“We are... aware... that we have broken our own laws,” I sighed, sitting in the chair next to Luna, rubbing my stomach slowly and lovingly. “But... I don’t regret that it happened. I regret the circumstances which led to my pregnancy, but not the outcome. We are taking heavy precautions to ensure the health of the foals, and anypony accusing us of being bad parents can do so if they truly wish to fault us for one little moment where we let our guard down. I suppose it was due to happen eventually after staying so vigilant for more than a thousand years...”

Another flash of a camera interrupted me for a moment and the journalist looked sheepish enough as we gave him a glance. After the initial flood of camera flashes was over, we started with the press conference. It had become increasingly harder to hide the bump as time went on and hiding in our chambers felt wrong. I couldn’t pretend to be sick for a year straight, as much as I would have liked to try that.

“Have the rumors been true that you have been drinking blood?” one of the reporters asked and I bit my lip. Of course, nothing truly ever stayed a secret for long in the castle. Aside from our relationship, apparently. Which was, now that I think about it, probably never truly a secret.

We liked to pretend that our ponies didn’t know and I was proven pleasantly wrong that they would fault us for loving each other. It seemed most ponies understood that being lonely for a thousand years would have left us as wrecks. More than wrecks, to be honest.

Nopony could live this long and not crave the loving touch of somepony dear to their heart. I had no idea how Celestia did it in her Equestria, honestly. Maybe she had a few flings with her guards, who knows? I wouldn’t even fault her for trying. As foolish as it would be to try and date a mortal, I... I could see myself getting that desperate if I had never known love before.

And I would try again and again, always finding my loved ones vanishing around me before long. I know she must do something in order to try and fill that ache in her heart, it was a miracle she was still sane after such a long time. Well... sane enough to function decently, I suppose. She had her... 'quirks'... as did we. Some of them weren’t entirely healthy while some were downright bad, even. One of which was plain wrong, there was no kinder way to phrase it.

I guess her habit of shutting off her emotions to think rationally in her own court (or anytime when she felt like not dealing with them, for that matter) was rubbing me the wrong way the most. I heavily relied on my emotions to guide me (even as Fallen Star), so the thought of not being able to feel them honestly terrified me. I had no idea how she could do that to herself. Loneliness was perhaps the only possible answer I had for that and it only furthered my resolve to have her open herself up to those around her more. Cadance, primarily. She needed her just as much as Cadance did her, I was certain of that.

But the conundrum that was our sister from another world was perhaps best left for a different time to solve, I still had other things to worry about. Chief among them this little interview session, which was going surprisingly smoothly so far. Aside from the awkward question of whether or not I was partaking in my sister's blood.

“I...” I hesitated, looking to Luna for help.

How do you admit that you’re practically a vampire for all intents and purposes? Thestrals kept mostly to themselves and I know for certain there are absurd rumors floating around about them (not that there aren’t idiotic ‘myths’ about the other tribes... there are just not as many of those as there are for thestrals). Luna and I had a soft spot for their particular tribe (not enough to play favorites, but... we do kinda, maybe, perhaps play favorites and go out of our way to help them with anything they bring to our attention most of the time).

What? I don’t care if it is favoritism! Thestrals are scientifically proven to be the cutest pony tribe there is (and that's a fact!). If it is cute, it’s not favoritism, it is as simple as that. Just... look at those cute ear tufts, the pearly white fangs poking out of their muzzle in the most adorable way there is, the membranous wings that were perfect for hugging, and the lovable, yet captivating, gorgeous slitted eyes that just made you want to cuddle them all day long...

Ahem! I, uh... moving on! My wife smiled gently, squeezing my hoof in reassurance. I could see one of her fangs poke out from her muzzle, and judging by the frantic camera flashes, the journalists saw it, too. “Yes, Summer has been drinking blood to supplement her diet. It is the only thing that she can do to keep what she eats reliably down without throwing it back up immediately.”

“Why is that?” Diligent Note, the same stallion from before, asked, his insisting inquiry sounding a bit insensitive if I didn’t know better. I knew the stallion, I invited him personally, after all. If there was just one reporter here today that would ensure that the news reached every part of Equestria without making it sound like we committed the most heinous crime in the history of heinous crimes, he was the one.

His way of writing, selling the news to the average pony... he was almost empathic, wording his texts in just the right way to gain the sympathy of even the most cold-hearted of ponies. He wasn’t the typical ‘keep everything purely to the facts and nothing more’ type of pony. Diligent Note tries to help ponies wherever he could because he simply wanted to help them.

I know it was kinda manipulative of me to invite him here solely because of that kind heart of his. He reminded me a lot of myself, and if there was just one pony in this whole nation that I could trust to get this news out without causing a massive uproar, I know he would accomplish that.

“As you know, an alicorn is a perfect hybrid of pegasus pony, unicorn pony, and earthpony,” Luna began, smiling slightly as most of the gathered ponies paid her their undivided attention, writing down everything she said. “‘Perfect hybrid’ meaning that we represent everything of the different pony tribes without suffering any kind of detrimental effects. Although, what not everypony knows, those three aren’t the 'only' tribes an alicorn represents.”

“Are you saying you are also part thestral?” a different reporter inquired, looking up from his notepad with fascination. He himself was a thestral, so it didn’t surprise me that he was so in awe of this news.

We usually don’t talk about this very openly and most ponies simply don’t ask about the specific tribes we represent. Everypony just assumes that we, as alicorns, represent the three core tribes of Equestria’s founding since nopony has ever seen one of us with fangs before this day, explaining the mad rush to get pictures of Luna as she showed hers. Even when we (very rarely) showed ourselves as Nightmare Moon and Fallen Star, we didn't make it a habit to show our teeth. Chrysalis was kinda an exception to this because she always kept her fangs and slit eyes in each disguise she wears, but everypony knows that she is a changeling, so nopony made the connection to a thestral tribe with her.

Now that I think about it, if Chrysalis is kinda-ish an alicorn, shouldn’t Luna and I also be part-changeling? Then again, I don’t know how that would exactly work. I mean... our ability to change between our different forms did come kinda close to the natural ability of changelings (Luna and I still don’t know how to access our ‘elemental’ form... which was probably for the best, considering I’m pretty sure I would go on a destructive rampage as my gooey magma self before too long in that state).

“We don’t make it a habit of drinking blood,” I said, keeping my voice steady as I felt like I was starting to get a mood swing. It wouldn’t do to let my emotions make a fool out of myself, so I tried to rein them in to the best of my abilities. “But yes, we are among other tribes, also thestral in nature. I know, I know. I’m the bringer of the Red Sun, it’s quite silly, isn’t it?”

The stallion did smile to himself a bit, amused that the very symbol of a ‘daypony’, as Nightmare likes to say so much, is also in part thestral. “Can we assume then, that the royal heirs will be thestrals? Because of your cravings?”

