The Third and forgotten ruler of Equestria

A week later

It's been a week since my birthday. Nothing interesting happened for this time. Studying, etiquette, reading and much more. It was a little boring, I was able to walk with Tia and Luna a couple of times in our palace park, it's very beautiful there, a lot of beautiful flowers and plants. I liked walking there with them, and they told me about their small successes: Luna can now speak a little better, although still do a few few mistakes in words. I was very pleased, soon she will be able to speak fine and normally; Tia, as she told me, was able to master all the magic for the first grade very quickly in one week! I was very impressed by this, she learns too fast. I needed a whole year to understand it, and she did everything just in a week! Now she can just take minor magic exams all year long. I was already envious that she was learning so fast. I asked Roger once why, and he told me that he didn't know why, he said there had never been such a thing in the world before, and he suggested that the legend might still be true. I brushed it off, I don't believe in these fairy tales, Tia was just born special, that's all. I won't believe it until I see the truth, and until she becomes great! If it does, then I'll believe it, but not yet.

In general, I've been a little nervous all week, waiting for the workshop to be done for me. I can't wait to start learning everything you need to create artifacts! My father said at the birthday party that the workers would be able to build it in a week. Oh yes, I forgot to mention what my mother gave me. She gave me an unusual gift, however, she told me that I could go out of the castle into the city whenever I wanted! I've been waiting for this for a very long time! Now I can go out into the city to see and explore it. This made me very happy, but Tia and Luna began to envy me because they could not. Hehe, it was funny to watch them sulk, they had such cute faces, you could just squeeze them, but I restrained myself. Today I had a day off, and therefore I think that they have already finished making the workshop, and therefore now I am lying in my room and waiting for this to happen, and so that I will not be bored, I continued to read my favorite book.

I've been lying down for two hours and reading. So far, nothing is happening, yet it's only noon, I've reached the chapter where they describe a small process of creating an artifact. It's quite an interesting one, mana flows need to be directed correctly to make one, and if done incorrectly, the artifact will explode. It also says here that if, after creating an artifact, you overload it with your mana, it will also explode, but only stronger and more powerful. Yes, it will be necessary somehow not to overdo it, otherwise you don't want to accidentally lose your limbs and become disabled in some way. No, I don't need such a life, so I will try to make safer artifacts, although the idea with some magic stones that can be overloaded can be used as grenades from my world. No! This is definitely a bad idea, if such knowledge gets into the wrong hooves, then there will be trouble! So I'm definitely not going to make some kind of weapon out of them, I don’t want some war here.

A knock on my door brought me out of my thoughts. I got out of bed slowly and started walking towards the door. Going up to it, I opened it, and a joyful Tia appeared in front of me. She was wearing her little golden crown, a small gold necklace and gold greves, it seems that she slightly copies our mother. I was a little surprised by this, but then I remembered that she also had a day off today, so she was here. She probably wanted to play or something, but I don't mind, it's boring now anyway.

"Hello, Luci!" She said very happily.

"Hello, little sister," I said with a smile, "what brought you to me?"

"Our father wants you to come to the throne room!" She declared in a very cheerful tone. «Hmm, if my father wants to see me, then it means that something is urgent, I even wonder what he wants to tell me.»

"Well, if so, then of course I will come." I said, still smiling. "You're coming with me, aren't you?"

"Yes, brother," she nodded affirmatively.

"Well, then let's go?"

"Let’s go."

And with that, I left, closing the door behind me, and we headed for the throne room. We had a little conversation on the way, and she told me that after she took me to my father, she would go for a walk with Luna to the park and would be there until the evening, which upset me a little. I don't walk with them very often myself because of my lessons and hobbies. Well, I should somehow arrange everything so that I can walk with them at least once a week, or something, or if so, they will be able to forget about me, and I don't want that. Maybe this will come back to me in the future.

We had already reached the throne room, and two guards were standing near the entrance. I said goodbye to Tia, and she walked away. I took a deep breath and decided to go into the hall. The same two guards opened the doors for me, and I went inside, and after their closing, I began to approach the thrones of my parents. Only one was here, that is, the father, the throne of the mother was empty, she went somewhere. I was walking at my usual pace to him, and one of the council members who help our parents rule was standing next to him. This advisor was a unicorn, and his name was Ozor Lonewater, and they were discussing something. When I got closer to them, they ended the conversation, then he bowed to my father and hurriedly left the hall. When he left, the father started:

"Well, son, I have very good news for you," he said with a smile.

"And what is it?" I asked him.

