Unforeseen Consequences - Equestria's new ruler

“…what do you mean?”
>Moon Dancer readjusted her glasses and sighed heavily “You should really read the royal protocols, you know? It’s not like they are confidential or anything and to be honest, they contain vital information for somepony who has a position like yours.”
“Glasses, seriously, have you seen those things? They are larger than life itself; seriously, the introductory one is so thick that it could be used by the Royal Guard as a lethal weapon. Can’t you give me the summary or something?”
>”Anon… you will be reading the protocols as your homework… but ugh…” Moon Dancer shook her head and rolled her eyes “I will explain it briefly since Starlight Glimmer must be waiting for me. Basically, since the three equestrian princesses are in no position to rule Equestria, someone has to assume the responsibilities of leading the Kingdom, and the next in line… well… that would be you, your highness”
“I… I… WHAT?! That is a joke, right? Come on, Glasses. There’s no way in Tartarus that you can be serious about this!”
>Moon Dancer slowly nodded at you ”I’m afraid that I’m being serious. Princess Luna and Celestia don’t remember a thing about her adult lives and Princess Twilight belongs to a mental asylum now. So, until the princesses are able to perform their duties again, the law dictates that you will Equestria’s temporary ruler”
>A chill ran down through your spine, your mind was racing, your legs started to tremble… and…wait a minute, she said… temporary ruler, right? If so, then you must ask a question.
“… and what happens if we fail… what would happen if not even Discord is able to change them back and Twilight never returns from her trip to crazy-mare land?”

>Your fears only increased when Moon Dancer grimaced ”The royal protocol dictates it’s very clear about that scenario. If the princesses aren’t able to go back to their duties ever again, then a coronation ceremony must be celebrated as soon as possible, that would effectively make you the permanent ruler of Equestria”
“Me…? The ruler of the whole kingdom?! C’mon, Moon Dancer, I-I know that I’m a prince a-and yeah, I like it and every single day I do my best to prove that I’m worthy of my title, b-but this is crazy! And besides… hold on there! W-What about Cadence?”
>She shook her head and shrugged “She already rules the Crystal Empire. By what the equestrian law establishes and Princess Cadence’s own limitations as a pony, she simply can’t be the ruler of Equestria too.”
“Right… right… but I’m just a colt… i-isn’t someone else who can do the job while I’m getting ready to actually sit on the throne and y’know… assume command?”
>”Well…” Moon Dancer stared at you stoically “The next pony in line is Blueblood… and I’m sure that nopony would want that outcome.”
>…Blueblood… the sole mention of his name made your blood boil… now that is actually an even worst scenario, one that you can’t let happen.
“I rather surrender the kingdom to a bunch of mean aliens than having to bow to that pompous, idiotic, arrogant, short sighted, mean jerk!
>Moon Dancer rolled her eyes “You’re not the only one. Blueblood isn’t exactly popular or liked across Equestria.” She then walked to you and gently placed her hoof under your chin “Doc, I know that it must be hard for you, but you’re the only one who can take the role and not have to worry about ponies attempting an insurrection.”
“Yeah… It seems like it, that’s why my first action as the temporary ruler is to bring my moms back. Moon Dancer…. Thanks for your support… but it’s time for you to go… and drop the highness thing, will ya? You are not a weird random mare, you’re my weird friend.”

>“I will stop calling you like that if it bothers so much, but” Moon Dancer titled her head and asked with worry in her voice “Are you sure that you want me to go? I could stay a little longer if you still feel nervous, Doc.”
>You weren’t, in fact, you wanted her to stay with you as long as possible, but… ugh… she had an important work to do too.
“I’m sure… don’t worry about me, I-I’ll be fine, promise. I mean, I gotta be, even if this is just a temporary title, I MUST remain calm and cool like my moms always do… You go and help Starlight, I will do my best to contact Discord.”
>”Whatever you say, Doc.” Moon Dancer smiled at you and kissed your forehead, and before finally leaving the study, she turned to you, sighed and gave you a final smile “You know… I wasn’t lying when I told Starlight that I believe in you, I truly do… that’s why I also believe that you will make a spectacular ruler someday, you just need to iron out some details.”
>You took a deep breath and then put up a smug smirk.
“Glasses, please, I’m always spectacular. How could I not be when I have spectacular ponies by my side that help me and guide me when I need them the most? As long as Equestria is filled with wonderful and beautiful ponies like yourself, it’s impossible for me to ever lose.”
>Moon Dancer made a profound bow after hearing those words “I will do my best to not fail you, Doc.” After that, your friend finally left the room.
>And you collapsed on your belly, the nervousness and fear were too much if you screw this… no, no… you just… need to keep with your little charade and execute your plan.
>Okay… okay, before you do anything, let’s go through this, it will help you to be more prepared and to somewhat calm your nerves.

