//------------------------------// // Chapter Six - The Moon's Son // Story: Adventures of the Moon Son: Chapter 1 - The Raising // by TheAuthorsApprentice //------------------------------// "Adopt... a human?" Luna replied, smirking as she shook her head in disbelief, any hope she momentarily felt being shattered in the process. The frustration only heightened when Switch nodded furiously, the wide smile not leaving his face. "Yeah! Think about it, Luna, Its a way for you to become a mother without breaking any tenants!" "No" The response was final and serious, and Luna turned around without another word before picking up her chalk and resuming her work on the stars. This caused the smile to slowly drop from Switch's face, he made his way over to where Luna was working before hopping onto a nearby desk. He picked up and random book before opening it to a generic page, leafing through its contents whilst occasionally glancing over at the Princess. "Why not?" he murmured, keeping his eyes on the book. Luna, who by now had been doing her best to ignore the Human, sighed in exasperation before almost slamming her chalk back down. "Do you not remember our conversation, Switch?!" she cried "It is forbidden for Royalty to adopt!" "Ponies...." "What?!" "It is forbidden for Royalty to adopt Ponies... It doesn't say anything about Humans" Now that gave Luna pause, because it was true. The tenants had never accounted for the arrival of another species from a different universe. Therefore technically, no rules would be broken.... maybe.... "No!" Luna shook her head to rid herself of these thoughts "Its impossible! I don't know the first thing about caring for a human child" "First rule of the Multiverse!" Switch said as he hopped of the desk, sensing her internal dilemma and seeking to drive the point home. "Nothing is impossible! And I imagine its not that different from raising a foal, right? You feed them, clothe them, change them, make sure they're healthy and happy... it doesn't sound so far apart" Another good point, Luna realised, before sighing as she brought up the most prevalent and heart breaking reason of all. "And what about when this human grows old? What if I spend a lifetime loving them just for time to take them away from me? I won't do that, Switch, not to them or myself" "What if you didn't have too?" There it was, the one statement that could possibly have awakened some hope within the Princess and it had suddenly been said. It was, however, infuriatingly vague. "Explain, now!" Again the hope was mixing with frustration and no small amount of fear. "Come with me..." Switch held out his hand, Luna only stared for a second before putting her hoof into it, there was a yellow flash that filled the entirety of her vision as well as a feeling of sudden weightlessness, before her sight returned and she found herself in the Switch's lab. Thankfully this wasn't the first time she had been shifted, as the first time ones body is converted into displacement energy before being reconstituted into physical matter came with the unfortunate side effect of nausea and severe vomiting... very severe vomiting... "Now..." Switch said as he left her side and approached the large screen dominating the wall "... This science is relatively new even by multiverse standards... so you may not understand everything I tell you" "Alright..." "Okay, Jeeves?" Upon command, the large screen blinked to life, a single green life stretched across the centre of the black screen. "Yes, Sir?" the robotic butler replied, the line bouncing and dancing in time with his words. "Give me a full image feed for the chronochamber" "Yes, sir" The line on the screen was then replaced by a crystal clear shot of the inside of a glass chamber, one with a small podium in the centre of it and mechanical tracks set into a gyroospheric pattern around it. It matched a piece of equipment sat in another part of the lab. "Alright, sorry about this" Switch said to Luna as he suddenly snapped his fingers. There was a short but intense sting in her scalp and a single shimmering strand of her mane appeared in his fingers. Curious to see the point of all this and remembering the warning he did give her, Luna decided to let it slide, settling for a stern glare in his direction. Switch shifted across the space of his lab, arriving at the machine which had it's interior displayed on the big screen. Gently opening the glass panel lid, he placed the strand of Luna's mane onto the podium inside it before closing and sealing the chamber, which hissed as the vacuum seal expanded within the lid. He shifted again so that he was close to Luna, before putting on an uncharacteristically serious expression. Luna recognised the look and prepared both herself and her mind for a torrent of otherworldly information. "Until now..." Switch began, as the lights were suddenly dimmed in the room "... you've assumed that your immortal lifespan is the result of your magical prowess, that your connection to the magic that saturates this land is the reason for your significantly long life..." "And it isn't?" Luna replied patiently "Not completely. It