Chapter One: The Arrival

Princess Luna's swollen flank rose and fell as she crumpled to her knees. Pain seared through her hindquarters down her legs. She snorted as she lay down on her side on the cool blue floor of her bedchamber.

"Supernova, it's happening!" she called to her husband. The gray batpony stallion galloped to her side and nuzzled her gently.

"Luna, darling, everything will be all right," he assured her. "I'm going to call the midwife and your sister. Just breathe, okay?"

"I want to go to the hospital!" Luna screamed. "Take me there now! We can call everypony on the way there."

"No, honey. You insisted on a home birth, and you told me not to take you to the hospital, no matter how much you begged."

"Eeeuuuggghhh!" she screamed again.

Princess Celestia, King Sombra, their two-year-old daughter, Light Breeze, and Luna's midwife, Pure Heart, arrived at Luna's bedchamber within minutes. Celestia got there first and trotted to Luna's bedside. Nova stood by her head, stroking her sweat-soaked forehead.

"Breathe, Luna," Celestia encouraged her sister. Having given birth to Light Breeze a year earlier, Celestia vividly remembered the agony of labor, and her heart went out to her younger sister as she writhed and moaned in pain. Light whined, and Celestia gave the filly to Sombra so she could focus on Luna.

"Tia, I can't breathe!" Luna cried through gritted teeth. She felt as if her body was being torn apart from the inside.

"Yes, you can, little sis," Tia reassured her.

"Okay, the foal is almost out," Pure Heart announced. "It's time to push, Princess Luna. Push as hard as you can, okay?"ighnH

"I can't!" Luna shrieked. "Nova, why did you do this to me, you bastard?"

"Just push, okay, honey? You can do it." Supernova nuzzled her forehead gently.

"The foal is crowning!" Pure Heart said. "You're almost done, Princess. Just one more push."

Luna screamed and pushed as hard as she could, and suddenly a small but loud cry pierced the air, and the nurse said, "Congratulations, it's a filly!"

"You did so well, my love," Nova praised her, kissing his wife's forehead. Then, all of a sudden, Luna was holding her newborn daughter for the first time. The filly was tiny, with a cornflower blue coat, a glistening crystalline horn, a long, flowing, pink and turquoise mane and tail, and two little bat wings.

"Oh, she is so beautiful! And she's a batpony alicorn!" Luna gasped in shock. The foal's cries softened to whimpers as she cuddled into her mother's chest, then blinked sleepily and looked up at Luna's face with big, aquamarine eyes. "Hello, my precious little one," Luna whispered, stroking the foal's mane. "Mommy and Daddy love you so much." She kissed the filly's head and gave her to Nova, who nuzzled his daughter's face.

"You're perfect, aren't you, my little angel?" he whispered to the filly,

"Do you know what you're going to name her?" Celestia asked, reaching out to gently stroke her newborn niece's head.

"Aurora," Luna said. "Princess Aurora Slumber."