The twins lit their candles, blew them out, and one of them even preened under the attention he had been so cruelly denied these past few months. The other watched on with fake smiles and laughs.

Queen Celestia, ever watchful with her millennia of practice, noted this.

Eventually, Prince Blueblood noted her glances and held her gaze for a moment. He cast a fleeting look at the door before once again locking his eyes on her own.

She smiled down at the nameless noble trying to get her attention. The queen then dipped her head in agreement to the noble's statement, all while keeping her violet eyes trained on her nephew.

Blueblood the Younger mumbled a few words to his brother before getting out of their shared throne.

Celestia was both proud and dismayed at the subtlety he was able to display and pick up on. Swallowing back a sigh, the alicorn bowed out of her conversation to follow her nephew.

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Celestia found him outside, lounging beneath the shadows of Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever.

Hearing her approach, he glanced over his withers to look at his goddess. Now, away from all the sycophants and the ponies whom he wished to protect from his somber thoughts, Prince Blueblood appeared how he truly felt: exhausted.

"It was nice of you to take him flying and cloud-walking," he said as she settled down beside him. "It really is a nice night."

"Indeed," Celestia agreed, admiring the statues of the two legendary unicorns. "Though I wish you reminded me that today was your brother's birthday as well so I could give him a proper present."

He leaned into her and she cocooned him with a wing. "You gave him something that nopony had in a good, long while. Besides, he already has more than enough garbage from my parents; memories more precious."

She stopped looking at Platinum and Clover and gave her heir a bemused smirk. "To a lot of ponies out there, what your brother has isn't 'garbage.'"

He shrugged. "I guess, but at the end of the day, things are things. It's not like we can take any of our junk with us into the next life."

Celestia nodded. "True enough."

Prince Blueblood then sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. "Auntie?"

She had to forcibly restrain her excitement over the new hypocorism. "Hmm?" Celestia asked.

"Did you ever really want to be queen?"

She stopped smiling. "Long night?"

He made a face. "Very."

The alicorn exhaled softly as she looked up in the night sky. "I suppose everyone has fantasies here and there about being a ruler. I'm fairly certain that when I was still a filly living under Discord's yoke, I did want to be a queen, though perhaps with foalish ideas of what being queen entailed."

"If you could, would you stop being queen?"

"I've tried to in the past, though Equestria would not let me. This nation is content with me being queen and does not wish to risk the instability of having a constant flow of mortal rulers, each with their own personalities and agendas. Why do you ask?"

Blueblood looked down at the grass, formulating his response. Finally he looked at her.

"I guess it's because I had to be king a few times tonight. I may not be in charge of Equestria right now, but now I get what it's like to have to be the wise and fair leader for ponies."

She rested a temple against one hoof and caressed his mane with the other. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He shrugged. "I guess."

"Alright. Where do you want to begin?"

"I guess you already know about Golden Crown."

"And I am so very proud of what you've done," Celestia smiled down at him.

"I'm not exactly proud that I led myself into that situation in the first place (considering I had an exact set of guidelines of what not to do to a less-popular sibling), but I am glad that I managed to fix the relationship I kinda ruined. And then there's my parents..."

"Oh?"

"I told my father that I forgave him for silencing me and locking me up here awhile back."

She frowned. "Did you mean it?"

"I... sort of?" he answered, unsure of the answer himself. "I guess bigger things happened to make me bury that in my mind. Maybe I was kinda sore when I brought it up, but now, I think I really am over it... though I still hate the zipped lips spell."

"All wounds leave scars," Celestia told him. "Even I still find myself having an aversion to certain, ah, 'things' fifteen hundred years after Discord's defeat. Nevertheless, I am glad that you found it within your heart to forgive your parents after the terrible abuse they inflicted on you."

He shrugged. "Talking with them tonight made me realize that they aren't evil ponies, just... bad at being parents."

A breeze rippled through the estate and Celestia braced him tighter to her side for a moment.

"With everything you say, my pride and love for you grows, my darling," she murmured to him with a nuzzle. "You display great compassion and understanding for somepony so young. You may yet be a good king when it is your turn to wear this."

And for the second time, she took her tiara off her head and placed it upon his.

He once again could feel the tiara's weight and all the responsibility it bore.

"I don't think I could ever be half the pony you are, your majesty, but I promise I'll do everything I can when the time comes."

"That is all I could ever ask for, Blueblood," she assured him.

"And—" He swallowed, feeling his heart beat rapidly. "And I promise that you'll be with your sister again in nineteen years. Even if it may seem impossible, I promise you it'll happen."

Her violet eyes sparkled with tears, but she still smiled regardless. "Oh, Blueblood," she beamed down at him. "The task ahead of you isn't as impossible as you think. Lulu is still a good pony, I know she is. She may have closed herself off to me, but for you, for somepony else, she may yet be shed of her darkness. You already have such compassion, generosity, loyalty, and honor inside of your heart. Maybe if you learn to smile just a bit more, you'll find the magic you need to save her and all of Equus," she finished with a teary wink.

He kissed her cheek. "I love you."

She kissed his temple. "I love you too, my child. Shall we get back to the party?"

He nodded and the two of them left the shadow of Platinum and Clover.

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The royal pair didn't even get a chance to set foot inside the dining hall before the princess approached them.

