The changes were subtle. Luna's body was still strong and bigger than mine, but now he had a certain something.

"You feel different in here." Luna's voice was a touch deeper. He curled a foreleg around me, worked his hoof between my forelegs, and pulled me tighter to him.

A soft sound left my throat and I reached a wing around his back and clung against him. "Oh? I was just thinking the same thing. You first."

"You're softer, but bigger. You're more wingy—using them I mean. More physical too." Tilting his head just right, Luna rested his head against mine so our horns gently touched and crossed. "Your physical responses are more certain here."

"Out—In the waking world you're female. I know it shouldn't matter, but I still feel reminders of that when we're intimate there. I wish I wasn't. I wish I could hold you tight, like now, and not have anything else matter."

He kissed the bridge of my nose and then licked the same spot. "It felt different to be more masculine at first, but now it's normal. It's right. You're what makes it right, Stygian. Being here with you, like this, brings more joy than I thought I'd ever feel." Another little kiss and another little lick. "Now it's your turn. What's different about me here, and if you just say that I have a penis, I'll get cross with you."

"You're firmer, bigger—What I like most about you here is your confidence."

"What?"

"Confidence. Even in bed you wouldn't be this forward. You're almost crushing me against you, Luna. Please don't stop doing that." When his grip tightened just a little, it pulled another little sigh of delight from me. "Moreso lately."

"Nightmare Moon."

I nuzzled his neck and nibbled along his throat. "Hrmm?"

"When the Elements saved me, they burned away more of me than I realized. I was a warrior, Stygian. I was Celestia's barbarian. I let my emotions drive me far more than I do now. I think that's why the Elements of Harmony burned away everything that made me Nightmare Moon. I thought it was permanent and had accepted that, but roleplaying as her woke my emotions." He moved smoothly. Luna rolled me onto my back, shoved me against the soft bed with his wings, and brushed his fangs across my throat. "You woke all my passions."

"You—" My voice froze in my throat as Luna's mouth opened at my neck and he brushed the points of his fangs along the soft underside of my jaw. I squirmed and wiggled under him, unable to hold still any part except my neck and head. "L-Luna?"

His breath was heavy and panting against my neck. "What?"

"I won't submit." As the words passed my lips, the visage of the Pony of Shadows flowed over me. No sooner had I become smoky darkness than Luna's teeth snapped closed where my neck had been. "I won't submit to anypony who can't make me."

Flowing off the bed, I reformed beside it into the winged and horned beast that was the Pony of Shadows. Okay, so I was winged and horned all the time now, but this was something special. Rolling my shoulders, I looked at where Luna, her fur bleeding over into midnight black, her cutie mark turning deep purple, looked back at me with eyes that narrowed to slits.

"I was just playing last time, little stallion." I took a step toward him, then another. Each motion saw my body grow and grow.

"Hold on, Stygian." Luna's voice was distinct from Nightmare Moon's only by the tone. He still sounded horny and excited, but there was a touch of urgency. "You can't hurt me here, but I will wake up sore if you get too rough."

It took a lot of self-control to keep from jumping on him anyway. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. "Tell me how you want me to continue?"

A soft ripple passed through the dream world. Luna was still Luna and I was still myself, but something was subtly different. "I think this will work."

"What did you do?"

"The world we're in now is different, Stygian. Different rules and different consequences. You've seen the little animations some ponies make with paper and film? This has as much consequence to us as those. The downside is things won't feel as real as they do normally." Luna locked eyes with me and took a step closer. "If you feel too much, it will shatter this magic and we will both wake up with headaches and I will be as sore as last time."

So focus on the not-real? This would be something I could do. I smiled at Luna, showing off my fangs to good effect. "Then if I do this right, it will strengthen this reality."

My form didn't just double—I grew to ten times what a pony should be. Luna, or Nightmare Moon as he was now, looked up at me with a shocked expression.

"I believe I've made a technical error." Nightmare Moon summoned his magic and tried to lash out at me with it, but knowing there wasn't any way to be hurt won this "fight" for me before he'd even started.

"No. You've made only good decisions. This. Is. Right." I planted one giant hoof in the middle of Nightmare Moon's back and forced his belly to the ground. "Now to make you my harem-stallion."

Luna's giggle almost broke the fantasy for a moment, but he cleared his throat and started to struggle. "Never! I will never submit to—to…" He was facing toward my belly and could no-doubt see what was coming his way. "S-So b-big…"

"That's right. Open your mouth and kiss it." My shaft was bigger than he was. In all about three times his length and thick enough around so that my urethra would match his throat for size. Okay, so I had a thing for this, but Luna wasn't exactly trying to tap out.

He'd been right. The sensation of him kissing the flare of my shaft was reduced, but that could also have something to do with how big I was. Then he took things up a notch and started nuzzling and rubbing his head against me, and I no longer cared how silly this dreamscape was.

My hips moved on their own and I shoved the huge shape so that it pressed against his cheek and then down along his spine before pulling back. I was leaking thick and gloopy black precum all over him and Luna seemed to revel in it.

Old traditions, from before my exile, held that a stallion would sometimes mark a mare as his with his scent on her back. Luna—in here—was no mare, but I think I'd try to bring something old back anew. "You're old enough to remember how a stallion would claim their prize?"

Pressing forward again, I made sure to rub my shaft over one side of Luna's back and then drag it back the other. I could feel my end approaching, but in this place that didn't need to be the final end of our fun. Rocking my hips and letting my mind run away with the situation, I felt my pleasure ramp up. "Open your mouth."

He did as I told him. Luna opened his mouth and pressed it to the opening of my black shaft. The sight of him under my belly was more than enough to push me over the edge.

My body shook, the dark form wanting to spear forward into the depths of my undersized mate. I held my loins in check and instead left him in the firing line of what was even now shooting down my shaft toward him.

"Wha—?" Luna's voice sounded shocked, but was quickly silenced by the torrent of dark seed that sprayed out onto him. He managed to get a few gulps down before it bulged out the corners of his mouth and he lost control of it.