"Of course, I should have told your mother this, but she had to go, so for this reason I'm the only one who will tell you about it," he got a little upset, but then continued joyfully: "The workshop for your affairs has finally been finished."

"Wow! That's great!" I said happily.

"Yes, of course, and I want to know, are you sure you want to study this?" my father decided to clarify my decision.

"Yes, Father, I'm sure," I said confidently.

"Okay, then tomorrow you will be taken there, and there you will meet your teacher."

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The next day

For the rest of yesterday, I was safely preparing for today, mentally and physically. Today my little dream will come true, I kind of want it and at the same time I'm a little scared. I'm afraid that I won't be able to cope with all this, I will, of course, be overloaded and I won't be able to see my sisters often, but still, on weekends I will definitely devote my time only to them! Well, my father told me that a guard was coming to me to take me to the workshop. I can't wait to meet the teacher too.

After a while, there was a knock on my door. I calmly walked over to it and opened it. I saw the aforementioned guard in front of me. «Apparently, this one will bring me to the workshop.»

"Greetings, Your Highness," he said to me, bowing.

"Greetings, I think you are the one who will take us to workshop."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Okay, then lead the way," I said, leaving the room and closing the door.

The guard just nodded, and he began to lead me to the workshop. We didn't walk for long, about twenty minutes, and we walked the whole way without saying a word, only the maids and other guards greeted me when I passed them. It's kind of awkward to walk like this in silence, it's uneasy. Well, to hell with it, in silence, so be in silence. We have already reached the doors to the workshop, I realized this by the look of it, it was made almost entirely of iron and stones. It is clear that they were added to strengthen it, so it could withstand a small explosion, like blast door. Well, Dad, I'm not even surprised that you ordered such a defence to be made, you don't take my word for it. Well, I'll make sure there are no explosions. You don't have to believe it! I'll prove to you later that you were wrong!

When we came to the door, there were two guards and a unicorn mare in clothes similar to blacksmith's, and she also had a large bag. She looks like she's only somewhere between sixteen and twenty, she looks too young. «Hmm, something tells me that she is the teacher who will teach me, cool!» Then I also noticed her talking to one of my father's assistants, he was a pegasus. «I wonder what they're discussing.» When we approached them, they finished talking, then the assistant bowed to her and left, then the guard also bowed to me and left. When they left us, she looked at me first from hooves to head, then grinned slightly.

"Well, first of all, I will introduce myself to you, Your Highness," she began, bowing to me, "my name is Angela Trail, I am a master of runes and artifacts," she introduced herself completely.

«The rune master?! And even of artifacts?! Father, where did you find her?! She's worth more than gold! Such ponies are now a huge rarity, and after all, he did not spare his efforts to find her, thank him very much for that.» I rejoiced in my thoughts.

"Well, we're glad to meet you, Miss Angela," I said with a smile.

"I am also glad to meet you, Prince Lucius..." she did not finish, because I interrupted her.

"Just Lucius, we don't mind."

"Um, okay, Lucius. Ahem, so, today your classes on runes and artifact creation will begin, then on what days I will teach you, your mom and dad will decide," she said in a serious tone.

"Yes, of course, we understand everything, Miss Angela," I said in a calm tone.

"Great, and remember, I'm a very strict teacher, so don't expect any favors," she said in a sinister tone that made those two guards flinch. Although it scared me too, I didn't show it.

"Don't worry, we always take our studies very seriously," I said in a serious tone, which made her grin.

"I like your attitude, your father was right, you're very serious about this case," she said.

"I know…"

"Okay, enough talking, let's go to the workshop," she said and headed inside.

I followed her, she opened the door. Entering the room, I closed it and began to look around, and at the same moment I fell into shock - in front of me I saw a cool, damn, workshop! It's just huge! And there is literally everything here! The first thing that caught my eye was a couple of boxes of magic crystals! Of course, small stones, but they will be enough for a very long time, at least for a year! Dad, you pleasantly surprised me! And where did you get so much? Then I saw a bunch of different tools. As I understand it, they will all be needed to create different artifacts, it's so fascinating, I can't wait to use them already! I noticed a locker, probably uniforms will be stored in it. Next, I noticed a desktop, for me, it turns out, it can be lowered and raised, and another table, at which Miss Angela will do something on. The workshop turned out to be quite excellent. Slightly dark colors were chosen for it, candles illuminated everything well here. Then I noticed a small door, and while Miss Angela was examining the work table, I quietly approached it and, opening it slightly, realized that it was a sleeping place, apparently for her. It is clear that she will be living here for some time, probably this was done so that it would be easier for her to teach me. I closed the door and went over to her.

