Author's Note

This is my first story on FimFiction so i hope i don't entirely mess it up. I did take some inspiration from other stories, yes, but i noticed there was no story anywhere that showed Luna raising her OWN child, or maybe there is and i haven't found it --__('-')__--. But i have not and will not steal other peoples stories. Just putting that out now, but anyway, i hope you like my story!

(This Chapter has been redone. Ish........Expect maybe a few more edits here and there)

Chapter 1 Aquila

P.S most of my chapters/stories will have the first couple chapters setting the scene in narrator view

The day after Luna's return was active to say the least. The entire Palace and most of Canterlot was abuzz with the news of Princess Luna's return, or more accurately, Nightmare Moon's return.
The guards were placing bets on who would be placed in Luna's personal guard, the maids were busy cleaning out Luna's designated room in her portion of the castle that had been left alone since its construction, the Chefs were wildly running about in their kitchens cooking up a storm at Celestia's word, and nobles were trying as hard as their social rankings would allow them to try and sneak a glimpse of the new princess.

Rumors were spreading like wildfire throughout the upper city and castle, rumors that for the sake of mind, best not be repeated. While through all of this, the Princess of the Night, Nightmare Moon, the guardian of dreams, the star maker, the shadow mare, was nowhere to be found in the castle, or Canterlot for that matter.
No, she was far away in the Everfree forest, right on the grounds of the abandoned castle. Luna was searching the forest nearby for something she dearly longed for, something she had waited for centuries to finally embrace.

The dark vacuum of space would not allow for this precious thing to exist, not to breathe, to laugh, or to even grow, but to grow cold and wither into dust.
Truly, space was as unforgiving as it was beautiful.
Space would have sucked the air from the filly's lungs, oxygen that Luna herself did not need to have on the moon as she was its mistress. It would have destroyed this wondrous life before it could even take its first breath

So the Lunar Princess had sealed away this treasured life in a time capsule of sorts, a special magic that would keep it alive, but also unconscious and literally stuck in time, some called it a stasis pod, but for Luna, it was the saving grace that would allow the new life to stay alive, her new life.
So now back on the soil she so loved, she searched desperately for the life that would give hers meaning.

The sky was a dark violet with dim stars lighting the sky. The moon was bleak from the loss of its caretaker for so many years, it was not the shining light it was supposed to be, but rather as dim as the farthest star.The stars were near nonexistent, with only the most well known and needed stars being visible to the naked eye.
None of the usual galaxies that Luna had to painstakingly made were showing.
Only one, who a thousand years ago, was the brightest and most glorious galaxy in the sky with all its diverse blues, bright purples, and rich yellows and gold still showed itself off to the population.
Luna would see to all that soon enough, but she had much more important matters to take care of.

Luna muttered to herself as she searched every bush, every treetop, and every inch of tall grass "She must be here! Surely those blasted elements had not fired it this far away!?" Luna was grateful for the Elements, but that didn't mean she liked them right at this second.

The cool, comforting darkness surrounding her would have made it difficult for anypony to see anything, but Luna wasn't just anypony. She was the Princess of the night and that title came with the according powers, such as night vision, control over the moon, and a few others. One of her most prominent powers was the ability to see into dreams, but that was useless in this night.

It had taken Luna the whole day and some of the night to regain her strength to just be able sneak out of the castle as soon as Celestia raised her moon for her and fell asleep.
Her mane and coat hadn't even returned to their former beauty as it took more energy to convert that latent energy into a visible aspect.

Luna hadn't dared to tell Celestia her plan to go searching in the forest, for fear of her elder sister denying her for some reason or even worse, sending some of her guards to find it for her, which trust me, was MUCH worse.

Luna quietly started to panic quietly (quietly as in, if for some reason anyone was in the forest nearby and heard her panicking, it could lead to Celestia finding out about this, which was no a good thing) as she found nothing
"No, no no! she has to be here somewhere! She has to be!" Luna's clear turquoise eyes began to glisten with tears as her efforts began to prove useless.
She had hoped so desperately for this, Luna had never wanted anything more then how much she wanted this one thing. Had it been too much of her to ask to be like every day mares in this one aspect!? had it been too much to wish for this, to believe that she would have this?!

