The Third and forgotten ruler of Equestria

Two months later

Two more months of my unremarkable prince's life have passed. It is now the last month of autumn. During these months, nothing so interesting happened, only how my father somehow found out about the incident in the workshop. Question – «How?» He replied: «You can't hide anything from me, son.» Of course, he won't tell me, damn it, what else could I expect? No, I didn't get in trouble for this incident, and neither did Miss Angela, which makes me happy. Well, I also recently received a letter from Hope, in which she says that she and Sombra are fine, they recently had a crystal fair, but unfortunately they could not get to it, the reason was that Sombra became very ill and he could not even eat and everything else, and Hope, because he was sick, didn't want to go without him, that's why they missed it. The next day he felt much better, it pleases me, but one thing worries me: he suddenly felt bad that day, and the next day he immediately became better, maybe this is some kind of curse? A disease? Not realizing this, I went to our library and started my search, I spent two weeks after she wrote me a letter. There I tried to find out what it could be, but I never did, although the only assumption remained that he might be slightly cursed, so that he was feeling bad that day. I don't know what to say about this. It will be necessary to find an answer to this question, after all, we are friends, and I want to help him as a friend with this.

I was in my room now, getting ready to go to breakfast. Yesterday, when we were having dinner, our parents received a letter from someone that made their eyes pop out, and then they told us to be well dressed, because a very, very important guest is coming to us today. It even became interesting what kind of guest they were talking about, because usually when someone comes to us, they are the only ones who deal with them, and then suddenly we have to be ready. Why is this so suddenly? So, me, Tia and Luna should look good, but still I don't understand why, it's just a guest, or not? It's all a little strange, but I won't bother my head with it, it's better to focus on ordinary things, but still dress up properly, I don't want to have unnecessary fun from my mother and father later.

I put on my blue-gold crown, put on the exact same necklace, and then put on my hoarders. After I put it all on, there was a knock on my door. A familiar guard was standing in front of me, although it is difficult to distinguish them yet, oh! As it turned out, I was right! Their entire armor is enchanted! I was able to find it out from Miss Angela, fine, now minus one more question from my list of questions about this world.

"Prince Lucius," he began, "I must inform you that all your classes have been canceled this week."

"Wait, what?!" I said, surprised. "Why were they canceled?!"

"Because of an important guest who will be temporarily staying in this castle," the guard replied.

«Well, thank you! Now I have to die of boredom! I've been dreaming about it so much! Thank you, kind and unknown guest!» — I sarcastically rejoiced at this.

"Oh, I see, is that all?"

"Yes, Your Highness," he replied.

"Okay, then take us to the dining room," I said, and he nodded. After leaving the room and closing the door, we headed there.

After a while we reached our destination, he bowed to me and went somewhere, meanwhile the doors were opened to me and I went inside. After entering, I looked towards the table where the whole family commonly was sitting, I saw only Luna and Tia. Tia was sitting at the table with a book and reading it. Looking closely at the title, I immediately realized that she was re-reading the same book that Star Swirl had wrote. Luna just sat silently and looked at the food. When I sat down at the table, I saw that our parents were not served, and it was strange. At the same time, I had a question: «Where are our parents? Why isn't there a table set for them?»

"Hi, Tia, hi, Luna," I greeted them affectionately. They turned in my direction.

"Hi, Luci," Tia said, looking up from her book and greeting me with a smile.

"Hi, Little Brother," Luna greeted with a smile.

"Do you know where our parents are?" I decided to ask them if they know where they are.

"Well, they said that the three of us could eat, because they need to prepare for the arrival of a guest," Tia explained to me.

"I see," I said, sighing. "Do you happen to know who this guest is?" I asked, to which they shook their heads negatively.

"Well, they say this guest is a very important person," Luna said.

"So important that they will stay with us for a week?" I said.

"Yes, this is unpleasant news, especially for you, Luci," Seli said with a kind of grin.

"Oh, come on, Tia, don't mock me like that in the morning.Yes, I agree, it's not really great for me, laziness will kill me, so I'll have to find something to do this week."

"We can all go for a walk in the park together," Luna offered with a smile.

"It's not a bad idea, the three of us can go for a walk unless someone doesn't want to reread the book again," I said, glancing at Tia. She pouted resentfully in response, and Luna giggled slightly.

"This is a very interesting book!" Tia declared.

"Let's say it's interesting, but do you understand everything in it, Sister?"

"I understand!"she said and abruptly teleported near me, using telekinesis she stole my crown and teleported back to her place with it, then stuck out her tongue at me.

"You're kidding, right? I just learned teleportation recently, and you're showing off in front of me?! I’m offended, Tia!" I said resentfully and then looked at her a little angrily.

"I learned that in this book! So it's very interesting!" She said proudly, but I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, it may be interesting to you, but still give me back my crown!"

"No, I'm taking it away for offending me, Luci," she said and, winking at me, teleported away again, but this time it's unclear where.

"Oh, come on, Tia!!!" I shouted indignantly.

