“I’m exhausted. I don’t think I am going to make it to the after party that Rarity is throwing… even though I know I gotta go,” Apple Bloom said as she flopped down in a chair. She yawned, let out a whine, and then watched her brother Big Mac dancing with Cheerilee.

“It’s so sweet watching them together,” Sweetie Belle whispered in a low voice into Apple Bloom’s ear. She leaned over and put an arm around Apple Bloom’s withers. “Look how happy they are… they act like they are the only ponies in the room.”

“Eh, I could love you like that.” Rumble reached up and smoothed back his pompadour, which was looking a little flat from his sweating and so much smoothing back.

Leaning over, Scootaloo placed a foreleg around Rumble’s withers and whispered into his ear, “Rumble, if you loved any of us like that, we’d end up fat with foal like Cheerilee and several mares would be drawing straws to put an end to you… not to mention what your own mothers might do. You… you just keep loving us like the way you do, okay?”

Embarrassed, Rumble turned an as of yet unknown and unseen shade of purple, something never before seen by mortal or immortal eyes in all known realities and dimensions. “I… Scoots… I… just… I just meant… I just meant I could be sweet to you.”

Seeing Rumble losing his cool, Sweetie Belle fell back into her chair and began to guffaw.

Closing his eyes, Barley leaned on Luna. Slow dancing. One of his favourite things, but something he could no longer do with his arthritic old knees. But in this much younger body, he could stand on his hind legs and hold Luna up so they could dance barrel to barrel, with their forelegs wrapped around one another, holding each other up as they danced in slow, lazy circles.

“When we first met, I had no idea I would love you like I do right now,” Barley said, confessing his heart to Luna. “I thought this was going to be another drunken fling.”

“I was lonesome, and I had an itch… but you have done so much more than scratch an itch, Barley. I have come to love you like I have loved no other. Even if you did paddle me with a brush.”

“But that brought us a little closer together, I think.” Barley allowed his front hooves to wander and one ran down Luna’s spine until it reached her croup. He began to press tight circles against her supple flesh.

“Barley, you are getting fresh with me, are you not?” Luna asked.

“Oh, I am, but I’ll behave. A little touchy feely isn’t going to hurt anything. Lots of other colts are doing it… and more than a few fillies too,” Barley replied.

“Slow dancing… a lesson in control for little colts. How to keep parts of your anatomy from popping out and embarrassing everypony present.” Luna shook her head and began to giggle.

“Oh, I’ll admit, it is taking all my control to keep something from stabbing you in the belly right now… the chaperones are right to keep an eye on us colts. We’re all dirty perverts.”

Squeezing Barley a little tighter, Luna pressed her muzzle against his neck and treasured this most magical of moments with the pony that she loved more than all others in her long, long life.

This had been quite a party. Almost perfect. Pinkie Pie, proud, pondered party perfection. Cheese Sandwich was taking photos of happy couples and happy herds. There were a surprising number of little herds and there was a news reporter here interviewing any of the little herds that were brave enough to talk to him.

Smiling a wide smile, Pinkie Pie watched Luna and Barley dancing. She felt her heart warm and thought of Cheese Sandwich. She couldn’t imagine loving another pony as much as him. Technically, she and Cheese lived together as a herd with a Cakes, but they lived as an extended family; the Cakes were like second parents to her. They had taken her in when she had come to Ponyville at such a young and tender age. All four of them had custody of Twist, a curious arrangement that had caused no end of eyebrow raising.

But Twist was happy. Twist being happy made Pinkie Pie happy. Twist was blossoming into the beautiful beginnings of adolescence and she was becoming quite a baker in her own right. The love, the care, and the attention of not two, but four parents had done wonders for Twist’s self confidence and self esteem.

Almost vibrating with excitement, Pinkie Pie looked over at Twilight Sparkle, who was sitting at a table with Rainbow Dash and Flash Sentry, having a bit of a breather. Twilight Sparkle had come a long way from being the shy bookworm and wallflower. She was still clingy with her friends in social situations, but Twilight Sparkle was a social pony now. It made Pinkie Pie happy to see how Twilight Sparkle had changed.

There was a flash from Cheese Sandwich’s camera and Pinkie Pie turned her head to watch. Cheese had a knack for getting amazing smiles out of even the shyest little colts and fillies, telling them to say “Cheese!” just before a picture and making silly faces at them.

She felt her heart swelling with love. She sighed, rubbed her belly, and hoped that the little foal in there could feel its mother’s happiness. Pinkie Pie suspected she was having a colt. She didn’t know how she knew, just that she knew, perhaps because of her Pinkie sense.

She watched as Cheese Sandwich snapped a picture of Sentinel, Diamond Tiara, and Boadicea. Both Diamond Tiara and Boadicea had matching flowers. Pinkie had no idea what the flowers were, but they were beautiful and white. Diamond Tiara’s was tucked into her mane while Boadicea had pinned hers to the collar on her gown.

Sentinel was a very lucky colt; he had found himself a pink pony. Pinkie Pie knew that pink ponies brought luck and were very, very special. Her father had told her so and her father was a very honest earth pony.

Piña Colada was another pink pony, and it seemed that Piña had been procured, spoken for, claimed by a sweet little colt named Larch. Larch had received a crash course lesson in dancing from Carrot Cake and Cup Cake. Cheese had been so helpful and had provided music with his accordion. During the coronation gala today, Larch hadn’t done much dancing, but Larch, Piña, and Babs had been laughing and having a lot of fun, so Pinkie Pie couldn’t fault them.

