---

---

These last few days have been very relaxing, true to Celestia's word, we did nothing but enjoy each other's company.

We went into town a few times for lunch and dinner, we received many gifts of thanks from the townsfolk ranging from flowers to little souvenirs.

The female gryphon Olvera managed to worm her way out of her bonds and tried to attack the guards near her cell, she was gunned down instantly and didn't stand a chance. Her body was cremated as the townsfolk didn't want her buried nearby.

Celestia and I made love two days ago on the bed and she was a lot more aggressive than usual, I think it's because she's so close to giving birth.

The gryphon ship has been searched and a few logbooks have been found detailing its voyage over here, they apparently raided another small town before they could send word to us, the rescued prisoners confirmed this as they were from that town.

The moment we return Celestia is going to finalize the attack plans on Aries Peak and I'll begin my training with the Fire Aspect Infernus.

Once we've all had our fun, we return to our little airship with the airship that arrived with guards as an escort back. The two remaining gryphons were locked in the brig for the journey home.

We're flying back over the ocean and after a day's travel, we reach the mainland where we killed the dragon.

"Before we return, we should take the hoard of the dragon we slain here as we have a bigger ship to transport it now," Luna says to all of us while pointing to the sloop.

"What? But we don't even know where his lair is..." I reply looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"We read his mind when we used our power to deafen him," she replies.

Huh... not bad. "Nice, so where is it?" I ask.

She points towards the forest where it first appeared. "There's a cave in the forest that leads underground similar to the one we camped in, in the Everfree Forest," she tells me.

"Alright then, how big is the hoard?" Celestia asks.

"Only a quarter of the size of the one we retrieved in the Everfree," Luna replies to her sister.

"Hmmm, it should fit on the airship then... Very well, Luna. Please inform the Kestrel to land and we'll follow behind you," Celestia tells her.

"Of course," Luna says and flies off to the sloop.

I take over the wheel and gently land the small airship next to the sloop on the nearby beach.

---

---

We retrieved all the valuables and loaded them into the sloop's cargo hold, I found a few decent gems that will be great for Shining's new sword and Shield I'll have made for him, Celestia is even letting me use another branch from the rosewood tree for the shield like mine.

Once loaded and secured, we take off again and head back to Canterlot.

---

---

I yawn and wake up with my lovers beside me on the bed as a night guard took the wheel last night, we all get up and get ready for the day. We should be nearing Canterlot in a few hours.

I'm sitting at the table on the deck with the others eating breakfast.

"So, Luna, what are you going to do once we get back?" I ask her.

She swallows her bite of the banana she's eating and looks at me. "We will be continuing our training with Umbra when we are not in court or with thee." she tells me.

"Fair enough, I'll most likely be doing the same thing but with Infernus," I say and smile. "I wonder what uncle Discord's been up to... Haven't heard from him in a while," I wonder out loud to myself.

"Most likely tormenting some poor pony with his pranks," Celestia says, she then hisses in pain and rubs her stomach. “The little one is kicking a lot more often now,” she tells us.

Luna then goes wide eyed and chokes on her drink. "You alright, Luna?" I ask her with worry.

She coughs a few times and has a look of horror. "We just realised... If Discord is uncle to Adrian, then that means he is now uncle to us..." she says and Celestia looks horrified as well.

"Is that bad? I personally find him funny," Shella says while Cadence is playing with Mavis on her lap.

"You haven't known him back when we were just fillies, he constantly pulled pranks and annoyed everypony around him... Though I must admit he has calmed down quite a bit since then," Celestia replies.

"Well, I just hope he's behaving himself," I say and finish my breakfast.

---

---

We land back at the Canterlot docks where Shining and Silk are waiting for us.

"Welcome back, your Majesties," they say and bow.

"I keep telling you to stop that, Shining," I playfully scold him.

He looks back up and smirks. "And I told you, I'm on duty," he replies.

"Any news since our leave, Captain?" Celestia asks him.

He looks at her and frowns. "Do you want the good news first or the bad?" he asks her.

"The good please," she says.

"Well, with Discord's help, we tracked down Goldrush to the border of Equestria and Gryphonia. We believe she was trying to take refuge with the gryphons in exchange for information about Equestria. She's in the dungeon right now tied up and muzzled so she can't kill herself," he tells us.

