Luna's Secret
"Oh Celestia, I don't think I can even begin to tell you how thankful I am for your help. Every day you help me with the twins..." Luna stated appreciatively as she walked out from behind the enchanted dark blue curtains that shielded her foals' cribs from sight. They were the first measure she'd taken to keep her foals hidden, as well as the various spells and wards she’d applied to her chamber’s walls to prevent their cries and talking from escaping the room, lest her well-thought plan of secrecy be ruined by somepony hearing her foals crying. As she looked to her very gravid sister, who was eleven months along and very nearly on the cusp of giving birth to her foal, the smaller alicorn waved a hoof towards her older sister, only to pause at the sight of the tall and very, very round white alicorn.
"...even given your rather...well, gravid condition right now," Luna added with a slightly bashful smile as Celestia sighed and nodded her head slowly. "Rest assured Tia, I would not ask you unless I really needed the help. I am perfectly capable of looking after my own children without asking my full term, pregnant sister for assistance, but today..." Luna waved her forehooves in slight emphasis of the latter statement.
Celestia simply rolled her eyes and smiled in response."Oh, Luna, you know it is no issue, really. I appreciate every opportunity I get to see both my niece and nephew…ooof," Celestia’s assurance halted at the squirming feeling in her very large, taut and full to bursting belly. "Although..." she swiftly pressed on, "Once my own son or daughter is born, which I'm pretty sure could be any day now, I will have to devote a lot more time to my own foal, and won’t be here as much to help you with your two."
Luna paused at that, almost seeming insulted for a second. There was no way she would ever expect Celestia to put her own son or daughter before her own twins, given how much help Celestia would be getting with her foal and how, yet of that were the case, Luna would be all alone to take care of her twins. Luna was almost shocked her sister had even suggested such a thing. Then again, Celestia had not said that directly, so maybe it was just her mommy hormones talking again. After all, the chemicals in Luna’s body had been thrown into a spin by her pregnancy and birthing of her foals.
Dealing with all of the changes in her body – from the extra weight, lactation and the irritating foal estrus that had come only a week after the birth – had been a struggle, especially while looking after the twins.
Even now and then, even as her estrus was once again settling back to normal and she believed she'd began cycling again previous day, she still had the odd mood swing, or even craved something strange.
Part of her almost wished she was still pregnant so she could once again feel what is was like and maybe even relive what she'd experienced with her sister the night the foals were born. Then again, that may merely be her possible estrus speaking.
Luna sighed as she focused on Celestia. As she'd said, Celestia was very heavily pregnant with her own foal and unlike Luna, Celestia had not had the foresight to keep her offspring a secret, going public with it within a month of learning she was indeed pregnant.
Luna had to admit though, seeing so many ponies fuss and fan over their pregnant princess did make her a little jealous. However, the work of caring for her own two perfect little foals kept her from getting too mad at her sister, and the thought of another little niece or nephew in the next few days was also exciting.
She knew, however, that the new prince or princess could know about their two older cousins of course. Ever since the Changeling’s kidnapping attempt well over a year ago, it had been Luna's sole plan to ensure that her foals would remain as secret heirs, should the worst ever happen to all of Equestria's other rulers. Nopony could know about her foals, other than Celestia of course, yet the older they got, the more of a hoof-full they would become and soon she couldn't even rely on her sister to help.
Both Celestia and her rather handsome stud of a stallion would be busy raising their own foal or foals, leaving Luna alone with the two most precious ponies in the world to her. Thinking about that, coupled with the mental image of Celestia and her coltfriend, Sun Strike, with their foal, forced Luna to stare emptily into the blue floor at her sister's golden-shoe-clad hooves for a long moment, before Celestia finally spoke.
"Luna...Luna, my dearest little sister, are you alright?" Celestia asked, and in an instant Luna shook herself, looking up sharply.
"What? Yes Tia, of course I'm alright! Why would you think otherwise?" Luna blurted, but Celestia did not look convinced.
Luna kept up her frail lie for no more than a few moment before Celestia shifted over and wrapped a wing over her sister’s back, sitting down beside her. The hug, made difficult due to Celestia's hard belly, broke the last of Luna's stubborn resolve and the alicorn sighed as she leaned against her sister’s round stomach.
"You know what troubles me Tia, and don't pretend that you don't." Luna said, and Celestia nodded once as she shifted her neck around to look over to her sibling.
"You're worried about your foals’ future. You're beginning to think this whole plan of yours for them to be secret heirs to the throne is not as important as their future and happiness." Celestia said and, as hard as she tried to hide the dryness in her tone, especially after so many months of trying to get that message across to her sister, it failed.
Luna shifted back from her, looking a little unimpressed as she frowned. "Okay, okay, there's not need to be so...so obvious about it!" Luna stated, yet one glance back at the curtains hiding her foals forced her words to trail off. "Today I took both of them into the castle grounds during the day. I'd told myself over and over that it was a bad idea. I mean, after all, they're both half bat pony and they shouldn't even like the daylight, being nocturnal by nature.Yet...they're so inquisitive..." Luna was interrupted by a small giggle from her sister and frowned again as Celestia raised hoof to her muzzle to stifle her laughter.
"Inquisitive, huh?" Celestia stated knowingly. "Remind you of anypony else?" she added, poking a hoof at her sister's chest.
This time it was Luna's turn to crack a smile.
"I suppose you're right, Tia...we both are quite curious and questioning." Luna retorted, shooting her sister a look at the latter part. "They were both just so captivated looking out of the window when they were in this chamber me today, and then Aurora asked if they could go outside and...well, I don't know what came over me when I said yes."
Luna shifted a little uneasily, the idea of her plans being in jeopardy because she couldn’t keep her feelings for her children in check frightened her, and since then she was cautious of letting any of her emotions get the best of her again. Yet the soft touch of her sister's wing gently rubbing against her back soothed her fears.
"The instincts of a mother are a powerful thing, Luna. I think we both have learned just how powerful, given all of our recent endeavours." Celestia said and Luna took another deep breath, then looked back down at the floor.
"I didn't think anything of it at the time, I just wanted to give them what every other foal should have.” Luna said, remembering back to walking along outside with her foals for the first time in months, “I thought it would all be fine, an invisibility spell here and a little soundproofing there...I could have taken them anywhere and no pony would have known, no pony other than the three of us, but..."
Luna trailed off again, and Celestia cocked her head in concern as she felt a ripple in her taut belly.
"Unfortunately, Aurora saw a group of fillies and colts playing outside the castle walls, and well...she asked me about them, why she couldn’t go and play with them…her first words to me in weeks in fact. How ironic, huh?" Luna finally confessed.
Celestia fought back the excitement of learning that her beautiful little niece had spoken again after being clammed up for so long, managing instead to focus all of her energy on comforting her little sister instead.
"Luna, please don't get mad at me for suggesting this, but..." Celestia said, before being stopped by Luna raising her hoof.
"You think this whole plan is a stupid idea and it's never going to work. You’ve told me a million times." Luna stated bluntly before her sister could finish, leaving Celestia dumbstruck, needing a hard kick from her foal to shock her back to reality.
The Princess of the Sun didn't say anything as Luna moved over to the window, looking out at all the ponies returning home as the evening grew old, seeing the sun lowering to the horizon and knowing that it would not be long before her duties as Princess of the Night called her to raise the moon.
