I didn’t even hesitate, I took Discord’s hand. A wave of arcane energy flowed up my arm and into my body. The sensation was slightly reminiscent of duct tape slowly being pulled off of one’s skin, taking any hair stuck well enough with it. As it made its way through me, every nerve it touched started to tingle with a burning, numbing sensation almost like it was falling asleep. After it completely enveloped me, Discord’s grip tightened around my hand, nearly crushing my fingers in his vicegrip. I looked over to him, the sweat beading on his brow telling me that whatever he was doing was causing his body strain, but as my eyes traveled towards Celestia I saw a whole different story.
She looked as if she was under no stress at all. In fact, she was starting to stand taller, her skin started to look the way it had months ago, her hair was even starting to get a little more shine. She was getting healthier. As I came to this realization I could start feeling sharp stinging pains in my legs, followed by a sharp, severe crack in my arm. I tried to reach for the pain, but Discord pulled at my arm, only amplifying the hurt. I nearly yelped, but the moment I saw Discord trying to hide a smile I gritted my teeth and bore it, unwilling to give that asshole a drop of satisfaction.
Finally after what seemed like hours, even though it was probably just a few minutes, Discord released Celestia and I’s hands. The sensation and glow were gone, but the pains in my legs and suddenly broken again arm remained, all the while Celestia seemed to be far better off than I did, even sporting a small smile as she looked at her hands.
“It is done,” he said, stepping back and transforming into his true self.
I blinked, unsure of what was going on. “Wait, is that it?”
Discord looked at me blankly, snapping his fingers as the glow returned to his paw. “For her.”
“We just stepped out of the frying pan…” I said, realizing what he meant, “Didn’t we?”
“And into Dante’s Inferno,” Discord replied, “I didn’t expect Celestia to be so difficult, as her bond was forged non consensually and while you were unconscious, and that she is in much better health, but after going through that I doubt my human form would be able to take trying to undo a bond that was forged willingly with a now dying woman.”
“Not to mention she still might not be willing to separate,” Celestia added, not even bothering to hide the concern in her voice, “I’m not sure just how it works, but her being unwilling to sever the bond might–”
“Let’s try to tackle these things one at a time my dear,” Discord interrupted, snapping his eagle-like claw, causing it to glow like his paw, “we need to do this now if we even want a chance to save her.”
I stared at his paw for a few moments, watching the ethereal light whip and twirl across his hand. I would’ve considered it magical if I didn’t already know what it was going to do after I touched it. My attention then turned to Luna, her once strong and proud body now frail and broken, but despite everything she kept her gaze on me, not once altering in her stare. I could feel myself tearing up, knowing full well that it was my damn fault that she was in this situation, I was the son of a bitch that failed her on so many fronts and she still loved me all the same. I couldn’t help but smirk at the thought; I guess she was pretty foolish from the start.
“Are you going to take my hand or not?” Discord asked, beckoning me to put my hand in his, “Need I remind you that we really don’t have much time?”
“Right,” I nodded, reaching for him, I looked back to Luna one last time, a shameless tear running down her cheek. I took one last breath and wrapped my hand around Discord’s claw, the light began to wrap around my wrist, then the rest of my arm. As the light’s tendrils reached to my chest I looked to Luna one last time, hoping that my last words to her would mean something even after all I had put her through.
“I love you.”
It started in my legs, the venom from the spiders Discord had put in my pants resurfaced and forced my muscles to rapidly and painfully contract, like being tagged by a cattle prod. Soon after, bruises started to form all over my body, especially on my chest, where my would be assassin slammed his fist into me during our scuffle. A hole in my neck suddenly appeared and began to pour blood, I reached up with my free hand instinctively, trying to stop the blood loss. The moment my hand reached my throat, I started feeling my bones cracking, every little bone in my hand felt like it was grinding on itself. It felt like they were turning to powder as my fingers contorted both from the pain and the spell. Sharp pains started dotting all over my ribs, like the marrow in my bones had turned to ice and the bones were breaking from the cold. As I looked down, I saw several bloody patches forming in my shirt and could feel the blood start to trickle down my abdomen. My collarbone soon followed, the snap actually loud enough that I saw Celestia cringe from the corner of my eye. I tried to choke down the screams that were welling in my throat, but damn if this wasn't the worst pain I had ever felt.
