First Lesson

As the moon rose over the horizon, Twilight and her group arrived at her castle laughing and sharing past experiences as they neared the front door to the castle.

"Oh, this certainly has been one glorious day." Rarity exclaimed before addressing Blueblood, "Did you enjoy the tour, dear?"

He nodded his head, "I sure did, Rarity! Thank you again for showing me around."

"It was my pleasure, darling." She gave him a friendly pat on the head, "If you ever need some nice formal wear, don't be afraid to visit my boutique, alright? Do you think you can remember that for me?"

"Of course, I'd never forgotten." He smiled proudly, which made Rarity giggle.

"Oh, as for you," She turned to Twilight, "Don't worry about his first day at school. I'll make sure to tell Sweetie Bell to look after him. He'll be better than fine."

"Thank-you, Rarity," Twilight said, relieved. She lit up her horn and magic open the castle door.

"Until next time everypony, ta-ta!" Rarity flipped her hair, turned around to leave the castle, and began her trot back to the boutique, leaving them alone.

"Wow. I think I understand why aunt Celly wanted me to come here, this place is awesome!" Blueblood yelled, jumping up and down still in excitement, which further concerned Twilight.

"Blueblood."

"Yeah, Twilight?"

"Can you do me a small favor?"

"Of course, what do you need?"

"Please tap your necklace twice."

"Right away Twilight," and did as instructed, returning to his older self, who swayed about dizzily. "Oh wow, my head… Why is the room spinning?" Blueblood held his head with a hoof.

"Overuse of magic can do that to ya," Spike commented as he helped steady Blueblood with a claw. "Remember what Princess Luna said; You don't shapeshift, you become what you imagine. So, the longer you stay transformed, the longer you'll start to feel like you're the thing you've become."

"I feel weird," He shook his head, then looked at his hoof, "Before, it was like my body was pumped full of energy. Now it's like my head is all… fuzzy. Kind of like when you stay up too late and get overtired. Everything's all wibble wobble." He slowly shook his hoof up and down, "Look Twillie, it's a rubber pencil!"

"No wonder princess Luna was wary of him using the necklace," Twilight replied as the three continued down the large hallway "It seems that even with amnesia you aren't completely safe from the side effects. You shouldn't risk yourself using it more than absolutely necessary." She informed him. "Lucky for you, I know exactly what we should do!"

"What'd ya have in mind, Twiggy?" Blueblood asked with a bit of a slur.

Instead of answering, Twilight guided them both towards the main library located at the rear of the castle and started searching on a bookshelf in the far, back corner of the room, taking and putting away various books while doing so.

Blueblood yawned, "Uuhhh, Twiles?"

"Dude, you don't sound so good. You should probably sit down before you fall over. It could be a while, Twilight is in," Spike made air quotes with his claws, "Study mode. Right now, unless you're a book, nothing else exists to her. I looked it up once. Something about object permanence and tunnel vision. I'm not really good with all that psychology stuff. We just gotta give her a moment."

"That's a lot of words I don't understand, little bro." Blueblood looked around, "So, what is this place exactly?"

"This is the castle library of course! Anything you're interested in, we have a book for it." Spike explained.

"Wait, really? Even, say… magic spells?"

"Naturally, it is Twilight's library after all," He responded with an affirmative nod.

"And ghost stories?"

"Some of the scariest. A few have even found to be true!"

"Cool! I wonder if we know somebody who's a ghost?"

"Probably not, most ghosts are really hostile to other ponies."

At that moment Twilight appeared from behind one of the stacks. She heaved a burly looking volume in front of them and gingerly set it open on the floor, "We'll be using this. And spike, try not to startle him, he's really impressionable right now" She stated with an annoyed look on her face, pointing her hoof at a specific page. It had a detailed illumination of a unicorn standing in front of a rectangular floor-length mirror with wavy lines for sides. However, instead of reflecting the pony's image, the mirror showed a griffon."

"Ah Twilight, I can't read, remember?" Blueblood mentioned.

"Oh right… sorry," Twilight muttered sheepishly. "The spell I'll be using will be a unique spell similar to a funhouse mirror spell. However, its a lot more complex so not many unicorns know it, meaning its a safe bet to use. Once I cast it over the castle, it'll mask your appearance to anypony that comes inside, as long as you stay inside the castle. To anypony who visits, you'll appear as your colt self" she lectured, "That way, we can keep your visit a secret without risking your health."