However, that duty felt like a burden now; something she once took so much pride in now only served as a chore that dragged her away from her foals. She didn't feel she had the right to leave them for even a second while she forced them to hide away from everypony else. It was ironic that she was all but forcing them to suffer the same confined and reclusive fate she experienced for a millennia as she was locked on the moon and struggled to keep her sanity against the Nightmare infesting her.
"Luna, my dear little sister, ponies are social creatures. Even you and I, though we may have been alone as foals, have had each other, and neither of us were confined to a bedchamber for all hours of the day and night." Celestia said, and Luna solemnly bowed her head, as she looked back her sister.
"You think I don't know that? Every moment I spend in here, knowing I'm keeping them from a life they deserve, it tears me apart Tia. But the plan, the danger to Equestria..." Luna said, before a sob choked her off.
"Is Equestria’s perceived future safety truly more important than your own foals' happiness? Your happiness?" Celestia asked before Luna could finish, and the smaller alicorn closed her eyes tightly.
"Luna, I know that you thought that you owed it to Equestria to make sure its future was safely guarded, but such an idea would never have worked. If your twins, a Prince and Princess of Equestria, remain unknown to the public, then how would you expect your subjects to recognize them as royalty of we’re all gone and not able to verify it? Not only that, but you cannot keep them in your chamber for all of their lives. They're barely four months old and already starting to question you. How do you think they'd react when they found out you were keeping them from the real world when they’re older?" Celestia asked softly, only to pause as she saw the faint glimmer of tears seep from under her sister's closed eyelids.
"They'd hate me, I know...they would despise the cruel mother who kept them locked away in the dark for their entire foalhood and made them miss out on growing up. The…Nightmare."
"Luna, don't dare say such a thing!“ Celestia scolded, “I have seen you taking care of these two. You're the best mother they could ask for, and dare I say, better than I could even be to them myself...and to stick by this idea for so long and at such sacrifice...I think you have more than proved your loyalty to Equestria a thousand times over already. Now however, I think it is time to give them the life you know you want for them. The life they deserve." Celestia said as she heaved her gravid form up to standing.
Luna took one glance to where her two foals were sleeping, then moved over to her sister, pressing her head against Celestia's shoulder as tears trailed her cheeks.
"I know, you're right Tia...I-I'm sorry I took so long to see sense, I should have listened sooner," Luna whimpered weakly, but Celestia soothed her with a quiet ’shush’ as she rubbed a wing across her back.
"It was your motherly instincts that told you that this is wrong, not me. You know deep inside that setting aside what you believe is right for what you know is right for your foals is what's more important. If that does not prove you're a good mother, then I do not know what will" Celestia assured her weeping sister, and Luna smiled a little, only for her eyes to fall back down a moment later.
"I know it is right, telling the world that there will be more than just your foal in line to the thrones, but there is still the matter of...of their father, the pony who filled me with them. Whose memories of such I stole..." Luna said regretfully, and even Celestia had very little she could say to that.
Celestia knew that was true, that the bat pony guard that had sired Luna's foals had no idea he was a father. Luna had taken those memories from him the moment after she'd mated with the stallion, practically raping him in order to conceive her heirs; while the sexual act that had inseminated her had been consensual, her stealing his memories were not.
The fact Luna had done all of this with only the county's future in mind made the matter all the more complex, and at that revaluation there was only one thing Celestia could think to say. "Luna, we...we willll both have to face him together, but if you do make the decision to release the knowledge of your foals’ existence public, then you must tell him. Even if nopony else knows he is their sire, he must know that he is a father."
It was then that Luna did something Celestia did not expect, she shook her head and stepped back from her.
"No, Tia, no. I...there must be some punishment for what I have done. The suffering I feel knowing that my foals are not getting the life they deserve is not enough atonement...no, I must face Dusk alone, face my guilt...and do what is right as I always should have done." Luna admitted, and, despite everything, she looked up at Celestia and smiled as she felt some semblance of guilt leave her.
"You should go, dear Tia. Go be with your stallion Sun Strike in these final days before your foal is brought into the world. He should be there with you all the way, as Dusk should have been for his foals." Luna added, and Celestia left her with a nod and small smile, not uttering a word as Luna looked back to her sleeping foals.
"Plan or no plan, I will see my foals suffer no longer, nor will I bottle up the guilt of keeping Dusk away from our precious little ones."
********
Dusk Hunter stood stoically at his post in the grand castle hall, just as he had done for the past months after being moved from his usual post at the castle walls when Luna had decreed it. Still, with Celestia giving birth to the new prince Solar Beam – a strapping young Alicorn colt with a multi-hued mane like his mother’s and accented with streaks of orange like his father’s, along with a pure white coat and lovely pale magenta eyes like his mother’s, the first male alicorn born in millennia – the unveiling of his sire and Celestia’s royal consort Sun Streak, not the mention the prior disappearance of Luna for nearly eight months, it was only commonplace now for things to be a little abnormal. Nevertheless, it was his sworn duty to do whatever his princesses, or now more accurately prince and princesses, asked of him. If that meant a few months of shifting duties and different posts than he was used to, then so be it.
For some reason this still felt rather odd to Dusk, as every time the idea of being shifted around from post to post and guarding the hall to Luna’s chamber more often than not during the day entered the bat pony's mind, a strange blank seemed to appear in his mind. It was as if there was something lingered right on the edge of his mind, but was still just out of reach, something preventing him from remembering something. Regardless, he could not allow such things to distract him, especially while on duty, and especially not now that there was a little baby prince in the castle to protect, even if that prince was not the son of his beloved Princess of the Night.
Dusk supposed there was one thing he could be thankful for, with that being the proximity of his new station to the bedchambers of Princess Luna. Yet even that had come with slightly odd revelations; ranging from how often he saw the princess, whom had become noticeably chubbier after her return, trudging through the halls looking as if she hadn’t slept in days. One would find it hard not to think that Luna had been the one to just have a foal or two, not Celestia.
Yet, that was not even the end of the strange occurrences though. What Dusk found oddest of all was how Luna had been treating him all the time she'd passed by, ranging from oddly affectionate looks to a far more friendly and outgoing demeanour as she spoke to him. She'd even offered him food and various small gifts and trinkets sometimes, treating him as if they were age old friends despite him being merely another guard to her.
Once again, however, Dusk knew that was a distracting thought and, wanting to make sure he was fully focused on his duty, he locked his eyes on a stained-glass window directly across the hall from him, only to sigh at what was upon it. It was another image of Princess Luna, the graceful dark-blue glass alicorn illuminated by the glow of the full moon shining in from the night sky behind her.
Even now, after seeing this sight so many times since being stationed here, Dusk couldn’t help but marvel at the majesty of his beloved princess. Yet despite that, and how she'd been treating him recently, he was beginning to wonder how well he really knew her. That train of thought was severed, however, as hoofsteps echoed down the empty hall and the bat pony’s sensitive, tufted ears stood tall, his muscles tensing at a possible threat approaching.
The steps were calm and regal, and, with his highly attuned sense of hearing, Dusk knew in a moment from the gait that the steps unmistakably belonged to Princess Luna. A moment later that assumption was confirmed to be correct as Dusk glanced down the hall to see the graceful form of the nocturnal princess appear around the corner.
