Pipsqueak entered the orphanage, a little smile on his pinto face. He had successfully delivered the letter for Time Turner, though he hadn't the slightest clue why the stallion didn't want to deliver himself. Something about an apology. Maybe they got into a fight? He hadn't the slightest clue. The small colt ran inside, sheltering from the rain.
"And just where were you?"
Busted.
Pipsqueak turned around and faced the disappointed gaze of the orphanage's head mistress, Pepper Sprinkle. The elderly mare was pale brown in color with a long black mane and silver-rimmed glasses that she stared down at him through, grey eyes questioning.
"I was helping Time Turner deliver a letter. My apologies for not telling you ma'am." The little colt bowed low to the ground, reciting the apology he'd used so many times.
"Just don't let it happen again. A letter was left for you, it's on your bed. Goodnight Pipsqueak."
Instantly the little colt brightened and charged into his room with all the speed of a torpedo. He jumped onto his bed and rummaged through his now messy sheets to find the letter. He pulled it out of hiding and tore off the seal with haste, tearing a clean hole in the envelope in the process. He quickly opened the letter and looked at it with bright eyes, wondering who could've sent him this letter,
Our most cherished Pipsqueak,
The little colt's jaw dropped. Only one pony ever addressed him like that. His brown eyes widened and he nearly squealed like a filly, instantly throwing himself into the letter,
It has been much too long since we last spoke with thou. How long has it been my colt, since last Nightmare Night? We can remember it clearly, instead of being a pirate like the previous year, thou dressed as a charming prince. We must say, over these few months we have thought of thou every time we raised, our charming young prince. We have a request to make of thee, but first we must explain why.
It has come to our attention that... Thou are without a guardian. We have spoken with those closest to thee and and they have all told us the same; Thou hast no parents for they have perished.
Tears filled Pipsqueak's eyes and he turned his head away for a moment, letting the little drops take their race down his white and brown cheeks. After a moment he turned back and continued reading, biting his lip to keep from sobbing,
We heard the tale of what happened and we feel compelled to write it down. If thou wishes to skip the story, please do not expect us to feel anger towards thee, it is perfectly normal to not want to read such a tragic event that happened in ones life. Forgive us, but we shall tell it in the form of what thou would call a fair tale.
Pipsqueak blinked away his tears. He'd been too young to fully comprehend what had happened and he'd never quite heard the full story. All he could remember was hearing the sweet voice of his mother telling him she loved him and the fuzzy image of a white pegasus mare and a brown earth pony stallion charging away from him. Then everything went red.
Once upon a time, there lived two young ponies. The mare a pegasus and the stallion an earth pony.
The mare was pure white and her mane a delicate shade of pink. She had black freckles dotting her face and pale purple eyes. Her cutie mark was a bright yellow shooting star with a purple trail. Her name was Freckle Wishes.
The stallion was pale brown and his mane was deep blue. He had the the most dazzling gold eyes you would ever see. His cutie mark was a black lance and a white lance crossed. His name was Silver Lance and he was a soldier.
One day, three years ago, thou were but a two year old little foal. Thy father was called away to a battle in Griffonia and thy mother followed, bringing thee along against his wishes. They cared for thee at a safe centre, thy mother refused to let somepony else care for thee. Thou took thy first steps there and spoke thy first words. 'Mama' in that centre. They were so proud.
But then one day, they decided to take thee for a walk. The battles had settled, the griffons had retreated for a while, giving warnings that they would return. While on that walk, they attacked. Thy parents hid thee and ran off, thy father preparing his sword.
They found thee in the tree, crying and covered in blood that wasn't thy own.
Pipsqueak put a hoof to his mouth, tears rolling ever quicker down his pinto face. He'd asked many times what had happened to his parents, but all the ponies and turned away with tears glistening in their eyes, saying he was too young to hear it.
Now he knew what had happened.
Now he knew why ponies said he was too young.
We apologize for recounting such a tragic event, please forgive us. But as for our request, it is something thou must consider carefully, we know that we did. Our sister hath advised us against this, but we will not listen. We think it is best and that our decision will help us, thou as well.
But we cannot put these words into a simple letter, fair Pipsqueak. When this letter is finished, thou will find something that we request thou consider. We will speak to thee personally on the subject and together, we shall come to a conclusion. What ever thou decision comes to be, we will respect it and not dwell on the situation any longer. Please know that thou has our full support in whatever thou decide, whether the answer be yes or no.
Now my fair young pirate, take a look at what will appear after our signature.
~Princess Noire Etoile Luna
The minute the young colt finishes reading, there was a small pop and in a flash, there was some papers. He lifted them in his little hooves and read, eyes widening and filling with tears again as he read them over again and again, seeing if it was a joke. Form after form, repeat, form after form, repeat, form after form and again and again he read them, a smile lighting up his face. Deep blue ink, quill marks, dots of dripped black ink, signatures and typewriter-written words flashed inside his mind. From the signature of Princess Luna to the font and size of the letters, everything was permanently sketched into his brain. His own tears hit the paper, pattering it lightly as it all registered inside his mind. These weren't just any random forms, these weren't just scribbled signatures, this was something that would make his dreams come true.
These were adoption papers.
That showed that Princess Luna had requested to adopt him.
