//------------------------------//
// King and Prince 
// Story: Blue and Gold 
// by metronome 
//------------------------------//

Something had been bothering Blueblood about Shining Armor. There was this something wrong feeling he got sometimes, and had for years, on and off.

He just didn't know what it was... but today, he felt he had come close to the answer.

"Shining Armor, I am never doing that again." 

They had taken seats in Shining's room, Blueblood on the floor and Shining Armor sprawled out on a beanbag. Shining's room was a little more 'stallion-cave'-y than Blueblood had initially liked, but he'd grown accustomed to it. It had received a few touches of finery here and there over the course of their friendship mostly at his insistence (including an antique design of the helmet of a royal guard soldier, gifted by Blueblood, of course. That had been hard to obtain, but worth it.)

They'd recently had a gathering, of sorts, if one could call it that. One where Shining had invited a couple of other stallions from their school to play a tabletop game that Blueblood thoroughly did not enjoy. He did, however, have the decency to wait to say so until the other guests had left.

"Oh, come on! The only reason you didn't like it is because you didn't loosen up and try to enjoy yourself." Shining rolled his eyes. "I mean, sure, O&O isn't for everypony, but I know you would have enjoyed it if you gave it a real shot."

"I did give it a shot. All it did was make me feel grimy... though that may have been due to the sheer amount of junk the rest of you were consuming. Even watching that made me feel like I needed a shower and a new exercise regimen." He wrinkled his nose and tossed his mane to the side; he'd been growing it out over the last year and it was really quite fun to have so much mane to work with, especially when he was going for the dramatics. "I cannot believe how swept up you got into everything. It was unbecoming."

"Pfft, whatever." Shining laughed and shook his head. "Guess I'm glad you joined us in the first place. Thanks." He gave Blueblood a lopsided grin and then leaned his head back on his beanbag.

It was times like these Blueblood wondered how, exactly, they'd become friends in the first place and stayed friends. He couldn't think of any real hobbies they shared, and every time they'd tried to share one with the other it ended up not sticking. They had plenty of common interests, sure; namely, both were 'history nerds' as Shining put it, but it's not as if a friendship could be built on discussing the intricacies of ancient Equestrian customs. Still... he couldn't deny he'd never quite gotten along with anypony like he did Shining Armor. There was just something special about him. He wondered what it was and was unable to find an answer (as had been the case many times before this.)

He did not wonder for too long, however, as there was no such thing as a comfortable silence to Shining Armor, who broke it by saying, "Our class formal is coming up soon."

Blueblood made a noncommittal hum. "So it is. So is graduation."

"Yeah, but graduation is going to be pretty boring. The dance should be fun." He raised his head to look at Blueblood and said, "You planning on taking a date?"

Blueblood sputtered, "What?" He didn't know if he was more offended that graduation was called boring, or taken aback by Shining's question, but he shook his head all the same. "For one, graduation is a celebration of our hard work over the past decade, and I would hardly call that boring," He huffed. "And no, I don't plan on taking a date. It hadn't even occurred to me."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows. "I'd imagine the Princesses would be hounding you to start looking for a mare sometime soon. Even my mom has been asking me about it lately."

He paused, thought, then shook his head again, slower this time. "No, they haven't said a word. We've all had other things on our mind, perhaps..." How odd. Shining Armor had a point; it was strange that neither Celestia nor Luna had so much as asked if there was any mare at school he had his eyes on. Perhaps they were waiting to let him do as he pleased, at least until he graduated, and then he could start thinking about his future family. Or maybe they expected him to know that he ought to be looking already; that it went without saying.

But for now, as he tried to imagine what sort of mare he may like, his mind was blank. Certainly none of the fillies he'd grown up with were suitable. They'd grown into lovely ponies, as everypony at the academy did, but none stood out. It was then he realized how little he knew of his classmates; he knew most of their names, but nothing more. Shining Armor was the only one he'd stayed friends with for longer than it took to complete a group project.

He wondered if this made him odd, or if, perhaps, it meant he was simply unlikable, and at once dismissed the thought and began, "Are you going to have a date?"

Shining simply shrugged. "Not really, I don't think. Cadance— you know Cadance, she was Twily's old foalsitter, the pink pegasus mare in our class?" After Blueblood's nod, he continued, "She mentioned going as friends, but I don't know. If we do that then mom's gonna make a huge deal out of it and want photographs and..." His ears twitched, perturbed. "Ugh. She'd make it awkward."