Blast after blast hit him, painting his face, shoulders, back, and even his wings. If he weren't already black, it would have shown up better on his coat, but the smell was something else. Watching as Nightmare Moon's form became more and more drenched in the hot mess caused so much excitement that I seemed unlikely to stop.

Thinking quickly, I stomped around him, spraying more mess everywhere as I did, then pressed my hoof on his forequarters. Bracing my shaft against his rump, I pushed until I hefted it up.

"St-Stygian!" His cry wasn't one of pain or panic, but of shocked excitement. The seal wasn't perfect, but I'd pressed my tip over his rump close enough that I knew at least some of it was shooting inside him—despite the mess leaking down his legs.

His belly bulged and he seemed to flop in place and let me keep going. Only when he looked pregnant did I stop and push his rump down. The rest of my load went down and up his back, layered over itself until he was a dripping mess and I couldn't even see his purple cutie marks anymore.

Stepping away for a moment, I looked at my work as I circled my him.

"Are you satisfied?" His voice was all Luna. "Stygian, you better get down here and kiss me or I'm going to get cross."

Shrinking was harder than growing, but not by much. I just had to imagine myself a smaller and smaller Pony of Shadows until I was only a little larger than Nightmare Moon. Strutting up to him, I leaned down and ran my muzzle from his dock to his neck, licking up my mess and inhaling my musk that was all over him. Laying down in the mess beside Luna, I kissed his cheek. "I believe that's called getting carried away."

Reaching a cum-soaked wing up and over my back, Luna pulled himself snug against me and kissed me properly. I could taste myself in his mouth and on his lips as we sank into a relaxed kiss.

Neither of us seemed inclined to break apart yet, but Luna started pressing her tongue into my mouth repeatedly. I was wondering what he was doing, though it just seemed to be a thing he was into.

Not one to deny Luna anything, particularly after what we just got up to, I closed my lips on his tongue and even nibbled it a little. His groans (along with my own) were a good sign this was something we could both enjoy.

"You marked me just like you said you would." His words were punctuated by another little kiss. "I've heard that's out of fashion these days."

"But it wasn't from when I come from, or you?" I asked.

He shook his head. "It was going out of fashion in Canterlot even in my time, but remember what I said?"

I raised an eyebrow and made a rising note in my throat as I nuzzled his cheek.

"I'm a barbarian, Stygian. A warrior and somepony who, even in my time, looked back on the past with hot blood." Luna flashed his maw at me, showing the sharp fangs of Nightmare Moon. "I built this form as a way to get my revenge and look as fierce as my ancestors. I wanted to fight and beat down anything that challenged our new Equestria."

"And you let yourself be defeated by the Pony of Shadows?" I asked.

A low growl came up from Nightmare Moon's throat. "That only happened because I—" He squirmed a little in the mess we were both laying in. "I wanted this. I wanted to feel how powerful you were."

"Well, you felt it. Am I worthy?" I nuzzled his cheek and formed my tongue into a long piece of goop that trailed around and under his neck and jaw.

"You're a monster, just like me." Coming from anypony but Nightmare Moon, that might have been an insult. We were alphas so far as being those monsters went. We'd won—but for a plucky group of heroes almost sacrificing themselves to stop us. "You may have filled me up, but I promise you I can be your better in a fight."

"Want prove that?" With a wing I nudged his belly. "Looks like you're a little—" The bulge decreased and shrank down rapidly, though he was still covered in my scent. "Oh, shall we dance?"

"Dance? I like that. Yes, Pony of Shadows, we will dance." He pulled his wing back from me and stood up. His coat seemed mostly clean of my mess except for a big stripe down his back. "I think it's about time I mark my stallion, too."

The thought of him doing that to me hadn't crossed my mind, but now it made my legs a little weak just thinking about. I wanted to be his, as he was mine. Shoving aside the trembling in my knees and the butterflies in my belly. "If you think you can—I'd like to see you try."

He was fast. Nightmare Moon was moving before I'd fully realized what he was going to do, and I was dodging his wings and teeth in rapid succession. For all I wanted him to win, there was enough of the Pony of Shadows in me that I didn't want to let him win.

Again and again he slashed, kicked, and snapped his fangs at me. His ferocity was amazing and had me too excited to notice whatever it was he was really planning until it was too late—I knew he was trying to do something, but I was enjoying sparring with him too much to go looking.

"Got you." Dark blue and swirling magic shot out of the ground around me and coiled around my body. My first instinct was to flow out of it, but the grip spread out and encased my back-end before I could get so much get the thought together. Something about his magic kept me solid within it, leaving me no way out. "And, now, I'm going to have some fun."

I strained and struggled against his magic, but Nightmare Moon's power—particularly in a dream—was too much for me. Watching as he circled around behind me, I realized that from my belly backwards looked like I was cloaked in his power. Even my tail resembled his. "You'll never get away with this!"

"My little stallion, I already have." He lunged up and onto me, his chest shoving down into my back and his forelegs tightening around my girth. Ignoring my struggles, he shoved forward and I felt his length kiss the underside of my tail. "Will you hold still or will you struggle until I mark you as mine?"

"Never!" I tried to use my magic to pull free, but the moment I started to build power he shoved forward. The feel of him inside me shorted out my attempts at magic. I grunted and arched my back as he shoved deeper and deeper into me.

"There. The taming of wild stallions has always been among my talents." Every time I tried to move, he'd shove with his hips and remind me of his size. When I finally stilled, he jerked back and shoved into me again.

I wanted to shout at him and deny that he was taming me, but deep down inside I knew that was exactly what was happening. Each thrust weakened my resolve more to the point where his constant motion eroded my will to struggle completely and I started making soft whinnies of lust, but still he didn't stop.

All pretense was dropped as I started shoving myself back against him. The feeling of him atop me caused every partner I'd ever been with to pale by comparison—and not just because they were no longer alive.

"Are you ready to receive me?" He asked.

