//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Princess Hours 
// by TheMareWhoSaysNi 
//------------------------------//

The doctor closed the double-leaf door behind. Surrounding him, about twenty eyes, feverish, were hanging at his every gestures, anticipating what would be his next words. The life of one person, and of so much more depended on those words. It was a whole nation which, unknowingly, would probably be thrown upside down by what was about to be said in this place.

He took off his glasses and wiped an imaginary condensation, just so he could postpone the the deadline for a few seconds. A silence as heavy as a night of remembrance floated above their heads. To break it seemed impossible, probably a risk to resound like the thunder of a summer storm and yet, he knew he couldn't remain this way forever more.

"I am deeply sorry," he sighed. "The previous diagnostic is confirmed."

As dreaded, the shock was immense within the assembly. The tiny glow of hope shared by the family and the closest advisors had just flickered, and with it, all the questions connected to the future were rising up.

"Are you really certain? Can't there be other examinations?"

"I fear the answer to be no. Her Highness, Princess Celestia indeed is infected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. She will survive for a certain amount of years and we are going to make sure she will get the best treatments on the market but sooner or later, she will be weakened, it's inevitable."

It would make everyone waste precious time and could also increase the risks if they did more additional examinations that she already had. The Princely Medical Team followed the procedure by the book, checking and checking again many times the results they found along Her Majesty many visits at the National Clinic.

It was a tragedy for all the persons in that room but also for this small country, admittedly dignified and endowed of a thousand and one qualities but it was nothing but a tiny territory lost in a huge continent.

Without a Prince or a Princesse at its head, it would be given up to those who wanted to exploit its richness, aspiring to drown it under a conglomerate of states which it never tried to be a part of. Equestria was independent and would remain independent or its whole culture, codes and tumultuous past would be erased forever, forgotten, like the distant memory of a nation that, formerly, knew how to resist and created its own rules on the International political game.

So this dark fate would never turn into a reality that this statement transformed into a probability, there was only one solution. Of course, it was a drastic one but one which would prevent the country from being shaken by a revolution no one wanted to have.

The Principality's laws were clear - a married Prince or Princesse only could gain access to the throne, thus garanteeing descendants. Which means this was the infamous solution.

Marrying their young Prince, whether he wanted it or not.