Chapters "Spike, please bring in the next petitioner," I instructed my draconic assistant coolly, cracking a small smile at his adorably loyal salute as he strode over to the throne room doors and nudged them open, allowing passage to the next pony who sought my counsel. The regal smile slid from my face as I recognized the unmistakable lanky stature and barbershop attire of the two stallions that Spike let in.
"These two have a lot of nerve showing up here..." I muttered under my breath, rolling my eyes as Flim - or maybe it was Flam? I could never tell the two apart - stepped forward, cleared his throat, and bowed so patronizingly towards me that it was practically palpable.
"Thanks for seein' us, Princess Twilight! It's reassuring to know you didn't just bar us from petitioning the moment you saw our names on the list. A sign of a just and fair ruler, wouldn't you say, brother?" The snake-oil salespony was certainly an enthusiastic brown-noser. Good grief, how did anyone ever believe these two? His painfully obvious facade of cheerfulness almost made me want to gag.
I also raised my eyebrow at Spike in disappointment, considering he was supposed to be screening the petitioners before they were allowed an audience...he merely grinned sheepishly and cautiously backed out of the room, leading me to sigh tiredly and shake my head.
"Indubitably, my good stallion! Y'know, a town with money's a little like mule with a spinning wheel..." Flam began, glancing meaningfully towards his brother.
"That's right, brother! Nobody knows how he got it, and darned if he knows how to use it!" Flim continued. I was near to the point of shoving my face in my hooves, but I had to stay professional even when petitioners were really starting to aggravate me...
"Yessir! There's nothin' on Equus like a genuine, bona-fide-" I could just feel the cheesy sales-pitch song starting to build up. No. No way was I letting them sucker this town into another hare-brained scheme of theirs.
Loudly stomping my hoof, the heavy clop of a horseshoe on stone immediately made the two brothers freeze up. "That's quite enough of that. You two should know better than to try such tricks on Ponyville a third time, Flim and Flam. Why, if I let you prattle on long enough, I bet you've got a bridge in Bucklyn to sell me, too! Guards, please escort these thieves out of my castle." My frown had exponentially deepened now, my displeasure clear and evident in a way that was obviously unsettling the two of them.
"Now, hey, that's not very - ah, watch where you put those hooves, buddy!" Flam said in a panic, hurriedly backing away from the pair of guards who quickly got between us and began ushering them back the way they came.
"I say, brother, maybe this new princess isn't the kind paragon of friendship she's cracked up to be!" Flim yelped, just before the doors slammed shut behind the two of them.
After a moment of awkward silence, Spike cautiously cleared his throat. "So, uhh..." He began to say, but quickly trailed off as I gave him an annoyed eyebrow raise. "Rrright. I'll just, uh, screen 'em better in the future, then..."
"Mooom! Sis won't let me have the Luna plushie! " A young colt hollered loudly as he charged into the throne room from a side entrance, his sister carrying an adorable little plush version of Princess Luna in her mouth as she followed him into the room with an annoyed, petulant look on her face. The two of them skidded to a stop at the foot of the throne, and the young filly was quick to drop the plush and defend herself.
"As if! He was trying to yank it out of my hooves!" The young filly yelped defensively. I was already on my last nerve from Flim and Flam's highly unwelcome appearance, so I was quick to nip this argument in the bud before it could devolve into a tiny wrestling match in the middle of my throne room.
"Dusk, Dawn, please settle down, the both of you! Honestly, what would your father say if he saw you two hollering and carrying on like this? Let alone interrupting important government time that I've specifically scheduled for petitioners!" I chastened firmly. The two of them recoiled sharply, looking like I'd kicked their puppy, but I held firm - it was important that they learn the necessity of conflict resolution without resorting to arguing. "Dusk, I thought we'd agreed that Dawn gets the Luna plushie on odd-numbered nights, and you get the plushie on even-numbered ones."
"Aww, I dunno, I guess..." Dusk whimpered, the little colt scuffing his hoof against the crystalline floor in defeat. "Sorry for snapping at you, sis."
"Apology accepted, Duskie." Dawn giggled, already waving off the conflict. It was famously hard for twins to hold a grudge against one another. "Momma, why are colts so silly?"
I held back a giggle behind my hoof as Dusk pouted cutely, looking indignant. My mind trailed off in thought as I stared at the Luna plushie held in Dawn's hooves, and a thought occurred to me as my eyes lit up. Gently, I guided the two of them to walk alongside me using a wing as the three of us left the throne room. "Hmm, well, I suppose it's getting late and I don't really want to hear any more petitioners after...those two showed up. Do you two want to hear how Princess Luna helped me set up my 5th anniversary with your father? I promise it's not too icky and full of Cutie Pox, haha."
Dusk rolled his eyes and made a face, but Dawn certainly seemed enthusiastic enough if the sparkles in her eyes were anything to go by...and so, the story began.
A pulse of magic rippled across Luna's dreamscape, giving the Princess of the Night pause as she glided through the shimmering blackness of the unconscious realm. Lighting her finely-manicured horn, the night-mare honed in on the source of the magical disturbance she felt. A genteel smile grew on her regal lips as she recognized the magical signature, and with a quick flutter of movement from her wings, she propelled herself towards the dreamscape-version of Ponyville Castle.
Pushing herself through the dream-castle's shimmering crystalline walls, she arrived at the bedside of her fellow Princess, Twilight Sparkle, without delay.
The mare closed her eyes, lit her horn once more, and dove deep into the young alicorn's subconscious.
