//------------------------------// // Too Many Problems // Story: Spreading My Wings // by KingBoo687 //------------------------------// “Things after that were normal as can be honestly. There was a long period of time where the most eventful thing we did was really just our royal duties. Our honeymoon was in Neighagara Falls and we really enjoyed ourselves there. When we returned, we went back to doing things together and as a couple instead of on our own. The only thing that either of us did on our own was my duties in the Dream Realm.” “When was the next momentous occasion for you, Lunar?” Meridian asked politely. “Our daughter, Starry Nights,” smiled Lunar. As if on cue, Starry Nights entered into the room quietly and noticed that the interview was still going on. She smiled softly, then sat down next to Twilight, whom started to rub her back softly as a result. Lunar noticed this and smirked. “And she took after a bit more like her father,” he mentioned, “though she has her mother's magical abilities.” As Twilight began to develop a belly for her child, she found that performing her royal duties was becoming more and more of a difficult task to achieve. Eventually, she was grounded in her bed with Lunar dealing with most of the duties on his own. When available, Twilight had her friends help her out and take care of her a bit. It was a lot of work, but both Twilight and Lunar looked passed them and towards the future for the end result: a family. Twilight sighed greatly in her bed, exhausted from carrying her child for the last several months, but she was still very happy with her life. Lunar would also help Twilight feel better after his royal duties were complete. He was very excited to welcome in the new child to the family, whom was due any day now. Things have been long for the royal couple and news was spreading around like wildfire about the new baby. Lunar smiled and rubbed Twilight's belly once more, feeling the baby kicking inside. He was happy about becoming a father and looked at Twilight. Twilight smiled happily as well, enjoying both the feeling of Lunar rubbing her belly and the baby playfully kicking inside of her. Soon enough, both ponies fell asleep for the night and rested up. The night was very long and tiring, especially for Twilight, who was having her own problems trying to stay asleep. Waking back up, Twilight looked out the window and stared up towards the star-filled night sky, watching as the infinite amount of stars shined brightly. It was at that moment when Twilight figured out a name for the little foal. “I'll call you Starry Nights,” she whispered to the baby, rubbing her belly softly. Moments later, Twilight began feeling pain from inside her body. She screamed out in pain and woke up Lunar in a start. Lunar looked over and asked Twilight if everything was alright. “Ugh,” grunted Twilight, “I th-I think the baby is coming, Lunar!” “Right now?!” Lunar gasped. “YES!” “We need to move now!” Lunar called, helping Twilight out as they began to make their way towards the hospital. The time was almost near to welcome the new royal baby to the world. “We waited and waited for hours on end until Twilight finally came through the hospital doors with the newborn filly,” Lunar said, winking at Starry Nights playfully, “and she was quite a hoofful to raise growing up.” Starry Nights blushed, “Oh please, it's not like I was that hard to deal with.” She twitched her wings slightly. “Joking aside,” continued Lunar, “Celestia and Luna quickly arranged a ceremony to reveal Star to the ponies of Equestria. She was given her crown and received a lot of cheers from the ponies she was shown to. When she was old enough to finally control her magic, we enrolled her in the school nearby. That was a big challenge for both myself and Twilight, certainly, but it was a bigger one for Star. Being an alicorn is a cause for some extra and, sometimes unwanted attention.” Starry Nights felt her blush grow a bit, “Sometimes it was very unwanted. I never minded when Discord came around.” “Yeaaaah,” Lunar chuckled nervously, “Discord.” At school, Starry Nights was a bit of an outcast because of her title and appearance. It wasn't often that the school would come across a young alicorn princess – in fact, they have never come across one – so the other schoolponies teased her about it, especially her subpar flying abilities. Starry Nights often came home and questioned why she was different. Twilight never liked hearing that question, nor did Lunar, but they always answered their daughter the same way. “You're special, Starry,” they told her, “you're a princess, you know.” “How come other ponies don't have both a horn and wings?” Starry Nights asked. “Because very special ponies have both of them,” Lunar said. “And you're our special little pony, Star,” smiled Twilight. Starry Nights felt happier after hearing her parents' response. She hugged them both, then left to go play in her room. As for Lunar and Twilight, they began talking amongst themselves quietly. Twilight sighed