Needless to say, the real pony put the window depiction of her to shame. Really, there was no comparison between the two, and the moment Dusk’s eyes met Luna, she nervously broke eye contact and walked down the hall towards him. The bat-pony moved to bow to her, just as he always did, yet this time he saw a faint glimmer in the alicorn's horn, feeling a small nudge of magic prevented him from moving. It was then that he looked to her again, almost embarrassed that he couldn't not treat her with the respect and admiration he knew she deserved by his bowing, but Luna spoke before he could even apologise.
"Please, the formalities are not necessary Dusk. I thought you would have known by now that you are not to treat me as a superior." Luna said and, despite everything in him telling him to grovel before her – years worth of tradition, training and discipline – Dusk merely cocked his head at Luna's words, perplexed more so as to why she was saying such.
"My apologies, Princess, but with all due respect, why do you not expect me to treat you as all the others in my regiment do? Am I not permitted to respect the Princess that I’ve pledged my life to and hold in so high a regard with a proper bow?" Dusk asked, and Luna flinched at the words.
"Please don't say things like that...I-I, I..." she stammered, and Dusk looked about cautiously before shifting a tiny bit closer to her.
"I'm sorry Princess, what is the matter? Are you..." Dusk began, only to be cut off as Luna raised a hoof to silence him.
"I am fine Dusk, but...but I would appreciate it if you would accompany me to my chamber so that I may speak with you in private regarding something very important." Luna asked, and Dusk couldn't help but gulp in both dread and anticipation.
Luna, the great Princess of the Night, wanted to see him alone in her bed chambers, in the middle of the night. For some reason, in addition to all of the other terrifying and wonderful ideas that that thought spurred into motion, something else was also summoned up. It was that same void that he found brought to the front of his memory every time he thought about Luna too hard, or saw her walking towards him in the middle of the night and heading to her bed, or every time he thought about all the big things that were going on, especially the new prince.
Still, despite feeling an odd sense of deja vu, he could not disobey his Princess's instructions, no matter how much Luna seemed to assure him he could nowadays. "Of course Princess, I will lead you back to your chambers at once." Dusk stated obediently, and, despite the clear air of guilt that seemed to be surrounding Luna, Dusk saw a ghost of a smile cross her muzzle.
"Thank you, Dusk, but I will lead. You need not burden yourself with thinking this is any form of royal duty. I simply wish to talk with you about something...something very personal." Luna said as she began to walk down the hall towards her bedchambers and once again Dusk felt a pricking line of anxiety run along his spine, as well as that void in his mind remaining and feeling of deja vu strengthening.
Nevertheless, Dusk did as Luna had decreed and followed her closely, passing several other Lunar guards that she simply left to their guard duties, as he knew she should be leaving him to as well.
Dusk did not know why he was chosen, knowing that a summons to the bedchambers of the most beautiful mare in Equestria was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but no matter how much he thought about it, there was a part of him that wanted to simply go back to staring at the stained glass image of the pony he was now following. In truth, that image looked far more happy then the Princess did right now, who seemed like her world was crumbling around her as she slowly trudged her way back to her bedchamber's grand doors. It was then that Dusk could take the silence no longer.
"Your highness, are you sure you're alright? Is there anything..." Dusk asked, and she looked up, silencing him with a shake of her head.
"No, Dusk, nothing of the sort will be necessary. Please, can your questions wait until we are in private?" Luna asked, and Dusk couldn't help but feel that latter part was more of a request. It was as if she didn't think she had the right to make a demand of him.
Looking to her left and right, Luna gave a nod to each of the guards stationed at either side of the door. “Dusk will be guarding inside of my chamber tonight Steel Chestplate, Bastian. You are relieved of duty for tonight. Dismissed.” Luna said, and as he then watched the guards bow then leave, that only made Dusk’s suspicions that something wasn’t right rise even higher still, as well as that void pushing even harder against its restraints. Lunar then entered her room, with Dusk following in suit.
Seconds later the door was shut behind him by the glow of Luna's magic, leaving the two in pitch darkness. Such a thing was not an issue for the bat pony's nocturnal vision, but the gloom was soon chased away by the light of Luna's magic as she sent up several glowing blue orbs into the air above them, illuminating the cool blue room as she had those many months ago when she’d brought Dusk here before, though he only felt another wave of deja vu at the situation. It was just him and her, looking at one another in the dim blue light now. Dusk knew there was no avoiding what Luna wanted to tell him and as he watched her take a deep breath. He could hear the pounding of his heart as it thundered in his chest, and Luna’s as well.
Before Luna could say anything, however, she was unexpectedly interrupted by the sudden sound of a foal crying. Dusk's head perked up at the sound, on high alert to such a thing now that the new prince was around, yet he knew that Solar Beam was with his mother, as he was for most of his time, and no other foals were on the premises so late at night, with everypony but a few night staff going home for the night. Besides, this was Luna's bedchamber, not Celestia's nor the nursery.
As the crying sound was joined in chorus by a second one, Dusk’s sharp eyes shot around the room in search of its source, only to come to rest on a curtain behind Luna. In the same instant, the alicorn's expression looked half horrified and half relieved as she looked at him.
"Dusk, please would you give me a moment? I need to take care of that." Luna asked, and Dusk nodded, utterly baffled at the situation.
"Of course, Princess." Dusk said, but really did not like how suspicious he was feeling at that moment as Luna vanished behind the curtain, the soft sound of her voice singing a lullaby soon being heard as she calmed the crying foals.
Dusk couldn't fight the urge to creep forwards as a protective instinct triggered in him, though he was disgusted with the part of him that would think that any foal could be in danger in the presence of his beloved Princess, and confused at the foreign, seemingly fatherly, instinct. Still, that feeling was there in the back of his mind, along with that irritatingly blunt blank space in his memories. Before he could edge too close to the curtains though, Luna emerged, and in her magical aura were levitated two small foals wrapped up in blankets, one in pink and one in blue.
Once again Dusk's senses were on the highest alert, but neither of these foals were the prince. From the looks of their fangs and ears, both were bat pony foals, one was a dusky blue colt while the other was a deep, twilight-purple filly and...an alicorn?! The horn on her forehead, and the loose bat wing outside of the blanket made no doubt about that; that this foal had both a unicorn horn and bat wings.
Dusk looked up at Luna as she smiled down at the two sleeping foals, an unmistakable motherly gleam in her eyes, and in an instant his mind made the connection. Princess Celestia wasn't the only one to have a foal now! It all made sense now: Luna's disappearance for over eight months, her rather pudgy new look...she'd been pregnant, with twins, and had recently given birth! There was no other way there could be another alicorn in Equestria, besides being birthed from one or created through the princesses’ magic. Instinct took over and Dusk bowed down before the royals, spreading his wings out wide in a show of upmost respect.
"Princess, congratulations…I–I'm sorry, I did not know you were a mother as well." Dusk stated formally, but Luna waved the formalities away in an instant.
"Please, rise. Dusk, nopony but I and my sister know of the existence of these foals, and now you. I carried and birthed them in secret, as part of a plan I formulated after the Changelings kidnapped us all over a year ago. They were to be raised as secret heirs to the throne of Equestria, should such an awful thing happen to us again." Luna explained, motioning for Dusk to stand.
The bat pony slowly rose, slight confusion spinning in his mind as he took note of the levels of secrecy such a plan would take, not to mention its blatant flaws, but he made no mention of such things. Instead, he simply nodded. "A grand idea, Princess." he stated, masking the doubt in his tone as best he could, but Luna just shook her head.