>First of all, there should be no worries about any collateral damage outside of unimportant stuff… like the castle itself, eh… it might be important to some, but you only cared that no pony lost their mind when they saw their “new” princesses, Twilight was more than enough.
>You wonder how Moonlight and Aegia handled the news though, you so wished that they were here, but you also realize that those two have a vital job to do.
>They have to keep the changelings in place, and realistically speaking, even if they could aid you… they would probably not be able to do much in this situation.
>At this point, it was clear that the filly versions of your mothers were way beyond any power measure, which in theory, would make it impossible for any pony to stand a chance against them.
>BUT, but, but! So are Discord and Eris, they can bend reality at will with their chaos magic, so it is a safe bet that they can fix this mess with no problem whatsoever.
>You MUST contact them, and in order to do that, you needed to go to your “secret” laboratory… which is not really a secret anymore… your moms, well, their adult versions already know about it, Eris definitely knows about it, and of course, Cherrywood knows about it, she’s your partner in science after all.
>Speaking of your bat, she is supposed to arrive from Manehattan today, isn’t she? Hmm… well, that’s another reason to fix this as soon as possible, you don’t want her to start a fight with the little Celestia… hmm, that’s kind of a long nickname…
>Maybe Fillylestia could work better? And what about Luna? FillyLuna sounds horrible; maybe you could give her a cute nickname like… heck, you were terrible for this kind of thing. Okay, she is supposed to represent the night and…

>You slapped your face to snap out of that train of thought… you need to focus, darn it! You were doing it an amazing job at not getting derailed; you gotta keep up with that!
>Okay! You have to go to your room which is on the other side of the castle, once there, you need to go to your lab, use the radio to call the chaos duo, then they will make your moms to be adults again and finally…
>Then you will eat some victory pancakes, courtesy of your mom Celestia… oh yeah, baby! This is gonna be rad! Those pancakes are THE pancakes.
>So, with a smile on your face and hope in your heart, you walked out of the study, but stopped right at the door frame when a thought hit you like a truck.
“What if they don’t help me… what if Discord and Eris only bring even more problems to the table?”
>This was important; after all, it was a rule that you should never expect a normal answer from the draconequus family.
>What if Discord and Eris just make things worse on purpose so they can have to get some fun out of it? They are spirits of chaos after all, and this is a golden opportunity to do what they do best.
>Hmmm, Nah, you shouldn’t think about those two like that, Eris is your sister, she has always been and she always will be, even if she likes to mess with you from time to time, you just knew that she had your back.
>Discord can be a jerk, yeah, but regardless you see him like your weird but cool uncle, heck, he has protected you when the situation got dire, and you were fully aware that the guy cares a lot about you.
>They are family, as random as they can be; you have plenty of confidence that they wouldn’t throw you under the bus just to have some laughs.
>You took a deep breath and chuckled, man you really should calm yourself, once those two enter the scene, this will be over and everything would go back to normal.
>You final stepped out of the study and…

“What the…?”
>Why was everything so dark? You were pretty sure that it was just past noon… Are those two fillies responsible for this? It would make sense, considering how excited the little Luna was about playing tricks to anyone who crossed paths with her.
>Dang, you better hurry up!
>You cast a “lantern” spell and started to gallop towards your room. But as soon as you got out of the hallway, you heard a voice coming from the darkness ”Ooooooh~”
>You raised an eyebrow and tilted your head
“Who… goes there?”
>The “ghostly” voice replied back ”Oooooh~! I’m the ghost that lives in the… whatever this castle’s name is. Ooooh~!”
>Was it Cherrywood? Nah, that can’t be, if this was her work, you would hear chains and rattling noises, maybe she would have come up with something to create a faint glowing and something to recreate a poltergeist phenomenon.
>Heck, she could even improvise the whole thing and still be better than this little, yet cute ghost.
>Because when it comes to spooking ponies, there’s no one as good as your bat, that girl really puts an extra effort on the little details which makes everything she does to be simply AMAZING.
>So, that only leaves you with two possibilities, it’s either Twilight acting even crazier than before or…
“You know, ghosts are lost souls who remain in the land of the living because they have unfinished business, making them be bound to the places they haunt. So, tell me Miss Cute Ghost, what is the reason that you don’t remember that you are in Canterlot Castle, and why did you suddenly decided to appear now, out of all times, especially considering that there has never been a case of apparitions in the long history of my home?”
>There was a brief silence before the “ghost” spoke again, just that this time; it was a familiar squeaky voice “Aww, shucks!”

>A frustrated little Celestia walked out of the darkness, rambling to herself “I can never scare anypony! I dunno how Luna does it, she is supposed to be super shy, but geez, she sure is great at the spook-game, it’s like she can see their nightmares are or something!”
>Then the little filly pointed at you with her hoof “And you! Why do you know so much about frickin’ ghosts?! Not even Starswirl and his hairy nose knows THAT much about ‘em!” she then slapped her face “Oh yeah… stupid me… this is the future.”
>You let a smug chuckle and rolled your eyes
“I could say that this is basic knowledge for royalty, but…”
>You shrugged. Heh, you know this can be the perfect opportunity to get rid of her crush. It will make her sad, sure, that will make you feel terrible, of course, but man you can’t let this to continue further.
“The reality is that my special somepony told me, she is amazingly good at understanding everything related to the supernatural, that’s basically her talent.”
>”Y-You have a special somepony? awwwww…” The little Celestia dropped her ears when she heard that, her disappointment was almost palpable.
>But these were good news for you! That means that she will finally stop with-
>”Meh, I can compete with her” The little filly shrugged as she adopted an arrogant pose “I’m Celestia after all, I can compete with anypony and win easily” she then gave you a sly smile “And that includes you, my prince.”
>… Dang
“N-Now, that’s not a healthy attitude for someone who wants to be a princess one day, c-come on Miss C-Celestia, I-I’m already t-taken but we can still be friends.”
>”Nah-ah! I don’t think sooo~” The filly gently shook her head as she got closer to you, very, very close “So, you are taken? Hmmm-hmm-hmmm! That sounds like a challenge, and I looove challenges!”