"Oh, I didn't know you two were friends." It wasn't a judgement, merely a statement. Though, Blueblood guessed Shining likely hung out with a great many ponies in his classes and between periods at school. Since meeting in homeroom those few years ago, their classes had led them in entirely different directions and they hardly saw each other during the school day. From Blueblood's understanding, Shining was quite well-liked. He knew he hung out with ponies other than Blueblood; Cadance must have been one of them.

"Yeah, I guess we are. Mom was always trying to push us together when we were younger. It was... embarrassing." He shuffled as he relived some of her more blatant attempts at setting them up. "Then Twily stopped needing a foalsitter, and we stopped talking. We had a class together this past year and talked a little bit. She's cute, I guess, but I wanna enjoy my bachelor status for a while."

Blueblood knew what he was supposed to say, so he said it. "You'd probably have a good time if you went with her. Why not go for it?"

"Well..." His mouth crinkled and his brows furrowed as he seemingly tried to come up with a reason not to. "I guess I could."

"You should. It's just a dance."

Their conversation quickly moved on, after that, and Blueblood found it fairly easy to ignore that something wrong feeling in the back of his head.





Blueblood didn't realize that he was looking for somepony to talk to, but as it turned out, he was. He found that somepony in one of the corners of the castle's garden, sat on a bench by a statue of Gusty the Great reading a thick textbook. It was a part of the gardens not many came to, as the path one had to take to get to it was narrow and easy to miss. 

The pony sitting there, who gave him a withering look as soon as he came into her view, was none other than Sunset Shimmer. Everything about their previous interactions and her current demeanor should have informed him he should do nothing more than give her a brief nod and turn away to leave her to her peace, but where he should have seen a threat not to engage, he instead saw an opportunity for insight. So he spoke, "Hello, Sunset Shimmer."

"Blueblood." She placed a hoof on the open book in front of her and cast her eyes downwards again. Another chance to leave her be, but he certainly did not take it.

"What are you reading?"

This time, she looked up as if insulted, but then something changed. She furrowed her brows, dog-eared the page she was on, and shut her book. "Something Celestia told me to. It's about harmony in Equestria. And it's super boring." Her magic levitated the book back into her saddlebags, which were on the ground by the bench. "So for once, I'm not going to tell you to shut up and leave me alone, because literally anything would be better than that." 

"Right." He cleared his throat and ignored the implication that talking to him was the second worst thing she could be doing. "You're still in school at Celestia's school, right?"

"Yeah. One more year to go." She groaned as she got up from the bench. "Can't come soon enough. After I graduate, Celestia might start teaching me about magic that's actually useful..."

It was clear there was some sort of rift between them, so Blueblood avoided taking any bait and did not say anything about Celestia. Instead, he had another question. "Is there a ball or formal of any sort for the graduating class each year?"

Sunset snorted. "Blueblood, the academies we go to are very different. I go to the nerd school. You go to the... I dunno, etiquette and chivalry school. No, we don't have a ball." She rolled her eyes, but then continued, "We do have a social, though, which I guess fills the same gap."

"Nice to know." It was, indeed, more or less the same thing, just with a different level of formality. "And... do ponies usually take dates to this social?" 

"How should I know?" She shrugged. "I'm sure some do, but it's not, like, required. I know some ponies just go as friends, mostly mares who go together. It's more common for a stallion to go stag than go with another stallion as friends; that'd be kinda weird. Oh, and usually, if a mare and a stallion say they're going as friends, they really mean they're going as a date but they're too dorky to admit it." She flipped her mane over her shoulder and continued, "But like I said. I don't know much."

She seemed to know plenty, actually, but Blueblood refrained from saying so. "I see." Then, to be polite, he added, "What are you going to do?"

"Go alone? If I go at all." She tapped a hoof as she thought... and then scrunched up her nose. "Wait. Ew. You aren't going to ask me to yours, are you?" She stepped away from him. "No offense, but—"

Blueblood held up a hoof. "No. No, I am not asking you." He shuddered. "Ugh, absolutely not."

"Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?" She frowned and stepped closer again, squaring her shoulders.

