Author's Notes:

Songs Included:
Creed- Arms Wide Open
Johann Sebastian Bach- Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565

Ten months after finding out she was pregnant, Sunset was moved to Canterlot to spend the final month with Luna and Celestia in the castle’s hospital. Having been away when Octavia was pregnant, Brian made sure to spend as much time as he could assisting his wife. That was a month ago, as it would be any day now when Sunset gave birth.

“I'm going to head to the library for a little while. Anything in particular you'd want to read?”

“Anything on raising a child,” Sunset joked

“Sadly, there aren't any instruction manuals. We just have to learn on the fly.”

“I know, I just had to ask,” she replied

Once in the library, one of the first books he grabbed were about Equestria’s history. While he was able to read about it in Hell, these had some details removed.

One that was interesting was the mention of the royal family tree. The first thing noted was Cadence was indeed the descendant of the Crystal Empire's Princess Amore by countless generations.
Secondly, Twilight and Sunset were indeed cousins under Crystal Dusk being Twilight Velvet’s sister. Following the lineage, Brian found that Cadence was also a cousin, but due to the comingling of bloodlines, all members of Equestrian royalty were related to one another. With all that, he was surprised that none of the remaining members of the mane-six were of royal blood.

“Damn. I guess that shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Even at home, so many people probably have someone royal in their family tree.”

“Looking at that? Find anything interesting in the family tree,” Celestia asked

“Some things I shouldn't have been surprised by. Sunset did mention she and Twilight were cousins years ago, but I didn't realize Twilight and Cadence are cousins themselves. From what I surmise, all members of royalty are linked to you and Luna, whether they know it or not.”

“Some knew generations ago, but thankfully that hasn't been passed down,” she said “Shall we rejoin the others?”

Celestia led him back to the throne room where Cadence, Shining and Flurry were talking with Octavia and Melody. To his surprise, Sunset’s hospital bed was there as well along with Knight Shield. The only ones not in attendance were the Midnight Guard.

“Hope we're not interrupting anything. We were told about another royal birth and wanted to be here to congratulate you,” Cadence said

“Thank you for coming. I was actually in the library reading. I found the royal family tree and saw some interesting things there.”

“Like what,” Sunset asked

“You and Twilight are cousins, although you did mention that years ago. What was interesting was your relationship, Cadence. I read about the Crystal Empire but didn't pay much attention to the coincidence in naming until now.”

“Princess Amore wasn't my ancestor as you think. She was my mother,” Cadence answered

“How is that possible? The Empire disappeared over a thousand years ago,” Twilight asked

“You're that old,” a confused Shining asked while Knight Shield just laughed “What is so funny Knight Shield?”

“Del, you might want to say it.”

“Say what,” Cadence asked curiously

“You're a cougar,” Deltorix said trying not to laugh

“A what,” everyone said simultaneously

“A woman who has a thing for younger men,” Del said swallowing in fear

Despite Cadence having pink fur, her face managed to turn shades darker as she blushed from the comment. Brian withdrew a trumpet and started to play ‘Taps’ in fear for his best friend. A few moments later, she seemed to have calmed down as her face regained its usual pink coloring.

“That was the first time I've ever heard that, so I am sorry for my reaction. When I was a foal and just before Sombra banished the Crystal Empire, I was secretly sent out to Canterlot to reside,” Cadence said

“Do you know who your father was,” Brian asked causing her to shake her head
“Sombra. During my trip to Hell, I read about Equestrian history. While he had a female friend, Sombra did have sex with your mom. It's unfortunate he actually turned her to stone and shattered her, though.”

“So that whole time, we were fighting against your own father,” Twilight said

“If I knew, I'd have told you. My mom never told me he was my father,” Cadence said

“Let's change the subject as I can fell the baby coming,” Sunset said

A guard entered the room at that moment escorting one of the castle’s female doctors. Everyone instinctively backed up, leaving just Brian standing next to the doctor.

“Contractions are starting. Please push to help allow your foal to emerge,” the doctor said

“Squeeze my hoof if you need to.”

