He awoke when he felt himself yanked up into the air by somepony’s field. By the singing bells of Tambelon, why did she always have to hang him upside down?

“Did you tell her about the Sparkle?” Princess Blueblood demanded.

“Wha…?” the colt responded, voice drunk with sleep.

“Answer me!” she hissed desperately.

“What time is—?”

“Twilight Velvet Sparkle!” the decrepit mare insisted.

Blueblood the Younger clicked his tongue in annoyance. “No. She never came up.”

“Oh thank the gods,” his aunt breathed in relief.

“Why? Scared that you’ll face the wrath of Celestia if she finds out what you made me do?” he growled, venom dripping from his voice.

“What happens to me is irrelevant,” she answered without hesitation. “It is you who I’m worried about.”

“Look, I don’t know if you saw what happened one thousand—”

“Of course I saw, fool,” she scoffed. “Every Blueblood before you has seen the story.”

“Oh…” he responded, his shared intimacy with the queen now feeling less special.

“I’ve made a mistake,” the princess admitted.

“Really?” he sneered caustically. “Never would have guessed. I mean, you’re only pushing me to be just like Queen Luna—”

“Be silent!” she commanded, sealing his mouth shut with the zipped lips spell.

If he ever defeated Nightmare Moon, his first order of business would be to purge that bucking spell from every tome and scroll in Equestria and beyond.

“I’ve made a mistake by only explaining your expectations as King Blueblood, not Prince Blueblood.”

“Mmm?” he asked with a confused look on his face.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “As you know, the lineage of the Bluebloods extends back almost one thousand years. While Philomena pledged her eternal friendship to Queen Celestia, we, as Bluebloods, have pledged our eternal service to the throne. We are Celestia’s confidants, and we have helped to keep her rooted in all her agonizing years as the sole Lady of Equestria. In short, nephew, we know most (well, many) of her dirty, little secrets, but more importantly, we keep her happy.”

She then dropped her nephew unceremoniously on his bed and undid the zipped lips spell. She looked at him with expectant eyes.

“… And this couldn’t wait until breakfast?”

The princess scoffed again with a roll of her eyes. “As everypony knows, the queen is a magnanimous mare who would do anything for us, even banish her sister to the moon. However, everypony has their flaws, and hers, simply put, is that she’s too kind.”

“And what does this have to do with me?” he demanded with great impudence.

“It means that she has the propensity to try save everypony, and that includes you.”

He clicked his tongue again and burrowed back in his blanket. “Wow. The queen is looking out for the well-being of her subjects. Who’d’ve thought?”

Blueblood the Elder snarled and yanked the covers out of his grasp. “Don’t you get it?” she hissed. “In looking out for your well-being, she is unintentionally putting Equus at stake!”

The colt glared at his aunt with unmitigated anger. “You said that saw what happened one thousand years ago, when Queen Luna turned into Nightmare Moon. The reason why she turned on Celestia was because she let her own darkness consume her. All she did was pass the days— nights away locked up by herself. So sorry, aunty-dearest, but I’m not about to turn into her. I’m not about to let history repeat itself because you’re too proud to admit that you made a mistake in pushing me like this.”

Princess Blueblood sighed, her countenance bearing a pained grimace. “Nephew, listen to me, please,” she begged. “Queen Celestia loves you. She loves me, she loves her sister, and she loves every single soul in her queendom. But something she has never accepted is the fact that she can only do so much.

“She wants you to have a nice foalhood like everypony else. But just like her, it is your destiny to sacrifice and suffer, because that is what it means to challenge a god, and that is what it means to be king. Do you think Celestia's mother would ever want to see what Celestia has become: a haggard and worn mare who has seen and gone through far too much?

“No.

“Very few souls in this world ever would, but sadly, there are those who do, those who must, and you, King Blueblood, are one of those poor, wretchéd few.

“I do not wish your destiny upon you— please believe me when I say I don’t—, just as Celestia’s mother would not wish her destiny upon her. But you cannot waste time, nephew. Nightmare Moon is a god, and what’s worse, she is a god who will go to any lengths to get her wish, even if there will be no one left in this world to enjoy her night.

“Unfortunately, what you said earlier tonight is true: Nightmare Moon cannot be stopped by you playing and being a normal colt, but only through your dedication to discipline and magic. You can’t be distracted by those who cannot help you in your quest to defeat her, you cannot waste time being a child. You must dedicate every fiber of your being stopping her.”

“You said it yourself, Celestia said it herself: Nightmare Moon will most likely kill me in twenty years!” the prince asserted, tears rimming his eyes. “Can’t I just enjoy myself for a little bit?”

She once again grimaced, her heart breaking at the sight of the boy she was marching to his death.

“I want you to, nephew, but just look at how far you’ve come without distractions.”

“I wouldn’t have made it this far without Twilight!” he cut in.

“I know,” she agreed. “She played her part well, but now what can she do for you? Waste your precious time by idly chatting away with you? Waste your precious time by interrupting your study sessions with promises of meals? You must move forward, King Blueblood, just as Celestia had to move forward after her sister was banished. Every second you have is precious, and you’ve been spending your time wisely: you’ve impressed the headmaster, you’ve scored perfect marks in your audition, you’ve even skipped an entire level. Soon, your magic will be advanced enough to learn how to duel.

“But you cannot slow that progress like Celestia wants you to. The world will need you one day, nephew, as a champion of light. All our lives depend on it.”

“Well what if I don’t want to be that champion of light, huh?!” he demanded, now crying freely. “I mean, what does it matter? Nightmare Moon’ll just squash me like a bug, so really, what difference does it make if somepony is there to wear Celestia’s tiara anyway?”

The princess gazed down at her successor, her face impassive. “You would condemn the trillions of lives who live on this planet? You would condemn every insect, every mammal, every avian, every last one of them without raising your hoof?”

“You know, princess, there's something that’s always bothered me about this whole scheme we have: nobody else even knows that Nightmare Moon is coming back. Here’s a new idea: why don’t we just tell every pony and every nation that some crazy god is going to wind up killing us in twenty years? Maybe then we'll be able to stop her.”

“Because Equus would break.”

“What do you mean?” he snapped, wiping tears away from his eyes.

“How do you think ponies will react to the knowledge that she’s coming? They’d just panic and stupid things out of fear, like neglect the skies, the earth, everything. How do you think everybody else would react when they find out that Nightmare Moon is here because of Equestria’s past mistake? They’d wage war and try to destroy us in vengeance. Furthermore, the fools would just end up killing her, taking the moon with her.

“Few can know about this, Blueblood, and right now, you are one of those unfortunate few.”

He buried his face in his hooves to silently sob.

“My question still remains: would you condemn us all by choosing to avoid your destiny?”

The two Platinums waited in quiet for a long, long time, listening only to the sounds of his sobs.

But at last Blueblood, the one who would be king, looked up at her with red-rimmed eyes.

“I am Blueblood. My personal feelings are irrelevant.”

She bowed to him. “Very well. Just remember what I told you: keep Celestia happy. Do not repeat what you’ve just told me, and make no mention of the Sparkle. You’ve a god to stop, and nopony, not even the queen, can get in your way.”

“Get out.”

“Good night.”

Author's Note

Please point out any typos.

Moving to New England from Florida soon, so I need to pack all my shit, wash the cat (), and scream into the abyss, wondering where the fuck I'm going to get all the money needed to pay for it all. Probably not going to be updating for awhile.

Or maybe I will, seeing how inspiration prefers to harass artists when they're busy. We'll see.