A couple of days have gone by since the changeling invasion. With much convincing from James he was able to convince the princesses to go easy on Chrysalis. The princesses were against the idea of letting the love eating bug go since she did commit a grand offense. James was able to explain that even with what Chrysalis did was wrong she wasn’t entirely evil. Chrysalis only attacked because she was doing what was best for her hive.

Her changelings have been starving for a long time and they were desperate. Her real intentions were never to take over Equestria but only get enough food. The princesses only thought of her story as false but James could see the truth. After seeing what his world came to in times of war he knew that look of desperation. Chrysalis was allowed freedom and was pardoned of her crimes against the crown. Cadance at first wasn’t thrilled with the idea but after James explained everything she understood.

With the invasion over all the ponies got back to work on the wedding. The wedding was to be the same as before but won’t include another attack. During the planning Cadance and Shining approached James to see how he was doing. They asked if he would like to have his own wedding along with theirs. James tried to respectfully decline but Cadance wouldn’t take no for an answer. James continued to deny the offer but Shining pulled him away to talk in private.

“James it would be best if you just accept the offer.”

“I have no reason to accept in the first place. I mean sure my mares are now all engaged to me but this is your special day.”

“That may be true James but you did save Canterlot again.”

“Yeah but even then this is a royal wedding and a normal one has no right to be in the same league as that.”

“James do you honestly think that Cadance wants a royal wedding? I mean she may be a princess and all but she just wants to be like everypony else. In fact she would be honored if you also held your wedding today. She wants to see her sister-in-law happy along with every other mare.”

“Even if I did have my wedding on the same day, what makes you so sure that it won’t be treated highly? You forget that I am marrying a Wonderbolt, three famous musicians, and five Elements of Harmony with one of them being a personal student to Celestia.”

“True James, but if you want a normal wedding then Celestia can have that arranged. You forget that what she says has to be done accordingly.”

“Are you sure that neither of you would mind if it happened? Because I would like to get married before I get hit with cold feet and pass out.”

“Oh trust me James; there is never enough time to prepare you for this. You could have this wedding in one hour and you will still get cold feet.”

“Oh yeah and how do you know?”

“I know because I am getting cold feet right now and this is my second time doing it.”

“I guess the big bad captain isn’t as tough as he looks then.”

“And it looks like this human has no idea how much trouble my wife will give him using her special talent.” James and Shining laughed as they walked back over to Cadance.

“So will you finally accept my offer James?”

“After much convincing from Shining I accept.”

“That is wonderful to hear since Rarity got all of their dresses ready along with your suit.”

“Rarity came to you and begged that you convince me to have the wedding.”

“Well of course she did. You forget that fourteen of your mares are pregnant and are due here in a few months. They want to be properly married before they give birth and also want an excuse to wear a wedding dress.” The three of them laughed as they knew that it was true.

James was standing in his room going over his suit one last time. Rarity did a good job on his suit. His suit was black but had a golden orange trim along all the edges. Rarity even got everypony’s cutie mark on the back and had Spitfire’s up top with Rainbow’s right next to it. Surrounding the cutie marks this time was six different elements. On his pants were Luna’s and Celestia’s cutie marks on top of his shield and star marks.

James smiled as he looked himself over happy with everything that has happened. Sure there were times that were bad and he royally screwed up but they still accepted him. James gave on final sigh as he left the room and headed for the throne room. He reached the two large golden doors and the guards smiled as they opened them for him. James walked in and sat down in the back as he watched the wedding.

Cadance and Shining were now pronounced mare and stallion and everypony cheered in the room. The cheering lasted for a few minutes until Celestia was able to quiet them down. She looked over at James and he got up from his seat and headed for the altar. The ponies watched as James walked towards the altar in his suit. As he walked he could hear the ponies whisper and start to spread rumors about what was happening. Cadance caught wind of this and told everypony to calm down.

They kept their mouths shut for fear of angering the Princess of Love. Once James reached the altar the pony of the organ started playing. James looked towards the doors with a big smile on his face. The song played for a couple of minutes before the doors finally opened. The ponies all turned around as Spitfire and the others walked down the aisle. James was at a loss of words at their dresses. They all wore a dress that showed of their vibrant colors and hugged them perfectly.

