"Hey Sunshine, how is your day going?" He greeted one of the castle's maids, the heavy marble doors closing behind him, with a grunt from both guardsmares as they strained to close them.

"Very well, my Prince. Thankfully, your rambunctious children have managed to not cause as many messes today as I'd expected," she answered respectfully with a bow.

He sighed and smiled, "I'm working on it with them. But they're kids. It happens."

"Of course. It is no trouble, sire," she assured.

"Maybe so, but I will not have my children grow and rule a kingdom without learning some courtesy towards others," he glanced at the clock, seeing that it had struck 4, "Why don't you head home for the day? I can take the children off of your hands. Your shift should be ending soon anyway, yes?"

"Thank you sire. I'll take my leave," she bowed and left through a hallway towards the maid's quarters.

The corner of his mouth dipped ever so slightly. He still hadn't fully gotten used to being treated like royalty, since he technically was now. Something about it rubbed him the wrong way, like he was saying he was better than everyone.

Whatever. It is what it is. He had more important things to attend to. Or in this case, more important children to attend to.

His trip to the castle's recently created nursery wasn't long and he knew it by heart now. The long, torchlit corridors passed him by quick and he was soon face to face with his darling two children.

He found his 11 year old boy, Peter, quietly reading a book about the Pillars in his favorite chair and it seemed he was quite sucked into it, as he hardly acknowledged James' entrance. Ever the reader, he is. He takes after his mother and his mentor, Twilight Sparkle.His light blue hair, which James had to admit was shocking to see when his son came out of the womb, danced in a non-existent wind, much like his mother's and a signifier of his incredible magical prowess, having been able to learn the spell on a basic level quickly. Luna was over the moon when she heard that her human son had taken to magic as much as he did, and he was certainly taking his lessons with his mother to heart. He watched as Peter raised his hand, his sky blue aura grasping the paper, and turned the page, getting lost in the book once more.

His 7 year old filly, Sonata, on the other hand, was stretching her wings, flying around near the ceiling and quite literally bouncing off the walls, emitting a saccharine, childish laughter. He spied the nurse gazing up at her anxiously, anticipating that any second now she would get hurt and come crashing down. Luna had told him that she and Celestia had been eager fliers when they were young, but this filly seemed like she was on crack and caffeine all the time. She spotted him as she banked around the light fixture and beamed at him.

"Daddy Daddy! Will you play trains with me?" the deep white filly rocketed down from her flight, James just barely throwing his arms out to catch her and dodging her little horn from scratching his face. He saw the nurse breathe a sigh of relief.

"UMMPH," he grunted as he adjusted to the new weight in his arms, "Honey, what have your mother and I told you about landing on us?"

She frowned under her father's gaze, but grumbled out a, "Sorry Daddy."

He kissed her forehead and gave her a big bear hug, making her squeal in delight, "It's okay, but please don't do it anymore."

He held his daughter and looked over to his son, who had at least looked up from his book, "Hello Father," he spoke mildly.

Peter's piercing sapphire eyes, so similar to his mother's, gazed up at him with a quiet, subtle admiration and respect, "How was school, son? Did you have a good day?"

"Yeah, it was fine. Charcoal got dared to put a bit up his nose and then cough it out today," he smiled, that tiny bit of immature boyish youth showing on his cheeks, laughing at the memory.

James both smirked and creased his eyebrows disbelievingly, "Ironwood's colt? And why would he do that?"

"Well, we said we'd buy him another piece of pizza with the bit if he actually did it, so he did it," he giggled, putting his book down on his little table.

"He actually coughed it out?" he looked down at his son with a shocked and incredulous frown, a small feeling of pride for the colt in question, "I'm both impressed and concerned. Don't do that anymore, kiddo. He could have seriously hurt himself if that coin got caught anywhere inside his nose."

His son gave a non-committal grunt, pretending in that childish way to have not heard his father's admonishment. Not wanting to push the issue, he turned to the twitching ball of energy in his hands, otherwise known as his daughter, "Now, what's this about playing trains? Did your new connector tracks come in?"

"Oh they're so wonderful, Daddy!" she shot into a giggly rant on how new and exciting her wooden connector tracks were.

The smile he had as he listened to his daughter babble and excitedly ramble about her wooden train tracks and toy trains could not have been wiped from his face even if the burliest earth pony headbutted him and dragged him through a rock field. Peter had dismissed himself quietly and gone back to his book in his chair, his sister more than eager to take up their father's time with animated gestures and more than a few gasps for breath in-between.

