BRAY ESTATE, PYRAMIDION, MARS
February 9, 2318
Willow Bray set down an expensive teacup crafted by the finest artisans in Equestria, currently filled with an orange pekoe blend from Zebrica. “And that's the biggest problem we've got with the SIVA project right now. The intrinsic AI is so single-minded that it doesn't really deviate from its processes until it's given another order set.” She handed a digitab over. “Honestly, it's kinda worrisome on how little it considers other priorities, but we're hoping to have that fixed soon. Last thing we want is a gray-goo scenario.”
Luna took the digitab and read its contents. “Looks like it's the same problem my engineers were having last month when we were bringing the Venus Global AI online–”
“The Warmind?”
Luna frowned. “I told your father I hate that term. Jehanne does more than just control the planet’s defense satellite swarms. She also controls the weather sats, the global transit network and a host of other functions, as does Charlemagne here and Rasputin back on Earth.”
“Rasputin is mainly being used for military and space transit,” Willow told her. “Dad said you'd be pissed about it, but that EarthGov wouldn't care.”
“I have little involvement with Geneva nowadays, and frankly I prefer that, especially now that I live on Venus,” Luna drolled. “Most of them are idiots, anyway.”
Seeing Luna’s irritation at the subject, Willow changed topics. “So, how long will you be going to Equestria?”
“A couple of days at the most. I don't want to steal the show from Queen Twilight, and besides, Equestria isn't my home anymore. Why, are you asking if you can come with me?”
“No, but If you're going, you'll need a date, and––”
Luna sighed. “Willow, we've been over this a dozen times. Your father is a dear, dear friend, but I've known Clovis since your great-grandfather first brought him to my home on Venus. It's hard to feel any attraction for a person you've known since he was six.”
“But Dad has loved you forever!”
“Yes, and you saw how your parents’ marriage fell apart as a result of that.”
The teenager then pouted. “I was hoping that you would be my mom, Luna.”
Luna prepared to have yet another variation on a conversation she'd had with Willow entirely too often as of late. “That's patently unfair to Rachel, young lady.”
“Oh, please – she left Dad when I was four, and I rarely see her except in trips to the Icarus facility on Mercury. You, on the other hand, have been in my life since I was born! If we wanted to argue about it, you're already my mother as is! We just need to make it official.”
“I don't have time for a family any more. Hell, I've even lost touch with my descendants a century back. The Hollidays don't need the presence of an immortal adoptive alien ancestor, and really, neither do you.”
“But I'm only thirteen!”
“Yes, and when I was literally your age, I was fighting a war against unspeakable powers. Times change.” Luna sighed, facepalming. “Willow, you are a brilliant young woman, probably the smartest I've ever known. It was only natural that I'd take you on as my apprentice. And it goes without saying that I love you dearly, and yes, in a way you are like a daughter to me. But you are too young to know how the world works, especially when it comes to love.”
“But Luuuuuuunnnnna,” the girl whined, clearly breaking out the big guns.
“Whining is not going to work with me, young lady,” Luna insisted.
~*~
As two humans and an alicorn stepped through the portal connecting Pyramidion to Canterlot, Luna clicked her tongue. “Your daughter is a master manipulator, you know that?”
Next to her, a man in his forties with perfectly groomed hair, a neatly–trimmed mustache, a perfectly tailored tuxedo and a winning smile said to her, “That's her mother's fault, obviously.”
“I don't recall Rachel being so devious,” Luna told him.
“I didn't mean Rachel,” Clovis Bray explained. “I meant you.” Before Luna could say more, Bray added, “Do you know what Rachel accused me of at the divorce proceedings? She said I used her as a surrogate womb so you and I could have a child, since everyone knows human and ponies cannot have children together.”
“I … I didn't know that.”
“Then I'm sure you don't know that Rachel only saw Willow out of legal obligation? Last time I talked to her, she said, ‘You should tell that pony wife of yours to do her job. I didn't sign up to be a rent-a-vagina, and I sure as hell won't be your nanny.’”
“But I thought you sent her to see Rachel when she wasn't in school or with you?”
“Rachel hasn't seen Willow since she was seven – she outright said to Willow’s face that she wasn't her mother, and that she should go ‘suck on your blue mommy’s teats.’ After that, well, she didn't go there anymore.”
Luna, needless to say, was perplexed. “Then where is she when she's not with you or me?”
