1: The Secret Life of a Princess
Princess Luna's moon was high in the sky, the stars were burning bright in a beautiful array, the ponies of Equestria were all asleep in their beds, and all was at peace. Luna was performing her routine sweep of the dreamscape, seeking any ponies whose dreams may not be so peaceful, but even the dreamscape was quiet on this night. With a sigh, Luna brought herself back to the physical world.
"Is everything okay Luna?" came a voice from the darkness.
"Yes, Cloud. Equestria has never been so peaceful, even the dreamscape is quiet this night," replied Luna, as she turned to her consort and faithful companion, Sir Cloud Twist, on the bed next to her.
"Good, that means I get to spend more time with you tonight," he said, rolling on top of his alicorn princess and giving her a kiss.
Luna looked up at the pony in bed with her, looking him up and down with a smile. A dark blue stallion with with a black mane, his cutie mark a tornado with crossed swords to indicate his great skill at in-flight combat. A quite handsome stallion to be sure, and utterly in love with his alicorn princess. She smiled at him as she remembered the events leading up to this moment. They had just reintegrated the Children of the Night into Equestrian society, and upon returning to the castle in Canterlot, Cloud confessed his feelings for Luna, and they had been a couple ever since.
"More time with you is always a good thing my valiant knight," remarked Luna as she returned his kiss.
The night passed too quickly, and before she knew it, Luna had to leave her bed to lower the moon and greet her sister good morning. With a final kiss, she left her lover to perform her royal duties. Cloud Twist returned to the bed and closed his eyes. There was nothing he enjoyed more than spending the night with his beloved, though she was often too busy with her nightly duties to spend more than an hour or two with him. He had always admired her, since he was a child growing up in Trottingham. It's why he joined the Night Guard and rose so quickly through the ranks to become the youngest pony to ever be Captain of the Night Guard. Now that he had everything he wanted, he passed his nights in a state of bliss, looking forward to the moments he could spend with her.
"Good morning sister," Luna greeted her sister in the courtyard with a cheerful smile.
"Looks like someone had a good night," teased the sun Princess. "I'm happy you found someone Luna dear. Just be careful. When the time comes, he may not understand, he may take it the wrong way. If you get too close, he'll just end up breaking your heart, just like the last one."
Luna frowned at the reminder. "How could I ever forget?" she asked. "Why couldn't I have just been born normal? It would have saved me a lot of heartache."
"I know sister, but we all have our burdens that we must bear. And if things go wrong, I'll still be here for you, as I always have been. Now, let us do our royal duty and prepare for the new day."
With that, the two princesses rose into the sky. One lowered the moon and hid the stars, the other raised the sun and Equestria woke to a new day.
Luna returned to her quarters to find her lover asleep in the bed. She walked over to the bookshelf in the corner of her room and pulled her latest diary from the end of the shelf. She and her sister had kept diaries since they were kids, though her sister had filled many more volumes during the last 1000 years. Immediately upon her return, and the defeat of Nightmare Moon, Luna had started a new diary. She wrote in the diary everyday and it had helped her to reintegrate herself into the royal life. It contained many secrets, including one that, if it ever got out, could cause her a lot of problems. That's why every one of these diaries had a magical seal to prevent anypony from opening it without her permission.
The diary also told of all the lessons she had learned and adventures she had had since returning. It detailed the defeat of Nightmare Moon and her feelings upon returning, it told of her first Nightmare Night and the lesson Twilight Sparkle helped her to learn. Most importantly, it told the tale of the Children of the Night, who fought bravely to protect her memory, and to keep her followers safe from those who would have wished them harm.
Luna began writing in the first blank page, telling of the wonderful and peaceful night she had just shared with her lover. The entry took a turn, however, when Luna remembered her sisters warning. Luna reached back into the bookshelf for a very old diary bound in leather. Removing the seal, she opened it right to the entry. Her last lover, 100 years before her banishment. When he had learned... the nation was almost torn into civil war because he couldn't handle it. What if Cloud Twist is the same? What if he reacts the same way? Luna wondered. She looked over at her lover and feared the worst.
It was then that a thought struck her, a thought that terrified her. She looked back over the past couple months and gasped. This couldn't be right! It's too soon! Flipping rapidly through the pages, Luna began to panic. She read through every page carefully, to make sure she wasn't mistaken. As an alicorn it was normal for there to be a little fluctuation, but it's never this long of a time span. Luna found the entry that indicated her last heat cycle, almost two moons ago. There was no doubt about it now. She was pregnant!
