Two Weeks Later

"Happy birthday!" A chorus of voices cheered from all around the long dining table.

The two foals, both unable to understand what was going on around them, simply squealed and waved their forelegs in excitement as the positive energy of the room washed over them. Luna held Artemies in her forelegs, while Celestia held Dawn in her wing. Between the two of them, Anon held a cake with two candles on it. As the twins had no idea that they were supposed to blow out the candles, Anon simply held the cake in front of Chrysalis, prompting her to blow the candles out instead.

Another round of applause and cheers ran through the gathered ponies, most of them pausing only to take bites out of their own cake or finish was was left of their dinners. As the merriment and happiness continued down the table, Anon set the cake down and took his seat between his wives.

"Oh, I can't believe they're both already two!" Twilight gushed from her seat on the other side of Celestia, "Who's a cute filly? Who's gonna have the best aunt in the whole wide world?" She baby-talked, booping Dawn's little muzzle with her own.

"Both Dawn and Artemis are going to be lucky to have you as their aunt, Twilight. I don't suppose that means you'll be offering to foalsit them every now and again, does it?" Celestia teased.

"Good luck with that. Artemis can be quite fussy when he wants to be." Luna added, trying to spoon-feed the little alicorn foal in question.

Despite her best efforts, Artemis turned his muzzle up at the food, his little forelegs working overtime to crawl out of her embrace and toward his father.

"I gotcha, bud." Anon chuckled, leaning down and plucking the foal out of Luna's grasp.

"I swear, he likes you more than any of us." Luna rolled her eyes as she relinquished her hold on the small alicorn.

"Eh, it's just cause we dudes get each other. Isn't that right? Who's my little buddy?" Anon replied, booping his nose against Artermis's muzzle, much like Twilight.

A happy squee left the foal, prompting a round of 'aww's from the ponies close enough to see and hear it.

"You know, I never knew just how much love a little foal puts off. At least, not one that's so close to me, personally. I had my suspicions, but these two are going to make me fat with how much they put off." Chrysalis chuckled, leaning over slightly as Dawn reached at her mane.

"Dawn is awfully fond of you. Here, why don't you hold her for a moment." Celestia snickered, levitating Dawn into Chrysalis's waiting forelegs.

Dawn immediately pawed at the strands of blue hair cascading down Chrysalis's neck with her hooves, making both the Changeling Queen, and the solar princess laugh.

"Out of curiosity, when are your eggs due? You all should have about another dozen little rascals running around any day now, right?" Javelin inquired, leaning over from his seat just a couple seats away from Luna.

"They should be hatching in a few week's time, perhaps a month at most. I only laid them a couple of days ago. With how much love is in the air, however, it wouldn't surprise me if they hatched much sooner." Chrysalis replied.

Javelin nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer. Idle conversation quickly took over the table, all the guests happy to enjoy what was left of their food and bask in the mirth filling the atmosphere. Eventually, many of the guests left, leaving the party to only the immediate family members of the royal herd and their close friends.

With all the energy and vigor of youth, it wasn't long before Artemis and Dawn took to playing with each other, prompting Celestia to move the celebration to the small private garden reserved for royalty on the fifth floor of the castle. The last of the guests bid their farewells along the way, leaving the party to just Celestia, Luna, Anon, Chrysalis, Twilight, Javelin, and Raven. They all took their seats on the benches outside while the two foals played a game of tag with each other, supervised by the watchful eyes of their mothers.

"You know, they're getting really good with their wings already. Give it another few months and little Artemis will be flying on his own." Raven commented, noting how the little colt's wings fluttered with every few steps he took.

"I do believe his pegasi instincts are a bit stronger than his unicorn or earth pony instincts. It does make a measure of sense, as I've always loved to fly ever since I ascended and earned my wings. I cannot wait to share the sky with my colt." Luna replied, smiling fondly as she watched her son catch a small bit of air for just a second, before landing on the ground again to rush after his sister.

"Dawn is certainly more in tune with her magic than her wings. She's already casting the most basic of levitation spells. She still has issues controlling it, but I wouldn't be surprised if she rivaled you in just a few more years, Twilight." Celestia teased, nudging her younger alicorn counterpart with her wing.