slightly, looking at Lunar with heavy eyes. “I'm worried about Star's happiness, Lunar,” she admitted to him. “Why's that?” “I feel as if she's being picked on for being an alicorn,” explained Twilight, “this is the fourth time this year she's questioned about her appearance.” “You're right,” he agreed, “but that's what kids do. They're curious about others.” “But enough to pick on them?” Twilight protested. “We don't know how it felt like; we both grew up as unicorns.” “Right...” Lunar answered. “Should we talk to the class about the rarity of alicorns in Equestria?” Twilight wondered. “I mean we could,” Lunar replied, trailing off at the end. “Buuut...” “But what would that bring to Star?” Lunar continued. “She would just be picked on more for being different.” “Maybe the children need to come to terms with the differences,” Twilight said, “we need to help Star...I want her to have a happy childhood.” “So do I, Twily,” added Lunar, hugging Twilight, “I just want the best for us all.” “I know, Luny,” giggled Twilight. Lunar blushed, “So you wanna walk Star to school tomorrow and we talk to the teacher for a class discussion?” “Sure thing, Prince,” Twilight winked. “Alrighty, Princess,” Lunar chuckled, kissing Twilight on her cheek. “I see somepony is affectionate,” smirked Twilight. “You started it,” Lunar laughed. “Oh did I now?” Twilight responded, kissing Lunar on his cheek. Lunar smirked, kissing Twilight on her lips. Twilight giggled, then pulled away from Lunar, staring at him lovingly. “Gotta work for them, big guy,” Twilight winked. “Oh alright, Princess,” Lunar chuckled. The two lovebirds laughed some more and went to their room for the night, laying down on the bed and falling asleep quickly. When the next day came, Twilight and Starry Nights walked together to the school while Lunar went ahead and flew to the school, asking the teacher to give a small lecture to the class on alicorns in Equestria. Agreeing to the lecture, Starry's teacher thought it would be a wonderful idea for the fillies and colts to understand the rarity on alicorns in Equestria. As more children began flooding the room, they all started discussing amongst each other how cool it was that an alicorn prince was watching their class. A couple of the fillies came up to Lunar and said to hello to him, to which he returned the favor, smiling and waving back in the process. Eventually, Twilight showed up with Starry Nights and walked into the classroom together with her. A couple of the children started snickering and pointing at Star, making her feel uneasy and sad on the inside. Twilight noticed this and used her wing to rub Star's back. This made Star feel a bit better, but not much. As soon as Star left Twilight to sit down at her seat, the teacher, Sunny Delight, stepped in front of the class and made a very important announcement. “Okay class,” she smiled, “today we're lucky to have our very own Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Lunar Nights come in and discuss the rarity about alicorns in Equestria.” “Ooooooh!” The students rang in unison. “I want you to pay close attention to what they have to say, okay?” “Okay, Miss Delight,” answered the students. Sunny Delight turned to Twilight and Lunar, smiling at them, “Whenever you're ready, you two.” “Thank you, Miss Delight,” Twilight replied, “good morning, fillies and colts.” “Good morning, Princess Twilight,” the children replied. Twilight flared her wings, “Who can tell me what these are?” She pointed to her wings. “Ooh! Ooh!” A small, yellow unicorn was eagerly raising her hoof in the air. “Yes?” Twilight asked, pointing to the yellow unicorn. “Those are wings!” “Very good!” Twilight praised. Lunar stepped up, “Now who can tell me what this is?” He pointed to his horn. “I know!” An orange earth pony shouted. “Can you tell me?” “That's a horn!” “Very good,” smiled Lunar. “Now,” continued Twilight, “what type of ponies have horns?” “Unicorns have horns and Pegasus ponies have wings!” A green Pegasus called out. “That's right!” Lunar stated. “And what type of ponies have both?” Twilight asked. The children in the classroom laid silent. Not a single pony wanted to answer, despite knowing the answer since they were accompanied by one almost daily. After a while, Twilight smiled, then gave the answer. “Alicorns are the ponies that have both a horn and a set of wings,” Twilight explained. She saw a pink unicorn raise their hoof, so she called out to them. “Why do alicorns have both?” They asked. “That's a good question,” praised Twilight, “alicorns have both a horn and wings because they have been born with them. When a pony is born as an alicorn, they are usually related to somepony of royalty. It is their job to look over all the other ponies in the land and help balance everything across Equestria.” “But what about you, Princess?” Sunny Delight asked. “What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “Well,” continued Sunny Delight,” in our books, you appear to have been written as a unicorn who became an alicorn.” She turned to