“Yes, they will,” I nodded, smiling again as I felt a kick on my left side. It took me some time to get used to it, feeling them practically punch me in the bladder every morning or so, but now... I feel like I would miss it once I give birth in two months or so. Despite that, I'd rather keep it to this one pregnancy. The joy of carrying life was not worth the constant mood swings and panic attacks. Nor do I feel comfortable about the 'broodmare' fetish my sister has as Nightmare Moon... even though it is kinda sexy how much she worships me and my pregnant belly. Speaking of which, my sister was still high on pride for having impregnated me with twins. Twins that are a bit... unusual. “The ultrasound was certainly... surprising.”

“How so?” one reporter asked, sitting quietly by herself. If I wasn’t mistaken, the young mare worked for a student newspaper somewhere in Manehattan. It was quite cute, seeing her blush as some of the other ponies in the room glanced at her, with our attention on her as well.

“If I may?” Professor Doctor Cold Hooves asked us, speaking up for the first time since he sat down at the table with us, waiting silently and patiently (or rather, stoically) as the reporters gave him curious glances every once in a while. I gave him a nod and had to think back to the first ultrasound where we could make out more than a ‘blob that would become a pony at some point’ (those weren’t my words, I swear). “Numerous test results have indicated a strong magical presence in the royal heirs, suggesting a close connection to the arcane. I assure you, the foals are fine. Her Highness has taken on the burden of shouldering their magic build-up. Due to that, she has been experiencing powerful surges the further along the pregnancy has progressed, causing her to accidentally burn things she has touched or surprisingly freeze them.”

“Freezing them? One of them will have an ice affinity?” Diligent Note said, raising an intrigued brow.

“Uh, yes...” Professor Cold Hooves nodded after he realized the question was indeed a question and not just a surprised statement. “It could very well be that both foals will share the same affinities. We can’t exactly tell if they will be identical twins or not, after all.”

“Aren’t fire and ice affinities mutually exclusive?” one stallion asked, getting Professor Cold Hooves to scoff at him. I would have berated him, but I fear it would have been a lost cause with him. He had a headstrong will regarding matters of science and magic, something that made him an exceptional researcher if anything (he could work on his bedside manners, though).

“The affinity for ice and fire are both categorized under the discipline of heat-based magic,” Professor Doctor Cold Hooves explained, sounding like he was talking to an idiot. Sometimes I felt like he needed to be taught empathy, as understanding and tolerant of ideas as the stallion could be. “One does not make the other mutually exclusive. It would literally go against what we know of thermodynamics, after all. Having an affinity for a certain type of magic merely makes the use of said magic easier for a pony. Much like a Cutie Mark grants ponies an easier understanding of magic based on their talent, affinities help in learning and casting magic based on their attribute.”

“Right...” the reporter said doubtfully before he turned his attention back to my sister and me, ignoring the affronted look of indignant rage from our doctor. For all the magic and wonders our ponies are capable of, some don't care to learn more about it. “What made the ultrasound so surprising, then?”

“They appear to be regular unicorns,” Luna answered, rolling her eyes at our doctor, who was quietly fuming to himself that he was being ignored by the ignorant stallion.

“Shouldn’t they be alicorns?” an elderly stallion shouted over the others as a veritable frenzy of questions broke out as Luna gave them that particularly juicy bit of information.

Yes... my foals were mortals. It did break my heart at first, but I have long since come to terms with that revelation. I would find a way to force their ascension if I have to. For now, I was just happy that they would see the light of day once I was due to give birth. Without Celestia casting the ritual every few months, I wouldn’t even have that much, I’m certain.

Our sorta-ish sister and best friend was doing her best to assist us with anything she could. I’m sure she was very excited to become an aunt to my foals, she practically couldn’t stop talking about how cute they were going to be. While the mirror had been acting up again for the past few weeks, the connection was still quite stable enough that she could visit regularly.

I have no idea what Starswirl did to that mirror, but that thing has a foul attitude most of the time. He probably thought a sapient mirror would make for a great guardian for the bridge between universes, and without a doubt, he quickly found out that it was more trouble than it was worth it. Sadly, we couldn’t undo the enchantment that created that blasted thing without risking severing the connection to Celestia’s world completely.

It's no wonder why I preferred the prototype mirror over the other mirrors Starswirl created. Most of them had some stupid enchantment on them to make them ‘safer’ after what happened with the dark shadow-like creatures abducting us for their nefarious purposes.

It’s a good thing Starswirl dealt with that crisis. Thankfully, the mirror connecting their world to ours was shattered into hundreds of pieces. I’d rather not find out what happened to that world in all this time since then.

“The nature of alicorns is a bit more complicated than that,” Luna sighed, breaking the storm of questions the news reporters threw at us while also bringing me out of my musings. I have been stuck in my head these past few months quite often, mostly because Luna told me to take it easy. I wasn’t even allowed to do paperwork because she feared I would be too stressed out doing that.

To be honest, I was glad I was ‘allowed’ to attend this meeting with her, I've been bored out of my mind ever since she started worrying so much over me. Which was kind of off-putting, to say the least. My sister was the calm and composed one of us (when she wasn't having 'fun', that is), so seeing her act like I do when I was having... difficulties keeping myself from panicking... it made me realize how stupid I was being, most of the time. Ah, well! It's never too late to learn from your mistakes and keep repeating them! Eh heh heh...

Anyway, my sister waited for a moment as her statement caused another barrage of questions from the reporters. I could only guess what kind of newspaper article would make the rounds after this. Equestria was in for a shock, wasn't it? “Naturally born alicorns don’t just happen, even between two alicorns... mating.”

“How does it happen, then?” a unicorn asked and I could tell that she was actually a noble poorly disguised as a journalist. Typical. It wasn’t like we made this conference press exclusive, so it was rather silly of her to appear here like this.

“You will have to forgive us for not answering that question,” Luna answered, deflecting her curiosity with a stern look. “The nature of alicorns is far too complex to adequately answer in terms your minds could comprehend.”

Really, Lulu? Insulting the intelligence of our ponies, as deserving as this particular mare was... that wasn’t called for. “What my sister means by that, is that we don’t know how and why a pony is born an alicorn. Something that hasn’t happened since before the founding of Equestria.”

Luna gave me a look and I gave her a subtle shrug. A lie was a better solution than insulting their intelligence, in my opinion. Besides... it wasn’t entirely a lie. We didn’t know more than what Hope told us and our own conjectures. The simple fact remained that alicorns are made. Whether through the Trial of Ascension or through rebirth, and both of those we didn’t want the nobles to be aware of for obvious reasons.

As much as they help us keep this nation running smoothly, they are still trying to gain more power and wealth than they already have. While most of their ambitions have degenerated to becoming more popular with their peers (or rather, more popular than their peers, I should say), they do still try to ‘move up’ and set themselves apart from others so they could say they were ‘more important’ than the ‘lowly’ commoners.

I still fail to see what they think that would gain them. By becoming an alicorn, they would have far more work and responsibilities than they are comfortable with. Not that I am saying they are all lazy, I’m just saying it was one thing to help rule the nation and another to actually rule it.

Most would complain about the workload Luna, Liz, and I have to deal with on a daily basis. I actually like doing it, but even I get tired of it sometimes. Considering how long I've been doing this already, it’s no wonder that I’m bored out of my mind when I have absolutely nothing to do.