I felt the Night Princess's arrival as an electric tingle surged through my mind, making my hooves jitter anxiously. I wormed my way out of my dreamscape's bed to properly greet the incoming mare, briefly shuffling my wings nervously as I contemplated the request I was about to make of my fellow Princess.
As Luna phased through her bedroom's exterior wall, I greeted her with a small smile of familiar, friendly affection - one which she wholeheartedly returned.
"Luna! I'm so glad you're here." I greeted, sounding a little more excited than I'd have liked.
"Well met, Twilight Sparkle. We come when we are called. What may we do for you?"
"Uhm..." A blush lit up my face as I averted my eyes from her questioning gaze, which turned inquisitive as her brow crept up her forehead, and an impish, patient, knowing smile graced her dark complexion.
"We think we know what thou wisheth to ask of us, Twilight Sparkle. This is in regard to thy consort and my protege, Shooting Star, is it not?" Luna replied knowingly, a hit of mirth tickling her proper tone.
"Wha- buh- how did you...?" I sputtered, my face turning a deep shade of red as my wings rustled at my sides. I was thoroughly flustered at the ease with which Luna had seen through my request...was I really so easy to read?
"Do not act so shocked, fair Twilight. Be as it may that our imprisonment hath stymied us in matters of the heart, we are no spring filly. When you have been around as long as we have, one develops a sense for such things. In addition, that colt is also not as good at keeping secrets as he thinks he is..." Blinking for a moment as she remembered herself, Luna inclined her head apologetically towards me, a half-bow that seemed out-of-place on a pony so regal and experienced. "But we digress, and most rudely at that. What would you have us do for you, Twilight Sparkle?"
"I...really want to do something special for him. He's the first stallion I've ever felt this strongly for, and our anniversary deserves to be one to remember! Do you think you could create a meteor shower on the night of the full moon?"
"We would be delighted to brighten up our sky with a celebration of your blossoming love for one another, fair Twilight. We find it flattering that ponies appreciate our nights so strongly following our return, especially as we consider both of you to be very close friends of ours. It is most endearing," Luna smiled wide as she inclined her head towards me appreciatively. "You shall have your shooting stars for Shooting Star, hmmhmm!"
"Heehee! Oh, thank you, Luna, thank you! I just know he's going to love it!" I responded eagerly, giggling good-naturedly at her clever wordplay.
"Alas, much as we would love to 'hang out', as the foals of today would say, we must bid thee farewell to address our fair subjects' nightly specters." Bowing once more, Luna spread her large, curvaceous wings, fluttering them as she readied for takeoff. As quiet as the owls that prowled through her sky, Luna took wing. As she glided upwards into the cold evening air of my dreamscape, she continued to speak, " Noctem quiétam dulce somnium, Twilight Sparkle! May you have the best of luck with your romantic endeavors under mine fine sky. Shooting Star is a blessed stallion to have as doting and thoughtful a mare as thee."
As the distance between us increased, I did my best to call back a reply, "Thank you so much, Luna! Noctem quiétam dulce somnium!" My lips were clumsy, unfamiliar with the strange Old Equish phrases that Luna still used from time to time, but I was sure Luna still appreciated the thought behind it. They certainly had an exotic, ancient charm to them. "I'll be sure to pay you back for this soon!" I exclaimed as Luna began to disappear into the far edges of the shuddering, unraveling dreamscape's night sky.
The Night Princess's reply was nearly lost in the fog of my deepening sleep, though I caught its whispers on my fading semi-consciousness nonetheless. 'Your success shall be all the almsgiving that we need, dear Twilight. Be certain to invite us to your wedding, for we are sure it will be a joyous affair!'
"Well, what did you two think of that?" I asked at the end of the dream-retelling, finally coming out of storyteller mode long enough to check on the two of them...predictably, they'd fallen asleep, probably somewhere around the time Luna started talking in ostentatiously long phrases...
With an amused giggle, I gently tucked the two of them into their beds, quietly shutting the door behind me as I left the room.
Even though my retelling had stopped short there, there was still more to be told...more that wasn't exactly foal-friendly ...
I surged into wakefulness with an embarrassed squeak, sitting bolt upright in my bed as I thought about the last thing Luna had said to me.
"W-wedding?!" I squeaked out, feeling flush. It was a little early to be talking about something like that...but my mind began to wander nonetheless...
My wings drew stiff as my blush deepened, and I rapidly shook myself to banish the butterfly-inducing thoughts that flooded my head whenever I thought of "Shooting Star" and "wedding" together. The wait for the next full moon would be long, to be sure...but it would be oh-so worth the anticipation!
2 - Beneath the Starlight
Author's Note
Thanks to my pal Vis-a-Viscera for coming in clutch and helping me with this one when the inspiration just wasn't hitting me, and just in time for...
Happy Birthday, Shooting Star1234!
Hope you enjoy!
~RD 🦈
2 - Beneath the Starlight
The full moon hung heavy in Luna's sparkling sky, a gleaming sphere of radiance that bathed the Equestrian countryside in a cascade of serene moonlight. Streaks of shooting stars raced across the sky in frenetic, hurried streaks, twinkling majestically as they fizzled out in the sky.
Far below this gorgeous celestial spectacle, two ponies laid belly-up beside one another in the grass as they watched the stars - one of them pointing out a new shooting star with their hoof every so often, much to the other's delight as they shared vocalizations of wonder and contented glances with one another.
