My ear flicked at the sound of hoofsteps against the wooden floor, pulling me from my barely asleep state. I wasn’t sure how long it had been, but I could feel sunlight through my closed eyes, so it couldn’t have been all day.
I recognized those hoofsteps.
They stopped not quite beneath me. “Hey,” Sunset said quietly.
“Hey,” I answered without moving.
“...Could you come down here, please?”
I forced my eyes open and blinked down at her in the piercing bright light. Sunset looked tired, and I could tell she had been crying. But the sun shimmered in her slightly mussed mane and on her coat.
She didn’t look angry, just tired.
Wrapping myself in a teleport field, I deposited myself standing in front of her.
“That’s new,” she said quietly. “Changing your position when teleporting is kinda advanced.”
“I did learn some stuff while away with Celestia; it wasn’t quite just flirting,” I admitted, eyes half-closed against the glare of the sun. “Refining my teleporting was one of them. My range and speed still aren’t the best as I can’t dump enough power into it.”
Sunset nodded and then glanced around before her horn lit, and a dome of darkness covered us. Not a full one, only leaving us in semi-darkness even to a Day Pony, but it allowed me to open my eyes fully.
“Thanks,” I told her before I sighed. “Sunset, look, I’m-”
She raised her hoof and put it against my lips. “Page, please. Let me say what I want to say first.”
I swallowed and nodded, trying not to show exactly how much that sentence terrified me.
Sunset sat down and looked into my eyes. “It hurt me, Page,” she said quietly. I swallowed again and sat down as well.
“But I also understand what you mean,” she continued softly. “Especially after having talked it through with Luna and Twilight. I don’t blame you for feeling like that.”
I shook my head. “I-I’m sorry, Sunset. I should have put that so much better.”
She actually gave me a slight smile. “I did kinda spring it on you, didn’t I?”
“A bit. But still.”
Sunset shook her head slightly and then moved a bit closer, looking into my eyes. “Page. One day… you will lose me.”
“No.”
She put her hoof against my chest. “Yes, you will,” she said gently but firmly, eyes not leaving mine. “You are an alicorn. I’m a unicorn. I know it will hurt; I know exactly how much it will hurt because when I found out you had been hit, it felt like the arrow had pierced me and not you.”
I clenched my jaw and looked at her seriously. “No, Sunset. I will not. No matter what, I wo-”
She looked into my eyes, and I broke off, finding that I could no longer speak. Nor see, really, as everything was shifting colors through tears.
Sunset shifted closer, resting her head against my neck, and I clung to her. Likely too tightly, but she didn’t protest.
“You will,” she repeated softly against my neck. “It’s what ponies do. Even alicorns, eventually. We have seen proof of that.”
I just clung to her for a long time before I slowly let go to look into her eyes, trying to blink mine clear. Sunset reached up to gently brush her hoof across my eyes. “Luna explained things,” she told me gently. “The fear of losing me was folded into the foals.”
“...In that case, I suppose she knew me better than I did,” I admitted. “She’s likely right though. I… Oh, Luna… losing you, Sunset… or Celestia or Luna or Twilight, it would… buck, it would destroy me.”
Sunset's hoof touched my cheek gently, and she brushed her lips against mine. “And me as well,” she said softly. “Like when I lost my parents. But after it all, I’m still here.”
I stroked her side with my wing. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I never wanted to make you cry.”
Sunset smiled softly. “I know. I could have handled that a lot better as well.”
“...Had this talk with Twilight yet?” I asked after a moment.
She sighed softly and then nodded. “We did. It went… slightly better. Before you and I got together.”
“Well, Sparks always was the smarter of us,” I admitted.
Sunset smiled a bit and bumped my nose with hers. “Only slightly better.”
I nodded and hugged her tightly again, nosing at her ear. “...On the subject of foals…”
Sunset broke the hug and looked up at me. “I won’t do that to you,” she told me seriously. “Nor to Twi, who it would hit just as hard.”
“But you still want foals.”
“I do,” Sunset agreed with a small smile. “But just as my foals would have been just as much Twi’s, Twi’s foals will also be mine.”
“Oh.”
Sunset smiled. “As an added upside, it would let me skip the more unpleasant parts, which… is not an unattractive idea, if I'm to be completely honest,” she admitted.
I slowly nodded. “...Now?”
Sunset smiled and shook her head. “Twi says she isn’t ready yet. But I could tell that she was thinking seriously about it, and you know how she is.”
“I do,” I admitted, nosing at her mane. “Lists, research, and checklists.”
“Exactly,” Sunset said with a small grin against my neck as I held her.
I stroked her coat for several moments before I spoke up quietly again. “...You know it might not even be possible, right? I mean, we have been careful, but not that careful.”
“I know,” Sunset said with a small sigh. “And even if Cadance helps with spells, it might not be possible still. Flurry might just have been because Cadance is Cadance. If that’s reality, then that’s how it is.”
I nodded and looked down at her.
Sunset looked up at me in turn. “And you should realize that just because it’s Twi, Luna, or even Celestia, it would not guarantee an alicorn. Even earth ponies with no other tribes mixed in for generations can have unicorns or pegasus foals.”
I swallowed and then nodded. “I know. But if it works, the odds are a lot better.”
Sunset nodded in turn and gave me a small nuzzle. “Come back to bed, Page. It’s so late, and I think all of us have an early evening.”
I nodded and gave her a small kiss. “I’m sorry for hurting you, Sunny. I never wanted to do that.”
“I forgive you, you silly bat,” Sunset laughed softly and gave me a small kiss back. “Let’s go to bed.”