The Northern Crown

by CoronaBorealis

Chapter 3: A Queen's Gem

Days of celebration have made the cold winter days seem much more warm and inviting, but even in times like this ponies can feel nervous, no one knowing that better than the royal families. The sounds of slow but constant hoofsteps can be heard clicking on the floor outside the nativity ward. The door to the waiting room opens up quickly and in walks Helios and Virgo.

Virgo looks into the room and sees Diamond pacing back and forth with a nervous look on his face, "We just got the news, how Is Harmony!?" she says with concern for her friend.

Diamond looks over at them and breaths a sigh of relief, "I'm glad you two are here... she's been in labor for about an hour now" he says with a shaking voice, "I'm so nervous... I wish i could be there next to her but they aren't letting me see her until it is all done..." he says as he looks at the door. "She was so scared... I hope it will all be over as fast as possible." The thought of finally meeting his young foal for the first time is rather overwhelming for him, his heart beating quickly as he's never felt this nervous before.

"You must calm yourself Diamond, being nervous like this won't help anything, she is being helped by some of Canterlot's best birth specialists, they will make sure she is healthy along with the foal" Virgo says as she opens her wing over her friend, wanting to comfort him as it is making her nervous for Harmony as well.

"It's not like you Diamond, you're normally always composed" Helios says with a hoof on his shoulder. "It's just like Virgo said, Harmony and the foal will be just fine, there is nothing to worry about" Helios then moves to hug Diamond and Virgo does the same.

"Thank you... that makes me feel better, I just want everything to be as easy as possible for Harmony... I wish they would let me be in there with her, but as the tradition is... the mare must always be the first to see the foal.... from all the labor they went through carrying them" he says as he sits down near the door, the sounds of his wife's pain on the other side of the door hurts his soul. "Be strong Harmony my love... be strong..."

*****

Two hours have passed but Diamond couldn't help but continue his nervous pacing, his ears are down as he tries to block out his wife's pain, but after a few moments he notices that things suddenly got much more quiet. He raises his head in surprise and his ears perk up as he looks at the door, he listens for any sounds at all as he was told that foals cry after they are born. His ears are practically on the door as he listens to the room, feeling worried when he doesn't hear any crying. "Oh no... something must have gone wrong! I-I have to go inside!"

His horn glows as he takes hold of the handle to open it but before he can the door slowly open and a nurse mare pops her head out of it and smiles "It was a perfect procedure!" she states with a big grin.

Diamond sighs in relief and nearly falls over from the weight that was lifted off of his shoulders, "Oh thank the heavens..." Diamond then looks back at her with concern "May I see them now?..."

The nurse nods slowly and motions for him to be quiet as she lets him in and closes the door.

Diamond feels the heat of the room and he gulps as he slowly walks forward into the room, a curtain blocking the area of the room where his wife laid, his heart pounds quickly and hard as he feels a combination of adrenaline and nervousness as he approaches the curtain, his quiet hoof steps echo in his ears as everything goes silent for him. "The nurse seemed happy from the operation... so why didn't my foal cry?... is there really nothing wrong?" he says in his mind as he reaches the curtain. Diamond slowly lifts his hoof to part the curtain to reveal what lays on the other side, but as he moves the curtains little by little they feel like they weigh a ton to him.

With all of his strength and willpower he slowly parts the curtains and walks through them, the sight that lays before his eyes nearly brings him to tears. There on a bed rests his beautiful wife laying on her side with a very exhausted expression, and as he looks down her body he sees a tiny little ball of fluff near her belly, the tiny ball of fluff being a regal looking royal blue. The little foal's tiny hooves fade from royal blue to white and has a mane and tail of silver with white tips, the foal's fur sparkling beautifully thanks to his crystal father. Diamond's eyes start to sparkle with tears and he sobs softly as he moves to hug Harmony tightly, sobbing into her mane as he feels a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders, "I-I was so worried about you..." he says with a shaken voice.

Harmony smiles weakly "you make it sound like it was hard..." she says in a quiet frail voice. "He's beautiful isn't he?..." she says as she looks down at her little colt, curled up and nestled into her fur.

"O-Our foal's a colt?... I had a feeling it would be a filly" Diamond says as he looks down at his son, "He is beautiful... he looks a lot like his mother" he says as he climbs up onto her bed and lays down next to her to support her.

"You flatter me... as always..." she says as she lays her head on his hooves and rests her tired eyes.

"I was scared something went wrong when I didn't hear any crying... it's not normal for newborns to be quiet right?...

"No... but he is just fine... he's just a quiet gentle foal..." she says as she nearly falls asleep "he recognized my voice and hasn't moved from that spot since he was cleaned..."

Diamond looks down at their foal and smiles as he lays his head on her's, "Thank you for this wonderful gift Harmony..." he says as he finally lets go of his stress and falls into a peaceful slumber, listening to the sounds of his wife and foal's breathing.

*****

The gentle nudge of a loving muzzle awakens Diamond from his slumber and he yawns in defiance, not wanting to wake up from such a relaxing sleep. He feels the nudge again and groans as he slowly opens his eyes and sees that it is Harmony.

"Shhhhh look" she says with a quiet voice and she looks over towards her belly and sees her little foal finally waking up for the first time, he raises his head and perks his little ears up as he looks around curiously. "Stay still and quiet" she says as they both watch him try and get up on his hooves but soon fails in his endeavors, he whimpers and then neighs softly for his mother, using his front hooves to crawl and try to find her.

Harmony lays her head down with her eyes closed and stays completely still as her little foal continues his search for his mother, eventually she hears him crawling right in front of her face, she then feels his tiny nose sniffing her muzzle and once he does she opens her eyes and looks at him, surprising the foal and making him yelp in surprise. When he realizes it's his mother he giggles and hugs her muzzle which makes Harmony smile warmly and rewards him with a loving nuzzle.

