Chapter Two

Sunny Smiles was still in awe of the princesses. Yes, she had met them when they had visited High Hopes, but she just could not believe that they had sent one of their Royal Mail Couriers to fetch her! She had been ever so surprised when Petal had called her office from the main office, saying how one was here for her.

As she walked with Silver Quick through the gates of the castle, she nervously wondered what they needed her for. A small part of her wondered about  Lily Note, but she quickly ignored it. After all, she had taken great pains to cover up Lily's appearance to outsiders. While it was possible for a couple to have an alicorn foal, it was extremely rare, and most gave up their child to royalty. When Princess Cadance had ascended, her adopted family had told her to live with Princess Celestia, so that she could live the life that she deserved.

Sunny almost did not know why she had kept Lily. She supposed that her motherly instincts had kicked in when Lily's father had dropped her off at High Hopes. She could even recall his words as he pressed the sleeping alicorn into her arms.

"Her mother died during childbirth at our home. I have sworn the midwife into secrecy, and I am not long for this world."

"Sir, whatever do you mean?"

"It's a familial disease. Please, take care of her! And some day, she will rise from her small beginning to a new life. Promise me that you will look after her!"

"I-I will, good sir. And what of her mother's and your names? I must tell her one day of you two."

The sickly looking pegasus smiled sadly. "Her name was Sweet Zephyr, and mine Gale Force. Possiamo rivederci nella morte."

Before Sunny could even ask what that meant, Gale was gone. He had disappeared in the cold, rainy night.

Sunny never did find out what those strange words had meant. She had never heard that strange language before, but it had sounded so beautiful...

"Miss Smiles? Is something wrong?"

Sunny snapped out of her thoughts. "Come again?"

Silver Quick was looking at her. "Well, you've been awfully quiet."

"Oh, it's nothing. Just lost in thoughts."

Silver nodded. "Well, we are here."

They were approaching the large doors of the throne room, which were closed. Sunny had never been to this part of the castle, or in it at all, as she had never needed the Princesses' guidance. She nervously tucked a stray hair behind an ear.

Silver nodded in greeting to the two guards standing next to either side of the doors, they nodded curtly in response, and opened the wide doors. Two other guards were on the other side.

"Your Highnesses, Royal Messenger Silver Quick has arrived, along with Miss Sunny Smiles of High Hopes Orphanage," announced one of the guards.

Sunny trotted over to her two rulers. Princesses Celestia and Luna were both standing in front of their two thrones, Luna's being covered in a yellow shroud for Day Court. When she got in front of them, she bowed respectfully. She looked up somewhat apprehensively, still unsure of her business there.

"Miss Sunny Smiles," Princess Luna began, "you are probably wondering why we have called you here, yes?"

Sunny nodded. "Yes, I was curious as to why you have called upon me, Your Highnesses."

"Miss Sunny," Celestia began, "my sister, Luna, would like to adopt a foal from your orphanage."

Sunny was in total shock. "W-w-what?! A-adopt?? From MY orphanage?!" Surely, this was not actually happening. Yes, this was just an odd dream! Why on Equus would a royal want to adopt a foal from her orphanage? Unless, of course, they knew... No, no, no! There was no way they could know about her!

"Yes, it is true," Celestia said, smiling kindly to the shocked mare.

"And which foal would this be?" Sunny anxiously awaited their answer.

"A young filly named Lily Note. If I remember correctly, she is of the alicorn race?" Celestia found it most difficult to hide her internal mirth. Just seeing the look upon this poor mare's face was highly entertaining. I'm too evil for my own liking, she thought to herself.

Sunny had already been shocked by her one of her ruling princesses wanting to adopt a foal from her orphanage. But now, THEY KNEW ABOUT LILY?!?!

She did not realize that she had said that last part out loud, but she was too busy fainting from the shock of it all. As she lost consciousness, she could vaguely hear somepony trying to hid their snickering.

Celestia lost it completely, giggling hysterically like a little filly. Luna rolled her eyes, fed up with her "older" sister's ridiculous antics. Silver, meanwhile, was trying anxiously to wake up the unconscious Sunny.

"I don't really see how you are the elder, Tia. Honestly, it's not even funny."

Celestia tried to calm down. 'I-I'm sor-rry, Lu-una, i-i-it's-s just- BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Her sudden outburst startled Silver, who gave her with an annoyed look.

"Forgive me, Princess, but she has gone into quite a state of shock. I fail to see the humor in this situation."

Celestia calmed herself down, wiping a tear from her eye. "Of course. I'm sorry, it's just that I love 'trolling' ponies, as they put it today. I also have a weird sense of humor."

"I'll say." Luna snorted. "One time, she was done with an... issue with Twilight Sparkle, she started laughing like a mad mare!"

Celestia sniffed haughtily. "You just had to be there, Lulu. Those screaming townsponies were running all over the place!  Besides, Twilight's friends' reactions were just too perfect."

"Yes, ha ha ha," said Luna sarcastically. "Twilight sending almost all of Ponyville into complete chaos is just too funny."

"I think that she's waking up!"

