"Hey Spike." Twilight called as she held Star Chaser's bottle in her magic.
"What? Need help feeding him?" Spike asked, "I'd be glad to!"
"No, I actually need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia." Twilight answered watching the sun rise outside her window.
"We haven't told her about Star Chaser, have we?" Spike asked flatly.
"We haven't." Twilight laughed. "It's been a pretty hectic week."
"It has, at least his cuteness makes up for it." Spike smiled as Star Chaser began to nuzzle closer to Twilight as she held his bottle for him.
"And actually, I wanted to discuss Canterlot Orphanage with her. They must be lying to the Princesses as well if they've gotten away with so much missing money." Twilight answered. "So tell her um... Tell her a unicorn foal was left on my doorstep in the early hours of the morning, and that I need to discuss orphanage matters with her. That's not a complete lie."
"You don't want to admit you've had him for a week now and didn't say anything in a letter?" Spike smirked and sent off the letter.
"No." Twilight blushed. "Oh... I just realized I've gotten so absorbed in Star Chaser I haven't even talked to my friends or introduced him to them!"
Two separate flashes of white magic and suddenly the princesses were in the room with Twilight.
"Oh! Princess Celestia, Princess Luna! You weren't busy?"
"We were not, it is sunrise, Luna has set the moon on it's setting journey and I have raised the sun, nothing to do right now. Also, Luna loves the little ones. Now you say a foal was abandoned... a week ago?" Celestia asked glancing at the little foal.
Twilight's ears lowered in embarrassment.
"Spike! You weren't supposed to put that in the letter!"
"It was true!" Spike responded.
"Yeah..." Twilight flicked her tail nervously. "I got so absorbed in taking care of him that I spaced even sending you a letter about it, I'm sorry!"
"Twilight, be calm." Luna smiled. "It is perfectly understandable that you would become overwhelmed in this situation."
"I suppose." Twilight smiled nervously, and looked down at Star Chaser nestled between her legs.
"Is this him?" Luna asked and laid before Twilight to be on eye-level with the foal.
"It is, his name is Star Chaser." Twilight smiled.
"Hello little Star Chaser, what a beautiful name." Luna whispered.
The foal flicked his ears at hearing his name but otherwise continued to down his formula.
"Well Twilight, we'll get the right paperwork for you then to give him to the orphanage." Celestia said softly watching the little foal happily drink.
"Don't you dare." Twilight snarled.
"Pardon?" Celestia asked.
"Have you been to the orphanage lately Celestia?" Twilight asked angrily.
"I have not, I assumed when you said you needed to discuss the orphanage it would be putting the foal there, is there a problem with it?" Celestia asked with a firm voice.
Twilight nodded.
"I highly suspect the matron is committing fraud. The first day Star Chaser was at my home, three of the local fillies came over, they were looking for some kind of book, but well that obviously was delayed. When I said attempts would be made to place Star Chaser in the orphanage and subsequently foster care, the pegasus filly Scootaloo began to yell and cry. She claimed the orphanage had not been giving enough care and attention to the foals, seeming to only do the bare minimum. Seeing as she had been in the orphanage for some time before her adoption into the family here in Ponyville, I thought maybe she was simply exaggerating the bad, as foals do tend to do." Twilight took a deep breath and continued on, as the princesses watched her. "Now, when I went in to the orphanage I went under the pretense that I would be reading to the foals, I did in fact read to them, they are wonderful little foals, but, I also examined the rooms and Scootaloo was not exaggerating. The blankets are thin, ratty, and would not do much to keep a foal warm in the winter. The toys were minimal as well. I suppose the least I can say for them is that the foals didn't look malnourished, but they certainly are not getting the optimal emotional enrichment foals need for healthy development."
"Those do not necessarily constitute fraud Twilight, caring for so many foals is expensive." Celestia answered.
"That's what I thought too, but then I dug into the records, and things don't add up Princess! There's at least twenty thousand bits unaccounted for!" She exclaimed with anger.
"Twe-twenty-thousand?" Luna asked, stunned.
Twilight nodded.
"I did the math three times." Twilight answered.
"That is... rather odd." Celestia stared out the window with her ears flat against her head. "Are you certain Twilight?"
"Yes." She nodded firmly.
"We will investigate this matter."
"Princess..." Twilight said softly as her heart pounded, dreading the response she would receive to her question.
"Yes, Twilight?"
"I... would you allow me to adopt a foal registered as abandoned?" Twilight asked softly.
"Twilight are you certain?" Celestia asked in shock.
"I am. Princess, I love him." Twilight wiped the tears forming in her eyes. "I'd do anything for him. I even already bought a bassinet, and a toy, and a bunch of formula, and diapers, and Celestia, I can't stand the thought of letting him go!"
"My dear Twilight, you seem to have everything with this little one under control, why on earth would we take him from you?" Luna asked in a hurt voice.
"I'm a single mare living on my own?" Twilight offered. "Ponies don't think very kindly of that."
"First off, you are a princess, so ponies always think highly of you, ponies know you Twilight. Secondly, if you are able to offer this little one all the care and attention he needs to thrive, I do not see why you should not be able to keep him. Provided his birth mother does not come forward. Thirdly, adoption is not our area, but we can help you." Celestia answered and Luna nodded with a smile.
"The birth mother come forward? She abandoned him on my doorstep!" Twilight answered. "I spoke with the mayor, and she said there were no reports but she'd keep her ears open for anything, and there's been nothing! She obviously either can't take him back or doesn't want to!"
"Well then Twilight, your path forward seems clear does it not?" Celestia asked.
"No?"
"I will send over the forms you will need to sign, since you have already spoken with the mayor and she has registered him as a lost foal, and none have come forward to claim him, he would then enter the foster care system usually, but... you are a princess my dear Twilight, and he has already been under your care. I shall help ease the process along and allow for you to adopt him."
"You-you will?" Twilight squeaked as tears filled her eyes.
"I will." Celestia nodded.
"Oh thank you Princess! Thank you!" She cried and nuzzled Star Chaser.
"I'm gonna officially be your mama, what do you think of that my little Star?" Twilight asked softly.
The foal only continued to drink his formula, perhaps complex emotional conversations were out of a foals ability to understand.