The afternoons and evenings he spent in the Canterlot public library were still painfully slow for Blueblood, but Twilight Velvet made his six hour study sessions infinitely more bearable.

“So what do flashcards accomplish?” the pregnant mare patiently pressed.

“They, they…” he looked at the ceiling for the answer.

“Queen Celestia can’t help you here,” Twilight smirked playfully.

‘Blue Heart’ exhaled softly with a smile before looking at her. “Flashcards com-compartamentalize information.”

“I think you meant to say ‘compartmentalize,’” Twilight Velvet gently corrected him.

“Er, sorry, Mrs. Twilight,” he apologized. “Flashcards compartmentalize information into smaller, more digestible forms.”

“Very good!” she beamed. “It seems you’re getting better at retaining information than when you first started.”

Blue Heart nodded. “My tutor and the princess have said so, too. They say my magic control is getting better, and it feels like I understand the technical concepts more.”

Twilight grinned. “That’s great! I’m so glad that I could help you with your task.”

Blue Heart couldn’t help but agree. “When the tutor explains the theory, the princess expects me to get it all in one go, but it’s just so hard for me.” He sighed and slumped down on the desk. “I mean. I’ve always been a good student, but the stuff they want me to do is so above my level.”

Her heart ached for him and she desperately wanted to put a comforting hoof on his back, but she didn’t dare. Instead, all she could was offer encouraging words.

“Blue Heart, you’re improving by leaps and bounds,” Twilight Velvet assured him. “Before, you were aimless and having trouble keeping the books in your head. Now, you’re like a ship with a steering wheel! And you may not be memorizing the material word-for-word, but you’re keeping all the important concepts. You’re doing great!”

The colt sighed and picked his head only to rest a hoof against his temple. “But it’s not good enough. The princess was a prodigy when she was my age. She had already gotten in to Queen Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, she was top of her class, she was on her way to becoming Equestria’s greatest duelist, and she was junior chess master. Equestria deserves her more than they deserve me,” he finished with a miserable mutter.

“Blue Heart?” she murmured.

He didn’t respond or even look at her as he began to make flash cards.

“Blue Heart?” she repeated. “I know what it feels like to not be good enough, to never be good enough. Hay, I went through that with my husband’s parents and they never accepted our relationship. But ultimately, you can’t go through life trying to please everypony—”

“I’m not trying to please everypony!” he blurted with a loud volume. Instantly he winced and dropped his voice down to a whisper. “I’m not trying to please everypony,” he restated. “I’m just trying to good enough for them.”

“And I did the same thing for my in-laws.”

“It’s not the same,” he grumbled. “I am prince of Equestria, my duty is to my nation, and I must be strong enough to bear the burden of the crown in the event that Queen Celestia cannot. I need to be the best because I have to be. But I can’t. I’m not good enough. I was okay as Noble Heart, son of the Duke and Duchess Platinum, but as Prince Blueblood CIX, nephew and crown heir to Queen Celestia?”

His head once again hit the desk and he hid his face in his hooves. “I’m a failure.”

And Twilight embraced him, tenderly pressing his head into her neck. “You’re not a failure, Noble Heart,” she murmured in his ear. “You know what you are? You’re dedicated, you’re self-less, and you’re strong. You may not be a prodigy like the princess was, but every day I see you, you’re working so hard to improve yourself to be the prince that you think Equestria deserves.”

“What I want to be and what I am are two different things!” he argued. “I’ll never be half the pony that Princess Blueblood is, much less the queen! Equestria deserves more than me.”

She gently nuzzled him. “I think that you’re perfect for Equestria. Even though you’re young and inexperienced, Queen Celestia saw your humility and love for the nation, and right now, I’m seeing that in you."

She pulled him away from her neck and looked directly into his glamoured eyes. He was a hair’s away from crying, judging by the tears threatening to spill and the quick breathing, but she pressed on. “Noble Heart, what I’m about to say, I mean from the bottom of my heart: you’re more like Queen Celestia than you think, and if you ever ascended the throne, I would be honored to call you my king.”

He swallowed and opened his mouth to say something, but he then crushed her in an embrace.

“Oof! Be careful!” she giggled, trying to dispel the heavy emotional atmosphere that had descended on them. “There’s three of us here, remember?”

He quickly recoiled. “Sorry!”

Twilight Velvet laughed. “It’s alright, Blue Heart. Here.” She then lifted up her sweater to reveal her swollen belly. “Would you like to meet to another of your subjects?”

“Okay,” he answered as he slid down to the floor in front of Twilight’s seat. The colt pressed an ear and hoof on her stomach.

“Do you hear the heart beat?” she asked.

He shook his head and once he did, she guided his head to wear he could hear the foal.

“Do you want it to be a colt or a filly?” Blue Heart asked.

“I already have a colt, so a filly would be nice,” she said. “But Shining has his heart set on a little brother he can play knights with.”

“How many months have you been pregnant?”

“Ten,” Twilight informed him.

“Wow, you’ll have the foal any day now!”

She laughed. “Even though I’ve done this before, I’m still kinda scared, but it’s okay.” She then pressed his head more tightly against her belly. “Noble Heart,” Twilight Velvet whispered. “I know that you don’t think you’ll ever be like the princess or the queen, but remember. They are what they are, and you are what you are. Don’t focus on what you can never do; instead, focus on what you can. I know my family drama is trivial compared to the burden of the crown, but once Night Light and I accepted that we could never get his family’s approval, we worked on what was important: us. You can do it, too, Noble Heart. I believe in you.”

He embraced her and the foal in her womb.

Author's Note

Please point out any typos.