud, sudden downpour, or the flash windstorm. For the first time since arriving in this pain in the flank town, he was glad he had been sent here and not Twilight.
He doubted even Celestia herself could have repaired Ponyville if Sparkle's oh so precious note cards and lists had been as badly damaged as his had been.
"Heheheh. Sorry bout that buddy. You just look...*snrk* great. The name's Rainbow Dash. Since you look a lil lost there, can I point ya to anyplace in particular?"
...Then again. Sparkle probably would have been fine. This whole town would be fine. That pony would be fine.
Taking a deep breath, Blueblood turned and faced the mare, making sure to have at the very least a polite expression.
"Actually. I was looking for you. You were in charge of weather correct?"
The mare puffed out her chest. "You betcha!"
"Mm." Blueblood glanced upwards at the very cloudy sky above them. It was more akin to a Rainstorm prep than a Summer Sunny Day prep. "You don't seem to be doing a very good job of it."
An annoyed look crossed the mare's face. "Hey. I can get this whole sky cleared in ten seconds flat."
Blueblood stared at her, his mask of polite disinterest slipping. "Oh really?" Celestia wouldn't really approve of the sneer slipping into his voice but, what his Auntie didn't know wouldn't kill her. "Prove it."
A cocky grin spread across the mare's face. "With pleasure." And without another word she was airborne.
As much as he hated to admit it; he was impressed. The mare flew so fast that she was nothing more than a rainbow streak in the sky as one by one every single cloud in the surrounding area disappeared with a 'poof'.
Exactly ten seconds later, the mare was in front of him again and the sky was clear. "Told ya."
"...That was...adequate. Cutting it a bit close though." Blueblood sniffed.
As impressed as he was by her speed, there was no way in Equestria he'd admit it.
"Pfft. The Wonderbolts will be performing here tomorrow and I bet they'd be impressed! Betcha they'll even ask me to sign on!"
"Oh I'm sure they'd be...interested in your abilities. Though you may want to rethink your audition. I do believe 'crashing into random passerby' is an automatic out. Perhaps try flying higher next time?"
Offering the mare one final smirk, Blueblood turned and began making his way towards City Hall. Hopefully he'd find the pony in charge of decorations there and if not, at least get directions to them.
Too late; he realized he may have been too harsh with the pegasus as next thing he knew, he was lying face first in another patch of mud.
***
Most Summer Sun Celebrations he'd attended, the decorations had been bright, colorful, and always always clashed with each other and Celestia herself. Usually a nigh impossible feat but, Blueblood had long come to the conclusion that with enough obnoxious colors, anything could and would, look horrendous.
This pony, however, seemed to know the value of restraint. Instead of the twenty-thirty bright colors he'd long suffered through, there were five-maybe seven. Most of which were cool colors. The few bright colored banners there were, were muted enough to accentuate the others.
When Celestia arrived tomorrow, Blueblood had no doubts that the decorations would fade into the background leaving all focus on the Princess as she raised the sun.
Whoever this 'Rarity' was, they had a very fine eye for detail and color coordination.
Deciding that his input wasn't needed here, (and hoping he could get a jump on finding the next pony in charge of preparations) Blueblood turned to leave only to freeze in his tracks as somepony screamed.
Turning to find the source, he saw a snow white unicorn mare sprinting towards him.
"Goodness gracious Darling, what happened to you?"
Blueblood glanced down and grimaced at himself. He must of looked a fright.
Mud and dirt clung to his pelt making it seem more brown than white and Celestia knew how his mane looked. He'd tried fixing it from whatever that rainbow menace had done, but feared he'd only made it worse.
"I had some...trouble with a weathermare earlier."
The mare's face softened.
"Oh dear. I hope you weren't too hard on her. She's usually in charge of mail delivery; but with the Princess coming here we need every helping hoof. Accidents do happen I'm afraid."
She gave him another careful lookover.
"I cannot, in good conscience let you run around Ponyville looking like...that. You Sir, are coming with me."
***
It was rather generous of the mare to allow him use of her home so he could tidy himself up a bit. He would not have done the same if their positions were reversed. Too much to do and what not.
He was just finishing getting his mane back in order when she returned and what pleasant and charitable thoughts he had about her vanished the second he noticed her expression change from compassion to realization in the corner of his mirror.
"How rude of me to forget my manners. Who did you say you were again?"
...Lovely. The one decent pony he'd met all day and she was turning out to be a gold digger.
