The news had spread quickly.

Princess Celestia could no more stop it than she could the inevitable passage of time, for although magic allowed for the slowing of, and even the pausing of time, time itself could not be stopped forever.

And so it was that word of the disaster that had befallen Celestia's very own school—the institute she herself had helped build with her own hooves—had spread rapidly throughout the city of Canterlot.

It was inevitable really.

Many ponies had seen the massive and deadly pillar of magenta light erupt from the school for themselves. The light had spread until it engulfed the entire campus ground, completely obliterating everything and, more devastatingly, everypony it touched... and at the center of it all?

A single lavender filly.

One filly whose tiny frame held a power to match that of the Sun Goddess herself—or so the speculations went at any rate.

Needless to say, the filly's body couldn't contain the full might of such raw magical power and in the end... her own magic vaporized her, along with every single pony in the vicinity.

Including her parents.

The incident would come to be known as one of the worst, and deadliest magic surges in many centuries. There was little speculation as to what had caused such a surge, as many ponies also heard and witnessed something of an anomaly occur mere moments before the event.

A sudden boom had resounded across the land, quickly followed by an ever expanding prismatic ring that could be seen from nearly every town and city in Equestria... including Canterlot.

Celestia herself could feel the magic rolling off of the spreading rainbow in waves. It was meant to be something amazing, something awe inspiring, something truly special. It was an event that was suppose to change lives for the better.

Instead it led to the death of an innocent filly as well as dozens, if not hundreds, of other ponies.

Celestia couldn't blame the event for what had happened however. If anything, she blamed herself for being unable to stop what it had brought about in time.

Indeed, as far as blame went, she had foisted all of it upon herself. As far as she was concerned, she should've been able to prevent this tragedy.

She should've been faster, she should've been stronger, she was Celestia, Princess of Equestria—the Solar Princess, the Goddess of the Sun, Sol Invictus, Lady Amaterasu.

Something of this magnitude shouldn't have been allowed to happen under her watch—in her city... yet it did. The worst had come to pass and there was nothing she could do to fix it. Nothing she could do to atone.

Nothing... save to look after the lone colt that had been left behind in the horrible aftermath.

Shining Armor was the son to the late Twilight Velvet and Night Light, and older brother to the now deceased Twilight Sparkle.

He had been attending a seminar for prospective Royal Guard trainees taking place in Canterlot Castle when the lavender filly's magic went out of control.

Shining Armor alone had been spared from the rest of his family's fate, and now found himself without any family anywhere close to Canterlot.

Celestia had personally taken it upon herself to see that his remaining family had been informed. Unfortunately, the Sparkle family line had dwindled to only a few remaining members, and none of them were in a position to take in a foal.

Refusing to leave the colt as an orphan due to her folly, Celestia did the one thing she could to make up for what she may not have caused, but certainly had failed to stop.

She herself took up the responsibility of raising the colt.

If the Solar Princess was being completely truthful, it wasn't a very hard decision to make. In all honesty, the alicorn had always desired to have a child of her own, but had not been able to find a suitable sire for her foal.

It was only within the last dozen years or so that she had even entertained the thought of adoption, and even then, she had still been hesitant.

How would the public react? What would the nobles say? Would she be a good mother to her foal? Could she? Would she even have time for a foal, being the Princess of an entire nation?

All these questions and more had plagued the mare for years, and over time, she had simply just... held off for an indefinite amount of time—never truly able to make a firm decision.

That is, until now.

Now fate had forced her hoof, and—reluctant as she was—she had chosen the path of the adoptive mother. Certainly there were other foals who had lost one or both parents to the deadly magic surge, of that the Princess had no doubt.

Upon personally checking family records for each and every foal orphaned by that tragic event however, Celestia had found that it was Shining alone who had no other family willing to take him in.

Rare was it in Equestria where one pony refused to help another in such a dire situation as this—especially when it came to family.

Thus, Celestia found herself signing the documents that would officially make Shining Armor her adoptive son... and technical heir to the throne of Equestria should she ever decide to step down or perish during her reign.

