//------------------------------// // Chapter III // Story: Foals // by Scarheart //------------------------------// The issue with the nobles was, for the moment set aside. There were more important things to worry about. Like assuring a nervous nation of ponies Celestia was back. Her ethereal mane and tail, absent for over twelve months, now once again radiated her power. Twilight Sparkle was relieved to have the burden returned to its rightful owner. Since having her power restored, Celestia had to get used to what had once been old hat to her. In the unnerving time since no longer being in touch with the great fiery celestial object in the sky. Twilight was more than happy to return the sun to the Solar Princess. It brought to mind the human saying that it felt like putting on a favorite pair of jeans after a long diet. Five days ago, she raised the sun for the first time in over a year. It felt like welcoming an old friend back. There was nothing in the world quite like walking into a room and seeing the Princess of the Sun playing peek-a-boo with her foals on her bed. Antares and Zaniah were lying on their backs on the bed while their mother hid her face behind her hooves. Luna entered her sister’s quarters just in time to see Celestia reveal herself to her giggling colt and filly. “Here’s mommy!” A pair of shrieks told Luna the foals were really into the game. “Where’s mommy?” Celestia covered her face with her hooves. Antares and Zaniah waited with anticipation. Celestia pulled her hooves away. “Here she is!” The foals giggled. Antares spat up, oblivious to his mess. In the week since Colonel Mustard spoke with her sister, the Council had gone strangely silent. The two sisters had discussed it, thinking there was more to the noble nosiness than a question of legitimacy. Twilight was currently looking into it, along with her newest human friend, Harold Jamerson of Liverpool. His education into equine laws had extended to the nuances of court politics. He was finding the experience to be most enlightening. Celestia noticed her sister’s entrance and grinned. “What brings you here?” she asked as she paused her game. Little hooves waved at her muzzle, batting her lips lightly as they sought for a hoofhold. Both wanted Mommy’s attention. “What is it like?” Luna asked, completely forgetting the reason she had come. An ache had formed in her heart as she watched her sister play with her foals. “Having foals of your own?” Celestia looked up abruptly from Antares and Zaniah. Her eyes fixed on Luna’s and she saw the wistfulness there. “Come. Pick one up,” she offered. “Aunt Luna must want some time with her niece and nephew.” “I do,” admitted the dark mare wistfully. “Sit with me. Have a foal in your hooves. We’ll have tea and talk about anything you want to.” Celestia patted the side of her bed unoccupied by either herself or the foals. There was a moment of silence between the two sisters, broken only by the sounds foals typically made. Tea was brought by one of Celestia’s maids. Both princesses were served and the maid exited with a quiet bow. “Was it worth it?” Luna finally asked. She winced the moment the question left her lips. Zaniah felt perfect against her chest, leaving a dark stain of drool. It tugged at her heart. “If I could have foals every year, I would,” replied Celestia with a happy sigh. “It’s like seeing another form of myself living on in the life of another. I think we’ve forgotten that our little ponies are immortal, living on through the generations. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen old faces return. It gladdens my heart to think of them as my friends come back to comfort me through the blood of their descendants.” Luna considered her sister’s words. “I think I can understand that. I feel...blessed to be a part of this. I know I love them both, sister. But the suffering you put yourself through…” Celestia proffered a cup of tea to her sister. “Nothing can be done about the past. The lessons I’ve gleaned from it were harsh ones. I like to think I am a better pony for it.” She sipped her own, dismissing the frown on her sister’s face. Luna did so and had Zaniah thrust into her grasp. The startled filly took a moment to recognize the mare and gurgled accordingly, drooling as she smiled. A happy coo followed and Luna found herself gently placing her nose in the foal’s chest. She inhaled the scent of her niece and whickered happily. She liked the smell of foals. Luna always considered herself a protector of her ponies. It swelled her heart to hold a precious little thing in her grasp. Celestia looked on, smiling softly. She watched as Zaniah wrapped her hooves