She searched for hours, never stopping once until finally her legs gave out underneath her thanks to centuries of disuse and exhaustion. Tears began to slowly slip from her now bloodshot eyes as her hope started to flicker out like a small flame underneath a strong wind. The lush green grass tickled her chin as she rested it on the ground, the gentle breeze that ruffled her short mane did nothing to sooth her troubled thoughts.
Had all her efforts all those years ago really been for nothing? was it all her fault that her one wish had been snuffed out? All she had wanted was to be loved and to love in return! and now she might never truly get that, sure her sister loved her, but Luna had that before and it clearly helped her not.

Luna was debating about sinking into the depths soft grass and never to getting up, when out of the furthest corner of her eye, so far in fact that to look at it without moving her head hurt her eyes, she saw the faintest blue dimly glowing.

Luna slowly raised her head and wearily turned it to the faint blue light. Her eyes widened as she recognized the soft glow of her own magic.
She tried to bolt up to her feet, but found herself tripping over her own hooves and face planting into the hard dirt. She quickly shook it off and, more slowly this time, got to her feet slower and cantered over to the source of the blue luminescence, surely this was a trick right?

Luna walked past ferns and flowers, she gently brushed branches out of her way with her weak magic as she saw the brilliant object in the center of a grassy clearing. There was a small impact zone to show that it had fallen from the sky, but Luna hardly noticed.

A overjoyed and relieved smile graced Luna's features as she reached out brushed her hoof over the source of the light. She then sat down before it and studied it closely to see if it was still in good condition. The source of the blue light was a translucent pod like object, it had a special magic to stop time inside it. In all honesty the Pod looked like a large, glowing, blue circle with faint white star patterns.
A flower could be placed in the pod and a million years later the flower would be as new as it was the day it was placed in the pod. But it was no flower in this pod, no, it was something much more imporant. Luna's horn sparked with blue aura as her magic slowly and carefully used the special magic patterns needed to open the pod (A security measure she had put in place)

The pod opened up on four separate pieces like a giant flower , revealing at its center a little filly with a white coat splattered with pitch black like a reverse night sky, she had a silky black mane and tail that curled slightly at the ends. Her fuzzy hooves had tiny tufts of fur that looked simply adorable. She had the most adorable little wings that were fairly large for her age, and did they ever promise to be strong later on! along with her squeal worthy wings, she had a tiny nub of a white horn just peeking out through her pitch black mane.

Luna tenderly picked up the filly with her hooves and held her close to her chest, wrapping her wings around her forelegs to keep her little darling warm. Luna smiled in wonder as for just a second, her daughter opened her eyes, revealing them to be a dark blue with tiny specks of gold lining the rim of her iris. Closing her eyes again,Luna nuzzled her daughter lovingly and whispered "Greetings little one, my little Aquila"

With a quick flash of her magic Luna disintegrated the pod into a fine dust and while still looking down at her lovely filly, she spread her large, graceful wings and with a few gentle beats on the air she silently rose into the sky and flew silently back to Canterlot.
Halfway to the palace, Aquila opened her mouth and let out a squeaky yawn, revealing tiny teeth already beginning to come in. A smile stuck on Luna's face as Aquila fell asleep with her little face pressed softly to Luna's chest and her tiny hooves curled up to her chest. Luna savored the warmth that came off Aquila and seemed to flow right into her heart.

Luna held Aquila tight as she closed her eyes for a few moments as the warm, soft feeling blossomed in her chest and spread all the way down to the tip of her hooves. Not even the cool wind could temper this incredible warmth that flowed from every part of the night Princess.

Luna opened her turquoise eyes to look up to her beautiful night sky. The stars seemed somewhat brighter and the moon seemed to be scrubbed clean of lingering filth and luminescent, this was of course caused by Luna's joy. It would then be reasonable to suggest that the stars and Moon reflected their mistresses emotions.

In this moment Luna did not care for the problems of tomorrow or the problems of the future in general. All that mattered to her in this moment was her little daughter sleeping soundly in her hooves and the night sky. In this moment Luna did not care to think about how Celestia or Canterlot would react, or how she would raise a filly on her own. All she cared about was this moment and how long she had waited for this. But in the back in her mind, in a quiet voice, a shadow whispered The moment that Celestia forced you to wait a thousand years for.