"Your majesty," Blueblood the Elder bowed.

"Princess, what's the matter?" Queen Celestia frowned in surprise, noting the urgency in her niece's voice.

"Captain Wind Rider comes bearing urgent news from Manehattan."

"What?!" the alicorn exclaimed.

"A whale has beached itself on the Manehattan shores and—"

"Why does Queen Celestia need to be involved?" Blueblood the Younger interrupted. "Can't Manehattan handle a single wha—?"

"— and," Princess Blueblood continued, glaring her nephew into silence, "the whale is accompanied by an entourage of sea ponies."

Celestia's confusion was immediately replaced by focus. "Sea ponies? Then we haven't a moment to spare!"

"Shall I fetch Captain Wind Rider?" the princess asked.

"Yes, and swiftly, before they disappear back into the sea."

"Understood," the decrepit mare dipped her head before turning around and hobbling to wherever the Wonderbolt was. "Maybe this will be the time when sea ponies finally open themselves up to Equestria," she murmured to herself.

The queen looked down at her nephew in apology. "Blueblood, I am so very, very sorry that our night has to end like this."

He looked down in disappointment. "It's okay," he assured her. "You have your duties."

She tilted his head to look at her. "I promise I'll make this up to you, but right now, I need to do this. The sea ponies have fully segregated themselves from the other three races— save for the pegasi of Neighpon— for over seven hundred years. I need to try and see if this incident will open the way to diplomacy with them."

Captain Wind Rider and the princess appeared. Celestia glanced at them as they approached before focusing back down on her nephew.

She caressed his cheek with a hoof. "Reassure everypony if need be, and dismiss them to leave." She kissed him at the base of his horn. "I love you," the goddess assured him as Blueblood the Elder and the Wonderbolt joined her. "Good night."

"Goodbye," Prince Blueblood bowed to the three of them. "I love you, Auntie."

She gave him a gentle smile before lighting her horn. In a flash, the three of them disappeared, leaving the colt alone.

He sighed. Blueblood would have loved nothing more than to just slink off to bed and leave the guests to their own devices, but duty called.

He entered the great hall and made his way to the throne.

Ponies attempted to approach him, but they gave pause when they saw him, noting the golden tiara resting on his head. He used that moment to stave them off with a calm, patient look.

The prince met Golden Crown at the throne.

At first, Golden Crown's eyes lit up with a smile, but it quickly disappeared. "Noble?" he asked.

Blueblood seated himself beside his brother. "Is something wrong, Golden?"

The pony in question studied him for a moment. "Are you...? Nevermind," he said, peering out to the crowd.

"Golden Crown, do you want this party to continue?"

He shook his head. "I'm tired. I want to go to bed."

Blueblood nodded in agreement. "I feel the same way. Let's dismiss our guests."

"I... you do it."

Blueblood wanted to argue, but he felt too exhausted to even bother. Instead, he looked onto the crowd and held up a hoof for silence.

It took a minute, but everypony in the room became still as they focused on him.

After a moment, Prince Blueblood CIX spoke. "Good evening, everypony. As you may already be aware of, Queen Celestia and Princess Blueblood CVIII had to unfortunately be called away on royal business. Both of our Ladies extend their apologies for leaving these festivities so abruptly. Regardless, I assure you that everything is fine and nopony is in danger; it is merely a matter of diplomacy.

"With that said, I would like to offer you all an apology of my own. Throughout the duration of this celebration, I am afraid that I have neglected many of you in order to attend to my personal business." He bowed as deeply as he could manage on the throne. "I apologize for my actions tonight. A party is a time for celebration, not a time for handling my private matters.

"Nevertheless, it is late, and I, like many of you, am extremely tired. Good night, everypony. Thank you all for taking the time to be here tonight."

Every single pony in the room stood and bowed deeply to their prince.

With that done, the guests went back to themselves, most of them finishing conversations, and some forming a line to personally say goodbye to Prince Blueblood."

The exhausted colt leaned into his seat as he bade his family goodbye.

The ponies all melted to the back of his mind as he thought about everything that had happened tonight.

Making up with Golden Crown, reconciling with his parents, finally standing up to the princess, and speaking with the queen. It was a lot to process.

As he shook hooves, Celestia consumed more and more of his thoughts.

Earlier, she had urged him to not be like her.

He smirked in bemusement.

In all frankness, Blueblood couldn't help but think that he was becoming more and more like her.

The last hoof was shaken and he closed his tired eyes.

He had a long journey ahead of him, but for the first time since he became prince, Blueblood felt at ease.

Maybe Celestia was right: maybe it wouldn't be so hard to redeem Luna, and maybe he would be able to protect Equus without having to fire a single spell.

Regardless, he would do everything in his power to protect the world and his little ponies, just like Celestia always had.

Blueblood opened his eyes again and stared at the dissipating party of ponies.

The tiara wasn't as heavy as he thought it was.

And he smiled an enigmatic but magnanimous smile.

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From her seat at the round table, Sapphire Diadem looked on at her serenely smiling son.

A single tear, tinged black with mascara, slid down her cheek.

Author's Note

Please point out any typos.

Holy shit: two complete stories in a row?

That's an academy record for me!

God, this was hard, but there's nothing like completing a part to make one feel accomplished! I hope I can finish 'The Royal Governess' in its entirety. Wish me luck!