Princess Luna flew down the hall, trying not to alert the guards as she hurried to the throne room to find her sister. If this foal was a colt... Luna shuddered to think of the implications, both for herself and for those around her. Bursting into the throne room, Luna cantered to a stop before her sister. Looking around she saw several notable ponies sitting to the side of the hall, all with their eyes locked on her. "Celestia, we need to talk, in private," whispered Luna as she approached her regal sister.
"Is something the matter little sister?" asked Princess Celestia.
"Yes, something both wonderful and terrible has happened, but this isn't the place for it, we must go to your quarters to speak," Luna whispered, her eyes darting around to make sure the nearby ponies did not overhear. The Canterlot nobles whispered among themselves, wondering about the haphazard entrance and the whispered conversation.
Celestia looked around and saw the whispers. She nodded her head and said, "Yes, let's go to my chambers." Then, addressing the assembled ponies, Celestia said, "You're all dismissed, I have business to attend to with my sister."
The two royal alicorns exited the throne room and headed to the East Tower where Celestia's quarters were located. Upon arrival, Luna closed and locked the door before speaking. "I'm pregnant," she exclaimed as she paced around the room. "I'm pregnant and I don't know what to do. What if it's a colt? How will I tell Cloud? And what will we do when the rest of Equestria finds out?! There'll be rioting in the streets, ponies asking for my head on a pike!" Luna was working herself up into a frenzy and Celestia walked over and hugged her.
"It will be fine dear sister. The ponies of Equestria are a lot more accepting now than they were 1000 years ago," said Celestia. "There will still be those who are upset with it, but they will be in the minority. And besides, it may not even be a colt, it might be a filly. As for Sir Cloud Twist, he should know the truth, whether it's a filly or a colt. Because one day you will have a colt and you don't want him to find out after too long a time has passed."
"But what if it upsets him?" asked Luna with a worried frown. "The last one tried to kill me when he found out. I don't think I could take it if Cloud decided he wanted me dead."
"Luna, you need to stop worrying, we can handle this. Transponies have become a lot more common in modern times, and they're gaining support," consoled Celestia. "If they can gain support, then what makes you think it will be so hard for you? It's a brave new world, and there will be trouble, but not nearly as bad as you think it will be. I am sure Cloud can learn to accept you, he's not a bad pony."
Luna smiled at her sister. "Thank you Celest. You know, it's funny, not too long you wanted him rotting in a dungeon, now you're vouching for his moral character," laughed Luna.
"Yeah well, he kind of grows on you, but I don't need to tell you that," teased Celestia. "Now go, you're special somepony is waiting for you and you have something to tell him."
Back in her own chambers, Luna layed in bed next to Cloud. Feeling her climbing into bed, Cloud turned over and gave her a smile. "Is everything okay my princess?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied. "I mean no." Luna shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Cloud I have a couple things to tell you. One is really great news, but the other is a terrible secret. A secret so terrible, I'm worried that you might hate me when you find out."
"I could never hate you, my beloved," Cloud said tenderly, as he leaned forward to give Luna a kiss. "Now tell me, what is troubling you?"
Luna took a deep breath and let it out. "The first thing you need to know is that I'm pregnant." Luna held up a hoof to stop Cloud who had opened his mouth to say something. "Before you say anything you need to hear the rest of what I have to say. Because I am a pure-born alicorn, pregnancy comes with special complications. You see, I am what's known as a Daughter of Time. Alicorn stallions are born with a genetic defect. While alicorn mares are gifted with immortality, alicorn stallions are not."
"But what..." began Cloud before he was interrupted.
"Please, let me finish, while I still have the courage to tell you." Cloud nodded his head and Luna continued her story. "An alicorn stallion is only a stallion for 25 years at a time. Around the time of their 25th birthday, an alicorn stallion begins to change, their features softening, their voice changing, until eventually they are a completely different pony, and they've become an alicorn mare. This change lasts until they give birth to colt, and then they spend another 25 years as a stallion before changing back into a mare. The secret that I have kept hidden, a secret once known but long since lost to time, is that I was not born a mare, I was born an alicorn stallion."
The room went quiet as Luna finished speaking. The two ponies just sat there in silence, with Cloud lost in his thoughts over his loved ones revelation, and Luna fearing to break the silence.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity of silence, Cloud looked over at his beloved princess and he darted forward to kiss her. Luna's eyes widened in surprise before relaxing into the kiss. The kiss ended all too soon for Luna. Cloud pulled away before speaking. "Whatever the future holds, we'll face it together," He said. "I can't say this didn't surprise me, and I can't say things won't be different should we have a colt, but my love for you brought me through 1000 years frozen in time. I love you Luna, and nothing is going to change that."
With tears in her eyes, Luna wrapped Cloud in a hug and whispered in his ear, "Thank you."
