The Hidden Princess of Equestria

There wasn’t kingdom more beautiful in all pony world than Equestria, the place where all kinds of ponies co-existed in perfect harmony. No other kingdom couldn’t be compared to Equestria, both in beauty and splendor, with its mountain ranges that sparkled like crystal tilting the North, whose climate made the towns there look like being inside a snow globe, the sunny beaches throughout the cost line, the beauty and mysterious forests full of mysteries and secrets even older than the kingdom itself, and, located on a lonely mountain at the center of the lower half of the land, there was the capital, Canterlot. At this great, lovely and busy city was the castle where the regents of this graceful land lived: King Sombra and Queen Celestia.

King Sombra was a unicorn with a dark grey coat with three red crystals as Cutie Mark, black mane with moderate blue streaks, black hooves and grayish sap green eyes. Sombra’s family had been rulling Equestria humbly since the time of its foundation and, when it came the time for him to take the throne still young after his parents’ sudden death, Sombra took as his wife a young mare, who had the same age as him, and came from a land whose royal family had the characteristic of having members that were alicorn. Celestia was one of the few to be blessed with such gift. She had a white coat with a sun as Cutie Mark, a beautiful flowing mane with a mix of colors: light cerulean, light turquoise, very light cobalt blue and pale heliotrope, and purple eyes.

The two of them fell in love one for another and their great love drove them to marry and start a new life as rulers of Equestria. It didn’t took long for the happy couple get to wait for their first foal and that was something that also let the other ponies of the kingdom greatly happy.

One day, Celestia was walking around the capital along with her lady-in-waiting, Petal Shy, who was a pegasus mare with a pale, light grayish amber coat with three flowers, one pink, one orange and one green, as Cutie Mark, moderate raspberry mane and moderate cerise eyes with glasses. They both were using cloaks with hoods to not call any attention to themselves. Celestia was already showing signs of pregnancy and that prevented her from going on a hasty step. But she enjoyed visiting the capital in a non-official way, as that allowed her to approach her subjects and know their problems.

After buying some flowers, Petal Shy returned to Celestia’s edge and asked:

“What do you think, my queen?”

“They are gorgeous!” she answered, while smelling them. “Lilies are my favorite flowers.”

“I know” Petal Shy replied. “I thought we could use them to decorate the future infant’s room with them. I don’t what to give expectations, but I have a feeling that you have there a beautiful princess, Your Highness.”

“You know what, I do too” Celestia replied. “But don’t tell to my husband. He thinks the baby is a colt and you know when he gets something in his head.”

“Without wanting to disrespect King Sombra, I think that a mare and a mother’s sixth sense never fails” Petal Shy commented. “And I know what I’m talking about.”

“And how is little Fluttershy?” Celestia asked.

“She’s growing up very quickly” Petal Shy told. “I know that she’s only a few months, but to a mother it looks like time passes very quickly.”

“What I want is that time passes so I can see my dear foal” Celestia confessed.

“I understand perfectly” Petal Shy replied.

At that moment, an old mare appeared beside Celestia, wearing a cloak with a hood, just like the queen and her lady-in-waiting.

“Your Highness… allow that a humble soothsayer read your fortune” she asked.

“I don’t know…” Celestia answered. “I have to return to the castle and…”

“Don’t you want to know what future awaits to your daughter?” the old mare asked.

That question caught Celestia’s attention who asked:

“Daughter?”

“Even though seeing the future is hard for me without being in my tent, I can see that the child that you carry in your womb is indeed a beautiful princess” the old mare said.

Although not knowing if what she have told was true, Celestia had a feeling that she should listen more about the subject. It was not like any other feelings, but one that was close to certain. Was it what Petal Shy had referenced as being a mother’s feeling?

“Please, show the way” Celestia said.

The old mare made a brief bow and then advanced, with Celestia and Petal Shy following her.

“Are you sure of this, my queen? We don’t know if this mare is a charlatan or not.”

“Honestly, I don’t know, but there’s something that tells me that I must listen to her” the queen replied.

They followed the old mare to her tent, which had a very humble appearance, and Celestia and Petal Shy took off their hoods. The mysterious mare took off her cloak, revealing that she was a faun, having the hide legs and the horns of a goat. She sat down behind a table where at the top was a bowl full of ingredients used on divination.

“Please, Your Highness, sit.”

Celestia did so, while Petal Shy remained still beside her. Observing what existed in that tent, including a crystal ball that was in a display, Celestia commented:

“I have to say that you don’t look like any common soothsayer. I know a little bit about the subject of divination and you seem to be rather… competent.”

“We, fauns, have a great affinity to the branch of magic that you call divination” the soothsayer replied. “However, although it was me that came to you, I would like to know if you’re willing to know your future and your foal’s. Remember that the knowledge of something that is still yet to come can have nefarious effects to those it is about.”

But Celestia continued with the feeling that she should accept having the soothsayer reading her future.

“You may procede…” she replied.

And so, igniting a match, the soothsayer lightened up the ingredients that were in the bowl, causing a lot of smokes to rise up into the air. For a moment, it seemed that nothing had happened. It was then that something started to get shape…

“I see… a unicorn king” the soothsayer said, while a unicorn with a crown appeared.

Celestia’s heart started to get hasted while seeing that. Could it be that something bad was about to happen to Sombra?

“That king is loved by his subjects and family” the soothsayer continued. “However… from the desire to better protect them, a deep darkness is already taking form in his heart” the image of the unicorn king was involved in black smoke. “A war will divide the land in two…” the image of Equestria appeared with it being ripped apart in two “… and, in the next years, nothing will exist besides fear, sadness… and hate.”

While listening and seeing, all that provoked an anguish in Celestia, a pain that she refused to believe that was real… like that prediction.

“Enough!” Celestia exclaimed, while getting up and trying to calm herself down. “I… don’t want to hear any other word.”

“But I didn’t finished yet, Your Highness” the soothsayer replied.

“It doesn’t matter” the alicorn queen said. “I refuse to believe in anything that you had just said. There’s no way that the stallion I married with and that is the father of the foal that I carry in my womb would be able to cause harm to anypony! Let’s go, Petal Shy.”

And, after putting back her hood, Celestia got out of the tent quickly. Before following her queen, Petal Shy put a bit on the table and said to the soothsayer:

“I’m sorry.”

She got out and took a brief flight to catch up with Celestia. The soothsayer went to the entrance of her tent, observing the queen moving away, and then said:

“It doesn’t matter how much your heart is denying. I know that you will see the truth… Your Highness.”