Now I'm going to start by saying that this is not a shipping thread. I'm curious about how you see these two relating to one another, be it in a relationship, as friends, or as bitter enemies.

For me, I tend to see them as characters who are very much the same, and yet their differences are vast. Both are studious, intellectual, snarky, royal characters. However, while Twilight is hailed as a hero because her victories are in public and seen by everypony, Blueblood feels underappreciated. After all, not everypony would know or even care that Blueblood spent a month in Saddle Arabia working to lower the price of spice. He works hard, but his hard work is often not seen by others, leading to him having a bit of jealousy for Twilight and her friends. Despite this however, he has a grudging respect for her and what she does, and on the occasions where he is forced to work with her, he at least gives her some courtesy.

What about you? How do you interpret the two of them?

5184997 I see it as Blueblood is in love with Twilight yet at the same jealous of her for being seen as a hero and having every pony look up to her instead of him. Sort of like one of those relationships where you really love the other but keep it secret unless you act on it.

In the head-canon of my story, Blueblood and Twilight were classmates and even worked on a project together once. But, due to Twilight's workaholic, neurotic, and zealous drive to study and be perfect, they never really became friends and just drifted apart despite the success they had

Years later, Blueblood owns and manages his own airship production company, and eventually joins Twilight's circle of friends and even moves to Ponyville

5184997
The both have jealousy and hatred for each other

Blueblood sees Twilight as a neurotic lap-dog to his aunt Celestia, always giving him a hard time and putting a damper on all the fun. He is also jealous of all the attention she's receiving from his aunt.

"I bet if my aunt asks her to jump off a cliff, Twilight would respond with a 'how high and can I use my wings?'" -Blueblood on Twilight.

Twilight sees Blueblood as a sexist, womanizing, jerk who she sees as incompetent and wonders why he became a diplomat in the first place, not realizing that the reason Blueblood got the job was because of his ability to schmooze. Twilight also hates Blueblood for the way he treated Rarity. Plus, she is extremely shocked that Blueblood still gets the mares despite being an asshole borderline sexist jerk, which does not make a lick of sense to her at all.

"How in the buck is he with another mare?! He's a sexist jerk who treats mares like garbage?! And how in the buck did he become diplomat, all he did was go drinking with that diplomat! Just...how...?! HOW?!" -Twilight on Blueblood, before her head exploded.

I like to think of them as the new Luna and Celestia. Twilight, though a hard worker, is generally hailed and regarded as a hero-despite her misteps, while Blue (also a hard worker) is- at worst, seen as a jerk, and a bane to Equestrian society, and at best, overlooked in favor of what is becoming his aunt's favorite solution: throw Twilight at it. He merely wants Celestia to look at him the the same pride in her eyes as as when she looks at Twilight. It's kinda hard to compare improving trade negotiations, improving the standard of living in Cloudsdale with defeating Discord, or restoring Princess Luna.

Since I didn't read the IDW story, my headcanon states that a) Blue's actually a pretty stand up guy, but acts a snob when he feels that a mare is trying to seduce him to get at his status (and let's be real here- that's EXACTLY what Rarity came there to do, whether she realized it or not), and b) it was actually Blue who even brokered the opportunity for friendship with the Yaks, but seeing it as a lesson in diplomacy, Celestia unceremoniously relieved Blueblood of dealing with the Yaks, and gave it to Twilight.

5184997
For the most part up until she Ascended Twilight only knew of Oz by reputation only. He was closer to the age of her brother and had already graduation from the Royal Academy by the time she enrolled. Oz for his part knew a bit more of her through Celestia but never tried to approach her, not that he had the time.

After her Ascension they finally met, which involved a glass of sparkling wine, an angry purple pony, a wet Blueblood, and Applejack yelling at her friend. Twilight learns of the ancient connection between her family and House Blueblood, that AJ has been dating OZ behind everyone's back.

