"Everypony calm down!" Princess Celestia called out to the hall in front of her, trying to quiet down the uproarious scene that followed Princess Amira's stunt.
Ponies in the audience couldn't stop whispering loudly as they talked about what they just saw.
A foreign Princess slapping a member of the Crown, in their own Castle, no less? How preposterous!
Celestia again tried to get the crowd to quiet down, an attempt at bringing back a sense of civility to the visit that she so desperately missed.
Her words fell on deaf ears as she watched ministers from the Agriculture and Treasury departments talk about how this supposed scandal will impact their relations with Saddle Arabia. The few journalists who managed to get a pass to record the delegates' visit were busy writing down the many different ways they could spin a headline-grabbing narrative from this scene. Even the guards were unsure if they should step up and do something, as they've been trained, or wait for her to respond.
So many things were happening at once, and she was not ready to deal with them so soon, especially not with no pony listening to her words.
"QUIET DOWN!!!" Luckily for her, it seems somepony else managed to gain the crowd's attention.
"Do you even hear yourselves?!" Celestia watched Prince Blueblood step forward, his voice booming across the room, thanks to a sound-amplifying illusion no doubt.
"You are causing a ruckus on a most joyous occasion, and for what? A slip?" Blueblood's eyes roamed over the crowd silently, as if he were judging them, like a teacher looking down at rowdy children.
"We are gathered here in celebration of our allies in Saddle Arabia, celebrating 30 years with King Shahryar's continued rule. This is no time to start yelling at each other over the slightest mistake. Think of the image you are setting for us? Are we children? Little bickering foals who cannot hold their tongue as a guest of honor slips on her way to respect our Princess? How shameful..." Blueblood shook his head in disappointment, and Celestia could already see the mood in the hall start to shift.
She had to admit, he had a way of dealing with crowds.
Sure, just like during the Grand Galloping Gala, his way of dealing with the crowds usually involves giving a short speech calling out their behavior, but for crowds like these, made up of high society and ponies of importance, even if only in their own mind, his methods seem to work wonders.
"I concur," Celestia decided to finally speak up, now that the crowd has quieted down, "Let us not dwell on slips of the hoof and move on to the matters that are of actual importance to us." Her eyes roamed over the crowd, her warm and inviting look contrasting with Blueblood's cold stare.
"We have prepared some gifts for the arriving Royals, but I believe they would be better gifted later, after the evening feast."
"Thank you for your generosity, Princess Celestia," Said Prince Haakim, who moments earlier looked like he was expecting a hangpony's rope to wrap around his neck, "We will gladly take you up on that offer," He told her, his eyes briefly turning to his sister, signalling to her to follow suit.
Princess Amira gave a silent bow to Celestia, her eyes still glaring at Blueblood, much more coldly than before his speech.
"Ahah haha heh, Umm, I believe that now is a great time for us to be brought to our rooms, where we will be staying for the next two nights," Prince Haakim's hoof moved to wipe a bead of sweat from his face.
"Of course," Celestia smiled at the foreign prince, "Kibitz, would you mind showing our guests to where they'll be staying?" She turned to the old Unicorn standing to her left.
"Most certainly, Your Majesty." The Majordomo of Canterlot Castle gave the princess a bow before he turned to the delegation from Saddle Arabia, "I do hope your rooms will be to your liking," He told them, "Now, if you could follow me as I lead you to them."
"Thank you~" Prince Haakim gave an awkward smile as he began following the Unicorn, turning his head back every once in a while to make sure his sister was still following.
"Our rooms are ready?" Vizier Jafar repeated the old Unicorn's words, his eyes seeming to stare past him, "What is he talking about?" He followed his prince, only to begin walking in a different direction after a few stops, forcing one of the two Saddle Arabian guards to grab hold of the old pony and drag him in the right direction. "Huh? Ali Baba wants to see me?"
"Sir, King Ali Baba has been dead for twenty years," The guard whispered to the Vizier who simply stared past him, having no reaction to those words as they all walked out of the Throne room, making their way towards the guest wing of the palace.
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Princess Celestia waited patiently for the crowd of guests to filter out of the hall before she turned to her son.
