Third P.O.V

Princess Celestias eyes were on the moon she had just raised. It had been almost a thousand years since she had to banish her sister in order to protect Equestria from the corruption that had created Nightmare Moon. Yet, she still felt lonely even after all the time that had passed. She made her way towards her room in the castle overlooking Canterlot, not knowing of the entity that was watching her with sympathy clear on its face.

Celestia opened the door to her private chambers and locked it behind her. But suddenly, the room started to grow darker until nothing could be seen. Before she could panic, a bright light blinded the princess of the sun. When her vision returned, she saw a strange creature. It had three pairs of pure white wings; the middle pair was wrapped around its upper body, the bottom pair around its legs leaving only its feet visible and the top pair was raised high into the air revealing its face. Its long hair was a golden blond and its eyes were closed. It opened its mouth and spoke in a heavenly tone.

"Fear not, ruler of the sun, for no harm will come to you. We have seen your sorrow and are going to give you a test. If you pass, you will be blessed with happiness beyond what you have ever felt before. Out there, in the land of Equestria, a unicorn was born not too long ago with an abnormality. His parents beat him for it." The creature opened its eyes a little; a golden glow was all that escaped its eyes. "We will leave him to be found somewhere in the castle. Your test will be to raise him with the love he never got from his real mother. Goodbye, we wish you and the little one luck." And with that, the creature faded out of existence, leaving behind a very confused princess.

Morning came like it always did the next day. Celestia raised the sun like she had always done. Her mind wandered back to the strange encounter she had had the following night. She decided on taking a stroll through the castle garden, hoping it will help clear her head.

Meanwhile, a maid was making her way through the castle in order to clean the princess room. She decided to take a shortcut through the garden when a red light glowed behind some bushes, only to fade away after a second. What she saw when she went to check on the light was shocked her. A little black coated colt with a blue mane was lying on the ground covering his head with his hoofs while he was shaking from barely audible sobs. The mares' heart broke at the sight of the colt. She approached him slowly, trying not to scare him. Yet when she reached for him with her hoof, she was pushed away into a wall by a powerful burst of magic. Two members of the royal guard came running to her side and when she recovered from the impact, she saw something nopony ever expected to see in their live.

The colt had opened his eyes and they were a piercing blue but, they were also filled with fear and tears were streaming down from them. But what was noticeable about him was what was on top of head. The ponies of Equestria learned from early on of the three races of ponies; the earth ponies that have extraordinary physical strength, the Pegasi who can fly with their wings and the unicorns that have a horn on top of their heads and can use magic. Yet this pony didn't fit into one of them. On his head he had not one, but two horns. His horns, while they hadn't fully grown out yet, were different from normal horns. The horns of a unicorn normally have rings around them, symbolizing their age and are the same color as their coats. His horns were without the rings and were a different color from his coat; a deep, bloody red.

The guards started making their way towards the trembling colt. One of them pointed his spear at the colt, making him crawling backwards. The guard had a deep frown of anger on his face and spoke in an angry and warning voice.

"Who, or what, are you?!" When all he got in response was whimpers from the child as he kept crawling backwards until he hit a wall. "Answer me! Who are you and how did you get in here?!" The child trembled more at the guards yelling and his tears started to flow more while only quiet sobs escaped him.

Celestias P.O.V

I had just reached the garden when I heard an angry yell from across it. I trotted over to the source of the voice and what I saw shocked me. Two members of the royal guard were standing in front of a trembling colt, and one was pointing a spear at him. Before I knew what was happening, I stood between the guards and colt. I felt a strange need to protect him, more so than with any other pony. I didn't even realize that I was giving the guards a look of intense anger until I saw how they where trembling.

"Explain why you felt it necessary to threaten this child!" I hadn't used the Royal Canterlot Voice for centuries but for some reason, it felt right to use it on the guards. "I'm waiting!" The guards where completely paralyzed by this point and I felt my anger reach a new height when they didn't answer.

"Um… your highness…" I lifted my glare from the guards to a maid who looked like she was about to pass out from the anger in my gaze. "I found the colt when I was passing by the garden. When I tried to get close, a powerful blast of magic pushed me away. The guards saw it happen and started to confront the poor thing. But they were only doing their jobs! If anypony should be punished, it should be me! I approached him on my own, not knowing he was some kind of two horned, magically power charged freak!" As soon as she uttered the word freak, I felt my blood boil with anger. I was just about to shout at the maid when the sound of soft crying made me turn my head around.

The little colt was openly weeping now and I felt my heart break at the sight. I laid down on my stomach and gave him a small smile. He seemed to calm down enough not to shake like a leaf.

"Hello little one" the softness of my voice even surprised me. "I'm princess Celestia, what's your name?" I smiled a wholehearted smile when he moved closer to me. His mouth moved, but no words came out. He looked shocked at first and then it looked like he was about to cry again. I reached out with my wings and brought him close, hugging him like I've seen many Pegasus mares do to their children. "Shh don't cry nothing bad will happen to you. I promise. "I felt him snuggle deeper into me, like I was some kind of lifeline he needed to hold onto.

I began charging a teleportation spell when I suddenly remembered the maid and two guards. I turned my head to them and gave them a stern look. "Don't think I've forgotten about you three just yet." I used the spell to teleport myself and the colt to my room. I carefully lifted my wings and he started to look around, taking in the room. He didn't seem as scared any longer.

"Do you know how to read and write?" he turned to look at me, his eyes bloodshot. He gave me a small nod before snuggling closer. I levitated a parchment and a quill with some ink and placed it on the floor in front of us. "Why don't you write down your name on this piece of paper?"

He hesitated a little but eventually he used his magic to grab the quill and started to write down something on the paper. After he was done, he put the quill on the floor and levitated the parchment up to my face. I took the paper in my own magical grasp and read the word that was written in shaky letters out loud.

"Phobos" I looked down at the child to see he had a worried look in his eyes. I couldn't resist smiling down at him, hoping it would calm him down. "That's a very nice name." He sent me a smile that seemed to make the stress of the last millennia just fly away. But one question still plagued my mind, and I was a little afraid to ask it. "Do you know what kind of pony you are Phobos?"

He took the quill and paper and started to write something down again. After awhile he put down the quill and I used my magic to pick up the paper. What I read shattered my heart into a million pieces. 'I'm a freak.' I wrapped my wings around him again and I felt his tears soak my fur. I nuzzled the top of his head and spoke in the most motherly voice I've ever used.

"Shh don't cry. You're not a freak. You just happen to have two horns. That doesn't make you a freak." I felt him calm down again but I didn't lift my wings this time. Instead, I just held him for what felt like the longest time. Our blissful moment was ruined when the same maid that had been standing in the garden opened the door to my room. She froze in place from the look I was sending her. I also felt how Phobos tried to look over my wings so I held him as close as I could.

"What do you want?" She flinched at the icy tone in my voice but I didn't really care. She put a tray she had had on her back on the floor, sliding it over to me and Phobos, and left with hurried steps. I looked down at the tray and saw that it had two salad bowls on it. I turned my gaze to Phobos. "Are you hungry dear?" The rumbling of his stomach gave me all the answers I needed on the subject. I chuckled when I saw his checks blush with a dark red through his black fur. And with that, we enjoyed the salad. Phobos wrote down some things about himself, like how he's an orphan and doesn't really remember much about his live. I offered him to stay with me in the palace and like that, Phobos had become a part of my life.