Over the next few minutes, with every push Sunset gave, she was squeezing Brian's hoof harder and harder. He didn't care if the hoof suffered any damage, although he doubted it; being an alicorn. The doctor held a bundle that was covered in blood that he knew was his son.

“Do you want to cut the umbilical cord,” the doctor asked holding a scalpel

“I'd prefer this blade,” Brian said removing a butterfly sword from his foreleg

As he cut the cord, the doctor's eyes went wide as she watched the blood disappear into the blade. Afterwards, he laid the side of the blade on his son's chest to assist in removing the blood.

“Congratulations, it's a boy,” the doctor said handing the foal to Sunset

“How common is that? He already has a cutie mark from birth,” Sunset commented as she held her son

“Perhaps I can help answer that. As you know; you, Sunset are descended from my sister and I. As such, alicorn blood flows through your veins, it just sat dormant until it was ready. You and Twilight were chosen to be my students due to your lineage as we knew you had the potential to become alicorns in the future,” Celestia explained

The newborn foal was an alicorn and had silver eyes with a golden coat. The mane resembled Celestia’s while his tail was midnight blue similar to Luna’s fur. His cutie mark was a sun with a moon in front, covering most of the sun.

“Welcome to the world, Eclipse,” Brian said kissing his son's forehead

“Eclipse; I'm your mother, Sunset,” she said

“How did that blade do that,” the doctor asked

“Draw in blood? It was designed that way, for one thing. Secondly, it was made in Hell by Lucifer, hence the black appearance.”

“That's impossible. Nopony has gone to Tartarus and returned,” the doctor said

“Three have. Seventeen years ago I battled against a necromancer named Lucy. She and Tirek escaped Hell together, although I made sure she returned. I spent a day there and actually had fun. The library is the ultimate with every book ever written.”

“Really? What's your favorite there,” Twilight asked in awe

“Don't have a favorite.”

“I'd love to see the library,” she said

“Sorry, but there's no way you'd be in Hell. You'd automatically be sent to Heaven when you died. I did say the Elements were considered angelic objects.”

“That's not fair. If you go back, could you grab a book for me,” she asked curiously

“I can try, but I'll make no guarantees. And it's not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’. I'm hoping not to go, but there's a saying from home. Wish in one hand and shit in the other, and see which one fills up first,” he said causing some to make faces of disgust

“Let's change the subject. Princess Luna, Princess Celestia; would the two of you like to see your descendant first,” Sunset asked

“What about the rest of us? Don't we get to see,” Rainbow Dash asked

“You do, but there's at least going to be an order to this. Luna and Celestia are first, due to being Eclipse’s great aunts. Octavia, Vinyl and Melody are next as his closest relatives; and everyone is last.”

“Actually, Luna and I would be Eclipse’s great, great, great,” Celestia started

“Multiple time great aunts. It's easier to just shorten it to one ‘great’ for simplicity. Otherwise, it could go on for a while.”

Each group was permitted to see the newborn Eclipse, before the doctor decided to have Sunset returned to the hospital for privacy. She would be taught how to feed her son, and would be released by the end of the week.

Brian excused himself and headed down to R&D with Knight Shield. Once there, Brian headed to the training room and reverted back to bring human as he summoned a guitar and began to play Creed’s ‘Arms Wide Open’ as it perfectly fit the situation.

“I recognize the song, but just barely. It reminded you of something,” Knight Shield asked

“This very situation. The singer wrote the song after his son was born. Just between brothers, I'm nervous as hell. I wasn't around much to see Harmony and Melody as I was on the other side. I just don't want to make the same mistakes now."

“You'll be fine. I talked with Sunset about Rose and I being godparents. Whenever you have to leave, I'll assist in taking care of Eclipse,” Deltorix replied

“Thanks for everything. I guess some time to think really helps.”

Later that day after everyone enjoyed dinner, Celestia decided to ask the group for a favor.

