Prince Blueblood awoke to the gentle flapping of wings and he opened his bleary eyes to take in his surroundings.

Preening at the window was Philomena. Her brilliant red feathers shone even brighter than Celestia's mane and tail in the dark of very early morning.

He then glanced at the grandfather clock. By the gods, it was too early.

He wanted to go back to sleep, but without his alarm clock, he didn't dare take risk of missing his morning tutoring session.

Blueblood slid out of the protective embrace of Queen Celestia's wing and made his way to Philomena.

"Good morning," he whispered to his friend. "How are you?"

She cooed softly in response, taking precaution to not awaken Celestia.

"That's nice to hear," he nodded, despite being deaf to her language. "Philomena, can you do me a favor?"

She cooed again, this time in curiosity.

"Princess Blueblood was acting... weird last night, and right now, I think she needs a bit of your magic to feel better today. Do you think you can make time for her this morning? She's in my room right now."

The bird spread her wings and bowed deeply in response.

Prince Blueblood nuzzled her for a moment. "Thanks, Philomena. See you later."

She nodded and took flight. He followed her glowing body until it was out of sight. The colt then started making his way to Queen Celestia's bathroom. He never got a chance to bathe the night before.

He stepped in the empty pool and turned on all ten faucets, hoping the door would block out enough of the noise. Several minutes later, the pool filled up with water and the bathroom with steam.

He heard the door open and close and saw golden magic turn off all ten faucets. Oh pony feathers!

A sleepy Celestia carelessly flopped into the deeper end of the pool, sloshing water out of the edge. "Good morning, nephew," she yawned. "Early, isn't it?"

"Good morning, your grace," he bowed his head respectfully. "Did you sleep well?"

"Better than you, I'd hazard to guess," she responded. "You came to bed rather late, and you got up rather early. Is there something on your mind?"

"No—"

She held up a hoof. "Blueblood, if you do not wish to speak, then that is fine, but please," she entreated with concern etched all over her countenance, "do not lie to me. I deal with enough dishonesty throughout my day, and I'd rather not suffer it with you."

"I'm sorry," he bowed his head shamefully. "I won't do it again."

"I would hope so," she nodded in appreciation as she picked up some shampoo. "Mind if I wash your mane?"

"Oh, uh, go ahead," he consented.

The two were silent as Celestia lathered up his mane and combed it clean. Her hooves were nothing short of amazing, and Blueblood found himself getting lost underneath her relaxing touch. He sunk deeper into the pool, dipping his muzzle below the water. He looked at their reflections in the water. The two of them looked like misshapen blobs, though her pastel mane, eternally flowing in an ethereal breeze looked as beautiful as always.

Blueblood pulled his nostrils out of the water.

"I'm going to rinse you off now, okay?"

"Okay," he mumbled, feeling particularly sleepy after her crest massage and soaking in the hot, soothing water.

She poured bowls of water on his head and neck, washing out the shampoo.

"I've always liked sharing my baths with others," Celestia stated. "There's just something about being in warm water in the presence of good company that loosens up all tensions."

He glanced back at her. Her eyes did have a tired look about them, but this was more due to getting up early, not the weight of all her experiences.

~~Princess Blueblood looked so tired last night~~.

The colt completely doused himself in water and swam to the other edge of the pool. He needed conditioner and some soap.

"So are you getting along with Philomena?" Celestia asked before rubbing her face with the hot water.

"Philomena?" he repeated. "I suppose. Sometimes she teases me, but she knows when to stop."

"That's good," the sun god smiled. "I saw you talking to her earlier. Normally, she's a bit more reserved with ponies, but I suppose she must really like you."

"You were awake? Sorry if we disturbed you," Blueblood apologized as he doused his mane with conditioner.

"It's quite alright, nephew," Celestia chuckled. "Truthfully, I was still mostly asleep. I would have written off the experience as a dream if you were still in bed with me. But I'm curious: what did you ask her to do, if you don't mind me asking? It must have been really important, since she left immediately."

His comb stopped in mid-stroke. "How did you—?"

"I've known Philomena for almost a thousand years, nephew; I know when she has a sense of purpose in her flight."

'I am Blueblood. My personal feelings are irrelevant,' the princess' voice echoed in his mind.

He poured bowls of water on his crest to wash out the conditioner, buying time for how to phrase his next words.

The princess didn't want to get Celestia involved (she never did), but at the same time, whatever was bothering Blueblood CVIII must have been pretty terrible. The princess was typically disciplined, and the only emotions she usually showed him were distaste and self-righteousness, never drunken despair.

He finished combing out the conditioner and swam his way back to the alicorn. Well, maybe the conversation didn't have to be about .

"What was my grandfather like?" he asked.