Besides vomiting every other day or so. My nausea never really got better and the ritual Professor Cold Hooves created could only help so much, after all. Sometimes it feels like my foals are extremely picky with what they want, even changing their minds an hour or so after I was done with my meal. Sometimes I think they don’t like solids at all even if I eat them with a little bit of blood mixed in.

If they are like that while growing up... I definitely won’t have another foal with Luna ever again. She can have the next ones if she really wants to have more, I won’t go through that again. I am certain they got this picky eating behavior from her, considering what she sometimes shoves down her throat.

I could understand eating cheese with everything, even with some of the oddest combinations there are out there, but I draw the line at eating pickles with peanut butter. And I know that the peel of a banana is actually edible, but does she have to eat them in one piece? Without, you know... cooking them or putting them in the blender first?

My sister is weird. But I love her, despite or even because of her weird habits. Still weird, though.

The conference took an hour or so after we were through with the initial announcement that I was pregnant with Luna’s foals, and once we had answered most of those questions concerning my pregnancy and how this would affect the law of regulating incest in a safe way, Luna and I were on our way to our chambers so I could ‘rest up’ as my sister insisted I do.

We did make it very clear that such situations would be taken quite seriously, as we were doing with our own ‘sort of’ mistake. We had a way to help those that needed it, thanks to Celestia and our friends over on Remnant, but that didn’t mean those ponies wouldn’t face severe consequences for their own mistakes. I won’t tolerate anypony doing this on purpose, that's the one thing I absolutely won’t budge on. Those that did it by accident, like Lulu and I did... those I would gladly help out as long as it stays to one time. Repeat ‘accidents’ like that, I couldn’t in good conscience be lenient about. I was already showing them far more kindness and generosity than what was appropriate for such things, abusing my forgiving nature will earn my ire.

Even I am not exempt from punishment. Not completely, that is. Considering that we’re the princesses, Chrysalis was the only one ‘innocent’ enough who could give us our punishment while actually having the authority to do so. Well, actually, she, Cadance, and the Council that makes these decisions in the unlikely case that all of us were missing for some reason had the power to sentence us for crimes committed against the Equestrian law.

Since Chrysalis could be really sadistic with her punishments, she was the one that came up with Luna’s and my punishment for breaking our own rules.

We would basically be reduced to her ‘maids’ for one year of her own choosing. I just know she will choose the most inconvenient year for us where we will have to do her bidding, no questions asked. In public. In maid dresses. Sexy, downright lewd, maid outfits, at that.

I’m going to die of embarrassment, aren’t I?

The worst thing about this punishment (aside from the obvious) was the uncertainty about when it would start. Liz had a strange sense of knowing when the most eyes are going to be on her and I was almost certain she could do so for Luna and me as well. The perverted exhibitionist in her would make sure that everypony in Equestria would see us like that, I was convinced of that.

She would love it, too. She would love nothing more than to treat us like we were her servants and she would abuse it to the utmost. She would make us do all kinds of things to satisfy her perverted fantasies and we would have to obey her.

She would make me suck her changeling penis while on my front knees, plot in the air with my glistening vagina in full view for the castle staff to see. She would make sure to tie up my tail so it couldn't get in the way as she makes Luna eat me out next. T-then she would tell me to t-turn a-around and...

My thoughts derailed as Luna and I rounded the corner into the hallway that connected this one to the one leading to our chambers, seeing a strange stallion standing in the middle of it, looking out of the window into the distance.

I... I knew that stallion. Not personally, but from seeing him multiple times already. And he looked exactly the same as the last time (and the time before that... or the time before that). One particular memory stood out to me, though.

The stallion in the suit, wearing a fedora, had been at the funeral for Amore. More than a thousand years ago, I saw this exact stallion in the crowd of mourning ponies, watching the proceedings impassively. I remember him at Luna’s, Celestia’s, and my coronation. I remember him being there only because we put that memory in one of the memory balls in our collection.

He was there at the coronation for my daughter, wasn’t he? The stallion with the fedora simply stood somewhere where he wouldn’t immediately be noticed if you weren't looking for them, in the first place. The only thing he ever did, I noticed, was to observe what happened as if it fascinated him.

Whoever this stallion was... or even 'what' he was... I couldn’t tell. He was a mystery, not dying at the hooves of old age. And I knew he was mortal, he did not feel like a higher being to me, like a deity or immortal would. If that were to be the case, I would have assumed that he would have sought us out a long time ago instead of appearing at seemingly random events in Equestrian history. He was something entirely different, I could tell.

“Who are you?” Luna asked, cautiously putting herself in between myself and the stallion. She extended her wings threateningly as she glared at them. “You have no authorization to be here.”

“I...” the stallion began, talking ‘weirdly’ in a sense. Something about it felt like he was calculating his words as if a conversation was an equation to be solved. “...require aid.”

“You... require aid?” I asked, carefully walking closer to him, despite Luna’s warning look. He didn’t feel like he intended to harm us. “What do you mean? With what?”

“I need to hide someone,” he told me, giving me a look as he tilted his head sideways. I could tell he was attempting to read my mind and immediately went on guard. “You look... troubled… afraid. Your concern is misplaced. I’m not doing this to hurt them. Family matters to you. You are protective. You would sacrifice yourself for them if it meant they lived. I require that.”

“Who are you? I won’t ask again,” Luna warned the intruder while her glare turned a lot harsher. I was mildly surprised he would say it like that. Whatever he did to 'read' me, he didn’t do it with magic. Despite his appearance as an earthpony, he didn’t feel like one of my ponies. Or like a pony, at all. He lacked the touch of magic entirely. This stallion, from wherever he was... he was not from here. As in... not from Equestria. Possibly even Equis.

This stallion behaved like he was out of this time, his behavior felt completely unfamiliar to me, as if he was from a distant future (as unlikely as that might seem, the likelihood of time travel could not be discarded because I knew quite well that it was possible). Or... he could be from somewhere else entirely. He felt... otherworldly to me. That would be the best word to describe him, I thought as I looked him over more thoroughly.

My first instinctive thought as I regarded him standing there before us with seemingly no concern about who we were, was that he was not from our universe. Normally, I would dismiss that thought as unlikely, we would have noticed an intrusion in the vault containing the mirror portals, but... it was the only thing that made sense to me. He was either not from our universe or from the future. His attire couldn’t possibly add up with what little we knew of him. He had to have gotten the suit and fedora from the recent decades, they hadn’t existed as my sisters and I had been crowned, after all.

The stallion tilted his head at us again, a calculating look in his eyes that seemed unfocused. “You can call me September,” he answered, giving us a name that felt more like an alias than his birth name. “I feel that you are important. Why?”

“Important?” I raised my brow, glancing at Luna. That certainly was... surprising. Extremely so. “You do not know who we are?”

“No,” September said, his eyes wandering from me to Luna and back again. “This is the first meeting I have with you. From your behavior and your thoughts, I can tell we have met before.” The way he said that belied a certain sense of concern despite how emotionless he behaved. "Have we interacted with each other?"