"Oh, Luna...you really outdid yourself tonight, didn't you? " Twilight thought to herself, her heart swelling with gratitude as she thought of the Princess of the Night.
Looking away from the dazzling display that Luna had arranged for them, Twilight's attention was captured by Star's beautiful, earthy-brown eyes, the twinkle of the shooting stars reflecting in them in strange and enticing ways. From the expression he had, he was probably just as enraptured as she was.
Their eyes slid closed as their muzzles met, the soft smacking of lips echoing starkly in her ears as they both moaned contentedly, rolling onto their sides to face one another. His firm hoof crept across her back, delicately massaging her wings as they embraced beneath the gorgeous stellar canvas above.
The Princess of Friendship whimpered in discontent as he pulled away, never wanting their embrace to end, but he put a calming hoof to her lips and smiled plaintively. "Just relax, my sparkling light...you did all this for me, so it's only fair I should return the favor, right?"
"Mmh, I suppose, but...what did you have in mi-ahh... " She was pleasantly interrupted as his lips pecked at the base of her neck, slowly trailing lower until they reached the fluff on her chest. Burying his nose there as he took in eager lungfuls of her lavender coat-wash, her thoughts clouded as she rolled over onto her back, lying prone beneath him with her wings outstretched and eyes lidded.
Carefully placing his hooves so as not to step on one of his princess's broad, beautiful wings, Star's lips continued their gentle, teasing trail down her underside. Her hooves curled as he reached the soft, plump teats near her fragrant, most sacred place, softly crying out in barely-withheld eagerness as his warm breaths teased her nips - but no touch followed them. A sudden lightning-bolt of pleasure danced across her vertebrae when his tongue leaped out from between his lips to briefly graze against her winking bud, a criminally brief taste of what was sure to come later.
"Mmh, Sweet Celestia, Star, that feels so good..." Twilight whimpered plaintively, hooves gripping him tightly as her anticipation mounted rapidly.
With a teasing chuckle, Star relented at last, dipping his dark-furred muzzle into her desperately winking folds as his tongue darted out to taste her. Twilight moaned deeply at the abrupt fulfillment of his teasing, loudly enough that the whole town might've heard her if not for her own foreleg quickly covering her mouth.
Reaching down to tap Star on the top of his head, he pulled his muzzle from her depths and locked his worried, questioning gaze upon her. It would've been adorable if she weren't so desperate for his attention right now, and she felt bad for not reciprocating the pleasure he was giving her in some way. "Could you, um, turn around?" She asked, a fiery blush lighting up her face as she struggled with how to articulate what she wanted from him. The confused look she gave him evidently meant she hadn't been specific enough. "I want to...help you, too." She added. His eyes lit up once the realization of what she was after hit him on the head with all the subtlety of a cinderblock, and he swiftly did an about-face above her, bringing their bodies in opposition with one another.
Star's dark black, half-hard length hung modestly from between his hind hooves, with an attention-grabbing pair of rotund nuts that made her face light up with an embarrassed blush of aroused blood. Despite the way that the sight of her coltfriend's equipment sent a storm of butterflies fluttering in her stomach, it was such a captivating sight that she couldn't bring herself to look away from it regardless.
Blushing fiercely, Twilight gave a hesitant exhale upon Star's tip, sending a shuddering moan rolling through him. She recoiled slightly from his sudden vocalization, but quickly shook off her surprise as she lovingly kissed his gradually flaring cockhead. Her tongue peeked past her lips, lathering his increasingly eager length in her saliva as she felt it stiffen and pulse with hot, aroused blood beneath her touch.
Experimentally, Twilight started to push herself further down his length, another few inches making their way into her warm, slick maw as she gave her coltfriend a steamy oral embrace. Each inch that slid its way into her throat drove her further into aroused delirium, her wings throbbing against the cool evening grass in time with the bucks and twitches of his thick length deep in her maw. Swirling her tongue experimentally against his underside drove a muttered curse and a stuttered exclamation of love from his mouth, making her face light up cherry red in flattered, mutual arousal as her bud winked needily in the crisp nighttime air.
It must've been enough to catch her doting paramour's attention. Without warning, he craned his head downward and began to greedily lap at her sodden petals, as intensely as if she were a salt lick after a hard workout. It forced an ecstatic moan from her throat that vibrated down Star's length so intensely, he feared he might lose himself then and there. Pulling back until his tip rested just inside her maw, Star tried not to let himself get too carried away so quickly. He attacked her sodden marehood with renewed gusto, muzzle spreading apart her folds as he tongued her as deep as he dared go.
The heady, salty taste of his pre oozing into her maw had Twilight addicted in short order, even as the impossibly-deep, brain-fizzling tonguing he was treating her to made her ministrations to his length falter. Her brain felt as if it were leaking out of her ears, all her previous readings about the art of lovemaking being washed away in a torrid flood of unbridled ecstasy and arousal. Slowly, her lips closed further around the tip of that fountain, drawing more salty manna down her welcoming throat.
Electricity thrummed through Star’s body as his climax drew closer with every lap of Twilight’s tongue. Almost as if in tune with the waves of pleasure, Twilight’s flower gushed and dripped through his mouth. Soon his own tongue was penetrating harder and further into Twilight’s slit than even he thought possible, and the quaking of his mate’s trim thighs let him know she’d be falling over that climactic cliff with him. In his embrace, even, just as she was shuddering in his own.
Like even the skies above seemed to acknowledge.
To acknowledge their bliss.
