The Youngest Alicorn

Twilight Sparkle sighed in contentedness as she lied down on the picnic blanket. "You've really outshined yourself this time, Applejack!"

Rarity nodded. "I don't care much for so many apple byproducts, but these pies were simply divine!"

"Hecks yeah! And thanks for the cider, too," Rainbow Dash added.

Spike nodded rapidly. "Yeah, it really hit the spot!"

AJ smiled and blushed slightly. "Aw, shucks, it was nuthin', ya'll!"

"Oh, but it wasn't nothing," Fluttershy said. "You didn't have to make us apple pies. It wasn't for a special occasion, or anything."

"Uh, yes it was!" Pinkie Pie looked incredulously at FLuttershy. "She made them as a sign of our friendship, and if she thinks that we don't value her friendship, then she might get sad, and if she gets sad, she won't focus on her responsibilities, and she neglects those, then we won't have any more apples, and Ponyville will sta-"

Applejack shoved her hoof into Pinkie's mouth. "That's enough, Pinkie. Don't make it that important." She turned to Fluttershy. "But ya'll don' hafta say that mah pies weren' for an important occasion. Isn't wanting to share a pie with a best friend reason enough?"

"Oh, I'm sorry that I didn't think they were important..."

Rarity frowned. "Fluttershy, darling, you don't have to apologize for every single thing. And don't apologize for apologizing," she said quickly as Fluttershy began to speak, "because that is just ridiculous."

The others giggled, when Spike suddenly belched.

"Eww!" shrieked Rarity. "Spike, that was completely and utterly rude of you!"

Spike looked sad, but then held up a scroll that had been sent to him. Rarity blushed.

"Ehem, sorry, darling."

Twilight levitated the scroll out of Spike's claws. "I wonder what Prin-no, Celestia could want?" She cleared her throat.

"Dear Twilight, my good friend,

"I have the most wonderful news for you! My sister, Luna, has adopted an orphan from High Hopes Orphanage in Canterlot. Her birthday is on the 15th of May, and we would be delighted if you, Spike, and your friends could attend her party, and if you could visit us to meet her as soon as possible. Just send a letter back through Spike!

"Your Friend,

"Princess Celestia.

P.S.: The filly's name is Lily Note. She is a delightful little filly, and I'm sure that all seven of you will love her."

Rarity gasped in shock. "Princess Luna adopted?!"

The other five mares and Spike reacted with equal shock.

"Well, buck an apple tree! That filly is mighty lucky! What did the Princess say her name was?"

"Lily Note," responded Twilight. "What a pretty name."

"Yes," said Fluttershy, "it sounds like she must be good with music."

"Oh, oh, oh!" Pinkie bounced up and down. "Maybe she could sing with you!"

Fluttershy frowned. "Me? Sing with a princess? I-I don't know, I-I-I'm n-not that g-good at singing..."

"'Not good?' Pfft, you're amazing," Rainbow exclaimed.

"I don't know about 'amazing-'"

Rarity shook her head, frowning. "Really, darling, we simply must work on building up your confidence. But, more importantly, WE'VE JUST BEEN INVITED TO CANTERLOT BY THE PRINCESS!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"

Lily followed Celestia into the Throne Room. She had postponed Day Court for the time being, until she and Lily were done with the christening of Lily's new Guard. The large, double doors opened, revealing a familiar winged batpony.

"Felicia!" Lily cried.

Felicia bowed to the two of them, smiling. "Greetings, Your Highnesses." Lily noticed that the purple armor that she had been wearing last night had been replace with a metal that had been enchanted to be the same blue as Lily's eyes. There was also a blank circle on the front most part of the armor. Lily turned questioningly to Celestia.

"Once you christen Felicia here as the Captain of your Guard, your cutie mark - or really, any symbol pertaining to you - will appear in the blank space." Celestia got off of the dais, Lily following. She stood in front of Felicia, and looked to Celestia for guidance. "Touch your horn to the blank space, and say, 'I, Princess Lily Note, hereby christen you as the Captain of my *insert Guard Name here* Guard.' Then, just think of what you want the symbol to be."

