The night was one that Princess Luna was especially proud of; the nocturnal sphere holding Equestria under its protective embrace spangled with a finely crafted selection of constellations, each glittering star and streaking meteorite determined to outshine everything else in the night sky, even if only for a fleeting instant, just to best please their mistress.
The midnight blue alicorn had finished her duties and was indulging her passion for flying under the cloak of her night sky. It had been getting more difficult of late to perform the more demanding manoeuvres and aerobatic feats of precision flying, and even a casual glance at her profile would show why – her graceful body that had for so long been inspiration for poets to expound her beauty was getting larger.
It wasn’t just the finer points of flying that were becoming difficult, but also the extra strain on her wings, so she cast an eye around the landscape unfolding beneath her and saw the silvery ribbon of a stream reflecting the moonlight from its surface. She turned gently to align herself for an approach and allowed her rear legs to dangle until her rear hooves skimmed over the surface of the water causing an echelon pattern of ripples to propagate and strike out across the calm surface.
With her speed having bled off, she beat her wings in a flurry, allowing her to touch down slowly and feel the waiting stream rise up her legs until her hooves touched bottom. The refreshing coolness of the water felt good, but so did the fact that it supported her additional weight and made her feel slim again. However, as if to re-assert its presence, the bump wriggled and gave a few little kicks taking Luna’s breath away. She didn’t mind, it was part of the natural process of gestation after all, and just for a moment she cast her mind back to the foal’s father, a fine and handsome stallion.
Their affair had been intense and all consuming, but they had both recognised that their liaison would not last, and now she carried with her an enduring legacy of that beautiful, but fleeting moment in time, a tribute to their consummated love.
The brief rest in the water had been reviving, but it was now time to lower the moon and make way for the day so that daily life in Equestria could resume. Without any display of the reluctance she felt in leaving this idyllic spot, she walked slowly out of the water feeling the weight she was carrying return to her and let out a gasp as a hoof from a fully active foal gave her another kick. She smiled and tutted gently, then turned to where she knew the dawn must shortly begin to brighten the sky, erasing her artistry for another night, then fluttered her wings lifting her and her foal into the air for the return flight to Canterlot.
As a pony driven by a strong self-discipline to deliver of her best in the service to the ponies who looked up to her, she had found it difficult to focus on her own condition but had come to see her foal as somepony she would grow to trust in helping deliver her Royal duties – blood was the strongest and most reliable tie.
Although she was immortal, she knew that this did not stop her becoming injured, possibly so seriously that she could no longer perform as co-ruler and thereby become unable to protect the ponies, so nurturing an heir was a good policy, even if it took her away from her responsibilities for a little while. In fact, she was now at the point where she could no longer undertake the more strenuous of her duties, and thus would have to begin her gradual withdrawal from the weighty responsibilities of her office that she had borne steadfastly for hundreds of years.
During the flight back, her thoughts returned to her foal. She knew that Court Physicians could tell her the gender of the foal if she asked, but she wanted to maintain the air of mystery. She found herself speculating more about whether the foal would be a unicorn, a pegasus or an earth pony. Sometimes she even dared to think that it may be an alicorn, but dismissed the thought as highly improbable.A unicorn was by far the most likely, but whatever it was, she knew she would love it with all her heart.
She wanted to stop thinking of the foal as ‘it’ and toyed briefly with the idea of finding out, but snorted and tossed her head derisively. Like a present at Hearth’s Warming, it was nicest to speculate what lay hidden inside the biggest, most brightly wrapped box until it was finally the right time to open it.
Luna touched down on the Royal balcony where her sister waited to greet her, and once having attended to the formalities of lowering the moon and briefing her on the night’s events, turned for her private chambers and the welcome softness of bed.
What she wanted was to bring her precious foal into a safe world in which it would be happy and free to explore who they were.As Luna took off her livery collar and tiara in front of her mirror, she looked at herself, analysing her strengths and weaknesses and turned away, preferring sleep to further introspection. She knew she had made mistakes, but she had learned from them and continued working hard to this day to make amends. Although she had been forgiven by the ponies of Equestria, she had not yet forgiven herself, and doubted whether she ever would.
She had amassed more experience and wisdom than any mortal pony ever could and now couldn’t wait to share these properties with her own flesh and blood, so it wouldn’t have to make quite so many of its own mistakes and could grow without having to carry such an enormous burden of guilt. If she could achieve this, she reasoned, she would have succeeded.
Subconsciously, Luna realised that she had drawn a pillow close to her and was holding it protectively, like a foal. A maternal smile spread across her face and she drifted off to sleep dreaming of a time not many weeks away when she would be holding her own foal for real.