The spotlight-like starfield above both ponies flashed and at its signal, both Twilight and Star came apart. Twilight’s breath was utterly suppressed by the footlong of stallionmeat clogging her throat, though that tightness was soon soothed by rope after jet after geyser of blazing seed flooding it.
Star was less obstructed though, with a thunderous cry of “Twilight, fuuuuuc~!”and over the river he went...or, rather, the river of mare cum sloshing over his face and neck as he howled his rapture into Twilight’s folds. His tongue soaked in the sweet sap bathing it and the velvety walls squeezing it, an embrace almost as divine as Twilight’s hooves around his bucking body. Slowly though, the joy rocking his form abated, and he pulled his hips back. His softening shaft popped free from Twilight's grinning jaw, and the relieved wheeze of air entering her abused esophagus made his heart jump in relief.
Suddenly the cool tingle of the dewy blades of grass around the anthem felt cloying and warm. Whether by their sweat or their seed, both ponies knew they’d have to move to stay comfortable in their afterglow. Twilight rolled first so that she was on her back, Star soon bracing his front legs up to gaze down her wonderfully taut barrel.
“Goodness, Twilight…” breathed Star at long last, his chest heaving as he stared longingly into her glassy eyes. “I need…”
“Don’t worry, I need it too.”
Star’s breath stiffened for his next words. He had an idea of what ‘it’ could be, coming from Twilight’s lips - besides the globs of cum still dotting it - but he wasn’t sure if he could stand and deliver. And if Twilight was that insatiable… “ What is it, Twi?”
“Need you…” Twilight breathed, her mouth cracking into a grin that was both captivating and intimidating. “Inside me. “
And bang went the Sonic Rainboom. “W-wait, now?” stammered Star, his breathing picking up.
“Yes.” A flash of her horn later, and several stars above moved in their orbit, suddenly turning into a spotlight for the prone, perverted princess. “Now.”
For a minute, Star gaped at the sight that Twilight had made in the sky. Luna-assisted or no, doing such a thing seconds after a supposedly mind-shattering orgasm? It was shocking. Not to mention incredibly arousing.
In fact, as Twilight teasingly spread her hind legs and showed off her thoroughly ravished folds to Star, He could feel blood rush to his cock once more. The moonlight itself seemed to awaken his optimal urges by instinct, and the unroyal way Twilight was undulating on it dredged out his filthiest fantasies to boot.
“Maybe you tant to finish it like this, Star?” she cood, violet forehooves wrapping around back to further spread her legs and expose her engorged clit. “I saw this one during my time studying computers in Equestria High - maybe you can make those studies come alive?”
How did something so nerdy sound so needy? Star didn’t know, but his member twitched up another inch in length regardless. Slowly, he brought himself up on shaking knees, his hoof firmly wrapping over his rock-hard-ramrod, and nodded.
How could Star forget? It was the original silhouette of the book, before its re-rendering in more modern, chaste times. It was the pose the mare took in the first conception of equine history itself! And all this pose missed, with Twilight's batting eyelashes, and inviting curse, was the stallion atop of her. Mounting and moulding his body to her own, as they swayed and bucked in the plains of Old Equestria.
“If that’s what you wish, Twilight,” Star breathed.
Twilight nodded fervently, the dewy grass tickling her muzzle. “I-I command you to,” she insisted in her nerdy, nerve--thrilling princessy voice. “Fuck me full of your foals, Star. Please, I’ve wanted to do this with you for so lo-oooh!”
Twilight was barely prepared for Star’s lunge onto her, or his tongue and hooves stroking playfully at her spread wings, pilot feathers quivering hard as he presented them for his loving ministrations. Between those twitching wings, his newly re-hardened cock was brought into a slow grind along her back, trapping her twitching tail between them. Twilight was soon a puddle of love-drunken goo in his grip, cooing and crooning wantonly as he frotted against her back.
Slowly but surely, shallowly thrusting over Twilight’s tailbone lost its luster for Star, and that traditional position was accomplished. Star scooched up to Twilight’s rear, and after Twilight gave him a light peck on the cheek, moved one of his hooves to his shaft again. Still dripping with Twilight’s saliva and his own cum, it was foal’s play for him to part Twilight’s drenched pussy with his blunt head, making both ponies shudder sensually.
Twilight, having long imagined the feel of that cock spreading her petals, had her fantasies blown out of the water in an instant. He was barely an inch in and molten lust was already rockuign up her spine. She growled, throaty and trilling, her hips popping up to try and take in more. But Star was patient despite how prepared his mate was, and Twilight’s move only got her an inch more of his succulent length wedged in her.
This was far from enough. She needed him rutting her, driving her through this grassbed, blowing her mind like she’d blown his cock.
Again her horn sparked up, and soon a guttural moan slipped form Star’s mouth as he was sorcerously sheathed in Twilight in one swift push. The mouthwatering squelches of her pussy’s squirting around him,, into the dampening dirt, made his ears prickle with want.
“Oh, Twilight…” he whispered, the hot exhaust blown over Twilight’s ear making a rictus grin spread upon her face.
“It’s fine,” she assured him. “Now make me yours.”
With those four words, Star was hooked. No half-bouts of delirium for him now, the electric feel of his shaft in her soaked confies was too much for him to think of anything but fucking her silly. Her hips swirled around him as he pulled out, making him curse and hiss into her violet mane. The second it was almost out - and Twilight’s teeth were bared in anticipation. Star finally plunged forward again.