"I don't know anything about you. I can count the amount of conversations we've had that lasted longer than thirty seconds on my hooves. Why on earth would I want to take somepony I barely know to the dance?" He then added, "I'd much rather take somepony I know well." 

That seemed to satisfy her. Good, it had been a total lie. Or, well, it was the truth. He hardly knew her, and would not want to take somepony he didn't know as a date anywhere, but in full honesty Sunset Shimmer was quite unappealing to him. She was not ugly, of course, but he had no desire to court her. He figured that saying this to her face, however, would be a quick way to start a feud of some sort, likely in the form of a complaint to Celestia.

Still, the reason was good enough for her, so she relaxed and said, "Hmph. Fair enough." Her expression then changed, like a lightbulb had went off in her head, and she smiled sweetly at Blueblood. He did not trust that smile. "Can I ask a question?"

"I suppose you may."

"Ugh, suppose this, suppose that." She stuck her tongue out and made a gagging noise. "You sound just like Celestia. It's freaky. Anyways, I was going to ask why you wanted to know about date etiquette. Isn't that taught at your school?"

"Uh..." From her initial insult to her question, it had all taken him off guard. It felt like an invasive question, although he wasn't sure why; normally he loved talking about the school's curriculum! It took him barely a moment to recover before he said, "That is to say... sure, courtship manners are taught in a few classes, but only very briefly. I believe it's something you're meant to figure out for yourself, for the most part. I imagine quite a few students and teachers alike could be uncomfortable with a lengthy discussion of how to romance a pony you like. And... perhaps it's true that there is no one way to do it. But regardless," He continued, "Even if it had been taught extensively, the norms are different. Though it may be called a formal, I understand it will really be quite casual, save for the dress code. Such is the nature of students. So I just... wasn't sure."

She stared at him blankly. "Of course, of course, but to be honest, that response was way too long and not at all what I was looking for." She stepped closer again. She was now officially invading his personal space, and she gave a sardonic smile. "What I was really asking is if you had your eyes on somepony. I'm especially curious because the only pony I've ever heard of you hanging around is Shining Armor, and you just said you'd only want to take somepony you knew well to the dance. I noticed you didn't say mare."

He froze. Had he not said mare? "I meant mare, of course. That goes without saying." He continued as Sunset snickered at him, "Come on. Shining Armor? That'd be..." He struggled to find a word and settled on, "Inappropriate."

"Inappropriate, huh." She examined him with the same smug smile and oh, no, was he sweating? He may well have been. What was wrong with him? She was obviously just trying to get under his skin. Why was it working? "Whatever you say, Blueblood. You know, I think Celestia and Luna would agree with you." 

He almost winced.

"Either way, I've got to go. Nice talking with you." And then, she placed her saddlebags onto her back and walked right past him. "Oh, and put in a good word for me to Celestia, if you don't mind. I think I was pretty civil."

Just like that, she was gone, her hoofsteps already inaudible. Blueblood stood there for another moment to compose himself. Shining Armor, really? The idea was preposterous. Like Sunset had said, two stallions going together, even if just as friends, would be a little weird. And it would be especially weird if.... oh, the idea was too scandalous to even put it into words.

He chuckled to himself uneasily as he turned around to leave the statue and head back to his room, his purpose for coming to the gardens in the first place entirely forgotten. He couldn't believe he'd let Sunset Shimmer, of all ponies, get to him. She had clearly been joking. 

So, again, it was easy to ignore that feeling in the pit of his stomach as he decided he'd just have to go stag.





A week before the formal, Blueblood found himself called to Celestia's quarters for what he assumed was going to be a brief acknowledgement of his approaching graduation and perhaps some comment about the dance itself. Or, a part of him said, perhaps she had noticed that he'd been off lately. He'd chalked his mood up to worries about his future after graduating, given he was still quite directionless, and tried to ignore it, but maybe he was a worse actor than he thought.

So Blueblood was very surprised, indeed, to be greeted by Celestia and Luna both, Luna with a piece of fabric draped over her foreleg which she held aloft, and Celestia levitating something shiny in her magic.

It was a crown. With this knowledge, he was able to identify the fabric in Luna's possession as a sash.