"R-Ready?" My mind struggled to come up with the words to use, which was odd given my professions. I turned my head to look at him from the corner of my eye, and beheld him—wings spread and tail arched high—not looking the slightest bit fatigued. He was amazing and magnificent. "Yessss…"

He stopped thrusting by dint of ramming himself all the way into me until I felt his thighs shoved against my rump. His fanged teeth clamped down on my crest and he pulled my head and neck back—forcing my body onto him. His growl echoed through my body as a hot rush of pressure forced its way into my rear and started spreading.

As the pressure increased and spread upward, I became more confused as to what he was doing until my brain finally made sense of things. Nothing here would hurt. What is normally impossible, is possible. Those thoughts hit me just as I coughed out a wad of Nightmare Moon's seed.

Leaning low over me, pressing his throat to the back of my neck, Nightmare Moon purred softly and nuzzled me, while I kept coughing and spitting out what he was firing into me. "I love you, Stygian. I never said I'd mark you outside."

I managed to laugh somehow, despite what he'd fed into me from behind. "'uve you t—" Shivering as he pulled out, I felt the flow stop and was able to gulp down what was in my mouth. "I love you too, Luna."

"I think we're even." He walked around me, releasing his magic, and kissed my cheek.

"Even? We're keeping score?" I nuzzled him back and tried to take a step. Only then did I realize how bloated I was with his cum. I shivered at the sensation and looked back again. Sure enough, my belly was puffed out and swollen. "Wow."

"You like it?" Luna nuzzled at my belly. "I like it. You're full of me."

"Mmm." I leaned up and nibbled on his neck. "It's probably the best thing to be full of. Could you imagine if I was full of myself?"

"Nope." His snout traced a line up my body to my neck and cheek again. Once more he was larger than me, something I enjoyed while cuddling far more than the other way around. "Would you like some more?"

"That depends on where you plan to put it." I nodded my head backward. "I don't think there's any room left."

Luna walked toward the bed and rolled onto his back. "Really? I'm sure you can find room for seconds."

Trying to ignore how full I was, and failing, I walked over to Luna and leaned down— "Wait," I said as the situation was just too much. "I need this a bit smaller if I'm going to crouch."

"Was I too much for you?"

"No, it's just—" A shudder passed from my dock to the spot between my ears. It was Luna's magic, of course, but it wasn't until I felt the weight ease that I realized he was giving me a reprieve. Then again, I knew what he wanted. "Thank you."

"You know how you can thank me?" He waved his hips side to side, which caused his erection to wave in the air.

I wasn't averse to thanking him like that, but I wanted to work up to it. Not everything should be done so fast. I pressed my nose to his dock first. Little licks against the tender flesh there made him squirm on his back. More licks actually made him groan. "What's the matter?"

"You. Always teasing me." He growled a little and threw back his head. "I love it so much!"

Sticking out my tongue, I ran a huge, slurpy lick all the way from his dock to his balls. The taste of my own seed on his anus and the musk from his perineum had me shivering in excitement. His balls were big, bulging a little in his scrotum. Nuzzling them carefully, I stared past them at the prize that awaited.

"Stygian?"

I had to pause my exploration of his balls to reply. "Yes?"

"When was the last time I said I love you?"

"Just then. Why?"

"I love you."

I giggled and pressed my nose between his balls, then rolled my snout forward so they were resting each side of my throat. "I bet I can make you love me more."

Given that I had my muzzle resting on his shaft, Luna looked a little distracted, but he eventually looked down at me. "That would be hard to—"

I started humming. Long, low tones that made my throat vibrate heavily. Luna's musky scent grew a little stronger as a dribble of pre flowed from his shaft in a little river—dribbling down onto his belly.

"Ffffu— Stygian!" His cry was music to my ears, so hearing him actually whinny aloud when I kept going made my night.

He squirmed and shifted as much as he could, but the weight of my upper body kept his hips pinned to the bed and my humming kept his mind from working out what I was up to until I had his shaft wrapped in my magic.

I started stroking him slowly—there was no need to rush. I kept my humming going, my eyes glazing over a little at the sight of my magic working up and down his rock-hard shaft.

But, I didn't want him shooting off from this—oh no. I wanted to be inside him while he came. Lifting my jaw from his shaft, I gave each of his balls a gentle nuzzle and a kiss before climbing up on the bed—my forehooves on each side of him and my magic still jacking him off.

"What are you—?" He barely got the three words out before I shoved into him. In magical dreams, where reality is abstracted twice, I didn't need to worry so much about lubrication. Doubly so since I'd been in him not long ago.

I looked down on him as he made all the happy sounds a stallion could when you were inside him and he was getting a good magic-job. I watched as he shook his head from side to side, but finally managed to lock eyes with me.

There wasn't much I enjoyed more than making love to him while we could keep eye contact. It was often hard to find positions for equine bodies that allowed it—and twice as hard when gay. But, with the position we had in this dream, I could stare into Luna's loving gaze while I buggered him for all I was worth.

Our sounds turned to grunts and guttural tones as we both worked toward a peak. While I could control the pace of both of us, I had no clue how close exactly he was. I was getting near the point of no return, but Luna looked to be still coasting.

Okay, I knew what got his motor running. Careful, I extended my magic down his length to gently cup his balls. When his eyes widened in surprise, I knew I had started to hit pay-dirt.

Luna grunted and started bucking his hips with each stroke of his shaft, my squeezing massage of his balls pushing his arousal along nicely now. Watching as he became more and more erratic, I realized I might have timed things just perfectly.

Who says dreams can't become reality?

He gripped down on my shaft with his muscles and squeezed me hard. Trying to pull back for another shove seemed like trying to do too much, so instead I shortened my stroke and ground as hard into him as I could.

When Luna's shaft swelled and his tip flared wider than ever, I felt myself on the verge of release. I squeezed Luna's shaft and gave his balls a little tug, only to be rewarded by more clenching and a jet of cum from his shaft.

Seeing him hit his peak, and feeling it too, sent me over the edge into my own. Heedless of the tight grip, I began bucking against him fast and hard as my own body started to unload.