Blueblood looked uncertain, "That just seems overly complicated. Why can't I just be me? We used to know each other before I lost my memory, right?"

She dismissively waved a hoof, "Because I've already established your story as a young colt staying as a guest at the castle. Having your older self prancing about and the younger missing will look really suspicious. Don't worry Blueblood, with enough mana this spell can be made nearly permanent. I'll simply attach it to the ambient magic of the castle itself." Twilight smirked with complete confidence.

"But what if somepony touches me?" Blueblood mentioned, "You're making an illusion, right? So, what happens if a pony tries to give me a hug and instead ends up holding my hoof or something?"

"That's why this spell is sure to work," She tapped the page of the book, "This spell will also mess with their sense of depth perception. So if anypony tried that, they would adjust their aim," She informed with a grin, "Trust me, it can even change your voice!"

"Yeah Blueblood, it's like you've never been to a funhouse run by a unicorn before. Besides, you got nothing to worry about. Twilight's, like, super good when it comes to casting spells and stuff," Spike said.

"It just seems like using the amulet but with extra steps," Blueblood grumbled.

"But with much less mana drain!" She declared, before abruptly charging her horn. "Please stand back Spike, I'm about to use the science of magic!"

Spike immediately complied, and soon after, a small mote of purple electricity emerged from the tip of her horn. It arched across the room, then popped in a ring of light that expanded to cover the entire room in a flash, before slowly dissipating to just a few sparkles of glitter which gently wafted to the floor.

The prince looked at his hooves and tail but didn't notice any changes, "Did it work?"

"See for yourself," Twilight replied with a smirk, conjuring a large mirror in front of him, revealing his colt counterpart.

"Wow! It can even fool reflections?" Blueblood exclaimed, impressed by the result.

"Not quite, but the result is the same. The spell on the castle will also affect you. It would have been needlessly complex to limit the effect to certain ponies. You're seeing what we see." Twilight mentioned with pride. "Now we can relax a bit more during your stay in the castle."

"I really don't know what to say, Twilight. Seriously, thank you!," Blueblood said appreciatively, with a huge smile and a loving hug, which made her giggle and return the gesture. "Anytime cousin, you know I'm here to help."

They ended the hug and soon Blueblood gave a big yawn, "Well, as much as I'd like to stay up longer, it's been a really busy day. I think I'll have to call it for the night."

"I'm with you there, buddy," Spike added with an accompanying yawn. "It really was a long day," He said, scratching his head as he left the room. "See you two tomorrow."

Twilight nodded, "Maybe it's for the best. Tomorrow you'll start your first day of school. It would be wise if you got as much rest as possible."

"Agreed.," He nodded and started to leave.

"Blueblood," Twilight called out to him before he got too far.

"Yeah, Twi?" , He looked back at her and noticed how she looked down uncomfortably and conflicted, "What happened this morning" She gazes back at him, "You know that even if you were a colt I was being serious, right?"

Blueblood's ears pinned back, then he turned to the hallway, "I know, Twilight."

"I meant every word, Blueblood. I'm always here for you if you ever wanted to talk, about anything. You know that, right?."

The Prince pondered his options, "I know Twilight, I… will try my best."

"That's all I want," She smiled as she closed the book with her magic.

"Twilight" Blueblood called. She turned back to see that he was still not looking at her. "I was… " He shook his head, "Never mind, it doesn't matter. Goodnight Twilight."

Twilight wanted to say something, extending her hoof but she stopped herself and retracted it, "You too..." She looked back at him with concern as she watched him slowly leave.

The next day at Miss Cheerilee's school

As morning classes began, a purple earth pony mare finished writing her lessons for the day on the large chalkboard, as colts and fillies entered her classroom and sat in their respective seats. Once she'd finished, she put the chalk away and addressed her class with a smile, "Good morning students!"

"Good morning miss Cheerilee!" The fillies and colts responded in unison.

"Kids, I'd like to introduce you all to a new student that will be joining us for some time," Cheerilee informed them with cheer evident in her voice, "Princess Twilight's distant cousin, New Blood." She points a hoof at the door of her classroom where Blueblood, in his colt form, was standing with his head held low holding his small saddlebag, trying to be as small as possible.