certainly plays a factor in your longevity but it is not solely responsible... If it were, anypony with enough magical talent could theoretically greatly expand their life beyond normal limits. Therefore, in terms of you and Tia, it can only come down to biology." Pressing a finger into the tac-screen mounted on his forearm, Switch changed the large monitor in front of them to show a collection of single cells, each a pale, almost translucent blue. "These are the cells preserved from the last DNA sample you provided for me... I noticed several things after examining them. Firstly, the cellular coating around every cell is much thicker and dense compared to other ponies, which explains your unnatural strength and resistance to damage. But the really interesting feature is the rate of cellular mitosis. Mitosis is basically-" "The process of a mother cell doubling its internal chromosomes before dividing into two identical daughter cells" "You've been reading the material I gave you!!" "A little in my spare time, although I must say the diagrams on human reproduction where a tad... graphic..." "Yeah... I told Jeeves not to include them" "You bloody Liar!" "Switch, If you could please..." "Oh! Yeah.... So, yours and Celestia's cells divide and subdivide at a rate faster than any other type of pony and with much less effort and energy usage. This both explains why your are able to heal severe injuries faster than most and is the most likely explanation of your near immortality... therefore if we activate the chronochamber, which-" "-Suspends the specimen within an isolated tessellation field to simulate the passage of physical time?" "Look at you, Princess! Exactly, as you can see, the chronochamber has now simulated the passing of three thousand years and the strand of your mane is in perfect condition" "I understand, Switch, but what I'm failing to see is the relevance to my... problem." "Bare with me, Princess... You see, if the reason for your longevity is biological, then that means it is by definition hereditary!" The screen suddenly changed back to its usual green line and the lighting of the room returned to normal, Switch's excitement seemed to virtually spit and pop like hot coals as he continued. "Last week I visited another universe for the first time, the introduction was much less... eventful than in this one and I managed to land on another planet of humans" Luna nodded, genuinely curious but also desperate to find out the Switch's point. "Now I've found and involved myself with dozens of human civilisations, but this one was unique. Unique in the fact that they where ridiculously advanced in molecular biology. One area in particular being especially interesting..." The large screen changed once again to show a single blue word upon a white background. "Inplacement?" Luna read aloud, cocking an eyebrow in confusion. "Yes! Unfortunately, both you and thousands of other people who want a child find that for several reasons, they are unable to... and therefore, society in this universe came up with a unique solution." An image of a newborn human baby came up on the screen and Luna was unable to resist a small maternal smile. However, even she was able to notice that something seemed... off somehow, almost as if the baby was missing something. "Blank slates..." Came switch's voice, grabbing her attention once again. "Blank slates, Infants grown and born composed of the same ninety-nine percent of DNA that all humans share but lacking the one percent that makes us unique. This one percent... this minute section of genetic code is to be retrieved from the very parents wishing to adopt. Taken via imprinting at the moment of first contact between parent and child and grafted into the genetic makeup of the newborn itself... creating a child in the parent's likeness and making what was previously impossible quite achievable. An Adoption started with familiarity and trust. A true implacement" Luna had to slowly and carefully sit down as she tried to process what the Switch had just explained to her. Scientific theory swirled around her head and information seemed to float around in chunks that desperately wished to be pieced together. "So... If my immortality is hereditary..." She began slowly "Yes~" Switch encouraged with a smile "And the child will take my DNA for its own...." "Yes~!" "Then it stands to reason that contact with myself will grant the child some form of immortality!" "Give her a hand ladies and gentlemen!" Switch cried as sound effects of applause and cheering filled the room, courtesy of Jeeves and several wall mounted speakers, before Luna's heart could swell even further, Switch held out a hand to stop her. "You know that nothing is guaranteed, Luna, even though the science supports it, we can't rule out the possibility that merging your DNA won't work..." "Then what do you propose?" Luna said with a frown finally wiping the smile from her face, Switch seemed to consider for a second before answering. "I'll take that strand of your mane and merge it with a DNA sample from one of the kids, then run it through the Chronochamber, if it holds steady for