One- The Adoption
On a clear and bright night a strange pony with a cloak was running around the now sleeping town wanting to escape from an unseen follower. Strapped to this cloaked pony was an infant, a young unicorn colt. This mysterious pony seemed to have a destination in mind, but it was still a little bit away and the pony still couldn't shake the follower.
"Shush now little one, it'll be okay we are almost there." The pony said trying to quiet the infant. "I promised your mother that i get you there even if i have to give my life to do so." They continued, what this mysterious pony was looking for was the apple orchard known as Sweet Apple Acres.
Though the cloaked pony had no idea why the young colts mother had told the pony to do this, but the cloaked pony knew that his mother loved him dearly. But this mysterious did not ask questions from his queen, and now that they were being pursued the cloaked pony now had an idea. As they ran his hood fell to reveal a colt with many battle scars, he had always been loyal to his queen and did not ask any questions.
He still didn't exactly know why his queen asked him to take her only son to this small town, but he now knew it was due to the fact that she thought her son's life was in danger. Why she trusted him with this mission even though he might not come back was because he was her most loyalist and most experience solider that she knew to be able to complete this mission. His plan of action was very simple, drop the young prince off at the farm and lead the pursuer away, and if need be it fight who ever or what ever was following them.
At least that had been his plan until he felt a stinging pain in his back leg. He quickly looked and saw a knife sticking out of his thigh, but his solider instincts kicked in and he managed to ignore the pain. The pain was nothing compared to the battles he had been in, but he knew he would not be able to make it to the destination with both the infant and his injured leg.
Lucky for him he always had a back up plan, being in the front lines had taught him that. So he managed to lose the follower for a short time, and he took that opportunity to stop in front of one of the many houses and pulled out the blade. Quickly wrapping it, he then proceeded to remove the infant and wrapped him in a nice comfy blanket, and after setting down the young foal on the door step he pulled out a note out of his satchel.
The note simply read "Please take this foal to Sweet Apple Acres, his name is Baker Song." He had written it just in case something went wrong and he could not complete his mission on his own. As he quickly set the note next to the now sleeping colt, he knocked on the door as hard as he could, which almost broke the door. Once he heard commotion on the other side he ran off, and not soon after his pursuer was back on his tail again.
"May you live well young prince, for it was an honor to serve for your mother." He said to himself, for he was now leading the chase into the Everfree Forest.
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"Who would be knocking at this hour?" The mare said getting out of her bed. She walked down the stairs, picking up her baseball bat. Though the knocking had stopped, she was curious to see if anypony was still out there. "W-whose out there?" No response. "I'm warning you that if you try anything i have a baseball bat." She said opening the door to reveal no pony was there, but before she closed the door something had caught her peripheral vision. "Oh my, who left you here?"
She dropped the bat and scooped up the sleeping infant. As she looked at the young colt, she also noticed a note that had been laying next to him. Quickly taking the young foal inside and laying him on her couch, she then went to retrieve that note which for right now she put down on the table. The only thing that she thought about was the sleeping baby, not wanting to leave it alone as that would be bad parenting, even though she was not the mother, she still felt responsibility for him now.
So she carried the young foal up to her room and laid him down on her bed next to her. Thoughts kept racing through her mind keeping her awake, but when she looked at the young foal and saw a small smile she started to relax. The one thing that she kept thinking while falling asleep once again was, why had somepony abandoned this young happy foal?
The next day she had been woken up to crying, as she took everything in she remembered that she know had a young guest. She knew that he might need feeding, maybe even a diaper change. What was she thinking she was not prepared to take care of the infant, then remembering the note down stairs she quickly hopped out of bed and wrapped the baby foal in one of her hoofs and walking down the stairs.
She managed to get the infant to calm down a little, she finally got to the note. Reading the simple message she looked down at the smiling infant and smiled herself. Though her time may have been short she already felt a connection to the little one that was named Baker Song, even if she had to give him away to the Apple family.
"Oh i wish i could keep you and raise you as my own, but i think whoever left you here had been rushed. Though i do promise that i will always be there for you, and even if it was just one night just know that i will consider you my son." She let out a small tear, she just found out that she couldn't have any foals herself and her husband had left he because of it.
Though she got a few stares, she picked up some supplies. She knew the Apple family just had a daughter, but she knew they would accept this little one into their family, and she also knew that they probably already had the necessary food they probably didn't have the right kind of diapers. When she finished and paid for everything, she could hear someone talking about her though she just ignored it for now.
She knew what they were talking about, but soon she would not have this young foal anymore. The talking wasn't what upset her, it was when she looked at the now strapped in baby satchel the little smiling foal. Though she felt that connection the foal was not hers, granted she knew it wasn't the apples either but the note requested them to take him in. They would have to go through the normal adopting process, as this wasn't common it still happened.
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As she walked up to the door, she felt like returning home but knew that it was wrong and she needed to do this. Though she figured that most of them would be out in the field or the orchard, she knew that Mrs. Apple would still be there taking care of little Applejack. She knocked and waited for a response.
"Come in." A pleasant familiar voice called from inside.
