Celestia didn’t remember falling asleep. Waking up at dawn, she looked up at the nearby clock on her bedside table and saw that it was nearly six o’clock in the morning. Giving out a yawn, and feeling her body complain and ask for more sleep, she did her best to fight the urge and get up off bed.

But as she began to slide herself to the side to try and get up, she noticed two peculiar things.

First, her body felt much more exhausted than it should have, as if sleep hadn’t rested anything at all. She felt drained and tired inside.

Second, there was a little filly snuggled up in her side, tucked in underneath her wing.

Turning her attention to the filly, the events of the previous day suddenly blasted itself into her mind, and all of a sudden her weariness felt greater. Golden Shield, Sunflower, Silver Wing… All at once, the terrible and painful memory hit her, and both mind and soul felt its hard impact.

Shaking her head, and trying her best to not think about it, she found it impossible to stop. She remembered Sunflower’s dying body, as the last ounces of life slipped away from her, she remembered returning to the castle, and having to conduct the unpleasant task of informing the young Silver Wing of her mother’s passing, she remembered trying to comfort the filly, and how she found it impossible to leave the filly’s side, forcing her to set the sun and raise the moon right on her bed. She remembered all of it now, and most of all she remembered the pain.

For a moment, Celestia just stared at the wall, the hurt still stinging in her heart. A tear ran down from her eyes, and she did her best to control it, or else have it become a complete collapse of emotion that would disturb the filly from her sleep.

Taking a deep breath before sighing, Celestia knew that she had to be strong. It wasn’t just her hurting after all.

Turning her gaze towards Silver Wing, she alicorn pressed herself closer towards the young pegasus, before giving her a comforting nuzzle.

“I’ll keep you safe, little one.” Celestia whispered, both to Silver Wing and to herself.

But Celestia knew that such a pledge was easier said than done. The whole situation she now placed herself in was something that she had never thought would happen to her ever, and yet here it was.

Nuzzling the filly and keeping her close, Celestia knew that she was essentially now her caretaker. There was no other family Silver Wing can go to, Sunflower had cut herself off to her supposedly distant and toxic relatives, and her father had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the filly.

Because of this, and because of her own personal pledge, Celestia knew that Silver Wing was now her responsibility.

Of course, that was more of a statement than anything actually official at the moment. All the necessary paperwork still needed to be filled out, but she was confident the Sunflower could get it done by…

Sunflower…

She felt stupid at how she managed think of adpoting Silver Wing, and yet momentarily forget the very pony she was doing this for. Sunflower was gone now, and she had to remember that. Remember her.

Sighing, she looked at the wall with a distracted mind, and realized that filing papers to adopt Silver Wing would have to be at the end of her to do list.

She still had a lot to do, both for the filly and Equestria. There was still a matter of addressing the whole nation about the attack, the tedious job of calming the nobles, the delicate task of recovering the economy after a shocking assasination attempt on its monarch, the crucial task of starting an investigation against the plotters of the attack, and finally the heartbreaking task of organizing Sunflower’s funeral.

All of that had to come first before beginning the process of adoption.

With a sigh, she shook her head before taking a long calming breath. She had been through many hardships before, and although they never get easier, she knew that she must plow on and continue.

Feeling ready enough to face the day, she used her magic and began concentrating at the tel celestial object in the sky. With grace and power, she lowered the moon and lifted the sun on what she believed would be a very long day.

Waking up, Silver Wing felt the comfort of a soft and warm bed engulf her senses. Everything was so soft and nice, all she wanted to just snuggle up and continue on sleeping.

Curling herself and pressing up against the usual warmth of her mommy beside her, Silver Wing couldn’t help but form a small smile on her face as she felt her mommy’s wing gently wrap her like a blanket and bring her even more warmth.

That was when her eyes shot open, as she burst up from her lying position. Mommy didn’t have wings, only a horn. So who was beside her?

Frantically looking around, she turned her attention towards the body beside her, only to be engulfed with the sight of white. Backing away cautiously, she studied the body beside her and soon recognized a familiar stream of a multicolored mane.

“Princess Celestia?” She asked.

Giving her a warm smile, Princess acelestia looked down at Silver Wing.

“Good morning, little one, I trust that you had a nice sleep?” She asked.

“Erm, yea…” Silver Wing replied, as her eyes darted around the room, wondering where her mommy was.