"No, Dusk. The idea was doomed upon its conception, a flawed ambition set to fail. I see now that such a thing was never going to work. Caring for these two, the loves of my life, taught me that. Taught me that ponies cannot simply be locked away in some bedchamber like some secret weapons hidden away, devoid of any social contact save with their mother and aunt..." she admitted, and Dusk felt both sorry and a deep amount of respect for her.
To think that Luna was so benevolent as to put the lives and happiness of her foals before the safety of Equestria may have come as a shock to some, but all Dusk saw was the kindness in her heart. Still, there was the matter of how he fit into all of this, though he was beginning to see where this was going.
"I see, you want to reveal them to Equestria; to make them an official Prince and Princess in the eyes of the public?" Dusk asked, and Luna nodded once. “Understandable, and I beg your pardon Princess, but...may I ask, where do I fit in in all of this?"
As he asked, Luna looked up at him with eyes that were unmistakably sad, almost on the verge to tears. "Well, Dusk, there is one matter that I must also see fixed. You see, it is the matter of the foals' father," she explained, and his ears perked again as she smiled.
"Oh, so who was the lucky stallion? Who was given the privilege of siring such beautiful foals to you? Surely a bat pony, judging by their traits." Dusk asked, catching a glimpse of the beautiful little filly and colt sleeping in their mother’s gentle magic mere inches from him, yet at that question Luna really did look like she was about to break down into sobs, making Dusk's expression became somewhat concerned.
"You see, that is the problem, Dusk...the...their father...it is you." Luna stammered and, once again, Dusk felt a rush of confusion and he was sure he'd heard her wrong.
"I'm sorry Princess, but what?" Dusk asked bluntly, but Luna just looked right at him with the sparkle of tears in her eyes.
"It is you, Dusk, you are their father. These are your foals." Luna told him, her voice little more than whimper as she looked at him, and like that all confusion dissipated as Dusk's mind went blank.
Then the bat pony uncontrollably let out a little laugh. "Hahaha, good one princess, you really got me there," Dusk stated through his chuckling, but Luna did not budge, her expression still deadly serious.
Recalling Luna’s giddy, fun-loving nature, Dusk knew that this kind of prank was not unthinkable, even if he did think it was a little overzealous even for her. Even so, the lengths she must have gone to for this were grand in themselves; it must have taken her ages to get a pair of such young foals to act like her own, or maybe it was just an illusion spell to make them merely look like bat ponies, and the filly to look like an alicorn-bat pony hybrid.
Maybe this was some kind of test to see how he'd react to new foals given the current situation with the baby prince. He also had to admit that her acting was immaculate; it was almost as if she was being dead serious that they were hers, and he was the sire to them. To think, him, the father to a pair of absolutely beautiful royal twins, one even an alicorn! It was absurd!
Despite this obviously being a rouse, however, Dusk noticed that Luna was not laughing even as he’d seemingly uncovered her prank, and had instead started crying at his response. It was then, as his princess was obviously distraught, that Dusk’s own laughter faded.
"Princess?" Dusk asked, and at her silence save for sobbing he felt the words catch in his throat as a new dread overcame him.
"There...there is no joke here Dusk Hunter, no prank. This is real…these two bat pony hybrid foals are my – our – little Aurora and Nocturne. Our children." Luna said as she nodded to the filly and colt respective to their names. "They are your foals. You are their sire, and father." she added, and Dusk paled at the seriousness in her saddened expression.
“But how can that be possible? I think I'd know if I’ve ever had sex with the most beautiful mare ever during her estrus, let alone being given the honour of siring two royal heirs to her!” Dusk said, yet here he was, Luna telling him he was a father impossibly, and he had no idea how. A part of him didn’t know what to feel at this news, and he felt his leathery wings twitch nervously. He knew that this was his Princess however, the one he'd sworn his life to protect, so surely there was an explanation for why she was telling him he was sire to her foals when he himself couldn't remember their conception.
"No, Dusk, it is possible. I-I...over a year ago now, you and I...mated...together in this very room, on this very bed, and you impregnated me during my estrus. I was looking for the strongest, most perfect sire for my foals because I was afraid that if we were ever kidnapped again, that it would bring ruin to Equestria and we had no way to prevent it. I told myself over and over that nopony could know about the foals, least our enemies learn of them too, and in my blind ambition I stupidly decided...that that included their own father.”
Despite Dusk looking aghast, Luna continued solemnly. ”So, after you seeded me, rather proliferously might I add, I sealed your memories behind a magical barrier the moment the after we mated. I indeed became pregnant from our breeding, then I carried the foals to term and birthed them in secret with the aid of my sister. Dusk, Celestia had no part in this plot, merely looking out for me and my children in this whole mess I’ve made, so please do not blame her. It was all my stupid idea and I'm so, so sorry for all that I've done!" Luna finally exclaimed, weeping as she let the full truth gush out of her like a torrent.
Dusk filched as the dam that was Luna's pent-up guilt finally broke and the truth washed over him like a tidal wave. However, he stood his ground, as that blank part of his mind suddenly made sense; why he felt so strange when he saw Luna or any foals, why he felt so fatherly towards Solar Beam, and why he couldn’t remember why the thought and instincts of being a father were something he couldn’t shake off. Nevertheless, that sad realization was confirmed to be true as Luna's horn lit up and a small spark of magic lanced from its tip into his forehead.
As he collapsed to the ground, he felt memories rushing back as that blank spot was gone; memories once barred from him now freed. Dawn could recall now how Luna had enticed him into her room, the scent of her heat acting as a beacon to him as he’d mounted her and felt himself deep within her, thrusting like a beast. He remembered now what it was like to feel his throbbing cock inside the moist folds of the most gorgeous pony ever, feeling her squeezing over him as her heated, fertile passage clenched on him. He recalled how good she'd felt, how tired she'd made him as he’d pumped two heavy loads of his seed into her within minutes of each other. How it had felt as she’d convulsed beneath him in her orgasm, her insides milking him of every drop of his virile sperm.
After dismounting her, he remembered the sight of her belly wobbling as it was filled with his cum, the feeling of it under his hoof, and then he saw her face with a coy expression as she told him that she would indeed become pregnant by him as he’d commented she looked pregnant. Then he remembered as she’d stolen those memories for him. Just like that all the pieces fell into place, all the fragmented feelings he was confused by now united and cohesive.
Luna was serious about everything; he was a father and these two foals were his, with Luna as their mother.
Dusk stared at each of the sleeping foals for a long moment, his sharp, slitted eyes quivering with restrained tears as he regarded the peaceful tranquillity of them, memories of their sordid conception now known to him. They were the two most perfect ponies in the world to him, more so than any princess, more than Celestia, more even then their mother. That, however, was where Dusk's eyes moved to next, to stare right into the sad eyes of Princess Luna.
"What?" Dusk half-growled, then his eyes narrowed. "What!?"
For some reason, Dusk didn't care that this was the Princess he was talking to anymore, the very pony whom he was sworn to protect. Right now all he could think was how angry and confused he was for suddenly having the knowledge that he had not only slept with the Princess of the Night and bred her, but was also the father to her foals, the next heirs to the throne, and had been denied knowing so until they were already born and several months old. Luna, on the other hoof, just backed away slightly, levitating the foals away from the Dusk as he muttered and shifted in overwhelming confusion.
"That, this...what kind of sick joke is this!? You-you can't just...take a part of somepony like that, make them get you pregnant without even knowing it and steal their memories of it! It's-it's just wrong!" Dusk screamed, with little care for who might hear him as he rounded on the princess.