With the classic ability that all children have when their parents forget they’re present, Willow answered, “Here in Equestria, of course! Auntie Twilight gave me my own chambers here at the castle!”
“She did? When?”
There was light laughter in the air. “Good to see you can still be surprised, Luna.” The trio looked forward to see a regal lavender alicorn the same height as Luna walking towards them. She had a long, flowing mane of eggplant purple, with two strands of violet and fuchsia. Next to her was a towering alicorn of rose, with a mane of fuchsia, violet and eggshell.
Luna knelt, with Willow curtseying and Bray bowing deeply. “Queen Twilight, Empress Cadance,” Luna began. “It is good to see you both––”
“Oh, shut up and give me a hug!” Twilight sang as she practically glomped Luna. A split-second later Cadance joined in, and the crowd couldn't help but notice the embrace of the three alicorns and basked in their radiance.
“It's good to see you back, Auntie,” Cadance said with a wide smile.
“It's good to be back,” Luna admitted. “You've grown in your power, both of you.”
“Being queen does that,” Twilight commented. “But I'm surprised you're still the same. You are the eldest of us.”
“Even after all this time, there's little magic on Earth, and the magical species that live there now have to make do. Plus, I'm not in a governmental position, haven't been for ages and prefer it that way. I'm a business magnate, an artist, and yes, a senior EarthGov adviser when needed, but the fact is that I'm used to not being needed anymore.”
“That's certainly not true. We most definitely need you here for the wedding,” a new voice said. “Else anything Twi and I do tomorrow would be scandalous for our images.”
Twilight leaned in and nuzzled the speaker. “You would be thinking that. We all know stallions are only interested in one thing.”
Blueblood laughed. “Getting married to you so I can go from a minor prince to a prince consort? Personally, I can get behind that plan.”
“So long as mine is the only behind you're interested in,” Twilight teased, kissing her betrothed.
Cadance playfully rolled her eyes. “Get a hotel, you two.”
Luna watched the interactions between Twilight and Blueblood. It had certainly been a long time coming, she mused. Blueblood, like so many of them, had been granted immortality by the Elements to fight the past war. And with that immortality had come maturity, and a benevolent nature that hasn't been there in the past. Fancy Pants’ death had made him grow up, but the war and reconstruction had made him grow. So much time had passed that the tales of the spoiled playcolt prince had become urban legend, and Blueblood had been content to leave it that way.
Thus, it was only inevitable that he'd want a mare that suited his new way of thinking. And that's where Twilight came in; as the new queen of Equestria, she was far busier than she'd been in the old days, and with her apprentice Starlight Glimmer now Equestria’s senior diplomat, the young alicorn was overwhelmed. It was natural that she would turn to Blueblood, as they grew up at the place together, though in separate social circles.
Twilight’s request for advice did not go unanswered, and Blueblood was all-too-happy to accommodate his fellow royal. So, after a while, they met regularly to discuss the issues of the nation. Meetings turned into working lunches. Working lunches turned into social ones. Those turned to dinners, which proceeded to dates, which moved on to love. Neither was sure who was the one that confessed first. But at this stage, it no longer mattered.
As greetings and introductions were said and old acquaintances were rekindled, Luna excused herself to practice her parts of the ceremony. It had been a long time since she officiated a wedding, and this was the first time she'd ever married an alicorn – that was Celestia’s job. And if there should have been one to usher the youngest alicorn into married life, it should have been Twilight’s mentor. But Celestia was gone, and Luna was all that was left.
Damn you, Nightmare Star, the lunar alicorn silently seethed. Damn you for ruining our lives and hurting those we love.
~*~
As Luna sat on the balcony of her bedroom, after having watched the happy couple head off towards their honeymoon on Earth, the lunar alicorn couldn't help but feel bittersweet about it all. The young mare she knew once as a talented but mortal unicorn was now leaving for her own destiny, and she would return once again as queen of the realm. Meanwhile, Luna had given up everything – not that she regretted it – and while she was hardly a commoner, it felt many days like the world had passed her by.
Because you let it, the voice in the back of Luna’s head replied. Because you let your descendants go their own way and now all the Hollidays will ever remember of you is a half-mythical legend of their pony ancestor, no different than all the supposed sightings of humans before Sunset returned from the mirror.
Luna briefly slumped at her self-admonishment, but quickly stood straighter; she had an example to set, after all. For the next two weeks, she would resume her duties as the Night Princess of Equestria and administer the nation in Twilight’s stead. “Administering”, of course was a relative term; between parliament and the various ministries, the nation practically ran itself, with Twilight mostly only holding court when a minister advised her to accept a direct petition to the Crown. All in all, it would be an easy working vacation.
