Chapter 1: Three Children in One Day
"Queen Galaxia! I feel as though its been ages!" A female draconequus said, clapping together her paw and talon. The draconequus sported a yellow alicorn face and horn, claw of an eagle, paw of a cheetah, royal purple pegasus wing, royal purple bird wing, an indigo dragon hindleg, yellow pony hindleg, blue dragon tail, and crystal blue mane. She was quite beautiful in person actually, despite how her description seemed.
"Queen Lana, for what do I owe the pleasure?" Galaxia smiled. Queen Galaxia was a beautiful white alicorn, Celestia's stature, with a long, glimmering mane, a clear respresentation of the dawn, and a large, round stomach.
"Well...your a great mother to little Celestia, Galaxia, you really are." Queen Lana said, running her claw down her crystal blue mane nervously. Queen Galaxia could sense her nervousness and became uneasy. Clearly, Lana wanted something.
The draconequus snapped her talons, and a moment later she was cradling two small draconequuses in her arms. "Oh, Lana...What are you suggesting I do?" Galaxia asked softly.
"Galaxia. We both know how long I've ruled. Its about time I got a retirement, and we both know you'll be doing the same when Celestia and that one come of age. I promise, I'll visit. Its not as though I don't love them, I love them more than everything in the world. Thats...thats why I'm giving them to you. We both know I am in no position to take care of two young ones, but I promise to visit and whatnot. When its time, they can take over." What do I do...? Galaxia thought. She knew very well of the state of Queen Lana, how her husband had left her and left her with the children. How depressed Lana was, something not many others knew about Lana. She hid her sadness behind laughs, smiles, and jokes, but inside she was the most depressed creature in Hybrillia, the kingdom she ruled.
After a few seconds of consideration, Galaxia came to a conclusion. Lana couldn't take care of Discord and Concordia, not in her current state. The twins would be better off with Galaxia in Equestria. "Very well, Lana. But if you at all want them to return to Hybrillia, just tell me. And I do want you to visit. Its not healthy for children to be away from there mothers." Lana smiled, and levitated the draconequus twins toward Galaxia.
"Thank you, Galaxia. I don't know how to repay you." the alicorn Queen smiled, and grabbed the children with her telekinesis grip.
From that point, the Queen waved goodbye to her good friend Queen Lana, and left with the twins. She boarded the Equestrian carriage, which was being pulled by four pegasus royal guards.
How is the Kingdom going to react to this? What will they think of me taking care of two draconequuses? What will Tia think? For the whole ride home, Galaxia considered how the kingdom would react to their Queen taking care of another kingdom's prince and princess. They might think it was a nice thing to do, but others would be skeptical. The racism in Equestria was a popular problem, and she knew many ponies were still skeptical of other races, draconequuses included.
After about an hour of flight, and long, hard thinking, the carriage came to a sudden stop in front of the castle. Citizens of Canterlot pointed in awe and wonder as the Queen's carriage flew gracefully to the ground and in front of the castle. "Its the Queen!" the ponies exclaimed, stomping their hooves, bowing, and whistling. Queen Galaxia smiled. She loved how much her subjects admired her, and she knew at least a half of the ponies here would take a magical beam for her, not that she needed it.
It was completely normal for her subjects to act in such a way around her, and she was completely used to it. But would they show such praise and love to her after what she was about to do?
Galaxia got out of her seat, trying to hide the two young draconequuses she was hiding in her wing. It was best to keep it quiet, for now. She would introduce the two into Equestria next week, perhaps sooner, but certainly not longer.
Galaxia was escorted into the castle by two royal guards, a unicorn and an earth pony. Still, Celestia hid the prince and princess in her wing, she knew if any royal guards found out they were sure to leak the secret, most likely to eachother. But soon, word would spread, and some unfaithful guard would leak the news to all of Canterlot, and even back then, Canterlot ponies were just such big gossips. The Queen wanted to tell everypony herself, that way, the citizens wouldn't think she was secretive. Being open with Equestria was a big deal, and she was sure many ponies wouldn't appreciate it if she kept secrets like this from them.