This time, he felt that spongy pack of nerves his tip brushed over. Immediately after, Twilight howled bestially into Star’s mouth, her back arching and wings straining in their sockets as she writhed in fitful, gorgeous release. Stars burst and danced before her eyes and her tongue punched its way into Star’s mouth, making their kiss sloppier and rougher. Star finally obliged his mate’s desperation with roughness of his own, one of his hooves smacking home into her jiggling flanks to steady himself as he continued to pound her tight body hard.
Of course, the sultry mewl Twilight shot down his throat was a nice reward for the smack too.
Enough to make him do it again, and again, the starburst marks his hoof clapped over making her ass do the same as she met him thrust for thrust. Their lips broke in a spray of saliva, making the grass beneath them glitter even further. Little by little, they were getting lost in each other, the soft plaps of fur meeting fur picking up in speed and sound as their pleasure grew.
Starlight’s hooves soon braced themselves in the grass to either side of twilight as he changed his angle of attack. Pushing in closer against Twilight’s rolling rump, his cock-pistonings changed angle in kind, almost vertically driving into Twilight’s drooling slit. And Twilight took every one of his poundings like a champion as well, the muscles in her legs tensing and standing out as she moaned shamelessly.
The new angle also allowed Star to strike right at Twilight's G-spot as well, and the added friction on that packet of nerves caused an absolutely majestic miracle to occur, as their horns ignited in tandem, the glow between them suddenly changed to a synchronized flicker that mixed their magical colors. Suddenly, both of them felt like they were taking and giving, their bodies quaking from the force of their brilliant bond.
For Twilight, it was almost too much. Not only could she feel every glorious inch of Star’s stallionhood as it slid through her snatch perfectly, her heart thrummed with the force those throses are clearly taking out of Star as well. Not only was the feel of his body molded to hers setting her mind alight, but the trickling thoughts of all the other positions he wanted to fuck her in were making her senses go into overload as well. She was drooling, wailing, begging for Star to screw her, to claim her, to make her-
“C-cumming, so hot-oh, YES, YES~!”
And Twilight finally did, her release falling on her like a meteor shower. Over and over, her flower pushed open for Star, still madly thrusting into her, as her honeyed fucksap burst from her. Soon Star’s thighs were covered in strings of her rich cum.
Yet, if anything, he sped up in the face of her release, and it just made Twilight melt as she came again. Wondering when his break was going to come. Her twat was squeezing him for all he was worth, milking him mercilessly as she squirted and squirmed underneath him.
She soon saw it as a challenge, in whatever corners of her mind were benign baked by bliss. She wanted to make him cum, like he had made her three- “Oh S-STAR, please-FUCK, oh fuckfuckfuck-” - make that four times over. The two of them had done so much for each other, been there so much for each other, and it was the least she deserved.
Especially with those two globes full of his wet gift for her slapping up at her every time their hips meet.
She needed that seed in her, bulging her mercilessly, now .
And with one final Star thrust, that gift comes calling home. Pulsing and deep within her, Star’s cock bursts its load into her waiting womb, torrents of cum packing her solid within seconds. Again their lips soon meet in a sloppy kiss, and her hips twitch in tune with her mouth as she takes in more of his sticky cum. And around that spasming shaft, that satisfied purring, Twilight cums for a fifth straight time with him in her. Her eyes rolled up into her skull as she gurgled her joy into Star’s needy mouth.
It feels like next year when that torrent of cum stops seeping out from in between their tangled hindlegs. Eventually, Twilight and Star slump to their side, only barely aware of their surroundings in the wake of their shared afterglow. Star’s still buried in her, but his softening length turns that penetration from an all-consuming sensory blitz for Twilight into a comforting, warm, intimate bulge.
Well, besides the three-course of cum stretching out her lower abdomen, of course.
“Nnh...Twilight...my Twilight...I love you so much…” Star moaned, utterly content, as the two lovers cradled each other in their hooves. That divine moment felt like magic in the starlight, a glorious nirvana that the two of them would surely look back on for years to come.
“Happy...mmh ...fifth anniversary, Star. I love you too…” Twilight whimpered. Gazing up at the shimmering starfield above them, her heart swelled in thanks for Luna’s tireless and overflowing creativity.
Her years with Shooting Star had reached a turning point tonight - one that neither pony was sure they’d be ready for, but together ...the two of them felt anything was possible.
Some months later...
The hustle and bustle of the doctors and nurses in the nearby hallway served as barely-audible background noise to the agonizing, nerve-wracking wait that Twilight experienced as she waited in the examination room, Shooting Star sitting calmly on the exam bed as Twilight paced a groove in the floor in front of him. Her belly had a noticeable paunch to it as she walked, though this was likely something far more significant than the after-effects of a hayburger binge.
Particularly given that she'd been experiencing periodic bouts of inexplicable nausea and food cravings in the months since her first...consummation with Shooting Star. It could only mean one thing.
Twilight, being the intelligent-yet-inexperienced and overworked Princess of Books that she was, felt more nervous than any of the times she'd been called to Canterlot by Princess Celestia on urgent business. Saving the world was one thing - bringing new life into it was another matter entirely, one that was far more imposing given that there was no obvious solution - no blasting of bad guys with giant friendship lasers, no impassioned speeches in an attempt to make the bad guys see reason, and certainly no time-traveling madmares!
"Twilight, please calm down! I'm sure the foal - our foal! - is perfectly fine and healthy..." Star said, the picture of calm placidity despite his mate's state of sheer distress. He knew better than to attempt to stop one of her nervous rampages with force by now - the last time he'd tried to do so, she'd nearly blasted him full in the face with wild, undirected alicorn might in her shocked surprise.