She opened the door and walked in hearing a little bit of a struggle coming from the dinning room. When she walked in Mrs. Apple had her newborn on the changing table. Seeing her having a little bit of trouble had brought on a small laugh, which caught the attention of the mother in front of her.
"Oh hey Cherry Pie, what can i do...." Mrs. Apple trailed off looking at the strapped baby in shock. "Oh my Celestia! Why didn't you tell anypony that you were having a baby?" The mother said excitedly causing her both infants to laugh.
"Well because i wasn't pregnant." She answered.
"Then you adopted?" Her friend asked, he excitement started to disappear.
"No he was just left on my door step this mourning with this note." She said giving the note that she found to her friend.
As she saw her friend read and then re-read the note, the excitement now completely gone replaced with a look of confusion. This went on for what seemed like hours, but they both knew it was only a minute or two. The awkward silence was the young foals giggling and her friend cleared her throat.
"Let me go get the rest of my family, do you mind watching both foals?" She nodded in response expecting this.
When the Apple family had all been summoned from Granny Smith, to Mr. Apple, to the young Big Mac, and last was Mrs. Apple with Applejack strapped to her. Her friend had shown her entire family the note, and as they all read it their expressions, except for Big Mac who didn't read the note, were now one of confusion. They all looked at her for answers.
"Okay, i'll start from the knocking that woke me last night..." She told them exactly what happen, from the strange loud knocking, to her finding the infant laying on her step, to her going shopping for some supplies that she thought they needed. "So as you can tell, all i know is that somepony left him. I do not know who though, but it is obvious that they had wanted him to come here." She said, a pain look crossed her, but she quickly shook it off hoping none of them saw it. "But they wanted you to have him, so your going to have to go through the adoption process."
A silence fell across the room, the only sound was both young foals sleeping filled the room. Mr. Apple looked at Big Mac which she guessed was a message, because Big Mac went up stairs no doubting going to his room. Then they all turned their attention back on her.
"Look, Miss. Cherry Pie we would love to add him to our family..." This brought a smile to her face. "...but i don't think we can handle another little one in the house." Her smile dropped at what Granny Smith had just said. "Now let me explain, my son is busy all day working the fields, as well as me and Big Mac, and my daughter here is already having trouble getting back into taking care of her own young-ling. So adding another one might push her to far."
"Granny!" Mrs. Apple said.
"I know what i'm saying, and i see how it's affecting her. But it's only the truth we can't take another one in right now." Granny Smith snapped a little.
"Yeah, it is true honey. We're both so stressed out that just adding more to our pile would cause us more pain. Not that having a new foal in the house isn't a blessing, but if we push ourselves to hard we might fall over from the stress." Mr. Apple said.
"But then what do you think we should do then? Send him away?" Mrs. Apple yelled a little bit.
"Mmm, there is another way." They all turned to look at Granny. "Cherry you had just recently found out that you can't have foals, isn't that right?" She nodded sadly, getting a surprised gasp from her friend. "Well what i'm saying is, this might be a blessing for you. Yes this note said that it wanted that young-ling here, but like i already said we're all to busy, and as my son said if we push ourselves to much right now we might drop. I can see that you already have a motherly bond with him, so why don't you adopt him, and i ain't taking no for an answer. Don't care what any note say's, you deserve some love after what that rotten Stallion did. Leaving you when he found out that you couldn't give him a foal, dirty rotten..."
"Granny!" Both Apples said at once.
"Why didn't you tell me that you couldn't have a foal, and why did you keep Rave left you from me?" Mrs. Apple asked with concern.
"I was to ashamed, it's my fault that he left." She said now about to cry, until she heard a small yawn and some sniffling. "Hey look whose awake, are you hungry?" Her voice taking a more happy tone as she picked him up in her hooves. She almost forgot about the apple's until she heard Granny say something, when she started to feed him out of a bottle that she had gotten. The milk came from the apple's own stash of milk for little foals.
"Mmmm, that's a nice sight to see. You are a natural mother you know." This brought her back, as she looked around all three apple's looked at her with smiles on their face's.
"No, i can't the note said to bring him here." She said quickly.
"Like i said, forget about that note. You deserve some happiness after what happened. I'm sure these two will agree with me, you go and you adopt him and raise him as your own. And don't ya go arguing with me, cause what do you think would be better for him, a life were he would probably not get the attention he deserves, or the full love and attention of one who give that to him?" Granny said, making her think.
She knew that they would never purposely ignore him, but they did bring up a couple of good points. They were already working so hard with the farm and with the fact that the did just have another foal, so they might not have had much sleep lately and with two that did spell out danger. But all she needed to know for sure of what to do was look at the little one in her hooves who smiled at her with the bottle still in his mouth.
"All right, i'll stop by town hall when i go back into town to get the right papers." She said with tears coming to her eyes, but these were happy tears.
"Coagulation's then." Granny said with a smile. "I reckon you best be on your way then, before we decide to throw ya a party."
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"Can i help you?" The office clerk asked.
"Yes, I would like to know what the procedure is to adopt a foal that had been left on your door step?" She asked.