around Luna’s snout and made adorable foal sounds. “I’m so glad they’re beginning to bond with you,” she stated. “She was so frightened of you the first time you two met.” “You intend to introduce them to their sister.” Luna commented quietly. She did not mind foal drool on her coat. “Yes.” Celestia leaned over and gave her now dozing daughter a kiss to a temple. “Closure for myself. I was in a bad way then. It made me withdraw to myself and not see the pains you were going through.” “When do you plan on going?” “Soon, I think. I can’t put it off. I keep finding excuses not to go.” The elder sister sighed unhappily. Antares wriggled at her mood swing. “I’m afraid.” “Do you wish me to come?” Luna shifted her bag legs. “I would like to come when you do go. Please?” Celestia sipped her tea, considering for a moment or two. “Of course. I’d love to have you. We’ll make a family outing of it. Perhaps stop by Ponyville on the way back?” she suggested. “Why Ponyville?” Luna gently rocked Zaniah. She sipped her tea. It needed more sugar, she decided. “The human settlement has progressed over the past few months,” Celestia said as her sister went for the sugar bowl. “I would like to see how they’ve come along. Reports are one thing, seeing the growth with your eyes is something else.” The smaller alicorn’s eyes darkened briefly, but she knew pony-human relations were in their infancy. She had to put the past behind her. “I am getting better,” Luna said to Celestia defensively as her sister read her face and frowned a little. “I shall make human friends, I promise.” The sisterly smile returned. “You’re just being overprotective, Lulu.” It grew as she observed her sister was still fixing her tea. “Care for some tea to go with your sugar?” “I’m fine, ‘Tia.” Luna sipped her tea. She had not intended to put so much sugar into her cup. “Twilight is doing wonderfully in my stead,” Celestia noted. “She’ll make a fine ambassador to Earth.” “What is it like having your connection to the sun restored?” Luna tilted her head to one side with curiosity. “I can’t imagine being without my celestial companion.” “I felt...naked.” The Solar Princess felt her son curl up in her folded forehooves. She sipped her own tea. Celestia grimaced. “I felt on the verge of panic. Remember how I asked you to try and keep my dreams calm?” Luna nodded. “I thought the disconnection might be the reason.” “You know why I had to do it.” “I remember. The sun is heavy and hot. Your connection to it makes your magic heavy and hot.” “To have magic so great that one cannot carry a foal to term…” Celestia flickered to one of her worst memories. “I was so naive, so overconfident in my ability to control my power.” “Celestia, please don’t do this to yourself.” Antares stirred and whimpered. A hoof reached up and touched under his mother’s jaw. She responded by touching the bottom of her chin to his snout. Foals were sensitive to the mood of their mothers. The little colt was no different. “Of course, you’re right. Both of you.” She smiled at Luna and nibbled playfully on her son’s mane. Zaniah shook her little mess of pink mane and yawned her indifference. “So, how long do you suppose before they make their proposal?” Luna queried with a slight lopsided grin. She sipped her cup of sugar with tea. “The nobles?” Celestia whirred in her thoughts, wavering her gaze on Zaniah before shifting to her son. “They’re trying to worm their way closer to the throne by arranging their foals in marriages with mine. They’ve got lawyers sifting through the dust of ancient law tomes, searching for a way to force me to arrange their futures.” “You do not seem worried.” “I am not. We live in modern times, not at the whims of any specific caste. I want to get us started towards a constitutional diarchy.” Celestia poured herself some more tea. She added a half a spoonful of sugar. “After looking at the human forms of government, I’m convinced Equestria is not functioning at a level to even compete with them financially.” “Equestria still controls the Gate,” Luna reminded her sister. She sighed, “But you are correct. I have ‘done my homework’, as Twilight proudly noted just the other day. We need to modernize our industry. However, I refuse to accept the power sources the humans have employed the past hundred years on their world. We can harness magic and perhaps hydroelectricity.” “Geothermal energy is in abundance,” Celestia reminded her. She was glad of the change of subject. Prince Blueblood would be giving her an explanation soon enough. No doubt he was trying to do some damage control with his noble friends. The poor stallion had a hard enough time keeping them off