"B-but that's just it, Star? What if they're not ? What if my alicorn magic has done something crazy to the baby and she's just one step away from needing magical intervention to keep her alive? What then ?!" Twilight exclaimed, utterly lost to hysterics by this point.
Star opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off as the door swung open. The familiar soft pink mane and stark white coat of Nurse Redheart greeted the two of them as she trotted inside and hurriedly closed the door behind her, throwing her clipboard onto the bed as she rushed to Twilight's panicked side and put a forehoof across her back.
"Princess Twilight? I need you to breathe , alright? Can I get you to do that for me, Your Majesty?" Redheart instructed with the calm, firm authority of a pony who had had many years to perfect the art of calming panicked ponies. Star supposed that when one lived in a town as insane as Ponyville, such a skill would likely come in handy a lot...
"Breathe in." Gaaaaasp. "Annnd out." Fwaaah...
"In. And out. In...and out." After a few more cycles of the exercise, the rampaging ball of nerves that was Twilight Sparkle had finally calmed down to a reasonable level.
"There we go...feeling better, Princess Twilight?" Redheart said, smiling beatifically as she kept a respectful distance away from the panicked princess.
"J-just Twilight is fine, I think we're way past the point of royal propriety right now. Thank you so much, Redheart." Twilight replied warmly as she swept the pale nursemare into a hug.
"Of course! It's perfectly natural to be nervous, Twilight. Every new parent has a right to be frazzled when that glorious moment of discovery comes flying up in their face like an out-of-control pegasus deliverymare." The two of them shared a giggle at that. "Would you like me to perform a magical ultrasound? If the... conception was as many months ago as you say, then we should be able to see the developing foal quite easily."
"Ohhh...gosh." Feeling somewhat overwhelmed as she mentally prepared herself for yet another life-changing surprise that day, Twilight wordlessly nodded her assent.
"Come over here and lay down for me, if you'd please. I'll retrieve the machine...and I'll keep it under a cover so the papers don't get any funny ideas from seeing you and one of those machines going into the same room, hmm ?"
Oh Tartarus, the press ! In her haste to make it to the hospital, she hadn't even considered how the writers and photographers for those tabloid gutter-rags might react upon seeing her making haste to a hospital, swollen stomach and all. "You're the best, Redheart." Twilight answered warmly as she laid across the exam table, Shooting Star now standing upright near her.
"I try, dear." The nursemare responded coolly. "Now, shall we...have a look at what's going on in there, hmm?" She added, glancing meaningfully at Twilight's midsection as the Princess nervously traced her hoof along her belly.
As Redheart ran the focus of the ultrasound machine over Twilight's swollen tummy, tangible shapes began to appear on the monitor. The shape of one soft, stubby horn was visible...and beside it, another?!"
"Congratulations, Princess Twilight. It's a filly and a colt!" Redheart exclaimed excitedly as the ultrasound images became clearer.
Surreptitiously, both parents-to-be stared blankly at each other...before fainting on the spot.
"Everypony...the years I've spent with you girls have been the best thing that's ever happened to me, which is why I've called all of you here today." Taking Shooting Star's hoof into hers as they gripped each other tightly for support, Twilight glanced across the table at the rest of the girls as she nervously inhaled, shuddering in anticipation. "I'm pregnant! With a filly and a colt!"
Slack-jawed silence followed her, as the girls took a moment to process the gravity of what she'd said.
"BABY SHOWER TIME~! " Pinkie shouted, disappearing from her seat in a blur of pink excitement.
"Well, shoot! Congratulations, Twahlight! Reckon ah can't wait to see 'em!" Applejack congratulated proudly, tipping her hat forwards with respect.
"I'm going to spoil them rotten , darling~! You'd best be prepared!" Rarity purred deviously, rubbing her chin with her hoof. "I knew setting up the two of you together was a wonderful idea, dear!"
"Oh, that's wonderful , Twilight!" Fluttershy exclaimed, beaming a radiant smile as she clopped her hooves excitedly.
"Awesome! " Rainbow Dash shouted, bolting up out of her seat to excitedly fly laps in the air around the map table. "You'd better hope those foals are alicorns like you, Twilight, cuz I am totally gonna make them the best fliers ever if they are! Aww yeah !"
"U-umm...wow, congrats, Twilight!" Spike said unsurely, a bit nervous of what the addition of new members of Twilight's family might mean for their own dynamic. As if sensing his concerns, she flashed him a beatific, reassuring smile.
"I'm getting a baby sister AND a baby brother?! " Scootaloo shrieked, becoming a bouncing ball of pure energetic excitement almost as quickly as Pinkie had. She tackled Twilight with a leaping hug as she nuzzled against her new mother's fluffy chest, overcome with jubilation at the news.
Twilight giggled as she ran a hoof through Scootaloo's mane, smiling softly as she nodded in confirmation. "That's right, Scoots. And I can't wait to see what they look like..."
*Knock, knock, knock*
"Okay, hokay , gotta breathe, gotta breathe..." Star muttered to himself, before a good-natured ribbing in the side from Twilight halted his worried behavior.
"They're gonna love you, Star. Trust me." Twilight said reassuringly; moments after she finished her sentence, the lock on her childhood home clicked open, and the glow of Twilight Velvet's magic swung it open in front of them.