Blueblood was a careful pony. He knew not to let his composure slip around either of his aunts. It was important to prove to them that he could maintain a collected, noble demeanor at all times, no matter the circumstance. This, however, was simply too much, and he stopped where he stood and stared at the objects they held.

He was not dumb. He knew to expect this soon, especially after some (rather blunt) hinting on Celestia's part. But it was a shock nonetheless.

He fixed his expression and straightened his posture. "Good evening, aunt Celestia, aunt Luna. I was called."

"Indeed, Blueblood." Celestia nodded at him. "Have you had a nice day? Looking forward to your graduation ceremony?"

"Yes, and I am, thank you." He shifted his weight between his hooves. "And you two? How were the petitioners?"

Luna let out a little huff of air from her snout that may have been a small laugh or may have been a noise of exasperation. "Oh, Blueblood, our day was fine, but we are not here to exchange pleasantries. You're a clever colt. I am sure you know exactly what's going on."

He wouldn't say exactly. "I... have some idea, yes."

"Forgive Luna. She's overdue for her nap time. But she speaks the truth." Celestia stood up to her full height and gently spread her wings; without even trying, she managed to look like the picture of regality. She levitated the crown closer to him, and with it came the sash off of Luna's back. They were not quite in reach, but he could see the items in all their glory. "Blueblood, within a couple years time, we intend to crown you as an Equestrian prince."

"I see." His eyes were still on Celestia, for the most part. No matter how enticing it may be to take the time to examine every detail of the royal finery in front of him, it may as well have been impossible to break Celestia's eye contact.

"To prepare you for that, once you are finished with your academic obligations for the semester, you are going to begin joining Luna and I when we hold council. Gradually, you will take on more responsibilities, but we will inform you of those as they approach, instead of burdening you with too much knowledge from the beginning." She folded her wings again and raised an eyebrow. "That is, assuming you want the title."

Dry. His mouth was so dry. This was all he'd wanted for years. "Of course I do," He said, perhaps a little too quickly.

Celestia smiled at him. "Yes, of course you do." Then, gently, slowly, she placed the sash over him and the crown atop his head. 

The feeling of their weight on him was unlike anything he had ever felt. They had clearly been made with his measurements in mind. 'This is what I am meant to be.'

"These are not yours. Not yet. But one day, provided you do well and continue to meet our expectations as you always have, they can be."

Blueblood nodded. "Thank you, aunt Celestia." He feared he was incapable of saying much more.

"And one more thing, nephew." At last, Luna, who had been eyeing him carefully the entire time, spoke. "As I'm sure you've learned in your time spent studying Equestrian history, princes of Equestria typically appoint a knight when they are crowned. Ideally, you will be no exception. In the past, some have chosen friends or family, some simply chose the current captain of the royal guard. But the choice will be yours, alone, and I recommend you start thinking about it."

"Yes, aunt Luna."

He felt the sash and crown lift up off of him, and they levitated over to Luna's side, wrapped in her magic. "Make us proud. You are dismissed, Blueblood."

"I will. Thank you." He bowed and promptly turned around and left Celestia's quarters, feeling both of the princess' eyes on him as he left.

He touched a hoof to his forehead and it came back ever-so-slightly damp. He needed to bathe, which would be the perfect opportunity to ruminate on what he'd just been told and figure out what he was going to do.

He guessed there wasn't much of anything to figure out, however. The only open-ended question he'd been posed was one he already knew the answer to. It was just a matter of not talking himself out of it.





The dance came and went, rather uneventfully. He didn't (or well, tried his best not to) give any of the night's events a second thought. He'd briefly hung around Shining Armor and Cadance, and mostly off to the side mingling with numerous other classmates who'd forgone a date or were otherwise alone.

It was nice enough. That was that.

Tonight, he had graduated.

The Princesses attended two graduation ceremonies each year: one at Celestia's school, and one at Luna's. They always smiled at each of the new alumni as they walked across the stage, and though Blueblood was sure some of it was likely forced, he thought they did a very good job at looking enthusiastic.

But when the time came that his name was called, he could have sworn they seemed even more genuine than they were for the typical graduate.

That was hours ago, however, and he was not thinking about Celestia or Luna anymore, or any part of the graduation, and he was especially not thinking about the dance. In fact, he was mostly thoughtless, as it had been a long, exhausting day and he finally, after showering, had a minute to himself to sit and take it all in. So, for the past ten minutes, he had enjoyed blissful peace and quiet with only the sound of his shower running in the background as white noise.