All Luna did was stand tall and take the punishment for her crimes, tears streaming down her cheeks as she fought to keep her eyes on him, not that she thought she had any right to look at him after what she'd done. Right now, in fact, if he were to ask it, she'd leave him and never trouble him with any of this ever again, or she'd give him anything that was in her power to give just to make this right.
"I, I can't believe this! I was tricked, humiliated...basically raped by the pony whom my entire race holds in the highest of regards! Who I adored and admired!" Dusk went on in his fit of rage, all of his ideals thrown into a hurricane of uncertainty as the glorious, shining star he saw his Princess came crashing down along with all of his hopes and dreams of her.
"I-I'm sorry, I was wrong, I was so wrong to go through this without you!" Luna said as she finally burst out in tears, overcome by her guilt, her resolve finally breaking as she ran and curled up on her bed like a terrified filly, laying over her foals in an instinctive protective stance.
Dusk raised a hoof, opened his muzzle to say something else spurred on by anger, yet as he looked at Luna weeping, head buried in her many pillows so she not dare meet his eyes, and her protectively covering their foals, Dusk paused. This whole situation was utterly disgraceful, immensely wrong on so many levels, but what could he do? She was one of the Princesses of Equestria, and if he even tried to do anything against her, it result in chaos for the whole country as one of their rulers was publicly tried as a rapist. That would undoubtedly bring Celestia’s foal’s legitimacy and her own morality into question, as well as the other princesses’ and royals’. He knew that he would have to set his personal morals and ideals aside for...for the fate of Equestria. Dusk paused as he realised that such thoughts were not too far removed from what Luna had told him about her reasoning for doing this.
At the time Luna had been captured by the Changelings, Dusk knew that was mostly because he, and all of the other guards, had failed to protect them. Was this all his and the other guards’ fault, he wondered, realizing that, no, not entirely, but that the use of him as merely a stud to conceive Luna’s foals was more than just some cruel joke or act of unrestrained lust by Luna. It had a deeper purpose than that.
Finally, Dusk took a deep breath as his anger faded slightly more into a simmering, allowing him to think about things and listen as he realized that this went much deeper than Luna essentially raping him for his foals. The bat pony collected himself and cautiously edged over to where Luna was still crying on her bed. "Why now? Why tell me about my foals and all that happened between us now of all times, after you’ve already carried them and given birth, when you could have simply kept it secret forever?" Dusk asked, as softly as his frustration would allow.
Luna sniffed, looking up from the damp pillows with her face streaked by fresh tears. She took one look at his stern eyes and flinched, but did not falter anymore than that. "I...I could not take the guilt of it any longer, let alone forevermore. I couldn’t take the guilt of preventing our foals from having the life they deserve, and that of keeping you away from them and them from you, their father. The birth of my nephew Prince Solar Beam did not help, and seeing my sister so happy with her foal and his sire...this was my stupid idea, but I beg of you to believe that despite all that I have done, that you realize that I did it all for Equestria." Luna sobbed, then looked back down at her pillows, hitting one with a forehoof in anger, "Yet it would seem that whenever I decide to take the fate of the country into my own hooves, for what I believe is right, I always just end up hurting other ponies!"
Dusk felt a hint of sympathy at that thought, that last vestige of respect he had for Luna despite what she’d done to him allowing him to truly believe that, in the face of a threat such as the Changeling kidnapping, Luna really had done all of this for Equestria’s safety. However, that did not change the fact of just how she had done it, nor how he really felt about having missed out on everything.
This, in reality, was one of Dusks dreams: to meet a pretty mare, settle down with and marry her, and have a family. To go through it all together with her, to watch their foals grow within her while she was pregnant, to be there with her when she fought to bring them into the world, then raise their foals together. Now, he almost had that with the most beautiful mare he could think of, and instead he'd missed out on a great deal of it because he hadn’t known about her pregnancy nor their birth. All because of Luna’s misplaced sense of patriotism.
At that, Dusk straightened up and moved to Luna's bedside, placing a hoof on the covers as he looked down at the weeping princess.
"I'm...I’m sorry..." Luna said weakly once more, but Dusk shook his head.
"Most of me believes you are truly sorry for this, but all of this...I can't take it all at once. I'm angry at you, but I'm also angry at the one who forced you into a position that made you think you needed to do this. The Changeling Queen, Chrysalis. Still, I need time, time to think, time to...time to decide what to do about all of this. I am taking a leave from my duties as a Guard. Time off." Dusk told her, then he drew back and moved away.
"Of course, take all the time you need...ask anything of me and I will make it so! I just…I just want to make this right..." Luna said almost pleadingly, but once again Dusk raised a hoof to cut her off, then shook his head again before exiting the room, leaving Luna with nothing more than her foals and the thoughts of what could come next.
********
Luna paced quietly, muttering to herself as she took a glance to the door every now and again. She didn't really know what she was expecting, but this was the only free time she'd had in weeks. Between making perpetrations for the twins’ unveiling to the rest of Equestria, along with the truth she'd told their father only a few nights ago, she'd been very, very stressed. Dusk had failed to come back to her since that night she’d told him what she’d done; the truth of their foals’ conception, how she’d used him for his sperm and erased his memories of it. Even now, after she thought she'd be free of the guilt, it was still eating away at her.
Looking after her twins was not helping, hence why they weren’t currently present with her. They’d been left in Celestia’s care, at her sister’s suggestion, to be watched by her and formally be introduced to their cousin Solar Beam and his father Sun Strike. While Luna hated being away from either of her foals for a single second, she trusted Celestia's judgment more than ever right now, especially after seeing how flawed her own could be.
It was somewhat easier that way, and every time Luna thought like that she realised just how much better of a pony Celestia seemed to be then herself. Still, that didn't change the fact that she was tearing herself apart on the inside in anticipation of Dusk Hunter's decision. She needed to know if he was just another pony who was going to hate her, or would he forgive her enough to stand by her and his foals. She would not blame him if he didn't, and the thought that she may have not only ruined any relationship they could have had, but also destroyed her foals' link to their father, was almost unbearable.
It was then, as Luna was almost on the verge of tears yet again, that something stole her attention and made her ears perk up; a firm knock on the doors of her bed chamber. Her head perked immediately, swivelling to face the door. "Yes, who is it?" Luna asked and, the second she was finished speaking, the door opened and the head of one of her chamber guards popped in.
"Somepony is here to see you, your highness, a bat pony named Dusk Hunter." the guard told her, and she promptly asked them to let the visitor in.
As the door opened, it was no surprise to her to see Dusk Hunter slip in, and once again her emotions felt like they were on a knife’s edge, ready to fall into despair and depression once more at the slightest provocation.
"I do apologize for my guards, I should have told them I was expecting somepony," Luna admitted shyly, but Dusk just shook his head.
"They are only doing their duty your highness, as do all of us Guards." Dusk stated, and at that her ears perked. She noticed that he was dressed in his regulation armor, complete with helmet.
"’Us guards’? Does this mean you have decided to stay? Have you...come to forgive me as well?" Luna asked hopefully and Dusk spread one dark wing, silencing her words before he spoke.
"Yes, be it you or this life of a Guard, I could never leave either my Princess, my sworn duty, nor my foals. However, there is one thing I would ask of you. Repentance to me, if you will." Dusk began, and Luna edged forwards in anticipation.