"Brother, don't get mad," Luna said restlessly. I turned to her and took a breath, exhaled, and then smiled at her.

"Okay, I won't," I told her, "but I still need to find Tia and get the crown back."

"You'll do it later! You didn't eat anything anyway, and Seli had already eaten everything before you came."

"Oh, well, I'll eat and look for our sister in the castle to return the crown."

"I'll help you, Brother!"

"thanks."

Two hours later

Luna and I are a little tired, why is that? And it's simple — Tia, holy Tartarus, turned out to be a cunning filly! Luna and I found her literally ten minutes later, she was in her room with a book and my crown. When we approached her, she teleported again, but told us to do our best! She was bullying me! Every time we found her, she left using a teleport, then she was on one of the balconies of the castle, then in some room, then, damn it, in a park on a tree! No, of course I understand that she decided to make fun of me like that, BUT you can't mock me like that for TWO hours! Now Luna and I were walking towards the throne room, because our parents were waiting for us there now, and most likely Tia was already there. Why do I think so? Yes, it just so happened that when we were looking for Tia, we met a guard on the way, who said that they’re waiting only for the two of us. So it doesn't take long to think that she's already there, so we were heading there.

After a while, Luna and I were already in front of the door to the throne room, although a little laterbecause Luna did not put on her jewelry, so we went to our parents' chambers on the way and also to Luna's room. She quickly put on her dark blue crown, a necklace of the same color, and greaves. Ahem, so, the door to the throne room was opened to us. After entering, I looked towards the thrones of our parents and saw that my father was sitting on his throne, he was wearing his crown and everything else, my mother was sitting next to him on her throne, she also had her crown and everything else, and to her left stood a satisfied Tia, strongly Smiling, she also had her jewelry and crown. Luna and I started to approach them, and when we approached them, my father and mother looked at me in surprise.

"Son, where is your crown?" My father asked me sternly.

"Well, uh, uh..." I began to mumble and slightly look at Tia. Her mother noticed this and turned to her.

"Celestia?" the mother began. "Do you want to tell us something?"

"No," Tia said, putting her head on her side and looking uncomprehending.

"And if you think more about it?" Mom said even more seriously. Tia became slightly nervous and then sighed.

"Okay!" She said, and then, using telekinesis, she levitated my crown from behind her back.

"That's better, Celestia," Mom said with a smile, then she looked at me and teleported the crown onto my head.

"Thank you," I said to my mom, who nodded in response and then looked back at Tia.

"And you, Celestia, you'd better tell the truth right away, you're lucky that a guest will be with us soon, so my father and I won't punish you for this," she said in a serious voice, then we stood at their thrones, Luna stood to the right of my father's throne, and I next to Tia and my mother's throne.

While we were waiting for our guest, Tia suddenly spoke softly.

"I'm sorry, Luci," she said to me, but I turned my head in her direction.

"Tell me, why did you do that?" I asked her quietly.

"I... I wanted to play with you a little, we haven't played for a long time, and that's why I decided to do it," she said sadly and lowered her ears.

"Oh, Tia, I understand you, you are gifted, and you manage almost everything easily, but understand that when we rule, we will have very, very little time for fun," I told her.

"I know, and that's why I want to play with you so that I don't regret it later…"

"Oh, Tia-Tia," I just managed to say, when suddenly the doors to the throne room began to open, and I turned my attention to them.

When they were fully opened, one guard entered and began to speak.

"Your Highness! A great magician named Star Swirl the Bearded has arrived!" he announced and stepped aside.

And at the same moment, he, the great magician Star Swirl himself, entered the throne room! This made my mouth open wide, and then I looked at Tia and Luna and saw that their mouths were open in surprise. Well, of course, it's not every day you see a magician who is talked about a lot, especially if you're also a fan of his. Looking at him again, I began to examine him. He was gray in color, his hair color was white-light gray, his small beard was the same color, his eyes were kind of turquoise-blue, his cloak was slightly dark in color with two stars and one crescent, there were also small bells on his cloak, he had a hat like this the same color, also with one star, two crescents and bells on it. He walked slowly towards us, and when he came up, he bowed to us.

"I am glad to meet you, King Orion, Queen Galaxy, and, of course, I am glad to meet your children, Prince Lucius, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Star Swirl said, then our mother magically closed our mouths, and our father stood up from the throne.

"Well, we are glad to welcome you, Star Swirl," my father began to say, "we hope that your trip to here was without incidents." The father finished, and the magician raised his head.

"No, Your Highness, the trip before you was calm and pleasant," he said with a smile, then our mother stood up.

"We are very pleased to hear that," she said with a smile.

