Twilight's sleep was very choppy. She kept waking up every few hours, looking at the clock, reading a few pages in her book, rereading the letter, and trying to go back to sleep. She didn't know why he was so nervous. She thought about it while she fidgeted in her sleep. Why would Celestia asked her to 'reform' Blueblood, of all ponies? She had half assumed that he had just up and left Equestria before today, but now she knew that he was still here. And now he was living with her.
Or, he would be. In exactly 6 hours.
Twilight smashed her face into her pillow in exasperation. She wanted to sleep, but she just couldn't. A pony, the nephew of her mentor at that, was going to live with her for a month! She got up, and trotted over to her bookcase. Most of her books were in her book room; one of many extra rooms in her expansive castle. Up in her own bedroom, she had all of her Daring Do novels, as well as a few romance novels and some scientific books. She ran her hoof across the books and sighed. Her books always made her feel safer. They reminded her of the now-demolished Golden Oak Library, and the Canterlot Library before that.
She decided to go see the room that Spike had set up for Blueblood. She trotted through the vast, empty halls to a room with a small sign bearing a crudely drawn version of Blueblood's cutie mark on the door. Twilight smiled slightly at the fact that Spike had even made a little sign to help her.
She opened the door to see an empty, made-up bed and a small table next to it. Twilight frowned at the empty feeling of it, and the looked at the book she had been carrying under her wing: Daring Do And The Razor Of Dreams. She then levitated it in front of her and placed it on the bed. No matter how rude her guest was, she supposed he'd probably want something interesting to read.
Twilight trotted back to her room, feeling somehow refreshed. She read the letter over once more, and then drifted back off to sleep.
The next day, Twilight woke to the light of the sun seeping through her window rather than Spike running around in the kitchen. She tried to recall why she couldn't hear the little dragon, but then she remembered: Blueblood was coming to Ponyville today.
He would arrive in the later portion of the day, but there was still a question nagging at the back of Twilight's mind: what had Blueblood done that had made Celestia crack? She was usually very calm and collected. She decided to write her a letter.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I was wondering why exactly you sent Blueblood here. You seemed a bit stoic in your last letter, and I hope you're OK. Anyway, what did Blueblood do that made you send him to me?
Your faithful student,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Twilight tossed the letter into the air, zapping it to Celestia in a poof of magic. She had been studying letter-sending magic for a solid hour that night, and she thought she was pretty good at it. A few moments later, she got her response.
My faithful student,
Sorry for my earlier bluntness. I was so mad at my nephew that I didn't write very clearly. The reason is that lately, he has become even more full of himself, to the point where I was getting complaints from my friends and hosts at parties that he was being rude. I hope you will understand that I am not doing this to harm you or Blueblood. It would be very unkind of me to do so.
Your mentor and friend,
Princess Celestia
Twilight Sparkle put down the letter with a sigh. She felt like she had been worrying too much. She trotted over to her small mirror and began to brush her mane, looking nervously at herself.
Why am I so nervous?, Twilight asked herself. She had been telling herself that it was just because somepony was staying at her house, that's all. But she kept circling back to Blueblood. What was it about him that made her so nervous?
Prince Blueblood boarded the Friendship Express, earning many confused looks from the other ponies. The prince wore only a royal blue neckerchief, and his mane was slightly unkempt. However, he tried to put on an important air, holding his head high. He got on the train, and soon it was pulling out of the station.
He thought back to the things he had done earlier that year, including many flawed dates, another cake to the face, and one particular pony couple complaining about him being 'too full of himself'. It seemed very small to him, to the point where he he all but forgotten about it, but his aunt seemed to remember it all too well. He didn't really understand what it had to do with making friends at all. After all, why would a royal want to have friends in the first place?
Prince Blueblood firmly believed that his job as a ruler did not include making friends. Maybe this was cliche, but he didn't really care. He didn't see why Celestia even crowned this Princess anyway, other than she was the 'teacher's pet'. Blueblood pulled a note out of the folds of his neckerchief, which explained what Celestia wanted him to do. Apparently, he had to go about everyday life in the backwater town as a commoner rather than a royal. This confused him greatly, due to the fact that he was living with a royal! Surely she was elegant, proper, and important just like himself.
He looked out the window as the train arrived in the station, and stood up as he prepared to get off the train. He had absolutely no idea what he was getting into.
Princess Celestia sat in her throne room, sighing as she thought about the events of the past few months. It seemed trivial, really, to base her motives solely on her nephew's actions 3 years ago. But that wasn't the only trouble he'd gotten into. At the Grand Galloping Gala of just last year, he had been very disrespectful to a few orphans that had finally gathered enough money to come. He also did not like to interact with other ponies, and she'd noticed that he'd been spending more time with himself than with other ponies.
She supposed that she could've told Twilight this, but she had decided not to. She didn't want to put Twilight off to the task. She worried now that she'd come off as vengeful and without purpose, since she'd left out so much. But she knew that Twilight would know that she didn't mean any harm.
She hoped she hadn't made Twilight too unsure.