The overwhelming urge to carry out my biological urges—even if we were in a dream—held my full attention for some time. I grabbed Luna, pulled him tight against me, and did nothing but pump him full of my seed.

When the moment finally passed, I collapsed forward and landed against Luna's belly with a soft splat. The heat of what lay between use was a testament to how well I'd done to bring him and myself at the same time. "You—" I didn't get out more than a word when the dream snapped around us.

Waking up with Luna was never a sad thing. I felt her forelegs around me, a wing too at the moment, and I clung to her in a similar manner. Her body wasn't unfamiliar anymore, but something did surprise me.

Our position was identical to how we'd been when in the dream. I was atop her, as I'd been atop him, and I was also within her. Her body squeezed at my hardness, and I felt like I'd just climaxed—as I had in the dream.

But I wasn't in Luna's rump. My shaft was gripped in the tight and velvety embrace of her vulva and vagina.

"Stygian? Are you okay?" Luna asked.

This was still Luna. This was the mare and stallion I loved. This wasn't what I would have wanted, but the act was done. "Y-Yeah. I'm going to have a bath." Please come with me.

I was a chicken. I couldn't say those words aloud. Thinking about anything but how our bodies were joined, I withdrew from her and practically galloped to the bath and sank into it. Closing my eyes, I tried to forget what had happened.

But I couldn't. A wing reached around me and, before anything else could happen, I rushed against her and hugged her with my forelegs. "I'm so sorry!"

She held me tight against her and made soft sounds as I shook. What I'd done was unconscionable and stupid beyond belief. I couldn't believe how well she was taking what I'd done. "It's alright, Stygian."

"It's not alright, not after what I just did to you."

"Stygian?" Her voice held confusion. With my face buried against her neck I couldn't see her expression. "Stygian? Look at me." When I lifted my face away from her neck and looked into her eyes, I saw infinite compassion and a little curiosity. "Why are you apologizing?"

"I—I just—" I clamped my teeth down and looked away, which only resulted in Luna putting her hoof under my chin and guiding me to look back at her. "While we were dreaming I had sex with you, Luna."

"Yes."

"What if you're pregnant? We weren't—I mean there wasn't any—any protection. We just—" She stopped my disjointed rambling by kissing me. It seemed crazy, like rewarding me for what I'd done, but I couldn't deny the effect her embrace had. I relaxed into the kiss and let her cradle me in her wings.

"You're partly right, Stygian. I hadn't counted on this. Waking up with you hard against me or in my rump, maybe, but there's something very important here I need to tell you." She nuzzled and kissed my cheek and up to my ear. "Having your foal would be wonderful."

It took several seconds for the words to make sense. I felt like I was going crazy. "M-My foal?"

"You see, Stygian, that's what happens when mares and stallions—" She paused. "You're not listening, are you?"

"You're not angry that I—that I put myself upon you like that? We haven't even talked about—about doing that kind of thing. I don't—" She stopped me with another kiss. Her kisses would stop being so effective the moment they were not the best kisses in the world. When I managed to get air again, I just let out a little whine.

"Stygian, we've been together now for months. Everypony in Canterlot knows we're together and Cadance is probably itching to plan our wedding. While I admit that pregnancy wasn't exactly something I'd planned for, it would be a delight to bring a new life into the world with you." A giggle and a kiss to my cheek helped calm me further. "Also, I won't say it wasn't nice to wake up to—though I understand you are not interested in me that way."

Stretching my wings up and from the water, I wrapped them around Luna and held tight to her. I was never going to be as big as she is in the real world, but I had taken to wearing the armor she found sexy on me, and while it was enchanted to be lighter, it was still more weight than normal. Where I'd been skin and bones before, now there was actual muscle there. "It wasn't—well, it wasn't terrible, but I'd still rather not. I love you, Luna, but it's not physical unless we're—"

"Unless I'm a stallion." She nuzzled me around the neck, turning her head sideways a little to not impale me on her horn. "If that was a problem for me, Stygian, I would have told you. Connecting as two ponies—mentally—is more important than physical things. Honestly speaking, I've not had a stallion that way in so long, it doesn't feel strange for our physical love to be entirely within the dream realm. It was a surprise to wake up like that, I'll admit, but not unpleasant."

"We never discussed—" A wet, blue hoof pressed to my snout. I waited for Luna to remove it. "This is a moment where the gay guy just doesn't get something, isn't it?"

"Stygian, if you think for a second that I don't appreciate how much you worry about hurting me, you have another thing coming. You're not just a gay guy, you're a wonderful stallion and somepony I want to spend a lot of time with." Luna uncurled her wings and gently drew from my grip as she floated off into the huge bath. "Now, how about we clean up before visiting my sister?"

"Do I really need to?" Luna asked.

"Yes," Celestia and I said at the same time.

"You do," I added alone.

Celestia put a wing over her sister's back and gave her a short squeeze before releasing her once more. "Luna, the reason why we have all this technology is to make things easier and safer. You're going to get checked up, and you will keep going so long as they think it required."

Luna looked at me imploringly.

"Oh no. Remember, I'm not qualified here. Your sister's word is final as far as modern things go." I had to stretch up to nuzzle Luna's cheek, but it was something I'd practiced a lot. "Even if we know the answer."

"So it's two to one." Celestia gestured to the main doors of the throne room. "And that means you're out-voted, Luna."

I offered her my hoof and used the imploring look I'd found to work best when Luna knew I was right about something. When she lifted her hoof and clopped it to mine, I knew we'd won. "Come on, we can fly there."

That was what cinched it. Luna's face broke into a smile and we walked together out into the early morning air—though not without a yawn each. When we had the room to, we each stretched our wings and lifted into the sky.

The warmth of Celestia's sun helped drive away the tiredness of a night of work and even had me start doing some tricks in the air—tricks that Luna countered with her own. All the while we flew, however, we got closer and closer to the medical district of Canterlot.

With one last quick inversion, I looped around Luna's larger form with a shout and then turned the stall that resulted into a dive to the ground. We landed side-by-side at the steps of Canterlot hospital. "They know we're coming," I said.