Twilight laughed, "Well, if you ever need a magic tutor, feel free to call me. Aunt Twilight would love to teach what she knows." She beamed, puffing her chest out some.

"Maybe you could teach Ivory as well. Faust knows she's been trying to use her horn for the past few months." Raven chuckled.

"I do wish you would have brought her. I can't wait for Dawn and Artemis to meet her. I think they'll become friends at first sight." Celestia smiled.

The group collectively nodded while Artemis finally tagged Dawn, prompting her to chase after him. The little colt quickly used the enviornment to his advantage, zooming in and out of bushes, dodging behind plants that were just a bit bigger than he was, and even darting between the hooves of his parents. However, just as he tried to dart through Anon's legs, he felt his momentum halted, and two hands- one warm and one noticeably cooler- pluck him off of the ground.

"Gotcha." Anon replied, smiling down at his son.

Artemis struggled to free himself from his father's grasp, but found that his little wings were no match against the human's strength, and his forelegs simply flailed uselessly in the air. Eventually, he gave up and blew a raspberry at Anon. A chorus of laughter ran through the group while Anon got to his feet.

"Alright, so you might be able to outrun your sister, but I bet I can catch the both of you." He smirked, placing Artemis down beside Dawn.

The pair of foals knew exactly what was coming as Anon raised his hands up high like some kind of monster, and comically ran toward them.

"Raugughgh!" He exclaimed, earning a pair of giggles from the colt and filly.

They both squealed in excitement as a third player entered their little game, amplifying the fun even more since he towered over them. Soon enough, the twins were dashing, darting, zipping, and zooming all throughout the garden, trying their absolute best to escape the 'monster' chasing them. Despite their best efforts, Anon still only had to lightly jog to keep up with either of them, but he made sure to look like he was trying his best.

The sight of a father bonding with his children brought a warm smile to the faces of all three alicorns and Changeling Queen.

"I knew he'd be a great father." Celestia held a hoof over her heart, the sight making her fall in love all over again.

"There really is just something about a stallion that's good with foals." Chrysalis acknowledged.

"You know, it's really interesting to watch him be such a good dad when just a year ago I was ready to geld him." Twilight admitted.

Javelin laughed out loud, "Oh Faust, you were gonna kill him after a month of Day Court with him."

Raven shook her head, "Don't remind me..."

"Oh, it wasn't that bad, Twilight. Besides, you both have grown immensely since then." Luna dismissed, wrapping a wing around Twilight.

Chrysalis chuckled as she looked over the two shorter alicorns to watch Anon continue to play with the foals, "Changeling grubs don't grow up the same as pony foals, but I do hope that he'll enjoy raising them as much as your foals."

"Oh, Chrissy, we'll all love them just as our own, Anon included." Celestia replied.

Luna gave Chrysalis a curious look, "Are they really that different to pony foals? Do you not play with and nurture them?" She asked, genuinely.

Chrysalis shook her head, "It really has been nothing but preparing them for a life of starvation and hiding for centuries... though, as that's no longer necessary, I think this batch will be raised differently. I would like to give them the kind of youth that ponies have."

Celestia leaned over, placing a hoof atop of Chrysalis's. The gentle contact brought a small smile to the changeling Queen's face as she looked into Celestia's soft magenta eyes.

"We'll ensure their foalhoods are the best they can possibly be."

"Those are the most important years, after all." Luna added.

"Faust, do you remember ours, Luna?" Celestia replied, leaning back and fixing her younger sister with an amused look.

"Oh my, that was what? Over a thousand years ago now, wasn't it?" Luna chuckled.

"I remember Starswirl calling us foals well into our first two hundred years." Celestia giggled.

The royals sisters shared a laugh at the humorous memory, prompting the rest of the ponies and changeling around them to laugh as well.

"What, did you two age super slowly?" Javelin snickered.

"For every one normal pony year, an alicorn takes ten to develop as much." Chrysalis teased.

"Wait, is that true? You never told me anything like that?" Twilight inquired, tilting her head to the side.