This solution was not without its own problems however.

When it came to the general public, Celestia was largely free of blame for the tragedy that occurred. Certainly there were a few who had resented the fact that she hadn't acted more quickly to prevent such a mess, but those voices were of a very small minority.

Many more however, wouldn't dare to blame the Princess for something she had no control over. Unfortunately, the very colt she had opted to call her own in light of the situation, was of that small minority.

Shining Armor didn't have to say anything, and indeed he didn't.

It had only been a few days since the incident, and although preparations had already been made for the colt's stay in the castle, he had refused to leave his family's home.

Even as ponies from the castle staff came to move everything from the Sparkle family residence into the castle itself, he alone remained in the ever emptying house.

Celestia, wanting to give the colt some time alone, had arranged for meals to be delivered to the house while he remained there, but eventually the Princess decided enough was enough.

On the fourth day, Celestia had decided to intervene, and—while she could have simply forced the colt out of the house—she didn't have the heart to do such a thing.

Instead she, and she alone, made her way to the residence under the guise of a white coated, pinked maned unicorn mare named Cloudy Dawn.

Once she had reached her destination, she dropped her disguise and stepped inside the now completely empty house.

She took a moment to look around and sighed morosely, her ears flattening as she thought back on the horrible events that had led to all of this. After a minute she straightened up and continued deeper into the house.

"Shining Armor?" she called out somewhat tentatively, "Shining Armor, can you hear me?"

No response.

The Princess frowned and trotted across the living room and up the stairs near the far wall. If Shining Armor was going to be anywhere in here, Celestia assumed it was most likely going to be one of the upstairs bedrooms.

It wasn't too hard to figure out which room the colt was in, as it was the only door that was closed tight in the entire house.

Celestia gingerly stepped forth and made to open the door, finding that it was locked. Unlocking the door would've been a complete nonissue, but rather than go that route, Celestia hesitated.

She instead slowly raised a hoof and quietly knocked on the door a few times.

"Shining Armor?" she called out once more, "it's Your Pr... your..." she paused and let out a deep, but quiet sigh, "...it's Celestia. Please, open the door, I merely wish to talk to you."

For a long moment, there was no response.

Then Celestia's ears perked up as she heard movement from within. There was a soft, muffled hum of magic and Celestia heard a small click as the door unlocked.

She wasted no time in turning the handle and pushing the door open. She peeked inside to see that the room was just as empty as all the others, save for the one occupant that sat leaning against a window on the opposite wall across from the door.

As the Princess entered the room, Shining Armor made no move to greet her. He simply stared out the window and at the streets below, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Shining Armor?" Celestia began, trotting a bit closer before stopping a few hoof-lengths away, "as I said before, I'm only here to talk—"

"You're only here to convince me to move to the castle," Shining Armor interjected bluntly, "I'm not stupid, Princess."

He finally turned towards the shocked alicorn with a scowl as he continued.

"I know I can't stay here forever, I know you've already adopted me, and I know staying here won't... won't change what happened..."

His scowl faltered and he turned away once more before the Princess could see anything. Despite his efforts, Celestia still saw the pain in his eyes. Nevertheless, she remained quiet as he spoke.

"...you don't need to tell me any of that because I already know... but... but I still don't wanna go—not yet."

Celestia's surprised expression softened and she took a step closer.

"I know it hurts, Shining Armor," the Princess began sadly, "and I know this... all of this isn't easy to accept, but—"

"It's impossible," the colt suddenly growled, still looking away from Celestia, "my family's gone, and I wasn't... wasn't there... I c-couldn't protect them... I n-never even got a chance..."

His voice hitched and Celestia's heart sank even further as the colt began to break down.

"I wanted... to be a Royal G-Guard so I could protect my little sister," he sniffed, still adamantly staring out the window even as his voice wavered, "I just wanted to p... p-protect Twily... but now it's too late, and... a-and..."

He finally turned to Celestia, tears streaming down his cheeks and his face was a mask of misery and loss.

"W-Why didn't you save them?"