her back, but the foals were blood in the water to them. They would not stand a chance with this outdated means of getting to her through her foals. It was not an evil thing they were doing, but they were trying to assert some control in the face of humanity and its ideals. Every since First Contact, the nobles were discovering humans regarding their class system as an ‘adorable antique’. Humans were wary of unicorns and gravitated towards the earth ponies and the pegasus ponies. The Canterlot elite were discovering humans did not trust them, just as Princess Luna once distrusted the apelike creatures (she was getting better about it). “Enough about what’s going on out there,” Luna chided. “Let’s go out and about and show Antares and Zaniah the world beyond the castle walls.” “No guards,” Celestia decided. Luna arched a brow. “No guards?” “No guards,” affirmed the Sun Princess. The smaller alicorn looked down at Zaniah. “Did you hear that? She said ‘no guards’.” The foal filly blinked her eyes as she heard her aunt’s voice directed at her. Rolling awkwardly, she readjusted herself, came fully awake and began to find her hooves. She made a loud shriek and hugged one of her aunt’s forehooves. Celestia rolled her eyes and laughed. “I might forgo my regalia,” she mused as she set her tea cup aside. Gently she picked up Antares and put him with his sister. The alicorn rose to her hooves, sliding off the bed with the grace of a swan. “What do you think of that saddle Rarity made for me?” she inquired Luna. “It is really rather quite nice,” Luna said. “Generosity managed to keep it simple without losing her touch. What do you think of it?” Celestia grinned and batted her eyes. “Why, it makes me feel like a pretty mommy!” Both mares giggled. “I do like it. Far better than a stroller. Did you know each of the Elements had a hoof in its making? It was from all of the girls.” She was very proud of her saddle as she flared her horn. It appeared on her back, fitted snugly between her wings. The straps were already around her barrel and over her chest and shoulders. “It does look becoming,” admitted Luna softly. With a nod from her sister, she picked up her nephew and niece, placing them in the saddle. “Fetching, actually.” Celestia huffed and blew a raspberry at Luna. Antares and Zaniah followed suit as they parrotted their mother. The result was spittle and slobber all over each other. They did not seem to mind. Luna was smiling openly as she fetched a blanket and draped it over them. The saddle would keep it from falling off with enchantments Twilight had placed upon it. “I’m glad the doctors declared the foals in good health,” Luna said as she tucked in the twins. They fought against her invasion, squealing some. Antares was especially feisty. “I’m surprised they have not surged yet.” “I suspect it’s a little different for alicorns,” Celestia said, glancing over her shoulder. “It’s been so long, I don’t even remember my surges. I can barely remember yours. You turned my fur into dandelion fluff, as I recall.” “It was my cookie.” Luna sniffed indignantly. “I do remember sneezing on you. Your fur went poof!” “It did not go poof!” “Did so!” They stared at each other in mock anger before Luna’s cheeks puffed and she burst out laughing. Celestia joined in. The sisters nuzzled. Muffled sounds of foals settling in the saddle and beneath the blanket attracted their attention. Zaniah’s head was the first to poke through. She spat up for seemingly no reason and made a loud and excited shriek. Antares joined her and promptly began chewing the edge of the saddle’s basket. He drooled as he did so. Luna noted both twins did indeed drool in copious amounts. “I really haven’t had a chance to see you much this past week. Too much going on. Are you acclimating well to the return of your magic?” Luna asked Celestia as she eyed the ethereal mane. “I am. The ceremony was simple, thankfully.” Celestia tossed her head and began cleaning her foals with her tongue. They were so messy! “I was glad you were there. Cadence couldn’t make it quite yet. She’s not due for another week.” “I want a photograph of her foal with yours.” “I’d like that. Another one with all seven alicorns together.” “Seven is a lucky number.” “It is indeed.” “What of the Council?” Luna asked. “They’re afraid, Lulu. They think they are becoming irrelevant with the changes in the world around them. Blueblood will not let me down. He’s a snob, but he’s a very good pony. His house has always had close ties to ours. I trust him to quell the concerns of the Council.” “They need a purpose,” Luna realized. “They will find one. A beneficial one. There is plenty of time.”