Celestia and Luna were snapped out of their disagreement by Silver's sudden exclamation. Sure enough, Sunny's eyes were beginning to flutter open, and with the help of Silver, she got back to her hooves, although somewhat shakily.

"F-f-forg-give m-me, Y-your Hi-i-ighnesses. I th-thought you said that you wished to adopt an alicorn from my orphanage." She giggled somewhat hysterically.

Celestia smiled brightly. "Yes, and her name is Lily Note!"

Sunny went silent. "I-I see," she said after a pause. "And how did you come to know of her?"

"Well," Luna began, "Silver here found her..."

"... we sent for you, and now, we are here."

Sunny nodded. "I am terribly sorry for hiding her away, Your Highnesses." She bowed he head apologetically to them.

Luna smiled sympathetically. "It is fine, Miss Smiles. However, I am quite curious as to why you did so."

"I guess that I felt somewhat responsible for her. After all, her father made me promise to take care of her. I suppose that my maternal instincts kicked in as well, and I felt protective of her. I feared that she would be taken away, somewhere where she wouldn't be happy..."

Celestia nodded. "What were your plans should she ever want to leave the orphanage, once she turned 18?"

Sunny paused, and thought for a minute. After a moment, she replied, "I never really thought about it. She is 12 now, so I had six more years left to plan. It just seemed far off enough that I didn't really plan anything. I suppose that I would've sent her to you two, eventually, claiming that a unicorn had ascended somehow.

"Do you really plan on adopting her, Princess Luna?"

"Yes," replied Luna. "I feel that it would be good to raise a child, and it would be nice for her to have a family."

Sunny's smile faded somewhat. "Of course..."

Luna cocked her head. "Is something wrong, Miss Smiles?"

"It's quite alright. I come to care for all of the foals at the orphanage, and it's always hard to see them leave."

"If you'd like, you are always welcome to visit," offered Celestia. "After all, Lily spoke highly of you, saying that you were kinder than most heads of orphanages are made out to be."

"I could?" Sunny brightened considerably. "Oh, thank you so much!"

"It is always a pleasure," responded Celestia.

"If you do not mind," Luna said, "when is a convenient time to complete the adoption process?"

"If I could just quickly get the papers from my office, and gather up Lily's belongings, we could do it now."

"That won't be necessary," Silver said helpfully. "I'll go and get them from Miss Petal Showers straight away!" With that said, she flew out of the Throne Room, towards High Hopes Orphanage.

"Since you are here already," said Celestia, "perhaps you would care to join us for dinner?"

"Princess, I'm not really sure if I am worthy t-"

"Oh, stop with this 'I'm not worthy' nonsense," scoffed Luna. "Of course you can dine with us!"

"Miss Lily Note, I just wanted to remind you that dinner will be served in about an hour."

Lily looked away from her luxurious room, so different from the small room that she had shared with Gumdrop and Bluebelle. They had been nice roommates, but it had been a bit cramped. Now, however, she would have to start sleeping in a silent room, without the sounds of two other fillies peacefully slumbering. The bathroom was also amazing, with a large tub (she felt as if it were a hot tub!), a big shower, a porcelain throne and sink, with a large mirror to top it off.

Feather Duster, the maid who had showed her to her room, smiled kindly. She placed the folded quilt she had been carrying upon the foot of the regal, queen-sized bed.

"Here's an extra blanket, just in case you ever get cold."

"I don't believe I'll ever get cold in such a lovely room," said Lily, giggling.

Feather smiled. "But of course. If you ever need anything, just give us a ring." She showed Lily a tasseled rope near the bed. "Oh," she said after a pause, "would you like to freshen up before dinner? I can call some ladies in waiting to assist you. Here, I'll show you how to call for them." She pulled on the rope three times, the first two for exactly a second, while the last one was for two. She lowered her hoof. "We usually employ unicorns for this job, because they can teleport, but quite a few are pegasi and Earth ponies."

Soon enough, four young mares appeared in the doorway. One was a cream-colored unicorn with curly, rosey locks, golden eyes, and a cutie mark of a dove holding a rose. The second mare was a sandy pegasus with windswept sea-colored hair and green highlights, sea-green eyes, and a cutie mark of a wave. The third was another unicorn, who had a coat of orchid, long violet hair with pink highlights that almost reached the floor, magenta eyes, and a cutie mark of a lavender flower. The final mare was a unicorn with a pale blue coat, blue and cerulean hair, sky blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a morning glory flower.

All four started slightly at the sight of the alicorn, before hastily bowing. Feather explained the situation to them, and all four nodded in understanding.

"Lily," Feather started, "these four mares will be your ladies in waiting. This-" she gestured to the cream and rosy unicorn, who stepped forward- "is Rosebud..."

Rosebud smiled kindly at Lily. "It will be a pleasure serving you, Princess Lily."

"U-um, 'Princess??'"

"Well, if Princess Luna is adopting you, then that will be your title!"

Feather nodded in agreement, and Rosebud stepped back. The sandy pegasus stepped forward next. "...Foamy Sea..."

Foamy Sea held out a hoof in greeting. "I will also enjoy my time serving you, Principessa." She had an Italian accent.