several thousand years... then that, Princess, that is when you become a mom" Silence descended upon the rooms as the words sunk in, for Luna, time itself seemed to slow... could it really be true...? could her dream, that for so long she thought impossible, finally be about to come true? Could her second chance finally be delivered to her? She thought of all of these things as she regarded the Alien being in front of her, a young man himself prepared to help her with no thought of reward, a human prepared to trust her with raising with one of his own kind. As she looked up at the screen into the peaceful, sleeping face of a baby human, she realised that it didn't matter what species her child would be, human or pony, her love for it would be as genuine as her love for her sister and her parents that had long since left the world. He really was a true hero. It was humbling, and Luna couldn't help but feel deeply honoured at the prospect. Honoured... and overwhelmingly ecstatic "Oh Switch!!" Luna cried, elation and pure joy filling her heart as the realisation that her dream could finally be realised started to sink in, she suddenly found herself jumping at Switch, throwing her arms around his neck and practically chocking him as she laughed in pure glee. "I can be a mother!! I can finally become a mommy!!" Luna yelled and shouted through her laughter, tears streaking their way down her cheeks and matting the fur underneath it. Switch laughed at her joviality and returned her hug heartily, eventually setting her down and snapping his fingers, the glistening strand of hair appearing within them. "I'll head over to the birthing universe and conduct the tests, in the meanwhile, I believe a certain sister of yours would be ecstatic to hear about her new potential title" Luna gasped as she realised she had forgotten all about Celestia "You are right! why, I will go and inform her right away!" ****** Luna envisioned the many possible reactions of her sister as she skipped and hummed to herself on her way to the grand courtroom. However, never in a million years would she foresee the one she received. "No" It was sudden, it was final and it absolutely brokered no argument. Luna felt her blood run to ice and her throat seize up as her normally kind and loving sister now regarded her with a deadly serious glare, the single menacing word being the only reply given to Luna’s recollection of the afternoon. “I...I don’t understand, sister?” she murmured after a long pause. “You don’t?” her sister said as she cocked an eyebrow, the serious frown never leaving her face “Then let me simplify it for you, Luna... There is no way in Tartarus I am letting you adopt and raise an alien from another universe!” “Wha-? Why?!” Luna gasped, shock and hurt and confusion all numbing her as she looked at her sister in horror “Why?! You know why, Luna! The tenants? The laws? Or did you forget them completely in your pursuit of motherhood?” “As I explained earlier, sister...” Luna had now started to raised her voice to match Celestia’s as the tempers of the two sisters started to rise with their voices. “...The tenants don’t apply in this situation!” “They most certainly do, Luna! All you have done is try to find loopholes and conniving ways of avoiding them, nothing more!” “Why are you so against this?! Why are you so determined to deny me the one thing that I want?!” Now that gave Celestia pause, her stony and hostile expression softening for little more that an moment but it was still noticed by her sister. They did nothing but stare at each other as Celestia apparently worked up the courage to reply, her mouth often opening and moving with silent words. However, as quickly as it arrived the sympathetic expression vanished as Celestia’s face turned back into a frown. She stood up from the table they were sharing and turned to leave. “We will speak no more of this, Luna, my decision is final...” She made three steps before she felt it, passing across her coat like a breeze that made the hairs stand on end. Raw, unfiltered power. Realising the implications of this, Celestia slowly turned around. When she did, she couldn’t stop her eyes widening in alarm as she saw her sister. “Your decision?” The words filled the ballroom with a deep and terrifying rumbling echo, fuelled by the power of the Moon monarch’s hurt and anger. Luna herself was floating off of the ground, her awe inspiring wings stretched to their furthest at either side of her and her mane cutting through the air. “YOUR DESCISION?!” The stone walls started to crack with the power of Luna’s voice and she floated downwards and landed so that hers and Celestia’s noses where inches apart, the latter unable to do anything but stare in shocked silence. “You seem to forget Celestia that we are sisters! We are both princesses! You are not the queen and you are not my mother!! WE ARE EQUALS!” “Luna-” “Silence!! I come to you with wondrous news, and you reply to my joy with anger and intolerance! I don’t know when you changed... But I remember my sister relishing, nay, living for the opportunity to teach and nurture young minds. But you are not the