I stood outside the window, looking inside at the white-clothed ponies work around Fluttershy. It had been too long of a time since I had last seen such a smile on her face, and I was determined to make sure that she kept it up for as long as she could. I myself smiled, partly because my wife was so happy, and partly because I had once again remembered what we had decided to name our foal if it was a filly. I waited with practically bated breath waiting for the doctor's signal of the foal's gender.
I really couldn't wait. Evidently, my impatience was known to the ponies standing near me as well. "Will," Applejack said in her drawl. "Would ya calm down? They know what they're doin', you dun need ta worry none."
Shifting my weight between my feet just about every second, I replied, "I know. I just can't wait... You'll understand my eagerness, I trust?"
All of them -- Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity -- understood my meaning. All of them except Twilight. It wasn't because she still had that anger directed towards me. No, that was long gone. At least I hope it was. No. The meaning, the undertone of my reply sailed way over her head. She started to ask what I meant, but I saw out of the corner of my eye that Pinkie, in her dramatic fashion, swept her hoof across her throat and pretended to be dead. "Oh," came the soft-spoken response.
Returning my full attention to the delivery room, I noticed that Fluttershy was holding our newborn foal. The doctor had wrapped it up in an adorable little pink towel, which told me it was a filly. And I knew what that meant. I knew what her name was. "Styx..." I whispered.
"What? Where?!" Rainbow Dash, seemingly to outdo Twilight, remained oblivious to the reason behind my silent word. Of course, it was partly my fault for not telling them what Fluttershy and I had planned, though that could easily rectified.
"In there, Rainbow," I answered. "Fluttershy's getting to hold her now."
Rainbow Dash, and everypony else, for that matter, peered inside to see what they knew as Styx. They were surprised and a little annoyed when they didn't meet their expectations. "Ah don't see Styx anywhere in there at all, Will."
It was then my smile grew larger. "Look at Fluttershy's hooves. Styx is in them right now."
"You mean..." Twilight stumbled. "You mean to say that you named your foal after one of your worst enemies?! Does Fluttershy even know about this?"
Twilight, of course, still could not let me enjoy my fun, it seemed. "No, Twilight. Styx was not my worst enemy. Not even one of them. She was one of my friends. That is, until she became overzealous to please Zeus's wish. And Fluttershy was the one who suggested it in the first place, so I'd think she knows about this."
Her jaw worked up and down for a few seconds, then finally snapped shut and she didn't say another word. "Prince Will," the doctor called from the now open doorway. "If you wish to see your foal before we send her off to sleep, you must come now."
Following his instructions, I followed him into the room. "Hey there, love," I said in as soft a tone as I could manage. "How are you feeling?"
Fluttershy was beginning to feel the effects of both giving birth and the medicine and anesthetics. "I'm..." she started in a dazed expression. "I'm fine. Just a little..." she yawned. "Sleepy. You wanna hold her?"
I nodded. "I think that would be wise." She weakly lifted her hooves to hand Styx off to me, and when I bore the full weight of our foal I realised how small she was. She could not have weighed more than ten pounds, and I could easily cradle her in my arms. Her eyes were still closed; they wouldn't open for at least another week or so, then the ears would follow. "Go on to sleep, love. I'll make sure Styx gets to rest."
"Okay... Will." Another yawn. "I'll be fine, I promise."
I handed the doctor my foal, and said to him, "Please be careful."
To that, despite the doctor's place in society as one of Canterlot's best doctors, he had to chuckle. "Don't worry, Prince Will. We'll take good care of her. Rest easy."
"Thank you." Exiting the room, I turned to leave the hospital. They'd need all the room and focus they could get to quickly bring the baby to good stability and to get Fluttershy quickly back to great shape.
I would also have been able to exit quickly and quietly had I not forgotten that I did in fact bring along friends. "How's the foal? Is she smiling? What's her name? Wait, I already know her name, you told us! How big is she? Is she a pegasus? Unicorn? Tell me tell me tell me!"