“That has to be enough,” I heard her say in a panicked tone, that was more unnerving than watching my own body turn against itself, “look at him he’s–”
“No!” I barked through gritted teeth, “You didn’t let me stop you when you saved her life, now it’s your turn to stay out of my–”
The bones in my foot suddenly gave way, forcing me to a knee which, as if by cosmic coincidence, also shattered upon contact. I could feel my entire body shaking, but whether it was sheer willpower or shock, more than likely a mixture of both, I held on to Discord, going so far as to even squeeze tighter in spite of my broken hand.
Suddenly I felt something in my chest, but it didn’t feel like more broken ribs or a punctured lung, it felt far more dire. My grip on Discord’s hand began to loosen and I didn’t even have the ability to try to hold tight. I couldn’t even feel him beginning to squeeze on my pulverized hand, or even hear Celestia’s near frantic screaming as she tried to pry me from Discord’s grip. I could only feel one thing. Cold. As I looked up to Discord I saw that even his grip was starting to waver, but not because he was getting weak. I couldn’t hold on anymore, but by the grace of God I could still shake my head in refusal.
“K-keep going…” I stuttered weakly before feeling my skull starting to crack. I tried to stay conscious, I tried to see it through, but my vision began to blur as I started to convulse. I strained to look at Luna one last time before it all ended, but as some form of divine punishment by whoever controlled my fate decided that I wasn’t worthy of one final look.
Then, everything turned white.
A small humming sound echoed in my ears, a song, a song I hadn’t heard in months, maybe even a year. As I took a breath I felt a weight on my chest, but nothing like what it should’ve been. It didn’t feel like fluid filling my lungs, or ribs trying to tear me open, just a simple weight, like someone resting their head. As the tune repeated my eyes shot open, only to find myself somewhere I wasn’t expecting.
The hell? I thought to myself, but as I tried to look around my eyes stayed focused on the ceiling. Mercifully my eyes decided to travel downward to see a sea of sparkling midnight blue hair flowing across my body… and into my nose. Fortunately my body reacted appropriately, quickly reaching for the hair going into my nose and pushing it to the side, however the sudden violent movement caused the owner of said hair to finally stir.
“Wha… what is it dear?” Luna groggily asked, her hand sliding from my stomach to my chest. “Was it that dream about your old home again?”
The realization hit me like a ton of bricks, I remembered this exact moment. I hadn’t even been in Equestria for more than two months, Luna and I had just bound our souls not one week earlier.
“No,” I mouthed with myself as I took a deep breath, “I think that the Horsehead nebula and the Andromeda galaxy just went up my nose.”
Luna suddenly shot straight up, pulling away at her hair and exposing her nude body to me. I always liked this memory, and now I distinctly remember why.
“I’m sorry!” Luna said frantically, still fiddling with her hair as I admired her chiseled stomach, I probably could’ve done the castle laundry on the abs she once had. “I didn’t mean to I–”
I refused to let her finish her thought, taking hold of her arm with one hand and the other firmly taking hold of her hip I pulled her close to me, the cool air on my skin suddenly warmed by my lover’s flesh against mine. Luna couldn’t help but let out a squeak, but any and all shock disappeared as I pressed her lips against mine, her body going from rigid to warm butter within a matter of seconds.
Although I was enjoying reliving a great moment in my life, I couldn’t help but feel guilty. Luna and I hadn’t done anything remotely similar for months, hell we didn’t even look at one another like this anymore. Where the hell did our love go? Was I really so shallow as to lose my love for her because she had gotten pregnant? I tried to pull myself away from her kiss but I was stuck in a memory, so I was forced to once again feel the overwhelming passion and love from a woman I sure as hell didn’t deserve.