"Yes, Dusk, ask anything of me. I told you that I would do anything in my power to make this right, and I’ll abide by that." Luna responded, and the bat pony's face grew a little more firm.
"I would ask that you give me my honor back." Dusk stated, and at Luna's mildly puzzled look he elaborated further; "I do not doubt you are aware of this, but in the caves where most of my kind come from, it is considered a great honor to father a foal, as bat ponies are so rare that siring even a pony-hybrid foal is considered a privilege. Yet here I find myself not only a father to two beautiful foals, but royal foals!"
"However, you, Princess Luna, robbed me of the honer of fathering a foal properly; of watching them grow within the mare whom I gave them to, watching them being brought into this world, and watching them grow up from the start. Now, I would ask that you allow me to have that honor back. To allow me to breed you again, and to be with you throughout the foals’ development, their birth, and to be a father to them, as I wish to be with Aurora and Nocturne. If you were willing, I would also ask you to at least be my friend and broodmare, if you are not willing to be my wife. I also want your promise that you would never do something like this to me again."
Luna remained stock still for a long moment as she thought about exactly what Dusk had just asked of her. He wanted to have another foal or foals with her, right here, right now, and was even proposing they may be married, or at least have more foals together, in the future. Luna took one look out of the window at the late afternoon sky, then back at Dusk. Then she recalled exactly how it had felt to have him inside of her, the feeling of warm seed pulsing into her, of life swelling within her months later as her stomach stretched tight and her foals kicked, as well as how she was or was soon to be in heat and indeed desperately wished for a stallion to breed her again.
The idea of getting pregnant once again made her wet below her tail and, after all, she had indeed told her sister the night that her foals were born that she loved being pregnant; that the feeling of being so big and tight made her uncontrollably horny and satisfied in equal measure. It was certainly possible that she could conceive again right now, as it’d been several months since the twins were born, and her lactation had recently ended, her body now able to enter its normal estrus cycles again.
Luna also knew that it was a full moon tonight, with her cycles being on a lunar cycle instead of solar like all other ponies, and that her heat would hit any day now if it had not already. She had been feeling incredibly desirous of male company these past few days after all, a sure sign of a mare going into heat. Most appealing of all however, was the fact that this time she'd be loved just as much as her sister had been while pregnant, and Dusk would be at her side as Sun Streak had been for Celestia. She and her unborn child would be loved and appreciated.
Luna looked right into Dusk’s eyes, his silted spheres gazing at her calmly as he awaited her answer. Luna was beginning to feel hot and needy, a wetness was starting to burn between her flanks as her folds were eagerly awaiting what she knew was about to happen, the scent of a virile stallion entering her muzzle and his pheromones alongside. She nodded to Dusk once, then promptly turned and propped her forehooves upon her bed and lifted her tail, presenting her fully soaked marehood to him as she winked her clit to him in invitation.
"It would be my honor to be bred by you again my Dusk Hunter. I am in my estrus now, fertile. Come, claim your mare as you always should have. Of your own free will, and not as a guard following orders. I also swear on my immortality that I will never do anything as heartless as I did to you before." Luna said as she invited him, and looking back she saw a small, fanged smile appear on Dusk's muzzle.
Angry with her or not, after all of the pointless rules of purity that the guards’ leaders forced upon them, for some odd reason thinking it would gain favor with the Princesses despite them telling them the opposite was true, Luna knew that Dusk could not resist her invitation, as he hadn’t been able to the previous time they’d done this. There was a slight clatter as Dusk took off his dark metal armor and it dropped to the floor, then once again Luna caught a glimpse of one of the real reasons she chosen him in the first place as she looked under his barrel.
Dusk’s sizable cock swayed between his legs as it rose up out of its sheath to full length, aided by her fertile scent. The whole thing absolutely huge and...seemingly looked even larger than the last time he was in her chamber like this. Not that she truly cared, as all she wanted now was to feel that lovely thing forced inside her again, cooling her desires and filling her with the seed of new life.
"Are you ready, princess?" Dusk asked politely, but Luna merely shot him a coy glance over her shoulder.
"T’is silly to think you would have to ask me that, after asking of me what you have and me clearly agreeing and presenting to you, but yes my noble stallion I am ready. Do to me whatever you will to me, or ask anything of me." Luna purred, and, in an instant she felt his weight land atop her back, his hooves wrapping tight around her barrel as he did just as his princess instructed, mounting her.
The moment Luna felt the tip of Dusk’s hard flare slowly begin tapping against her, sliding between her still-swollen teats, Luna flared her wings and shifted, moaning softly as she felt the warm fur of his crotch brush against her rump. Dusk's massive cock crept forwards, tapping against her rump and seeking her searing marehood like a hunger predator in search of pray. Now more than ever, Luna could forget all of her troubles, her lies, deception and even her foals as she longed simply for him to force his way inside as he had done that night; a simple mare waiting for her mate to breed her as a stallion should. She soon felt his flare line up, pressing against her lower lips and ushering pleasure to form in her the likes of which she'd not felt in far, far too long, her clit winking against it in invitation.
"Oh princess, if you didn't feel so good beneath me, your hot lips kissing my flare, I'd be so mad at you right now for making forget just how sexy you really are for so long! How good you feel inside...as I’m rutting my foals into you." Dusk growled, and Luna flinched with only a small hint of guilt.
Nevertheless, Luna’s remorse was short lived as she felt a long tingle pass along her spine, caused by the sharp scraping of Dusk's fangs as he kissed her soft neck. Then, with a strong forward shift of his strong hips after teasing them both, Dusk slipped his massive stallionhood deep inside her desperate pussy.
Luna felt his flared tip part her folds, the likes of which were growing wetter and wetter by the moment as she felt her vaginal muscles being spread. Right now she didn't think it mattered whether she was in heat or not, because she liked to think that surely something like this, a thick cock spreading her and pushing deep, would have somehow forced her into it. She could hardly sustain that troublesome thought however, and instead she moaned as an instant sting of pleasure shot through her as she felt his medial ring kiss her outer lips just as she winked again.
As Dusk’s medial ring passed into her moments later, Luna fell forwards into her silky bed sheets at the sensations as the weight of the large stallion shifted ever forwards, the warm arc of his crotch encasing her large, rounded plot whilst he scraped his fangs against her spine. It was almost too easy to imagine this as the first time they'd been together, to think that all of the bad things she'd done had not happened at all. Instinct was taking over in Luna as she rose her hips higher, the desire to be bred was coming back to her in full force; the desire to once more bear this stallion’s progeny.
Luna wiggled her hips, shifting so that the full length of Dusk’s hard cock easily slid all the way inside her well-lubed, very warm passage. She let out another gasp, then a low moan as she felt her rippling muscles encourage him even deeper. His pulsating rod was harder than ever, and right now she really did wonder if it truly was was bigger then she remembered. It sure felt bugger.
This time, pinned beneath her stallion, Luna didn't feel so much like an all-powerful goddess though, she felt more like some kind of servant that had to please her master. Not that she minded being belittled once an a while, especially by this pony breeding her like a whorse right now, as she knew she owed it to him to be the best mare he'd ever had.