"Twilight! Oh, what a surprise, dear! It's been too long! Come in, come in, tell me everything my little darling has been up to!" Velvet exclaimed cheerfully, before turning around to holler into the home, "Nightyyy~! We have some more guests tonight, dear! Get out the good table settings!"
Twilight and Star shared an aside glance at that. "More guests?" Twilight parroted, tilting her head in confusion as her mother led them to the sitting room. It didn't take long for her question to be answered - a surprised gasp left her lips as Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart were already sitting on the couch to greet them! "Cadance? Shiny? What are you three doing here?!" She asked, eyes wide as Shooting Star felt his confidence begin to waver.
'Not just her dad, but her brother too? I am sooo dead...' Star thought to himself, resigned to his fate.
"Aww, what's up, a colt can't bring his wife and daughter along for a family visit anymore? It's good to see you, Twily." Shining greeted warmly, bouncing Flurry in his forehooves as she burbled out joyous, infantile squeals of delight.
"It's good to see you too, B.B.B.F.F." She answered back, before addressing Cadance next to him, "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake..." She began, and grinned as Cadance leaped up from her seat and hastily mirrored Twilight's ridiculous-looking little dance.
"Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" The Crystal Princess of Love finished the verse, laughing gleefully as she hugged Twilight. "I had, well, let's just call it a feeling , that I needed to be here today~" She said slyly, locking eyes with Shooting Star - who blushed scarlet beneath the interrogating, knowing gaze she gave him.
"Twilight!" A masculine voice called out, as the Princess of Friendship was suddenly swept up in a hug. The blue coat and mane of the stallion identified him as Twilight's father, a stallion she'd seen numerous pictures of in Twilight's photo albums. "It's wonderful to have you here today, pumpkin!"
"Love you, dad." Twilight said warmly, patting him on his crest as they separated.
With joyous greetings out of the way, all eyes turned to the unfamiliar stallion in the room - Shooting Star. "And who might you be, my good stallion?" Night Light asked cordially, his eyebrow arcing in interest.
"S-Shooting Star, sir. I'm...your daughter's coltfriend." He finished, grimacing as he expected the worst.
The older stallion's narrowing eyes seemed to confirm his worst fears as the reaction caused Star to shiver on the spot, though his fear quickly gave way to confusion as Night Light laughed boisterously and patted him on the back with one hoof. "And here I was worried she'd be too preoccupied with books to ever get a special somepony! Hah!"
From the sidelines, her mother tittered behind her forehoof. "Big words for somepony who just lost a bet , dear."
Twilight sputtered, as Star's confused expression only intensified. "Y-you two were betting on whether I'd ever get a coltfriend?!"
Cadence and Shining both joined in on the laughter after Twilight's exclamation, no longer able to hold back their amusement. "They weren't the only ones, Twily." Shining added teasingly, bouncing Flurry in his forehooves as she giggled and burbled happily, oblivious to the conversation.
"Though I never ruled out mares from the equation, either, I'll have you know! You and Rainbow Dash would be pretty cute together...or maybe Moondancer..." Cadance added, trailing off as she mused to herself. Twilight's blush - from anger or from embarrassment, she wasn't sure - intensified further.
"I-I don't...bwuh ..." TwiOS appeared to be in the middle of rebooting, completely unable to comprehend what her family had been doing behind her back.
Night Light guided the two of them to their seats, both of them still in a daze from the odd nonchalance of the family's reaction. As two full teacups were floated into their hooves in Velvet's aura, Twilight and Star both took long, wide-eyed drinks that nearly emptied them in a single draught.
"So...when's the wedding?" Cadance added with a sly grin. Both ponies spluttered mid-drink, nearly inhaling their tea from the suddenness of the question.
"Umm, w-well, I'm pregnant, so pretty soon!" Twilight exclaimed, no longer thinking properly as the words slipped out in her rebuttal.
"WHAT?! "
'Oh, that's what finally surprises them?' Twilight thought cynically, cringing in apology at the surrounding ponies as they stared at her with wide eyes and slack jaws.
Next to her, Star had long since put his face in his hooves from the absurdly rapid escalation of the situation, and asked tiredly, "Okay, seriously do none of the ponies in your family have any tact?"
4 - From the Past, Look to the Future
"We are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her beloved consort, Shooting Star."
The glorious day had finally arrived.
Amidst the whirlwind of celebrations that followed after her pregnancy and wedding announcement, neither Twilight nor Star had had the time to let it sink in that this moment was really happening — that the two of them were about to devote their life, love, and soul to one another. But there, standing before the adoring crowd of friends, family, reporters, and nobility...it finally hit both of them, and they couldn't have been more overjoyed at that fact.
"By the power vested in me as the Princess of Love, and as a Princess of Equestria, I now pronounce you...mare and stallion!" Cadance exclaimed with a jubilant flourish of her hoof, a wide grin spreading across her face as the two lovers' lips met before her. It was an image for the ages; defying their differing social strata, it was a chaste and picturesque kiss that overflowed with an aura of love so blindingly bright that it made Cadance shudder from head to hoof — proving, once and for all, the depth and intensity of their love.
It was a sight that brought Cadance back to memories of her own wedding to Twilight's brother — the happier parts, anyway. The resemblance did have her wondering, if only momentarily, whether a changeling queen might be about to barge into the room and assault them, but thankfully nothing of the sort had happened. "Yet," she finished mentally.
The uproarious cheers of the crowd were nearly deafening in the packed throne room, echoing off the grand architecture in a cacophony of noise.