Probably a lonely one, too. Luna sighed; at least Twilight insisted that Luna’s personal chambers in the castle be upkept for times like this. Right now she needed that familiarity, because if someone had pressed her, she would readily admit to feeling adrift.
“Auntie?” Luna turned around to see Cadance approaching her. “You look good tonight. Being back in the saddle suits you.”
Luna looked up at Cadance. “Thank you. Now what can I do for Equestria’s staunchest ally, your imperial majesty?”
Cadance laughed. “You make me sound more important than I am. Honestly, the only reason Shining and I are here is because we got a babysitter for our sons. Remember Thorax?”
Luna nodded; Celestia had never discovered where “the changeling spy” had gone, because both Cadance and Luna had smuggled him to safety in Trottingham, where he lived under the name of Crystal Hoof for the remainder of his life. “Yes, I do. Why?”
“After he passed, his adopted son and their family came to Imperial City to ‘repay the debt that could never be discharged.’ Since then, his family has served ours as our maids and butlers. Anyway, his great-great-great-granddaughter is watching my sons at the moment.” Cadance smiled and said, “It’s good for Shiny and I to get out of town and see the world – we need this connection of where we’re from, especially Equestria.”
“Well, be that as that may, I don’t think you came to see me gaze at the moon just to catch up on old times, did you? Not that I mind, but I thought you were enjoying the ceremony.”
“And you’re not?”
Luna shook her head. “It has not been so long that I don’t still crave Alex’s presence. Over a century without him and I ache for his touch, Cadance. I miss my children, my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren. It got to be so that I had to let the rest go their own way before I went mad with grief. But that doesn’t take away the pain and emptiness.”
“I thought you were married before?” Cadance asked.
“No. My sister was, but not me – I was never as bold as Celestia was.” Luna gave a small smile. “And now I have a suitor that is a friend but can never be a lover, and his child begs me to be her mother.”
“I know,” Cadance said. “It’s why I’m here.” The Alicorn of Love summoned a scroll into existence. “Did you know that Clovis and Shining are old friends? Both of them were discussing you and Willow – apparently Clovis got a little too much in his cups tonight and said something he shouldn’t have.”
“Par for the course, knowing him,” Luna sighed. “Anyway, what was it, if you’re at liberty to discuss it?”
Cadance nodded. “Clovis realizes he’s never going to win your heart. But he also confessed something to Shining: that you need to take responsibility for being Willow’s mother.”
Luna facehoofed at the old rag of an excuse. “Cadance, you don’t realize how many––”
“I wasn’t done yet. Do you remember the time when Clovis took some genetic samples of yours? Because he wanted to study how alicorn magic was so different from regular pony strains?”
“That was about fifteen years ago,” the lunar alicorn recalled. “He told me it was for a research paper at his university. Why’d he bring that up? Unless….” The realization suddenly hit Luna like a brick. “He ... he didn’t, did he?”
Cadance nodded. “Rachel found out when Willow was two; she discovered the research notes. She put up with Willow’s presence until Clovis pushed his luck.”
Luna became livid as realization set in. “That … that….” Her aura, enhanced by the power of her moon and the ground began to crumble under her feet.
Cadance cast a spell, instantly nullifying Luna’s magic. “Auntie, don’t!”
Luna glared at Cadance. “Don’t ever do that again,” she seethed.
“I will when you’re contemplating bodily harm!” Luna made to protest, but Cadance interrupted. “I saw that in your eyes! And frankly we have enough problems with alicorns slipping the leash! So please, calm down!”
“Calm down? I was violated, Cadance! By someone I thought was a friend!”
“No,” a new voice said. Luna turned to see Bray standing there, a somewhat irritated Shining Armor behind him. “No, I never meant it that way, Luna, believe me.”
The night alicorn glared at him with a gaze that could melt steel. “So, what, because you thought you could get me to marry you by forcing a child on me?” Luna accused.
“No, because I wanted a child with the one woman that I knew I loved!” Bray replied. “Look at me, Luna! I’m a forty-year-old man with a teenager’s crush on the one woman – or mare – that has known me since I was a teenager! Every woman I’ve ever slept with has your face on them, because I really can’t ever remember what they look like! And Rachel?” He scoffed. “I married Rachel because she wasn’t you. Stupid reason, I know, but it’s the truth.
