It was lunch hour at Queen Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and Blue Heart lay on the grass of the common area. All around him, foals were laughing, eating, reading and relaxing, some with their parents, some with their friends. He couldn’t bear the sight of them.

He glanced down at his book.

In all frankness, he couldn’t bear the sight of his study materials either. Blue Heart shut the book and rolled unto his back, peering up at the sun through the branches.

He had spent weeks upon weeks reading and taking notes. Considering that he had earned his way into the advanced classes, he felt he was entitled to at least one short break.

Blue Heart got up and walked out of the shade of the tree. He needed to take a walk.

The disguised prince cantered through the school grounds, taking small pleasure in the Spring breeze and warm sun against his fur. It truly was a beautiful day and he stopped for a moment to inhale the air.

He needed to savor it while he could. Everypony around him needed to savor it while they could. Who knew if they would be around to enjoy it in twenty years?

Blue Heart continued to canter along the grounds. From the windows, he could spy the foals of the nobility ‘listening’ to their teachers’ lectures. He sighed wistfully at the scene.

It was strange to think that only a few months ago, he had been sitting there with them, dutifully ignoring the peasants during their lunch hour. Blue Heart’s eyes travelled to the back of the room where he saw his twin fighting to stay awake during the lesson.

He turned around.

Last December, he had noted the look of envy in Golden Crown face during the coronation.

“Hmph,” he grunted in dry amusement.

Golden Crown probably would have given anything to have stood before the nation, reciting ancient vows for all to hear. After all, the title of Blueblood was the most coveted honor all Platinums strove for. The horn of the queen, the guardian of the throne, the nephew of the goddess… who wouldn’t fantasize about such a prospect?

Blue Heart shook his head. A part of him truly wished that Golden Crown was the one who was named Prince Blueblood CIX that fateful morning, but the rest of him perished the thought. Golden Crown wouldn’t have lasted a week as prince. He doubted any of his other cousins, aunts, and uncles would be able to either.

He stopped to lean against a low fence, watching the little kindergarteners play under the watchful eyes of their gossiping parents.

Was that why the princess chose to warn him about Nightmare Moon? Blue Heart had never thought himself as strong, at least not in the traditional sense of the stalwart mage off to venture into parts unknown. Still, he had surprised himself for making it this far. The princess clearly saw something in him that nopony else had. He wished she hadn’t.

His eyes trailed after a bunch of young foals playing an animated game of catch.

Still, if not him to fight Nightmare Moon, then who else? Who else would be able to lead the nation in the coming darkness? Who else to try and maintain some semblance of order in a time of chaos?

“Oh good going, Song!” a filly chastised her friend. “You threw the ball over to sandbox. That’s where Sunset Shimmer is!”

“I-I didn’t mean—” the colt sputtered.

“Now, now,” somepony’s mother swooped in with a chuckle. “Just ask Sunset Shimmer for the ball back. I’m sure she won’t mind giving it to you.”

“But mooooom,” another foal whined. “She’s Queen Celestia’s student. We can’t just go up to her!”

Blue Heart huffed at their immature foolishness.

“Oh!” the mother gasped. “That’s her? Well I’m sure she’s a lovely young filly who wouldn’t mind—”

“We can’t take the ball back!” a foal insisted. “She’ll tell the queen we stole from her!”

“I’m pretty sure Queen Celestia won’t—”

“Aw forget it,” a filly groused. “Let’s just play tag. 123NOTIT!” she shouted before taking off.

“123NOTIT!” the others immediately chorused after her, scattering to the wind. The mother sighed and rejoined the other visiting parents.

Blue Heart scanned the common area and let his eyes rest on the sandbox. Lo and behold, there was Sunset Shimmer, building half-hearted castles with only the abandoned ball as her company.

He hopped the short fence and started making his way to the lonely filly.

Blue Heart had almost forgotten: he wasn’t going to be alone in his battle with Nightmare Moon.

Sunset looked up when a shadow entered her space.

“Hello, Sunset,” Blue Heart nodded formally as he went to lie down on the sandy grass beside her.

“Oh, um, hey,” she mumbled back, now turning her gaze back to her sand castles.

“Do you remember who I am?” he asked.

She didn’t bother to look up at him when she shrugged. “Sort of. We were the last two to take the test, but I can’t remember your name.”

“Well, my name is Blue Heart,” he supplied, “and I’m glad to see that you made it in.”

“You, too, I guess,” she sighed.

The disguised prince released a tired sigh, not unlike Celestia’s. “Sunset Shimmer? Is something wrong?”

The golden filly walloped the ball out of the sandbox. “No,” she lied.

“I don’t think that’s true, Sunset. You look very upset.”

“Why do you even want to know?” she snapped. “Besides, you’re bigger than me, so why don’t you go play with ponies in your level?”

“Because I, they…” he trailed off, trying to find the right words.

Sunset, growing impatient, focused on destroying her sandcastles.

“I don’t know if you heard, Sunset Shimmer, but when we took the entrance exams, there was a pony who got 100% on everything, including the dragon egg test. Because of that, Headmaster Yorsets decided to have that pony skip an entire level, so instead of being in level seven, he’s now in level eight.”

She glanced up at him, interest shining in her teal eyes.

“From what I heard, that pony was really surprised but proud of himself for doing so well, but everything, even being successful, costs something. Now, nopony in that colt’s level wants to talk to him. I wonder if they’re all jealous of him, or just see him as an annoying kid who lucked out, but in the end, it doesn’t matter: they’re ignoring him as much as possible. Still that’s not even the worst part.”

“What’s the worst part?” Sunset asked.

“Not even that pony’s twin brother wants to talk him anymore.”

