The next morning, Luna was still there, on the couch, although she had fallen asleep against her own will. Something about having someone else there, their soft breathing, their occasional shifting, that lulls you to sleep. Princess Celestia, at first, didn't see the little child. She thought that there was simply a large wad in the blanket. She gently shook Princess Luna awake, and Luna said, "Huh?" before realizing that she'd been asleep. "Oh," Luna said shamefully, "I fell asleep, didn't I, Tia? I'm sorry… I should have stayed up… However, I had the most interesting dream. There was a chi…" She cut herself off when she saw the little child wake up, pick herself off the couch, and cautiously stand up, holding onto the back of the couch. "Lulu?" asked Celestia, "What. Is. That?" "I wasn't dreaming," said Luna. "Hi Tia," said the child, looking up at Princess Celestia, apparently having overheard what Luna called her, and then she turned to Luna. "Hi Lulu," she said, smiling.
"It can talk?!" exclaimed Celestia. "Yes," said Luna, "Would you like an explanation?" "Yes, please!" exclaimed Celestia, throwing her hooves up in frustration. So Luna told her the whole thing. "So you found a child of another species that neither of us knows about in a cardboard box outside the palace gates? And you took it… her… inside and gave her a blanket and a place to sleep?!" said Celestia, still unsure of whether or not she comprehended the situation. Luna nodded. "Lulu!" said the child, "Have some breakfast?" "Um… yes, little one," said Luna, "Tia? Can we take her to breakfast with us? The royal cooks are waiting." "Yes… I think so…" said Princess Celestia, "But you may not let her be seen. We are unsure of what everypony else will think." "How about we leave her here, and we bring back whatever she wants?" suggested Luna. "Milk!" exclaimed the child. "Milk and what, child?" asked Celestia, "You must have a meal. How about we bring you some bread?" "Whee!" exclaimed the child, dropping down onto the couch and throwing her… hands… above her. "I'd take that as a 'yes', Tia," said Luna, walking with her sister over to the dining room to get some breakfast.
They came back from the room, and the child had gotten into the quills. She'd gotten a piece of paper, cut out a crown-like shape, and drawn some stuff on it so it looked just like Princess Celestia's crown design, more or less. In the middle, she drew a snowflake. "I'm a Princess too!" exclaimed the child when Celestia asked what she was doing. "We need a name for her," said Luna. "Like what?" asked Celestia, looking for any distinctive features and finding none. Then she looked at the symbol that the child had drawn. "I… have an idea, actually," said Celestia, "How about… 'Snowflake'?" "How do you like that name?" asked Celestia. "I'm Snowflake!" exclaimed Snowflake, ecstatically. "Snowflake it is," said Luna.
~About a week later…
"Princess Celestia? You asked for me?" asked Twilight, walking into the throne room, "Some sort of alien species you wanted me to identify?" "Yes, Twilight, sort of," said Celestia, "Come with me." They walked up to Princess Luna's room, and they walked in. There was Princess Luna and Snowflake, both sitting on the couch. Luna was sitting in the traditional style, and so was Snowflake, however she looked slightly weird doing so. Twilight's first reaction was to stare at Snowflake, but not for the same reason that most ponies would have. "Why is she sitting like that?" asked Twilight, "It's not natural for them… hey, little one. Nice to meet you." She held out a hoof, and Snowflake didn't change position even a little to reach out and shake it. "A pleasure, Twilight Sparkle," she said. "Who's been teaching her?" asked Twilight. "I have," said Celestia, "Is this a problem?" "She's a bit too formal, right, Twilight?" asked Luna, visibly a little hurt that Snowflake was acting like this and had been taught to.
Twilight nodded. "She's royalty now," said Celestia, "And she should act like it, should she not?" "I'm royalty too, Celestia," said Twilight, unfolding her wings and fluttering them a bit, "But I'm not forced to act like that." "Yes, Twilight, but that's… It's different…" said Celestia, trying to argue a moot point, then she sighed and said, "You're right, Twilight. I shouldn't be so harsh about it." "Its okay, Celestia, you're not experienced in raising a child," said Twilight, "Not saying that I am, but… there are books on the subject!" "Okay, Twilight," said Luna, "To the library! Come, Snowflake!"
They arrived at the Canterlot Public Library (one of Twilight's first decrees as a princess was to put a public library in every single town in Equestria, after the 'National Cake Day' thing) and walked inside. There were a few strange glances from passersby at the sight of the child, who walked on two legs but was still just about as tall as Twilight as she did so. Something told them that she would end up much taller. But regardless, they searched for a book on the subject, and eventually they found one.
They read for hours, and soon Snowflake was very bored. She walked around the library, skimming her hands along the books. Soon she'd done that with every single book she could reach, and she was bored again. And so Snowflake looked around. Big books, small books, medium size books. Suddenly she had an idea. She took out a bunch of books, stacking them upon each other. Up, down, left, right, sideways, closed, open, half-open-but-not-really-open, Snowflake put books in pretty much any direction she pleased. And a little later, when Twilight walked over, Snowflake was inside this large book-castle. "Whoa," said Twilight, having made book forts herself but not book castles, "Nice book fort you've got there, Snowflake." "Thank you, Twilight!" exclaimed Snowflake, "I have book fort!" "Hey, Luna! Your daughter got sort of bored, so you've got a pretty epic book fort going here," Twilight called over. Luna trotted over and said, "My… what?" Twilight said, "Oh, sorry, I took from how you'd acted that you were raising this child, but if she's not…" "Sorry, Twilight," Luna replied, "I've just… not quite gotten used to the title before." "My little sis is a mother," Celestia muttered, reshelving the books that they'd taken down while looking for that one book earlier.
"I'll have to take your book fort apart, if that's okay with you, Snowflake," said Twilight. "Okay, Twilight," said Snowflake, picking up a book, "Can I help?" "Sure," Twilight said sympathetically, only putting away the ones that Snowflake herself couldn't reach high enough to reshelf. So soon the books were reshelved and they went back to the castle. When they arrived there, they had lunch, and Snowflake went and made… you guessed it…
Paper snowflakes.
Twilight taught her.
Don't ask me why.
I don't know.