Lucifer Morningstar

At about week seven of my arrival here, I started teething.

This was not a fun experience. The first set of teeth that I had gotten were my incisors, which was a painful time of these large painful things that broke out of my jawline, and forced me back to bottle feeding because trying to suckle on anything other than ice chips was painful as hell. And, these were not the incisors of a herbivore-they were a bit sharp, could definitely give a nip, and they could do well for both meat and plants.

So, ponies were plant-preferred omnivores. Interesting.

The pre-molars came in as well, and some very impressive canine teeth. From what i could hear around me, these teeth were called “cutie teeth”, as I would probably hit my adult tooth set by the time I got my Cutie Mark.

Twilight Sparkle made another visit during this time, and in between her breast-feeding and the other Princesses, I was a very happy and content pony in terms of my meals.

Of course, they decided to start weaning me off of breast milk and onto slightly more solid foods. Which...well, it turns out that they did give me ice cream made from their breast milk, which was nice. Apple sauce? Delicious. Stewed pears? Not bad. Oatmeal? Pretty good. Sweet potatoes?

Nailed Celestia twice by spitting it out. I was not a fan of sweet potatoes.

So, in between that, learning how to walk, and my steady efforts to try and say something other than Goo! and Ahah! and other words in the foal vocabulary...I had a pretty good time. Even with teething, bladder issues, and wings that still didn’t quite work. Walking was easy. Running was fun. Pronking was awesome. And, I became an intrepid explorer of the castle, day and night. So much so that if there was a magical version of Lojack, the Princesses would have stuck it on me.

Oh, and an escape artist, as well. They posted guards, searched, improved my crib’s locks...nothing quite worked. This kept happening until one of the Princesses made sure I was asleep before they left.

At week eleven, we had a visitor-the fourth and final Princess of Equestria.

I’d learned, early on, that Twilight Sparkle was not an island of stability and calm in a sea of chaos and crisis.

In retrospect, that’s not fair. I learned later (by experience and by directly working with her) that if it was something like a monster trying to eat her, magical spells, and/or any number of disasters that hit Equestria, she was rock-solid. However, the moment you engaged Twilight Sparkle’s emotions...it got weird, fast. Considering that I was still having issues with being a pony, I could forgive a lot.

“Oh no, she’s coming, she’s coming,” Twilight Sparkle said, wearing an impressive groove in the floor of the nursery from her pacing(1). It wasn’t a scared sort of worried pacing, more nervous. I kept hearing that a “Princess Cadence” was coming into town, and by that time I understood-Equestria had no kings or queens, only princesses. Which was probably making every heraldry maker and social secretary in the land alcoholics from the sheer amount of booze needed to keep all the precedents straight. Speaking of that, what would the heraldry for Twilight Sparkle be? Books emblazoned? Hm…

This wonderful revelry of what would Princess Twilight Sparkle’s motto be(2) was ended when I heard a knock on the door, and the sound of “Princess Twilight Sparkle? Your guests are here,” from one of the guards that stood outside my room. The door knob glowed blue and it swung open to reveal a unicorn and an alicorn.

The unicorn was Twilight Sparkle’s brother, you could tell from the family resemblance alone. White fur, two-toned blue mane, impressive horn, his Cutie Mark was definitely a Twilight Sparkle one-three stars over a blue shield with the main star on Twilight Sparkle’s Cutie Mark. He came up to Twilight Sparkle and the two hugged mercilessly. “Twilly!” the male unicorn said.

“B.B.B.F.F.!” Twilight Sparkle said in return. “When did you get in?”

“Hour ago, had to do the court thing before we could come here,” the male unicorn said. He looked over at me and smiled. “So, this is Princess Celestia’s foal?”

“Adopted foal,” Twilight Sparkle said, and she came up to me. “Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, this is Lucifer Morningstar.”

I heard a soft cough from behind Shining Armor, and an alicorn came up from behind her. Vivid pink, cute as a button, beautiful wings and a long horn, and her Cutie Mark was probably the most fascinating thing that I had ever seen. It was a heart-which wasn’t unique in itself-surrounded by two gold accents. But, it was the heart that was interesting. Every other Cutie Mark that I’d ever seen had been like a tattoo or paint on a pony’s flank (it actually was their fur, I had a chance to root around Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s Cutie Marks to see that the color went to the roots). Princess Cadence’s Cutie Mark was a crystal-and it moved and changed, and was so very flexible, moving how a crystal heart on the flank of a pony should have moved.

I got all this in fifteen seconds, because on second sixteen of our first meeting, Princess Cadence had lifted me out of my crib with her magic, wrapped her front hooves up against me, and was making soft, cooing noises with my head on her shoulder. And, she smelled of love, and of care, and of joy. I liked being snuggled up into her fur and her mane...

Thirty seconds passed, and Shining Armor said, “Um, Cadence, dear, may I hold him?”