That statement was not necessarily honest. True, Golden Crown (or any of his other family, really) hadn’t so much as written a letter to him since he was crowned Celestia’s heir, but neither had he even bothered to correspond to any of them either, so both parties had no idea what the other was up to. Regardless, Blueblood could already imagine how his brother would receive the news of him: a. getting into Queen Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns through sheer talent and knowledge alone; b. skipping to level eight; and c. being placed in the advanced track of level eight.

He inwardly winced and thought back to the memories Queen Celestia had shown him. Come to think of it, he was casting a pretty large shadow. Perhaps it would be best if he avoided flaunting his accomplishments to Golden Crown. Neither he nor Sunset needed to have a jealous but willing traitor sell him out to Nightmare Moon.

“Blue Heart?”

“Yes, Sunset?”

“I know you're that pony; Dr. Yorsets mentioned you when Queen Celestia asked me if I wanted to be her student. Why won’t your brother talk to you?”

“The same reason they won’t,” he answered, watching the other kindergarteners laugh and shriek with play. “He’s far more jealous of me than the other ponies in my level. And somehow, I think even he isn’t as jealous as of me as everypony else is of you,” he fibbed. He doubted the other students were as hurt as Golden Crown was when he realized his own twin was made the heir to the throne.

Sunset looked down. “Are… are you jealous of me, Blue Heart?”

He focused his green eyes back on her. “I was at first,” he admitted. “But… Sunset, I was there when you surged during the test.”

“You were?” she squeaked in surprise.

The colt nodded. “The fire you made was so beautiful and so warm and just so… magical. You want to know a secret? When I first auditioned, my main goal wasn’t to get in the School for Gifted Unicorns, but to be Queen Celestia’s student, but after seeing what you did in that room, I’ve come to accept that you’re the one who’s going to be a great mage, Sunset Shimmer. I bet you’ll be as amazing as Clover the Clever, or even Starswirl the Bearded!”

“You don’t hate me like everypony else does, do you?” the golden filly asked, flattening her ears against her skull.

Blue Heart shook his head. “No, Sunset, I don’t. Everypony has their destiny, and yours,” he looked at the fiery sun on her flank. “Yours is to be a beacon of light, and to carry on Queen Celestia’s knowledge. I may not be as good at magic as you are, but I want to help you, Sunset. I want to be your friend. Do you want to be mine?”

And at last, she smiled.

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

Prince Blueblood sat with his queen for a late supper.

“So how was school today?” Celestia asked as ladled out some stew for him.

“I made a new friend today.”

Her violet eyes brightened. “Oh, that’s wonderful, nephew!” she clapped her unadorned hooves with delight. “What’s this pony’s name? Are they in the same level as you?”

“You already know her,” he responded. “Her name is Sunset Shimmer.”

The goddess recoiled slightly in surprise, but then laughed, voice as sweet as song birds. “Sunset? I’m surprised, love! She’s a good deal younger than you.”

“I know,” Blueblood shrugged before dipping his bread in the stew. “But I saw her at the playground today all by herself. None of the other kindergarteners wanted to play with her, and I know what it’s like to be isolated, so we talked and then we played tag for a bit before going back to class.”

His aunt gave him a concerned frown. “Isolated?” she repeated. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s not really surprising. I mean Sunset—”

“Speak for yourself, and then tell me about Sunset,” Celestia interrupted, her eyes gazing intently into his with curiosity.

Blueblood shrugged again. “I skipped a level, and I’m in level eight advanced. I don’t know if they’re jealous— it’s too soon to tell— and I don’t know if they think I’m just some annoying know-it-all, but either way, my classmates aren’t talking to me. I don’t really mind, though; nopony’s outright mean to me, so it’s not a big deal.”

Celestia exhaled softly, not pleased to hear about the cold shoulder her nephew was receiving, but she chose not to comment on it. Blueblood genuinely didn’t seem to mind, so if he wasn’t going to make a huff about it, neither would she. “And Sunset?”

“If my class is jealous of me for skipping a level into the advanced classes, how do you think the entire school feels about Sunset?” he asked rhetorically.

“Hmmm,” she hummed in displeasure. “She never mentioned anything about that during our lessons today, but then again, she’s very shy.”

“She’ll open up to you,” Blueblood assured the queen in earnest. “Once she sees how nice you are, she’ll open up.”

Celestia gave him a bemused chuckle. She had been around for over 1500 years, so she was more experienced than just about everyone else in the ways of ponies. Still, it was nice to see somepony else trying to comfort her.

“I’m sure she will,” the god agreed with a nod. “Once others realize I’m not as overbearing as a desert sun, they tend to loosen up a bit. Still, you seem on top of the moon, more so than most ponies when they make a new friend.”

He looked down into his meal and tried to formulate his thoughts. “It’s just that, I don’t know… when I made Sunset feel better and asked her to be my friend, she just gave me this smile and, and everything just felt right! Like when I got my cutie mark.”

Celestia leaned back in her seat and stared at the ceiling with a knowing smile. “I think I know that feeling. Every single time I help one of my little ponies, it feels like everything I’ve done, everything I’ve went through… it’s all worth it. Is that what you felt Prince Blueblood? Did you feel like a good and true king?”

He gave her an enigmatic but magnanimous smile.

Author's Note

Please point out any typos.

Just moved to New England from Florida. I'm in no hurry to move again, but I like it up here, a lot more than I liked Florida. Honestly, the only things I'm going to miss about that place is the constant beach weather, Publix, and all the tourist attractions.

But I digress. This chapter was hard to pump out because it's hard to get back in momentum after breaking it. Like seriously, I didn't even proofread it at all because I wanted to publish this thing asap. It's a bit rough and choppy, but a rough and choppy chapter is better than no chapter.