“In a few days, I'd like to ask you to visit our old castle. There are items I'd like to recover before they are completely destroyed. The tapestries and books there have been left to the elements, so to speak, and I'd like to store them here in Canterlot. We'd go ourselves, but unfortunately we're busy,” Celestia said

“To be able to visit your old castle, I'll happily go. And it's not due to all the old books you have,” Twilight said

“Well, I have to go. Unless anyone has a way to get the countless books and tapestries here?”

The next week, the group returned home to Ponyville before they made the trek through the Everfree Forest. Once at the front doors, Brian was in awe at the sight. While he'd seen the castle in the cartoon, this was real life. He walked over to a wall and removed a torch before lighting it with a spark.

“I'll lead.”

“What give you the right to do so,” Dash asked

“Anyone who's been here recently, raise a hoof,” he said before looking around, seeing none raised

“Anyone afraid of anything crawling around the castle, raise a hoof,” most of the girls raised one in response “I rest my case.”

As he led them inside , Rarity spotted a few small tapestries hanging in the walls. Seeing they were in an open area, Brian decided to set up a shield around the area and use that as their base.

“Alright, let's get these off and lay them on the ground. Any more we find will be returned here.”

“How are we going to prevent anything from getting to them,” Fluttershy asked

“I've already put up a shield around the area.”

“Look at those up there. How do we get those down,” Rarity asked

“I'm going to need some help. Twilight, you'll grab the side opposite me and pull up. Dash, you and Fluttershy will grab the bottom and fly outwards, straightening it.”

Following his instructions, everyone took their places as he and Twilight lifted up and removed it from the wall.

“One down, one to go.”

After repeating the process, the main hall was cleared and everyone decided to continue through the castle. They decided to check each room to make sure nothing was missed. One room contained an organ and Brian was thrilled at the sight.

“There's one piece of music I've always wanted to play. Just in case there's any trapdoors in the room, I'm putting a shield around you.”

After doing so, he levitated his phone to record the music. Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 by Johann Sebastian Bach was played to everyone's surprise. Once he was finished, Twilight led the girls in applause due to the beauty they heard.

“That was beautiful, darling. I've never heard that before,” Rarity said

“It's from my home.”

After the little break, the group resumed their search of the castle, before finally finding the library. As they walked inside, Dash started laughing.

“What is so funny about a library,” Twilight asked

“It's not the library,” Dash replied “it's you.”

Brian summoned a mirror for Twilight to see. Her wings were completely flared outwards and stiff as she blushed.

“It's perfectly normal,” Twilight said

“To have a wing boner? Not so much,” Dash replied “What about you, Brian? Like what you see?”

Dash turned around and lifted her tail to show him her plot, but he gave no reaction.

• FLASHBACK •

\Equestria, days after entry/

“I guess I have to be careful. Considering I'm in a world of ponies, and mostly females at that, I need to be aware of what I look at,” Brian said to himself

After that, he sat on the floor and crossed his back legs and began to meditate. He figured that it was all mental, and wanted to control himself to prevent getting an unwanted or unexpected boner.

\Humanquestria, two days after entry/

“Well, same problem, different place. Although, I do have a wife and don't need to worry about seeing anyone nude here.”

Once again, he dropped into a meditative pose to clear his head. Instead of worrying about nudity, it was more to not focus on looking at porn or the want to relieve himself.

• END FLASHBACK •

After not getting a reaction from Brian, Dash quit trying to test him as Twilight began to look around the room.

“This is amazing! These books haven't been read in over a thousand years. We're lucky Princess Celestia gave us permission to save these books,” Twilight said excitedly

“Well, start removing the books.”

He dropped his bag on the table while Twilight started to pick a shelf and remove the books, before levitating the books into the bag. In a matter of minutes, the two had the entire room cleaned of its contents.

“Dash, could you sit in that chair please? I want to see if there was a secret door in the room.”

Dash sat down and leaned back causing a switch to activate and open a secret room. Before Twilight could get in the room, he swiped Luna and Celestia’s diary from the center pedestal and stuck it in his bag. Using his magic, all the books levitated off their shelves and flew into the bag.

