You can never truly judge the beauty of any place until you've seen it under more than one sky... or so they say.
It's so rare to see anypony still outside their houses after dark these days, but despite all the superstitions and talk of terrors in the night, there were those who found Luna's majestic nightfall to be among the most beautiful natural wonders known to Equestria.
And the loving couple resting under the large oak tree on the top of a small and lonely cliff definitely counted themselves among such individuals... They would often choose this spot for spending time together... Just him, her and a sky full of stars.
One of their favorite traditions was keeping their eyes fixed on the sky right as the very first stars began to appear. As they became more and more used to this tradition, they even began counting the stars for as long as they could... Given they started appearing one by one, rather than million by million.
"Shoot!" the mare suddenly exclaimed. "I lost again!" she added and started laughing. Her lover didn't hesitate to join her.
"Don't worry," he said in a soothing tone and turned his head towards her. "I stopped counting long ago," he confessed. More laughter ensued as a result.
Just as the laughter dissipated, the mare leaned against the stallion and nested her head on his warm shoulder. "I'm so glad I found somepony who loves the night sky as much as I do," she admitted, her voice sounding rather passionate.
"The feeling's mutual," he answered right away and looked into her eyes with a smile that came from the very bottom of his heart. "I always thought that all the girls feared the night more than the thought of Discord one day breaking free from his prison."
The mare chuckled at the notion and nuzzled her companion. "I guess that makes me special."
"It does in my eyes."
"Oh!" The mare suddenly gasped. "Look! A shooting star!" she shouted and pointed at the sky.
"Where?" The stallion started peering in every direction, which only made his beloved chuckle again.
"It's long gone, silly! Don't you know that falling stars can only ever be seen for a split second before they vanish?"
"Then how come you pointed me towards it if it was already gone?" he asked with a sly smile on his face.
"To see if you would fall for it," she replied with a devilish grin.
"Oh, I'm so gonna remember that." He stared back at her with the same kind of expression. "Did you make a wish, at least?"
"As a matter of fact, I did!" she proudly admitted.
"Oh?" the stallion uttered in disbelief. "And what was it?"
"Don't you know anything, silly?" she counter-questioned in a playful tone. "If you tell somepony what you wished for, then that wish will never come true!"
"Pfft!" he rejected the notion. "That's just an excuse to avoid admitting that you didn't think of anything."
The mare gasped from shock at the blatant accusation. "Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Prove it!" the stallion interrupted the charade.
The lady had already raised her hoof and opened her mouth, ready to deliver a counter-argument, but the words of her lover took her by surprise and she found herself with no choice other than to groan and agree to his terms. "Fine..." she replied in a sulky tone and crossed her forelegs. "I wished for..." Before she could finish, her sights got caught by something in the sky. "Look! Another one!" she shouted out and pointed at the sky in the same way as before.
"Yeah, like I'm falling for that one again," the stallion said without breaking his fixed gaze on her.
"No! This one's different! It's still falling!" she insisted, even getting up while still pointing at the star to make herself look more convincing.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on AAGH!" he interrupted himself with a loud scream.
The mare also couldn't help but get startled and gasp as her so-called shooting star crashed epically into ground in front of them... Miraculously enough, the massive impact seemed to have left no dent in the ground, nor did it scorch the grass around it... All that it left behind itself was a pile of ashes... Ashes that the two dumbfounded ponies couldn't take their eyes off of... Ashes that appeared to be moving.
"Did you hear that?" the still-astonished stallion asked. His equally-as-surprised lover could only nod silently in response.
As if the moving wasn't enough, now it seemed like the ashes were starting to talk! And in the voice of an infant filly, no less.
Mustering her courage,(or simply letting her curiosity get the better of her) the mare decided to take a few steps closer to the strange phenomenon.
"Stay back!" the stallion ordered. "It could be..." He quickly realized that his words were wind to the curious mare. Letting out an annoyed sigh, he followed her to the pile of ashes.
Stopping just half a step away from the remains of the shooting star, the couple began inspecting it meticulously... There was no denying it anymore. Either the ashes themselves were alive... or something inside them was.
Acting against the will of her lover, the mare placed her hoof gently on the ashes and started slowly brushing away one layer after another until they both bore witness to the cause of the turmoil inside the heap.