mare I remember and you remain convinced you can control me! This will Not Stand! I have been through enough pain and sadness in the last one thousand years to allow a chance like this to slip through my hooves!” Again Celestia’s mouth was working silently, the angry frown she had now replaced by fearful alarm as her younger sister berated her like a misbehaving school foal. Luna suddenly stepped forward so that their noses where practically touching and their eyes where mere inches apart. “This is happening, Celestia, So I advise that you get used to it!” Luna turned from her sister and stormed towards the door, her crackling aura of energy dissipating as she neared it. Just before she left, she slightly turned her head and spoke to her still stationary sister. “If you interfere with this... Either with myself or with Switch... you will answer to me, sister. You have been warned" It was then that Luna left the room, the guards on the other side of the door actually breaking their stony facades when they physically flinched at her anger. Celestia continued to remain still, unable to take her eyes off the door Luna had stormed out of. Never, in all her years, had Celestia felt so overwhelmingly unnerved. Sure, once, centuries ago her sister had tried to imprison her, even kill her when she had become nightmare moon. But time and empathy had eroded any anger or hurt she had felt. But this time was different, this time she had been berated and lectured in a way very similar to the way she did when her subjects required it. There had been no grief or sadness in Luna's words that could have led her back to darkness, this time their was only unfiltered rage. At both her sister and the laws that bound them both. Celestia had no doubt whatsoever that Luna meant what she said, if Celestia interfered and stopped this adoption from happening, there was a very high possibility that she would loose her sister forever. Or even worse, that Luna would revert back into the demonic mare that had separated them both in the first place and would once again have to be banished to the moon for another millennia. Celestia sighed as she came to a haunting and sickening realisation... This would be happening, and there was nothing she could do about it... However, her shocked face suddenly became an angry frown as she snorted indignantly. But that didn't mean she had to like it. ******* It had been two weeks since the sisters had had their disagreement and the atmosphere around the castle had been visibly affected by it, the two princesses hadn't spoken and single word since and only saw each other when absolutely necessary, The staff did not go unaffected, the guards seemed to be even more on edge, eyeing everything with more stony suspicion than usual, The cleaning staff rushed to tidy the rooms in order to go home earlier and the food prepared by the chefs lacked its usual unique flair. The only one unaffected by all this was a seemingly carefree young man, who whistled whilst he walked and cracked jokes when he talked... "I think Celestia's pissed with me..." Switch called out as he strode into Luna's room without even knocking, something that Luna was much to preoccupied to notice as she gloomily stared out of her favourite window. "What makes you say this?" she replied after a few seconds. "Well I haven't seen her much since your little... 'discussion', so I went to talk to her today. Opened the door to her study with my usual gorgeous charm, "Hey, Tia! How's it going!?".... And then she threw a vase at my head..." "She threw a vase at your head?" "Yes, Ma'am" "And you only think she's angry at you" "Well I didn't want to assume... you'd be surprised at how many ridiculous customs there are out there... So I'm right in saying ponies only throw vases when they're angry" "Yes, Switch, ponies only throw vases when they're angry" "Ah... noted..." "Is their something you wanted? I'm not really in the mood to entertain guests at the moment" "Ah, well I wasn't sure if you remembered, Princess, but today is the day we're gonna receive the genetic material for your compatibility test?" Instantly, Luna was jolted from her sulking as she jumped from her seat, going from grumpy to surprised to ecstatic in the space of a second. "Holy Tartarus! That's today?! Why didn't you come and get me sooner, Switch?!" "I was busy dodging a porcelain vase, did you know that ponies throw them when they're angry?" "This is no time for your jokes, Human! To the lab!!" Luna's horn flared to life and she dissipated in a flash of blue light, presumably to Switch's lab. The superhero himself looked at the space she had just occupied with a neutral expression. "I mean... it hasn't even arrived yet, but don't let that stop-" "Genetic material arriving, sir!" "Well shit... one point to dramatic timing..." It was then that Switch disapeared with a flash of his own. ****** Switch found Luna shifting on the spot like an excited child as he appeared within the lab, her wide eyes regarding an object she had apparently just seen materialise out of thin air, set in the middle of a designated zone marked out in the lab, a space