Seeing this, a frown formed on the Princess’ face. “Is there something wrong, Silver Wing?” She asked. Although her voice remained warm and kind, there seemed to be something off about it, something different from how she spoke earlier. She seemed scared?

This confused Silver Wing. She quickly wondered why the Princess would be scared. She was the most powerful pony she ever knew, and she never imagined anything could scare her.

But as she looked up at the Princess and gazed into her eyes, a simply thought occured to her. Was the Princess scared of her?

Shaking off that though, she focused on the Princess’ question and shook her head.

“No.” Silver Wing said. “Nothing’s wrong, Princess. Just...I’m wondering where mommy is. She’s usually beside me when I wake up.” Then, as she said this, another thought occurred to her. “Actually, Princess Celestia, if you don’t mind me asking, what am I still doing in your room? Didn’t me and mommy go home last night?”

A pained look seemed to form on the Princess’ face for a moment, before quickly being replaced by a gentle expression.

“Silver Wing-“ She said gently. “-before I answer your questions, let me ask you one thing first. Do you remember anything about yesterday?”

“Yesterday?” Silver Wing asked, confused. The Princess merely nodded in response, making Silver Wing think hard on what happened the previous day.

She remembered playing in the Princess’ office, waiting for her mommy and the Princess to come back from their trip. She remembered getting bored, and even worrying what was taking them so long. She remembered being assisted by the kind maids of the castle and allowed to rest in the Princess’ own bedroom. She remembered feeling tired, falling asleep, only to wake up to see the Princess. She remembered being told that…

A pause, then Silver Wing looked up to the Princess, eyes beginning to water, as realization finally hit her.

“Is…” Her words began with a stutter. “...is my...is my mommy really gone?”

The Princess seemed to wince as she heard that, but managed to give a small nod. I’m afraid so, Silver Wing, she had to go.”

“No!” Silver Wing screamed, the first drop of tears running down from her eyes. “She can’t be gone! That was only a dream last night, a bad dream!”

The filly was now shaking terribly, as her tear soaked eyes scanned the room, trying to find a single hint of her mommy’s presence. When she couldn’t find one, she gave the Princess a desperate look.

“It was only a bad dream, right?” She asked, frantically hoping to see the Princess nod and agree with her. But a slow shake of the head was all it took to break her heart, as she suddenly felt weak and decided to lay her whole body on the bed.

“No…” She weep. “...she can’t be gone… She just can’t! She can’t leave me! I don’t want to be alone…”

“You’re not alone, Silver Wing.” She heard the Princess said, as the alicorn placed a gentle hood on the back of her head, soothly caressing it. “You will never be alone.” The Princess continued. “You’re mommy is still there, watching you from above. While she’s there, I am also here for you, and I promise that I will always take care of you.”

“No…” Silver Wing meekly said, as she continued to cry. She suddenly remembered the conversation last night and what the Princess had told her. Her mommy was an angel now and left for a place above the sky, but that can't be true… Her mommy would never just leave her here all alone. She felt sad that her mommy was gone, and she felt even worse thinking that she had left her without saying goodbye.

But soon this sadness turned into anger, as she realized that her mommy had basically abandoned her. She was left here, all on her own, without the comfort of the person she loved and needed. She was angry, and she couldn’t contain this anger.

“No…” She cried once more, this time in a louder tone. She was growing more and more angrier at her mommy for abandoning her, and now she was growing angry at the Princess for thinking that she can replace her mommy. She wanted her real mommy, not a replacement.

“No! She finally screamed. “I don’t want you to protect me!” Shoving her hoof upward, Silver Wing then swatted away the Princess’ hoof, surprising her and making her pull back.

“I want my mommy!” Silver Wing cried, ws she got up and shot an angered look at the Princess, who was still staring at her in shock.“I want my real mommy!”

“Silver Wing.” The Princess began , speaking in a low tone to try and calm the filly down. “I know it is hard, but you need to understand.”

“No, it’s you who don’t understand!” Silver Wing accused. “I want my mommy! Only my mommy can take care of me and love me… I want my mommy, and you’re not my mommy!”

With that, Silver Wing turned away from the Princess and darted toward a pile of pillows on the bed. Diving for it, the young pegasus filly soon buried her head and covered her face, as she soaked it’s fabric with her tears.

Silver Wing felt lost and scared, she didn’t know what to do except cry. She couldn’t understand what was happening, and deep inside she wished that her mommy would just appear and hug her. She missed her mommy, she needed her mommy.

