1. PROLOGUE

As I finally tore myself away from my wife, I turned to see that Princess Celestia was looking at me expectantly.

"I cannot thank you enough, Princess." I said, bowing deeply. "Whatever punishment you wish upon me, I shall comply with it."

"Ah yes," said Celestia, "your punishment."

The smile on her face was unnerving, to say the least. I shared a worried look with Twilight.

"Do not worry," Celestia said, raising a hoof, "it is nothing too bad."

There was an awkward silence, eventually broken by Twilight.

"So," she hesitated, "what is his punishment?"

Celestia smiled.

"House arrest." she replied, rather smugly.

Twilight and I looked at each other and grinned. I hugged her tightly, taking care not to squeeze her too hard.

"At the palace."

Our grins turned to looks of shock.

"I'm sorry," I said, tapping the side of my head, "but did you say 'at the palace'?"

Celestia nodded.

"I realised that you never took me up on my offer of a chat," she said, "so this is the ideal punishment."

I chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of my neck.

"So, what exactly will my punishment involve?"

Celestia grinned.

"As with any normal house arrest," she said, "you'll be confined to a room for most of the day. However, for three hours each day, I will come and talk to you about various things. Your life in Equestria, your life back in your own world, your friends, and so forth."

I looked over at Twilight.

"Twilight is due to give birth any day now," I said, "and I want to be there. If you would be so kind..."

Celestia interrupted me.

"I will allow you to attend the birth of your child." she said. "Not only that, I will also allow you to spend weekends with them."

I smiled.

"That's great," I said, "because the last thing I want is for my own kid to not know who the hell I am."

Celestia and Twilight giggled. The former motioned with her head and a guard came over. I smiled when I recognised him.

"Hey, Shining Armour!"

"Hey, Geo." he said. "Hey, Twiley."

"Hi, bro."

"Since you are under house arrest, I still have to assign a guard to keep an eye on you." Celestia said. "I'm sorry, but it's protocol. I can't make any exceptions."

"No biggie," I replied, "but surely this sort of thing is more suited to a normal guard, and not the Captain?"

Celestia looked at Shining, who smiled.

"I volunteered." he said. "You are my brother-in-law, after all."

I returned his smiled.

Then I noticed the manacles he was carrying.

"Let me guess," I said as I pointed at them, "they're protocol too."

Shining nodded, his smile fading slightly.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, "but as Princess Celestia said, we can't make exceptions for anypony."

He put the manacles on me with his magic.

"I guess my sentence begins now?" I asked.

Celestia and Shining nodded.

"I'm coming too!" Twilight said as she stood up.

"I'm sorry, Twiley," Shining replied, "but those under house arrest are not allowed to have any visitors."

Twilight's face fell.

"No exceptions?" she said, putting on her best puppy dog eyes.

Shining sighed.

"Not even for you, sis." he said.

"Then," Twilight said, as she fought back tears, "at least let me come and say goodbye to him."

Shining glanced at Celestia, who nodded.

"Thank you." Twilight smiled.

The four of us left the courtroom and out into the corridor. Princess Celestia's presence had already been spread throughout the building, so there was no gasping. Instead, there was simply bowing and smiling.

Celestia fixed a large smile on her face as we walk, nodding at anypony who bowed before her.

I attracted a few curious stares, probably because I was a prisoner in the company of one of the Princesses.

As we stepped out into the cool morning air, I saw John and Applejack heading towards Sugarcube Corner.

'Make sure you tell her, you dolt.' I thought, as a chariot landed in front of us. The guards pulling it bowed to Celestia and saluted Shining Armour.

Celestia motioned for me to get in, which I did.

Twilight stood with a look of shock on her face. I chuckled.

"Don't worry, Twilight," I said to her, "I'm not going away forever. I'll be there when you go into labour."

There was a pause before Twilight replied.

"You're there already," she said, "because my waters just broke."

Celestia, Shining and I looked at her with shocked expressions of our own.

"What?!" Shining exclaimed, throwing a hoof into the air. "But, you're not due for another month!"

"She's actually been pregnant for a month longer than we thought." I replied. "She knew even before the scan."

"So that means her due date..." Shining trailed off.

"... is today!" I yelled, finishing his sentence. "We have to get her to the hospital, NOW!"

Celestia's horn glowed and Twilight was lifted into the air and placed gently into the chariot. The princess then conjured a blanket and placed it over her as I held her hoof reassuringly.

"You two," Shining barked at the pegasi pulling the chariot, "get her over to Ponyville General Hospital, ON THE DOUBLE!"

"Yes, sir!" the pegasi replied, saluting quickly.

They took off as quickly as they could, but also with a sense of delicacy, given the state of their passenger.

The trip to the hospital was quick. As we landed and Princess Celestia called out the doctors, Twilight's contractions started.

And then I started wishing I hadn't held her hoof the whole journey.

2. THE NAME GAME

Months passed, and I was still serving my sentence at the castle. Despite being a prisoner, I got a lot of respect from the staff and guards. Mostly because of what I went through with Derek, but also because of the fact I was a father now.

Twilight had given birth to two unicorn foals, which surprised us both. Even Doctor Haywick was shocked, because it didn't come up in the scan.

But we didn't care. We were proud of our two new bundles of joy. Twilight took to motherhood like a duck takes to water. And any apprehensions I had about being a father were thrown out the window once I realised how easy it was.