for all incoming displaced equipment and materials to arrive safely. The object itself was a large, pear shaped metal container, about two feet tall and wide with a handle on top to help transport it, it was mainly a polished grey metal, but also sported yellow lines running across the joints to complete an all too familiar colour scheme. There was also a large opaque window set into one side that Luna could not see through. "Alright!" Switch said after a second of silence "Science time..." Switched stepped forward and lifted the container off the floor, depositing it carefully onto a nearby table. Carefully undoing the latch that held the window closed, he opened it to an angle that blocked Luna from seeing the inside of the housing, before she could crane her head to get a better look, he withdrew a small, envelope sized object, closing the window when he did. "That's it?" Luna said in disbelief as she regarded the small metallic box in Switch's hands. "Nope..." Switch replied as he opened one end of the box and tilted it, a second later a small chemistry tube filled with what could only be a small sample of blood fell into his hand. "... this is..." "That's it?!" "Yeah, its only a sample, Princess, what where you expecting?" "Then why did it arrive in this huge metal pear?" "Believe it or not, crossing a physical boundary between universes can be ever so slightly... completely detrimental... for biological matter, now I have bio augmenting implants in my muscles to counter the effects, but this..." he held up the tube with the blood in "... doesn't. Hence the huge metal pear" "I see" Luna said as she processed the new information, yet more in a sea of knowledge she had learned regarding something completely unknown to her. "Now..." Switch said with uncharacteristic seriousness "... This is the moment of truth, Luna, are you ready?" With a large breath to smother the nervousness and apprehension in her core, Luna nodded Switch nodded back before snapping his fingers, for the third time another stand of Luna's mane appeared in his fingers. He gave another snap and a small petri dish materialised onto the table in front of him. Popping the lid to the small sample tube, he upended the small amount of blood into it before slowly and carefully lowering Luna's hair into it. Using her sensitive Alicorn hearing, Luna began to heard a faint, almost inaudible sizzling coming from the dish, Switch held the hair within the blood for a few seconds before withdrawing it, discarding the hair into the nearest trash bin. "Jeeves, full analytical scan please" A small red light appeared from one of the implement suspended above the work table, shining onto the blood for less than a second before the large screen exploded into a series of charts, diagrams and text. Switch crossed his arms and brought one hand up to rest on his chin, a sign that Luna had learned meant he was deep in thought. "Red cell count?" he said to the room. "Unchanged" the room replied with Jeeves' voice "White cell count?" "Unchanged" "Oxygen carrying efficiency?" "Increased by thirty six percent" "Really? That's cool... Blood iron count?" "Unchanged" "Now..." Switch lent forward to glare intently at the screen, taking a breath to prepare himself for the most vital question of all. "DNA merge viability?" There was silence for a few long terrible moments as information flashed across the screen, Luna hardly daring to breathe as scientific information far out of her grasp. Switch doing nothing but staring intently at the screen. Finally, there was a small beep as Jeeves finished his calculations "Ninety six percent" Switch let out the breath he had been holding and looked over to Luna "Ninety six? Is that... good?" Luna asked, dreading any answer he would give, however, she suddenly felt her heart start to pound within her chest as Switch smiled and nodded. "That's really good, Luna... between two completely different species... I've never seen numbers this high" "Truly?! Then does this mean-??" "Wait..." Luna stopped her revelry before it truly began to look at Switch in confusion, in response he motioned over to a forgotten but vital piece of equipment slotted amongst the others. The Chronochamber "We don't know if any of this will work unless we run the sample" "Then please don't dally! I have to know, Switch" "Alright.." With a tense and almost sombre air of ceremony, Switch carefully lifted the petri dish with its valuable cargo before carrying it over to the chronochamber, depositing it inside on the plinth. The glass door was sealed shut and a mechanical whirring filled the air as the machine turned on. "Alright, Jeeves, start the chamber. Incremental years sped by a factor of five" "Of course, Sir, and might I add, Princess Luna, I wish you the best of Luck" "Thank you, Jeeves" Luna found herself staring at the small puddle of blood within the glass dish. Staring at technology that wouldn't have existed in her own wildest dreams before a human hero found her world. She found herself praying to any deity that would listen as a blue glow filled the Chronochamber. Silence filled the room as neither human nor