Reluctantly, Luna pulled herself away from me slowly sliding herself downward while her eyes remained locked on mine. “I love you,” she whispered, her voice far deeper than usual, almost growling with a primal desire.
I replied with a growl of my own as my hand traveled down her side, brushing against her bare breast before it ended at her perfectly toned rump, giving it a firm squeeze to which she replied with a gentle moan. The hunger in her eyes grew with every passing second and I would be lying if I didn’t feel the same, but just as things began to heat up, the song in my head grew clear as day.
You’re my world, the shelter from the rain.
You’re the pills, that take away my pain.
You’re the light, that helps me find my way.
You’re the words, when I have nothing to say.
And in this world where nothing else is true… Here I am, still tangled up in you… still tangled up in you.
I reached for my ear, feeling an earbud from an iPod. “The hell?” I asked, all but killing the mood, “where’d this come from?”
Luna’s expression went from confused to playful as she rolled off of me and reached for our end table, grabbing something that I thought we’d left behind back home. “The custom iPod you bought me,” she explained, waving it rather confidently, “I managed to cast a spell that brought it to me just before the portal closed, I know it’s not the best momento but–”
“Any reason it keeps playing Staind?” I interrupted, popping the bud out of my ear, “I thought you liked Breaking Benjamin.”
Luna blinked for a few seconds, processing an answer. “Oh well… I was listening to it the other day and this song came on.” She explained, “I thought it fit us perfectly.”
“How so?”
“Well, think of everything that’s happened to the two of us,” she began with a smile, “We were thrown into each other’s worlds by chance, you endured my naivety about the ways of your world. You sheltered me, protected me, even almost died for me, and–”
“Sounds pretty one sided if you put it that way,” I interrupted. “I mean, you saved me from being beaten to death, from jail time, from a bitch of an ex-girlfriend…” I paused, taking a deep breath before looking her square in the eyes. “And myself.”
Luna smiled, leaning in and give me a peck on the cheek. “No matter what we came across we faced it together, no matter what the world threw at us we still managed to come out on top, we got tangled up in one another and came out together.”
I couldn’t help but smile with myself as my memory looked to the battery life, 21%. “Battery’s going to be dead soon Luna.” I said rubbing her back, “best you turn it off, we don’t have a way to recharge it.”
“I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it.” Luna replied nestling up next to me as I wrapped my arm around her waist.
“Me neither…” I whispered kissing the top of her head as the song played once again.
In this world where nothing else is true, here I am still tangled up in you.
How long has it been since this storyline began, and I hope it never ends, and goes like this forever.
In this world where nothing else is true, here I am still tangled up in you… still tangled up in you.
The memory started to fade and tears began welling in my eyes. I never wanted to leave that perfect moment, it defined everything about our relationship up until now, and God or whatever controlled my fate and the fates of us all knew that I wanted that back. I would even give my soul, that was, if I had any left after all of this.
Darkness and cold began to overtake me. I was too weak to fight it, besides, there wasn’t much of a point to do so. I deserved worse for the things I’d done and I’ve become so damn tired. I was finally ready to just give up. My body, as heavy as it seemed, started to feel lighter and lighter until I felt like I was floating through nothingness. It was a blissful feeling, yet I was terrified of what came next. I may not be the smartest man in the world, but I knew what this was and I wasn’t ready to see it all fade away. Still, I was powerless to stop it.
Suddenly, I felt it. Something stirring in my chest. It was dull and distant and first, but the second time it hit me, it felt like I was being pushed back down. The fight’s not over yet, someone is throwing me a line. I did everything I could to clear my head and with each pound in my chest growing stronger and stronger, I became more and more aware. Whoever it was helping me, I felt their power. Their desire. Their determination to see me out of this alive, and I’d be damned if I was going to let them down.
Feeling started to return to me. The broken bones, the lacerated flesh, even the old burns on my arms from my tour of duty. All of it flooded back one by one like a canal being filled with water. The pain was so excruciating my body wanted nothing more than for me to go back to whatever purgatory I had just been pulled from. I fought to crack open my eyes and what little blurred image I could see through my failing body was enough to give me the burst of energy I needed to keep on fighting. Even if it was just for a little longer.