Lily smiled. "Grazie mille!"

Foamy started slightly. "Sai parlare italiano?!"

Lily frowned. "Umm, somewhat. So dire un-ummm...-qualche frase."

Foamy smiled happily. "I will gladly teach you the language, Principessa." She stepped back as well.

Feather gestured to the purple unicorn. "...Lavender..."

Lavender grinned at Lily. "It'll be fun serving you, Princess! I'm really good at styling manes and tails." She brought a hoof to Lily's mane, and felt it. "Seeing as how you were born an alicorn, your hair will become ethereal pretty soon. I'll show you how to keep it under control! Oh, and just call me 'Lav,' 'kay?" Lav stepped back.

Finally, the blue unicorn stepped forward.

"...and here we have Morning Glory!"

Morning Glory nodded politely, mustering a smile. She did not say anything, which confused Lily.

"She's mute," explained Rosebud. "Something happened to her in her past, but we don't ask."

Lily looked at Morning. She had a sad sort of look to her, and her upper eyelids seemed to droop either sadly or drowsily over her eyes. Lily walked up to Morning, and hugged her. She seemed somewhat surprised, but soon returned the hug.

"Now," interrupted Lav, "I believe that we need to freshen you up for dinner!"

"So, Rosie, how are things going for your sister?"

Lily Note listened silently as Rosebud, Foamy, and Lav all gossiped, while Morning quietly worked a vanilla-scented shampoo into the filly's mane.

"Oh, Rose Luck is always the same. She and our cousins have such a bad case of paranoia. It's completely ridiculous!"

"I'm not very surprised," responded Foamy, "considering all that happens in that città pazza! I mean, there's always something going on, is there not?"

"Psh. 'Something going on' is an understatement." Lav levitated a pitcher of water above Lily's soapy head. "Close your eyes and mouth now, Princess." She poured the water, washing away most of the shampoo. "Didn't you hear the story of how Princess Twilight ascended?" The other three shook their heads. "Well," Lav continued, "apparently, Princess Celestia sent her this old journal of Star Swirl the Bearded's, and she accidentally switched around the cutie marks of the other Elements of Harmony!" Rosebud and Foamy gasped. "I know, right? It's hard to believe how that town became so depressed and angry without Lady Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, to cheer them up."

Rosebud nodded. "Yes, Luck did send me a letter about that. It was mostly about how Lady Rarity had messed up the weather, which messed up her garden. Honestly, she cares too much about her flowers." She drained most of the bath water, and replaced it with some fresh water. She then began to rub an orangey soap into Lily's coat.

Foamy giggled. "Imagine the chaos that would ensue if our principessas had their cutie marks mixed up!" She also began to work the soap into Lily's coat.

Lav rolled her eyes playfully, levitating a brush off of a small stand next to her. "Well, I'm sure that Discord wouldn't mind much. I still don't really understand how Lady Fluttershy was able to reform him, anyways." Morning nodded, and got out a washcloth to wash Lily's face.

"Oh, I remember that! Luck wrote me a letter about that time, and how nervous everypony vas. It lasted for about a week, until this dinner party where he kept fooling around with the Elements, and apparently, Discord accidentally let slip that he didn't want her friendship at all, and he was playing her for a fool. She found out, and was of course upset about it. He felt guilty, and tried to apologize, but he found her being attacked by these demon beavers or something that he had cursed earlier in that week, and he actually saved her from them. Then, there was this thing about Sweet Apple Acres flooding, because of those beavers, and he actually fixed all of it just because she asked him politely."

Lav, Foamy, Morning, and Lily all stared at her, the former three immediately stopping what they were doing.

"What?" Rosebud looked confused.

"Scusa, ma come fai esattamente a saperelo?" Foamy looked at her confusedly.

"Uh... pardon?" asked Lav.

"Oh, excuse me," said Foamy. "How exactly did you come to know of this, Rosie?"

"Oh, Luck is pretty good friends with Lady Fluttershy. Apparently, they're both in a gardening club together."

"Wow," sighed Foamy. "Imagine being friends and neighbors of the Elements themselves! Especially Lady Rarity. She has quite the eye for fashion."

Lav nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, I wish that I could find out how she styles her mane and tail! It's such a beautiful style, and I believe that it's unique."

"Yes," agreed Rosebud, "I don't believe I've ever seen anypony else sporting such a style here in Canterlot."

"Mmhmm!" Lav rinsed off the remaining soap lingering on Lily. "Ok, Princess, you can step out now!"

Lily stepped out of the tub, and resisted the urge to shake all of the water off like a dog. She let out a startled squeak as Foamy and Morning descended upon her with two fluffy towels. Within seconds, she was completely dry. Suddenly, Lav stopped dead cold.

"U-um, Princess??"

"What? What's wrong?"

The other three looked startled as well. Morning levitated a hoof mirror off of the cart, and held it so that Lily could see her blank flank. Rather, it had been blank. Now, there was an image of a jet black eighth note. Lily just looked at it.

"Oh, that's just my cutie mark. What's all the fuss about?"