Because both foals were unicorns, like their mother, they shared a special connection with her. Twilight was always able to know what her children wanted.

It was incredible to see her suddenly freeze in place and then dash into the kitchen, before coming out with bottles or fresh nappies just as the foals started crying.

Minutes later, they were content and cooing happily. It stunned me.

"If only looking after human babies was this easy!" I exclaimed as we tossed the dirty nappies into the bin.

Twilight smiled just as there was a knock at the door.

Before I could open it, a burst of pink filled my vision as Pinkie Pie tackled me to the ground in a crushing hug.

"BABY SHOWER!" she screamed in my face.

I stuck a hand over her mouth and nodded to the foals, who were fast asleep.

Pinkie giggled sheepishly.

"Sorry," she whispered, "I just get excited around new foals."

She got off me and I stood up. I glanced over at Ace, her boyfriend, and grinned wickedly.

"Well, you can always have some of your own." I said with a smug grin. "All you have to do is stop using protection."

There was silence before Ace laughed.

"I knew you'd get me back for that." he said. "But I don't think we're quite ready for that yet."

"Anyway," Rainbow Dash said suddenly, changing the subject, "have you finally thought of names for them?"

"We have." Twilight replied.

She pointed at the colt.

"This is Azure Hopes," she said, before pointing at the filly, "and this is Evening Whisper."

"Those are simply lovely names," said Rarity, "how did you come up with them?"

Twilight and I looked at each other.

"Well to be honest," she said, "we didn't."

"Oh?" Rarity replied. "Then who did?"

"Well the other day," Twilight replied, "I was going to put on some lullaby music for the foals. But my record player broke down. So, I took it to Spark Plug."

"That unicorn who runs the repair shop in town?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Now there's a guy who knows how to fix things."

Twilight nodded.

"So, I went into town and then ..."

Twilight entered the shop carefully, levitating the broken record player in front of her.

The shop was full of items waiting to be fixed. Several pieces lay around, and shelves groaned under the weight of parts.

Placing the record player down on the counter, Twilight rang the bell on the desk.

"Just a moment!" came a voice from the back.

Twilight stood for a moment, shifting back and forth on her hooves. From the back of the shop came a unicorn stallion. He had a light grey coat, bright yellow eyes, a well kept pale green mane and a large bushy tail

He was wearing a small green jacket of sorts, which was sleeveless and littered with pockets. His cutie mark was much like his namesake - a spark plug.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle!" he said. "What can I do for you today?"

"Afternoon, Spark Plug." Twilight replied. "My record player has broken down. Could you take a look at it?"

Spark Plug nodded and picked up the player with his magic, surveying it at all angles.

"It's nothing serious," he said, "it just needs a new needle. This won't take long to fix."

He rummaged around under the counter and took out the replacement part. Popping out the old needle, he put the new one in its place.

"There you are, Twilight," he said, "good as new!"

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks a lot, Spark Plug." she said. "Hopefully now the foals will be able to go to sleep."

"Ah, yes." Spark Plug replied. "I heard you were a mother now. Congratulations! You must be very proud."

Twilight smiled and blushed.

"I am." she said. "My husband and I couldn't be happier."

"Have you thought of any names yet?" Spark Plug asked.

Twilight shook her head.

"Well, in that case, might I be so bold as to suggest a couple?"

"Be my guest." Twilight replied.

"And then he suggested Azure Hopes and Evening Whisper. I loved them, as did Geo." Twilight said. "And that, everypony, is how our foals got their names."

"That reminds me," I said, "I never thanked Spark Plug for that. Remind me to do it once my sentence is complete."

Twilight nodded.

I looked at my watch and groaned.

"Great, I've got to go." I sighed.

"Why is that whenever we're together," Twilight asked sternly, "time always seems to speed up?"

"Because the Universe is a bastard?" I said, shrugging.

Twilight giggled as the door opened, revealing Shining Armour.

"Hey everypony." he said. "Sorry, Geo, but it's time to g- hey, it's my niece and nephew!"

He trotted over to the foals and looked into the cot, a goofy smile spreading across his face.

"Awww, they're precious." he said. "Have you named them?"

"Azure Hopes and Evening Whisper." I said, indicating which foal had which name.

"Nice names." Shining said, as he continued to gaze into the cot.

"Er, Shiny?" Twilight said hesitantly. "Shouldn't you be getting Geo back to the castle?"

Shining snapped back to reality.

"Er, yeah," he said, chuckling awkwardly, "right. Come on, Geo."

I kissed my family goodbye and followed Shining to the waiting chariot. I got in and waved at everypony as we took off.

"You'll see them again soon," Shining said, "don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried," I replied, "I'm just happy."

Shining smiled at me before he put a hoof to his head.

"Oh," he said, "I almost forgot. Princess Celestia wishes to talk to you, as per your sentence."

I nodded.

"All right then," I said, "take me to her."

As the chariot began its descent, I found myself thinking about the upcoming conversation.

'It could be worse,' I thought, 'she could have sentenced you to talk to her sister instead.'

I chuckled to myself at the thought of the Royal Canterlot Voice throwing me across the room as the chariot landed.

I was still chuckling as I got out of the chariot and walked into the throne room.

I stopped chuckling when I saw both Princesses looking at me.