There, laying next to me, was the woman of my dreams with two small bundles cradled in her arms. Her chest rising and falling in perfect rhythm.
“Luna…” I muttered, trying to rise from my bed, but the agonizing pains in my chest forced me back down.
“He… he’s awake?” A voice on the opposite side of Luna said shocked, “by the glory of the sun.”
The doctors that were opposite of Luna and across from me swarmed around my bed, examining all the charts and tubes that they had apparently connected to me.
“How is he even alive?”
“His vitals just spiked… after being dead for two minutes.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Check the instruments again, this should–”
“Shut up,” I snapped, well, it was more like a whimper, but I’m pretty sure I got my point across, “Let me see Luna.”
“You’re in no condition to be up and about sir,” one of the doctors said, placing his hoof on my bed. “Your sudden wounds were so great that you actually fell into coma forty nine hours ago, and then you flat lined–”
“Forty nine hours?” I repeated, trying to painfully clench my fists through my cast. “I’ve been comatose for two damn days?!”
“Well technically you were comatose for forty eight hours and fifty seven minutes.” the doctor explained, “you died three minutes ago, it’s quite fascinating really, we’ve never had anyone–”
“Listen here doc…” I growled, glaring at him, “I don’t care if I’m the goddamn miracle on thirty fourth street. It’s been two days, the woman I love is right fucking next to me, I want to see her.”
“Uh… I’m afraid I–”
“That’s enough Aedan, the good doctor is just doing his job.”
I turned my head to the door and saw Celestia, the once regal and stoic leader of a nation, looking like a ragged and worn woman strung out on any manner of drugs, but even through all that she still managed a smile.
“Good morning, Mr. Ryan.” She said relieved.
“Two days.” I said, not cracking a smile, “I was like this for two days.”
“I know,” she nodded, “I put you on that bed myself.”
“Then why couldn’t be–”
“Discord was still working on the severing of your bond with Luna, any intervention to heal you on my part may have resulted in disaster.” Celestia explained, “And he was only finished an hour ago.”
“It took him two days to–”
“You wouldn’t believe how strong that bond was.” Discord interrupted, his eyes forming on one of my several I.V. drips, “I mean, yours was easy, being so wea–”
Celestia’s elbow jammed into Discord’s side, taking the wind out of him and giving me something to laugh at, if only for a moment. “Mind saying that again Discord? I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch that.” Celestia’s tone was so smug you’d swear that the only way you could’ve cut it was with a lightsaber.
“Yes well, it’s not important now,” he said, fully materializing in his human form next to the bed. “What is important is that you tell me what you are feeling Aedan. The re-directing of the energy was taxing to say the least.”
Discord reached behind him to one of the hospital arm chairs and pulled it up to the bed before taking a seat. I was surprised to see that he actually used what was there instead of snapping some wacked out therapist chair out of thin air. It was now that I saw his bloodshot and bagged eyes. He was exhausted.
“Well apparently I died five minutes ago,” I answered, “So there’s that.”
“Oh, trust me, I was aware that you left this world for a moment, but that’s not what I mean,” he said, resting his chin on his cane. “Does anything aside from your physical pains feel wrong?”
“Only thing that’s wrong right now is that Luna’s two feet away from me and I can’t even see her.”
“Well, your spine is fractured in multiple places so getting up right now is not a good idea. Maybe this will help.”
He snapped his fingers, and a mirror appeared above me, allowing me to finally have a look at my condition. “Son of a bitch…” I whispered to myself, I was wrapped up so tightly in gauze and plaster I had to wonder how the hell I was able to move, let alone breathe. Every injury I had for the past decade seemed to have reappeared as well as the many I should’ve sustained while bound to Celestia and Luna. “This is permanant… isn’t it?” I asked somberly, looking away from the mirror.
“No, but the scarring will take a lot of time to heal. Thanks to our magic you will be healing faster than normal,” Celestia chimed in, placing a hand on Discord’s shoulder.