Lily nodded, and touch her horn to Felicia's blank circle. "I, Princess Lily Note, hereby christen you as the Captain of my..." She thought for a second, trying to think of something. An idea popped into her head, and she smiled. "... Musical Guard." She then thought hard of her cutie mark, and the eighth note appeared on Felicia's armor. Lily looked to Celestia once more.

"Now, this next part is optional. If you want to, you can make it so that every guard appears the same, similar to mine and Luna's guards."

"Um... how do I do that?"

Celestia chuckled softly. "There will be time for all of that later. Now, I must open Day Court. How about you go to the library? Captain Felicia here can show you the way."

Felicia nodded. "'Captain Felicia,' huh? Sounds nice. This way, Princess."

Lily sighed with boredom as she put down her book. She looked around the library once more, seeing that absolutely nopony was around.

"You'd think that they would give me something to do besides read," she muttered to herself. Resigned, she went back to her book, listening to the slow, constant ticking of the clock.

Tick...

Tock...

Tick...

Tock...

Lily closed her book, and looked at the cover. A Brief History of the Wonderbolts. She wrinkled her nose. Why had she even chosen this book in the first place? She stood up, and went to find a more entertaining book. She prowled along the rows and rows of books, looking for something of interest. She eventually found a book about musical theatre, and beamed with satisfaction. Carrying the book in a levitation spell, she set out for her table.

When she got back to it, she noticed a CD player not too far away. She put down her book, and trotted over to the CD player. There were even some musical soundtracks around it! She let out an excited 'squee,' and picked out the Into the Woods soundtrack, and placed the CD into the player. She quickly found the song she wanted, and hummed along with the music.

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When the singer, Anneigh Kendrick, began to sing, Lily sang along. It really was a good song! However, she had the volume up quite loud, and she never heard the library doors open. She also never saw a certain purple alicorn rush into the library, with five other mares and a baby dragon behind her...

"Geez, Twilight, you need to slow down." Rainbow had to fly fast to just keep up with Twilight.

"Yeah, Twi," agreed AJ, running alongside Twilight. "Those books will be there if ya just walk!"

Twilight suddenly skidded to a stop, leading AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike to crash into her.

"B-but they're books from the Royal Library! I'm hardly ever in Canterlot, and I haven't read any books in that library in over a year!" She quickly heel-face turned, and continued running. Her friends all rolled their eyes, before running to catch up with her. Twilight rushed through the wide doors, and spread her wings, her eyes widening with nostalgia. Rarity and Fluttershy gasped at the beautiful grandeur of the library, before Fluttershy looked confused.

"Um... does anypony else hear that?"

The others all stopped to listen, and heard music coming from some distant part of the library. Twilight trotted off to investigate, the other six following in her hoofsteps. What they found at the source of the noise certainly shocked them!

A gray alicorn filly was singing along with a song coming from a CD player in front of her. Fluttershy's ears flattened at the loud volume of the music, while Pinkie started bobbing her head in beat.

"Wow, this filly's got good taste!"

The filly froze, and stopped singing. She awkwardly fumbled with the player's controls, pausing the song. She turned to face them, revealing her turquoise eyes and embarrassed face.

"Umm... sorry..."

Twilight cleared her throat. "No, no, it's alright. I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is my assistant, Spike, and my friends."

"Howdy!" Applejack tipped her hat. "The name's Applejack, but ya can call me 'AJ.'"

Rainbow landed on the floor. "Mine's Rainbow Dash. Please, contain your excitement!"

"My name is Rarity."

"I'm Fluttershy..."

"AND I'M PINKIE PIE!!!"

AJ rolled her eyes. "Oh, calm down, Pinkie." She turned to face the filly. "Anyways, what's yer name?"

"I'm Lily Note! Aren't you the Elements of Harmony?!"

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically, before turning to Twilight. "Oh, oh, oh! Didn't your letter say something about a filly named Lily Note?"

Twilight's eyes widened. "Yes! You must be the filly that Luna adopted!"

Lily nodded, smiling. "Mmhmm!"

"How are you an alicorn, Lily?" Twilight sat down next to Lily.