“Not... exactly,” I mumbled, confused. Time travel made more and more sense with this stallion. But so did the explanation that he came from an alternate universe. He would have known us if time travel was involved, after all. Or… he was from a different universe and could travel through time. Otherwise, the conversation we were having now wouldn't make sense, either. “We have noticed you at several points in history, always looking the same as if you didn’t age at all.”

“Sister,” Luna hissed and I gave her a questioning look. “We should have him detained and questioned. He obviously bypassed every guard on the way here, he is a risk to our... your... security. We shouldn’t be the ones answering his questions, he is the intruder here!”

“I feel like we should trust him, though,” I whispered back, despite feeling a little uneasy about the stare that he gave us. It felt like we were a primitive species in his eyes (though not in a malicious way on his part). “He could have done anything to us using time travel alone, and yet, here he is, showing no concern for his own safety while completely at our mercy.”

“You are pregnant,” the stallion calling himself September mused, drawing our attention back to him. My sister frowned at his statement, likely getting suspicious again. “It feels... important... that you are. Why?”

“What is it that you mean with ‘important’? If you don't know us, how can you tell that our foals will be as important as we are?” Luna asked.

“You live here,” September reasoned. “A castle, a palace of opulence. It is not defended well, meaning this is a peaceful time. You wear jewelry made to denote your rank. You are this land's rulers, are you not? Your familiarity with this task suggests you have done so for a long time. Something that belies your physical appearance, you talk as if you have been a part of history for a long time.”

“And..?” I asked, shifting from hoof to hoof. “You don’t appear surprised about that. No, you seem rather... intrigued that we saw you a long time ago.”

“My kind... experiences reality in a different way to yours,” September replied, tilting his head. “We... exist in a way that time affects us differently. The purpose of my group was to observe and ensure the timeline unfolded like we needed it to, to make way for our kind. I abandoned that cause, a new way has been found. A better way. I defected to ensure the survival of... my son. I refused to erase another from time after I saved him from certain death. He helped save my son’s life, I am in debt to him.”

“Who did you save?” I asked, curious.

September stared at me, never once blinking his eyes. “The boy that lived to be a man,” he answered. “His name was Peter Bishop. He was meant to die in the original timeline. I changed his fate through an accident.”

“You helped him by accident?” I repeated after him, my brow raised in surprise. Not only because of the name he gave us, a name that was most certainly from another reality (probably Earth even) but also because of the statement that it was an accident saving somepony. How exactly do you save somepony’s life by accident?

“No,” September retorted. “He was going to die and his father would have found the cure but was distracted by me. I corrected my mistake by helping another version of his father so he could cure him. To do so, Peter Bishop’s father created a door to cross universes, inadvertently ripping holes into both. They found a solution to their problem, and once the time came for him to go, Peter’s last act healed their universes from the damage caused by the initial rift in the fabric of space and time."

That sounds like a tall tale, but I wasn't one to talk. I'm a magical pony with the ability to move the heavens and I've ruled over my nation for over a thousand years. If I were to tell anypony on Earth this, they would think I'm writing a children's book based on a cartoon with tiny horses. If I hadn't had the ability to prove my claims, nopony on Remnant would have believed me (aside from Ruby and her family, I suppose).

September continued with his story, explaining why he defected and saved this 'Peter'. “He was meant to be erased from time after having fulfilled his purpose. I did not follow my orders to erase him, though. His return was something that was not supposed to happen. I allowed it to occur so he could live and serve a greater purpose once more. Now, due to that choice, I am cut off from returning to Earth by my peers because I got involved in something that I shouldn’t have.”

“I’m… sorry to hear that,” I said, slowly. He regarded me for a moment, his unblinking eyes staring into my soul while he tilted his head again. It seemed to me like the action of tilting his head was something that he did quite a lot.

“Your concern is not needed,” September replied, matter-of-factly. It wasn’t like he intended to be rude, though. He was merely stating a fact if my guess was correct. “I have sent a beacon to Earth to allow for my return, Peter Bishop should find it shortly. In the meantime, I need to find a place to hide my son because of the choices I have made and what he might represent to my kind.”

Luna hummed. “You said he saved your son?” she asked him. She was still on her guard around the peculiar stallion, but not to the degree that she would have him detained immediately. “Why would you need to hide your son, then? If you could return to Earth, wouldn’t this Peter Bishop be able to help you?”

“My son is an anomaly,” September explained, a strangely sad look in his eyes. It wasn’t exactly sadness, though. More thoughtful, perhaps. It was hard to tell with his emotionless visage. “He feels emotions like you, something that my kind is not supposed to feel. He is an empath with the heightened intellect of my kind. He could be the future for humanity but only if he lives. Hiding him with the Fringe Division, with Peter Bishop... it would not work for long enough. I need to hide him somewhere where he would be safe and could be retrieved at a later time, preferably by those that seek to keep humanity from harm... in case I won’t be able to bring him back.”

“What do you mean by that?” I whispered, feeling so very confused and sad for this 'stallion'. It sounded like his son’s existence could change the very future of humanity. It didn’t surprise me that my hunch was correct that he wasn’t from Equestria, he did behave so unlike a pony that it was the obvious answer. The longer we held this conversation, though, the more questions I had. Though I doubt I would get answers to all of them.

“They might remove the technology that makes me able to exist the way I do,” September said, his voice never showing any emotion. I suppose his way of talking made more sense now, after everything that he had told us. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to feel absolutely no emotions at all. It hit a bit too close to home, considering how my sister from another world preferred to fight. “If that happens, I will be an ordinary human... or pony if they were to find me here. It should be safe here, this world has no ties to Earth.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but this world has a link back to Earth,” Luna said, fidgeting with a grimace on her muzzle.

September didn't blink, but for some reason, I got the impression he just did. “It does?”

“We are that link, September,” I told him with hesitation. “We were reborn here. A long time ago, somepony cast a spell to summon us here from Earth and later did so again to ensure our daughters would be returned to us.”

“Are they here?” September asked, tilting his head. “What were their names?”

“One of them is,” I nodded, biting my lip. He felt trustworthy, despite my usual paranoia. Strangely enough, I felt like he was not an enemy and that I could trust him with my life and that of my family. “Her name was Rose Baker and her sister’s name is Tabetha.”

“Tabetha Baker. She is a scientist and researcher at Harvard University, is she not?” September inquired and I nodded hesitantly, uncertain whether we were talking about my daughter exactly or someone with the same name. “I see. She is a consultant for the Fringe Division of the FBI, famous for discovering the existence of the soul through scientific means. Her death occurred during a failed experiment, causing the death of her uncle and his clone as well.”

“She... died?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat as my legs wobbled while my mind narrowed down on that part. She died. My little Star died. Oh, Tabetha... “When? How..?”

“I do not know how,” September said, tilting his head. “It happened a few months ago, I would have to observe that specific moment to know more.”

A hopeful flutter raced through me like a wave. “Could you?” I asked, almost pleading with him. “Please. We would gladly help you with your plight if you could do this for us.”

September inclined his head. “I will do what I can once I am able to return,” he agreed and I let out a relieved breath of air. “You said I observed your historic moments in the past. What events were those?”

