It is night in Equestria, calm, quiet and peaceful, just like it always should be. Thestrals are patrolling the streets of every city in the nation, to make sure everypony is safe and can sleep in peace.
Their mistress may be gone for almost a millennium now, but that doesn’t stop them from doing their sacred duty. Protecting Equestria from all the dangers that only come out in the dark.
Everywhere they are doing their job proud and with great dedication. Everywhere except for one place. A place they avoid as much as a cat avoids water. The Castle in Equestrias new capital city of Canterlot. The one place no bat ever goes as long as their beloved Princess hasn’t returned.
If it wasn’t for a pony that is unable to fall asleep, nopony would have noticed the alarm going off there. The alarm that let’s everypony know, that there is an intruder in a part of the Royal Treasury, solemnly dedicated to keeping unique and possible dangerous magical artifacts safe.
But even if there was anypony else awake, they couldn’t have done anything since this part of the treasury is in a place that only one pony has access to. The sun princess herself!
The moment she realizes just what the meaning of the alarm is, she gasps in shock before preparing a teleportation spell to bring her as close to the intruder as possible. She is greatly displeased that this place is so well protected against teleportation that even she can’t breach the wards without using a great deal of her own magic. However, nopony except herself is to blame for this, so instead of teleporting right into the room in question, she can only teleport to the entrance.
As Princess Celestia appears directly in front of the unremarkable door, she is a bit surprised by the fact that it isn’t broken open and that all warding spells are still intact. In her eyes this only leaves two possible options, one as unlikely as the other.
The possibility of a false alarm is quickly tossed aside and the same happens to the idea of a strong magic user skilled enough to bypass the wards without setting off the countless
traps. Surely she would know, if somepony like that existed. But even then, there is no chance that a magic-user able to accomplish such a feat would overlook a simple scanning spell that is looking for every living thing larger than a rat.
She passes the door and while she slowly begins to stroll through the area, searching for the intruder, thinks even harder about the potential cause. True, there are some things hidden that contain possible dangerous creatures, but if one of those would have broken out, there would have been a different kind of alarm going off.
But if you rule out intruders from the outside as well as creatures breaking out of their prisons, this only leaves one option. It takes a moment for the realization to hit home before the mare breaks out into a mad gallop trying to reach the portal storage before it’s too late and some kind of dangerous creature makes its way into the city.
She slows down into a silent trot, careful to not give her position away once she is close to her target. She does one quick scanning spell to calm her fears, and is surprised to find that there is only one creature nearby.
Now much more confident to handle the situation alone, she doesn’t bother to hide her presence anymore. With a knockout spell at the ready, she rounds the last corner towards the one portal she sees as the most dangerous of them all. After all, her old mentor used it to banish the Sirens to another dimension and their return could be disastrous.
However, nothing in Equestria could have prepared her for the sight in front of her.
The sight before her is so incredible that her jaw hits the floor. “How?” Is all she can think of, having trouble accepting what she is seeing as real.
There, only a foot or two away from the portal lies a very young colt. From the looks of it, the little foal can’t be older than a week, maybe two. She sits down on her haunches and carefully picks up the little one as not to disturb his sleep.
“Where did you come from?” She asks more to herself, knowing that even if he wanted, he wouldn’t be able to answer her question. She looks past him to the portal, wondering if he came out of it.
Since this portal is connected to many different places, some of which are only accessible from the other side, the colt was somewhat of a mystery. While it's not impossible that the colt came through the portal, it was very unlikely.
She turns her attention back to the little colt in her hooves only now beginning to realize that he almost looks like a tiny version of herself. His coat has the exact same coloration, his tiny wings are folded to his side, but his mane is very different. Where she has four different colors, he has only three and none of them matches her own. She has two different shades of light blue, a light green and something similar to pink, his mane colors however are golden, purple, and pink.
She almost missed the small white nub on his forehead hidden by his mane, but once she does, she makes a decision that will definitely change the world. If for good or bad she doesn’t know yet, but she will do her best to make sure it won’t be the second.
“I wish your aunt Luna could be with us now.” Is the only thought she dares to voice out loud knowing that she would be able to count on her sister's support, were it not for the tragedy that happened almost a millennium ago. A tragedy she isn’t without blame for.
She levitates the little colt on her back, using her magic to hold him in place before she makes her way out of the Royal Treasury. On her way out she checks once more for intruders, but all her scanning spells come back empty.
It is a long and quiet journey back into the main part of the castle, the silence only broken by soft snoring from the little colt on her back. However she doesn’t immediately go back to her room, no, instead she makes her way to the hospital wing.
The fact that everypony is asleep expect one nurse, doesn’t come as a surprise to her. The nurse however is surprised by the princess’s late/early appearance, but she recovers quickly and leaves to get a doctor.
When the grey unicorn shows up, he isn’t very happy about the disturbance at this hour, but he is bright enough not to ask princess Celestia if she could come back later. Since he didn’t see the foal on the solar princess back at first, he gasps in shock as soon as he catches sight of the little alicorn colt.
She carefully places the little one on an examination table and no words are needed for the doctor to start his examination. The doctor however is unable to find anything wrong with the foal and so there is only one thing troubling him. “Why didn’t you tell anypony, that you are pregnant Princess?”
For a short moment, it looks like the princess's eyes are about to fall out of their sockets before she gets herself back under control. Silence dominates the room for a few minutes before she replies in a serious voice. “I can assure you doctor, if I were pregnant again I would have sought your assistance as soona s I found out!”
“Then can you explain how you can bring an alicorn foal to me, that isn’t older than a few hours, a day at most!” He replies upset and clearly not buying what he is being told and correcting the solar’s monarch assumption from earlier.
any normal pony would have been shocked by how doctor Fine Suture spoke to the monarch, but not Celestia herself. While she is a bit surprised by it, she does understand where the doctor is coming from.
After a short moment of hesitation she decides to tell him the truth, knowing that he is bound to stay silent due to his medical confidentiality anyway. “I found him in a restricted part of the royal treasury, laying directly in front of a known portal.”
“Do you intend to keep the colt or shalI I bring him into the local Orphanage?” He asks after some thought and decided to not question the princess any further. As unbelievable as her words sound, he is certain that she told him the truth. Besides, if she truly wanted to mislead him, she easily could have come up with a much more believable excuse.
“My little prince will stay with me doctor, why do you ask anyway?” She wants to know, slightly surprised that he asked the question at all.
Instead of giving her an answer, the horn of the grey unicorn lights up, taking the princess completely off guard when he casts a spell on her. “Just a little something to make sure the little prince won’t starve.” He explains once he sees the perplexed look on her face.
“Thank you doctor. We will be taking our leave now.” Princess Celestia replies grateful, gently placing the colt on her back again, leaving a very tired doctor behind. She walks down the corridors in silence, while trying to come up with a good name for her son.