I smirk and chuckle. "Finally, this also means we can weed out the others who sided with her," I say. "What's the bad news?" I then ask.

"Chrysalis' changelings attacked Ponyville yesterday and almost abducted Fluttershy from her cottage, if it wasn't for Chitain and Chameleon detecting them so quickly we might have lost her. We've managed to repel them from the town with no foalnappings, but there were several injuries that the human mages have healed," he replies.

I frown and think, Chrysalis is finally making her move... "It would be best to organise the guard and fortify Ponyville," I say to the others.

"We've already begun building a wall between the Everfree and the town along with more guards and an expansion to the Barracks. We even had Fluttershy’s cottage moved closer to the town," Shining tells me.

"Good, I want changeling guards on the wall at all times to sense Chrysalis' changelings at any time," I tell him.

He nodded and pulls out a notepad and writes it down.

"So, how's the new body working for you?" I ask him.

Silk giggles and kisses Shining on his cheek. "It's been wonderful," she says with half lidded eyes at him.

He looks up and chuckles nervously. "It was rough at first, but after a few hours of practice I got used to the new height and legs... having toes was kinda creepy at first, but I can use a single life element now," he tells me.

I chuckle as well and we all head inside, after a few minutes walking and chatting with the others, I hear a grunt beside me.

"Argh!" Celestia grunts in pain and the sound of liquid splashing fills the hall.

I look down and see a puddle of fluids underneath her. 'Oh shit... her water just broke...'

"Oh no, the foal! It's early!" Celestia says with panic and wobbles on her legs.

I quickly pick her up bridal style and head into the Castle as fast as I can, I jog slowly down the halls towards the medical wing where Celestia is gripping my shirt tightly and screaming in pain. Her cries spur me on faster and we reach our destination.

"I need a Doctor now! My wife is having her foal!" I shout out and the medical staff scramble.

A chair with wheels is brought in and I place Celestia down in it, a nurse pushes her to an empty room and I help my wife up onto the bed.

"My Queen, I need you to spread your legs, take deep breaths and push," A female Doctor says and stands in between Celestia's thighs, she then removes Celestia's underwear and holds her hands in place ready for the foal.

Celestia takes a few deep breaths and then grunts painfully as she pushes. "RRAAAAGGHHH!" she screams and I grip her hand, she squeezes hard but I ignore the pain. She then looks at me with a glare. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR DOING THIS TO ME!" she yells at me and pushes again.

I smile and lightly kiss her. "You can do whatever you want to me later, but right now you need to bring our son into the world. Come on, Tia, push!" I encourage her.

She grits her teeth and clenches her eyes shut. "RRRRAAAAAGGGHH!" After a long thirty or so minutes and with a final scream the sounds of a baby crying fills the room.

Celestia then sighs in relief and is gasping for breath.

The nurses clean our son off and wrap him in a blanket and carefully gives him to Celestia.

Celestia's pain gives way to joy as she looks down at our foal, he has grey fur and dark brown hair. Celestia sobs happily as she holds him and looks at him.

"He's beautiful," she says and nuzzles the newborn. The nurses are cleaning around Celestia's thighs with warm water and towels while the Doctor is scanning Celestia with spells.

His crying calms down and he opens his eyes, they're a deep purple colour.

"What will we name him?" I ask Celestia as she continues to sob happily.

She stays silent for a few seconds before looking at me. "Valiant, Valiant Stormsword," she tells me.

I smile and couldn't hold my own tears of joy back anymore and kiss her deeply, I pull back and stroke her cheek. "It's perfect," I say and look at my son.

He's look up at us with wide eyes before looking around the room while making cute baby noises.

There's a knock at the door and Luna's head pops through the slightly opened door. "Tia? Are thou alright?" she asks with worry.

The nurses finish cleaning and cover Celestia's lower half with a blanket.

"We're fine, Lulu. Come meet your nephew," Celestia replies and Luna walks in followed by the others.

The others fawn over our son and Cadence once again gets her camera out and takes a picture of Celestia, Valiant, and I together.

Shella then walks over with Mavis. "Mavis, say hello to you new brother," she says and holds the baby changeling closer to Valiant.

Mavis reaches out and lightly bops him on the nose which makes him start crying again, his sudden noise then sets Mavis off as well.