"Why is Princess Amira angry at you?" She asked before adding, "Your quick thinking really helped in salvaging the situation. You did well in that."
"Thank you," Blueblood told her, his horn glowing with magic as a bubble of soundproofing magic surrounded them, with Starlight Glimmer just making it through the edge of the bubble in order to hear what would be said.
"In regards to Princess Amira..." Blueblood began.
Celestia waited to hear his response.
"I have no clue."
Celestia expected plenty of different answers, and of the list of predicted answers, this one was not high on it.
"Although it would be more... I think it is correct to say... I do not remember." Blueblood continued, and that, Celestia could admit, was higher on the list of answers she expected.
"Now, before we say anything, allow me to explain!" Blueblood raised his hooves quickly in order to stop her from asking a different question, even though she planned to wait patiently for him to explain anyway.
"I do not remember anything from before... Around one year and nine months ago..." Blueblood turned to look away from Celestia, "I was hoping nothing would come up that would force me to acknowledge it, but I do believe the cat is out of the bag."
"...What?" Celestia eloquently asked.
Blueblood took a deep breath before he turned back to look her in the eyes, "I have no memories from before August of two years ago. I only found myself conscious of that face during August of last year, and I have been trying to piece together whatever memories I still had back while not arousing suspicion in you or the staff." Blueblood's breath began to hasten, "I know that I should have told you from the beginning, but I didn't want you to think that I was somebody else, I- I'm not a changeling if that's what you're wondering! I have no idea as to why I don't have those memories but-"
"Blueblood." Celestia tried to speak to the stallion, but her voice seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, something that seems to be happening rather commonly today.
"I'm still Blueblood! I can prove it, I'm not a changeling!" His pupils seemed to shrink as his breath quickened, panic starting to claw into the Unicorn's mind.
"Blueblood, listen to me," Celestia repeated her attempt at trying to get her son's attention.
"Here, let me prove-" Blueblood raised his hoof in front of him, his horn glowing brighter as he prepared a spell.
"Blueblood!" Celestia moved her legs to grab the Prince's cheeks, forcing him to look at her face, focusing only on her.
"...Yes, your Majesty?" The Unicorn asked quietly, his pupils widening as if he were a scared animal caught in a huntsmare's trap, searching for a path to escape.
"I know." Celestia's words seemed to have caused Blueblood's brain to short-circuit, his face turning blank for a moment before seemingly coming back to life.
"I figured this out months ago."
"What?" Blueblood said blankly, his eyes staring forward, through Princess Celestia, as if she weren't even there.
"I know about your memory loss, I didn't say anything because I wanted you to come forward yourself." She smiled gently at the Prince.
"You- But- If you- Why didn't you say anything?" Blueblood finally seemed to focus on her, asking her such a simple question as if he didn't understand why she would stay silent about what must have been such an important thing in his life.
"I wanted you to feel comfortable enough to come to me on your own." Celestia told him, her hooves still holding on to the sides of his face, "I wanted you to trust me with this, on your own terms." She squeezed his cheeks warmly.
"And besides, I am your mother, it's my job to notice these sorts of things~"
"...Dammit." Blueblood sighed, his head lowering in defeat, causing Celestia to pull him forward into a warm hug.
"I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you... Trying to shoulder all these issues while keeping silent about them..." She whispered in his ears as she rocked her body side to side, slowly swinging Blueblood like some sort of oversized plush toy.
"..." Blueblood simply stared ahead, his face blank.
"Emm, If I can ask," Celestia's smile disappeared as her eyes turned to look at the pony who just spoke up, "How were you planning on proving that you weren't a Changeling?" Starlight Glimmer asked.
"Oh, that?" Blueblood finally seemed to answer with some life in his voice, "I was planning on stabbing myself-"
"WHAT?!" Celestia exclaimed loudly, her voice would have been echoing loudly around the castle, shaking it to its foundations if it wasn't for the bubble of soundproofing magic that surrounded the trio.
"It was to prove that my blood's red, not green-"
"STAB YOURSELF?!" Celestia pulled Blueblood away so she could hold him at leg's length and stare into his eyes.
