Prologue
It was a cold night in Canterlot castle, 2 soldiers were standing next to each other, a young unicorn stallion with a grey coat and red wild mane, and a Pegasus mare with a white coat and long blonde mane, they were giving each other nervous glances, as they headed towards the royal chambers where the sun goddess and ruler of the land resided.
When they were just a couple feet away from the door, one of the guards standing next to it spoke. “Commander Dawnstar, commander Swiftheart, what an honor to meet you. The princess has been expecting you.” The guards proceeded to open the door for the commanders and saluted them as they stepped towards the room.
Inside the chamber they saw a young unicorn couple around their same age, and the princess of the beautiful land the two soldier ponies had sworn to protect.
When the sun goddess spotted Lightning and Swiftheart she directed to the unicorn couple: “I’m thrilled to know that the both of you will have a baby Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle I hope she is born with the beauty of her mother and the skills of her father.”
Both unicorns looked at her with surprise, mouths agape until the stallion spoke “excuse me your highness but... May I ask how do you know it’s going to be a filly?”
“It’s just a hunch.” answered the princess in a playful tone. Both unicorns bowed before her and turned around to leave.
As the two couples were passing beside each other, the two commanders congratulated the Sparkles.
Celestia then proceeded to turn her attention to Dawnstar and Swiftheart.
“Dawnstar, Swiftheart. How can I help you?” the two soldiers looked at each other uneasily trying to come up with the words to say it until Swiftheart finally spoke.
“Well your highness as you may know my husband and I…” after saying those words both Swiftheart and Dawnstar blushed, they weren’t used to calling each other by their marital titles just yet “have been blessed with the baby I am carrying now, but in some months I won’t be able to work as a soldier anymore, Dawnstar and I would love to retire together, I can’t help but feel that this baby is the reason I was born for.”
After those words the sun goddess remained silent pondering, sure they had their reasons to leave, it was also truth that they were the most skilled ponies she had under her ranks and losing them would lower the morale of her army. Dawnstar had not only been one of the youngest commanders in her army, but he used to be her protégé. The gray stallion had mastered most of the spells regarding offensive and defensive magic, and was more than an adept at the other schools of magic. And Swiftheart was not only stronger and faster than the average Pegasus, but if she had been willing to could have become not just a member, but the captain of the Wonderbolts, her flying skills were unparalleled within the militia.
They had managed to stop revolts using both military and diplomatic skills, avoiding using the first whenever possible.
They had defeated packs of diamond dogs, convinced the sleeping dragons to go take a nap somewhere else, they even led an army to stop a group of revolutionary gryphons that wanted to overthrow the princess. Everypony that had worked beneath their ranks knew that their reputation was true, and that they were just as fierce in combat, as they were kind and loyal.
After considering all this, the princess made her horn glow and suddenly Swiftheart’s belly began to glow. The glow lasted for two or three seconds, after realizing nothing was wrong with her they both turned to look quizzically at the sun princess, then they noticed the weird look on the princess face.
Princess Celestia kept a confused look for what looked like a couple of minutes until she finally said. “The foal you are carrying is indeed a special one, it has not only taken the Pegasus genes, but also the Unicorn ones, this baby is both species at once. This hasn’t happened in almost 500 years.”
“Your highness do you mean that our baby will be born with both wings and horn? Just like yourself?” asked Dawnstar, trying to find other words to explain he said “like an Alicorn?”
The princess just smiled at that conclusion.
“Not quite like an Alicorn young one, Alicorns aren’t born like this, but that is a story for another time. Your baby is of a rare breed called a Pegacorn.”
The couple looked at each other with relief knowing that nothing was wrong with their baby.
The princess spoke again with a stern look on her face. “I already know he’s going to be a colt, but his future is still clouded to me, he will have an important role in the near future. There has never been an occasion where a Pegacorn was born that didn’t involve him or her in a future conflict. I think it’s better if you leave to a secluded place where you will be able to raise him, teach him both flying and magic, and love him.” Not resisting herself to make a little joke out of the conversation she ended up saying “Also, it would be a total disaster for your personal life if the paparazzi knew you had such a special baby.”
After hearing those words the couple were more than sure that this was a personal mission that the princess had given them. They both exclaimed “thank you, your highness, we will come to help you if you ever need us”.
They both bowed down and turned to leave.
“Dawnstar aren’t you forgetting anything” asked the princess just as the couple had started their way towards the exit.
Dawnstar stopped trying to remember what the princess meant, then it hitted him, the true reason they had gone to the chambers of the princess. Dawn slowly turned the word embarrassed could be read on his face. “Oh, it’s true. Dawnbreaker. Is it fixed already your highness?”
The princess smiled and made her horn glow and took out from a chest a great sword with a golden hilt and a red orb at its top, the whole blade was golden with the craving of a black phoenix. It was sheathed in its scabbard and given to him.
Dawnstar bowed and spoke. “Thank you your highness. I’m sorry they needed one of your phoenix’s feathers to fix it, but is a special blade that took me some time to enchant and sharpen.”
“Not to worry my dear. Philomena was just starting to shed her feathers so it was no problem at all, I must say that the blade you carry is quite the special one, I just hope you don’t have to use it ever again.” Replied the princess
“So do I princess”
After one more bow the lovers left the royal chambers and the door closed.
-----
“So now that we have permission where should we go?” asked Swiftheart.
“I have no idea honey…. We don’t have any close relatives near a quiet town and if the princess is right it would be dangerous for our son to stay on a big city at least for now, I think that we should follow our princess advice and train him to be able to defend this wonderful place.”
The couple was now walking to their house; now that they weren’t wearing their golden armor their cutie marks could be seen. Dawnstar had a ray of sunlight piercing through a white cloud, while Swiftheart had a blue bird with razor sharp wings diving into a cloud.
-----
Several months passed and after some time wondering where to head and where to go the couple finally came to an agreement.
“We will go to the everfree forest and set a cottage in the very depths, from there we will be able to supervise this little child’s training and no harm shall come to him from nopony, and the dangers there shall keep us both my wife and I fit and ready to fight if ever needed.” The red maned soldier told the ruler of Equestria.
“The everfree forest?” exclaimed the princess shocked by the decision of the two ponies “I never expected that you two would go to somewhere that secluded to raise your child. As you remember I did told you to get away from the capital, but not from society. Also are you not worried that your son won’t have any friends to play or share with?”
“Your highness.” this time it was Swiftheart speaking “We are well aware that the forest is dangerous, but is the only place outside the castle grounds where we will be able to train him without attracting attention, also we wanted to introduce him to society after he had learned all the basics so he could explore without having any real danger, that’s why we are going to stay near the small town of Ponyville.”
Soon the stern look from Princess Celestia changed into an understanding one, she then bowed before the couple and said. “you two are really courageous to go there, I’m not going to stop you, I can only wish you luck. By the way have you chosen a name for the young foal?”
To that the couple bowed down and said at the same time “Braveheart.”
“A fitting name, I hope he will live up to it”.
The couple gave the princess one last bow and left knowing they wouldn’t see her for a long time.