The question hit Celestia like nothing she'd ever felt—not since the last words she and her own sister had shared more than a thousand years ago.

She turned away from the colt.

What could she say? She had failed in her duty to protect her subjects, and Shining Armor had suffered the consequences of her failure.

There was no excuse to give.

"I... I'm just a colt, Princess," Shining said as he straightened up and trotted over to Celestia, "I thought about it... for a long time. A-And... and I realized there wasn't anything I c-could do... not like you."

His miserable expression became a hard glare as he trotted right up to the guilt riddled, Princess. She took a step back as he moved closer, unable to argue against his accusations.

"You're the Princess of Equestria!" he suddenly snapped, "why didn't you protect my mom? My dad? My sister? Where were you?"

Where was I...

This was the issue that had been at the heart of Celestia's own guilt regarding the incident. She had meant to be present during the entrance exams, as she had wanted to scope out any potential candidates to become her personal protegé.

She had several reasons for why she wanted to be there—some far more important than others—but it all amounted to nothing in the end.

She had been called away on royal business in Manehattan prior to the exams and had been held up in her return to Canterlot, much to her dismay.

She had felt the surge all the way in Manehattan, and the instant she did, she had dropped everything and cast a hasty long distance Teleportation spell, intending to arrive back in Canterlot to put a stop to the whole thing before it happened.

Even with her immediate reaction however, it had already been far too late. She had arrived just in time to see the pillar of destructive magic envelope the last of the school.

In truth, deep down, Celestia knew it wasn't really her fault that she couldn't save anypony. It had all happened far too quickly for her to do anything about it.

Still, the guilt gnawed at her without end and she felt she would never forgive herself regardless. Seeing the look of pure hatred on Shining's face, she was all but convinced the colt would likewise never forgive her either.

As Shining waited for Celestia to make an excuse, the mare sighed and hung her head.

"There will never be a day that goes by where I look back on this incident without sorrow and remorse, Shining Armor," Celestia said quietly, turning to look the colt in the eye, "this has been one of the worst tragedies to befall Equestria in... a long time, and I have nothing but my own apologies to give you."

"I don't care, and I don't want your stupid apologies," Shining replied through grit teeth, "I want my family back. Can you do that, Princess? Can you give me my family back?"

Celestia winced at the vehement tone in Shining Armor's voice and turned away once more, unable to say a word in response.

The colt glared at her silently for a moment before wiping his eyes and letting out a derisive snort.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he muttered, pushing past the much larger Princess. All the anger left his voice, leaving only sorrow and bitter resentment, "don't expect me to call you 'mother', Princess... ever."

With that, the colt trotted out of the room, leaving a shaken Celestia to sit there, staring out the window just as Shining himself had only moments ago.

Celestia had expected such a reaction from Shining Armor, but contrary to what she originally thought, she had been far from prepared for it.

She knew the colt was speaking from a place of loss and misery, and that he would most likely come around to the idea of being her son given enough time... but it still hurt to hear those words.

It hurt more than she could've ever imagined.

She took a deep, shuddering breath and rose to her hooves, before turning to leave the same way Shining had.

It wasn't an ideal situation—far from it—but Shining had finally agreed to leave the house and the two made their way back to the castle, Celestia having once again donned her disguise.

Neither pony spoke a word to each other throughout the entire trip. Celestia had wanted to give Shining his peace, and Shining himself wanted nothing to do with the Princess.

It seemed as though the bond between mother and child that Celestia had longed for was to be nothing more than a dream for now, but if the Princess had learned anything in her long life, it was that patience was a virtue.

For something like this, she would wait as long as she needed to.

As the two reached the castle gates, the alicorn couldn't help but give a small, discreet smile despite her despondent mood.

As promised, here's that sequel you've all been (hopefully) waiting for!

Rather than focus solely on Twilight and Grogar, I've opted to make this a Dadgar and Momlestia fic.

A brother groomed to be the savior of Equestria, and his sister groomed to be its downfall.

I love this idea, and hopefully you guys will too.