"Your grandfather?" Queen Celestia repeated with a raised eyebrow. If she was bothered by the change of topic, she did not show it. "Nephew, you have many, many, many grandfathers, and I cannot say that I knew them all. Care to specify which?"

"The one who married Princess Bluebell I," Blueblood clarified.

Her face bore a look of distaste. "Oh. Him?"

"Um, him, yes," the colt nodded. "Is that a problem?"

The goddess sighed. "Not really. Even if I didn't answer your question, you could just look him up in the Platinum library anyway. May as well spare you all that unnecessary effort."

"Thank you, your grace."

"I.. don't really know where to start with him."

"Is it really that complicated?"

"Your grandfather? Mmm, I wouldn't say he was too terribly complicated, but the circumstances surrounding him require a bit of detail."

"What time is it?"

"5:40."

"I have plenty of time then. Why not start at the beginning, then?"

"Very well. After we ascended, everypony, myself included, thought my sister and I would reign as god-queens eternal over all of ponydom. But when Luna made her bid for throne and I banished her to the moon, I realized my arrogance, and I realized I was leading my little ponies astray with such foolish thinking.

"However, my sister and I had already reigned for three hundred and fifty years, and we fought to unify the races for over one hundred years before that. Many ponies had long since accepted that the sun and moon as their rulers. Many except for your grandfather, a grandson of Princess Platinum.

"Now the Platinums played a great role in trying to stabilize their lands during the Age of Chaos, and even after the defeat of Discord. Your grandfather, the direct grandson of Princess Platinum, taught my sister and I the ways of the heavens, and helped us master the unicorn aspect of our alicorn powers. But as time wore on, more and more legal power was deferred to Luna and myself, until finally, ponies would only recognize us as the rulers of all of Unicornia.

"Unicornia eventually expanded to include all of the unicorns in Equus, many of the earth pony clans, several pegasi legions, and we were even more open with the seaponies. But at that point the Platinums, and pretty much all of the noble houses had lost their power to us. Of course my sister and I never truly intended for that happen, but in all frankness, most ponies had more faith in the gods who defeated Discord and undid much of his malice, not with the mortals who lorded their names and titles over the masses. It seemed that noble ponies were soon going to be vestiges of a bygone era.

"But then I coronated Bluebell. Unlike the other nobles, Princess Bluebell actually had some influence in the Equestrian government, and unlike me, Bluebell was receptive of the idea of marriage and foals. And hence, your grandfather, Axinite Platinum, got the bright idea of marrying her and once again having the Platinums be in a position of actual power.

"Of course I was more naïve back then, as was Bluebell. I thought it was very progressive from both a racial and societal standpoint to have a unicorn noble court an earth pony gardner so openly... hmm, it's nice to think that Equestria is at least more forward thinking about interracial marriage these days. But I digress. Axinite completely wooed Bluebell, she quickly fell in love with him, and soon they were wed.

"Unfortunately, like a lot of abusers, he began to show his true colors once he had emotional leverage with his victim. It started off with the little things: dear, your idea is laughably ludicrous; follow mine instead! Dear, why not let me handle all of this, and you just garden with your parents? Bluebell darling, let me have this! Love, do that!

"Ugh. I can't believe neither of us saw it sooner. Eventually, he was taking all her responsibilities, and doing his damndest to make her feel like a terrible wife if she didn't cater to his every whim. Later, your grandmother even told me he was berating her for having the audacity for not being born a unicorn. He certainly acted like it, because he stopped showing her affection after she bore him a unicorn foal, Blueblood II.

"Princess Bluebell would confide in me, as well as her parents, but she always understated his behavior, so none of us could really gauge the severity of her situation.

"Not satisfied, Axinite started edging into my space. Now normally I'm open to suggestions and ideas from others— I'm not omniscient after all—, but the suggestions he gave me were absolutely awful! They were blatantly speciesist, racist, and classist! I made him very sorry for daring to even disgrace my presence with his nonsense.

"I confronted Bluebell about, and she, loving and doting mare that she was, defended him and painted him in a good light.

"I almost fell for it. Almost. After that incident, I kept an eye on him and started internally studying his every move. More and more, it became obvious he was a terrible pony, but when I spoke to Bluebell about it, she dismissed my findings. She begged me not to go to her parents about the situation. I so desperately wanted to, and I honestly should have, but I promised that I wouldn't, so I didn't until much later.

"In any case, their marriage worsened when Axinite married one of his cousins. At first, Bluebell welcomed the idea of another mare in their marriage because she wanted to gain a good friend. However, Axinite was everything to his second wife that he wasn't to Bluebell: kind, doting, affectionate, and he even confided in her, a pleasure that Bluebell stopped experiencing once she bore him his foal. Secondly, that mare was even more wickéd than Axinite ever was: constantly berating her over nonsense, demanding this and that, and just mistreating her in every way emotionally.