“Let me see her.” I said, staring to my legs, “just let me see Luna.”
“Don't get your plaster casts in a bunch,” Discord said, snapping again to tilt the mirror. “At least you haven’t lost your bull-headed nature. The one thing I had hoped would change.”
In the mirror’s reflection I saw her, Luna sleeping peacefully with two blanket bundles in her arms; one blue, the other pink. My heart skipped a beat and my eyes went misty. She had no idea about what happened, which made me happier than anything I could recall.
“H-how old are they?” I asked looking back to Celestia.
“The boy is forty two minutes, the girl twenty six minutes,” she answered, wiping at a stray tear. “They don’t have names yet though, Luna wanted to make sure you had a say in it.”
“Can I ask one favor?”
“Yes. anything.”
“There a way that you can make me walk over there?”
Celestia cast a glance at Discord who had started to rise from his chair. “Sorry. Aedan, but stubbornness won’t win this day. The best we can do is prop you up and move your bed closer.”
“I’ll take it.” I answered, “I’ve missed the first three quarters of an hour of their lives, I want to start making up for it.”
Discord walked over to the side of my bed and pressed a small button on the wall. In seconds, three rather large stallions dressed in scrubs walked through the door. “Mr. Ryan would like to sit up, would you three be so kind as to help him?”
Without a word, the stallions made their way around my bed, two near the head and one at the foot. the two in the back reached downward and unhinged to top part of my bed. The sudden drop caused me to let out a hiss of pain. They paused, but I urged them to continue, I may have not been able to walk and was feeling pain beyond anything I’d ever faced, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to let this opportunity get away.
The pain I felt as they rose my cart was unbearable, but I kept reminding myself of who it was for, what it was for. After a few long, agonizing seconds I was finally sitting up high enough to see Luna without straining my entire body. With the major issue out of the way the three stallions started to move me slowly closer to Luna until finally our beds touched and I could see the three angels’ faces perfectly.
My heart started to race once more as I fought a smile and tears. There they were, after nine long and insane months, there they were. So small and delicate looking, sleeping peacefully with their mother, blissfully unaware of everything that had happened over the course of a few hours. I bit my lip and turned away, all of this excitement probably wasn’t good for me, but I honestly didn’t care. I started to make noises I didn’t think a grown man could make as I painfully reached to touch the blanket of my son, but the bindings around my shoulder made me short by just a matter of inches.
“C-can we wake her up?” I asked, looking back to Celestia and Discord, “I just–”
“You just want to hold your children,” Luna’s voice interrupted from behind me as the sound of her bed rising up hummed under her soft, loving tone.
I slowly turned back to see Luna at eye level with me, her arms cradling Equestria’s youngest citizens as gently as a mother should. My mouth was agape, unable to think of anything to say as she smiled at me warmly. “Am I wrong?”
“Uh, I…” My brain tried construct a proper, intelligent sentence, but anything that came out of my mouth was mush.
Luna let out an adorable giggle as she watched me babble like a man who’d been lobotomized before looking to the infants in her arms. “Hey, you see that man?” She asked them, gesturing towards me with her head, “That’s your daddy, mommy loves him very much.”
My daughter let out a small whimper as she was woken up, apparently I wasn’t exactly a pretty sight for her, a few seconds later she was in full on cry mode, screaming louder than anyone her size had any right to. “Nononono shhhhhhh.” Luna whispered, slowly rocking her as she continued to wail, “It’s alright, it’s alright, daddy’s not going to hurt you, he loves you as much as mommy does…”
I could feel a tear threatening to run down my cheek, not even an hour into motherhood and she was already doing everything right.
“Yes,” I heard myself say, “I love you so much. It’s… It’s great to finally meet you.”
I reached out to my daughter and wiped away her tears. What she did next was nearly enough to give me a heart attack. She grabbed my fingers and rubbed her cheek against my hand. I couldn’t fight it any longer, a torrent began to flow out of my eyes as I whimpered like an abused puppy. Sure she may have not have known what she was doing, but try telling that to a man who’s had his hand grabbed by his daughter for the first time.