“You did,” Luna said. “Things like our coronation a thousand years ago. There were other times as well. For example, the funeral of a dear friend of ours. And...”—she furrowed her brows—” now that I think about it, another friend told us of a stranger with odd clothing. That was you as well, wasn’t it?”

September seemed to frown. If he was more expressive, I'm sure he would have shrugged. “This is my first visit,” he said as a reminder. “The events you speak of have yet to happen to me. This friend of yours I observed... was he important?”

“You could say that,” I sighed, feeling a deep sadness in my heart. I miss Clover... “He was like a brother to us. With his last breath, he gave us a prophecy that he made through the use of a spell.”

“A spell that must have come from you,” Luna snorted, giving September a glare. “It caused us a lot of grief. Our sister is lost to us... because... of... you.”

This time, September almost took a step back from my sister. “I have not done this yet,” he began and I perked up. I've just had a stroke of genius as he told us that. If he has yet to go back... he could tell Clover not to make that prophecy. It would change everything, wouldn’t it? “I cannot do that.”

My heart stopped. “...what?”

“What you were about to ask of me,” September clarified. “I cannot do that. It has already happened.”

“But... you can travel through time, can you not?!” I cried out, a flare of rage burning hotly in my chest. Heat shimmered around me as I lost control over my magic for a moment. “You could change everything!”

“No,” he shook his head. “It would create a paradox within a paradox.”

“But...”

“You telling me that I gave him the spell to create the prophecy means I already did that. This event happened in your own personal past, changing it would affect it in ways I could not predict,” September explained and it felt like he slapped me directly in the face. It was our fault... Tia was on the moon because of us... “When you told me what I did, it created what is called a bootstrap paradox. Not going back would create another paradox, endangering the timeline. You would willingly change an event so far back into your own past, it would put a strain on the fabric of space-time far beyond what even I could calculate. The outcome would be catastrophic.”

My sister's rump suddenly hit the floor. If I wasn't heavily pregnant right now, I'm sure my own legs would have given out under me. “He... he is right, Summer,” Luna whispered, horrified. “If he does that, we wouldn’t be able to tell him to do that. It would create a paradox within a paradox, which in turn would create a feedback loop, slowly unraveling reality in its entirety. It’s unlikely the universe could recover from such a shock. We would essentially cease to exist.”

“But... wouldn’t that mean there never was a need to tell him to go back?” I asked, desperately hoping there was a way to make it work. “We could be together with Tia!”

My sister put a hoof on my chest, stopping me from going into hysterics. She smiled before moving it over to my cheek, cupping it softly as she guided my head over to hers and she pressed her forehead against mine. “Dear, we are going to be together with her again soon enough, you will see,” Luna consoled me. Her wings enveloped me in a soft hug and I let out a sigh. “We endured these past thousand years, did we not? The wait is almost over, have a bit more patience.”

September decided to ruin the moment just as I managed to calm down enough and get a grip on my volatile emotions and magic. “The version of you here now would cease to exist, should I not go back,” he told us and I felt my eyelid twitch. Has he no concept of waiting for his turn?! “It would create a new timeline, a broken one. The universe would start to break apart because such an integral point in time was altered. Like it did on Earth before everything was corrected.”

“Integral point in time?!” I snorted angrily. “This is my twin we are talking about! She didn’t deserve this fate!”

Luna gave me a nuzzle, her own eyes were filled with grief as they found mine and I deflated, the rage leaving me. Only sorrow was left in me. Sorrow and helplessness. A realization came to me then and there. It would mean giving up everything in order to have a few years with Tia where she wouldn’t have been banished. I wouldn't even have my foals because I was so foolish to alter what was essentially a fixed point in time.

The universe would cease to exist only because I wanted to have something right now instead of being patient. It wasn’t even a guarantee that Platinum wouldn’t enact her plan in some other way. For all we know, it was always meant to happen.

That's such a somber thought, isn’t it? Perhaps it would have been Tia, perhaps it would have been me or my beautiful Moon... or it could have been a combination of any one of us, who knows? It could have very well ended up even worse than it did for all we know. One of us might have even died. One way or another, the universe would have given us the harsh lesson of what happens when you ignore a prophecy, anyway. Doing that never worked. There was no preventing them.

Numerous other alternate realities were proof of that. Most often than not, one of us was lost on the moon for a thousand years. It's no wonder why we avoid traveling to parallel universes so much if at all possible. Celestia’s Equestria was the only one we had regular contact with (and Remnant now, as well). Meeting her... it was the first time we found out that our own fate was ‘etched in stone’ like that and it made us connect with our ‘adopted sister’ and best friend.

It was a rare thing to come across a parallel world where none of us had been banished to the moon (or one of the suns, I suppose... it wouldn’t kill us, but it would definitely be uncomfortable while unable to breathe). That didn’t mean that everything was sunshine and rainbows, though.

No... those worlds were always worse than the ones where one of us got banished. Never have we come across an alternate version of our world where 'everything' was perfect, something that I had lost all hope of ever seeing. Among those, we had seen a world where Luna, Tia, and I went separate ways after a fight, a post-apocalyptic world, a world drowning in darkness, a world where we had been slain by the very ponies we sought to protect... there were many examples of the universe showing us that things could have indeed been far worse than what they were like in our own world.

To be honest, we almost had it good with what happened to us. I could never imagine myself turning evil because I gave in to my own selfishness and greed. Just like I could never imagine myself breaking up with my wives over some stupid fight. At least Platinum was something we could fix. While we have yet to find all the puzzle pieces to our plan so we could defeat her once and for all, we have hope. Hope that we can return everything to how it should be.

We can find our happily ever after, something I can’t say about a majority of the alternate versions of ourselves we had the misfortune to ‘meet’. Or not meet, as the case may be for a few of them.

It still horrified me that there are worlds where our ponies are cruelly oppressed, or as I had seen once, were capable of... ahem, disposing of our counterparts. Weapons that could do that... they had to have been blessed by a higher being. It made me feel so outraged that they would turn on those that swore to protect them. I didn’t know all of the facts, clearly, but... I probably didn’t need to, seeing that the nobles happily took charge of that particular Equestria.

I shook the thought out of my head, doing my best to forget those memories outright. I doubt I would ever get rid of them entirely. I’m sure I would be painfully reminded of them again in a few decades or so. Knowing myself, I'm going to remember this once I’m about to face off against Platinum, won’t I? Short of removing these memories through magic, nothing was going to work in the ‘permanent’ fashion.

“September is gone,” Luna said, rubbing my back with a hoof soothingly as I gave the spot where he previously was a confused glance. “He simply... faded out of existence. Not through the use of magic, though, I can tell. There are still a great many questions I would have liked to get an answer for, but that will have to wait for now.”

Right... like the fact he came from our previous world and knew Tabetha. Not personally, mind you, but still. It was hard to believe what he told us about... my poor Star. On one hoof, it meant she must have been born in Equestria not too long ago, but on the other hoof... I didn't want to find out the how and why.

She couldn't have been very old when she did. The only one in our family that hasn't died prematurely were my brother and our parents. I don't even remember their faces...