Finally, he and his daughter set to work constructing the tracks for which they would play trains, fitting each piece where his daughter wanted to put it. Soon, they had an impressive track and Sonata laughingly grasped her toys, guiding them down the track and making cute little "NEEROW" sounds, her father matching her with equally exaggerated sounds as he played with his own trains.

Gosh, she was so much like her mother.

"Goodness, sweetheart, this is a mighty fine track you built with me. Maybe we should call the Department of Transport and tell them we got a new tracklayer for hire," that comment caused an idea to pop in his head, "Say, this summer, why don't we go down to the trainyard and ride around on a few of them, Sonata? Maybe we can go to Ponyville. Would you like to do that with me sometime?"

"REALLY?" his daughter, in her characteristic innocent enthusiasm, smiled up at him with that cute smile with that missing front tooth.

"Sure, I'd love to," he gave his daughter a one armed hug and kissed her cheek. Having received his answer, the two set back to their play for another hour.

RIIIIING

The dinner bell let out its whine, the three occupants of the room looking up from their activities.

"Yay! It's dinnertime!" Sonata enthusiastically yelled, scrambling up from her trains and running towards the door.

"Great, I'm starving," Peter muttered, marking his place in his book and setting it on his table. He got out of his chair and frowned, "Maybe Mom will actually be there for once."

James didn't acknowledge it externally, but he couldn't help but notice the disappointment and frustration laced into that last comment from his son. For the sake of keeping the peace, he ignored it and ushered his children to the dining hall.

"Hi Auntie Celestia!" Sonata rushed out of her father's grasp to give her aunt a big hug, which the motherly alicorn returned wholeheartedly.

"Good evening, Sonata. My, it was only yesterday I saw you, yet you've grown so much!" she grinned at the young alicorn filly, picking her up and holding Sonata on her left arm. As Celestia turned around, the door from the great hall swung open to reveal Luna, clad in her royal garb and wearing an exhausted, done-with-your-shit frown on her face. The frown was wiped from her mouth as she saw her family, a big smile replacing it.

"Mommy! Mommy! Hi!" she waved eagerly to her mother.

"Hello my sweet night song," she nuzzled her daughter and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, turning to look down at her son, "Good evening, Peter."

"Mother," he smiled up at her, giving her a quick hug and scurrying to his seat, the others following in his example.

Celestia let Sonata down and beckoned her to her place, the filly electing to sit by her mother and Peter choosing to sit next to his father.

"Man, I don't know about y'all, but I'm starvin'. What's on the docket for tonight, Clover?" James gestured to the castle's cook.

"Ah, today we've cooked Master Peter's favorite dish, steak and mashed potates, as requested, for his excellent performance on his magical exam. The staff and I are very proud of you, young Prince," he gave the boy a ruffle of his hair, eliciting a chuckle and a swat from Peter.

"As are your mother and I, right dear?" he motioned for Luna to get involved in the conversation.

"Hmm? Oh! I'm sorry!" she had been absentmindedly staring off into space, "Yes, what your father said is right, my son. I'm very proud of you acing your exams! You've been excelling in our lessons and I couldn't be more ecstatic that you've been doing well."

James could tell Peter took offense to his mother's inattention at first, but he hid it well, "Thank you mom."

The servers began to lay out the food on the massive oak table, Luna and Celestia opting for an extra helping of mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Soon, the sounds of fine silverware hitting porcelain and glass plates were all that was heard in the room.

"So, I guess the border disputes are going unresolved, I presume?" James chimed in, a mouthful of a medium rare steak still being chewed.

Luna and Celestia let out a tired groan, "Goddesses, the Gryphons just won't let up! They still insist that the plot of land that their farmers built on is theirs! It's clearly within our borders and those stubborn hens just won't concede to us that they were wrong," Celestia complained.

"Look, I know this probably sounds stupid to you guys, considering I've nowhere near the experience you have with ruling, but why not just give them the land? It's just one farm," James naively suggested.

"It's not about the land, sweetheart, but it is about the principle of what they're doing," his wife replied.

He grunted in understanding and left it at that. Celestia turned to Peter, who had been quiet up to this point, "How were your studies today, Peter?"

"It was good. I had a problem with the transitory connector for an illusion spell that I was hoping you could help me with later. It was really hard to get down," he prattled.

"I certainly can. If you want, we can do it after dinner," Celestia smiled at him, 'biting' into a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

"Well, actually, I was hoping we could play some catch later, Dad. Could we?" he looked expectantly up at his father.

"Sure, we can," James replied, "We can throw the ball till your aunt lowers the sun."

"Thank you, Dad."