As much as he loved knocking them down a peg or two, he supposed he should play nice just this once. Last thing he needed was a 'scorned lover' sabotaging the festivities and blaming everything on him.
Besides; one day of charming decency couldn't hurt right? This time tomorrow, he'd be back in Canterlot and she, forgotten.
Pulling up a warm smile, Blueblood turned to face her properly. "Prince Blueblood my dear. And you are?"
"Rarity."
"I must say, the name certainly fits a vision like you."
Rarity gave a small laugh and leaned against him. "Oh your Highness, you're too kind. Perhaps, if you're not too busy...we can get to know each other a little better?"
Oh horse apples.
He'd overdone it and now the swindler thought she actually had a chance.
None too kindly, he quickly stepped away from her and took great pleasure in watching her hit the floor.
"My apologies, Rarity, I just remembered another engagement I must attend to. You understand of course."
Not waiting for a reply, Blueblood quickly fled the boutique.
***
Birdsong was definitely a new one.
Surprisingly not bad, it had a certain charm to it, but not something he'd personally choose to celebrate his aunt's glory.
He wouldn't be surprised if she had a hoof in this aspect of the day's planning though. Celestia seemed to enjoy mixing things up a little. She had chosen this place after all.
As soon as the final bird finished its last note, Blueblood stepped forward and introduced himself. To his slight dismay, the buttercup yellow pegasus shied away from him and hid beneath her mane.
His reputation hadn't gotten that bad had it?
No...the other mares hadn't shied away....one mare in particular had practically thrown herself at him. Maybe this one was just shy? Only one way to find out.
"What was your name again?"
A timid squeak came from behind the wall of pink hair. The mare's name was either 'Fluttershy' or 'Sacred Sky'.
"...I'm sorry. What was that?"
Somehow, her response was even more quiet and jumbled than the first. Giving up on that attempt at small talk, Blueblood turned a closer inspection on the birds. His eyes widened slightly as one bird in particular caught his attention.
"Is that a Gold Plumed Starburst Songbird?"
"Y-You've seen one before?"
He nodded absent mindly, too awed by the fact that some apparently common pony had gotten their hooves on such a rare bird. "Only in Celestia's Private Gardenss..."
One simple offhand comment and a switch seemed to have been flipped in the mare. Her enthusiasm for her bird and questions about Celestia's gardens almost made him wish he was still caught up with that unicorn mare.
Almost.
***
By the time he'd reached his lodging for the night, the sun was starting to set and he knew more about birds than he'd ever cared to know.
Butter Sky or whatever her name was had kept perfect pace with him no matter how hard he'd tried to lose her.
"Terribly sorry." Putting as much irritation into his voice in the vain hope she'd take the hint and leave him alone already "But I do need a moment to wind down before the festivities tomorrow so if you don't mind."
"O-Oh..." the mare looked so down and forlorn that Blueblood almost felt sorry for being rude. Did this mare take 'pity me' lessons from kittens and stray animals or something?
".....would you like to come in for a moment for tea? Maybe we can figure out sometime for you to visit the Gardens?"
The mare instantly perked up. "I would love to! I-If it's not too much of a bother..."
Blueblood nearly groaned out loud. He should just leave her out here while he slammed the door in her face but....today had been a long day. And as much as he hated the thought of entertaining anypony, this mare at least seemed decent.
He couldn't imagine her trying to use him for anything more than a tour around some skittish animals.
"I'm sure. Ladies first."
He'd barely taken a step inside when the lights flicked on in the building and a hooffull of confetti got blown into his face as all around him were yells of 'Surprise!'
"W-What?"
A pink face popped uncomfortably close to his line of vision. "SURPRISE!" it-she screamed.
Oh dear Celestia why?
It was the pony from this morning.
"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh huh huh?"
"How. Did you get in here? Wasn't this place locked?"
"It's the library silly. Whoever heard of a locked library? Besides where else would I fit this many ponies for a welcome party? I saw you this morning when you first got her remember? You were about to say hello but then I gasped-" the mare paused for a moment to reenact said gasp "-Y'see I've never saw you before and if I've never saw you before that means you're new, 'cause I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville!"
"...Because I'm here on busi-"
The mare streamrolled past him as if he hadn't spoken.
"And if you're new, that meant you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, then I had an idea, and that's why I went" The mare again repeated her weird stupid gasp "I must throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville! See? And now you have lots and lots of friends!"
"....Lovely. Thank you."
