"And you can return to Ponyville whenever you want." A tall white alicorn smiled. Her beautiful, pastel coloured mane swaying and sparkling as she and another alicorn trotted through a grand hall.

"Thank you, Celestia. But I think I will stay in Canterlot for a day or two." The younger alicorn replied, gazing at the stained glass. She lived here before. And for so long. It was her second home, and Celestia was almost her mother. Taking care of her like Twilight was her own.

"Okay, Twilight. Afterall, this was like your home." Celestia chuckled, remembering a memory of following the little purple filly around the castle as she skipped around with books in her face. The princess of the sun remembered lifting up- with her aura- guards, maids, plant pots and various other items out of the way as the filly continued to read.

"Yes. It was." Twilight nervously smiled. A sliver of fear wrapping around her mind, making her panic.

The sun goddess walked through the corridors, followed by her youngest student, niece, and now third ruler- Princess Twilight Sparkle. The sun shinned through the stained glass, and onto the ponies walking past.

"Is everything alright?" Celestia asked, concerned for her student.

"Yes! Why wouldn't everything be okay? I mean, I am Equestria's newest princess. Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Twilight huffed, fluttering her newly made wings.

"Oh, Twilight. You worry so much. Take each day slowly." The great alicorn advised, her voice soft and soothing to the other alicorn.

"I know, Princess." The violet mare sighed, relaxing slightly at the sound of her mentor's voice. Celestia always had a beautiful voice. It was always so relaxing to the Princess speak, sing or even laugh. Others may have thought of her voice to be regal and strong, but Twilight, it was always soft and sweet.

"Maybe, if I leave you alone for awhile, you can take a walk around the castle. To clear your head." Celestia smiled again, her musk rose eyes glittering.

"Yeah, that might work." Twilight breathed in and smiled along with her teacher.

"And, I've had the Archives room refurbished." Princess Celestia smirked, knowing how to the younger alicorn would react.

Twilight's weak smile, grew. Grew into a grin, bigger than the moon.

"Go on then. Princess Twilight." Celestia giggled, and turned to look out the window, staring at the luscious, and magical land of Equestria. That she helped created. "I'll be with you soon. I just need to run some errands."
She turned to face Twilight, her student, but all she saw was a trail of dust and a small purple dot. She watched the little pony gallop of as she trotted away, sighing sadly to herself.

~~~~~~

"Oh sweet mother of Celestia!! It's-it's...beautiful." Twilight gawped at the the newly decorated room of various scrolls. Glancing at the new wallpaper, and the new bookcases. The engravings of swirls and delicate curls on the dark wood of the bookcases.

"There's the history of old Equestria!" She squealed as she pranced around. "And...and...the 100 ways to make...oh, whoops. This is a foal's art book." Twilight flipped the book open, glancing at the squiggles inside. "And, it's my old art book. Brings back so many memories. Using Celestia's make-up as a subsitute to paint is not, a good idea." Twilight laughed hysterically, and threw the book across the room. Hoping that it would end up in the bin

Unfortunately, it didn't.

The bulky book flew into a bookcase behind Twilight. It creaking and groaning. Numerous books fell of the shelves, and the cabinet swayed forward, and back.A small box began to slide to the edge as the bookcase swayed dangerously forwards.

The purple alicorn quickly turned around at the sound of falling books, and attempted to stop the old, object on top of the bookcase, from falling, and smashing to the floor.

But she was too late.

~~~~~~

"Oh, dear." She muttered.

A small, old, brown chest with gold rims, was upon the floor. Chips of dark wood surrounded the box. Parts of the gold from the decoration, were now dented. And half of the lid was snapped off the hinges. Twilight stared at the box, biting her lip, when she heard the sound of trotting hooves.

"Celestia! Oh fiddle-sticks! I better get the box away!" She panicked.

Twilight quickly clicked the lid back on, and levitated it into the air, trying to reach the top of bookcase. Flapping her wings in a random flutter in order to reach higher.

"Twilight, I-" Celestia began as she walked in, making Twilight yelp.

"AH!"

Twilight lost her magical grip on the chest and it fell to the floor, again,hitting the floor with and smash. Shattering as it made contact with the ground.
This time, it completely broke off.

The lid broke in half, the gold plating flying off, the body of the chest collapsed, with the splinters everywhere across the floor.
Celestia stared at the now wrecked chest, staring at the shattered piece of wood.

Twilight fluttered her wings at her sides, looking down at her hooves in disappointment.
"I-I-I'm so s-s-sorry." She croaked.

But Celestia said nothing, she just stared. A lifetime of memories flooded her mind. Her horn lit up with a golden aura, as did a small object underneath the ruins. Her tears streamed down her prismatic white cheeks as she lifted up the item. An image of a little filly danced around in her head, making more of her tears fall.