"Don't be afraid sweetheart, come in and introduce yourself!" Cheerilee coached him, and soon the colt walked inside and waved at them, "H-hi everyone"

"Hi New Blood" the class responded, some even waving to him.

"New Blood, why don't you go and find yourself a seat? There's one available behind Sweetie Bell."

"O-Okay Miss Cheerilee."

Miss Cheerilee leaned over to him, "Oh and don't worry about today's classes, Twilight's already informed me about your 'situation'" She whispered into his ear, "Since you're new here, today you may just sit and listen to the class, will that be okay with you?"

Blueblood nodded and went to the available desk without saying too much. He sat down and immediately withdrew a book from his saddlebag, opening it to the first of many illustrated pages. It was a picture book on the Equestrian alphabet that Twilight had packed for him. She had said it was titled, "Prim & Proper's Guides to Early Education: Phonetic Pictorials". This was the first of five such volumes. He casually flipped through the first couple of pages, noticing the varied, vivid visuals on the very thin vellum. The book must have been three horseshoes thick and could easily contain over one thousand pages. Blueblood nodded to himself, once he figured out the numbering system, he'd flip to the final page to check the count. Flipping back to the first page, he began his studies with determination.

"Well kids, I hope you've all brought your pencils because today's class is a very important lesson. You'd all be wise to remember it." She lectured, before addressing the chalkboard. "Continuing on with last week's lessons on pony magic, we are going to be discussing 'Magic Surges'," She started, pointing towards three images, consisting of a pegasus, earth pony, and unicorn.

Blueblood looked up, interested in the subject at hoof. He looked at the teacher before gazing at the book, ultimately deciding to put it away for now.

"As you all know, magic is a primordial factor in life for Equestria. It exists in all forms and shapes, sizes, organic and inorganic alike, and of course, that includes us." She explained as she sketched the explosion mark around the three ponies.

"And because of that, all of us need to be careful with our emotions and how we express or control them" She chuckled, and then looked at the class "Unless of course somepony wishes to have a windigo as your new neighbor, right?"

The entire class broke out into a fit of laughter at that, before slowly dying down.

"Miss Cheerilee!", An orange filly pegasus with a purple mane raised her hoof, "Was a magic surge the reason windigos showed up in the first place?"

"Close Scootaloo, but no. The cause of their arrival was hate, not rage, they are two separate things, ``she explained. "You see since the magic in our bodies is linked to our emotions, it's important that , when angered, we try our best to keep it under moderation and no matter what happens, never contain it." She warned the class.

"That is because, when a pony's anger reaches a certain degree, his or her body is simply unable to contain the build-up of magic that is produced as a result and has no choice but to expel it all in one big wave. This phenomenon is what we call a 'Magic Surge', and it can result in some serious and dangerous side effects," She lectured as she continued to write on the chalkboard.

"For earth ponies like myself for example. Since we all have an inherent connection with the earth, from our ancestors. A Magic Surge could result in permanent death of the land around us, or even worse, a frenzy in the flora and fauna that could result in something similar to what we now know as the Everfree forest" She Informed"And I'm sure that nopony here would like to end up trapped in that kind of place, right?"

The earth ponies in the room flinched and shook their heads rapidly.

"We call those cases, 'The sorrow of the land" Cheerilee continued, as she wrote the names on the chalkboard next to the earth pony, using her mouth.

Blueblood looked to his classmates who were using either their mouths or their magic to write.

"Moving on, we have, the Pegasus" Cheerilee pointed to the picture of the pegasus. "As the controllers of the weather, a surge could result in their bodies becoming literal storm magnets, and attract clouds at an extremely fast rate, so much so, that in a best-case scenario, one single and healthy adult pegasus would create a single violent thunderstorm. And in the worse case, he or she could accidentally provoke a natural disaster that would just keep on growing out of proportion, making it extremely hard to dissolve.
A literal snowball effect. That kind of surge is called, 'The Living Storm', an unpredictable destructive storm that could last weeks"

"In all three cases, a Magic Surge would leave a pony drained of all their energy, so if it happened to a pegasus in the sky, with a storm of that proportion, one can only pray for a miracle." She utters in sadness as she wrote the term for the pegasi, and the children with wings, clenched to their sides in utter fear.