Princess Cadence was clearly not listening, and she was cooing in my ear, and whispering words like, “You are such a sweet and pretty and beautiful foal, I’m going to take you away from mean Princess Celestia and raise you myself and…”

“Ladybug,” Twilight Sparkle said.

Princess Cadence turned around and without a moment’s hesitation, handed me off like a load of bad eggs to Shining Armor, came up to Twilight Sparkle, and the two of them...started to dance?

“Sunshine, sunshine,” they both sang, dancing with each other. Then, all of a sudden, they dropped to their bellies and started to play peek-a-boo with their front hooves.

“Ladybug awake,” the kept singing, then got up on their back legs and rears, clapping their front hooves to their opposite hooves.

“Clap your hooves together,” and the singing continued with them turning around and bumping each other in the ass both hard enough and enthusiastically enough that I knew I would be seeing it in my wet dreams when I was older.

“And do a little shake!” they finished, and both of them broke out in laughter and hugs all around. “Miss you too, Twilly,” Princess Cadence said, as she looked and saw that I was firmly seated on Shining Armor’s back, my hooves in his mane. “And, he clearly likes you, as well.”

“Got to admit, he’s got a good grip,” Shining Armor said. I let off his neck a bit, I might have been hold up a bit tight… “And, cute, too. How old is he?”

“Princess Celestia’s best guess is about three months old,” Twilight Sparkle said. “And, mostly because he was still coughing up fluid and had his placenta attached. Which means...well, we’ll be having his first birthday party in nine months or so.”

“Has he flown yet?” Princess Cadence said. “Most pegasui fly by three months.”

“He’s gotten some air,” Twilight Sparkle sighed. “But, his wings are pretty weak. I’m trying to exercise them as much as I can, but…”

“How about we go to the Gardens?” Shining Armor said. “It’s big enough that he can have plenty of room to fly, and we can talk as well.”

“I like that idea,” Princess Cadence said.

Twilight Sparkle was already getting the travel diaper and the travel milk bags on her hips. “If you’ll lead on, B.B.B.F.F., I’m ready to go!”

I’ve been in gardens before. Golden Gate Park, Central Park, quite a few large gardens in major cities and I’ve always enjoyed and been impressed by them.

The Royal Canterlotian Gardens are not as large-it’s a “mere” 711 acres, but it has a lot of stuff going for it. From the Japanese (sorry, Neponese) tea garden to a small orchestra pit, two rivers, and a small boating pond, the Royal Canterlotian Gardens have one big advantage over someplace like Central Park. Namely, it was fully within the walls of Canterlot Castle itself and Royal property. Which meant it was very private and quiet.

And, you couldn’t hear a screaming alicorn foal trying to fly.

Oh, Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadence didn’t do anything as mean as just carry me up into the air and toss me at the ground(3). What they did was a bit nicer, but not much. They got my wings open, exercised them, then went up about three hundred feet, and played “get the apple slice” with me. Which was totally unfair for the simple fact that they knew how much I loved cinnamon-dusted apple slices. The only way to get the apple slices?

Fly up to either Twilight Sparkle or Princess Cadence and get them. Did I mention that I was a pretty weak flyer?

Yep. To get the desired, and delicious cinnamon-dusted apple slices, I had to fly up and catch them from the two alicorn princesses. Whom cheated further by Princess Cadence holding the slices in her mouth, so I had to kiss her every time. And, I loved kissing Princess Cadence. So, for about an hour, we kept flying, and flying, and flying…

And after one cycle of flying, my wings just gave out and I managed to only plummet fifteen feet from the...MOTHER OF GOD! I was at least a thousand feet up by now! How did I get here? Oh, now I know and I’ve figured it out-they kept adding altitude every single time I got an apple slice and I was so busy thinking about apple slices and flying that I didn’t notice I’d gained altitude.

From the purple aura, it was Twilight Sparkle that caught me and the two of them floated down to the ground. Shining Armor had already laid out a blanket and the diaper supplies, and said, “He’s actually pretty good, I’ve seen pegasus foals that have much worse flight times.”

“About an hour,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Okay, sixty-eight minutes. The mean average for a pegasus foal his age should be about seventy-five minutes.”

“What about alicorn foals?” Princess Cadence asked, settling down beside her husband and nuzzling his cheek.

That made Twilight Sparkle stop in her tracks. “That’s a good question. I mean...I asked Princess Celestia and she said he was doing fine, Luna doesn’t remember, and you’re the only alicorn foal-except for Lucifer here-in nearly ten thousand years. So, I really don’t know…”

Her voice trailed off a bit, then I realized what the expression on her face was. Eagerness. “So, when we’re done, it’s time to do some research! I’ll have to check out the books in the library on alicorn development and…”

BWRAPPPP!!! Yep, at that time, my bowels decided to cut loose. And bladder, too. So, I was now wet, sore, and miserable, and decided to share the pain around. “Uh oh,” Twilight Sparkle said, “we’ve got to change him.”