Maybe September could bring back some of our old things, a photograph or two. It would at least give me something to remember them by. And maybe it would help me explain to whoever Tabetha's parents are now that she is a very, very special foal. She needs all the support she could get, I'm certain.

...would it be weird and selfish of me to hope they would give her up for adoption so I could raise her, instead? I feel like that would be a bad thing, but... my Star would be back home where she belongs. I only want what's best for her, after all.

“What do you think of him?” I whispered, slowly getting up on my aching hooves. I could use a massage right about now, walking had become more of a chore as of late for obvious reasons. Carrying around twins wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do when they did their best to sap my strength away completely.

I could feel both of them moving around more than they usually did, as well. Probably because I have been so agitated all day long, even more so as we came across our little mystery pony.

September seemed to genuinely want to help and learn as much as he could. He certainly was curious about a lot of things from what I could gather from his story and the fact that he liked to observe every possible moment that he deemed to be ‘important’.

My sister's gaze turned thoughtful as she stared a hole into the carpeted floor. “I don’t know for certain, yet,” Luna muttered. “He seems a bit... 'detached'... to everything. You heard him when he told us of erasing a former timeline because it was corrupted by a mistake he seemed to have made.”

“It does seem a bit... alien, doesn’t it?” I frowned, thanking her as she opened the door to our bedroom with her magic and helped me up on the bed. I blushed as I saw her practically worship my big pregnant belly. She was just as impatient as I was to see our foals witness the light of day (and night). “He seems to seek out the right destiny for this Peter Bishop, though. As twisted as it might seem how he tries to accomplish that.”

“This Peter...” Luna began, nuzzling my stomach with a tiny smile on her muzzle. “He said he worked for this Fringe Division in the FBI... whatever that is..."—her smile turned from happy to forlorn—" Tabetha had been a part of that group, right? He said she died due to an experiment gone wrong. What do you think that could have been about?”

“I would like to know that, myself,” I sighed, sadly. “My poor little Star. Do you think we will find her? She must have been born recently if her death was only a few months ago.”

“We will never know for sure until we find her,” Luna said, fidgeting with her wings. “Searching through all the mares that have become a mother within the last cycle might take us years.”

“I doubt it would take Liz that long with the help of her changelings,” I giggled, seeing Luna smile back at me with a thoughtful look in her eyes. My heart skipped a beat as I noticed what they were focused on. “What is it, Lulu?”

“Do you think... you could be pregnant with her?” she asked, hesitantly. “September wasn’t very specific with how long ago it was.”

“I...” I bit my lip. It would solve my dilemma, wouldn't it? But... “What would be the chances of that, Lulu? It wasn’t even something we planned for to happen.”

“But what if she is?” Luna proposed with a glimmer of hope in her eyes that felt almost infectious. “It would mean I would also be her parent.”

“Oh, Lulu,” I smiled, nuzzling her softly, my heart feeling incredibly light as an overwhelming sense of love swept through me. “I know you would like that, but don’t try to see something in one of them that isn’t there. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them or to Tabetha.”

“I... you’re right,” Luna sighed, looking down at my stomach, a tiny smile working its way back on her muzzle. “We’re going to be parents... I still can’t believe it's almost time.”

“We still haven’t decided on names for them,” I mused, watching my sister as she put one of her ears against me to ‘listen’ to our little troublemakers.

“What would you suggest then, sister?” Luna asked with a snort as she gave me a small, teasing smile. “We don’t even know their sex yet.”

“I just want it to be a surprise,” I pouted. At the same time, though, a fearful quiver went through my heart. If one of them was a colt and I couldn’t find a way to get them to ascend because of that... something told me my fears were unfounded, but that didn’t actually reassure me. We didn’t know for certain if a male pony could become an alicorn, as ridiculous as the thought was that only females were able to do so.

It's just... there has never been a male alicorn up until now, for some reason. There must be a reason why that was. Perhaps it was only because the gender ratio was so heavily in favor of the female side, which still didn’t make much sense to me. As rare as ascension was, there had to be a reasonable explanation for why only mares had accomplished such a feat in recorded history.

Maybe there actually were male alicorns far back in the past, even before Hope and her siblings’ time. We couldn’t ever truly find out, not without a spell that cut back heavily on the mana requirement to travel back in time. Although... September might be able to do that for us. I’m sure he will be sufficiently curious enough to observe the ancient history of ponykind.

“We should name one of them Luna,” my sister commented and I giggle-snorted. “Mom would have suggested it, too.”

“It would keep up the tradition, wouldn’t it?” I smiled fondly. The idea did sound very enticing to me. Lunar... something. I’m sure we will figure something out that is going to work well with one of them. It would be the greatest tribute we could make to our mother, and I hope wherever she is, she would be proud of us.

“We could ask September what we are going to name them,” Luna said, placing a delicate kiss on my enlarged belly with a reverent mumble.

“That would be a bit... impersonal, wouldn’t it?” I shot back, my face becoming redder and redder as she trailed more kisses further down, nearing my swollen teats. “Luna, I swear if you go any further...”

“You have been complaining about them aching, have you not?” she asked me and I could swear she gave me a lecherous glint with her beautiful, turquoise eyes. “Wouldn’t you like some... relief~?”

“I have been complaining about my whole body aching,” I muttered. My blush threatened to permanently color my muzzle a deep red as she took a deep whiff of my scent through her nostrils, letting out a whiny moan. “This is so degenerate...”

“Shut up,” Luna demanded, causing me to snap my muzzle shut as her icy blue eyes pierced my gentle, pale magenta ones, the slits in them dangerously thin. “Let me do this and give you a massage, Sunny. You shouldn’t stress yourself out so much.”

“If you call boredom ‘stress’,” I rolled my eyes, pouting. My mood turned around completely as I felt her tongue circle around one of my teats, her breath feeling a bit ticklish. I... oh, dear flipping flying penguins. Maybe I should just let her have her fun, as weird as it was. Besides... I would have to get used to the feeling eventually, right?

The... suckling... to draw forth the milk contained in them did relieve some of the built-up pressure, at the very least. I was just glad Liz wasn’t here right now or I’m sure I would be hearing all kinds of lewd comments from her. Heck, knowing her? She might have even joined in. Fuck. She definitely would have, wouldn’t she?

I suppressed my moans, instead quietly humming as I guiltily enjoyed having her feed from me with an enthusiasm that I wish wasn’t there. It did make me feel extremely embarrassed and... a little bit maternal, to be honest. I would... 'allow' her to relieve my teats from the sensation of being overly full for now. As relaxing as this might have been, I’d rather not have her develop a fetish for this.

Ahh... who was I kidding? She already has one. Nightmare already treated me like her broodmare every chance she got, Luna must have some of those feelings in her, too. And how could I fault her for that? This was a lifelong dream come true for her. And I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it a little bit.

While she continued doing... that... she used her magic to work out the aching feeling in my hooves, my back, and my neck. I would have loved to get a massage with her actual limbs, but this worked nicely as well.

Before long, I found myself in a deep slumber, the dream around me taking on a familiar form. It had been quite a while since Luna and I had this particular dream, and seeing that I was ‘sort of’ alone, I assumed my sister was still happily gorging herself on my milk.