This was soon to end, however, as he heard the shower abruptly stop, the door slide open, and the unmistakable sound of somepony stepping out of the shower without drying their hooves even a little (oh well, the tile was made for it.) Ten seconds later, the bathroom door itself opened and out stepped Shining Armor, perfectly dry. 

Blueblood furrowed his brows. "Alright, I understand that you take short showers to prepare for being in the guard, but how are you...?" He gestured to the whole of Shining with his hoof.

"Oh, this?" Shining's horn ignited and Blueblood felt a rush of air surround him: one that didn't seem to affect his environment whatsoever, as neither did his duvet shift nor his mane move. "Neat trick I learned from a guard when I was shadowing them."

Blueblood lifted a hoof to his mane. Perfectly dry, though it had been damp mere seconds ago. "Huh. Convenient."

"I know!" He took a seat on a couch that Blueblood had recently added to his room (at Shining's request). "I've been waiting to show it off ever since I learned it. You're the first pony outside of my family to notice."

"Right, because you shower in so many other pony's houses."

"I could use it after swimming too, or in the rain. It's multi-purpose."

"Oh, wow." He rolled his eyes with a smile. "I guess you've got me there. I'll admit it's a neat trick." 

"Thank you." Shining reclined on the couch and let out a sigh. "You know, this feels like the first chance I've had to take a break in weeks."

"I know what you mean." He'd just that past week started accompanying Luna and Celestia while they held council and attended to petitioners, and it had been unexpectedly exhausting— and it didn't even take that much time out of the day, maybe a couple hours during the week and a few more on weekends.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you're exhausted after a long couple weeks of living in the castle figuring out how to entertain yourself without having any homework to do." Meanwhile, Shining was training day in and day out in preparation for his enlistment in the royal guard, which was almost certainly more exhausting... and he had no idea what Blueblood had been up to as of late. Still, his prior statement didn't have any venom in it; it did, however, make Blueblood feel a twinge of guilt regardless.

"Actually..." There it was; an opening to talk about the news he'd received. A perfect segue into the big question. 

"What?" 

He'd hesitated. Why couldn't he spit it out? "Nevermind."

"If you say so," He shrugged. "Before I forget, my mom's been asking about you. I don't think I've really seen you much since the dance. I mean, I saw you at the ceremony earlier, obviously, but I don't think we'd really spoken. I know I've been really busy, but you don't have to be a stranger... or at least, that's what she said. I don't know. She wanted me to remind you." 

Blueblood raised an eyebrow; that was an awful lot of words for 'I may not see you every day but you're always welcome.' It had perhaps even entered ramble territory. "Right. Sorry, it's been hectic since... the dance."

"Yeah, and I don't think I even talked to you much then. You didn't even congratulate me when I won class king!" He shook his head. "That was unlike you."

Ah. Right. That.

All at once, he was thinking about it again. One of the few times he'd come off of the sidelines of the ballroom and gathered with the rest of his classmates in a crowd, all to see who'd be crowned the 'king' and 'queen' of their graduating class. A harmless social competition that would mean nothing by the next morning. 

He didn't expect to win; not in the slightest. In fact, he was pleased that he wouldn't have to get up on stage and waltz with another mare from his class, one he barely knew, while his classmates cheered them on. Further, he wasn't surprised when Cadance was announced as the queen.

No, the biggest surprise (and it hindsight, it shouldn't have been) was that Shining Armor was voted as king.

After they were both crowned, and Cadance had leapt over and tossed her forelegs around Shining Armor in an enthusiastic hug and the music started up and they began to dance— well.  Sunset Shimmer's words had started playing in his head, about how a mare and a stallion going to a dance together 'as friends' was the same as going as a date, and her final accusation. And even though Sunset Shimmer was hardly a voice of reason, considering she'd been dropped as Celestia's student in the time since their conversation, her words had helped Blueblood figure it out. He'd finally figured out the root cause of the 'something wrong' feeling he'd been getting about Shining Armor for so long. As it turned out, it was something wrong with Blueblood, himself, and not Shining Armor.