"You were that confident you could talk me into this?" Luna walked at my side to the front door and used her magic to push it open.

"Given I had a whole night of nagging planned, and they were happy to reschedule, yes." I stuck my tongue out at her as we neared the front desk. "A booking for Princess Luna," I said to the receptionist.

The mare behind the counter (white coat and pink mane) quickly flipped through a book. "Y-Yes! I mean, we have the appointment. It's for a—" There were times when a pony would just stop processing the world around them as their brains caught up on recent events. The receptionist's eyes widened to saucers and her pupils dilated so that they almost filled up all the space visible. "R-R-R-R—" She stopped again, closed her mouth, and held up a hoof. "N-Nurse Softhoof?"

An earth pony stallion wearing a nurse uniform walked out of a back room and behind the receptionist. "Hi there, I'm Nurse Softhoof. What do we have—" He looked to choke for a moment before coughing just once. "Right this way, Your Highness."

We left the receptionist behind and headed into the hospital proper. The building was gleaming with white walls and ceilings. The floors were a firm gray substance that I couldn't recognize.

"Do you know how far you are along?" the nurse asked.

"It can't be more than two and a half moons," Luna said, turning her head to wink at me.

Nurse Softhoof turned sideways at a doorway as if to herd us into the room. "And you're fine with mr…?"

"Stygian," Luna said.

The nurse's eyes flared a little in recognition. "Of course. We have to ask this: you're okay with Stygian being present?"

Luna, who was already walking into the room, seemed distracted. When she was inside, I tapped her shoulder with my right wing-claw. "Oh! Of course. He'd be—he is—the father."

Every time I heard that it surprised me. I was going to be a father. Okay, it surprised and excited me. We'd woken up in flagrante delicto many more times over almost three moons. Sometimes it was post coitus, but other times my body was not yet done. The last time the latter had happened, I'd even finished off. It had become normal. My body still had desires for a mare, and I couldn't say I blamed it.

Walking up beside Luna, I nuzzled her cheek and waited for the nurse to come in.

"Perfect. Okay, most of your details are already filled in on this form. If you'd like to lay on the bed there—on your back—we can get started." Nurse Softhoof wheeled over a device with a big, flat display on it.

I knew enough about modern technology to know roughly how the device worked. It used sound in the same way bats did to see what was inside a body and it would show it on the screen. Information like this wasn't all that common knowledge, but I'd written a book about a doctor, and because he knew, I needed to know.

While I'd been musing on the machinery, Luna had been trying to get herself turned over on the bed. As she squirmed and wiggled, I moved over and helped her. "Thank you," she said.

"It's the least I can do, love." With her at a much more accessible height, I took full advantage and kissed her cheek and jaw. "Would have been easier if I had some paper."

"I confess, I've never met a bat pony before. Are your kind rare?" The nurse was speaking as he worked his machine into position. The trolley it was on had one squeaky wheel that put up a lot of protest. He turned the machine on and smeared the gel onto the tool. "This will be a little cold, I'm sorry."

Luna shivered on the bed when the nurse applied the hand-piece just below her belly. "Very rare. So rare that you have the only one in the room with you." She turned and looked at me with a wink.

My eyes, however, were fixed on the image on the screen. The nurse, too, was looking at it. There was a tiny shape that became clearer still as he moved the wand to aim it. "You might want to revise that," the nurse said.

I could see, clear as day, that the tiny shape had a little pair of wings on its back—and the wings had tiny little finger bones on them.

"That's our little…" Luna trailed off, her tone one of wonder. She did well getting that much out—I couldn't manage a word.

"Little filly. A bat pony filly with—with a horn." As he spoke, the nurse sounded absolutely stunned. To be fair, I was and I hadn't even noticed the horn.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Nurse Softhoof gestured at part of the screen. "That's her nearest wing with its tiny bones, and this is her head. It's hard to discern a horn at this age normally, but your little girl is—gifted."

The display became surrounded in cobalt magic as Luna picked it up and brought it into her own field of view. "That's—that's her. A little filly. Our little filly."

"You might want to put that back down. They can record and save the pictures for later, love." The fact that I worried Luna would drop the likely expensive piece of equipment was worrying enough, but the look of panic on the nurse's face was enough that I wanted to calm Luna.

"Yes. Yes, of course." Luna floated the screen back down to the cart and put it down gently. "I was just a little—" She stopped talking because, finally realizing what the actual problem was, I stepped out of the way and let Luna see the screen herself. "That's her heart beating?"

"It sure is. The ultrasound records every thirty seconds, there will be plenty of pictures to choose from." Nurse Softhoof drew the wand back from Luna's body and the image went dark.

"We're going to have a little filly, Stygian. She has a horn and wings." The importance of Luna's words didn't sink in until several seconds later. My own wings were simply an addition—I was a unicorn with wings. A little filly born with a horn and wings would mean—

"Alicorn…" we both said together.

Things were happening about ten times faster than they should have—or so it seemed. Luna's belly had made our relationship a done deal so far as the aristocracy of Canterlot were concerned. They couldn't have cared less that I wasn't royalty myself, they just had another princess growing large with the security of Equestria's future inside her.

I was just a pretty stallion who trotted at her side and didn't act crass. Okay, I was more than that, but right now I was a very specific type of stallion. A one-in-a-million, you might say.

"Why did you do this to me?!" Luna's horn was boiling with dark magic. If she really wanted to blast a hole in me, she could have and I don't know as anyone but Celestia (and myself) would have been terribly upset. She stomped toward me with her dark steel shoes sending up sparks from the stones until she was towering over me. "You! Made! Me! Fat!"

She was just glaring at me, all the fury of a thousand years of days and nights spent on the moon burning in her eyes. But I'd been trapped in my own private abyss for over a thousand years. I looked up into Luna's burning eyes, leaned closer and kissed her on the lips—just once and quickly. "You look beautiful."