James could see that they used an illusion spell since they kept their swollen bellies hidden. James thought it was nice since they deserved this special moment. His mares all smiled at him as they reached the altar and the song started to die down. Celestia looked at the group before her and then started her eulogy. They looked at each other as Celestia talked so that everything was official. As she talked James realized that he had no vow to read to them. He started to panic a little but then thought to himself. As Celestia was reaching the part where they would read their vows he knew what to say.

“The couples may now read their vows.” Celestia said.

“Spitfire and everypony I love you all. I came into this world scared and confused of my surroundings. I was a broken man and you took it upon yourselves to help me. I know that I have caused you pain and made you worry and I am sorry. I guess I never truly understood what I had until I almost lost it. I am glad to be standing with all of you here today and even more proud to call you my wives. I will take care of you through sickness and health, the good and the bad, and no matter what I will always be with you.”

“James I think I speak for everypony when I say we love you. We were scared when we first met you but you still helped us. You put yourself in harm’s way so that we could continue to live our lives. You love us for who we are and don’t ask for anything more. You proved that ponies do have the ability to change and not all of them are evil. We are proud to stand by your side forever. You are the father of our children and future ones to come. No matter what happens we will be by your side until the end.”

“Now if there is anypony that believes that these two should not be wed speak now or forever hold your peace.” Celestia nodded as all the ponies in the room kept their silence. “By the power of the sun and all of Equestria I pronounce you stallion and mare.”

James went one by one through his mares giving them a kiss. As he did this everypony in attendance stood up and clapped for the happy couples. James looked over at Shining and gave him a nod of the head. James and his mares walked out of the throne room with Shining and Cadance following behind. Once they were outside Shining and Cadance took their carriage and flew off for their honeymoon. Celestia walked up behind James and tapped his shoulder.

“If you want James I can teleport you and your mares home so you can all relax.” James looked at his mares and they nodded in agreement.

“Thank you Celestia we would like that.”

Celestia’s horn flared to life and sent the happy couple back home. James and his mares took a few seconds to shake off their dizziness before moving. Once the room was done spinning they headed for the master bedroom so they could get some actual sleep for once. James was out of his suit and in his shorts as the mares got undressed. Once his mares were undressed they joined him in their bed and let sleep take them over.

3 months later

James was sitting outside the delivery room shaking like a leaf. Fiddlesticks, Flitter, Cloudchaser, Daisy, and Lily were by his side trying to help him calm down. James couldn’t help his shaking though since he was both excited and nervous about what was happening. He remembered getting up like any other day and was making everypony breakfast. James heard a knock at the door and he answered it to see a smiling Luna. James let her in and before he could say anything he heard Trixie yell from her room.

“James I think my water broke.”

James didn’t even hesitate to run straight for Trixie’s room. He barged through her door and looked at the wet stain on her bed. James stuck his head out of the room and yelled for the others.

“Is everypony alright?”

“No James all of our waters broke.” All his mares yelled.

James slowly started to panic because he didn’t know what to do. Before he completely freaked out Luna placed a hand on his shoulder. James looked up at her and she was smiling down at him. James mouthed the words thank you as Luna teleported them all to the hospital. Once they arrived the doctors were all over the scene getting the mares to the delivery room. James tried to follow but them kept him from entering. James tried to argue his way in but they wouldn’t let him pass.

James took a seat on one of the available chairs and waited. He was joined by the other five as they tried to comfort James. James was at least happy that Luna was in there with them so he knew that his children were in safe hands. Several hours passed before a doctor finally came out of the room. James wasted no time in getting up and charging straight at the doctor.

“Please tell me that they are okay Dr. Stables.”

“Don’t worry James, the births were successful and I am proud to say that you are a father to seventeen healthy foals. Eight of them are colts and the other nine are fillies.”

“Can I see them doctor?”

“Of course you can James.”

James walked around the doctor followed by the other five as they went to see their children. Once James opened the doors he was greeted by his mares as they waved to him. As he walked towards them Nurse Redheart showed up and lead him to see his children. James looked through the window at the seventeen foals before him. He was glad that they already decided on names for their children before all this happened.

Spitfire’s kids were named Fire Storm and Dazzling Blaze. Octavia’s kids were named Graceful Melody and Harmonic Note. Twilight’s kids were named Star Jumper and Enchanting Gleam. Pinkie’s kid was named Cherry Pie. Fluttershy’s kid was named Gentle Breeze. Vinyl’s kid was named Future Beat. Rainbow’s kid was named Tempest. Lyra’s was named Harmony Harp. Rose’s was named Moon Flower. Aloe’s was named Vera. Lotus’ was named Ivy Flower. Rarity’s was named Dazzling Gem. Trixie’s was named Show Stopper. Lightning’s was named Lightning Blade.