Celestia and Luna shook their heads, "No, no, Twilight. We aged normally. Starswirl just lost his patience with us from time to time." Celestia explained.

"I was quite aloof back then. Just like little Artemis is now." Luna reminisced, looking back over to her son and husband.

"It really does make you think... before you know it, they'll be a hundred years old as well, and Anon will still have... to..." Celestia trailed off, her brow furrowing as she realized a rather obvious, yet horrible fact.

Almost immediately, Luna's eyes widened in realization as well, prompting her to whip her head back around to look into her sister's eyes, the unspoken question between them making everyone else tilt their heads to the side in confusion; everyone, except for Chrysalis.

"You know he won't live that long..." Chrysalis stated, an almost defeated tone in her voice.

"I... we... he won't..." Celestia muttered, her gaze falling to the floor.

Seeing the clear souring of her former mentor's mood, Twilight placed a comforting hoof on her wither, "Well... you've known since the beginning that Anon isn't immortal... surely the time spent with him while he's here is more important than... that day." She offered.

"That is just the problem, Twilight..." Luna replied, her head hanging low.

"What do you mean?" Raven pressed.

A small breeze wisped through the air around them, though even the cool air felt like little more than a hollow gesture in the wake of a sudden and gut-wrenching realization.

"I-we've always known... that was why we swore off a relationship with any kind of mortals." Luna admitted.

"We lost so many lovers over the years, and each one of them holds a special place in our hearts." Celestia added.

"-but Anon is different. No other lover has ever been able to give us that which we now have... motherhood." Luna frowned.

"I recall hearing about your past lovers. I'm not sure how you managed to love as many different ponies as you have over the centuries." Javelin acknowledged.

"We... we just... kept burying the feelings deeper and deeper as the years passed by. So many ponies whom I haven't thought of in centuries... and in a hundred years time, Anon will be just another face in our memories." Luna somberly stated, her eyes fixed firmly on the floor in front of her.

"We never even considered it when we were pregnant... we were just so happy to be carrying a life inside each of us that the though simply... didn't register." Celestia shook her head.

"You fell for him, content with the knowledge that even though you would outlive him, you would look back on the time spent with him with love... but then the impossible happened." Twilight surmised, her brow knitting in thought.

Both royal sisters nodded, "I don't... I think I'm going to be sick." Luna muttered, swallowing back bile.

"We've already almost lost him once... twice if you count our farce that almost made him leave us on his own accord... after Tirek, I didn't want to even think of the possibility of losing him again... but it seems that the real foe is time itself... how can we possibly fight against that?" Celestia muttered, slowly shaking her head.

Unbeknownst to the solar and lunar alicorn, the man they spoke of was walking up behind them, one sleepy foal held in either arm as he approached. He gave a happy smile and nod to Javelin as he rounded the bench, only to purse his lips and tilt his head to the side as he noticed the hung heads and sad expressions on his wives' faces.

"Uh, what happened here? I finally tuckered these two out and was about to go put them to bed but now everyone looks sad and miserable." Anon observed, his lips pursed in discernment.

For a few moments, there wasn't a response, prompting an even more concerned look to appear on Anon's face. However, before he could voice his concerns any more, Chrysalis met his gaze.

"We've just... come to a rather depressing realization and the mood is hitting all of us rather hard." She explained.

"Well, not us so much. We weren't gonna make a hundred years either, but it does suck." Javelin shrugged, prompting a smack to the back of his head from his wife, "Ouch! Kidding! Sorta..."

Anon tilted his head to the side, "What... are you guys talking about right now?"

"It's... probably best if I explain it," Twilight suggested, "I might be able to put it into words a bit easier."

Celestia and Luna both mutely nodded.

"Okay, this is kinda freaking me out now. Did someone die or something? You guys were super happy a few minutes ago and now everyone looks depressed." Anon noted.

"Well... nopony has died... yet." Javelin offered, prompting yet another smack to the back of his head.

Twilight gave the stallion a deadpan look before rolling her eyes and looking back over to Anon, "What Javelin is trying to say, is that we've all just remembered your mortality... and the thought of losing you, having to raise your foals without you, is hurting Celestia and Luna pretty badly..."

