Fate Has Other Plans

Chapter One - News

Twilight sat across from the young filly, narrowing her eyes as she stared hard at her ‘niece’, trying to decide when to resume the lesson. Her pupil was slumped across the desk, ‘taking a break’ as she put it. It looked more like ‘taking a nap’ to Twilight.

“Auntie Twilight?” The voice of a six year old filly floated down the corridor. It was followed by the calls of her brother and sister, and soon their owners entered the room.

“Caron, Asim, Iris! I thought you were in the Crystal Empire until the Summer Solstice!” Twilight greeted them each in surprise, not expecting to have seen her nieces and nephew but relishing the chance to.

“Yeah, well, Mum and Dad wanted to be early for Kairi's birthday, with her turning twelve and all.” Asim, son of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armour (making him a prince), reminded his aunt of her young charge, who was currently chattering happily to her cousins, eager to hear about the magnificent Crystal Empire.

“Oh. Oh yes!” Twilight had forgotten that it was her niece's birthday, so wrapped up she had been in the story she had not quite surfaced from. “Kairi, I think we can stop studies early, just for today. I know it'll be impossible to get you to focus when your cousins are in Canterlot!”

Kairi turned to her aunt in a flash, searching her face inquisitively to see if she actually meant what she said. Twilight laughed and nodded. “You take your cousins out to the garden now. There’s something I need to do first …”

Kairi and her cousins ran out to the castle gardens, her eyes glowing with excitement as she looked at the strange group surrounding her.

There was Asim, standing tall and proud beside her, white coat gleaming in the sun, his red mane still impossible to tame. Feathers brushed her side and she looked to see her cousin flexing his wings. Her gaze travelling towards his flank, she admired the shield that was his cutie mark. Despite being several months younger, Asim had his cutie mark before Kairi, realising early on that he would follow in the footsteps of his father and be a guard, a protector.

His twin sister Caron bore, in contrast, a deep scarlet coat, stubby horn parting her light blue mane neatly. Gifted with the ability to spread kindness, much like her mother's ability to spread love, a circle of linked hooves adorned her flank, confirming her talent. She smiled lovingly at the tiny filly running at her feet.

Iris, youngest of the clan, had a pinky coat and a mix of yellows and blues in her mane. Despite only being six, she too had a symbol on her flank - her cutie mark. Kairi knew this was the usual age for regular ponies to earn a cutie mark, but it still bothered her that she didn't have one. As Iris had acquired her cutie mark since her cousins' last visit, Kairi directed her gaze to the filly again. A rainbow nestled there, amid Iris' downy coat, and she chuckled softly. It did not surprise her: Iris spread joy and colour wherever she went, much like a rainbow.

Satisfied she had seen all that was new with her cousins, Kairi tuned into the conversation Asim and Caron were holding.

“As I was trying to say before Asim felt he had to interrupt, we're going to have a baby sister!” Caron was beaming at the prospect of a new sibling, while Asim bristled indignantly, whether from the slight by his sister or something unknown to Kairi, she could not tell, but had a feeling she would find out.

“Or a brother! Nopony knows for sure yet, right Caron?” Asim looked pointedly at Caron, but she stared straight back. Used to her cousins' bickering, Kairi laid back and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.

“Well, actually ...” Caron sounded unsure she should be telling her brother whatever she knew, in the end deciding that she should. “Mum took a scan, to make sure it was just one foal and not another multiple birth, like us and ... the doctor told her it was a baby girl, just the one.”

Asim managed to see a positive in the disappointment of getting another sister. “So what is it? She? A pegasus? Come on, they find that out too. That doctor must have told Mum!”

“Umm ...” Caron knew, definitely, but it didn't seem she planned to tell her brother. “She's a ... an ...”

“Oh, it’s not another earth pony, is it? She?” Asim could see no positive this time around - both his chances of a companion in this foal seemed ruined.

"Not exactly ... you see, she's an ... alicorn ..." Barely whispering the final word, all three gathered round Caron still heard, not missing it as she had hoped they would. It was like dominos: on hearing ‘alicorn’, Asim shot straight into the air, Kairi sat bolt upright staring disbelievingly at Caron, and Iris froze in her tracks, sensing something had gone wrong.

“An alicorn?! Why did Mum and Dad think I didn’t need to know this? This is the kind of thing I want to know!” Asim, perched on the lowest branch of a nearby tree, glowered at his sister from his vantage point. Glad that looks couldn’t kill, Kairi slowly opened her mouth to speak.

“Alicorn foal? So there’ll be somepony else around my age?”

“Around your age?! You’ll be twelve years OLDER!” Asim shook his head at the stupidity of his older cousin, but Caron managed to explain quickly in his ear. “Ohhh! So when you’re-” He stopped, spotting something near the garden gates. “Wait, what are Mum and Dad doing out here with Aunt Celestia, Auntie Luna and Auntie Twilight?” The fillies and colt could just about see the outlines of their relatives making their way to the group.

“Girls! Asim! Come along now, you’ve got some unpacking to do!” Cadence summoned her brood quickly, but when Kairi tried to follow her cousins, the pink princess barred her way. “No, no, no, your mother wants a word with you first.” Pushing her towards Luna, her aunt flashed her a quick smile before hurrying after her own family.

“Kairi, come. Your aunt and I need to talk. It concerns your twelfth birthday; don’t worry, all alicorns go through this, we just want to make sure you’re prepared.” Ushering her daughter to the magnificent wing that housed Celestia and herself, she brought Kairi to a stop just outside of the study she summoned the courage to visit twelve years before.