Reactions ranged from jubilation to uncontrollable sobbing, and everything in between — Rarity and Fluttershy had joined in on the uncontrollable sobbing of Twilight's parents and brother, while Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Scootaloo were eagerly contributing to the crowd's deafening cheers. Applejack, maintaining calm neutrality, locked eyes with Twilight as the princess's eyes scanned the crowd, giving her a friendly tip of the hat before shooting Star a threatening "I'm watching you" glare.
Seated front row in the crowd, the Royal Sisters were having their own little discussion amidst the raucous celebration.
"You see, sister? Things can turn out fine without you having to meddle endlessly in them~!" Luna teased, elbowing her older sister in the ribs.
"Who says I didn't?" Celestia shot back with a wink, enjoying the blushing face and puffed-out cheeks of her younger sister in response.
"Celly..." Luna trailed off with a threatening tone...though it quickly lost its luster as Celestia broke out into a fit of giggles, waving her off.
"Oh, really though, I didn't have to poke or prod either of them! I'm honestly quite proud of Twilight for going out and bagging a stallion of her own! Faust knows I could use some companionship..." Celestia trailed off, frowning slightly as she lost herself in thought.
"Verily, although I fear our stations prevent us from such indulgences without scandalizing the populace's deific image of us..." Luna pointed out mindfully.
Celestia scoffed, rolling her eyes. "As if I needed a reminder, Lulu..."
Chortling to herself, Luna leaned into Celestia's ear, covering her mouth with a hoof to discourage eavesdroppers. "Although, there's always the young, handsome guardstallions. Mmh, the things I'd like to do to some of those young Night Guard recruits...rrrow~ "
Barely able to keep from making a scene, the solar princess flinched as if struck, utterly scandalized as she replied in a harsh whisper, "Wha—bu—Lulu! You can't just say things like—I can't just do things like..." Luna's restrained snickering caused the solar diarch to trail off, expression flattening. "And...you're messing with me again, aren't you..."
It was all Luna could do not to bust a gut laughing at her older sister's expense, but she (barely) managed to keep from embarrassing herself in the midst of her fellow princess's wedding. "Ohh...stars, sister, but you are so terribly easy to tease..."
As the two sisters busied themselves with teasing each other to no end, Twilight and Star began their triumphant procession down the aisle, walking slowly aside one another and basking in the celebration of their union.
"This day has been just perfect !" Twilight squealed, leaping giddily on her hooves as she crossed through the ballroom's doorway into the castle foyer. It was a loss of composure entirely unbecoming of a princess — yet Star found it utterly adorable nonetheless.
"And that, my dear Dusk and Dawn, is how I met your father." Twilight finished warmly, running a hoof through the young ponies' manes as she continued talking to them in their sleep. She wasn't quite sure why she'd gone on for so long after they'd fallen asleep, but going over the events of her relationship with Star in her head had helped her realize just how much things had changed since she'd met him — and, as she gazed at the solemn, slumbering faces of her two young foals, how much change was still yet to come for the five of them.
"Momma...what're you doing?" Came the confused whisper of an adolescent Scootaloo, peeking her head through the door to the twins' room with a furrowed brow. "Didn't they fall asleep a while ago? Why are you talking to yourself in the middle of the night?"
"I could ask why you're up and about at such an hour too, young mare," Twilight replied stiffly, gently getting up off of the bed as she followed Scoots out of the room to let the twins rest undisturbed.
"I had to pee...and because of that, it was kinda hard not to notice you while I was up. These hallways echo a lot , y'know?" To demonstrate her point, Scootaloo's next hoof step landed firmly on the crystalline floor, echoing like a cannon-shot down the torchlit corridor. The atmosphere would've been a lot more unsettling, if it weren't for Twilight's castle being the most heavily-warded place in the entire country.
Twilight nodded thoughtfully, as much to herself as to Scootaloo, her thoughts still caught up in the past. "I...yes, I suppose that's fair...I'm sorry for keeping you up, Scoots." She conceded, ruffling her adopted daughter's mane as they came to a stop outside Scootaloo's room.
"It's not a big deal, mom. Just...try not to tell any more bedtime stories that turn into self-reflective monologues, alright?" Scoots asked, chuckling to herself.
Blushing in embarrassment, she shooed her daughter into her room with an insistent hoof, allowing herself a bit of laughter at her own expense. "Haha...no promises there, Scoots," she conceded, pecking the adolescent mare on the forehead and bidding her goodnight as she headed back to her bedroom, tiredness setting in as she realized how late it had gotten. Goodness, and she had another court session in the morning...
Shooting Star lay on the far side of the bed, tucked beneath the warm, downy covers as his soft exhalations made her heart flutter from sheer cuteness. Using her magic, Twilight quietly laid down in bed next to him, slipping beneath covers already warmed by his body heat as she snuggled into his back, spooning him with her larger alicorn frame.
It wasn't too long ago that she'd been the little spoon whenever they slept together, but like many things, times had changed...briefly, she allowed herself to wonder how much bigger she might be than him in a few years' time, but such thoughts brought with them the greatest curse of alicorn life — thoughts that were best left alone, to say the least. Better to enjoy what she had now, as fully and deeply as possible, than to dwell in the future. She had a certain experience with time travel to thank for that lesson...
Exhaling to herself, Twilight felt her thoughts begin to grow hazy as she stared into the hypnotic flicker of the bedside oil lamp...slipping off quietly into slumber, a Sparkle in the night.