Anon instantly looked at his wives, a worried frown forming on his face, "What? Celly, Lulu, I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna make sure these kids are raised right, and I'm gonna be with all three of you until the end." He declared.

"Anon... you don't understand." Luna quietly stated, making him frown.

"What do you mean? What don't I understand?" Anon asked, gently.

"It's the fact that you're mortal, Anon... it's... well I suppose the knowledge has always been there but it just now hit us all and we're struggling to cope with it." Celestia clarified, sadly.

Anon slowly nodded, his brow furrowing as he heard the real reason for the sudden dip in everyone's moods around him.

"Ah, I see..." He said, looking down, much like both of his wives.

A sad silence filled the air for a few minutes as the party simply thought over the realization they'd stumbled across. However, just before the silence could become utterly unbearable, Chrysalis hopped off of her seat and got to her hooves.

"Well, there's nothing else for it then. We'd better get started looking for a solution." She decreed, snapping all eyes to her.

"You know as well as we do that Anon's body has no magical ability whatsoever, Chryssi. How are we supposed to solve this?" Luna questioned.

"We don't even know if Nonny wants to live forever." Celestia added, sapping the wind right out of Chrsyalis's sails.

"That's a great point, Anon-" Twilight began, turning to the aforementioned human, "-do you even want to live forever?"

All eyes moved back over to Anon, finding him still staring at the floor, his brow furrowed and his lips pursed in thought.

"I... don't know..." He admitted, "I've never really... thought about it. I mean... is it even possible?" He replied.

Twilight nodded, "While I'm not certain exactly how it would be possible, I do think that it's something within the realm of possibility. Celestia, Luna? Do you know of anything that could make it happen?"

Both alicorns shook their heads, "It's... regrettably not something that we are aware of. Our ascension to alicornhood was something that happened after we earned our cutie marks and took control of the sun and moon. Your ascension was only possible through a spell that only worked because you're a magical creature in the first place, Twilight." Celestia answered.

"Well isn't that it then?" Raven inquired, making them all look at her, "I mean, the bottleneck here is just Anon being a non-magical creature. If we found a way to imbue him with magic, then you could just perform a spell like that to give him an alicorn-esque lifespan." She explained.

"That... might work?" Chrysalis shrugged, looking to Celestia for confirmation.

Celestia slowly shook her head, "I... am not so sure. The spell is extremely intricate and relies heavily on the creature it's cast on, being able to handle the transformation into an alicorn... that's not even mentioning the fact that for it to work, specific circumstances must be met; circumstances that regrettably aren't something we can just bring into existence at will. I'm not certain what would happen if it were to be cast on Anon." She admitted.

"Would he grow hooves and wings, or something?" Javelin inquired.

"Possibly a horn too." Chrysalis suggested.

"It's much too dangerous to even consider," Celestia declared, firmly shaking her head, "if this is a path we're considering walking down, I won't even entertain the thought of something that could harm him in any way."

With that firm declaration made clear for the whole group to hear, Celestia turned and glanced at her husband. He gave her a soft smile, to which she gratefully reciprocated, before her gaze moved over to the sun just beginning to crest the horizon. With a sad sigh, she got to her hooves and walked over to Anon, taking the sleeping foals in her magic.

"It is time for sunset. Regrettably, you'll have to continue this evening without me. I'll put Artemis and Dawn to bed." She announced, nodding to her sister.

Quickly taking the hint, Luna followed after her. Together, the siblings walked over to the edge of the garden overlooking the countryside of Equestria. As they'd done thousands of times before, one lowered her respective celestial body, while the other raised hers. They moved in sync, their horns lighting up brightly as a stark contrast to the ever-darkening skyline before them. No sooner than it began, did the awe-inspiring sight end, and the two made their way inside with just the smallest of goodbyes. Celestia gently took Artemis and Dawn from Anon in her magic before heading inside, while Luna headed to the throne room.

Now left with an alicorn, Changeling Queen, and two unicorn friends, Anon found himself sitting on the bench as well, though, even that was short lived. With a rather long and sleepy yawn from the secretary pony beside him, Javelin spoke up.