“Hello, Summer,” Fallen Star smiled, her eyes appearing almost soft and gentle.

“My Star,” I replied, happily trotting up to the mirror. I sometimes really wish the glass surface wasn’t there and we could give each other a hug. “Why am I here?”

“Can’t we simply enjoy a friendly chat?” Star asked, raising a brow questioningly.

I snorted, giving her a look. “We both know you hate wasting words on unimportant matters.”

“Then you should also know why you are here,” she shot back and I wilted slightly. “This outsider who is calling himself September... we both know he is an ill omen.”

“He doesn’t...” I began, only for her to cut me off with a hot glare.

“He doesn’t do anything? He ‘just’ observes?” Star said, stalking from side to side in front of me on the other side of the mirror. “We both know every time he has appeared, something has happened. Shortly after our coronation, Luna shut herself away from us. He was there at the funeral for Amore. Hell, he gave Clover the damn spell for the prophecy! He has watched us our entire life and never,"—she slammed a hoof against the mirror's surface, making me jump away in fright—" not even once,"—she sneered while I did my best to calm my jittery nerves down from the scare—" gave us a fucking warning on how to prevent anything! Platinum, Sombra, Tirek, Discord... the war with the fucking griffons..."—her voice turned more dark and demonic as she uttered each subsequent name until she spat out the word 'griffons' in utter hatred—" How can you possibly trust someone like that?”

“He can’t interfere...” I whispered back weakly. “You know that as well as I do, as much as it pains me to admit that.”

Fallen Star snorted. “Ask him then what will happen when Platinum returns,” she growled. “If he truly intends to help us for keeping his son safe... he can at least give us that much.”

“And what if all he could tell us is... bad news?” I asked, fidgeting fearfully. “Knowing the future has never done us any good.”

“I’m... worried, Summer,” she grumbled and I gave her a wobbly smile. “What if something happens to our foals? We... we can’t let that happen. They are our babies. I don't want them to die like... like Tabby and Rose did.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat, my breathing shaky. “C-Cadance will look out for them while we confront Platinum, I promise,” I told her. It felt more like I was reassuring myself, though. “...but that isn’t what you wanted to talk about, is it?”

“No...” Star shook her head hesitantly. “September said that us being pregnant was important. And I don’t think he meant it in the way of us being royalty.”

“I don’t think he meant it like that, either,” I agreed, watching her as she came to a halt in front of me. I rolled my eyes. “Don’t. I know that we are the same pony, I’m not an idiot.”

“Could have fooled me,” she smiled and grinned even wider as she saw my eyelid twitch. “Do you think our foals could play a part in defeating Platinum?”

“No,” I said, a glare directed her way. “They will stay as far away from the fight as they possibly can. There has to be a different reason why they are ‘important’.”

Fallen Star sighed. “Summer, think for a second," she ordered me and I frowned back at her. "What if they are the next bearers of the Elements of Harmony?” Fallen Star suggested and I shook my head, trying to ignore her words. I don't care if I was being petulant right now. Or overprotective. Or selfish. They are not going to put themselves in danger because 'destiny' demanded it of them. Fuck the Elements of Harmony, I'd rather... I'd rather... oh, suns be damned. I'd rather... I... I cannot even bring myself to finish that thought. “Summer, what if Luna was right with one of them being Tabetha?”

“No!” I shouted, snorting furiously. “I won’t lose her again, not to that madmare. They won’t become the Element Bearers if I have a say in it!”

Star sighed, dragging a hoof over her muzzle in exasperation. She was behaving more like I was when I was annoyed, and I... I was letting my anger and fear control me. “Think for a moment, Summer,” she said, her golden eyes drilling into my magenta ones. They were blending back and forth between our colors, much like my own I assumed. Probably due to my momentary emotional turmoil. “They are our only hope of reuniting with Celestia. If even one of them is chosen to bear an Element of Harmony, you would have to choose between keeping our foals safe and Equestria. I know you would never sacrifice everything we worked so hard to build, so...”

“There is no choice to be made about that, Star,” I growled, stopping her from finishing that sentence. She was right, but I would also not risk my babies. There was only one choice I could make to keep what is mine...

My Fallen Star raised a brow at me. “So you would instead sacrifice Tia out of fear?” she asked, her voice deathly quiet. I staggered back from the mirror, whimpering to myself. No! I would never... not her. “You know Platinum would stand no chance against the Elements and the Elements would never allow their bearers to get hurt.”

“Like they never hurt us?” I whispered, my haunted eyes seeking out hers.

“They protected us even as we abused their trust in us,” Fallen Star scolded me, her burning golden eyes daring me to disagree with her. She was right (again), but it still felt like we were the ones that had been betrayed by them. “You know the words of the prophecy. We can’t let fear guide our hoof, Summer.”

“They are my foals,” I whimpered and I tried to stave off my tears while my breath hitched. “I can’t let anything happen to them.”

My other half scoffed. “So you would shelter them?” Star asked. “Lock them away so they can’t get hurt? You can’t do that to our foals, my Sun.”

“I think this is v-very much warranted, Star,” I began, letting out a sob midway through. “They would stand no c-chance. N-not against somepony like her...”

“No... they wouldn’t,” she agreed, looking down. “Not alone. But they won’t have to be and they wouldn’t face her directly in combat.”

“I...” I mumbled, sniffling. Curse this... this emotional wreck I have become, my Star was right. There would be nothing Platinum could do against the full might of Luna, Liz, and myself. And certainly not with the Elements of Harmony at their best.

“Trust me,” Star smiled, placing her hoof against the surface of the mirror. I returned her smile with a wobbly one, placing my own hoof over hers. “Cadance can create shields that even we struggle to break, nothing is going to happen that we can’t prevent.”

“And w-what if something does happen?” I asked, trying to get my breathing back under control.

“That is why we need to ask September to investigate our own future,” she replied and I bit my lip, nodding in agreement. “He has to grant us at least that much to make up for what he did to Tia.”

“He didn’t do it because he wanted to,” I muttered, glaring down at the ground. I wanted to blame him, but Luna was right. It was our own fault for even telling him of the existence of that prophecy.

“I know,” Star sighed and her eyes hardened cruelly. “That does not mean we can’t force him to comply with our demands, though. He has caused us a lot of grief, even if we are partially to blame for that. We can make this work in our favor.”

“You want to blackmail him by guilt-tripping him?” I asked incredulously, raising a brow. “He said his kind doesn’t feel emotions.”

“But he never denied that it isn’t possible for him to feel anything,” she grinned like a shark. “He feels sympathy, at least somewhat, or he wouldn’t have done the things he has done.”

I sighed, feeling conflicted. “We can’t keep doing this, Star,” I told her, ashamed and unhappy. It always starts like this, too. Her expression shifted around from confused to outraged and back to confused, so I decided to elaborate on what I meant. We have gotten into the habit of manipulating ponies (or people, whatever) if it helps us keep our family safe. Doing that, playing with mortals... it didn’t sit right with me.