"But they crossed the line when they decided to mistreat Bluebell's second-born: an earth pony. At last, Princess Bluebell told her parents what was happening.

"Oh Blueblood, I remember that day so clearly. Bluebell's father, still covered in dirt and burs from his work, marched right over to Axinite and literally started beating him senseless. Bluebell's mother took her earth pony grandchild with her and then torched all the 'gifts' Axinite's second wife forced Bluebell to give her."

Queen Celestia sighed. "Needless to say, it was a very public spectacle, one which Axinite never lived down— his permanent limp would never allow him to.

"Of course I had to intervene and Bluebell's parents had to be clapped in irons for their crimes, though their stay in jail was fairly comfortable. Bluebell was extremely distraught over the whole incident, but she then realized what awful ponies Axinite and his wife were, and both she and I regretted ever naming Blueblood to be her successor, considering that Blueblood had her father's bully predilections. However, it was done.

"Princess Bluebell closed off her heart to everypony save for me, her parents, and her earth pony foal."

Celestia looked away for a moment, and once again released a shaky sigh. He saw her wipe a tear away with a wet feather. "I regret a lot of things, nephew. But Princess Bluebell was indeed one of my bigger ones. After she retired, she made me promise to not pass down the line of succession from parent to child, but rather from worthy pony to worthy pony. She also made me promise to keep the lineage of the Bluebloods within the House Platinum."

The colt looked down into the now-lukewarm water. "But why? Queen Celestia, why would she want to keep such a powerful position within my House?"

The alicorn had to wash her face before continuing. "Because she didn't want to force another commoner like her to go through that. The Houses could be friendlier and more open, to say the least, but noble ponies at least know the ways of that world and won't be as caught off guard by such skullduggery. Furthermore, she didn't want her successors to deal with claims that they weren't legitimate because they weren't from a noble House. At least that was her theory, but personal experience has shown me otherwise.

"History has not always been kind to the Bluebloods, but I still choose to keep the lineage of the Bluebloods within House Platinum."

"But why, your majesty? If Princess Bluebell was wrong, then why keep the promise? From what it sounds like, she wouldn't want you to keep a system that wasn't working."

The queen shrugged. "A worthy pony is a worthy pony, regardless of their name, and I've always found a worthy Platinum to bear the title of Blueblood. But I also choose to keep the title within your House simply because it's easier for me."

"But how?"

"Nephew, Equestria is a nation of nine million ponies, and we also have another three million non-pony minorities to include. There's probably a thousand others who are worthy of the crown you bear. Do you think I can take the time to get to know so many? Or even just choosing one to be Blueblood? In addition to that logistical nightmare, how furious do you think Equestrians would be when I finally stopped my search for a Blueblood? So many would demand I really get to know them before making my choice. No matter who I'd choose, thousands, maybe even millions more would be unhappy with my decision. At least when I keep it within the Platinums, I can observe several dozen ponies, and while it is no secret there are members of your family who are envious of your title, at least that number is contained to a reasonable amount."

The colt got out of the pool in silence, processing her words. Celestia opened the drain, and all that could be heard was the sound of water being flushed down pipes.

As he dried himself off with the towel, Prince Blueblood though back to his exchange with the princess. She didn't have any friends...

'I thought I did. A long, long time ago, I honestly thought I did. Just as Princess Bluebell thought our grandfather truly loved her. Just as you…'

He shook off what water he could and encased himself in a fluffy towel.

"Queen Celestia?"

"Yes, nephew?"

"You... you said that history hasn't always been kind to the Bluebloods. WHat do you mean?"

The alicorn winced. "Did I say that?" she asked, even though they both knew the answer.

He nodded.

She sighed, displeased with her blunder. "Truthfully, Princess Bluebell I was hardly the only pony to be used for her position. Many Bluebloods after her suffered similar fates of bad marriages and just bad relationships. Sadly, Bluebell was not the last in the Blueblood lineage to close off her heart to love and friendship."

"Oh..." he whispered.

Celestia went to her nephew and gently tilted his head up to look at her. "Blueblood. I know what I said was not encouraging, but I've also seen many of your predecessors live fulfilling lives. Please... I know it's difficult opening your heart to others, but don't close yourself off like your grandmother did."

"Is that why the princess has no friends?" he cut in. "Is that why we're the only ponies she talks to?"

The queen looked away. That was all he needed.

"I think you should spend some time with her today," the colt told her as he opened the bathroom door. "She wasn't acting like herself last night."

"Nephew—"

"I have to meet my tutor at 6:40 and it's already 6:35. I'll see you later, Queen Celestia. Goodbye."

He trotted off.

Author's Note

Please point out any typos.

Special thanks to everyone who comments, offers their perspectives, and asks questions. All four of you. I take what you say into consideration.