A lot of things happened in the last couple of months for the royal couple. The most noticeable was the public declaration of your existence and your adoption by the rulers of the land. The public was… shocked, to put it bluntly, and reactions were diverse as well. Some outright dejected you, and claimed that you are an animal at the very least. Some nobles already offered their daughters for future marriage with you, hoping to increase their political prowess as a result.
It was… hectic, and slightly amusing, at least for you. The one you acknowledged as your mother was less than thrilled about the remarks some of the nobles said, and she was not afraid of showing it. Needless to say… few were the nobles who still openly denounced you.
It has been two months since Gaia found you and took you as her own. By this time you could distinguish between voices, and looked at the ponies who were talking to you. You also liked music and preferred female voices over male voices.
When you were six months old, you could tell if somebody was angry or happy and you started to respond to your own name. You also started babbling different syllables, trying different combinations and seeing which ones elicit the most affection out of your parents. You discovered that ma-ma makes your mother very giddy, which often means a lot of affection. Da-da was harder to find, you tried saying ma-ma to your father as well, but he seemed to try to correct you, you tried different combinations for days until you discovered that da-da was the magic word.
At nine months, you could understand a few basic words like "no" and "bye-bye.",you also began to use a wider range of consonant sounds and tones of voice.
When you were twelve months old, you knew your parents were 'mamma' and 'papa', you could also understand what they were saying and responded – if not obeyed – to one step requests like; 'Put that down' or “do not eat that” that particular sentence was used a lot.
By the age of two, you constructed together a few words in short phrases of two to four words, such as 'Mommy bye-bye' or 'me milk.' you learned that words mean more than objects like 'cup', but also mean abstract ideas like 'mine.'
By the time you became three, your vocabulary expanded rapidly, and "make-believe" play spurred an understanding of symbolic and abstract language like 'now', feelings like 'sad', and spatial concepts like 'in'.
Of course, not everything was rainbows and sunshine all the time. For instance, when you started eating solid food, your parents noticed your dwindling energy. You cried a lot more and got sick often. Trying to discover what was wrong; your parents took you to the royal infirmary, and also summoned the chief scientist to study you for your own good.
You remember being comforted by your mother as the various doctors prodded and studied you; it was a horrible experience, one that you prayed not to experience again. In the end, the doctors found what was 'wrong' with you; you were an omnivore, and the lack of meat in your diet proved to play a vital role in your weak condition. So, with haste, your parents shipped large quantities of meat from the griffons and fed you with meat often.
Another glaring problem was your lack of fur or any other means to insulate your body heat during the colder months. Your parents were especially perplexed by that lack of adaptability, further increasing their curiosity about the nature of your being. Fortunately, a simple chlamys seemed to stave off the cold from your tiny form.
It was early in the morning when you wake up to the warm feeling of your mother's coat. Normally she would let you sleep until you wanted to eat or needed a good rinse, but today is your first day in daycare. Apparently, this castle has an exclusive daycare for the foals whose parents work within the premises. Your mother seems very excited for you to meet the foals and befriend them. But with great feelings of joy, also came a slight sadness. She loves you to bits and she wants to spend all her time with you, which, as a queen of an entire country, is a rather task.
The walk to the daycare is not very long, but for you, every time your are being led through the vast halls of the castle is an adventure. you are sitting on your mother's back, being led through the castle and soaking the grandeur of the place, your inquisitive eyes constantly whip about in a vain effort to inspect every piece of decor and ornaments. Every now and then you let out a squeal or a cry, finding great joy in the echoes as they reach your ears. The maids practically melt at the sight of you and often caress your exposed, furless face, with your mother's permission of course. Not that either of you minded, though. You like the extra attention, and the maids are very nice.
You remember one day in particular in which you got lost in the castle and started to cry and panic. A passing maid saw you and carried you herself to the throne room, delivering you to an equally distraught Gaia, who thanked the nice maid for retrieving you.
Mommy makes a sudden turn, snapping you out of your thoughts. She enters a brightly colored room with at least two dozen fillies and colts. A young looking unicorn mare approaches the two of you and bows before your mother.
"Your highness," she speaks gently, keeping her gaze to the floor.
"Rise!" commands mommy with the voice you love so much. The mare cranes her neck backwards and turns to face you.
"Ohh~ you’re so adorable…" she comes closer to you and looks back to mommy "May I?"
She laughs softly and says, "Of course, I would not be here if I wasn't gonna let you take care of him."