“It was then that I found out I was shooting blanks. I wanted children of my own, but Rachel was on the fence about it, and I sure as hell didn’t want her to know I couldn’t plant seeds in the field. So … I asked Willa to do a favor for me.”
Luna’s nostrils flared in a huff of anger; Luna had always known Bray’s sister Willa was somewhat of a mad scientist at times, but this went beyond the pale. “You mean she tailored a genetic chimera – a bioroid, a person with multiple parentage,” she stated angrily. “How much of Willow is me and what’s the rest? Rachel? Willa? Or do I even want to know?”
Bray rubbed the back of his head; it was a nervous tic humans had and something she’d picked up herself when in human form, Luna noted. “She’s just you and me. Willa found the chromosomes that would work with human ones.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a data relay spike. “She’s 100% our daughter, I swear. This is what we know about her.”
“So you used your wife….”
He nodded sadly. “Yes, yes I did. Look, Luna, I can’t apologize for what I did, but Willow needs her mother – her real mother.”
Luna changed to her human form, and summoned a digitab upon which she read Willow’s biological file. “She can sense magic, but can’t use it. Willa tweaked her brain, which is why she’s a genius for her age. And none of this is natural.” She looked like she wanted to throw Bray off the balcony and down the side of the mountain. “You used your own daughter as a science experiment just to try to win me over. Clovis, words cannot describe how furious I am right now and how restrained I am at the moment because Cadance is holding me back.”
“Luna,” Shining finally spoke. “What are you going to do now?”
She looked at Bray, holding up a palm. “Five things.” She lowered a finger, asking him, “The first is this: are there others?”
He nodded. “That brunette I told you I was dating? I was going to slip Ana’s zygote––”
“Ana?”
“Willow’s genetic twin; ‘Ana’ is a code name for Another Natal Assembly, just something to call the zygote for now,” Bray said with an affable tone that disgusted everypony present, though he didn’t seem to realize this. “I was going to have her, ahem, ‘deposited’ into Julie––”
“You’ll do no such thing.” She looked at Bray. “When we return to Earth, I will have Ana artificially inseminated into me. If she is like Willow, this is my responsibility.” She then lowered a second finger. “I want any other genetic information you have on me destroyed. That includes anything you gave Willa or Alton.”
“Alton’s not involved.” Bray’s youngest sibling, Alton, had the soul of a poet, even if he was a regular doctor. Luna always though him the “black sheep” of the family because he never inherited the Bray ruthlessness. Needless to say, he was her favorite of the family.
Regardless, she stated, “I can’t trust that to be true, not coming from you. Furthermore, Willa may have involved him without him being aware. I want my genetic information completely scrubbed from Clovis Bray corporate servers, or else I will have the Equestrian Crown Investigative Service get involved. Which comes to my third point.” She lowered a third finger. “I am a Princess of Equestria and I will not be used for a scandal against my homeland. You will not mention this to anyone. If for some reason word gets out that Willow or Ana are our children, then you will say that I wanted children and that you volunteered. Nothing else will be stated, and I want Rachel not to say anything as well. That’s ‘silenced’, not ‘murdered’. If I have to talk to her myself, I will, but this is your mess to clean up.”
She lowered a fourth finger. “Fourth, I want custody of the girls. You can have visitation rights, but from now on they stay with me. This is not negotiable. If you want to push it, keep in mind that they are now princesses of Equestria and the Crown will fight to protect its own.”
“I guess I can live with that. I love Willow, but I really don’t have as much time that I can spend with her as I’d like. And that goes double for a baby, so it will be best that Ana stays with you.” Bray sighed. “What’s the final thing?”
Luna lowered the last finger, and it was then that he realized that she’d made a fist. Moving forward, Luna punched him in the crotch, her blow as hard as a woman of her physical age should be, mainly because she held back her strength. As Bray crumpled in pain at being hit in the family jewels, Luna moved over to his ear and hissed, “Don’t you ever come near me again, you sick bastard. If I forgive you – if – it will be because of our daughters, not because of you.” Luna then stood up and dusted off her dress. “Now, as the acting regent of Equestria, you have thirty minutes to leave and never return. I will send for Willow’s stuff, Ana’s zygote and anything else later. Now get out of my castle.” Luna walked away towards the other side of the balcony while Shining helped him up; the look on Shining’s face indicated that it was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment.