Fallen Star, on the other hoof... she doesn’t see a problem with doing that. I could tell because I felt what she felt about this. She wanted to be selfish and I understand why she was like that. Deep down, in the depth of her... no, our... heart, we felt scared. Scared that, if we don’t do anything, we would lose everything all over again similar to what happened when we lost Tia due to us ignoring the damn warning the prophecy gave us.

It wasn’t September’s fault for having to go back in time and give Clover that spell, really. We had no right to fault him for that. Not even if he had decided to give it to him without us telling him it happened. After all, we were the ones that ignored the warning. Whether it be destiny or something else entirely, we should have accepted that we were stupid a long time ago. Stupid beyond belief, even.

But... despite that, a part of me was curious. A part of me wanted to know what would happen once Platinum returned. I needed to know whether or not we failed. I have to know if my foals would be safe, even if I might die. I had no intention to lose against Platinum, but... I need to know whether or not the possibility was there. In case... in case I have to say my goodbyes once the time comes.

Fallen Star and I came to an agreement over that much, at the very least. We have to know.

It wasn’t until a week later that we came across the mysterious stallion again. And what he told us... I wish I never asked him to take a look at our future.

“There are only two possible outcomes,” September said, his eyes almost appearing sad, if in a detached way. The little colt next to him definitely could feel it as he gazed unblinkingly at me. “One of you will die in your fight against each other.”

I knew better than to ask him if he meant permanent death. The definition mortals had of dying was simply that. Dying meant the end of one’s existence. It was either me... or Platinum and Celestia.

Deep down, I always knew it would come down to this. Die at the hooves of Platinum or save Equestria by killing my own sister. I knew which choice I would have to choose, which I needed to choose... and it tore my heart apart all over again.

September’s son placed a little bracelet down in front of me and I gave the little colt a confused glance, seeing him sitting there on the picnic blanket Luna and I had brought out here with us after I had convinced her that some fresh air would do me a world of good, a deep pain mirrored in his eyes. My pain, I realized. September said he was an empath and I quickly reined my emotions in to spare him from feeling my crushing amount of grief.

The bracelet was made of colorful beads, pieced together by a bright white thread. It began with a lavender color, transitioning over to a pink and then a deep blue that came close to Luna’s coat color. Then it went back to the pink and lavender before transitioning over to a red color a little brighter than my own mane. Curiously, the next color was reminiscent of Luna’s eye color before it transitioned over to a yellowish-orange.

It strangely reminded me of the sunset and twilight of the sky.

“Thank you, my little pony,” I smiled, receiving a tiny one from the colt in front of me. “It’s very beautiful.”

September gave his son one last glance before turning to leave. “I have to return to Earth,” he said, drawing my attention away from his son. “I will return for him when the time comes. He will be safer here.”

“Are you sure we can’t help you with whatever it is that you have to do?” I asked, giving him a concerned look, absentmindedly playing around nervously with the bracelet in my hooves.

The odd stallion tilted his head, looking down at the key that hung from a cord around his neck. “This will be enough help. I thank you for lending it to me. The rest will be up to Walter Bishop and I.”

I hope that, whatever their plan ends up being, they can save humanity from the threat of September's kind. A potential future of emotionless time travelers was kind of frightening. Their future is still undecided, but... perhaps that key might come in hoof at a crucial point in time.

Said key was a new invention of Luna’s. Once inserted and turned in any lock of a door, it would create a gateway to Equestria. After the last time, she would rather not risk me getting lost in another, unknown reality again.

We gave one to September in case he could not return here on his own. I wish I could do more to help him, but he insisted that our interference would create only a larger target on our world. From what he has told us, his kind didn’t look too kindly on those that stood in their way.

And it was a fight I’d rather not pick. Fighting against beings that could travel through time and literally predict any outcome by calculating them in their heads... how could one defeat something like that? It was simply not possible.

One moment he was still there, the next he was already gone. Like so many other times, he simply vanished into thin air, leaving behind a little pony that looked to us for guidance. I wouldn’t leave him in some orphanage, that would be a cruelty to not only him but also the promise we made to September.

He needs to be kept safe and I intended to keep him safe. Like I would my family.

If I'm going to die, I would cherish every moment I have with them... from now until the final day arrives.

Tia... I’m sorry, but I have to choose you. I couldn’t live with the thought of having to kill you. Platinum might kill me, but I understand now.

We have to buy the Elements enough time, and if this was going to be the only way, I would pay the price to save you, sister. If one of us has to die, then I can’t bear to see you pay for something you never wanted.

I have had a long life guiding my little ponies into a brighter future. I can rest easy, knowing they will have you to continue that legacy. It will be in good hooves with you. I know it will.

The future looks darker now than it ever has before.

Was it... selfishness or generosity, wanting to see you live on instead of me, sister? I could never let Luna or Liz know what I intended to do to save you, I know what their choice would be.

Even I was tempted to simply... forget you and what we had, what we shared with each other... it would be so simple, too. I could just cling on to this life, sacrificing you so I wouldn’t have to leave, but... I couldn’t do that. Not to you.

I promised I would listen to my heart, to never forsake it again. This would be the first step to embracing those old ideals of mine. To be generous, selfless even... to grant you one last kindness, something you have been denied for such a long time.

I hope one day you will forgive me, sister. Both you and Luna. Liz. Cadance. Tabetha. My... my foals...

Would any of them ever forgive me for what I planned to do?

I could save you, Tia... I need to save you. I can save you.

I will save you.

You deserve to have your freedom returned to you, sister. I have done many things I’m not proud of. Out of all of them, I regret failing you the most.

I’m going to fail you with this again, won’t I? You will regain your freedom, the very ability to think for yourself, to be able to control your own body... but you will lose me without getting a say in it.

I’m no better than Platinum, am I? I’m not even giving you the choice to live on instead of me. I’m making it for you and you will hate me for it.

But this would be for the best, I told myself with bitterness directed at the damn universe.

It would be for the best.

I have to believe that.

Otherwise...

Tia...

I couldn’t live in a world without you.

I love you too much for that.

You are stronger than me, I know that. You will be able to go on and find your eternal happiness with Luna and... and not with me.

One of us has to die, that was what September told me.

Just another damn prophecy getting in the way of things, right? I knew better than to fight fate or whatever else dictated those damn things. I couldn’t fight fate and prove it wrong, make my own way...

As much as I would like to (and I really want to), I want to tell the universe to leave us the flipping flying penguin alone. To give us this damn fucking happiness it was determined to take away each and every time.

Fuck that.

I’m going to find a way to bring you back, Tia. I'm going to prove the fucking universe wrong and shove my success into September’s ugly mug for daring to tell me I couldn’t have what I wanted.

I’m done with being the universe’s plaything. Pah! If I have to die trying? Well, at least I could say I did my best.

September, I’m thankful that you gave me this warning, but go kindly fuck yourself with a cactus. Whether or not you have 'observed' the outcome already, whether or not the future was set in stone... I won’t give up on my sister, my twin, my wife... my beloved Sunshine.

I swear on my magic I will bring you back, Tia. I will bring you back safe and sound and I won’t die.

We are going to have that happily ever after, damnit.

I swear it.

Author's Note

Part of the rewrite from the 24th of June, 2023. Comments before this date may not accurately depict the current state of the story.