It's not often that Princess Celestia was required to make an official ruling on an adoption...

In fact, it had been centuries since the last time that this had happened, and that had been the first official case of inter-species adoption in the history of Equestria (there had been unofficial cases in the past, but that had been the first time it had been given a royal sanction, and set precedent for centuries to come). In all honesty, Princess Celestia had hoped that after that ruling, there would never be a question regarding the rights of adoption ever again. But today, given recent events, that centuries old precedent was being called into question...

The young crystal pony that stood before her in the throne room was... unremarkable, based solely on her appearance. She did not have a cutie mark, for one thing, seeming to be a late bloomer in that regard. For another, her color scheme was somewhat bland: her coat was pure white, and her mane and tail, both of which were unstyled, and more than a little flat and limp looking, were both pitch black. Her mud brown eyes completed the ensemble. Her "glow", the inner light that made Crystal Ponies shine, was surprisingly subdued, so that unless you were looking for it, you'd not even notice it. Overall, the impression that she gave to any who first saw her was of a pony who was completely unremarkable in any way.

Of course, appearances can be deceiving...

"So," Princess Celestia began, a little bit hesitant in regards to starting this particular conversation, "Let me make certain that I understand what you want, Miss Crawly..."

The filly, Creepy Crawly, looked the princess directly in the eye, stopping her mid-sentence. Luna had warned her sister about this: When angered, or even just annoyed, Creepy Crawly could give Fluttershy lessons on how to give a good stare. Eye contact with her could be incredibly unnerving if she was even slightly peeved, since she could give her glare an intensity that should, by all rights, be able to peel paint, curdle milk, or etch steel. Even Celestia, who had traded glares with Discord and King Sombra, had to admit it was more than a little bit unsettling, especially from a pony so young.

"What we want," Creepy Crawly said, in a voice that was surprisingly musical. She did have a lovely voice, when she spoke. Celestia idly wondered if she liked to sing. "All four of us are in agreement on this."

"Right, right," Celestia said. And she had to admit, the interviews that Luna had given of each member of this "family" had been sufficient to prove beyond all doubt that each of them was entering into this of their own free will. Under other circumstances, a small group of creatures deciding that they wanted to raise a pony would not have been frowned upon, even if that group was made up of three different species. But these particular creatures...

"Well," Celestia continued, having difficulty maintaining her chain of thought under the intensity of Creepy Crawly's glare, "You must admit, this isn't exactly something that happens very often. Inter-species adoption isn't banned, of course: I presided centuries ago over the hearing for the first time that a pony was officially adopted by a non-pony. While an unusual situation then, such adoptions are now much more common. This situation, however, is far more... unique." The princess looked behind Creepy Crawly, towards the prospective "sisters", then back towards filly. "Please understand, I don't mean any offense to you or the ones who wish to adopt you, but... the primary concern here is regarding your safety. Each of your... "sisters" are creatures that, well..." Celestia found herself struggling for a way to put this gently...

"The four of us traveled, on hoof, across Equestria for nearly one hundred days, before we came here to Canterlot," Creepy Crawly said, one eyebrow raised, as if she found Celestia's concern, or perhaps her discomfort, amusing. "Most of that trip was through unsettled wilderness. If any of them had wished me any sort of harm, they've had thousands of opportunities to do so during that time, at times and places where there would have been nopony to stop them. I admit, we all had a rocky start, but we've grown very close since then. While I can understand the reasons for the objections, they're moot. I'd be at greater risk of being harmed by a teddy bear than I would be by Whinny, Doomie, or Heddy."

Celestia paused for a moment before speaking. She'd been told that this filly had traveled quite some distance with her companions before coming to Canterlot, and they'd had plenty of adventures along the way, but that really doesn't give a true sense of the scale of the journey. But what could have happened along the way that would have caused these four to decide to form a family? Maybe it would be best to hear the whole story direct from the horse's mouth, so to speak, before she made a ruling about this...

"Well then," Celestia said, a smile forming across her face,"Why don't you tell me about your journey, and how you four met. It sounds like quite the story."

Creepy smiled cheerfully, the intensity of her glare suddenly gone, then said, "I'd be happy to, your majesty. I should warn you, though, it's a little bit long."

"Well, it all started when..."