"Princess?" Twilight edged towards her mentor, feeling greatly guilty for making the goddess cry. "I'm sorry." She apologised.

"Oh, Twilight, dear. You have no need to fret." Tears flowed freely from her eyes, staining her white fur. She hadn't cried like this since she sent her dear sister to the her exile, and since the grey day another part of her went away.

"But, Celestia, you're crying." Twilight pointed out.

At an instance, the door bolted shut and the blinds flew down. Twilight squeaked in shock at the sudden darkness. She walked around trying to find her teacher or at least some light.

"Celestia?" She whispered as the elder princess's horn began to glow. Twilight stared at the golden light as she trotted closer towards it.

"Twilight. There is something, something that has broken my heart. Something, I haven't told anypony." The slender white alicorn sat down, and Twilight followed.

The object Celestia was holding, was a small silver tiara studded with rosy rubies. It glittered as the golden light of Celestia's horn glowed. Twilight gazed at the small tiara, staring at the beautiful detail. However, it was too small to belong to any adult, or any filly or colt.

"Is that yours? From when you were younger?" Twilight questioned.

"No. It's my daughter's." Celestia whispered, making her cry again.

Twilight's eyes widened with shocked and her mouth hung wide.
"Daughter?" She squeaked. "You have a daughter?" This was news to her. Very big, new news.

"Yes. Many, many years ago, when ponies came looking for new land, they came to me, to ask for permission. To create a town called Hoofson Town. But the mayor, who was lovely gentle pony, came to me one night. He was a lovely blue pegasus pony, with red, orange and purple hair." Celestia sniffed. "He admitted to me his love, and so did I. He was my world. He may have been an ordinary pony, but he was a special ordinary. I loved him so dearly. And we shared our love one night too."

Twilight blushed before speaking. "But, I thought alicorns were infertile."

"When an alicorn loves somepony dearly, I mean, they love them a lot, they become infertile. But for them only. Alicorns will only find one special somepony in their whole life. It's curse, really." Celestia explained through her sniffles.

"What happened to him?"

"I never knew. He went to Gryphon Islands to send a message,as a few of his ponies from his town were being taken by the griffins. But something happened on his way back." More tears poured out of Celestia's eyes. She breathed heavily as her cries turned into full blown sobs. "They-they-they only found his bag and a few feathers. That's all they found of my Mist Zipper!"

Twilight moved closer to the princess and hugged her tight as she wailed.

"I never got to tell him that I was pregnant. He never knew." She cried, holding Twilight. "I put her tiara in here because I didn't want to be reminded of the memories. It pains me too much."

"I'm sure, wherever he is, he's looking down onto you and your daughter. I'm sure he is proud of you both." Twilight soothed, in attempt to calm the princess down.

"He won't." Celestia retreated from the hug, wiping the remains of tears away. "I gave my child away. My beautiful child."

"Why?" The younger mare gasped.

"The courts wouldn't allow a child in the palace. Even when I begged. I'm the Princess of Equestria, I raise the sun. And I wasn't allowed to raise my own. Just because they thought it would be distracting."

"Heartless jerks." Twilight muttered.

"And, thanks to you Twilight, my daughter is closer to me than ever." Celestia smiled through her tears.

"What?"

"My daughter's name is Iris Unquam Offendas." Celestia sniffed.

"Sorry Princess, I don't know anypony called that."

"I'm sure you do Twilight. It's Latin."

"Latin? Hmmm... Iris Unquam Offendas. Unquam Offendas means dash. And Iris means rainbow. Iris Unquam Offendas means Rainbow...Dash. Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash is your daughter?" Twilight's head exploded. She had so many questions, but her head was so jumbled right now. Her best friend was a princess. Princess Celestia's daughter!! She couldn't believe it.

"Yes."

"B-but she doesn't have a horn." Twilight croaked, shaking her head madly.

"And you never had wings till two days ago." Celestia snorted in reply.

"You mean...she will just suddenly grow a horn."

"Her physcial will change on her 21st birthday."

"Does she know that you are her mother?" The princess of magic kept asking frantically, grabbing the other alicorn's attention.

"No."

"Her 21st birthday? That's tomorrow!" Twilight's mind flipped around at this new information.

"Indeed."

"And she will be in here."

"Yes...wait, what?"

"Rainbow and the others are bringing the party here." Twilight explained.

Celestia grinned, her eyes finally lighting up with the care and passion it had before.

"Thank you Twilight. You truly are a great princess. Thank you so much!"

The blinds flashed open and the door opened.

Twilight squinted until her eyes got used to the light. She looked around for Celestia, to find she was already gone.

"This is going to be one hectic birthday present for Rainbow." Twilight sang as she trotted away.