In that moment of feeling his seed-swollen balls resting squarely against her teats, of feeling his full, twitching length deep inside of her and his tip was once more touching her estrus-relaxed cervix, Luna craved nothing more than to please him, to make him feel like he had made her feel the night he'd filled her with their foals. There was also that part of her that wanted to feel all of his massive stallionhood forcing its way right up into her too, but those instinct did not mean as much to her as giving Dusk back his honor. That that meant he had to pound her until she was filled with all of his glorious, virile seed again was only all too agreeable to her hormone-ridden body. This time, this breeding, Luna knew that there was no logical plan to back it up, and in some ways that felt far better too. It was just her and Dusk, breeding for the sake of creating a new life to share in raising, together.
Luna let out another long groan as she finished shifting herself again, feeling his firm cock slip right along the rippling walls of her very swollen marehood, with her knowing by the burning within her womb that she was very clearly in heat now and very likely ovulating at this very moment. As she felt his wing smack her ass, making it ripple, Luna let out a surprised groan of both pain and pleasure.
"Yes, Dusk Hunter your Princess is so sorry for what she did. I-I was such a bad, bad mare stealing your seed and honor as I did.” Another slap, making Luna moan and arch her back, “Please, do what you will to make me pay, pound me until I learn how wrong it was to steal something so precious from you!" Luna declared, her tone half a cry of bliss and half a whimper of regret as she received three more smacks in quick succession. Right now, Luna knew she was not in control of the situation as she had been the last time Dusk had been atop her, yet she couldn't help but love being the bad mare that needed to be punished.
"Of course you whorse, you really do need to learn that stealing a stallion's seed is a most horrible deed, and oh am I going to punish you until you're begging me to stop!" Dusk hissed right into her ear, a hint of satisfaction in his strained voice as he smacked her one more time before then hooking his forehooves and wing around her chubby belly and squeezed tightly in tandem with his hard thrusts.
Without anything further, Luna allowed Dusk to take her as his mare, for real this time, allowing him to claim her body as his. With all the force the bat pony could muster, Dusk pulled back before slamming his full length right back into her pussy. Luna gasped, pushed like a mere sex toy across the bed sheets and baring her teeth as she felt him unleash all that he had to offer her.
Dusk’s thick shaft throbbed rapidly against the rippling warm walls of Luna’s fertile, soaked marehood and, with each throb it made within her, she clutched the crumpled bed sheets harder between her teeth. She let out a loud cry of bliss into the mattress, unable to care about her troubles or the last time she'd done this with Dusk as she shivered when a blissful tingle lanced down her spine with each utterly filling thrust. It was then, as she uttered a long, draw-out moan. that she felt the tickling touch of his bulging tip against the deepest cavities of her marehood; his flare once more giving her cervix a kiss.
"Ooooh, Princess I'm going to fill you up with a million of my foals this time! You'll be so big you won't be able to move!" Dusk howled, the pressure growing deep in his pelvis, bringing him closer and closer to climax. Meanwhile, as she was being pounded into the mattress, with each unbridled thrust made her slide forward a little before Dusk yanked her back roughly to impale her to the hilt on his spire when she slid too far away, all Luna could think was how much she would love to be filled with so many foals like that; to feel as she had while carrying his twins, all with the knowledge that this time he'd be there to tend to her sexual and emotional needs.
Still, Luna didn't respond with anything more than meek little nod, her eyes closed timidly as she shifted again, taking all that she could of the stallion once again as he once more smacked her ass with his wing. All the while, the further Dusk pushed into her, the more she tightened around his hard cock, feeling the pressure of her impending release building in her as her passage swelled up around him, growing tighter to keep him within her at that penultimate moment.
“I’m c-cumming!” Luna whimpered as she felt him flaring up within her, stretching her inmost walls further open in an instinctive sign that he was close; that he was soon going to sow his seed in her fertile body once more.
Finally, as she felt her estrus-dilated cervix part against the unending assault of his thrusts, Luna milked him for the glorious cum that would see his honor restored, her body set over as she felt his flare enter past her dilated cervix. He was so deep inside of her that she felt his swollen balls bouncing against rippling flesh of her plump, royal butt with each short and deep thrust, him pulling out no more than an inch before slamming back in hard.
Luna grunted and pushed back into him in her climax, eagerly accepting everything he had to give her. This time, however, it was her turn to concede, and she continued with her timid, subjugated role. Dusk’s leathery wings loosened from her sides and began to beat, causing a cool breeze to wash over both of their sweaty, hot bodies. Luna felt the very tip of his cock flare and she knew he was right on the edge of orgasm, as was she her second.
"Oh, Luna, I-I think I'm r-ready! I'm going to cum all inside you an—" Dusk's strained words fell silent as he finally reached his climax deep within her with a lurch of his hips, his bulging, fully swollen flare erupting once more.
Luna moaned deeply as she felt Dusk’s cock pulsing along her passage once again in his climax, feeling as his load surged down his shaft, before each thick dollop slammed against the top of her womb each time before sliding down its walls and pooling at the bottom, coating her fertile uterus in his thick semen. She felt as he held deep while he came, biting into her crest with his fangs and piercing her skin; instinctively marking her as his broodmare while he filled her womb.
Despite the pain of being bitten like that, Luna knew its significance to bat ponies and accepted it; that her body, her womb, and all of her future foals now basically belonged to this stallion. At the same time, that pain, alongside the feeling of being claimed both inside and out by him, set her over her limit.
Luna whinnied at the top of her lungs as she came again, her muscles milking and kneading each massive gush of seed that her stallion had to offer her, claiming every sperm she could from him to make his foal with.
Luna felt as he never seemed to stop cumming, Dusk’s hips softly shifting forward against her with each pulse of semen he unloaded into her, her belly already starting to swell once more, reminding her briefly of her twins stretching her out as they had during pregnancy. Meanwhile, she kept clenching down on him as flashes of sheer satisfaction and bliss filled her body, willing him to give her more and more of his genetic essence, and he only too gladly obliged with each forward shift of his hips.
As her nearly-unbearable climax tapered off, Luna Looked back over her shoulders at the hot, sweaty bat pony that was sprawled out atop her and smiled. Not only could she once again feel her belly bulging with cum, ripping as it pushed down into the soft mattress, but she could definitely tell that she would end up pregnant again by him, the burning itch in her belly completely gone. A new foal, maybe two again; new siblings for Aurora and Nocturne even when they were still so young still.
As she lay there, feeling Dusk remaining flared thickly in her and keeping his seed within her womb on instinct, Luna remembered that she had asked her sister why either of them should just stop at one pregnancy, and realized that she’d just proved that they shouldn’t. The only difference was that this time is what there was no underlying ambition, no deceptive motive to steal the experience of breeding her from the one lying atop her back. She merely looked at Dusk with a small smile as the bat pony lifted his head so that their eyes finally met.
"You’re not going to take this away from me again, are you Luna?" Dusk asked with a hint of dread at the prospect.
Luna looked pained that he had asked such a thing, before shaking her head. "I would never even dream of it, my Dusk Hunter. I would rather die than feel that kind of guilt again." Luna told him firmly, and he smiled back at her.
"Thank you," Dusk said, but her eyes fell as she looked back down at the wet bed sheets.
"No, thank you Dusk. Thank you for forgiving me after all I did to you and our foals," Luna said, shameful of her past actions.
"Luna, letting what you did to me affect me further would only make Aurora and Nocturne’s lives even worse. What you did to me is wrong and I know there will always be a small part of me that will hate you for it....but even so, I'm prepared to start anew for the good of our foals, just like you forgot about the plan for secret heirs for their sake.You love them, as I’m sure you will love the foal or foals I just gave you as well." Dusk told her, and she soon felt one of his forehooves reach down to rub her large, cum-filled belly, with her looking as if she were several months pregnant already.