“Well, we removed all the books and tapestries. What now,” Twilight asked

“We head back to the center base. I've already set up a shield to prevent unwanted company and it's getting late. We'll head to bed after eating and tomorrow repair of the damages.”

Once everyone returned, he casually reached in the bag and removed some food along with some pillows.

“How am I going to repair these? I don't have any of my equipment,” Rarity asked

“I do. Here. Needles, heavy-duty thread and cloth patches if needed. I'll take the bigger ones, if you want.”

The two split duties as he worked on the most problematic of the tapestries. Twilight asked to see some of the books, but due to their age, he didn't want anything to happen.

“Sorry, Twi. These books are over a thousand years old. I'd rather Celestia take a look at them and determine what needs to be done. I'm surprised those in the secret room were fine.”

“Speaking of that, what was on the pedestal in the middle,” Twilight asked

“I wasn't paying attention. I just simply removed the books.”

Hours later everything was finished and packed up before being stored away. Brian led the group home whereby the following day would be their trip to Canterlot to return their prizes.

“So, now that we're here, what's for dinner,” Dash asked

“It's a surprise. You'll like it.”

As they were in the inside of Brian's castle, he summoned a small kitchen along with various vegetables and other items. All that could be heard from their position was the sounds of various things being cleaned and cut up before being dumped in a huge crockpot. To go along with that, were grilled cheese sandwiches, enough for the seven of them to have seconds.

“Dinner is served. Grilled cheese sandwiches and potato soup,” Brian said levitating seven plates in front of everyone

“This is good. Could you give me the recipe for my chefs,” Twilight asked

“Of course. Here it is,” he said handing her a card

“Where did you learn this,” Fluttershy asked

“My parents. They taught me what they thought was enough to survive before they offed themselves.”

“Tomorrow, we're going to Canterlot, right,” Rarity asked

“Yes. We'll just take the train.”

After the girls headed home for the evening, Brian decided to train for a bit before heading to bed. He knew Octavia and Melody were still in Canterlot assisting with Sunset. Harmony and Tempest were training the guard with Quake and Thorn and wouldn't be done for a few days.

“Long time no see, Ig,” he said as he entered the dreamscape

“Congratulations with your son. Even as your Nightmare form, I still have to say it,” Ignis said

“Thanks. I guess I'm still nervous about the whole thing.”

“Why didn't you tell Twilight about the diary,” Ig asked

“And have her read it? True, I've read it myself, but that was made for home.”

“I have a bad feeling about the future. I don't know what it is, but I fear it,” a scared Ignis said

“This ain't good. If it means what I think, I fear a second trip to Hell is coming.”

The next day he met the girls at the train station to return to Canterlot. The train was surprisingly empty, so they decided to sit in the middle.

“Welcome back. I take it you were successful in your task,” Celestia asked

“The tapestries have all been repaired and the books collected, but there's a problem with the latter. See for yourself.”

He opened the bag and levitated the tapestries and books out. Two piles of books were created, with a visible difference between them. All the books in the secret room were completely fine, with not a speck of dust on them, while the others had various states of damage.

“I see what you mean. Luna, could you grab my assistants for me,” Celestia replied

Moments later, two tan colored unicorns with book related cutie marks entered the room with Luna.

“Allow me to introduce my assistants Book Binder and Book Worm. These two will be able to repair the damage to our old books. And it looks like you found my secret chamber,” Celestia said

“Speaking of, you might like this back,” Brian said removing the royal diary

“You didn't mention that the other day,” Twilight said angrily

“And let you read the diary of Luna and Celestia? Why would I do that?”

“Did you read it,” Luna asked

“Sort of. I have read it, but not here.”