"It's amazing that your father did such a good job on the workshop," she said somehow joyfully.

"He can surprise well."

"I won't argue with you," she said, and turned to me." Well, let's start your studying."

Twenty minutes later

I was sitting at a small table opposite to Miss Angela, she took out a small book from her bag and telekinetically handed it to me. Its cover was dark blue, it had some kind of drawing and the inscription "Rune mastery for dummies." «I'm not even surprised that I'll have to start right from the bottom, well, it's understandable why she gave me this book, I'm just starting to learn rune magic. Nothing is done without theory, almost.» Then she took out another book, but in a red cover, it had an artifact drawing and also the inscription "Creating artifacts for dummies." «Ah, alright.»

"You and I will start by learning all the basics of them," she explained, "then we will move on to regular training for you."

"I see," I said shortly and nodded at her.

"No questions?"

"No, Teacher."

"That's good, then let's start!"

Eight hours later

I went into my room, closed the door behind me and lay down on my bed joyfully. «It was the best eight hours of my life!». During these eight hours I learned a lot of new and interesting things. I learned how runes can be used, namely, how to use them, how to apply them and what types are there! It's just incredible! It's just amazing! It's not for nothing that I chose the direction of runes and artifacts! So, about rune magic, it's just incredible, you can do almost anything with it! From creating artifacts (which is logical) to creating super cool combat weapons and stuff. It's just wonderful, I just can't get enough of being able to do it myself later. At the moment, I have only been able to study three runes, and I cannot apply them yet, only in practice. After all, theory comes first, and then practice.

The first rune that I studied is the "Rune of Power" — obviously, it can increase strength, and if used on an ordinary sword, its strength will increase, that is, for example, before enchanting this rune, the sword could not, for example, cut metal, but after enchanting it will be able to cut it. So cool! And if you put this rune on some object that someone will wear, then his strength will increase, that is, before, for example, a pony could not knock down another pony with one blow, but after he take something with this rune on, that he will be able to. Yes, it's very cool.

The second rune that I studied is the "Rune of Light" — it is used mostly against the undead, or, more simply, against various monsters. Yes, in this world they exist, oddly enough. There are even guilds in this world, etc… and my teacher even visited one group of adventurers, which is surprising, she doesn't look like a fighting mare, but, as it turned out, she is still capable of some kind of fighting, and even a master of runes and artifacts. The awesome combo, as they say, has already become enviable.

So okay, now I'll tell you about the third rune that I studied, and this is the "Volume Rune" — the simplest of all that I know now. This rune can increase the volume of anything, for example, there is a bottle of water for five liters, and after applying this rune, the volume became one liter more, that is, it already fits not five, but six liters, but this bottle has not changed from the outside, only in volume and weight. Non-Euclidean, as I could call it.

Yeah, but these are just the initial runes, which ones will go further? It will be interesting to study them all the same, and there are not many runes to begin with, but it's also good, I'm sure that later I will study almost all the runes in this world. This will be my success, even goosebumps run through my body from such wonderful thoughts, maybe my vocation in this world is the creation of artifacts? If so, then I already like my talent, it would be cool if a hobby became my vocation in this world.

A knock on my door brought me out of my reverie. I first directed my gaze to the window, where the sun was already setting. «Time flies so fast, I didn't even notice how dinner had already arrived.» Getting out of bed, I went to the door and opened it. As always, the guard who had accompanied me for all six years appeared in front of me.

"Your Highness," he said and bowed to me, "come along."

"Yes, of course," I said, leaving the room and closing the door.

After a while, we were already at the place, the guard who brought me left, and then the doors to the dining room were opened to me. Inside, I saw only my father, mother and Luna, who for the first time will eat with all of us at this table. «Hmm, where is Tia? I don't remember coming to the dining room before her, it's obvious that here's set for her too, but where is she?» Realizing that I would not get an answer like that, I went to the table and sat down at it. Dad was sitting on my right, our mom was on his right, Luna was on her right, and Tia should be sitting on my left.

"Hello, son," said the father, "how was your day?"

"Hello,"I said, "you can say it's great."

"Oh, even so? So, did you like today's teaching?" He said with a little joy and surprise.

"Yes, I liked everything," I said happily. "And where is Celi? I thought she had already arrived."

"Your sister's going to be a little late," mother began, "she's been caught up in a fascinating book on magic."