Luna's smile returned at that, and the alicorn nodded. “Very well. Thank you.”
"Besides, you're still the most beautiful mare in Equestria to me, and it is my honor even still to give you my foals." Dusk added, with a small wink, then shifted forward and, before Luna knew it, the pair of them were locked in a passionate kiss.
Luna felt Dusk’s tongue stick out between his fangs and redirected her past them as they wrestled for dominance over each other's mouths. Now she could feel more than just pleasure of the will to save her subjects like she had last time they’d bred; she could feel a warm sensation in her that was not some simple orgasm or the warmth of her estrus. No, this was something else; this was love, and as Dusk pulled back from her, that smile still on his muzzle, she knew she'd made the right chose telling him and letting him breed her again. For her foals, for their father, and most importantly, for herself.
********
"Oh! I think I just felt something!" Aurora laughed giddily as the foal within her mother's swollen midsection kicked against her hoof.
"Yes, dear, they're not one for sleeping, that's for certain!" Luna responded as she happily watch her little son and daughter fawn all over her swollen belly.
Both Aurora and Nocturne were delighted to be getting a new brother or sister, even if neither of them really understood what it truly meant. She'd even been asked why she's eaten the foal by each of them at least once, and couldn’t help but chuckle as she redirected the conversation. Nevertheless, she was still more than happy to humour here little foals. Not that she had much alone time to do that anymore, however. The pair of them were celebrities now that they were known to the world after Luna and Dusk had announced them to Equestria, and got just as much, if not more, attention than even Celestia's son.
"I still don't understand it…why would you eat a foal?! You're definitely not going to eat either of us, right mom?" Nocturne asked as Luna felt a rather strong kick from the new foal, then another as Aurora tried to pounce upon the wriggling limp in her belly.
Wincing slightly at the minor discomfort, Luna laughed and shook her head. "No, Nocturne, I would never even dream of doing anything to hurt you," she assured them, and Aurora's head peaked at the words.
"She's telling the truth you know, I've seen her dreams...at least I think?" Aurora said, then looked up at her mother with a puzzled expression.
Luna merely smiled and nodded.
“Yes, my daughter, it would seem that you have inherited some form of dream-walking powers just like mine, but you are still a very long way from knowing how to use it properly. I will teach you how, of course, in time. I do love you though, and you don't need to see my dreams to be sure of that little one, I promise," Luna said, then gave a disgruntled grunt as her new foal gave her a rather strong kick in the ribs.
"I...I don't understand, if you didn't eat the foal, then how did they get inside your tummy?" Nocturne asked curiously, and immediately Luna clammed up.
"You'll get to know about that when you're older, my son." came another voice as the door to Luna's bedchamber opened and Dusk Hunter entered.
"Daddy!" the two foals happily cried in union, running over to the bat pony as he took off his helmet, quickly wrapping their forehooves around his forelegs.
Dusk gave a light chuckle as the pair of them hugged each of his forelegs, patting them on the backs with his wings.
"Daddy you won't believe it, but I really think mommy ate our new brother or sister!" Nocturne continued to say, and Luna rolled her eyes, her unborn foal assuring her that it was still there with another kick.
"Yes, well, mommy has had a busy night watching you two, plus it's almost dawn so I think it's time for little bat pony fillies and colts to go to bed." Dusk said, his words followed by a pair of disgruntled groans from the foals.
"Awww, really dad do we have to?" Aurora moaned, and Dusk simply nodded once.
"Yep, I just got off night shift and I'm going to sleep too, so if daddy and mommy sleep, so do you two." Dusk told them, the pair of twins looking at one another with reticence, before finally moving back toward their beds, grumbling to themselves.
"Okay, but you have to promise to read us a bedtime story, a princess must always have her bedtime story." Aurora stated regally as she slipped behind the curtain still shielding their bed.
Dusk meanwhile moved across the room and over to his and Luna's bed, before sitting down before her and placing a hoof on her belly.
"You know, for only one foal…oooof, this little one is almost as big a hoof-full as the twins, oooof," Luna stated, her words proceeded by another series of kicks and squirms from the foal.
"Who says it’s only one foal? I did give you two the last time after all...wouldn't want to think I wasn’t able to give a repeat performance." Dusk said, proudly spreading his wings. After all, they hadn’t been to a foal viewing yet, and it was still indeed very possible she was with twins again. “Besides, wouldn’t you be happy if we had another pair of beautiful foals?”
Luna smiled before shifting and batting his side with one of her own wings. Still, as she sank back into her pile of pillows, she couldn't help but think about how much she actually loved the bat pony. How much she loved Dusk Hunter, sire to her foals and her consort.
"You keep smiling like that and it will stick." Luna teased Dusk, and his smug expression faded.
"Is that something you tell the twins?" Dusk mused before Luna again, then felt another kick from within her and looked back over her large belly.
"No it is most certainly not something I tell the foals I'll have you know" Luna stated bluntly, then stroked the squirming mass of her belly with a wing, trying to soothe the active child within, "As for your other question, I do not know. I wouldn't mind another two children, especially now that you're here with me," Luna said softly.
"Through everything I’ll be by your side, my Princess." Dusk stated loyally, then glanced out of the window at the dark, morning sky, a hint of dawn’s first light on the horizon."Do you want me to come with the tower with you again?" he asked, but Luna shook her head ’no’.
"No, it is okay Dusk, I managed the moon while pregnant before…well, at least until I got bigger, then I admit Celestia had to do some of the work helping me raise and lower it. She actually handled being that big a little better than me, able to handle the sun all on her own..." Luna said, then, before either of them could add anything more, Aurora called out from behind the curtains.
"C'moooon daaaad, we'll be asleep before you get here to read to us!" Aurora said, and both Luna and Dusk looked in the direction of the disturbance as the former shakily rose to her hooves.
"Besides, I'm not the only princess who needs you right now," Luna said, nodding towards the foals' beds.
Dusk took one look between his pregnant mare and his foals, then nodded. "You be careful climbing all those stairs, and on that tower and..."
"Dusk, I'm an almighty Alicorn Princess of Equestria, I think I can handle walking around the castle even while six months pregnant." Luna stated with a chuckle, then, before he could protest any more, she turned towards the door.
As she walked to the tower where she rose the moon each dusk and lowered it each dawn, Luna felt as her foal kicked and squirmed as she moved, being reminded with each just how good it felt to have new life growing within her; only with this pregnancy, its purpose was less logic and more love.
That wasn't to say Luna had not loved either of the twins while they were inside of her, but now that she had Dusk and her twins beside her it was different, and she loved it. There was no plan like the one that had been the start of all of this, but because of that plan there were three new heirs to the throne of Equestria, and soon to be four or more; Aurora, Solar Beam and Nocturne, as well as Luna’s unborn foal or foals.
As Luna reached the tower’s apex and lit her horn, grabbing onto the moon to bring it below the horizon and usher in a new day, Luna had to wonder if her plan had really failed. Yes, technically it had in its basest form, but she knew what had formed from it had been worth the pain and hardships. She knew that she loved all of the foals born from this, from her son and daughter to her nephew and unborn children within her, all here because of her desire to have a future heir of Equestria.
To continue the royal bloodline.