All the kids took after their mother’s in both species and color. The colors did range though from various hues of the same color. James couldn’t help but let a tear fall down as he looked at his smiling foals. James could already see that two of them were going to be a handful. Tempest was up and looking around as he tried to figure out where he was. Show Stopper was even fighting with her pillow for some odd reason.

James could probably add his own little mix in their as the reason for their behavior. James knew that his mares were never going to let him live this down if they became hard headed like him. Even then James was proud of his children and his mares for everything. James walked away from the window and joined his mares as they laid in their beds eating the awful hospital food and drinking water.

“So how are they James?” Twilight asked.

“They are perfect in every sense.”

“So there is nothing wrong with them?” Lyra asked.

“Not as far as I could tell, and even then if there was I will still care for them the same. They are my children and there is nothing in this world that would make me hate them. No matter their defect if they have one I will help them push past it.”

The mares all smiled as they leaned their heads back on their pillows as they tried to rest. As they fell asleep Luna came by and tapped James on the shoulder. James turned around and was going to bow before the princess until she stopped him. James lifted his head to see what he did wrong and was surprised to see what she was doing. She had her arms spread inviting him in for a hug. James hesitated at first but was urged by the other five as they pushed him towards Luna.

Luna wrapped her arms around James and held him tightly. James returned the hug as tears of joy spilled down his face. James couldn’t find the words to describe how he was feeling. He could use every word in the dictionary and it still wouldn’t be enough. As the hug broke apart Celestia walked into the room and headed for James. She pulled James into a hug and James gladly returned it. When they were finished hugging James lead Celestia to his children.

While Celestia was busy looking at his children he was pulled to the side by Flitter. They were shuffling their feet as they looked at James. James gave them a warm smile as he told them that they could say whatever they wanted.

“Well James it is the beginning of fall and I think you know what that means.”

“I do but will the others be able to handle it?”

“Don’t worry about that. Since they gave birth during their upcoming heat cycle it will be held off. All the attention will be put on the foals for the time being. What we need you to do is deal with our heat cycle since we still have to go through it.” Cloudchaser said.

“You really want a kid of you own don’t you?”

“Well of course we do James. We are married now and it wouldn’t hurt to have a kid with our husband.” Fiddlesticks said.

James gave a slight chuckle at how his mares were acting. They still acted a little shy around him when they wanted to have sex and it was cute. James told them that they could ask him if they wanted to do it and he would have most likely said yes. More likely though Rarity probably told them to act shy and innocent so they could really get his attention. It worked well enough as the brought the five mares in for a hug and gave each of them a kiss.

“Don’t worry about a thing. I promise this upcoming heat season we will not leave the room until you are pregnant. Although I will need to make sure the walls are soundproof so we don’t disturb the kids.”

The mares all nodded as they hugged him close. Once they were done James was greeted by Cadance and Shining as they came to see his children. As Shining was busy looking over the kids Cadance was looking at James and gesturing with her eyes at the other five mares. James knew what she was implying and nodded his head in confirmation that they talked about. Cadance gave a big smile as she joined her husband to look at her future nephews and nieces. James went over to Spitfire’s bed and held her hand.

As he held her hand he looked at her neck and saw her necklace. James looked around at the others and saw that they were all wearing their necklaces. James still couldn’t believe that all of this had happened. With everything from his past that came back he was glad that these mares were able to help him grow. James could always feel the sensation that there was something bad going to happen. Even with that James had new reasons to stay strong now. He was filled with determination as he decided to keep his new family safe.

James looked over at the princesses as they came walking towards him. They each summoned a different gift and gave it to James. The gift from Celestia was a new pair of double daggers. The blades were black and in the shape of a crescent moon. The hilts shined brightly like the sun and on the end was a crystal heart. The gift from Luna held his new hoodie that held all three princesses cutie marks showing that he was their protector. The gift from Cadance was a necklace that his mares bought him a while back. The gem was a blood diamond and James put it on happily. James looked around the room as he thanked all his mares for everything that they did.

Author's Notes:

Happy Hearts and Hooves day everyone. Thanks to ErikTheSoulReaper for his hard work in helping me come up with these names. He has been very helpful in this story and I hope that he continues to help me till the end. I truly cannot thank him enough for all his hard work in helping this story.