When my eyes finished shrinking down to reasonable sizes and my lungs and heart popped back into place, I took a breath to answer. "In that order," I said, trying to recall exactly what Pinkie Pie had asked in her too-fast-to-understand speak. "She's fine. Not yet. Small. And as for that last one, you'll have to find out when you see her."
"Awww..." The look of disappointment on Pinkie's face almost made me spoil the surprise. Almost.
"Sorry, Pinkie. But you'll just have to wait." With that, I made my escape... er, I mean exit, as expediently as I could. I had been here for several months now. In Canterlot, I mean. Though, for that same amount of time, I did not know where Bill was. Apparently Luna didn't know either, which made me really worried. Working my way through the streets, I headed back to the Castle and, eventually, my bed.
My rest was a bit more fitful than I had wished for, though I just attributed it to being more excited than I realised. After a while of tossing and turning, however, I finally fell into the welcoming embrace of the darkness of sleep... or so I thought.
I held out my arms as I caught Styx. It was her third time gliding, and though she was slightly behind in the flying department compared to other pegasi, I didn't mind one bit. By the gods she was my daughter, my little filly. I was proud of her no matter what. "That was great, Styx! You're doing really well!" A dull throb arose within my chest near my heart, but I paid no attention to it. My daughter's performance took precedence.
"Thanks, dad!" She gave me a hug, wrapping her arms around me yet unable to clasp her hands behind me.
See, the thing was, according to my mother, that a Paracorn is genetically similar to Equestrian ponies, of all types, so as to be able to produce children. Those children were, unlike other cross-species results like ligers or mules, fertile and could produce children themselves as well, and they would be able to produce children all down the line. I had no need to worry about my line dying out, in other words. On top of that, there is a chance that the offspring of Paracorns and Equestrian ponies will be born a Paracorn instead of a pony. Styx was one of those occasions.
"I think that's enough for one day, though," I told her. Before she could make the most adorable puppy-face that I knew I wouldn't be able to resist, I told her. "Let's go inside and see what your mother's cooking up for dinner, shall we?"
With that, my adorable little filly began excitedly saying, "Yeah yeah! Let's go!" She grabbed hold of my hand and tried dragging me to the house. It probably would have worked if she were larger or I were smaller, but since neither she nor I fit into those modifiers, I had to walk with her so she didn't fall over. "Come on, dad!"
I laughed, but that drew a bit of attention towards the feeling I had in my chest. Still, I knew there was nothing wrong with me. It was just a memory of past days, days I'd left behind to start my family. "Alrighty, sport, no worries!" Chuckling again, I continued, "The house isn't going anywhere!"
"But mommy might! Come on!" I was more amazed that she managed to keep a straight face while saying that, but then again, I had to remember that she was only seven years old. It's probably also why she still called Fluttershy "Mommy" but me "dad". Everyone knows daughters are closer or more in touch with their mothers than they are with their fathers if everything in the household is normal. But just to keep me on my toes, Styx had those times where she came to me to be with me more. Those periods lasted about a week on average, and maybe same per month.
Opening the door for her, she ran inside, straight to the kitchen and to her mother. I, on the other hand, went for the couch. Sitting down in front of the coffee table, I laid back and closed my eyes. I really was proud of Styx. She was a very good little girl. She behaved well, was really smart, and was even very athletic, hence why I had called her sport; she was active in the school's air football team. They weren't a competing team, in any sense, but it still let her practise her thing and let her experiment with different avenues of hobbies.
Thinking about my wonderful daughter simply had to put a smile on my face. I had just about everything anyone could ask for. I had a loving wife, an adorable little daughter, an experienced and caring mother, and a sensible aunt. I still wondered where Bill had wandered off to, and I also wished that we had been able to concoct some sort of locating spell or something, that would let us know where the other was.
