Twilight Velvet, as much as she liked spending her days relaxing with Shining and Night Light, and writing/doodling some drafts of upcoming books, was glad to be working again. While neither she nor Night Light were strapped for bits, Hearth’s Warming shopping and traveling expenses and charity donations certainly had made a sizeable dent in their account, and with Night Light off of work due to the holidays, the (disowned) Sparkles would have been better off with her pay check.

Plus she missed ‘Blue Heart,’ too.

She saw him walk in at 15:00, the usual time he arrived. Neither of them acknowledged each other, as he requested, since he didn’t want her co-workers to get nosy.

As happy as she was to see her friend, something about him felt… off.

Twilight kept herself from staring or frowning in consternation. She would meet him in two hours (just like he requested) and find out what the issue was.

At 17:30, she made her way to his usual spot.

“Good evening, Blue Heart,” she greeted him with a grin on her face. “How was your Hearth’s Warming?”

He didn’t look up. “Fine,” he answered, keeping his eyes on his text.

“Did you attend any parties?” she pressed on, trying not to be deterred by his curt response.

“I don’t like parties.”

Her smile faltered slightly, but she still continued talking. “Did you travel any—?”

“No.”

Her eyes softened. “That bad, huh?”

“Hearth’s Warming is over. No sense in talking about it.”

“Well, Blue Heart, I’m sorry that your Hearth’s Warming wasn’t as nice as everypony else’s, but…” she then rummaged through the bottom of the book cart. She stood back up with a towel-covered basket in her mouth. “Here,” Twilight offered as she placed it beside his books.

The glamoured prince at last looked up from his book. “What is it?”

“Dinner,” she responded. “I thought about getting you something, but well, you being who you are, there really wasn’t anything impressive I could give you, so I decided to give you something homemade and straight from the heart. Of course I’m pretty sure you’ve had better, but it’s the best I felt I could offer. Besides, you never eat while you study (except the pastries I give you), so why not eat now instead of after you leave?”

He tugged the towel off with his teeth to reveal a bunch of different glass food containers and a few plates on the bottom.

“Er, sorry about the tupperware,” Twilight Velvet blushed. “I wanted to present my gift in better packaging but I’m afraid it was either this or a bunch of different plates covered in tin foil, but then the smell would have gotten out and everything would have spilled everywhere, so this was the best I could do.”

He didn’t comment as he magically picked up a glass container. “You shouldn’t have done this…” Blue Heart murmured as he examined the hunk of bread inside.

“Nonsense!” she waved him off. “I made it especially for you. It’s what friends do!”

The colt gazed in dismay at the basket.

Twilight stopped smiling and her ears dropped slightly. “If you don’t want it—”

“It’s, it’s not that,” Blue Heart quickly stammered. “It’s just, I mean I, I don’t have anything for you!” he quickly exclaimed. He winced at his outburst.

“Oh don’t worry about that,” the mare chuckled. “You’ve been treating me every day with your company. Don’t get me wrong, I like my job, but you make my shift go by quicker. Work’s always more pleasurable with a friend.”

His ears drooped as he looked at her gift. “Uh, yeah,” he mumbled. “That’s true.”

Twilight placed a comforting hoof on his withers. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he responded.

She cupped his face with her hooves and gently steered his gaze to her own. “Blue Heart, from the moment I saw you today, I knew something was wrong.”

His eyes wandered to the floor.

“Noble Heart, I’ve been keeping your secrets all this time since we’ve known each other. I promise that whatever’s bothering you, you can tell me anything, and I won’t go off and speak with anypony else.”

“I… I…”

“Yes?”

He finally looked at her with his false green eyes. Then he crushed her into an embrace. “I’m just glad that I got to know you,” he spoke into her neck.

“Hmph,” she grunted in amusement. “Same here.”

They remained in that position when he finally spoke. “Hey, Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“Have you taught me everything you know about studying?”

“Just about. Why?”

He closed his eyes in a grimace of remorse, though she could not see it. “Just curious,” the colt pulled away from her.

“Aw, getting bored of my lectures?” she pouted.

“What? No, I just—!” he quickly backpedaled.

“Relax,” the mare laughed. “I was only teasing,” she assured him with a wink. “Now why don’t we dig in?”

He nodded, and to her relief, he gave her a genuine smile. “That seems like a good idea.”

As they ate, they talked and laughed about their respective Hearth’s Warming breaks.

Twilight Velvet’s usefulness was nearly at its end, but she wasn’t done yet. Despite his dreadful anticipation of the day when she no longer had study techniques to teach him, Prince Blueblood would enjoy every moment he had with his best friend.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The princess awoke to another body slipping underneath her blanket. Though she was unhappy that the prince was in bed with her, she didn’t order him to leave.

“How do you keep somepony away from you?” Blueblood the Younger asked.

“Hurt them."

“How?”

“By going for their most vulnerable spot.”

The colt shifted. “I don’t—”

“Night Light was disowned by House Sparkle because he chose to be with her. Don’t tell me she doesn’t harbor guilt or anger over that.”

He exhaled softly. “Okay,” he whispered.

The princess opened her eyes to look at him, but all she could see was the back of his head.

“Nephew.”

He said nothing.

“I’m sorry that it has to be this way,” her voice heavy with genuine remorse. “If you were any other pony in the world, I would leave you to your own devices, but—”

“I am Blueblood. My personal feelings are irrelevant,” he cut in.

She released a pained sigh. “This is what it means to be Blueblood and this is what it means to be king. I’m sorry, nephew. I truly am.”

“Good night,” he stated, his tone without any warmth.

She turned her back to him, too guilty to even look at the colt she was forced to break.

Author's Note

Please point out any typos.

So how you guys feel about the princess' characterization? I know I made her unforgiving and hard in the other chapters, but I've also been trying to give her an undercurrent of remorse in regards to Prince Blueblood. Am I doing that, or is she just coming off as an abusive douchebag?