Diamond smiles as he watches their touching moment, but within moments Harmony lifts their colt up and sets their colt down in front of him.

"Say hello to your father little one" she says in a reassuring voice as she gently nudges him towards Diamond.

The colt whimpers softly but after her encouraging words he looks at his father's hooves and slowly crawls over to them and sniffs them, he then smiles and tries to crawl over them and hug them. The sight of this makes Diamond feel butterflies in his stomach and he chuckles softly, "You weren't kidding when you said he was quiet, but it seems he also has a good sense of curiosity."

Harmony nods slowly and kisses Diamond's cheek, "It seems he likes you darling." Diamond blushes at the sudden move but nods slowly with a shy smile "I was worried he wouldn't." Diamond looks down and sees that he was successful in climbing his hoof and is now trying to chew on his fur as his stomach growls. Harmony giggles softly and gently picks him up and moves him under her blanket for his breakfast. "He's got an appetite like his father."

Diamond gasps exaggeratedly and scoffs playfully "Excuse me? are you saying I eat too much?"

"No you silly colt" she says as she pokes his nose with her hoof "He's just going to be a big handsome stallion like you." Diamond chuckles softly and shakes his head, "No I think he get's his beauty from you."

Harmony rolls her eyes with a grin and lays her head down to relax with her Husband and foal.

"Well.... I think it is about time we gave our little one a name, unless we want to call him foal for the rest of his life," Diamond says as he looks down at where his son is, "Any ideas? I was thinking..... Zircon."

Harmony thinks about it for a little but soon shakes her head, "No... I've thought long and hard about his name, his name will be..." she gently pulls him out after he is done feeding and he yawns cutely and curls up.

"Corona... Corona Borealis"

Diamond smiles and nods slowly, loving the name as he thinks it is a very noble name "It's perfect Harmony, I love it." The compliment brings a big smile to her face as it makes her feel confident with his name, as she looks down at him they both hear a knock at the door and they both look at the door.

"Oh that must be Starswirl, come in" he calls and the pony at the door opens it, and as he predicted it was Starswirl.

"I was told the miracle finally happened, I wanted to give you three time before I visited," he says as he shuts the door quietly, in case the foal was asleep. "So what did the foal end up being? was it a filly like you predicted Diamond?"

Diamond shakes his head as Starswirl makes his way over to them, "Our little angel is a colt" he says proudly.

"Would you like to see our little darling, and your future student?" she says to Starswirl as he stands before them. A smile crosses his face and he nods slowly "It would be an honor to meet the young prince."

Harmony and Diamond smile at each other and she gently lifts Corona up with magic and sets him down in front of her so Starswirl can see him, Corona looks up at Starswirl curiously and tilts his head. Starswirl looks at him and smiles with his teeth "Hello there young Prince, my name is Starswirl the bearded." Corona looks confused for a little but soon reaches up for him with his front hooves, sitting back on his flank.

"Seems like he wants you to pick him up" Diamond says as he motions for him to pick him up, giving Starswirl his approval. With that Starswirl nods slowly and sits down at the foot of the bed and gently picks Corona up with magic and brings him to his hooves, when Corona sees Starswirl's horn glow with magic he looks at it in wonder, the glow of his horn reflecting off his pupils. Starswirl chuckles softly as he sets him in his hooves, "It seems he already has an enthusiasm for discovery, this is my horn little one" he says as he lifts Corona up to his horn. Corona reaches over to his horn and touches it gently with his hoof, when he touches it Starswirl's eyes widen in surprise as he feels a sudden sensation of warmth flow from his horn to the rest of his body. The warmth brings a feeling of tranquility to Starswirl's soul that he hasn't felt since the last time he felt his mother's warm embrace before she passed to the next world. The sensation brings tears to his eyes but can't be seen by Diamond or Harmony because Corona blocks their view of his face.

"It would seem he likes you as well Starswirl" Diamond says which snaps Starswirl out of his trance and he shakes his head and uses magic to dissipate his tears. "Y-Yes it would appear so..." he says in a slightly shaken voice.

Harmony notices his shaken voice "Are you okay Starswirl? you seem a little flustered."

"O-Of course" he says as he shakes his head again, "He's just.... so adorable you know" he says as he tries to mask what happened as he himself doesn't know. He gives Corona a gentle hug then gives him back to Harmony, he gently touches Corona's horn with his hoof, "He will be powerful, just like his parents, this I know for sure," he states with confidence.

Corona giggles when he touches his horn which scores a laugh from all the adult ponies, Harmony gently kisses his head and Corona lets out a soft high pitch neigh that she finds adorable.

Diamond lifts a pitcher of tea that was brought to them earlier and pours two cups of it "Would you like some tea Starswirl? it's still warm."

Starswirl originally planned on this being just a small visit but after that experience with Corona, he feels fascinated by it and hopes he will see the young prince do something else, being that unicorn foals have such unstable magical outbursts. "I would love some tea, thank you Diamond."

Author's Note:

Hello everybody, my apologies for the long waits, a lot of big life changes are happening at the moment, moving to Florida on the 8th, but I should be able to write significantly more often when the move is over. I'll do my best to get at least one chapter out a week. The pace of the story will pick up once we get character introductions out of the way, don't want to go too fast and mess it up. Anyways thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. :)

Comments

[SamSwordsman123]

You're missing a lot of commas in the dialogue.

[Draconequuz]

"Corona... Corona Borealis"

That did not age well.

[CoronaBorealis]

10668023
Yeah, fortunately I published well before the pandemic.