The fury lasted nearly five heartbeats and then she closed her eyes and leaned down to kiss me again. This one lingered, giving me the chance to nuzzle and kiss her again and again until she giggled. "I'm sorry, Stygian, but I just—"

"Shh. I know. I talked with the nurses and with other mares. This is normal, and I won't let your fury get in the way of our love. Have you forgotten the first rule of being a writer?" I reached up with my left wing-thumb and rubbed behind her ear with it.

"Research. Lots of research. Half the time I wonder if you talk with petitioners just for information that you can use in your stories. I just—I feel huge, Stygian. I feel like a fat blob that can barely fit through doorways." The worst bit about her words was how much she sounded like she believed them.

Reaching my right wing up too now, I got her completely confuzzled with a two-ear rub. Her eyes closed for a moment as the attention stole her focus away from her thoughts. "Come on. Come over here." I started leading, and without even opening her eyes she was following me.

"Where?" Luna asked.

"Here. You're standing in a doorway." I kissed her nose. "Not your main doorway, but the cleaning closet." That I lived in quarters big enough to have their own cleaning supplies—in Canterlot Castle—was still something I marveled at every day. "You're not huge. You're not fat. You have a foal inside you who needs her space. She has big wings and a big horn to grow into."

A few seconds passed before I realized something—my ear-rubbing had put her to sleep on her hooves. Having learned my lessons, I reached out with my magic for the huge stack of paper in the bedroom and grabbed a pile of pages from the top. "As much as I'd like to wake you and continue telling you how amazing you are, you need your sleep."

The paper was always so gentle. I carefully supported her chest, barrel, and below her fat belly. No, I shouldn't even think that. Lifting Luna just an inch off the ground, I kept up the ear rubs all the way to our bed and set her down gently on it. At the last moment, as I climbed on myself, I had to break that contact.

"Stygian?" Luna's voice sounded wobbly and not a little bit like she was half-asleep.

"Hrmm?" I settled down beside her.

"No matter what I say, I still love you."

What could I say to that that wouldn't be cliché? "Yeah, I know. I love you too."

The throne room was covered in pamphlets, booklets, advertisements, and even letters from ponies. My power trembled in the presence of so much paper. "What did Cadance and Shining do?" I asked.

"They hired Twilight's friends from Ponyville to run everything. They even had Twilight herself organize it." The way Luna spoke made me think there was a story there. Her size hadn't gone down—quite the opposite—but she'd managed to keep her I'm Fat and It's All Your Fault arguments to only one a day.

The caterers, planners, reception hosts, and the ponies capable of a dozen other little jobs that were required for a wedding to go ahead (on the scale of a royal wedding, at least) jerked awake. They were so far out of their normal waking hours I could see some of them wobbling on their hooves. Fools—they needed to learn how to lock their knees.

"I don't suppose we could do that? Though, I would like to have Starlight Glimmer involved in the process. Despite all the books I've written, I still can't find the words to say how much she means to me." I leaned across and kissed Luna's cheek—something I was now officially not able to be reprimanded for in public. It wasn't easy, of course, and I had to rear up a little behind my little desk to do reach.

"Mmm." Luna leaned and turned her head slightly, drawing my lips around her cheek toward her own. Before the kiss became something that would leave us both distracted from the task at hoof, she broke apart. "A fiancee could get terribly jealous of such a statement—if she didn't have her own savior." Luna leaned close enough that her lips were brushing my left ear. "And know her future husband's tastes."

My tastes, at least for companionship, did not generally include mares, a fact that the press and rumor mills hadn't been privy to—nor did we intend them to ever be. "We share so much it's always a revelation to find something we haven't both done. Twilight and Starlight to work together and plan our wedding, then. That takes… the entire load off us. Right?"

"Ahem." Luna cleared her throat, immediately silencing the grumbling coming from the assembled. "This doesn't mean you won't be needed, just that you have other ponies to ask about it."

Their faces turned hopeful as they gathered up their paperwork and filed out of the throne room.

"We should have thought of this from the start. I'll talk to Twilight—Wait. We can just summon them." Luna started to charge her horn.

"Wait!" My shout, thankfully, stopped her. "You're not going to just teleport them here, now?"

"No, I was going to bring them into a common dream and ask them both." Luna lifted her hoof up and booped me on the nose, something I found cute despite how her horseshoes often were cold. "Would you like to join me?"

The Royal Guard, seeing that no further wedding staff were needed, closed the doors as Luna reached out a wing and curled it around me. Rather than just be pulled against the throne (which I knew wasn't comfortable), I climbed up with my own wings and perched on the arm. As her magic poured into me and pulled me into the dream world, I felt myself fall against her side—cradled against her.

Big as Luna is in the dream realm, I spread my wing around her and hugged her against me. What I didn't expect to see was a tiny filly cradled in her wing. "W-W-Wa-Who?"

"Our daughter. She didn't have her own form yet, but I helped with that. She's still trying to understand this dream. I've never seen a pre-birth foal in the dream world before." Her voice was full of wonder—it was like listening to a foal first reading a book they enjoy. "She's wonderful."

The tiny bundle of fuzz and leathery wings tilted her head and looked up at me. She couldn't talk, but her eyes were an amazing shade of purple so dark that I felt like I could fall into them.

"Is she—? How is this even possible?" I asked, unable to look away.

"Magic, Stygian. I stopped trying to make sense of these things when—" She paused almost mid-word when our foal kicked one of her legs. "I felt that. I'm in the dream world but I felt her kick inside me."

I squeezed myself against Luna and couldn't think of anywhere else I wanted to be right now. We must have spent hours just watching her trying out her limbs one at a time before I remembered why we'd come here. "Twilight and Starlight?"

"Yes. Of course. Sorry, I got a little distracted." Luna's eyes were still on our daughter who was now starting to kick around a little more. "If she's kicking around in me this much, I don't look forward to waking up." Luna's horn flared bright and I felt as two other dreams collided with the one we were in.

From one dream a sea of books came tumbling out along with a purple alicorn. From the other Starlight Glimmer was doing her best not to blush. Luna might be immune to ponies having self-satisfying dreams interrupted, but I wasn't.