As she cried and wondered why her mommy had abandoned her, she failed to hear the long troubled sigh of the alicorn behind her.

Celestia closed the door behind her and sighed again. It took nearly half an hour, but Silver Wing finally calmed down. Although barely responsive to her, the filly had at least finally stopped crying.

However, she refused to leave the room, and seemed not too happy at the alicorn’s presence with her. Celestia was sad to admit it, but she felt guilty that she had rushed Silver Wing. Maybe it was because of her unfamiliarity towards the situation, or her dedication to fulfill her pledge to Sunflower, but whatever it was, it brought the wrong message to the pegasus filly. The young pegasus was still grieving over the loss of her mother, and Celestia telling her that she would take care of the filly probably made her think that she was suddenly replacing Sunflower as her mother.

‘These things take time, Celestia. Give her time.’ She had mentally told herself. ‘Give her time and space for now. She needs to think and clear her head first.’

With that though in mind, Celestia decided to leave the young filly for a while, and give her the space needed. It was probably a good idea too, since the last thing the filly probably wanted to spend time with now was the alicorn who she thought was replacing her mother. Besides, there was no safer place for Silver Wing to think in than her own personal quarters.

With a shake of her head, Celestia did her best to clear her mind of what just happened and focus on the other important things she needed to accomplish that day. Turning towards the Guard Ponies who protected her door, she nodded towards them before gesturing towards her room.

“As you probably know, I have a very important guess in there, a young pegasus filly named Silver Wing.” She told them. “I want you two to keep her safe, and if she needs anything like food, be sure to inform any of the castle staff so that can get it for her. Understood?”

“Yes, mam!” They said in unison.

“Thank you.” She said. “Oh, and be sure to pass along those orders when you change guards.”

With that handled, she gave them one final nod and, knowing that they will fulfill their duties and orders to the best of their abilities, she left them and began heading down the Royal Tower. As she took the long winding staircase, she made a mental note of all the things she needed to do.

From time to time, she had to fight the urge of glancing to her side and asking Sunflower what her full schedule for the day was or if she was missing anything else from her checklist. That hurt her when she accidentally did that, but she couldn’t get rid of old habits so quickly.

“So much for saying you could handle a month without her…” Celestia muttered, before letting out a depressed sigh. She then wondered how she could go on without her most trusted friend.

For a moment, she felt like breaking down again. The memory of her friend dying still lingered in her mind, and the thought of her loss and the situation it brought her daughter made her heart ache a lot.

Despite having lived for thousands of years? And having seen countless amounts of death throughout her time, the loss of a loved one has never become easy. It always stung bad and although she was grateful that she had never became numb to it, there were still times that she wished she had.

Sunflower’s loss struck her hard, and she felt guilt for not having been able to prevent it.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and exhaled all of those thoughts away. There was time for guilt and grief later. Celestia the pony had to wait for later, since Celestia the Princess had a duty to handle a nation in shock.

Reaching the end of the staircase and entering the large long hallway of the main Castle Complex, Celestia contemplated where to go first. Thinking it over, she decided to first inform her Public Relations Staff to prepare the Press Room for an address by her, which she planned to hold an hour from now.

With the time between the moment and the address, Celestia hoped to head for the kitchen and cook up a couple of pancakes for Silver Wing. Although the filly never said it earlier, Celestia knew that the young pony would be starving after all that crying she did. Because of that, the alicorn knew that a tall stack of pancakes would surely fill her stomach up and replenish all her energy. Not only that, but a nice sweet breakfast like that might also hell her mood.

With that thought in mind, she began making her way towards the office of her P.R. staff, where she would inform them of her plan, before heading for the Royal Kitchen. As she walked along the hallway, however, her thoughts were not about addresses or work, but instead they were focused on pancakes and on what fruit pairing Silver Wing would like.

Although she promised herself to focus on Equestria, she at least allowed her mind s couple of moments to think of the filly. She cared for her too much, and it was hard not to think of her now.

Besides, Celestia also liked making her own pancakes and everyone in the Kitchen Staff knew that. She always poured a lot love and care into it, and many who have tried her creations say that it's those ingredients that make her pancakes taste the best. But now, more than ever, she was determined to pour as much love and care into making these morning’s breakfast, as she knew Silver Wing needed it.

Author's Note

Oh, wow, look an update to the story. And, you might not see it, but the next chapter is being written now too!