The fallout of my arrival yesterday caused a media frenzy. The titles from all over Equestria had amused me; The forgotten son, The forgotten prince, The lost royal, The bastard prince. The list could go on and on, it's not a pressing concern to me. Well not an immediate pressing concern. It seems in the time I have been away that some secrets have yet to remain secrets. The columns and headlines had never quoted anypony or creature for that matter but in was obvious that some staff had never heard the phrase 'loose lips sink ships.' I sat at my seat in the dining room surrounded by my fellow rulers and the elements of harmony. I had learned that Shining had become a very well decorated Captain of the guard as well as the prince of the recently re-emerged Crystal Empire. Putting his accomplishments on par with mine. I won't lie in saying that I do hold envy in him for that regard.

I could only chuckle as I sipped my coffee and lay a copy of The Manehattan Times on a growing stack of newspapers. I looked across the table at my mother who only looked more tired and stressed, "What happens to be so funny?" She asked me.

"Well several things for a start, but I'm laughing at the total lack of security that the staff and it seems guards seem to have nowadays." I said, "I never uttered a word of me being your son to anypony except that of the guards and every pony inside this very dining hall. There's also the obscene amount of titles that they seem to have given me." I took another sip of coffee out of my mug.

"That's what I was afraid of." My mother said, "Now that you're known to the world as my son it...complicates things."

"I don't see how, the only thing it does is throw a wrench in your plans to make Twilight the leader of Equestria. Other than that, you can still retire." I said nonchalantly.

"Tia." Luna started, "Please don't do this. Not again." She begged her sister.

My mother looked my aunt in the eyes. "But I just can't sit by-"

"That's not what I'm talking about Tia." Aunt Luna cut her off and stared a hole through her. "We can talk about this in private but not right now. Enjoy the fact that not only is your son alive but is ready to take the reins so to speak. Just look at him, what do you see?"

"I see my son." Celestia said, "I don't see what this has to do with anything-"

"Mother, I have been by your side almost since the day I was born. I have sat next to you when father died, I was sitting right next to you the day after when you had to attend to a meeting for some delegates that I don't even remember what country I was from. I was in immense pain the entire time, but I couldn't frown. I couldn't let my mask slip. I have stood next to you when you wanted me to, and at times that you needed me to. I fought and toiled to get back home to my family, and I thought at long last that...I had finally proven to you, that no matter how hard the challenge I was willing to rise up and overcome seemingly impossible odds, however. Right now the pony I see before me, is even more a stranger to me than when I had left. I had stood next to you for so long, that just for once, just once you would stand next to me." I told her.

"I...I can't." Celestia looked down. "N-Not in front of them." She looked to Twilight and her friends.

"Then when?" I left with that question on her mind as I put the pile of newspapers on my back and headed outside to the castle garden. I missed this place, I took a deep inhale of the mountain air mixing with the assortment of flowers from select countries around the world. To anypony else this would have been a dream come true, to me...it was my backyard. I sat down and reached under a rock, "Please still be here." I felt something other than a rock. "Maybe...maybe..." I pulled it out, "YES!" I pulled out a sketchpad that was wrapped in plastic. The cover was emblazoned with my cutie mark, I smiled to myself as I unwrapped it and opened the pages, the first few pages were simple things, like clouds and stick figures, but they soon became more and more complicated. My drawings were of many thing I had observed, the birds, the trees, myself. Then I flipped the page, to see what was a dark horrid blob of graphite. I remember that day, it was when I was twelve. I asked mother for a small favor.

"You want to do what sweetie?" She asked again.

"I want to make a drawing of you," I told her, "I've been getting really good!" I showed her my photos so far and she smiled.

"That is impressive, and is that Philomena?" She asked me, while pointing at the picture.

"Yeah but she wouldn't hold still, even after I asked her nicely." I pouted then looked up at her.

"Alright sweetie I'll do it, how about lunch at the gazebo? Would that be a good time?" She asked.

"Great then I can grab my good pencils!" I cheered and ran off into the castle. When I got to my room I was rummaging through my drawing supplies and looked out the window at the gazebo. Her lunch was in about an hour or so, I had time to practice. I finally found my pencils and rushed straight to the gazebo, sitting there looking at the birds and the flowers. I smiled and waited, for an hour. Then two, then two hours turned to three. Before I knew it, it was raining. Mother forgot what I asked, mother had always forgotten about me, but whatever her student did, she always had time for Twilight. Soon, the inside of me felt just as cold as the outside. Except I didn't feel wet, I felt...empty.