"Princess Luna!" Twilight rushed toward us and bowed. "Is there a problem? Is the castle on fire? Did the Storm King pull himself back together? Did Cozy Glow get free?" With each question came more panicked hyperventilating from Twilight.

I summoned a paper bag, opened it, and held it out to Twilight.

Starlight watched Twilight breathing into the paper bag a few times, a knowing smile on her face as she waited for her mentor to be able to talk again. I didn't give her that chance.

Letting go of Luna, I flapped my wings and sailed over my love and landed before Starlight—and bowed. "It's good to see you again."

I didn't care that she blushed anew, she had saved me from the darkness within—she had never wavered even against her mentor and Star Swirl.

"Stygian, you don't have to be so"—Starlight twirled her hoof as if fishing for a word—"extreme. It is good to see you too. I heard there's going to be a royal wedding soon?"

Twilight, who had been sucking on the bag constantly, jerked it away. "Your wedding!" Thousands of scrolls accompanied by thousands of busy quills appeared out of nothingness and started working away. "I don't like to brag, but I have done this before."

"Which is why, Twilight Sparkle, we'd like you to help organize this one." Luna still looked and sounded on top of the world.

"Both of you, actually," I said. "You're both very special to each of us for the same reason."

Luna took my cue and gestured to Twilight and Starlight with her unoccupied wing. "You saved us. Without the two of you, we couldn't be having this wedding and…" She slowly revealed the filly cradled in the feathers of her other wing.

"You had your foal? Isn't it too soon?" Twilight stepped slowly toward Luna, Starlight at her side.

Back to looking at the filly in her wing, Luna's smile could have melted the heart of anyone, not the least of whom being me. "No. She is still safe and—growing. Our daughter decided, nonetheless, that she'd like to dream with us. I fear I may spoil her in all things from this point onward."

"Is that common?" Starlight sounded skeptical, and I couldn't blame her. Every other day Luna reminded me of how amazing she was. Bringing our yet-unborn daughter into the dream realm with us was only the latest.

"I've never seen her like before, in more ways than one." Luna, like any proud mother, adjusted our foal so that she would show off her wings. "I hadn't intended this facet of Stygian to carry over to her, but I think it suits her."

"A born bat pony?" Twilight sounded a mix of surprised and ready to coo at the filly. Our daughter was already claiming hearts. "She's so adorable."

"She has a horn, too." Starlight looked up at Luna and then to me, as if accusing us of something. "You're having a bat pony alicorn?" Rather than accusing, her voice was full of wonder.

I mean, she wasn't going to be the first born alicorn—Shining Armor and Cadance's daughter has that shadow over her head—but being a bat pony was unique enough already without the attention that comes with being the first, born alicorn.

"We need family to help us plan our wedding." I turned my attention to Luna for long enough that she nodded, then I turned back to our saviors. "Apart from Celestia, you two are the only family we have. Nopony has worked as hard as you both to save us from ourselves. If you don't—"

"We will!" Twilight froze after volunteering herself and Starlight, then looked at Starlight with a sheepish grin.

"Of course we will. Stygian, when I saved you from the Pony of Shadows, I was just doing what I thought my mentor would." Starlight winked at Twilight. "She taught me to always give a pony a chance."

"Have you picked a name for her?" Twilight asked.

Luna and I stared at each other in sudden panic. The disruption to both our thoughts broke the dream world apart and sent us into normal, relaxed sleep. It was somewhat different to our normal evening fun, but I don't think either of us felt the need to go further.

I stood with Princess Cadance standing at the top of the dais with Twilight and Starlight standing beside me. All three wore the most amazing dresses just as I was wearing a mix of field armor with a suit jacket over it—something I'd insisted on to show both the origins of our union and my fealty to her.

"Are you nervous?" Starlight asked.

Twilight snorted beside her. "He locked his legs so he wouldn't fall. I used to see Shiny do the same thing when he had to stand guard all night."

Music started and the light in the great hall dimmed—as did the sky outside. An eclipse might be hard for others to coordinate and plan a wedding for, but not for Luna and her sister. I—and everypony else in the hall—looked down the aisle and watched as Luna and Celestia opened the doors together.

All the panic drained out of me at the sight of her. She took up more space at the moment than Celestia, but the way Luna moved set my heart thumping and my mind on fire. There was nopony else within a thousand leagues while she walked toward me in a brilliant silver dress that sparkled in the moonlight.

When she drew up beside me, I managed to shove Celestia's firm glare into the periphery—she was only playing the role of father of the bride anyway. "Would it ruin things," I asked, "if I kissed her now?"

Celestia made a little grunt under her breath, but Cadance just smiled. "We are gathered here today to—" She didn't get further in her speech before Luna's horn started glowing bright. "What's wrong? Your foal?"

A moment later, when Luna's expression turned from pained to normal, she nodded. "Is there a faster version?"

Okay, so I wasn't really panicked before. I thought I was, but just now I discovered the scale of the panic-meter didn't just go to ten—it went to a hundred. "W-W-What?!"

"We are gathered here today to—blah blah blah. Luna, princess of Equestria, lady of the moon, mistress of the night—and other titles—do you take Sir Stygian of Canterlot to be your wedded husband?" Having sped up with almost every word spoken, Princess Cadance looked at Luna. "Was that your first contraction?"

Luna turned to look at me. "Yes and no. I thought I was just cramping. That was the first big one."

I completely missed whatever Princess Cadance asked, what with my eyes being lost in Luna's. When I heard a pony clear their throat, I looked around and spotted Princess Cadance subtly nodding. "Err, yes, I do."

"Then, with great delight as the princess of love I, Princess Cadance, decl—"

The piercing groan from Luna's throat cut through the pronouncement so sharply that I acted on instinct. My horn flared bright in the dim hall. I called, and paper answered. Law books, mostly, blew in through the door and bee-lined toward us.

"… declare you mare and stallion." The words came out in a rush that I barely noticed.

Somepony levitated a ring onto my horn while I picked Luna up in my paper hammock and looked to the two mares who'd saved us before. "Please. How do we get to the hospital fastest without teleporting?"