“Oh my God…” I halfway yelped, my eyes focused intently on her small hand, her hand couldn’t even wrap around my finger, but there she was, squeezing away.
“I knew she’d warm up to you quickly.” Luna said with a motherly smile, “Your son is a lot quieter, I think he takes from you.”
I finally managed to pry my eyes off of my daughter and looked to my son, still sleeping in his mother’s arms in spite of his little sister’s banshee-like wailing. He looked exactly like I did when I was born, from the tip of his chin to the top of his head, the only way you would’ve been able to tell was by the date each photo was taken. After a few seconds of pointing out all the similarities he started to stir in his mother’s arms and finally his eyes opened, it was then that any air in my lungs vanished.
Cobalt blue, just like his mother, and when the eyes turned to me I expected him to ball like his sister, but instead he smiled. He was looking right at the messed up and overall terrifying face and he was smiling, fucking fearless.
“See?” Luna said while holding in a laugh. “Very brave, just like his father.”
“C-can… Can I?” I babbled like an idiot as I gestured to the both of them. “Can I hold them?”
I could hear who I could only assume to be Celestia’s footsteps approaching, probably to object given the use of my arms were heavily limited, but Luna looked past me and have her a long look before passively shaking her head. “You may.” she said simply leaning in towards me and carefully placing each infant in a the pockets between my chest and casts. “They’ve been waiting for this moment their entire lives.”
The joke was lost on me as my eyes darted between the two ridiculously tiny humans in my arms. It was almost surreal, seeing just how small we start out. I then looked to Luna, her smile so full of love and pride in what she made. My attention then then went to the babies, my daughter was half asleep, squirming a little with her eyes closed and my son kept his eyes on mine, still smiling like a homeless man that had won the lottery. I continued looking between the three of them, each look filling me with more and more guilt, until finally, I couldn’t handle it anymore.
“I don’t deserve this…” I managed to choke out before I started crying. “After everything I’ve done, after all I’ve failed to do. Why the hell do I of all people deserve this?”
Luna reached out for me and placed her hand on my shoulder. “Because despite all those mistakes, you’re still the man I love. The one who would literally give me the Moon if it wasn’t already mine. The one who has proven not once, but twice that they were willing to die for me. Though it’s true you’ve made some mistakes, you’ve always come back from them and have shown that you’ve grown.” She paused, sliding her hand to my face so I would look at her. “You’ve given me everything I could have ever wanted, and you deserve to be rewarded in kind.”
Once again I found myself in tears, I didn’t deserve such a beautiful, kind, and gentle soul, yet here she was, giving me my children. The two most beautiful children I had ever laid my eyes on.
“Well as much as I would love to keep watching this watershed moment,” Discord piped in, “I really should be going. I’ll let you five have some privacy.”
As he was turning to leave, Luna turned her gaze to him. “Discord. Thank you.”
Discord merely shrugged. “Just did what needed to be done,” he said before shifting his gaze from me to Celestia. “We need to talk more later. But for now, enjoy your time with our new prince and princess.”
Celestia nodded and walked towards us, both the infants greeting their aunt with squirming little bodies. “Have you thought of any names yet?” She asked, her eyes shifting between myself and Luna. “Your son’s nearly an hour old and I still don’t have a cute nickname for him yet.”
My mind officially ran a blank. I hadn’t thought of any names for either kid through the entire pregnancy, and now that I was on the spot I had nothing. “Uh…”
“Donovan.” Luna replied, much to my surprise, “our son’s name is Donovan.”
“Luna… that’s–”
“Your Grandfather’s name, and the name you always wanted to give your son.” Luna replied gently patting my son’s head. “It was also the name of the child you saw when we shared our minds so long ago, and by the looks of it, he’ll be a spitting image of that vision.”
“I, I don’t know what to say Luna. Why?”
“While I was in your world, you taught me so much, showed me many things and introduced me to so many wonderful people,” she answered, turning her gaze from my son to me. “I thought this would be a great way to honor the man who had taught you to be who you are today.”
