//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: When Chaos Met Harmony 
// Story: A Heart of Stone 
// by BorgiaBrony 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 1
It was a bright, sunny, summer morning. The birds were whistling loudly in the royal gardens, as if singing along to some melodic tune audible only to their ears.  The beams of the mid-summer’s sun shone through out all of Canterlot: through, the castle windows, through the royal gardens, through the local parks and residential neighborhoods, and even through the blinds of the young Princess Celestia.

Rubbing her eyes, she gave a short and quiet yawn and rose from her covered bed.  It was going to be as plain a day as ever for her. Rise promptly at 9:00, morning hygiene, breakfast, and then her lessons with Athena, her magic tutor. Since she was still a very young filly, (well, by alicorn standards at least) she had challenged herself to get practice with her spells by using magic whenever and wherever the opportunities arose. Her morning routine seemed as good a place as any to start. As she slid into the tub, she ran a bath, scrubbed herself down with soap, and combed her fluffy pink mane, all with magic. “Not bad,” she thought proudly, “Athena would be impressed.”

After she had finished her routine, she began wondering around the spacious palace halls, looking for somepony to make her breakfast for her. She searched the kitchens, the foyer, the banquet hall, and even the bathrooms. She couldn’t find a soul: no cooks, no servants, not even Athena. “That’s weird.” Celestia thought. “Everypony is usually up and about by now.”
After scouring the entire palace, she had no other choice but to see her parents in their throne room, since they were almost always there. Always there either signing papers, kissing foals, creating a proclamation, or (in extremely rare instances) doling out punishments.

That is not to say that the king and queen were neglectful of their daughter. No, it was quite the opposite. They loved their little Tia with every fiber of their respective beings.  They hired Athena, the wisest unicorn in Canterlot, to be her magic tutor. They made it a point to close down the royal court before sundown so that they could spend family time with her. They even gave her a special spell so that she could contact them in case of an emergency. Yes, Queen Solara and King Jupiter were always there for their little princess.
Today was different, however. When she reached the door to her parent’s throne room, there was a note pinned up on it. It was from Athena.


Dear Princess Celestia,
I am sad to inform you that your father is away on confidential royal business and won’t return for at least a few weeks. I am, however, overjoyed to tell you that your mother was taken into Canterlot General late last night to prepare for the baby’s arrival! Just think of it Princess:  in a few short days, you’ll be a big sister to a newborn foal!
I am with your mother presently and as a result of the absences of both the king and queen, the palace servants have been given time off. Looks like you’ve finally gotten that vacation you’ve been waiting for, eh? 
Your faithful tutor, Athena

P.S. Here are a few spells that should help you with things like preparation of food, tidying up, etc. 

How could she have been so stupid?! How could she have forgotten the single most important thing going on in Equestria for the last nine months? How could she have forgotten about the arrival of her replacement?

Despite Athena’s insistence to the contrary, Celestia had been sure that her parents were looking to replace her with this new child. She knew that this “little bundle of joy” would be nothing but a bundle of trouble for her. She knew that her parents would stop loving her the moment this little foal arrived. He knew that for some unexplainable reason, everypony would love this new foal more than her, even though she had more to say and had been around FAR longer. 
Celestia started walking and shook her head, as to get rid of the thought. “No, I will not let this little brat ruin my free time.” After a few minutes, she managed to shake off the thoughts of her imminent problem, choosing to deal with it as it happened.  By the time she had cleansed her thoughts of the foal, she had arrived at the kitchen, and she decided to make herself a nice breakfast.

Just as he began to sit down to her bowl of warm oatmeal (hey, she was a princess, not a five star chef!) She heard a sickening thud come from the courtyard below the kitchen window.  Never being one for traditional royal etiquette, she threw open the window and flew down to the courtyard. She landed at the entrance to her parent’s hedge maze: there was a thick cloud of smoke and dust emanating from the maze’s center.

Something was going on in that maze, and she didn’t have the time (or the patience) to navigate through it all. With every ounce of willpower she had in her, she looked down and fired a beam of light from her horn. The beam shot straight through the maze, cutting through the shrubbery like it wasn’t even there. When she finally arrived at the center, she was shocked to find what she did: in the center of a smoking crater laid the body of the most terrifying creature she had ever laid eyes on.
The creature was an amalgam of all different types of creatures. It had the head of a pony, a griffon’s taloned claw, a lion’s paw, a snake’s tail, a lizard’s leg, a leg of a buffalo, and the horns of both a deer and a dragon. She stared at this monster for a very long time. What should she do about it? Anypony who could do anything was away.

Suddenly, the creature groaned: it was still alive. “OK, I definitely need to do something about this right now,” Celestia thought. What was the most secure place in the castle? The kitchen? The throne room? Her parent’s chambers? The Library! Yes, the palace library had a lock only the royal family could open! Yes, the library would make a fine makeshift prison for the beast.

It was far too big for her to levitate, so she was forced to drag the monster all the way back (3 floors) up to the library. By the time she had sealed the lock to the door, it was already past sundown. The princess was so exhausted that she fell asleep as soon as her head hit her pillow.