"I think I know what book you're talking about, Mom," I said, being sure that Seli was reading a book about magic from Star Swirl. «Apparently, she has already begun to understand something in this book.»

"Mom, when can I read the same book?" Luna asked.

"When you're older, my dear," she replied in a gentle voice.

"Oh…" said Luna, lowering her cute ears.

And at that moment, the doors to the dining room opened again, and turning my head in their direction, I saw Seli. Fatigue and joy were visible on her face at the same time, her hair was slightly disheveled. «How long does it take to read this book to get yourself like that, Tia?» The doors closed behind her, she came to us and sat down at the table.

"Hi, Mom, Dad," she said in a tired voice.

"Hello, my darling," father said.

"Hello, dear," said the mother, "how was your day?"

"I'm very tired," Seli replied as well.

"Then don't read books for so long, Sister," I said.

"You read a lot too," she said, slightly offended.

"Yes, I'm reading, but I'm not as tired as you are, so just spend a little less time reading books, and you won't get so tired," I said with a smile on my face.

From this, she pouted her cheeks resentfully, and I laughed softly, and it turned out that this not only made me laugh, but also Luna and her mother, they also began to laugh softly. Only the father kept himself in the hooves.

"Mom, what's so funny?" Tia asked our mother. "I understand why Luna is laughing, but why are you laughing too?"

"I just remembered how worried your brother was when he found out that he was going to have a younger sister, and he was worried for nothing then, he thought he wouldn't be the best brother for you and Luna," she replied, stopping laughing.

"Yes?" Seli said in surprise and turned to me. "Is it true?"

"Well, of course, it's true. Tia," I said. "Do you think I don't worry about you when you do something? If so, then I'm even offended," having said that, I turned away from her a little resentfully.

"No! I didn't think so, brother! Never!" She spoke confidently.

"Prove it," I said, turning to her.

She was a little confused, but then she made our first and slightly unfinished swearing gesture.

"I swore then not to lie to you, brother..." she said, finishing the gesture and lowering her ears.

"All right, Sister," I said with a smile and lightly stroked her head, "I believe you."

"May you tell us about your swearing gesture, children," Mom said with a smile.

"We were wondering what kind of vows you have," my father said.

"Uh, oh," said Seli.

"Well, this is the one, we invented it so that we can be sure that what we promise each other, we will definitely fulfill, and not cheat," I explained to them.

"Hmm, that's pretty well thought out," the mother said.

"I agree," Dad said.

"Will you come up with this gesture with me?" Luna asked us.

"Of course," my sister and I said at the same time.

"By the way, I forgot to tell you something, son," his father said, remembering something.

"And what do you want to tell me?"

"I mean, you're going to learn fencing too," my father said proudly.

"Oh, you mean..." before I could finish, he interrupted me.

"Yes, son, you'll have even less free time," he said.

"Father!" Tia began, a little indignantly. "But you can't do that! Do you want to drive Luci to death? Mom, at least say something!"

"I cannot dispute Orion's words," mother began. "Yes, and to be honest, everything that Lucius learns will be useful to him in the future, as a ruler..."

"But, Mom! I'm going to rule with Luna, too! And you're going to drive us around the same way?" Still indignant, she continued to speak.

"No, we won't," my father replied.

"Then why you drive our brother like that?" Tia asked blankly.

"Because I'm a prince, Sister." I decided to say it because I understood what my father and mother were leading to.

"Huh?" said Tia and Lulu at the same time.

"I am a prince, and a prince should be able to stand up for himself, for his family and for the country," I said in a confident tone, then turned my gaze to Dad. "Am I right, Father?"

"Oddly enough, you're right about everything, son," he said, nodding affirmatively.

Then I turned to Tia. "I have to protect you and Luna somehow, so believe me, if I'm being driven like this, then it's necessary.

"Okay, I get it," Tia said.

"Okay, we're all talking, we should start eating," my father said.

"Yes, I agree with you, darling," said the mother.

"Oh, we're really talking," Tia said.

"Yeah, I've been waiting so long for you to finish," said a slightly offended Luna.

"Hee hee, I'm sorry, Lulu, that you had to wait so long because of us," I said in a gentle voice.

"Pf, I won't forgive you next time," said Luna, ceasing to be offended at us.

"Well done, Luna," said the mother.

"You can't stay angry at your family for long," father said.

"Even after a thousand years?" Luna asked.

"Yes, even after a thousand years, you can't be mad at any of the family members," my father said with a sincere smile.

And then we started eating.

To be continued…