As Queen Galaxia was about to make her way to her room, she felt the pull of the Moon and Sun. It was almost time to lower the Sun and raise the Moon, and Galaxia found it best that she do this from her room and not from the royal balcony.
Walking seemed to tiresome, so Galaxia simply teleported to her room in a flash of fluorescent orange and vivid purple light. In less than seconds, the white alicorn was in her bedroom, an oval room with glass walls, a large bed in the corner, a fireplace, and two large shelves of books. These were Galaxia's sacred books, books only to be read by those worthy to read them. When Celestia and the child she was pregnant with were old enough, they would be able to read all the books here.
Queen Galaxia unfurled her wings and let Discord and Concordia fall gently on the bed. They were both nearly asleep, and looked adorable doing so. The two were twins, and while they looked nothing like their mother, and even less like their father, that was normal for draconequuses. A draconequus was a creature of randomness, so they usually looked nothing their parents, but twins did usually look alike. A draconequus could have children with any different species, and always have the children look like the other species, which was why draconequus were so rare.
"Guh-Guh-Gaaaah." Discord, the little boy choked out. The twins were only two years old, same age as Tia, making them hardly able to talk. "Shhhh..." Galaxia said gently, raising him into the air. After about five minutes of attempting to calm Discord, she very slowly and carefully set him on the bed next to his sister. The queen thought it best to keep the young prince and princess in her bedroom. Nopony came in her room without her permission and when she wasn't there. Not even the maids, the alicorn queen found great joy in tidying up her own bedroom.
For the longest time, Queen Galaxia watched the two sleep. While they weren't her children, and weren't even the same species, Galaxia grew to love Discord and Concordia, despite the little time she had been with them.
Again, Galaxia felt the pull of the moon and sun. After such a long time, raising and lowering the sun, moon, and stars had become a natural instinct for the Queen. It was almost as though the orbs of light were telling her to raise and lower them.
The sun, moon, and stars were what was called her source. Every alicorn had a source, it was usually an object of great power. A source was ultimately what enhanced an alicorn's power and kept them alive. If an alicorn's source was destroyed, an alicorn would die. If an alicorn chose to disconnect from their source, they would lose their immortality, and lose their extra power. Reconnecting to a source was extremely difficult. The owner of a source had the power to control a source with great ease.
Since the sun, moon, and stars were Galaxia's source, it was extremely easy for Galaxia to move them, and since the sun, moon, and stars couldn't be destroyed, Galaxia was immortal.
Again, twilight called. Queen Galaxia realized she was behind schedule, and would have to hurry. Surely, nopony would notice though.
The white alicorn checked on the two draconequuses one last time before flashing out of her bedroom and onto the royal balcony. Queen Galaxia made herself comfortable, sitting on her hindlegs and looking out on all of Canterlot. A beautiful sight.
Usually, the Queen took the time to savor the beautiful twilight. In the olden days, there was no dawn or Twilight. The raising and lowering of the moon went along very fast, until Galaxia's great grandmother had taken the time ten thousand years ago to admire the time between the moving sun and moon. Now, Dawn and Dusk were a normal part of day.
Today, the Sun was a bit stubborn, most likely tired. The Sun was used to following a strict schedule, and it had been in the sky to long, making it tired. Meanwhile, the moon moved with ease, quite eager to be raised. It had been resting a bit to long and was very excited to take the Sun's place, as were the stars. Queen Galaxia sweared to Faust that they had minds of their own.
Finally, Galaxia lowered the Sun completely, and had successfully raised the moon high in the sky. She finished off by arranging the stars in perfect order, making sure they were all in the correct place. She smiled at her work. While the night was a time to sleep, that didn't mean it couldn't look beautiful. Besides, she was sure somepony out there enjoyed the beauty of the night. It was hard not to.