Lunar. “Same goes for you, Prince.” “We were indeed unicorns at birth many years ago,” Lunar explained. “But,” continued Twilight, “there is another way a pony can become an alicorn, and that is through years and years of vigorous studying.” “It's harder than it sounds,” Lunar added, “Princess Twilight and myself are the only two ponies to have been transformed under those circumstances.” “Can I study with you, Princess?” The pink unicorn from before asked. “Maybe one day,” smiled Twilight. “So, children,” Lunar said, “alicorns are very important to the structure of Equestria. They provide much stability to our fine kingdom.” The two royal ponies stood by in the school for the remainder of the day, watching the little ponies learn and play together. The little ones now understood more of alicorns and now appreciated Starry Nights a little bit more, albeit not much more. This type of relationship followed Star for most of her academic career. When Star got older, she and Discord would play around when Star finished her royal duties. By the time she got to high school, she was mostly an independent pony, resembling much like how her mother used to be before Twilight gave friendship a try. Discord knew of this and would spend a lot of time together with Star, who'd known of the draconequus' past as well. While she was in Ponyville conducting and completing a few tasks for Lunar, she noticed Discord and his usual antics, laughing to herself slightly. Star liked Discord's sense of humor, even if her parents didn't. “Hey there, old guy,” Star laughed, “how've you been?” “Oh, y'know,” replied Discord, snapping his fingers. He appeared as an elderly pony in front of Starry Nights, “Hangin' in there, kiddo.” Star laughed again, “Oh, Dip-cord, you always know what to do to make me laugh.” “Needless to say,” continued Lunar, noticing that Star was hiding herself inside her mane now, knowing where the story was going, “after a long while with Star, we managed to work with her on controlling her emotions so that she wouldn't turn out exactly like this old pony here.” “Interesting,” Meridian smiled. “And that's all there is to know about me,” Lunar finished, stretching out his wings briefly, “that's my life story and, regardless of how it happened, I'm happy with how my life has turned out so far.” “Thank you, Prince Lunar Nights,” Meridian replied, “thank you for everything you've shared with us.” She clicked the tape recorder so that it was no longer recording everything. “I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to fulfill my requests. If everything goes well, then the biography should hit the shelves within a month or two.” “That sounds wonderful,” smiled Lunar, “and I appreciate you coming here and being interested in my past. I don't share my past in full detail often, but I figured that if there's ever a good time to have ponies learn about the real me, now's as good a time as ever.” “This is going to be a good thing for you, Your Majesty,” Meridian beamed, “and, if you'll excuse me, I have to work on moving this interview over towards paper.” “Might I suggest a title, Meridian?” Twilight smirked. “And what might that be, Your Highness?” Meridian responded. “Spreading My Wings,” Twilight offered. “Hmm,” Meridian thought, “that could almost work.” She collected her things and bowed to the royal family. “Thank you again for your time, everypony.” “Thank you, Meridian,” each of the alicorns called back. As Meridian left the castle, Star rose and looked to her father, blushing once more in the process. She knew what he did, and she wanted to let him know how much that meant to her. “Um, D-Dad?” She called. “Yes, Star?” Lunar spoke. Star twirled one of her hooves on the ground bashfully, “Th-thanks for skipping over my, umm, my temporary lapse. I really appreciate you not throwing me under the carriage.” Lunar smiled, approaching Star and resting a wing along her back, “Star, if there's anypony who knows how bad a momentary lapse can be, it's me. I know your past is your own and there's nopony that can change that. Whether you're ready to talk about it or not is all on you, but I have faith in you, Star. You're a strong pony since you take after your mother mostly.” “With my father's intellect,” Star joked, nudging Lunar slightly. “Hey,” chuckled Lunar, “I'd trade my intellect for your mother's magic abilities any day of the week.” “She is something special,” Star said, “isn't she?” “You don't know the half of it,” Lunar replied. “Actually,” giggled Star, “I think I do now.” A couple months later, Lunar received a copy of the biography in the mail. Attached to the package he received was a letter from Meridian, thanking Lunar again for all the time he provided for her while the book was being made. “Star,” Lunar called, “Twily! The biography is here!” Taking the book out of the wrapping it came in, Lunar opened it up and smiled happily, sighing contently. He read the title page, “Spreading My Wings: The Untold Life Story of Lunar Nights, Prince of Equestria, by Meridian Journo.”