Act one - Growing up

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 wasn't afraid of showing it. Needless to say… nopony will EVER comment about you being an animal again.

It's been three months since you were born, and 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 to – if not obeyed – one step requests like; 'Put that down'… that 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', and you learned that words mean more than objects like 'cup', but also mean abstract ideas like 'mine.'

By the time you were 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 summoned the chief scientist to study you.

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.

It is 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 diaper change, but today is your first day in daycare. Apparently, this castle has an exclusive daycare for the foals whose parents work in the castle. Your mother is very excited for you to meet the foals and befriend them. But she's also quite upset, she loves you to bits and she wants to spend all her time with you, which, as a queen of an entire country, is rather impossible.

The walk to the daycare isn't long; you are sitting on your mother's back, being led through the castle by your mother. The maids practically melted at the sight of you and often caressed your exposed 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, passing you to an equally distraught Gaia, who thanked the nice maid for retrieving you.

Your mother makes a sudden turn, snapping you out of your thoughts. She enters a brightly colored room with at least two dozen foals. 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 Gaia 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 your mother "May I?"

Gaia laughs softly and said, "Of course, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't gonna let you take care of him."

The mare smiles and lifts you from your mother's back. She sits you down in front of her and examines your form. You are just about 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, looking up to meet her gaze. She smiles at you and moves away until you are face to face with Butter Cup again. You feel something press against your back, forcing you to step closer towards the mare.

"Come on now, sweetie. Don't 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 liked the maids, but other ponies weren't as nice. They weren't rude, but not as nice as the maids, and that made you slightly nervous around other ponies, especially since you looked nothing like them.

Butter Cup simply smiles and brushes your hair to the side, clearing your view and letting her see your bright eyes.

She slightly nudges you towards the other foals. You take a final glance towards your mommy, seeing her smiling and silently cheering for you makes you feel slightly better, though the odd glances you receive from the other foals aren't helping.

Finally, your mother leaves the room, leaving 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 had since you were born.

It was shortly after lunch time that your mother comes to pick you up. You thanked Butter Cup and rushed to your mother, hugging her foreleg tightly.

"I-I missed you…" you stutter.

Your mother chuckles and says, "It's only been a few hours sweetie, and by the looks of things, you enjoyed your time here."

She moves her free foreleg and slowly caressing your back, bringing you closer to her, oh so warm coat.

"But you were not there…" you reason, or as much reason a toddler can, which makes your mother's heart catch in her throat.

She smiles at you and gives you a kiss directly on your forehead. She then picks you up and sits you on her back. She thanks Butter Cup as well and exits the room.

On your way back to your room, you tell your mother all about the fun you had, and all the new friends you made. She seems very happy for you and says that the next time she'll have a day off, you, her and your father will do something together.

The rest of the day you spend in the throne room, sitting on your father'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 unwelcomed – 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're going to have a little sister."

Author's Note

Another chapter for your enjoyment. Next chapter will feature filly Celestia
So prepare yourselves for some comedic mischief and general trolling...