Twilight Sparkle ran through the overgrown forest, galloping desperately towards the exit. The oppressing darkness all but obscuring her vision, she tried lighting the way with her magic. Panting heavily, her magic failed, leaving her sprinting towards a disappearing exit. Out of breath, she stumbled to a stop, turning to face the dark mist closing in behind her. Attempting once more to light her horn, knowing that light was the only thing that could save her, she instead felt herself powering up for a teleport...
Twilight shot bolt upright in bed, gasping and panting. Pressing a hoof to her chest, she forced herself to take deep breaths and calm her racing heart. She turned her head to see Spike, sound asleep, not having taken notice of her distress. Twilight sighed, wishing for her nightmares to go away. Ever since she had become an alicorn...
Never mind. She stretched her wings, still unused to their splendor, and their knack for always getting in the way. She was about to roll over and go back to sleep when a glimmering silver light caught her eye.
She left her bed as quietly as she could, wincing at the creaking boards of the library's upper floor beneath her. She held her breath as Spike muttered in his sleep, not wanting to wake him. As she slowly crept downstairs, hearing the soft sound of magic fading away, she stepped down into the first floor of the library. Using her magic to light a few candles, she gasped in surprise at what she saw in the middle of the room. Rubbing her eyes in disbelief, she rushed over the the small bundle.
Shocked at the infant lying there, she levitated it with her magic to discover that is was a filly. She was a chestnut brown, with a slightly darker brown mane exposing a vivid purple stripe down it. Then, as she turned the child in the air, she noticed two things. The first, was that she was clutching a letter between her tiny hooves. The second, was that she had both wings and a horn.
The filly that appeared in Twilight Sparkle's library was an alicorn.
"I still don't understand why you had to wake me up," Spike mumbled groggily. "Couldn't you send a letter to the Princesses yourself?"
Twilight rolled her eyes and let out and exasperated sigh. "Because, Spike. When an alicorn foal appears in the library, where we live, I might add, I think that everypony living here should know about it! Now please, just copy down the letter!"
Spike shrugged and retrieved a piece of paper and a quill, showing that he was ready to write.
"Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Twilight began. "Tonight, I was awoken by the sound of a teleportation spell. Upon investigation, I discovered a baby alicorn in the middle of the library! She was holding a letter, which said, 'Please take care of her. Her name is Harmony.' I send you this letter asking for your advice on how to handle this situation. Yours truly, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Twilight turned from her pacing to look at Spike. "Did you get that, Spike?"
Spike nodded and tied up the letter, breathing fire on it and thus sending it. "What now," he asked.
"Now," Twilight replied, "We wait for a reply."
Twilight sat down, holding the child in her forelegs as she pondered the situation, barely keeping calm. Harmony, she thought. Why were you sent to me? A few minutes later, Spike belched out a letter. Twilight grabbed it with her magic immediately, unrolling the paper.
"Dear Princess Twilight," She read. "We thank you for informing us of your situation. The advice we give you is this; take the filly in, as the note asked. Your Element of Harmony is the most important one of the six. If the child's name is Harmony, we believe that this happened for a reason. We will offer our best advice on how to parent her, but the majority of the task remains up to you. Sincerely, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?!"
Ending in a huff, she turned the page over, examining it in every way possible. "That's it!?!? No possible explanation, no suggestions, just raise her!?!?! I don't know how to do that, I'm not ready to be a mother!! I'm still getting used to my wings, I'll have so many royal duties to attend to, I-I don't even know what to - I mean -" She cut herself off, beginning to hyperventilate.
"Twilight calm down! You're not alone in this! You have me, and Applejack, and Fluttershy, and Rarity, and all of the rest of your friends! You don't have to do this alone," Spike burst out in a desperate attempt to comfort her. He'd seen her break down with paranoia before, and he wasn't going to let it happen again.
Twilight sniffed and looked at him. "Spike, you don't understand! I'll have to stay up with her along with doing my royal duties, I'll have to read all of my parenting books, I'll need to buy a bunch of baby stuff, not to mention changing diapers! Oh, I'll have to teach her to use magic, how to fly, how to -" She was cut off by Spike putting his clawed hand over her muzzle.
"You raised me."
Unsure what to say to this, Twilight opened and closed her mouth several times, with no words coming out.
When she finally regained control of her speech, she protested, "But this is different! This is a filly, you're a dragon! There's no telling how she could turn out!" She sighed. "I just... Don't know what to do. I don't know how to do this." She hung her head in shame.
"I don't know what to tell you," Spike shrugged, "Except to go to your friends for help. You could always ask Mr. and Mrs. Cake." Twilight looked up, not needing to speak to show her appreciation at his calm level-headedness in this situation.
"I guess... I guess I can't really turn her down, I mean, that would just be horrible." Twilight looked down at the sleeping filly. "I guess I'm your new mom, then."