Luna and Cadance waited until both males left. “Well, you handled that with all the grace and dignity of a nuclear explosion,” the alicorn joked in an attempt to cheer her aunt up.
Luna leaned against the railing again, heartbreak etched on her face. “Cadance, I’m afraid – I don’t know what to do. My children died ages ago and I miss my husband all the time. And now I find out I have one child and one on the way, and they’re mine – genetically mine.” The woman looked fragile. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to face this.”
“I understand, believe me. It took me decades to accept that Flurry Heart had been murdered by the aunt that had raised me, and that had been after she killed my nephew; I still mourn Spike – and I know Twilight’s never recovered from that, even now. She tries not to show it, but Blue’s told me the number of nights she’s cried over the death of her son. And I don’t need to tell you how much Night and Velvet’s deaths hurt as well; you were there for that.
“As for me and Shiny, well, it took a long time and a lot of patience for both of us to deal with the pain and heartbreak. And it took a monumental amount of bravery for us to decide to have Onyx Stone and Feldspar. But I love my sons, and when they pass on – they didn’t inherit mine and Shiny’s immortality – I will be in the same position you are.
“But I can’t imagine not being there. Every day I have my sons is a treasure and reminds me of all the happy times I had with Flurry Heart. And you have that same chance too. You raised Willow since she was a child – you’ve been her mother without you knowing you actually were. And now you do know, Auntie.
“You were a wonderful mother to your first family. And now you’ll be one all over again. Don’t deny yourself this chance.” Cadance moved a wing, pointing down towards a solitary figure sitting in the garden below. ‘Don’t deny her.”
Luna nodded and headed for the stairs.
~*~
“Willow?” Luna sat down next to the girl she loved like a daughter – the girl she’d just found out actually was her daughter – and saw she was crying. “Are you okay?”
“Did you have to do that to Dad?” she asked, tears streaming down her eyes. “He did it because he loves you! And now he’s practically a pariah! I know he screwed up, but was it so wrong that I wanted us to be a family?”
Luna reached over and hugged her. “Sweetheart, sometimes people do things for the wrong reasons. I nearly destroyed this land long ago because I thought ponies loved me less than my sister. My sister nearly destroyed this world and ours because she thought humanity took her daughter away from her when all Sunset wanted was a life she’d grown accustomed to. And your father took dangerous shortcuts to try to get the family he wanted. You could serious health problems that no normal girl would have.”
“I know. When you were working on Mercury two years ago, I came down with the flu. Uncle Alton took care of me, but Aunt Willa secretly took a blood sample and found out it was a strain of feather flu.” Willow chuckled. “I don’t even have feathers, and I caught the feather flu. Aunt Willa lied to Uncle Alton and said it was just SIVA exposure or something like that.”
“How long have you known?”
“Remember when you told me that secrets were meant to get out? Well, Mom – I mean, Rachel, I guess I should call her that now….”
“You can call her whatever you want, Willow. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“Anyway, I had an argument with her, and I’ve always been a little advanced for my age. She showed me why, and then told Dad to come pick me up. I’ve never seen her since, though she still writes me from time to time. I know she loves me and I love her too, but … she’s not my mom.”
“She is, Willow. She’s just … well, if I had to put a word for it, ‘stepmother’ would suffice. And the fact that she still keeps in contact with you proves it.”
“I guess.” Willow wiped her eyes and said, “What’s next? I guess I can’t work on the SIVA project anymore in between school, since I’ll be living with you.”
Luna nodded. “Well, right now, I’ve got a nation to run for the next two weeks. Then I need to find a way to get a news release out without causing scandal and chaos. Then we’ll have to see about your investiture—”
“Investiture? As in, I’m a princess?”
“I don’t know; the laws have never taken this into account. And there’s the fact that, well, your birth is illegal under both Equestrian and Earth law, so that will cause an obvious scandal once word gets out – your father and your aunt could be spending some time in jail. But none of that will reflect on you, I promise.” Luna smiled. “Besides, I need to get a news release out soon enough anyway, because I’m going to be a little bit preggers.”
“Pregnant? How?”
“Another zygote was cloned the same time you were, and your father saved it all this time. I decided that since it’s part me as well, I’m going to bear it. So you’re going to have a little sister.”
Willow squeed and hugged Luna fiercely. “That’s great! Lu … I mean, uh….”
Luna laughed and kissed her daughter – truly her daughter now – on the forehead. “Why don’t we start with ‘Mom’ and we’ll figure the rest out later?”
“Sure thing … Mom.”