"It would have been something small, like a needle prick-"
"NO! Do not even joke about something like that!" Celestia quickly pulled him back into a hug, "We have the scanning spell, we already knew you weren't a Changeling."
"Wha- You have a spell that scans if someone's a Changeling or not?!" Blueblood questioned, "AND YOU DIDN'T TEACH IT TO ME?!"
"You're saying that as if you are planning on-" Celestia was interrupted as Blueblood continued.
"Chrysalis has proven time and again that she is not above using dirty tricks. If I had a spell like this last time she was here, I might have been able to avoid confrontation with her before she teleported us away! This spell is invaluable!" Blueblood began to rant about the many different ways he could use a scanning spell like that.
"Fine- I'll teach you the spell this evening, but no more talks about stabbing yourself, you hear me?" Celestia cut his rant off.
With the two royals talking back and forth for a few more minutes, Starlight decided she had had enough of watching the charade in front of her eyes and once more spoke up.
"Do you really have no clue why Amira would slap you?" She asked her best friend and boss.
"Not at all. As I already told you, I only remember the last year and nine months of my life, nothing from before that." Blueblood reminded her, "If I had done something to earn Princess Amira's ire, it must have happened before the cut-off point of those memories. It could have happened in July two years ago, or much earlier than that. I have no clue."
"Well, luckily for you, you now have two days to figure out what it is you've done to Amira and earn her forgiveness," Celestia told Blueblood before finally letting go of the oversized plush toy, allowing the Stallion to straighten his suit and fur.
"While trying not to slip that I don't remember anything at all? Easier said than done..." Blueblood mumbled.
"I know you can do it." Celestia told her son, and watched as the unsure aura that surrounded him seemed to peel away to reveal the confidence buried beneath.
"You're right, If anyone can succeed in such a task, it's yours truly~" Blueblood let a confident smirk spread on his face, as his mane fixed itself with a simple flash from his horn. The bubble that surrounded the two royals and the bodyguard peeled away, restoring the sounds of the throne room that now bustled with servants and guards making their preparations for later that day.
Celestia smiled at the scene, knowing full well that Blueblood wasn't telling her everything.
But that was fine by her. She was his mother, and no matter what the rest of his secrets may entail, she would support him regardless.
"Now that we've had this heart-to-heart," Celestia smiled at Blueblood, "Let's hear you call me mommy~"
"Your Majesty," Blueblood turned to her with his professional tone at the ready, "Are you seriously doing-"
"Mom? Mother? Come on, I want to hear you say it." Celestia smiled giddily at the prince, watching his face contort into embarrassment.
"I'm not doing-"
"Come on, say it, say it, say it~" Celestia egged him on.
"This is unbecoming of a leading figure-"
"Mooooo-" Celestia dragged the word out, her eyes sparkling with joy as she watched Blueblood break his professional facade.
"FINE!" His voice echoed around the throne room, unknowingly catching the attention of the rest of the ponies there.
"I am thankful for your support..." Blueblood's face squeezed, as if he took a bite of a very sour lemon, "...Mother."
Celestia let out a click with her tongue as she looked away.
"What do you mean tsk?! I did exactly as you asked!" Blueblood pointed out loudly, ignoring the soft laughter coming from a group of nearby maids who watched the scene unfold.
"I know, but Mother is the most distant one of the three options; Mommy would have been preferable," Celestia told him.
"We are not having this discussion on the day the delegates are-" Celestia cut him off with another tsk from her tongue.
"AGAIN?! You're doing it again!"
"No, I'm not~" Celestia easily said, an innocent smile on her face as she looked at her son.
All the while, Starlight Glimmer stared at the royal duo, wondering when the right time was for her to ask what she was supposed to do with the gift that Blueblood prepared for Haakim that still sat on her back.
But, seeing the sight before her, Starlight decided to simply enjoy the scene.
After all, she missed a lot of time with her own mother. Perhaps watching her best friend spend time with his own mother could be a way to make up for all the time she lost.
Was that a sad way of looking at things? Perhaps. Starlight wasn't really sure.
But... In what other way would she be able to find out?