"And finally, we have the unicorn type of rage, called 'The Grand Reverse.'" She adds.

Blueblood looks at his horn in worry.

"As the closest of the three tribes, when it comes to the manipulation of magic, a unicorn must always be careful during a burst of rage, since this type is directly linked with their cutie marks attributes, and an episode of anger will reverse it. For example, take a pony like Twilight Sparkle. Her cutie mark stands for the understanding and performing of magic in all of its forms. A grand reverse would result in her doing the exact opposite, in other words, destruction in its purest of forms."

She writes all of it down, "From the three tribes, the unicorn rage has the most direct consequences. Because this one affects the body of the user, not the surroundings, that kind of magical stress would utterly drain all of a unicorns energy, as well as magic, which could prove fatal if it remains for a long period of time."

She finished and then looked at the class. "Remember kids, it's okay to express your anger if the situation provokes it, however, a 'Magic Surge' is never okay. Always be careful and keep in mind how to, de-escalate a tense situation. A 'Magic Surge' is nothing to joke about. Lives have been lost because of it."

At that moment a bell rang out, announcing the end of the first period.

"Time for recess, go play kids! we'll continue this after recess." She announces and soon everypony starts to leave the room, minus Blueblood who instead goes towards Cheerilee.

"That was an amazing lesson Miss Cheerilee!," Blueblood praised, making her happy.

"I'm glad that you liked it New Blood. I always try to make my lessons as interesting as possible."

"Well you sure did well today, but there's something I was left wondering about..."

"Yes? What is it dear?"

"Well, you told us about what happens if an earth pony, a unicorn or a pegasus gets really angry, but what if an alicorn that has all three attributes had an episode?" He asked innocently making Cheerilee flinch and look away. "Nightmare Moon, perhaps…?" She whispered mostly to herself.

"What was that miss?"

"A-Ah, nothing! Nothing dear, that's something I'll be teaching later on, for now, why don't you go outside and play with the others foals?" She lightly pushed him out of the room and then pointed to the same orange filly who was talking with a white unicorn filly and a yellow Earth pony filly with a red mane with a large pink big bow.

"Oh look the cutie mark crusaders are over there, why don't you go and talk with them? I'm sure they would love to play with you!" Cheerilee mentions quickly, pushing him one last time before going back to her class. Blueblood looked back at her, confused before shrugging and doing as she'd said, while the teacher watched him go.

He really is Twilight's cousin...

She mentioned with a giggle

The first question he asks and I don't even know the answer!

She then looked through a window, particularly at the castle with intrigue.

True be told, I don't think I've ever seen the princess ever get enraged, and to be honest I don't know if there's even documentation of an alicorn suffering from a rage surge…. Could Nightmare Moon be considered an example?

She thought it over before shaking her head.

Oh what am I thinking? A burst of rage never lasts that long...of course, Nightmare Moon couldn't be that...

She chuckled again before wiping off her chalkboard.

Meanwhile at the train station

A blue pegasus mare with a rainbow color mane and tail stepped out of the train, stretching in joy "Aw it's good to be back!"

"Oh come on Dash." A light purple unicorn with a dark purple color mane and tail, with a blue stream passing through it, groaned at the pegasus as she emerged from the train,"We weren't gone for that long" She informs with an eye roll, "Plus you said that you enjoyed our mission, especially since you got a chance to have another race with Lighting Dust."

Rainbow Dash just shrugged at the comment "What can I say Starlight, there's no place like home!" She replies, before abruptly lifting off into the sky.

"You won't see any arguments from me," She exclaimed as she too left the station, "Wanna come to the castle and tell Twilight how the mission went?" Starlight politely asked Dash.

"Nah, you can go do that egghead stuff off yours. I think I'll go find a nice cozy cloud to nap on for a while, maybe surprise Scootaloo and see if we can go get some sweets from Sugarcube Corner, See ya later Starlight!" Dash mock saluted, and then dashed away, as her friend just waves her goodbye.

Well, time to see Twilight

Starlight thought to herself before chucking a little as she headed towards Twilight's castle.

Knowing Ponyville, and how we've been away for a whole week... I'd imagine some crazy adventure's happened during our absence