The mare beamed and if Blueblood didn't know better, appeared to float a couple of inches off the ground.
It was a nice....gesture he supposed. Rather pointless since he'd be seeing all these ponies again in a few hours time to welcome Celestia and her sun but....nice.
It couldn't hurt to socialize a little bit. It would be a waste of good cider to ignore such a social get to-Blueblood froze as his eyes locked with a certain mare's.
No.
Said mare was rapidly making her way towards him; he'd be impressed if he wasn't so terrified at how effortlessly she was evading every single pony between them.
A couple of sentences of polite princely decorum he could do. A whole evening of being polite he could not.
With all the grace and dignity growing up in a castle as royalty and a personal student of the Princess herself, Blueblood fled upstairs to a closed off room and magically sealed the door behind him.
Taking a deep breath, Blueblood headed towards the bed only to pause as something caught his eye. Lifting the object with his magic, he brought it closer to his line of sight.
It was a book. A bit larger and thicker than he'd like. "Predictions and Prophecies" he muttered as he read the cover. Tossing a glance behind him where he could hear the party going on downstairs, Blueblood turned his attention back to the book and snorted.
"This should be good for a laugh."
***
"Welcome, Ladies and GentleColts to this year's Summer Sun Celebration!"
The sound of hundreds of hooves stomping filled the air in response. If there was one thing enjoyable about attending a Royal Function in a small town; it was that its residents got to the point.
The only thing that really soured the ceremony for him was the bouncing pink mare beside him. Somehow, even when he'd found a rather reclusive area to watch the formalities, she had found him. And wouldn't stop talking.
"Are you excited? I'm excited! I haven't been this excited since this morn-"
With some effort, Blueblood was able to mostly tune her out and focus on what was occurring up front.
Stutter Dye's birds were just finishing the Royal Entrance melody as the curtains surrounding Celestia pulled back to reveal....nothing.
No princess, no confused stage pony, just....an empty stage.
A great gasp of surprise filled the room as unbidden, a passage from the book he'd just read, came to mind.
'On the longest night of the thousandth year...'
Uneasily, Blueblood glanced out the nearest window just in time to watch the image of a unicorn mare vanish from the moon. A deep chill twisted itself in his gut as he tore his gaze back towards the stage.
This couldn't be happening. The Mare in the Moon was just a fairy tale. It wasn't re-
His heart plummeted as up on the stage where Celestia was supposed to have appeared to raise the sun, a dark mist of stars and shadows appeared before solidifying into a pony.
It was tall and graceful like Celestia, but that's where the similarities stopped.
Where Celestia's fur was as white and pure as a cloud, this alicorn's fur was as black as the darkest night. Her hair, while ethereal and flowing held none of Celestia's warmth. It was cold and dark and inspired a feeling a trepidation.
But the most disturbing part of the alicorn was not her appearance or the armor she wore, but her eyes. Silted like a dragon's, they held all the kindness of one. They promised ill to anypony foolish enough to displease their owner.
No pony moved as those eyes swept the room.
"Doth thy lack of crown confuse thou? Or hast thy long imprisonment caused all to forget thee?"
When no pony answered, the dark alicorn scowled and the room grew colder.
"Doth none of you sun-loving ponies know who I am?!"
"You're Nightmare Moon." The words came out as a whisper, but in the quiet room, they may as well have been a shout. Soon, every eye was upon him and though the building was filled to the brim with ponies, Blueblood felt as if it was only he and the Nightmare that had stolen Celestia's place that remained.
"Not all have forgotten me." There was a pleased purr to her voice. "Tell me, little colt. Doth thou know why I am here?"
"Y-You've come...you're here-" Any bravado he had crumbled before her amused gaze. Disgusted with himself for his lack of defiance, he looked away and felt her attention leave him as it swept the room again.
"Fear not My Little Ponies, for this hast been the last day the sun hast scorned your attentions. From now till the end of time, the Night Shall Last. Forever!"
"Stop her! She knows where the True Princess is!" The authorative voice of the mayor rang out.
It was if a spell had been broken. The few royal guards, who had been stationed in Ponyville for the festivities, shot forward to capture Nightmare Moon and found themselves colliding with each other instead as her form shifted to mist once more beneath their hooves.
Ponies pushed and shoved each other as they panicked. No pony knew if they should leave or confer with somepony, anypony in charge over what should be done.
Blueblood however, did the only thing he could do as everything around him shifted into chaos.
He bolted.