I heard hoofsteps behind me, "Whatever or whomever you are, I'm not in a conversing mood."

"You don't need to talk, I just want to know if you're interested in listening." The voice of my mother said. She looked down at the open sketch pad, "I remember that day, ever since then you were cold toward me."

"Can you blame me?" I asked her.

"I thought you weren't in the mood to converse." She said and I just gave her a look, "Understood. And...no, I can't blame you. Twilight and I had a conversation."

"How original." I muttered.

"She told me about what you two had talked about last night." Celestia said, "Do you really think I don't love you because you can't do magic?"

"Our history reinforces that statement. The day this happened," I gestured to the ugly page, "I had asked you where you had went, and your response was."

"I had a magic lesson with Twilight, and then we had a picnic." Celestia recalled.

"And what you said after that?"

"You should have been there..." She recalled again.

"You have no idea how much that hurt me." I told her, "So after that. I wrapped this up...and I buried it. Ever since Twilight came into your life, since she became your student, that's all I ever heard about. Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight!" I shouted. "Every time Twilight wanted something, you always jumped at the chance to give it to her. When I asked for something, I had to wait my turn. AND I WAS YOUR OWN SON!" I let my rage bubble over a bit, then stayed silent for a bit as tears started to roll down my cheeks. "I was wracking my brain for any answer that I could think of, and then it occured to me. Twilight was a unicorn, you could teach her all the things you knew about magic. While I was an earth pony, I can't levitate a rock, or teleport, or even get your attention, Twilight could do all of those things, and more."

She went to put a wing around me but I stood up, "I take it there's more you want to say?"

"You once told me that your mind was like a steel trap, you could remember how many times you sneezed on a day over 100 years ago." I said to her.

"I remember that." Celestia rose to her hooves as well, as I turned around.

"Then why did you forget me?" I looked up to her. My face entirely broken with tears and sadness.

Celestia felt her heart break, as she approached the stallion before her. "Because I was a fool, thinking that by giving you your space that you would flourish, and embrace your own path. And when you did, it didn't turn out well. But it seems I was doomed to make the same mistake over again, with my sister. And you."

"The only thing I have ever wanted to do, is make you happy. To make you proud of me." I mumbled through my tears. "To make things easier for you."

Celestia wrapped her hooves around me, "I am proud of you. I always have been, but I haven't ever told you because I thought you knew. It seems that I was mistaken. For that I am sorry."

I wiped my tears onto my foreleg, as my mother slowly brushed my long mane with her hoof. Unbeknownst to the both of us, there were reporters hiding amongst the hedges of the hedge maze, and they had heard the entire story. I only found this out later. "Mom?" I looked up at her.

"What is it Clipsy?" She used the nickname that she gave me when I was a foal.

"You do know that this isn't going to stop me from challenging to claim the throne." I told her.

"I figured that much. You want me to stand with you, I can't do that without showing bias toward one or the other. Your claim is legitimate, no matter what the marital status of your father and I was at the time. If you wish to continue, I won't stop you. But it will be the most stressful job that you will ever undertake." She warned me.

"I have had to fare rough winds, and an angry ocean. I fought and slew a kraken, while sacrificing several of my closest friends. I had to negotiate with pirates to give me a map that might lead me back to Equestria, I've dealt with angry sea ponies, indigenous tribes of savages that looked like monkeys, and then I went and fought a gorgon, just because I could. My journey had prepared me for the life of being a royal. I just never realized why I was thrown off course until now. I believe that Equestria itself was testing me, to see if I deserved the right to rule, and while I did lose some good ponies, I met and became friends with far more and of equal character." I took a deep breath and released it. "I feel as if I am ready to lead. And if I ever feel overwhelmed I know I will have good ponies willing to back me up and help me when the time is right."

"Well then, I shall not stand in your way Prince Eclipse." She bowed to me after we had separated, "May winds of fortune fill your sails to the fullest and may you find your destination, no matter what trials you may go through."

I cracked a little smile, then looked at her, "You know, I never did get to draw you under the Gazebo."

"Shall we amend that then?"

Author's Note

This isn't going to be a terribly long fic. I feel like capping it at 10,000 words or just 10 chapters. Depending on which one comes first.