"We should probably be heading home too. Gotta go relieve the foalsitter before she starts to wonder where we are." Javelin announced, chuckling upon noticing the sleepiness in Raven's eyes.

"Yeah, fair enough. You guys have a good night." Anon nodded, bidding them farewell.

Chrysalis and Twilight shared a quick goodbye with the couple before they left, leaving just the three of them. It didn't take long at all for Twilight to hop off the bench and start heading inside.

"I've had a wonderful time with everypony tonight, but I do need to do some digging... I can't be sure, but I think I may have a few ideas where to look, should you decide to pursue this, Anon. I'll talk to you in the morning. Goodnight, you two." She said, over her shoulder.

"Thanks, Twi. You have a good night, too." Anon nodded.

Now left with just his changeling lover, Anon found himself utterly unable to think of anything other than his fragile mortality. With his elbows on his knees and his head hung low, staring at the dark cobblestone tiles below, he almost didn't notice the foreleg wrap around his waist.

"You know, you can talk to me... right?" Chrysalis offered, gently.

"I know, hun... just... a lot to take in, you know?" He responded.

Chrysalis nodded, taking to gently stroking her hoof down Anon's back, "I can feel the turmoil in your heart right now... I felt it in everypony's... we've already almost lost you once... none of us wanted to even consider that you weren't immortal ever since." She quietly explained.

Anon snorted, "I was havin' such a good fuckin' day too... Hell of a bombshell to drop out of the blue like that." He shook his head.

"Nonny, don't let it ruin your day... even if it does come to be something you decide you want, we have decades to find some way to make it happen. It isn't something you should lose sleep over right now." Chrysalis comforted, nuzzling his cheek.

Anon absentmindedly reached up and cupped her other cheek, gently stroking his thumb against the soft black fur on her face. The texture reminded him of a puppy's coat, bringing a small sense of relief to his mind.

"You've got a good point..." He muttered, continuing to stroke his fingers through her fur.

"But?" Chrysalis pressed.

"That's just the thing... I'm not sure if it is something I want for myself." He admitted.

Chrysalis nodded in understanding, "I know... I can sense the turmoil in your heart. Immortality isn't something that most creatures are confronted with, let alone offered. You, however... have managed to earn the affections of three immortals, two of which have birthed your children, who also happen to be immortal."

Anon mirthlessly chuckled, "I never even thought about living forever... but fuck, I mean... how can I decide to make my own kids watch me die, knowing that there was a way that I could change that? Don't I have to find a way? Even if I'm not sure if my mind can even handle that? I mean... human's aren't exactly wired to live for thousands of years and retain our sanity. Living that long could turn me into a crazy monster like Discord."

Chrysalis sympathetically nuzzled Anon again, "It's a lot to think about, and certainly not something that you need to decide right now. I know it must sound strange to hear... especially from me, but for once, this choice is uniquely yours. Celestia, Luna, and even your foals can't understand your position no matter how hard they try. You've raised several valid points, but answers aren't coming tonight. Maybe it'd be best to just wait until Twilight comes back tomorrow and see what she's found? For all we know, it might not be possible at all and there simply isn't a point to worrying about it at in the first place." She offered.

Anon leaned into the nuzzle for a moment, his brow still furrowed in thought. Soon enough, the moon rose from its place on the horizon, and a flurry of stars appeared in the skyline, indicating that night had truly fallen. With a small sigh, he pulled away just enough to turn to face Chrysalis directly.

"Thanks, Chryssi. You're right... let's just get to bed for tonight." He suggested, planting a quick and loving kiss on her lips.

Chrysalis purred into the kiss, a smirk forming on her muzzle as Anon pulled away, "You know, if you'd like, I can ensure you forget all about your troubles for the night." She hinted, waggling her eyebrows.

Anon chuckled, "Hell, you don't have to ask me twice. Let's go."

Author's Note

Well ain't that a bitch. Luckily Anon has a good support network to help him through these troubling realizations. That said, you can never be too sure if Twilight's suddenly got a wild hair up her flank about something...