"My Queen..." Galaxia whipped around, she wasn't expecting any company. Besides, ponies other than herself rarely ever visited her on the balcony. Standing a few feet behind her was Penny, her foalsitter. "Celestia really wants to see you." Penny said quietly. Penny was a pegasus with a bronze mane and yellow coat. She was a great foalsitter because of her kindness, and was a far off descendant of Private Pansy, one of the guardians of Equestria, not like she knew though. After the guardians died, the Equestrian Monarchy took over the Elements of Harmony.
"Very well, Penny." Galaxia followed Penny to the Celestia's room, a fairly large room for a two year old. In the middle of the room was little Celestia, with her pink mane, white coat, purple eyes, and Sun cutie mark. An alicorn was born with their cutie marks, since their cutie marks resembled their sources.
"I'll leave you two alone..." Penny said quietly, before fluttering out of the room. Galaxia closed the door once Penny was gone. She was glad Celestia didn't look like her deceased father. "Momma!" the little white alicorn exclaimed, fluttering her wings in excitement. "Thats right!" Galaxia said happily, it was the first time Celestia had said 'momma' correctly, and it was also her first word. The little white foal dragged herself to her mother, since she was unable to walk yet. After hours of play, the Queen found that she had tired her daughter out. The little princess yawned, and her mother levitated her into her crib, and sang her a lullaby.
When Galaxia was assured her daughter was asleep, she left the room. However, she couldn't help but feel something was going to happen. Something big, and unexpected. It was a feeling Galaxia had easily learned to detect over the years.
Then, it happened. Galaxia's suspicions had been correct, and her water had just broke.
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Galaxia wrapped her wings around her newborn daughter, who she had decided to name Luna because of her cutie mark, which displayed a crescent moon in a night sky. "Beautiful."
The Queen looked up, startled. She hadn't been expecting anypony to come in the room, but there standing in the arch of the doorway was Starswirl the Bearded. "Wasn't expecting you..." Galaxia said, smiling. Starswirl had been one of Galaxia's personal students, and while the Queen of Equestria never aged, Starswirl had grown old. But it felt like just yesterday he was an eight-year-old foal levitating a feather.
"I thought you were due next week!" Starswirl exclaimed. "How...How could you lie to me!" the bearded colt said dramatically, pretending to weep. When Queen Galaxia had first met Starswirl he had been a shy, timid, little colt afraid of all the power he possessed. It took over twenty years of training, but soon, Starswirl grew to be less shy, and learned to tame his power. He still lived in the castle, and was now an Equestrian scientist and studied all sorts of magic.
"I did too." Galaxia sighed, taking a quick glance at the little filly. She resembled her father a lot more than Celestia did, with her pure white coat, blue eyes, and icy blue mane. Bitter thoughts of the Equestrian King raced through her head, their fight, followed by his death...
"Galaxia. You know the King died nobly. He would have loved to see Luna, and you know that." Starswirl said gently.
"To bad he can't see her." the alicorn sighed. Sadness built up inside her, but she held back the urge to cry. She hated crying in front of her subjects. It showed just how weak she was. Besides, it was a time to be happy! One of the future rulers of Equestria had been born today.
Starswirl glanced at his watch and yawned. "I should be going today. Me and Blue are supposed to be watching the stars. I wouldn't want to be late." the gray colt trotted over to the bed and kissed the sleeping princess on the horn, before trotting out. Queen Galaxia smiled, thinking of how her little student had grown. Now he was a grown colt, with a wife, a foal, and a nice job studying magic. She just hoped Starswirl would outlive her, she couldn't handle seeing her eleventh student die. She had seen enough deaths in her one-hundred-eighty-two years of life.
The Queen smiled, thinking of her two little daughters growing up, and taking her place. And then having them have their own husbands and foals. She also smiled about the afterlife. She knew it was there, a recent study had shown that ponies who passed lived amongst the stars. Galaxia wondered what it was like, to be amongst the stars, and the sun, and the moon. It must be beautiful up there, in the heavens.
Galaxia looked up at the moon, a shining crescent surrounded by a sky of black. This reminded her of something, and the Queen turned her head downwards, towards her daughter. Then she saw Luna's cutie mark.
A shining crescent surrounded by a sky of black.