“How can that be possible,” Luna asked

“At home the diary was recreated for people to read. In fact, here's the book,” he said handing the created diary to Luna and Celestia

“Impressive. They managed to recreate our handwriting perfectly along with each entry,” Celestia said as Luna nodded in agreement

“I don’t remember starting any ‘Friendship Diary’. Where did they get the idea for that,” Twilight demanded

“Easy explanation is multiple timelines. This universe is one of many. Remember when I mentioned the television show, ‘My Little Pony’? The events there are similar, with differences. Perhaps one timeline sees Dash never creating the rainboom that brought everyone together. Chrysalis taking over the wedding with Shining. This diary uses the information from the show, so you wouldn't recognize any of the writing.”

“I can understand that. Considering I was sent to a similar world where the residents are human,” Twilight admitted
“Starlight said she was planning on returning soon.”

The next day Starlight returned to the castle, followed by a pony with a similar fur pattern as Sunset.
“I'm Starlight Glimmer. This is an old friend of mine Sunburst,” Starlight said

“Long time no see, huh sis,” Sunburst said addressing Sunset

“It has been too long. You've had a very different life than I have. I spent most my life in the other world,” Sunset said

“Speaking of that, do you mine explaining what happened during that time,” Brian asked

“I spent about five years training under Celestia before I had a thirst for power and ran away. When I went through the portal, I was only thirteen. Principal Celestia apparently knew about world and welcomed me. Knowing I didn't have any paperwork or residence, I was permitted to stay in one of the unused rooms at Canterlot High School, as long as I helped take care of the school at night.”

“For all the work I did, I received an allowance of $20 a week which was later deposited into a personal bank account. A few years later, she officially adopted me as her daughter, although we kept the relationship secret. While she didn't appreciate me bullying and other students, she was glad when I changed. Once again, I have you to thank for that. You gave me hope and friendship when others were scared to do so. And we also have a beautiful son as well. Before I left, I told her about my decision to return home. I honestly hoped that by returning, I would be able to reconcile with my former mentor,” Sunset finished

“And we have. I was disappointed when you left, but my human counterpart told me plenty of what you did. Knowing all that, I hoped you would return so I could apologize for my actions,” Celestia said hugging Sunset

“One reason we returned was due to the information we found. In our research, was information about Starswirl the Bearded,” Sunburst said

“I'll just say it now. I have a bad feeling about this. There's a reason he's gone, and it's not for us to decide.”

“What are you talking about? This is my idol Starswirl we're talking about. If there's a chance to bring him back, I would gladly do so,” Twilight said excitedly

“If he is indeed dead, I'm not resurrecting him. Besides, he would have an extremely hard time readjusting to what's transpired. Over a thousand years have gone by and no one would remember him.”

“Why would you be the one to resurrect Starswirl if he is indeed dead,” Sunburst asked

“Let's just say, I know about necromancy a having fought against one before. Secondly, I've actually been to Hell and have a knowledge of dark magic.”

“Nopony has ever been to Tartarus,” Starlight said

“Here's photographic proof with me standing next to Lucifer. And these also came from there as well,” Brian said removing the butterfly swords

“Sunset, have you seen these blades before,” Sunburst asked handing one to her

“I can't take it. The blade won't let me,” Sunset replied

“What are you talking about,” Starlight asked picking up the other

“The swords are demonic. Twilight and the others along with Sunset are Harmony bearers. The seven are angelic and wouldn't be permitted to touch demonic objects. As to why you can pick them up, is because you're in balance.”

“What kind of balance do you mean,” Sunburst asked

“Think of it this way. There are three groups present in this room. Angelic, demonic and neutral. As I previously stated, the seven Harmony bearers are considered angelic, while I am completely demonic in nature. Everyone else is neutral, having the possibility of being good or evil.”

“How are you demonic, if you don’t mind,” Sunburst asked for clarification

“I've killed plenty of others. The total is 328 and each one deserved death. If killing one person taints one's soul slightly, than mine is completely blacked.”

“Yikes. I'll make sure not to get on your bad side, Prince Dragnov,” Sunburst said bowing

“Two things. One, you don’t have to bow to me, and two, just call me Brian.”

“Perhaps we head back to my castle in Ponyville to continue our research,” Twilight suggested

“Agreed. If we need more room, we head to mine.”