Celestia then hands me my son and I hold him to my chest, I shush him quietly and rock him back and forth.

---

---

We're now back in our room where Celestia is laying down on the bed with Valiant in her arms, Cadence, Luna, and my parents have been making a fuss over him the whole time and I've never seen Celestia look more happy or proud.

Lunch was brought up to us as Celestia is having trouble walking at the moment.

Discord is even here and gushing over the foal as well, even conjured a little blue butterfly that landed on Valiant's nose making him giggle.

"So, Tia. How does it feel to be a mother?" I ask laying down beside her with Valiant between us.

"Better than I imagined," she replies and nuzzles Valiant for the hundredth time.

Cadence is sitting on the bed cradling her own belly with a smile of her own. "With both Mavis and now Valiant, I'm even more excited for my own foal to arrive!" she says giddily.

"And she'll be just as beautiful as her mother," I tell her and she blushes. She leans over and gives me a kiss and cuddles up to my other side.

"Argh, gag me with a spoon, I'll leave you lovebirds to yourselves," Discord says and looks at me. "The building I was making for you is ready and we'll begin your Fire Aspect training in there tomorrow," he tells me and vanishes in a puff of pink clouds.

After about twenty minutes, I get up and ask Luna a question. "Luna, while Tia rests here, would you come with me to the Dungeons? We have a certain someone waiting for us,"

She frowns and nodded. "We agree, it would be best if we find out who was involved with the attempt on our lives during our wedding and flush them out," she replies.

"Let me know who they are," Celestia asks us. "I want to know which of these sorry bastards wanted to kill us and our son," she tells us with a scowl that could peel the bark right off a tree.

"You know I will," I reply and we leave.

We arrive at the Dungeon with Shining Armour and a few guards, we walk down the stone stairs and come to a cold cell with steel bars. Inside is Goldrush looking dirty and bound.

"So, we meet again," I say and Shining opens the door for us. We step in and Luna has the most hateful expression I've ever seen.

Goldrush mumbles through her gag but it's just gibberish.

"No need to talk, we have nothing to say to a traitor like thee," Luna says and places her hand on Goldrush's head. After a few seconds, she lets go. "Silver Vase, Shining Jewel, Scroll Minder, and Golden Blossom. These four Nobles along with Goldrush are hereby wanted for treason and will be arrested for trial for the attempted assassination of the royal family," Luna states coldly and walks out the cell.

I glare one more time at Goldrush who looks terrified. "Don't worry, this isn't the last time we’ll see each other just yet," I tell her with disgust.

She starts sobbing and I leave the cell with Luna.

We return to our room and tell the others what we learnt. Luna also shared what she saw from Goldrush's memories with Celestia as well.

"Scroll Minder? B-But he's been a loyal friend for years..." Celestia says heartbroken that her keeper of the Archives wanted us dead.

"We know, Tia. We art just as shocked to learn of this as thou art," Luna replies.

I frown. "We'll have to set up four squads of guards and take each of them into custody simultaneously, preferably each led by a Captain," I say.

"Agreed, We'll have Shining Armour, Hammer Strike, Spitfire, and Bright Mind each command a squad and at seven tonight, arrest the traitors," Celestia replies.

---

---

We've had dinner where after I used the mirror to contact Solaris and Galaxia about their new grandson, Galaxia was very happy but sad that she couldn’t hold him in her arms. I’m going to have to find a way to bring them back, if this mirror can connect to them, then maybe elven magic can make a portal long enough to get them through, I’ll have to talk with Vortigan about this later.

Luna and Cadence are residing over court, Celestia is still in bed breastfeeding our son with Shella there as well as my mother.

I'm in the Barracks with the four squads gathered and ready to go.

"You have your orders, our scouts have found the traitors locations and are keeping an eye on them, your goal is to arrest them quickly before they can get away and place them in the dungeon for trial," I tell them.

Ever since the attack at the wedding, the guards have been itching to find out who was behind it.

"If they resist, force is authorised. But we want them alive, death is too good for them," I say and they all salute.

"Yes, your Majesty!" they all say.

"I'm counting on you all, good luck and bring those bastards back," I tell them with a nod.

Next Chapter: Chapter 69: Trial Part 1 Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 14 Minutes