"Will!" The scream came from the direction of the kitchen, but it was muffled, distant. "Will!" It was the same voice: my mother's. Was she visiting? If she was, why was she screaming? I had only known her to surprise us with her visitations; at least she'd let us know ahead of time.
Something wasn't right.
"Will, stay with me!" It was Bill. Was that why Luna was shouting? Bill had returned? No, that couldn't be it. They both sounded panicked. Was someone hurt? Celestia? Fluttershy... Styx? I couldn't sit back anymore. It felt as if I'd sat there for minutes, but it was in reality a few seconds.
I opened my eyes, but saw nothing. Only darkness. Still, they kept calling to me. Was this a dream? If it was, it was a pretty nightmarish dream. Or, I guess, it could be a nightmare. "Come on, Will!" It was my aunt now. "Stay alive!"
It beat the hell out of me as to why she'd tell me to do that. All I did was close my eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't... I didn't know!" That was Stargazer. He was the one who, heh, hit me with that paralysis bolt. But that was ages ago. I don't know why he'd be saying sorry now. I remember he said it then, too.
"Will! No, no, no! WILL! God damnit, stay alive, man! I felt a rhythmic thumping against my chest. I realised I must have been having a flashback or something similar. Experiencing that day again, for some reason. A scene flashed before me, of Bill huddled over me. He was the source of the thumping, pounding against my chest. That must have been how he got my heart pumping again. The area next to my heart began actually hurting by this point. Luna's face was next to Bill's, tears streaming prolifically from her eyes.
"Will... Will... WILL!" The third time she screamed my name, her voice cracked and heaving overcame her annunciation in the middle of the word.
"Not again, man! NOT AGAIN, DAMMIT!" Bill was shouting at me, and his face was no more than twenty inches away. Still, both their voices sounded as distant as the sun. And then it hit me. I realised just what was going on. This wasn't a dream. This wasn't a memory.
I was dying.
In re torvus... it hit me harder than if I had flown full speed into a brick wall. Not only in my brain or physically, but in my heart. And it wasn't just because of the gaping wound. I had not fought Styx. She never died. I wasn't free. Fluttershy was still waiting for me to solve our problem with Styx. And I had no daughter. It all set in.
The scene that had been displayed before me vanished slowly, fading back to black. I dimly became aware of a soft beating. It was my heart, pumping along, trying to pump enough blood to clot the wound that wouldn't allow it to. I also became aware of a soft continuous tone in the back of my consciousness. Ever so slightly, I heard that tone fade. I heard that beat become less frequent. Then, finally, I heard the loudest sound I've ever heard: silence.
I was dead.
To be completely honest, I didn't know what to do or what to expect. With that idea in mind, I began preparing myself for every situation I could imagine. Every death scenario played in my mind. It just so happened that the scenario that I encountered this time, was the only one I hadn't prepared for. And it chilled me to my ethereal bones.
"Are you staying this time, Victor? Your kids want to see their daddy again."
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. My father. had he known I just thought of his full name, he'd warn me again that Names carry power. Thankfully, I was thinking this all and therefore could not be heard. But I was very surprised. When I first died, he'd been there to welcome me. Before I woke up in Erebus, he'd told me he'd watch over my two foals Moonshy and Victor while I got sorted out. Unfortunately, because of Styx, I never got to relieve him of his duty. Thus, it was no surprise that he'd crack that line upon my return.
It really pained me, dying for the second time. Unfortunately, it felt oddly natural, as if it was my time. I knew that that feeling was probably the Fates' doing. They did, after all, control the span of the lives of every living thing in the universe. And I couldn't bear it. As much as I wanted nothing more than to be with Fluttershy once again forever, I did not want to see her pained look that would surely occupy her face whenever she saw the scars, or the constant worry everyone would have as to when the next potentially fatal accident would occur. No. This time, for the sake of everyone including myself, I had a single decision to make, and even when I made it I prayed that it was the right one.
"Yes, dad. I'm staying this time."