When he had looked up at them, he'd felt something he wasn't used to feeling. Jealousy. Cadance was a lovely mare; beautiful, magnetic, and a genuinely kind pony, as far as Blueblood could tell. In that moment, however, that did not matter to Blueblood; all he knew was that he pictured himself taking her place and it felt nice. So he did what any normal pony would do; he left. He walked himself all the way back to the castle, took a shower, went to bed, and had managed to avoid thinking about it for the most part ever since. It had been entirely too easy to do, and that worried him even more.

But now, he was confronted with it again. "Oh, I didn't? Sorry about that." This was now, and he was going to play it off.

"No, and come to think of it," Shining paused, like he wasn't certain about whatever he was going to say next, and then stood up and turned towards Blueblood. 

'Oh no,' thought Blueblood.

"I'm pretty sure I saw you leave before we'd even finished our dance. You looked..." His face scrunched a little bit, probably trying to decipher a way to put it that got his point across but wasn't offensive. "Well, you looked distressed, I guess, like you were sick or upset."

The room felt so quiet. "Did I," Blueblood said. "I don't believe I felt particularly bad."

"You're lying." And then he added, "I'm not mad, but I don't buy it. What happened? You must have had to walk back to the castle yourself. The carriages weren't running." Shining Armor stepped closer to him, to the edge of the bed where Blueblood still laid, avoiding eye contact.

He let out an exhale. There was no polite way to put it: he was screwed. He just couldn't decide what to divulge and what to omit.

"I'm just a little worried, okay? I want to know what's going on." Shining prodded.

"I just... ah," Was there any good way to say it? "I'm not entirely... sure. I guess I saw you both dancing and enjoying yourselves and I felt..."

"Jealous?" Shining suggested, and Blueblood swore he felt the temperature of his blood drop by a few increments. "Have Celestia and Luna gotten around to pressuring you about getting a marefriend? Is that what it's about?"

Oh, the relief. If Shining just assumed it was insecurity about his relationship status, he could work with that. "Something like that. I guess it just made me think... that I need to be doing more. I need to be more." And in a way, he was telling the truth. When he'd realized how he felt, right along with it came the realization that he would never be able to make Celestia and Luna proud living like that, and it would be best to ignore it. And it felt right to ignore it.

He had found that when he thought about happily living his life as he wanted to, whatever that consisted of, versus making Celestia and Luna proud and fulfilling exactly the part they wanted him to play... it wasn't an easy choice. Was that normal? He didn't know.

"Well, first of all, don't be jealous that I have a marefriend, because I don't. Me and Cadance aren't dating. To be honest, I'm not interested in her right now. The dance was fun with her, but I think I'd have had a better time if I'd spent more of it hanging out with you. 

"And come on, 'be more?' That's crazy. You were a perfect student and you've got the whole noble manners thing down pat. And you're way too young to get married! I mean, unless they're holding you to the same standards they did the princes over a century ago." He frowned. "They're not, are they?"

"No, of course not! They haven't actually... mentioned any of that."

"Then why worry? I still don't think I get the full picture." 

Blueblood finally sat up, wringing his hooves. "I don't know if I do either."

"Then talk to me about it, Blue. You were acting off since even before the dance. I'm... I'm just worried."

Blueblood sighed. Maybe if he talked out loud about what had been on his mind lately... "Did I tell you about the moment I got my cutie mark? I know I've told you about what it supposedly means, but did I tell you about when I actually got it?"

The sudden change of topic seemed to take Shining by surprise. "No... when?"

Blueblood closed his eyes. "I dont know."

"You don't know?"

He shook his head. "I was fairly young. Cutie marks may as well have not existed to me for as much as I cared about getting mine; the princesses didn't seem to think it was of any priority, so it wasn't to me, either. One day, out of nowhere, Celestia commented on it. She said it was... so charming how I hadn't made a big deal out of it. How I'd just kept playing my part, and didn't expect to be congratulated. They used to take me to a few balls and dinners they went to when I was young. Evidently, I'd earned it at the gala."

Blueblood could not see Shining Armor, but he could tell by the hushed tone of his voice that he was in disbelief. "You didn't even notice you got your cutie mark? At the gala? Nopony mentioned it?"

He shook his head. "Like I said. I looked up to Celestia and Luna so much, that if I had broken a foreleg and they told me not to worry about it, I wouldn't have. I don't think it's any coincidence that I earned my cutie mark while I was on my best behavior at the gala, trying to be exactly what they wanted me to be, and further proved I was exactly that by failing to notice one of the most important milestones of a foal's life...." 