"Ground ball," James tossed a grounder to his son, Peter fielding it with the technique James had Peter practice. A couple seconds later, the ball snapped back into his leather glove as he received the throw, "And he's out."

"You're getting real good son. You thinking about joining the baseball team?" he smiled at his son, throwing the ball back to him, "Be just like your old man. Heck, with how you're growing, I'd reckon you'd be a great first baseman."

"Maybe," Peter shrugged, "I don't know if Mom would like it. She'd probably say it'd distract me from magic. Besides, I don't even know how to hit well."

James snorted, "Nonsense. I'm sure your mother would be ecstatic if you tried out for sports, especially for baseball, given our family's history with it."

"Hmm," Peter grunted, uncertain, "I just don't know."

"You'll never know unless you try."

"If you say so, Dad."

The two continued on in silence for several more minutes, throwing the baseball back and forth, with James throwing in a few grounders and pop-ups for Peter to practice fielding. The cool April air rustled the trees of the castle garden, blowing some of the flower petals off of it and on to their grassy field. Dusk started to settle in.

"Son," James broke the silence, "I know you can get a little upset that your mom flakes out on a lot of... events, I guess, with you. I imagine you feel like she doesn't want to spend much time with you, yes?"

His son said nothing, but his eyes betrayed that James' assumption was correct. His glove snapped as Peter caught the ball.

"It's okay to feel that way and I know you're upset. Sometimes I wish Mom would spend a little more time with me too, but she has to run a kingdom. That's just the cards she was dealt in life and she has to play with them. Don't push your mom away just because you can't see her often. I know she wants nothing more than to be involved in your life 24/7 the way I can be," James sighed sadly, "Someday, son, the only people you'll have left from your family are your mom and your sister. Cherish them and hold them close. Cut your mom a little slack, and I know she'll be there for you when it counts."

Peter sighed, "Alright, Dad."

It was starting to become too dark to play anymore, so the two of them began to head towards the door, the castle guardsmares watching over them following behind.

"C'mon, let's get to bed now," he smiled down at his son and ruffled his waving hair, "Thanks for playing with me. It's fun throwing the ball with you."

"Anytime, son," he mocked his father's accent and chuckled, earning him a raspberry from his father and a light, playful shove.

He did enjoy these moments with his boy.

The children had been put to bed and the increasingly enticing draw of sleep clawed at James soon enough. He had forgone his work clothes, pressing the wrinkles from them and neatly hanging them in his closet, and all but threw himself into his boxers and T-Shirt. He raised the covers and all but flopped into bed.

"God, these kids of ours, sweetpea. They suck the energy out of this man," he remarked to his wife who marked her place in her book and set it down on her nightstand.

"Well, that definitely is your fault. I'm sure it's those human genes that make our children the way they are," she smirked.

He smiled playfully down at her before wrapping his arm around her, "I'd like to know your standard of research for that specified hypothesis, Luna."

"I'm the Princess. What I say is always 100% true."

"Whatever happened to not abusing your power?"

"That can be discarded when it befits me. And winning battles of wit with my husband is definitely a time when my power is absolute."

"Tyrant," he stuck his tongue out.

"Ape," she shot back.

He chuckled, giving her a kiss on her head, "Thank you for the help with that nightmare yesterday."

"Think nothing of it, my dear," she reached to switch the light off on her lamp, "Good night."

"Good night, Luna," he laid his head down on his pillow, closing his eyes.

All things considered, he had a pretty good life. A wonderful job teaching at the university, breakthrough research in applied chemistry and magic, two beautiful children, and a lovely wife. He was loved by the citizens of Equestria, respected, had an important and useful job, and couldn't be more happy that he was dumped in this land. If during the war, he had been told that he would have had all of this and that his life would have taken such a drastic turn, he would have laughed in their faces.

Truly, James was hap-

He felt his wife's muzzle press against his neck and her hand fumble around his boxers for his penis.

In response, he reached his hand back and rubbed a few fingers gently around her marehood. He felt her smile into his neck.

Well, looks like sleep would have to wait.

Not that he cared.

THE END

Author's Note

That's a wrap folks!

If you want an purely happy ending, then the story ends here for you.

Thank you everyone for reading this story! I greatly enjoyed writing for you all over the past year and a half and I'm glad I was able to entertain so many people.

I will be releasing another epilogue later, more of a continuation from this epilogue. I couldn't entirely decide whether or not I wanted to have a sweet or bittersweet ending for this story, so I guess I'll write them both. It involves what happens to James later in life, the impact he will have on the world of Equestria, and the war. If you're interested in that and don't mind a bittersweet ending, then read on. Otherwise, thank you everyone for everything!