“May I?” Princess Cadence asked, and started to levitate the diapers and the wipes into view.

“Certainly, I’ll just offer advice,” Twilight Sparkle settled onto her back legs, and watched.

Turns out that Princess Cadence was pretty good at diaper changing. She also was pestering Twilight Sparkle to teach her the lactation spell, so she could feed me herself. But, Twilight Sparkle insisted that they had enough milk and pea mush to feed me lunch, and I could see the disappointment on Princess Cadence’s face when Twilight Sparkle said no(4).

So, I had a bottle of Princess Luna’s 2 am breast milk, some pea mush, and it was chased by the last of the cinnamon apple slices and a bottle of water. Twilight Sparkle cleaned everything up, and Princess Cadence looked at her husband and said, “We’ve got to have our own foal. I’ll even put up with the year of having one. He’s just so cute and adorable and even the mess he makes is interesting…”

“Cadence, dear, we’ve been trying for the past year,” Shining Armor replied, rubbing one of his flanks with a hoof. “And, while it’s been fun, we’ve both been busy trying to get the Crystal Empire back into the right century.”

“I know,” Princess Cadence sighed, “but I like taking care of foals. I think that if I wasn’t a princess, I’d be a nanny. I remember being your foalsitter, Twilight Sparkle, and I liked doing it, even when you broke out the massive charts.”

“Massive charts?” Shining Armor asked.

“Don’t bring that up, please,” Twilight Sparkle said, blushing incandescently at the same time.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Cadence told me, looking into my eyes, “studies everything. And, she studied me and her brother and when she was done, she had come up with a perfect calculation as to who would be my perfect stallion.”

“Oh? And, who did she find?” Shining Armor asked curiously.

“She made the most convincing case for you, Shining,” Princess Cadence leaned over and kissed Shining Armor on the nose.

He blushed like a lighthouse at night. “Hey, she didn’t need to make a case, I just knew you were the right one,” Shining Armor replied, and hugged Princess Cadence close. I made impressive baby sounds and hugged the both of them as well. Then, Twilight Sparkle decided to make this into a double-stuffed Oreo cookie hug by hugging me and Princess Cadence between her and Shining Armor…

Even with the sore wings, it was a good afternoon.

Princess Celestia saw us all in the main reception hall, with Princess Luna. I was riding on Shining Armor like a conquering king, and Princess Cadence and Twilight Sparkle were taking turns nuzzling and playing with me. “Princess Cadence, have you enjoyed your time with Lucifer Morningstar?” she asked.

“Yes, I have,” Princess Cadence replied. “I wish I could spend more time with him, but we have so much work to do this week.”

“While you are here, do spend as much time as you can with him,” Princess Celestia said with a smile. “He clearly does enjoy your company.”

And then, I managed to do the exact right thing...I think. I popped open my wings, gave myself a good push into the air, and hovered right up against Princess Celestia’s cheek. As I nuzzled her, I spoke my first words. “Mama Tia,” I said.

You could have heard a pin drop, and I realized just what I said. I had said words. Words that I wanted to say. Okay, not complete words, but the intent was there. Go me!

I dashed over to Princess Luna on my wings and nuzzled her as well and kissed her horn. “Mama Woona,” I said, smiling.

A swift little dash of wings, and I was cuddled up against Princess Cadence’s chin. “Mama ‘Adence,” I cooed into her chin and neck. I bounced onto her back, and wrapped my front legs around Shining Armor’s neck. “Daddy Shiny…”

One more dash, and I wrapped myself around Twilight Sparkle’s neck, nuzzling her close, and saying, “Mama Twilly, Mama Twilly...choo choo…”

“His first words,” Princess Celestia said softly at this. “His first words…Twilight, ‘choo choo’?”

“He loves to hear me read ‘The Little Engine That Could,’” Twilight Sparkle said in reply sitting down on her rear and holding me in her front legs. “I think...he’s adopted all of us.”

Princess Luna swept the both of us up in her front hooves. “And, we will never betray that trust,” Princess Luna replied.

Before I knew it, it was a pile of ponies, all of them hugging me and Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and Princess Cadence and Shining Armor…

And, in that instant, I think I had found my new home.

(1)-For all the issues of cleaning them, Princess Celestia insisted that the nursery had thick carpeting. Between the padding, the sound-deadening properties, and enough thickness to allow Twilight Sparkle to pace without wearing through to the stone, it meant that I was pretty well protected.
(2)-Probably was going to be Deus quem punire vult dementat. It sounded so like her.
(3)-The goal, of course, was to miss the ground. Unlike humans trying the same thing, I had the advantage of wings and not a complete lack of knowledge that what I was doing was impossible.
(4)-Mind you, I think Shining Armor was going to ask his sister to tell him the spell, for him and his wife to use later.

Lucky bastard.