The mare smiles and lifts you from your mommy’s back. She sits you down in front of her and examines your form. You are just above thirty eight inches, which means you are a head and a half shorter than a grown pony, but still taller than a foal.
The mare smiles at you and says "Hey there little fella, my name is Butter Cup, what's yours?"
You shy away and hide behind your mother's leg, not looking up to meet her gaze as your fingers play with your chlamys. She smiles at you and moves away until you no longer have to crane your neck upwards to meet Butter Cup’s gaze. You feel something gently pressing against your back, forcing you to step closer towards the mare.
"Come now, sweetie. Do not be rude, say hello," your mother's soft tone whispers into your ear. With a final nudge, you are now looking straight into Butter Cup's eyes.
"H-hello…" you stutter. It's true that you like the maids, but other ponies aren't as nice. They weren't rude, but not as nice as the maids, and that makes you slightly nervous around other ponies, especially since you look nothing like them.
Butter Cup simply smiles and brushes your hair to the side, clearing your view and letting her see your brightly colored eyes that seem almost to shift colors in different lightings. She slightly nudges you towards the other foals before addressing your mother.
“I never had a chance to work with a bipedal toddler before, I wonder how he compares to minotaur toddlers…”
“We tried looking at other races for comparisons but he’s nothing like any of the other races, we discover new things about him all the time,” mommy explains.
“You know, I am conducting a research on the possible benefits of raising toddlers of different races together although I never had the chance to work with anything other than ponies so this should prove-”
You drone out the rest of the conversation, no really understanding what the pony mare was saying, although mommy seems more interested than usual. Somewhere during the conversation mommy looks at you and gives you an encouraging smile, seeing her smiling and silently cheering you on makes you feel slightly better, though the odd glances you receive from the other foals isn’t helping.
You stay next to mommy and Butter Cup, too nervous to go and play with the building blocks you eyed since the start of the conversation. A slight nudge on your shoulder makes you turn around to see mommy standing before you.
“This is it, Sweetie. I need to go now.”
“No!” you cry, lunging towards mommy’s foreleg and hugging it for dear life. You can already feel the sting in your eyes.
Mommy ever so gently pries you from her leg and crouches down until her eyes are leveled with yours, you close the gap between the two of you once again as you hug her snout. You can feel the hot air on your neck as she chuckles.
“Do not fret, Sweetie. I will be back, I promise.”
“Promise?” you implore, looking into her deep magenta eyes.
Mommy coos. “I promise,” she whispers.
You do not say anything, instead you nod and take a step back, making sure to wipe a stray tear from your eye.
“That’s my brave little prince. I am sure you will like it here.”
Mommy gives you one last squeeze before finally leaving the room, entrusting you in the capable hooves of Butter Cup. As it turns out, being in a daycare isn't so bad. After the other foals got used to you, they were surprisingly nice. You played with the colts and their building blocks, and then later on you played some with the fillies. It was the most fun you ever remember having.
It was shortly after launch time that mommy came to pick you up. You thanked Butter Cup and rushed to mommy, hugging her foreleg tightly.
"I-I missed you…" you stutter.
Your mother chuckles and says, "It has only been a few hours sweetie, and by the looks of things, you enjoyed your time here greatly."
She moves her free foreleg and slowly caresses your back, bringing you closer to her, oh so warm, coat.
"But it was without with you…" you reason, or as much reason a toddler can, which makes your mother's heart to be caught in her throat. She smiles at you and gives you a kiss directly on your forehead. She then picks you up and places you on her back. She thanks Butter Cup as well before leaving the room.
On your way back to your room, you tell mommy all about the fun you had, and all the new friends you have made. She seems very happy for you and says that the next time she'll have a day off, you, her, and your daddy will do something together.
You spend the rest of the day in the throne room, sitting on daddy's throne and playing king. The guards are nice enough to play along. It all stops, however, when a maid rushes inside the throne room and whispers something to a guard next to the throne. The guard nods once and turns to face you.
"Your highness, come with me please."
You look confused but comply nonetheless. The guard escorts you into a familiar – and totally unwelcome – part of the castle; the infirmary.
You immediately start to panic when you see your mother on the patient's bed and your father next to her. You rush to her side and ask for her well-being.
"I'm fine sweetie. In fact, I'm more then fine."
"I don't understand," you say. How can someone be fine if they're inside the infirmary?
Your father tugs your shoulder until you face him, he has a broad smile on his face "Son," he says, "You are going to have a little sister."