"Yeah," said Spike. "Twilight here ascended back in February."

"So you're Princess Twilight?"

Twilight nodded, before frowning. "You don't have to add the 'Princess' part, though."

Lily tilted her head in confusion. "But isn't that your title?"

Twilight sighed. "Yes, but I don't really feel comfortable with the title yet. Anyways, can you tell us how you became an alicorn?"

"I was born one. I don't much about my parents. All Miss Sunny told me was that their names were Sweet Zephyr and Gale Force, my mom died giving birth to me, and my dad died of this disease."

"Oh, you poor darling," said Rarity sympathetically.

"'Miss Sunny?' Who is that?" asked Twilight.

"Well..."

"... and Celestia sent me here after I christened Felicia as the Captain of my Musical Guard."

"That's a fitting name for your Guard," said Twilight.

Rainbow snorted. "More creative than yours, too." Twilight grumbled, and blushed.

"WHy? What did you call it?"

Twilight sighed. "Twilight Guard..."

Lily cocked her head. "Umm, pardon?"

"She called it the 'Twilight' Guard," explained Spike, rolling his eyes.

"Honestly, it sounds selfish, naming your Royal Guard after yourself," added Rarity

"I wasn't thinking about myself!" yelled Twilight, blushing. "I was thinking about the time between day and night!"

"Aren't Princesses Celestia's and Luna's Guards called 'Solar' and Lunar,'" asked AJ. Fluttershy nodded.

"Why didn't you just call it the 'Magic Guard,' Twi-Twi?" Pinkie asked.

Twilight frowned. "I didn't call it that because that sounds stupid. 'Twilight' just seemed the best name. Besides, what would you call yours if you had one?"

"Oh, that's easy! The Party Guard, of course! They could help me plan parties all across Equestria!"

Fluttershy giggled. "It seems fitting for her." She then lowered an eyebrow somewhat. "I don't think you quite understand the duties of a royal guard, though, Pinkie..."

Lily giggled as well. "What would the rest of you call yours?"

"I guess the Kindness Guard."

"Definitely the Gemstone Guard. Oh! I would also have to come up with designs for their uni-"

"WE GET IT, Rarity," said AJ quickly. "Ah guess I could just call mine the Apples Guard. Nuthin' much to it."

"Mine would be called the R-" Rainbow suddenly stopped, and blushed. "Umm... I don't know, how about you Spike??" The rest of the girls and Spike all looked at her questioningly. Rainbow sighed. "Ugh, fine... Rainbow Guard..."

They all burst out into laughter, as Rainbow blushed in embarrassment. "Hey, it's not like that!!"

"Wow, Rainbow," said Pinkie between giggles. "I knew you were a bit full of yourself, but I didn't think you would say something like that right after we made fun of Twilight for doing the same!"

Twilight stopped giggling, and glared at Pinkie. "Ha ha, yes we've established that I named mine something stupid. But in all seriousness, Rainbow, you are being a hypocrite..."

"I SAID IT'S NOT LIKE THAT! I just couldn't think of something better, like with Twilight! I would name it something like 'Storm' or 'Weather,' but I realize that those would be more fitting if my special talent was like, weather."

"How about the Lightnin' Guard," suggested AJ.

Rarity nodded. "Or perhaps Blitz? That is the Germane word for lightning."

Rainbow thought for a second. "Yeah, I guess Blitz does sound cool. Anyways, how about you, Spike?"

"I guess the Fire Scale Guard? I don't really know, or care for that matter."

"That actually sounds pretty cool," said Lily.

"You shoulda helped Twi come up with hers," suggested  a snickering AJ. The others also started snickering, while Twilight just sighed. The group swapped stories and jokes for a while, Lily feeling happier each time that they complimented some feature of herself. After quite a long time, the eight of them met up with Luna and Celestia for dinner. It was decided that Rarity would help the Royal Designer with dresses for all nine of them (Spike would just wear a simple suit that she had already given him), as to spread the work evenly. Rarity looked at Lily for a while, pondering over what to make, until suddenly-

*GASP* "I-DEEEEEEEEE-YAAAHHH!