He took a deep breath and finally turned to face Shining Armor. "I worry my cutie mark means I am bound to a life without true free will. That no matter what I want to do, I will always go back to what is expected of me." There, he realized. There it was. The true root of all his worries. He was not particularly bothered by the fact that what he wanted, at the moment, was objectively wrong. He was worried because it didn't matter if it was wrong or not. It was something he desired, not Celestia, not Luna. And if it wasn't what they expected of him, it was not worth wanting.

Not because they'd force him to do anything, but because a part of him, deep inside, was so dedicated to being the perfect Prince Blueblood they wanted him to be that everything else paled in comparison.

Shining Armor leaned further in towards him and looked at Blueblood, perhaps more serious than he had ever seen him. He was closer than he'd realized. Shining whispered, "I dont think so. I think you're a lot more than they think you are. I think you're a lot more than you think you are." 

Blueblood resisted the urge to squirm away from him. He was allowing himself to enjoy the proximity a bit too much. "I'm not so sure."

"Maybe Celestia was partly right, but maybe the life path you're good at following is your own. Doing whatever makes you happy."

"I don't believe I'm a happy ending kind of pony, Shining." He gave a look somewhere between a smile and a grimace.

"I think you could be. What do you want, Blueblood?"

The question felt entirely too serious, so for once, he really thought about it. "What do I want?" He didn't think for more than a second, clearly, because what he did next was the most foolish thing he'd done in his entire life. He closed the gap between himself and Shining Armor and kissed him.

His eyes were shut; he had no idea what Shining's reaction was, only that he didn't immediately pull away. It was clumsy, it was clear it was something new to both of them, but it might as well have been perfect.

All at once, his face flushed as he realized what he'd just done and he jerked back from the kiss as if hit, embarrassed. "I have no idea what just came over me!" He stuttered.

Shining Armor sat back on his haunches, a tinge of pink to his face, as well. "Whoa."

Even more humiliatingly, Blueblood felt the beginning of tears well up in his eyes. He wasn't sure if it was from shame or frustration. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I did that."

Shining shook his head, silencing him. "No, no, uh..." He ran a hoof through his mane. "It was... nice."

"Nice?" That was even worse. He'd prepared for Shining to hate him and never speak to him. That would have been far easier. 

"Nice," He echoed. 

Neither of them seemed sure what to say next. Blueblood let the silence linger and decided the best course of action would be a change of subject; the real reason he'd even invited Shining over in the first place. "I'm.. not sure if this is the most appropriate time to mention it, but my aunts finally told me they intend to make me a prince." When he'd imagined himself telling Shining Armor this, he'd built it up in his mind; dramatic pauses, tons of hints dropped, the works. This was certainly a bit lackluster in comparison.

"Oh, wow." He still looked like he wasn't entirely sure what just happened. "Really? I guess I understand why you've been so..." He trailed off.

"Really," He said. "And while I'm at it, I thought I'd ask if you'll consider being my knight when I am properly crowned." It was the only option; the most natural thing in the world.

If Shining was surprised before, he was absolutely flabbergasted now. "Me? A knight? Your knight?"

"My knight," He nodded. "Well, in reality, you'd simply be a part of the royal guard during times of peace, but the title is still there."

Shining bobbed his head in what may have been a nod or an attempt to get his bearings. "Right. Right. But can I, uh..." He gestured towards Blueblood. "Am I allowed to...?"

"To...?"

"Can we kiss? Is that something we do now?"

The 'K'-word. He'd just outright said it. "Well," Blueblood said, playing it totally smooth, "First, I'd like to know if you accept my offer." 

"Oh," He finally looked back directly at Blueblood; he wasn't sure if it was just him, but their eye contact seemed a degree more intense, now. "I'd be honored to."

"Wonderful. And to answer your question... that's fine by me." He smiled at Shining, and out of nowhere, at the sheer absurdity of the night so far, began to laugh. Shining joined in with him. In a way, it was like nothing had changed at all between them.

Well, a lot had certainly changed, Blueblood mused, and would change more, but he hadn't lost Shining Armor and that was what mattered. 

(It would have been simpler if he had.)