Heaving a sigh, Pinkie Pie felt very contented.

“Look at them,” Rising Star said to Sparkler and Loch Skimmer. He pointed at Ripple and Bittersweet. “Look at them slow dancing. Did you ever see anything quite so beautiful as that?”

“Well, I did wake up the other morning with Loch Skimmer’s plump posteriour in my face,” Sparkler replied. “But I’ll admit, seeing Ripple dancing with Bittersweet is right up there with beautiful sunsets and thunderstorms on my list of things I like to look at.”

“I wish I could slow dance,” Rising Star said and then heaved a sigh. “But I know what would happen if I did.”

“We haven’t done anything to help you with your boner problem for quite a while… at first I thought I was going to lose my mind.” Loch Skimmer turned and looked at her companions. “But then we started talking and doing stuff together and while I’d still like to have my bones jumped, I gotta admit, doing stuff together as a family has been nice.”

“We have come back from the brink of disaster. Ripple has been doing a lot better. I think all of us have, actually.” Sparkler leaned over on Rising Star, sighed, and rubbed her cheek against his neck. “Look at Sentinel, Diamond Tiara, and Boadicea. They’re all trying to slow dance together as a trio, holding each other up.”

“Sentinel is drooling… you can see it hanging off of the corner of his lip,” Loch Skimmer said, pointing at Sentinel. “Poor little fella, he can’t help how he drools when he gets excited.”

“Gross, but somehow endearing. Boadicea just wiped it away with her wing… that has to be some kind of early warning sign of love or something, wiping away drool from your date.” Rising Star placed his foreleg around Sparkler and pulled her closer.

Loch Skimmer looked up at Rising Star. “You drool in your sleep. From two distinct places.” The pegasus filly shook her head as she grinned.

“Look how pretty Ripple is in her gown. Our little brawler is all girly,” Rising Star said.

“Look, Rising, honey, why don’t you have Ripple put you through the floor and then you get back to me on how girly she is.” Sparkler, who was happy to be pressed up against her husband, melted against him, her body almost going limp. Her tremors weren’t so bad as of late and her Shivers symptoms had reduced a great deal now that she had removed some of the stress from her life.

“Ponies never use the term ‘willowy’ to describe me.” Loch Skimmer looked at her sister and felt a twinge of envy. “When they describe Ripple though, she’s willowy. She’s graceful. She’s delicate. Ripple gets all of the pretty words when ponies talk about her.”

“I dunno, there is something to be said for solid, stocky, and sturdy…. ouch! You slugged me, Loch Skimmer!” Rising Star’s lower lip protruded in a pout. “You know, when a pony is rescued by emergency services, they want a pony that is dependable, solid, stocky, and sturdy… nobody ever begs the willowy pony to come and rescue them.”

“Oh shut up.” Loch Skimmer reached up with both front hooves, grabbed Rising Star by his cheeks, pulled his head around, and kissed him on the lips.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, a different sort of dance was coming to an end. Sighing, feeling weary, Bucky, who was bloodied, sat down upon the floor. He turned to Tannis and gave the proud new father an exhausted, but reassuring smile.

“See, I told you everything was going to be fine,” Bucky said.

The griffon took a deep shuddering breath, nodded, and looked at his wife. Agnetha was being cleaned up by the nurses and she was holding the blanket wrapped bundle that was their cub. A few tears trickled from the corners of his eyes and the sides of his beak were shiny.

Bucky watched as Agnetha made a few feeble movements and then turned his attention back to Tannis. “I’ll admit, that was scary. Breech birth and something rupturing. Agnetha will recover and Beauregard came out okay.”

“I have never seen my wife look more beautiful than she does right now,” Tannis said.

His eyes darting towards the griffoness, and then back at Tannis, Bucky nodded. “I know what you mean. When your mate gives birth to your offspring, there is something beautiful about her.”

“Blood for the transfusion is coming,” a nurse reported. She bowed her head and then departed, disappearing down the hall.

“I can’t stop crying… this is shameful.” Tannis began to wipe his eyes with his wings, but he could not make the tears stop. “I thought I was going to lose her… I’ve never been so scared in all my life… even during that horrible night when everything went wrong…”

“Oh my, I made a hideous little cub,” Agnetha said in a low, weak sounding voice.

Shaking his head, Bucky started to chuckle and he held up his talons. “Come on, they’re not so bad… I thought that Bandua was beautiful and perfect.”

Pulling back the corner of the blanket, Agnetha looked at her still bloodied cub. She took a deep breath, rested her head back against her pillows, and then looked at her husband. “I think you’ll need to feed him. I’m not sure that I have it in me.”

“Of course, dear,” Tannis replied, stepping forward.

“Sir, one moment, let us clean up the little prince just a bit more, if we may,” a nurse said.

“Of course.” Tannis stepped back but kept his sharp eyes locked on the blanket covered bundle. “I have a son. Bucky, you have a daughter… I think at some point, we need to have a talk about doing what is best for our griffons…”

“Funny you should mention that… I was planning on bringing up the subject myself, only later,” Odin said as he stepped through the door. “Oh goodness, there is a lot of blood. How are you, Agnetha dear?”

“Still alive and very happy,” Agnetha replied.

“This is a momentous day… a wonderful day.” Odin lifted his head and looked proud. “The fates of the griffons are improving…”

Author's Notes:

One AM. I'm pooped.

Prancess Erroria has promised a typo gree chapter.