"Is that..." the stallion began a sentence he couldn't finish. Instead he only watched in sheer awe as the pony next to him drove her hooves deep into the ashes and liberated the small filly that had seemed to have made herself at home in that particular star... He couldn't even figure out what was stranger -- the fact that all of this is happening, or the smile of pure joy on the face of the mare holding the baby. "How are you so okay with any of this!?"
As if deaf to his words, the mare simply drew the child closer to her in a warm embrace and began cradling her as if she was her own, and the filly did not protest... In fact, she even enjoyed it and emitted sounds of delight that sounded just like those of any regular newborn pony.
"Did you..." the stallion uttered. "No..." He shook his head. The notion sitting in his mind was too uncanny to believe, but as his companion stared back at him with eyes full of tears of happiness, the thought gained a lot more strength and simply couldn't go unspoken. "Did you... wish for this?" he asked, barely able to believe he even considered such a thought... He nearly fainted at the moment he bore witness to the approving glance of the future mother of the child.
"Isn't she beautiful?" the mother asked, lowering the child from her shoulders for her future husband to see.
"I..." the not-so-willing father uttered, still utterly baffled by all of this. "But... She..." Taking in a deep breath to help himself calm down, he sighed as if defeated and forced to submit to the terms of the situation. After lifting his head back up, he made eye contact with the adorable, purple unicorn staring back at him with a face that had "dada" written all over it... It didn't take long for him to succumb to the temptation and don a heartfelt smile. "Yeah... she is."
"What should we name her?"
"A name!? Already!?" he exclaimed, quickly calming his tone with another long sigh. "Somehow I get the feeling she isn't going to take after her father as much as her mother..." He finished his sentence after staring into the eyes of his beloved lady. "I think your name would suit her perfectly."
"Did you hear that, Twily?" Twilight Velvet asked the baby and nuzzled her. Both of their faces were overflowing with glee just as she did that. "Your daddy thinks you're going to be just like mommy!"
"Hmm..." Night Light quietly uttered.
"What is it?"
"She needs a full name... I was thinking maybe something that would remind us of how she came to us?"
"How about..." The mare stopped to wonder for a moment. "Sparkle!"
"Twilight Sparkle..." he repeated to himself. "I kinda like the sound of that..."
"Would you like to hold her?" Twilight Velvet suggested, catching Night Light completely by surprise.
"Me!?" he exclaimed. "I... Uhh..." Before he could talk his way out of it, the mare simply pushed the baby into his hooves.
"Go on! Don't be shy!"
"Uhh..." he uttered, nearly losing his balance upon suddenly getting burdened like that. "Hey, Twily!" he addressed his own child with a sheepish grin. "How's it going?" he asked, receiving a jubilant cheer and a heart-melting smile as a response. "I'll take that as a "great!"."
Velvet couldn't help but laugh at his poor display of fatherly care. "You don't know the first thing about children, do you?" she asked with a satisfied grin while leaning against Night Light's shoulder.
"Do you?" he counter-questioned.
"Well, certainly more than you do!"
"Well, I guess you'll just have to teach me, then."
"Oh, I will!" she said with a determined smile covering her lips. "Your first lesson starts now!" she shouted in a tone worthy of a general. "Every father needs to be strong enough to carry their child over massive distances without rest, not to mention, he is always directly responsible for the health and welfare of all his sons and daughters!"
"Hey! That's not--"
"Well, soldier!?" Velvet interrupted him before he got a chance to protest. "Are you up to the challenge?"
"No!"
"That's the spirit!" she yelled and blew a whistle. "Now get moving!"
"Aah!" Night Light screamed in disapproval, but kept moving forward, nevertheless.
"That baby needs to get home safe and sound before midnight! So get moving!"
"I'm not sure I want you to be my teacher anymore..."
"Less talk, more walking!"
***
Meanwhile... Not-too-long ago, in a place not-too-far away...
A different couple found themselves in a very similar situation...
"I think I've got the perfect name for her," the mare holding the newborn unicorn declared. The stallion stayed silent. He seemed eager to hear what she had come up with. "Starlight Glimmer," she proudly revealed.
"Starlight Glimmer..." he repeated. "Very fitting, I have to admit."
Author's Note
Just a random idea I suddenly came up with and decided to not keep to myself... My way of explaining the way those two are so gifted in the art of magic, not to mention, it goes perfectly with their names and the star on Twilight's flank. ^^