pony dared to speak, single seconds turned to tens then dozens before just as quickly as it had started, the humming died down and the machine once again grew still. Luna looked from Switch to the machine with wide eyes, feeling a nervous sweat start to form as no explanations were given, no indication to the outcome of the experiment. "Switch?!" she cried, searching for something.... anything! Switch didn't reply straight away, his eyes remained glued to the chronochamber and his mouth was set into a neutral line, when he did reply it was muted, almost in disbelief. "Nothing happened..." Luna felt her breath seize in her throat and her heart break into fragments as the Hero's words reverberated within her head. Nothing? Nothing?! The first shred of hope she had felt in a dozen lifetimes was dashed upon the jagged rocks of reality. A sob left her mouth before she could stop it, one quickly joined by another as grief overwhelmed the princess. She spun away from this equipment that had given her belief, wanting nothing more than to return to her chambers and never come out. "I should have known!! I should have known it was too good to be true!! I should have seen that this was never going to work! That I would never get a chance to be truly happy again!" Luna had worked herself into a frenzy, tears pouring from her eyes and her every breath emerging as a strangled sob. A terrible state of mind that mirrored one she had been in a thousand years prior, a thought that didn't help in the slightest. A sudden yellow light filled her vision as Switch suddenly appeared in front of her. "Luna! Luna!" he said quickly, holding his hands out flat to calm the Princess down, looking her in the eyes as he placed his hands on her shoulders, his concerned expression and gentle manner managing to calm her down enough for her to listen to him. "Luna..." he said again, his characteristic smile returning. "Nothing. Happened." Her heartbroken expression turned to confusion, although his smile managed to ease her heartache, it wasn't until he spoke again that it was numbed completely. "We just simulated the passing of six thousand years! and Nothing Happened!" Everything in Luna's world shrank down to those words, she tried to pull a conclusion from the statement but found that she couldn't, her mind refusing to cooperate. "Then that means?" she whispered "It means you better get ready for a lot of sleepless days, Princess..." "Because you're going to be a mom..." Luna blinked once. Twice. Three times. "Once more..." was all she managed to mumble "I'm sorry?" "Say that once more, please" "Your going to be a mom, Luna" The words gave her pins and needles as they entered her ears. And when they did, that's when Luna broke... Her sadness, her overwhelming joy, the years of isolation, the frustration she felt with her sister, the relief that her waiting was finally over... all these feelings mixed together into an avalanche of emotion that could only escape in one way... She cried. Luna broke down sobbing in a complete, crazy mixture of sadness and joy, releasing all of her emotions at once as she wailed in the middle of Switch's lab, to any of her subjects she would have made an almost pitiful sight. Princess Luna, the monarch of the moon and one of the all powerful Alicorns governing Equestria, wailing like a foal. To Switch however, she was the most normal being in existence, he couldn't imagine anyone going through what she had whilst keeping up it so well together. And so he did the only thing he could, he gently moved his hands to her back and pulled Luna in close, wrapping his arms around her in a comforting embrace as she cried. Luna didn't resist, finding the small amount of comfort a welcome island in a sea of confusion. They stayed like that in silence, Luna sobbing into Switch's shoulder and him remaining silent as he gently stroked her back in a gesture of comfort. If anyone else had been present, they would have sworn they saw a single tear fall from the bottom of his mask to splash silently on the floor. When the crying had finally died down and was replaced with sniffling, Switch gently pushed Luna away from him to arms length. "Better?" he asked quietly. "Yes... I feel better" Luna replied, bringing a hoof up to wipe away the tear tracks that had matted her fur. "Good, now... no more tears, no more sadness, no more misery. This is the first day of the rest of your life. Yours, and your child's... now when do you wanna meet them?" A glowing, butterfly filled excitement filled Luna's soul as she replied instantly. "As soon as is physically possible, Switch, today if it can be done" "Today it is!" Switch stood and turned to the metallic container the sample had arrived in, hoisting it off the table as if it weighed nothing, he turned to the marked out arrival space and placed the container within it. It was then that Switch seemed to freeze, a frown filling his face as he seemed to debate something within himself, he turned back to Luna who looked at him with confusion. "I have to know, Luna..." he said, staring at her now with what could only be seen as suspicion, he stepped closer to