Twilight's wings shot out and she looked to hit peak panic, but Starlight's face hardened into the most determination I'd ever seen before. "Are you ready? Hold on to Princess Luna." Up until the moment she picked me up with her magic, I had no idea what she planned. My nod was all she needed to start disassembling the nearest stained-glass window.

The glass stacked itself up by the base of the window and we all floated toward the window on turquoise magic that felt like steel bands of power. It was almost as tight as Luna or Celestia's grip. I couldn't help but smile when I realized it was definitely stronger than the Pony of Shadows' grip.

"One express ride to the Canterlot Central Hospital. Hold on to—" Starlight said.

"Wait. I have to do one important thing." Luna's voice sounded rough at the edges, but held an implacable weight akin to the moon. "Stygian, we must kiss in the hall before these matters are done."

I didn't need any more convincing. Pulling her closer with the paper bed I had wrapped under her, I nuzzled and then kissed Luna—my wife. The next contraction hit her a moment after the best kiss of my life started, and I witnessed the strain in her face at close range. Her face looked how I imagined it should when she was moving the moon—but the truth was she never strained this hard when doing that. "Go. Let's move. Please?"

The ride to the hospital was smooth and fast. Starlight turned out to be the best choice after all. She set me down on my hooves at the front doors—which gave me the impetus to carry Luna inside and to the front desk. "My wife's in labor!"

Two loud POMF sounds, followed by shod hooves slamming the doors behind me open, was all the warning I had that Celestia and Twilight had teleported here while Cadance had apparently broken several laws of physics (and some for Canterlot airspace) to reach the hospital just behind us.

The nurses were faster than any of us. They had a trolley under her and were in the process of easing my magic grip before I realized what they were about. One, a mare with a red cross cornered by hearts seemed to take charge. She looked right at me. "You're the husband?" It seemed a moment—almost a whole two seconds—for her to realize there were four princesses in the room. Without so much as a flinch she nodded. "Come on then. I can't stop you all from coming to watch through the window—if she allows it—but only her husband gets to attend."

"That's me," I said as I gave chase.

Behind me I head Cadance's laughter. "By nearly two minutes, too. I'll wait out here for the three of them to be settled." Her voice got quieter and quieter as we headed down the hall.

"In here and keep away from her back-end. I know how to dodge hooves and she might want to talk to you—though in my experience it involves more yelling and accusations than normal talking." The nurse nodded to two unicorn nurses with her and they lifted Luna onto the bed. "Okay, timing her contractions, do we have her file yet?"

Her eyes were closed, I noticed. "Luna?" I leaned down and kissed her cheek, at which point her eyes slowly opened and she looked up at me. "There's my princess. Our little girl wants out, I think."

Luna's face was all serene for nearly five seconds. I watched softness and peace turn to a grimace as she squeezed her eyes closed. The muscles all over her body seemed to strain at the same time as the contraction took her.

I stretched my wing up and put it over her shoulder. When Luna's eyes snapped open again, I squeezed her with that wing and willed some of my own strength into her. It was folly. I couldn't send her strength, but I could be there for her.

The nurse, who'd been mumbling something under her breath, cleared her throat. "They're shortening and she's dilating. Princess Luna, you're doing well. Just keep going as you are and I'll tell you when to actually push."

The forlorn look Luna gave me brought tears to my eyes. I leaned forward and pressed my neck to hers as I squeezed her a little tighter with my wing. "You've got this, Luna. You know you do." I kept up the platitudes as Luna's contractions got shorter and shorter.

"Tell me you love me."

"I love you, Luna."

"Push! Push, Your Highness! Mr. Husband, get her to push!"

The nurse's words galvanized me to action. "Luna? Luna you need to push now."

"I do? Oh!" This time, when the tension took over her body, Luna pushed. I felt it where our bodies touched from our necks, my wing over her back, and even in the bed I was leaning on. She spread her wing and started to flap it wildly.

"Good! Good! And…" Whatever the nurse was going to say next was cut off by the loudest, highest-pitch screech I'd heard in my life. "Tying off the cord, cutting it, and let's get her on her mother."

Under my grip I felt Luna shift. "Where is she? Where is—?"

I shifted out of the way to let Luna look down her body at the little filly laying across one of her back legs—head tucked up against Luna's udder. Tiny bat wings were tucked to her back and her bump-like horn was obvious on her head, but her efforts at drinking had the filly's mouth busy and not screeching like a banshee.

"That's—That's her. That's our little girl. Stygian, look."

Curling my wing under her neck to support her to look down and under herself, I nuzzled against Luna's sweat-stained cheek. But no matter how snuggly I felt for Luna, I couldn't take my eyes off our daughter. "She's perfect."

"Night Life." As soon as Luna said her name, little Night Life's ears twitched. The fuzzy little tufts of fur on their tips were still a little damp, and when Luna repeated the name her whole head twitched. "Night Life, you're just—She's so—" With that, Luna slumped into the crook of my wing and I eased her down to the bed.

"I'm sorry we couldn't save her dress, but under the circumstances we had to cut it off." The nurse reached a hoof up and patted my shoulder. "I'll have them bring in another bed for you to lay on until we can move all of you somewhere else. Would you like help getting out of that armor?"

Our duties in court had been suspended for a little while, which meant Luna and I got to be a little lazy. During the night-time hours we played with Night Life, keeping her sharp mind stimulated, but during the day we took turns waking up to get her situated where she could feed before rejoining the dreamscape.

Thinking back, I wouldn't change a thing. All the uncertainty and complications that Luna caused me as she pulled me from the funk I'd mired myself in—well—I'd go through it all again a hundred times to reach this point.

I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Author's Note

Support me on Patreon or fuel my writing on Ko-Fi!

Join me on Discord. Warning, said chat may contain NSFW material and should be considered adult in nature.

Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
A.P.O.N.I.
Canary in the Coal Mine
Daremo
Dio-Drogynous
Ender Voidwalker
KFS Crimson
Sirion123
Vi Watch

And special thanks to the following, for careful eyes and friendly words:
Lab