"Well, first you would need to fill out this form here." The clerk shuffled through a filing cabinet pulling out a paper, and gave it to her. "Then once that's done you will need to go to a psychologist to get your mental health evaluated to make sure that your mentally prepared for the duty of being a parent. Which are you single?" She nodded her head. "Okay, and once you got an evaluation then send us a copy of it, so we can send it along with other paper work that you need to fill out to Caterlot. Then after a few days a representative of the royal adoption agency will come by to look at your living conditions, to make sure you have the necessary room for a foal. The last thing that you will need to do is fill out some more paper work, that will include what you like to name the foal, the age will be determined by a professional doctor, and the last thing that will be there will be of course your signature."
"And what about the foal?" She asked barely able to understand all that she heard.
"Well the foal will be put into the custody of the R.A.A, the royal adoption agency. But if all goes smoothly will only be for about three weeks, it will help if you had some kind of document saying that the pony who left the foal left them in the care of you." The clerk said.
"I do have some documentation, one from the pony who left the foal on my door step and the ponies they intended for the foal to be with." She said reaching into her satchel and pulling out the documents. The clerk read them over a few minutes.
"These will do, this will cut it down to about a week now if you hurry and talk to our psychologist. Also if you fill out these papers as well. Can i see the little one by the way?" The clerk asked with a small smile on her face.
"Yeah." She turned and showed the clerk the foal.
"Awwww, he's so cute. You better hurry, and don't worry now that you gave these documents to me the R.A.A won't require me to take him away." The clerk said with a smile and a wink.
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The week that passed after filling everything out, talking to to representative who had been a little bit of a snob, was tiring and stressful. One thought kept her going through her head, she would finally get one of her biggest wishes. To finally have a foal, and Granny Smith was right after everything that she had been through, she did deserve a little happiness and the little foal that appeared had now given her that.
"Here's the last of the paper work." She said cheerfully to the clerk.
The clerk quickly read through the papers and nodded after seeing everything was in order. Then she put the papers in an enchanted delivery mailbox that would send that papers automatically to the R.A.A. All she had to do now was wait for the response letter.
"So you decided to stick with the name that the original note said huh?" The clerk asked.
"Yeah, i thought it fit him. Not only does he like to watch me bake, but he also loves it when i sing when i'm doing it." She answered giving a warm happy smile.
"Well, don't you look happy? You know that i believe you will make a good mother, and i think that those snobs up in Canterlot will have seen that to." The clerk gave a warm smile back.
"You think so, because i really want this. After i found out that i couldn't have my own foal, and after my husband left me becau..." She trailed off.
"Oh, i'm so sorry. But like i said, i'm sure they'll approve the adoption. Though he couldn't tell us much, but out psychologist said that you had a very good report." The clerk said with a comforting smile, just then a envelope came out of nowhere. It was addressed to her. "Well are you going to read it and find out?"
She picked up the envelope and opened it, and of course started to read'
"Dear Miss. Cherry Pie,
We here of the R.A.A have reviewed your adoption case over the foal that was left on your door step. It is with great honor that we would like to tell you that Celestia herself had approved the adoption. So congratulations on becoming a new mother, and my you be filled with happiness. The next part was written by the princess.
Hello Miss. Cherry Pie, i would like to give you my personal blessing on you now becoming a new mother. May you love him like a real mother would, and make him happy. I hope that you enjoy being a mother, and i'm sorry to hear about what happened to you just before. It must have been tough, and it might not have been an easy task to decide to adopt after. Though i'm sure the reason was because you already felt a connection to him, so please take care of him.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia."
Her mouth hung open in shock, the princess herself had not only approved the adoption, but had also written to her personally to tell her the news. The room was spinning a little, she let out a squeal of joy. This brought every eye to her, which she blushed and apologized.
"So i take it that it's good news then?" The clerk asked, which she responded by giving her the letter to read. Her eyes widened with surprise. "The princess herself, wow i never heard of that happening let alone her writing to the pony personally. This is amazing, so are you going to celebrate? Oh who am i kidding, what time is the party?" The clerk asked.
"Oh, with everything i forgot to ask you your name." She said with a sudden realization.
"My name is Mary File, but you can just call me Mary." Mary said with a smile. "So what should i bring? I know it's kind of late and you didn't give birth to him, but how about a foalshower?"
"Sure that sounds great, but i don't have time to put one together." She said.
"Oh please, i'll put it together. All you need to do is give me a list of ponies you want me to invite. This is so great, not only do i get a new friend but i also get to plan her foalshower." Mary said with a lot of excitement.
"I'll send you the list later, but for right now i got to tell somepony else real fast okay?" Mary just nodded in excitement, already scribbling notes down. "Don't forget that your still on work time." She called back to her new friend.
"Don't worry, it get's pretty dull around here." Mary called back.
She started to walk toward Sweet Apple Acres, for she had promised the Apple's that they be one of the first to find out if the adoption was a success. As she walked she couldn't help but to keep looking at her son and smile proudly. This was her son now, her happiness, her dream come true. No matter what the future held, he will always be her son.