her so that they stood eye to eye "When this happens... when I bring this kid to you, this all becomes real. This child will be helpless, in an alien world with no one but you to depend on. You will need to nurture and protect them, to put their needs above your own, to make sacrifices and endure heartache to see them grow and thrive. When I bring this child to you, your dreams become very real... make no mistake when I say I'm trusting you with the life of one of my own kind... with the life of a human. If something goes wrong It isn't just on you, its on me and I'm not sure I can live with that if it does... and so I ask you, Princess Luna, Alicorn monarch of the moon and Princess of Equestria..." "... Is this completely what you want?" Luna regarded the human for a few seconds in silence, when she spoke there was no hostility in her words. Only pure honesty, the kind that couldn't be bought or faked. "Its all I've ever wanted, Switch, now don't ever ask me that again" The answer brought the smile back to Switch's face and he chuckled. "Its all I needed to hear" Switch suddenly lent back down and picked up the pear shaped container again before setting it down onto the table in the exact same spot as before, only this time, he opened the opaque window and stepped aside, motioning towards the inside of the container. Guessing what the motion implied, Luna slowly made her way towards the container, slowly and meticulously lowering her head to peer inside. It was a moment she would remember for the rest of her life... Inside the container, lay within a space much larger than Switch had led her to believe, was a small baby human. Sleeping peacefully wrapped in a large white bundle of fabric, it matched the picture she had seen weeks prior and Luna found the maternal instincts she had craved for so long returning with a vengeance. She reached forwards with her hooves, being the gentlest she had ever been, she delicately slid them underneath the child and lifted it through the opening and out into the light. Luna found herself crooning uncontrollably, pulling the baby close and cradling it in her forelegs, taking in every detail of its tiny little face... its cute little nose and its adorable little eyes, she spotted a symbol, a circle with a diagonally pointing arrow, printed in black amongst the white of the fabric, it wasn't a symbol used on her world but she recognised it nonetheless thanks to the material Switch had given her. "A colt... he's a little colt..." she said with a heartfelt smile "Yeah, they don't reveal the gender until you adopt them, just like in nature I suppose?" Switch replied "I've always wanted a Colt" "Remember, Luna, you need to make contact" Luna nodded as she remembered the conditions behind this adoption, so with a deep breath to steady herself, Luna raised her free hoof and gently brushed it across the baby's cheek, instantly she felt a pulling sensation spreading across her hoof and again the almost silent sizzling sounded out. The change was as instantaneous as it was astounding. The first thing that changed was the hair... its white and wispy strands suddenly exploded in both thickness and colour, growing out across the baby's head like grass and even extending down to the back of his neck, suddenly resembling a pony's mane the same royal blue colour as Luna's. The tip of his little nose flattened slightly, reminding Luna of a pony's snout and finally his skin seemed to pale ever so slightly, not enough to look remotely sickly but enough to contrast nicely with his new mane like hair. Luna only felt her heart swell as she took in the newly transformed child, Her newly transformed child, She saw herself in this child in more ways than one now and that made her love him all the more. "He is cute isn't he" Switch said with a wide grin on his face. "He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life" Luna replied without taking her eyes off the baby "He's going to need a name, Princess" Luna looked over to Switch slyly "Any suggestions, Uncle Switch?" "Ah... lets leave that until he can talk at least, eh? I think I just felt myself age a millennia..." "Hmm...." Luna mused, ignoring Switch's comment "How about.... Starlight Destiny?" "Jesus, Luna, give the poor little bugger a chance!!" "Then what would you suggest?" "How about... Blue?" "I'm not going to name my child after a colour, Switch, have some imagination!" "Alright... how about....Jericho?" "Sounds a little hostile, what about? Orion?" "Nah he doesn't look like an Orion... What about Maximus?" "Ursa major?" "Samuel?" "Ursa Minor?" "LEROY!" "Not a chance in - Wait... what are these?" Luna motioned to a series of letters and numbers, printed down the edge of the cloth "That's an ID code, so they give the right baby to the right people" Luna read the wording printed on the cloth to herself. C4R V3R Luna regarded that random assortment of letters an numbers and found something, something that almost seemed fated and natural, a sign from a mysterious power that brokered no argument. Therefore, Luna looked down at her new son... and decided... "I think I will call him..." "Carver"