Foal: Pipsqueak Pinto Lance
Gender: Colt
Age: Five
Species: Earth Pony
Description: Small brown and white pinto earth pony colt with big brown eyes. Shot brown mane and tail, adorable accent and we are his most favourite Princess ever.
Client: Princess Noire Etoile Luna
Job: Princess of the Night
Gender: Mare
Age: 6,003
Species: Alicorn
Description: Slender deep blue alicorn mare with ethereal billowing blue and white mane and tail like the night sky. Dressed in our royal regalia, teal eyes.
Form after form was signed like this and Pipsqueak looked around before seeing Princess Luna just outside the window. With a gentle hoof she pushed it open and flew into the room, scooping up the little colt in her forelegs and bringing him outside where they wouldn't disturb any of the other fillies and colts asleep in their beds. She set him down on the grass and looked at him with teal eyes, brimming with tears. "We wish to adopt thee Pipsqueak." She stated, her voice soft and gentle.
Pipsqueak closed the distance and hugged her, leaping onto her chest and wrapping his small legs around her neck. Tears poured down his face and he looked up at her before stopping, suddenly thinking of his friends. "But what about my friends? I'll have to leave them." He asked, looking at her with a questioning look in his big brown eyes.
Luna nodded. "That is true our smart little colt, we anticipated thou would ask. 'Tis true thou will come to Canterlot with us, but of course we will visit Ponyville regularly for visits with Twilight Sparkle and her friends and during those times you may frolic with those you hold dear and go to school with them. We wouldn't take thee away from thy friends forever our little pony, we have learned from our sister that friends are of the upmost importance and thou will keep thy friends here and make new friends in Canterlot. We promise thou," She lifted her head and looked at the stars, cocking an eyebrow, "What is it Pinkie Pie says? Ah yes; Cross our heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eye!" She chanted, doing the appropriate gestures before looking at the little colt with hopeful eyes.
Pipsqueak slid from her chest and sat in front of her, curiosity on his face. "But why me Princess? There are so many other fillies and colts that need homes, even in Canterlot. Why did you pick me of all ponies?" He asked.
The Goddess's eyes widened in surprise, she hadn't anticipated that. "Well... We admit thou has claimed a place in our heart. Ever since that Nightmare Night when we met thou, our thoughts have been on why thou had no parents to accompany thee rather than Pinkie Pie. When we found out, it simply broke our heart and we decided we must put an end to it. We wandered, from Canterlot to Trottingham, trying to find the perfect parents for thee, but we could not find anypony who fit just right. But one of the days while we slept, we had a dream where we sat and watched as thou played with a mysterious mare. Right at the end, we recognized the mare as ourself and we woke up with the decision; we were to be thy mother, by blood or not.
So we visited Ponyville in secret, disguising ourself as a normal mare. When we arrived at the orphanage we changed back to our normal self and filled out all the forms necessary. We returned to Canterlot with the forms in our bags and wrote a letter addressed to thou, sending it to the orphanage as quickly as possible.
But what made us decide was what thou said to us on that night when the two of us met our young prince. Do thou remember?" She explained, ending it in a question before smiling down at him.
Pipsqueak's face lit up and he smiled brightly. "You're my favorite Princess ever!" He squealed, leaping and giving her another big hug.
Princess Luna let the tears roll down her face freely, not caring if her little colt saw them. "Will thou let us call thee son?" She asked, growing bashful.
In the hooves of a Goddess, a little earth pony colt smiled brighter than he ever had before. "Only if you'll let me call you mommy." He agreed, hugging her even tighter.
That night, the Princess openly sobbed, clutching her little colt to her chest. They cried together, oblivious to the crying orphanage ponies who had seen the whole thing. Not a single eye was dry in that area that night as a Princess and a colt found each other.
"I love you... Son." She whispered the words for the first time and they felt so right in her mind and heart. She nuzzled her new son, mane billowing around them as teal and brown eyes met, both full of liquid joy that dripped down their alreayd tear-stained cheeks.
Pipsqueak smiled and nuzzled her back, burying his nose in her deep blue fur and breathed in the scent of dew on grass and star dust. When he could look into her eyes, he spoke words he thought he'd never speak in his life time and clicked, registering and sounding so right in his mind and in his heart, words that made everypony sob tears of joy,
"I love you too... Mommy."
~~~~~
Night Shield landed in Canterlot, closing his bat wings and breathing a sigh of relief. It was hard, flying from Canterlot to Ponyville and then back right away. He trotted sluggishly back to the castle and noticed Shining Armor standing there, waiting for his arrival.
Shining Armor smiled at his soldier of the night. "Good work today Night Shield. Consider tomorrow your day off, you've earned it." He praised, lifting his hoof in a salute.
Night Shield snapped a salute and chuckled. "Just what I need, thanks captain. I'm sure tomorrow will be full of relaxing and drinking some gold old fashioned wine." He joked, trotting into the palace.
The captain smiled and trotted to his own quarters, placing his helmet down. Today was his last day as Captain of the Royal Guard, tomorrow he would be the full-time Prince of the Crystal Empire. He took off the rest of his armor and placed it on his desk for the next captain before noticing a letter with his name scrawled on it. Curiously, he levitated the letter in his magenta aura and opened it, pulling out the parchment. "Who could this be from?" He wondered aloud, unfolding it and beginning to read,
Dear Prince Shining Armor,