Given Shining's initial interactions with Blueblood in their Friends Forever issue, as well as Blueblood's treatment of Rarity at the Gala, Twilight would probably have the same opinion as her brother. That he is an incompetent jerk (and he is a jerk that no one should give any responsibility to but learn otherwise once they interact with him. Blueblood however seems to have absolutely zero problem with them, even genuinely offering Shining his friendship in his own haughty way.

5184997
I'd expect a mix of admiration and jealousy.

It's difficult not to be in awe at everything Twilight Sparkle has accomplished. I mean, she even became an Alicorn! Saved Equestria dozens of times. Reformed Discord, faced Sombra, stood alone against Tirek. She's the most beloved princess in Equestria, even.

Whereas he... he's just Celestia's nephew. And she spends more time with her students anyway.

He's never done anything truly impressive. At least, not impressive enough to be worth drawing Celestia's attention for more than a few minutes. The one thing he's known for, other than his relation to Celestia, is his looks. He's certainly not a hero. He even freaks out at a little dirt.

But that's okay. He doesn't need all this public adoration anyway. So what if he's not powerful, or a great leader, or has a circle of friends who will be at his side through thick and thin? No reason to be unhappy, right? He's still a prince. A Prince of Equestria! Canterlot's most eligible bachelor! That counts for something, right?
Right?

It's hard for others to like you if you can't like yourself.

5191537

I see I'm not the only one who sees the Prince as a bit self loathing. I've always seen that as the source of his haughtiness in fact. He expects a lot of others, and often sets unrealistic expectations for them, getting upset or even offended when they don't up to them. He's not an exception to the rule either.

5191797
Excessive self-boasting is often a sign of a fragile ego. These people are so dependant on how others perceive them because they're incapable of giving themselves any worth. They'll brag, they'll buy the most expensive toys, anything to have others value and validate them.

I've written this in other threads before, but I can imagine Luna and Blueblood have a strained relationship because they have similar problems.

And if you get down to it, Twilight does as well. She'd sooner tear off her own leg than disappoint Celestia because Celestia's opinion is more important to her than anything. Twilight and Luna, however, have gotten somewhat better. I don't think I've read it anywhere before, but there's great potential in a scene where Princess Twilight and Prince Blueblood bond over their mutual obsession with pleasing Celestia.

5184997
Close friends, to the point that Blueblood was slightly distressed at Twilight leaving for Ponyville. He kind of stuck-up Rarity at the Gala because he was rebuffing her. Twi would later scold him for his actions and he'd mellow out having realized he hurt her. Blueblood also has important duties of his own, so he cannot communicate with her as much as Twi would like to, but I'd consider them often as being a little more domestic than you might.

Related question: Let's say the show suddenly had an episode wherein Blueblood tries to woo Princess Twilight Sparkle.

How do you think that could go down? How would the audience react? How would you react?

5197474 oh I think we know what the audience would react.

5197712
Open-minded shipping readiness..?

Actually, this hits the topic very close to the mark.

5191537

In my head canon... this is very much the case, with one caveat:
I think Shining Armor is his best friend.

I was hoping to write this as a fic, but never quite got around to it... anyway, yeah. My headcanon is that Shining Armor and Prince Blueblood -as unlikely as it may seem- are actually really close friends. In fact, I've been toying with the idea that Blueblood may have been responsible for pulling some strings to get Shining "re-assigned" to Cadances guard when he realized how much the dork was in love with her.

5198284
Hahah, that reminds me of this idea that Blueblood, Shining Armor, and Cadance used to be inseparable best friends before they got their respective Cutie Marks. Like a proto-CMC, you know?

And really, Shining struck me as somepony fairly open-minded. Why shouldn't they be able to become friends? I'd imagine Bebe sometimes says things that are a bit insulting and insensitive, but he tries to make up for it once he realises what happened. Maybe with buying something nice for his friends. And Shining tells him every time that he doesn't need to do this, but Blueblood doesn't quite know how to show appreciation other than through money.

Blueblood resents Twilight for replacing Sunset whom he was in love with. Everything Twilight has achieved he feels that it should've belong to Sunset. Twilight is confused as far as she could remember Blueblood has always treating her with disband and she doesn't know why.