An hour later

At the moment, I was in my room with Tia and Luna, because our mother asked me to take them to her, because, as it turned out, Tia told Luna a little bit about Star Swirl, and now she began to respect him very much. She also told me to keep them, so to speak, at my place, because she and Star Swirl will have a very, very important conversation, on which the future of Equestria may depend. It confused me a little, but I quickly realized what she was leading to, and I told her my guess, and I turned out to be right. What did I understand? I realized that they wanted to discuss whether he could teach Tia and Luna, because they are very gifted unicorns. Of course, there will be no conversation about me, it's understandable, I am ordinary and ungifted, unlike my younger sisters. I understand everything, and it surprised my mother that I understand everything so well at that age, and somehow it doesn't even hurt. She will be surprised at this for a long time, physically I am a colt of eleven years old, but in my soul, damn, I am already over thirty! Or maybe already over forty? Oh, well, it doesn't matter anymore, it's better not to bring back the past, I don't miss my past life and the world much anymore, and not because I'm a prince in my new life! This one is more peaceful, even though the technology is ancient, maybe in a thousand years I will finally be able to use energy or steam engines and everything like that. Or maybe I should write all sorts of sketches on this topic? Well, for posterity? No, why would I do that? They'll figure it out for themselves, they're not stupid.

So, I'm sitting on my bed, Luna is sitting next to me, and we both look, one might say, at Tia in a very stable condition, she somehow walks back and forth, from corner to corner. She's been walking like this for twenty minutes now, and it's starting to get boring, Luna quickly came to her senses after she saw Star Swirl, but Tia still didnt.

"Tia, calm down already. You'd think, I saw someone who is known as a great magician, but I'm already calmly looking at it with Luna." I began the conversation. She immediately turned to me.

"Luci, you don't understand, it's Star Swirl! He's the best magician in Equestria! And he's in our castle now! It's just incredible!" She said very excitedly.

"Yes, yes, I know that he is a great magician, and that we have him here now," I said, getting out of bed, walking right up to her and lifting her head with a hoof. "Tia, I know you're very excited right now, but let's get away from this, otherwise you'll make a hole in the floor if you keep walking like that."

"Brother is right, sister, you’re way too much excited about this," Luna agreed with me, coming up to us.

"I think you're right, I need to calm down a little," then she took two deep breaths and exhaled, "okay, I calmed down, what are we going to play?" She asked with a smile.

A week later

It's been a week since Star Swirl temporarily moved into the castle. Nothing did not happen during these days, everything was as usual, well, almost. I was just dying of boredom, a couple of times we went for a walk in the park with Luna and still Tia and played there. Unfortunately, we could only see our parents at dinner, they said it was because of some business, what exactly they, of course, did not say, it was obvious, but despite all this, I noticed one oddity, what kind? I got the feeling that when I'm in my room or somewhere else alone, I feel like someone is watching me, but who is it? I can't understand it, I used to feel this way, but I didn't attach importance to it, but during these three days this feeling just intensified. Today I decided to ask Tia about it at breakfast in the morning, to which she replied: «You know, Lucie, I feel weird when I'm alone, but do you feel that way too?» This answer made it clear to me that she has the same feeling when she is alone, which gives me one answer — we are being watched, but who? Of course, in any case, one of the parents' assistants, why would they do that? And they don't need it, but Star Swirl! Why would he do that? It's simple — Tia and Luna are gifted, and he needs to know how he will teach them in the future, but why are they also watching me? This is already a complete mystery to me, I'm not gifted, I'm just an ordinary pony and only, yes, the magic core is a little bit bigger, so what? Spells are difficult for me, like to any unicorn, well, okay, maybe I'm very passionate about rune magic and artefactory, well, what's the big deal? I hope I find out everything today.

I was on my way to the throne room at the moment, why? Our parents are gathering us there again on some important issue, and I think I even know what it is. I reached the door that led to the throne room, the guards opened it for me, and I went inside, closing it behind me. Our parents were sitting on thrones, Luna was standing next to my father, Tia – next to mom. «I'm the last one here again,» I thought. I walked up to them and stood next to Tia. After a while, the doors of the throne room opened again, and Star Swirl entered, who began to walk towards us. He came up to us and bowed.

"We are glad to see you again," said mom.

"And we hope you enjoyed your stay with us," my father said, after which Star Swirl raised his head.

"Well, Your Majesty, I really liked everything," he said with a smile, "and I think it's probably better now that we tell the truth in front of your children why I came to you."

"Well, I agree with you," my father agreed.

"That's the right thing to do, because at the moment only four ponies in this room know why you came to us."

"Four?" The magician said, slightly surprised. "Did you tell any of your children?" the father and mother shook their heads negatively.

"We didn't tell any of them," my mother began, and then she turned in my direction, looking at me. "It's just that one of them figured it out for himself," she finished with a smile and turned to Star Swirl. Tia and Luna turned to me in surprise.

"What?" I turned to them and asked. "Well, yes, we admit, we guessed everything, and mom confirmed my guesses, you sisters are already superior to us in magic, so don't look at us like that!" After saying that, they just sighed and turned back to Star Swirl.

"Ahem," Star Swirl began, "so, since that's the case, well, I'll start, perhaps."

"Yes, start," the mother said in agreement.

"I, Star Swirl the Bearded, announce that I officially take your daughters as my apprentices."

"What?!" Luna and Tia shouted in surprise at the same time.