“T-thank you Luna,” I stuttered, looking down to my son, my Donovan. “How do you like that son? Donovan sound good to you?”
Donovan just looked between myself and his mother and smiled, offering a little motion of his hand as if he were accepting the decision.
“I think he likes it.” Celestia laughed, “I just hope he doesn’t mind being called Donni when he’s older.” She then turned her attention to my daughter, folding her arms across her chest as a smirk graced her face. “And what about her?”
“I think she should have a pony name.” I stated before Luna could say anything, “You named my son after my grandfather, I think you deserve the same treatment.”
“Well… of course.” Luna replied slightly confused, “What did you have in mind?”
Shit. I hadn’t thought of one yet, but once again I was on the spot. I refused to make a fool of myself in front of my kids this soon so I randomly picked a name out of thin air, because that seemed like how some of these ponies were named in the first place.
“Um… how about Nyx?”
Silence, utter silence. Both Celestia and Luna looked at me like I was the most colossal idiot that they’d ever seen, which, for all intensive purposes, was correct.
“That… certainly is unique.” Celestia said, trying to be nice while saying no, however, Luna was known to not pull punches.
“That has got to be…” she began, staring blankly at me, her motherly smile long gone. “One of the stupidest names I have ever heard. No self respecting pony, hell, even Twilight wouldn’t be so foolish to name a foal that.”
“Oookay,” I said looking to my daughter, who seemed to share the disdain as her mother, offering a face that could be best described as ‘ech’. “What about Moon Dancer?”
“Taken.” Luna said blankly.
“Hope?”
“Too cliché.”
“Midnight Gleam?”
“Do you want to raise another antagonist for Twilight to defeat?”
“Night Glider?”
“Again, taken.”
“Night Rider?”
“I’d rather not have our daughter named after that one classic show you made me watch with you that one day.”
“We had nothing else to do and it was a marathon.”
“Still no.”
“Well I’ve got nothing then.” I huffed, though I immediately regretted it because the action rattled my ribs around a little. “What about you?”
“I confided in you to come up with a name for her.” Luna replied, “but after Nyx I think I knew I shouldn’t have done that.”
Before I could offer a snark-filled rebuttal Celestia cleared her throat, attracting everyone’s attention. “How about Geala?”
Luna and I looked to one another, then to our daughter, and then back to Celestia. “How did you even–”
“Geala is a Gaelic name derived from the word gealach,” Celestia explained rather proudly, “it means moon.”
Luna and I looked down to our daughter, her smile pretty much sealing the deal. “Well I guess that’s settled,” I said looking back to Celestia, “How’d you come up with that so fast?”
“I had been hoping you’d have a baby girl, so I may have been brainstorming a few ideas…” She admitted sheepishly. “Besides, it's a beautiful name.”
Luna and I shared another quick glance before we turned our eyes back to the two beautiful babies resting in my arms, now starting to nod off.
“I think it’s time these two went back to their mommy.” I said doing the best I could to lean towards Luna without breaking my back again.
Luna leaned in and scooped the babies out of my arms gently as not to disturb them. “I think all of us need some sleep.” she said looking to her children, “this will probably be our last opportunity to get a decent rest for the next several years.”
The three of us let out quiet laughter, as not to jinx ourselves right off the bat. Celestia turned and faced the door, “I suppose I’ll let the family have this moment to yourselves.” she said as she made her way towards the exit, only to stop as her hand touched the handle. “Thank you Aedan. For loving my sister… For giving her the world.”
Celestia stepped out before I could offer a reply, but honestly I didn’t think she needed one. So I sat there, staring at the now three most important people in my life, one of them contently humming a lullaby while the other two in her arms dove further and further into sleep. I don’t remember how long I watched, but I remembered watching Luna fall asleep with her… our children in her arms and feeling that, even with everything that happened during this arguably most bizarre period of my life, that it was the best ride I’d ever been on. Finally, as my own eyelids grew heavy themselves, I couldn’t help but smile, somehow knowing that this was only the start of something much greater.