#1,364
Spring. Year 4 | Day 156. Late Afternoon. Neighagra Falls.

After several nights of rousing and rather intimate love, Apricot and I managed to become expecting parents. She was overjoyed and told everyone she knew. I begged her to at least wait a bit before saying anything, but she didn't listen. The doctors are telling us to expect a single child in about two to three months. I'm anxious really, happy for it and worried that it might cause a few problems with my job. Twilight personally congratulated me on, happy as can be.

Her and her husband have discussed the rape that she had experienced nearly four years ago now. Along with her monthly therapy sessions, she got better but she's still a bit easily frightened when someone's holding a bottle. She still gets awful flashbacks and her husband has always comforted her when the time came. Even stood let her beat him up once to see how angry she was getting because of it. While it is saddening, its good to know that he's going to always be there for her. Just as I will be for Apricot.

While Twilight was over and talking things over with Apricot, I took off to Clackerton. She hadn't brought her husband after all and I didn't feel like being a third wheel then. I checked up on my father, whose progressively aging joints prevented him from ever doing construction work again. His former co-workers had to tell him, and assure him, that he shouldn't relieve himself of such manual labor and stick to his desk position as mayor. A position that he has held with protest ever since the bombings.

He enjoyed it, to say the least. Loved taking daily strolls through the town and to my mother's grave. A grand statue of her image, sleeping on a couch like she always did. Below it the tombstone and a plaque striped with honeycombs and a short epitaph of her birth date and passing date. Both dates were inaccurate of course, as we knew how long she had truly lived. It was a matter of avoiding questions, really. Eventually that too will change once my notes pass on to my own descendents. Even then, it may be left alone, just for memory's sake.

Busy was around then too. As usual, she took her post at the mailing office, sorting through thousands of letters. The office life has taken a few years off her, she was a bit less cheery now and never really saw dating as an option. I didn't lecture her about it even with our talks about love and my marriage. She congratulated me on becoming a parent and asked if she should start planning for it. I told her that I already had someone for the job. When we were done talking that day, I told her that she should take a little time off for herself. She spent too much time in that office and I would hate to see her live there.

I went to Ponyville and gave Pinkie Pie a visit. Let her know the situation and asked her to plan a baby shower of sorts. While mildly embarrassing, I'm glad we got something worked out for it. I gave the other four my greetings, finding them where I could. I talked with Fluttershy the most, honestly. I guess I felt more comfortable in her presence than I do the others. Rainbow Dash was upset that my wings were crippled, more so after she found out about the amputation. She moonlighted as a writer and a personal trainer during the day. Rarity''s still a fashion designer and Applejack still runs the orchard. I have a feeling it'll be some time before something big happens.

Aside from times of peace, my mind still feels a bit drained after visiting Chrysalis. Drained all the love the crystal held. She assured me that I would be fine after a week or so. As for her cure, it seems that there is no spell that can undo her changes, only prolong the effects. Constantly remaining in normal forms requires energy and would prove rather fruitless in the long run of things. Then I had an idea, Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire. Her element was love, but the queen refuted that suggestion. I still contain far more than what she ever did. She added that the elements aren't always the strongest source of what they represent. I can see why she says that now. I wonder how she can tell.

It was after my visiting her that I remembered Ginger. I hadn't visited her in the last year or so. I decided to pay her one and see how she and our child was doing. She had twins, named the girl Cinnamon and the boy Paprika. Both of them kept her last name of Snow and retained a lot of her looks too. The only major difference were their eyes and the way their manes shaped around their heads. They were straighter and far easier to take care of than Ginger's curly mane. One could question the legitimacy of them being her offspring. Other than that. They were growing up rather well and quickly.

Cinnamon has taken to dresses and roughhousing while Paprika remains undressed and well-mannered. They were opposites, really and they competed in trying to be in each others shoes. It was fun to hear the stories from Ginger. She seemed to be handling them okay on her own. Dagressa helps out with them as well, acting as a nanny for whenever Ginger has to leave for awhile. King Ginseng still holds his seat on the throne of course, remarried now too. He's still bitter about his son and his greed, however.

#1,402
Fall. Year 5 | Day 18. Evening. Neighagra Falls.

My son was born just a few days after I got back from another delivery to Light Fringe. Celestia keeps sending me there to ensure the alliance and the people are well. She's been wanting to turn our postal system into something a little bit more international. More so than what it already has been. No world wide system for postal carriers has really been established and with my reputation, it has created the opportunity and presented the risks for what a lot of folk would consider an easy job.

I'm meandering here, I should be talking about my son. Apricot and I have named him Ilfracombe, after the type of bees that my mother often used for her farms. Has a white tail and a two-tone yellow mane. His coat is an ashy white, a little darker than my own. Got some red-orange freckling along his back from his mother though. An earth pony as well but smaller than average. I can already tell he'll be a wonderful son. Apricot added a small picture of him to the pendent I still carry around. I look at it on my longer journeys.

She hopes to have a daughter next, but I told her we should at least wait a bit until we start trying again. Our sexual endeavors can get quite tiring. I won't go into much more than that. I feel it should be between the two of us alone. Twilight always tries to pry a little bit of information out of the two of us about what kind of stuff we may have done. I caution her not to, we've had nothing but draws with our magic duels over it. And those have gotten pretty crazy. We treat them more like sword fights however, so we don't destroy everything around us.

While they're fun, they can be quite exhausting for the both of us. Celestia watched us once, enjoyed our hour long duel until the draw. Applauded us both and said she hadn't seen such a fine use of dueling magic in ages. It's become a habit now as the two of us go out at least once a month for it. Pipsqueak and his crew hopped in once or twice. Eventually we became a force to be reckoned with, nearly inseparable too. I just hope we'll never have to use the skills for war, absolute slaughter would be inevitable and that is something I'd rather not experience.

Just this morning as I was looking in the mirror I thought about that. Then I noticed how much I had aged over the last five years. My fiery orange eyes have dulled a bit and became more squared off. The freckles across the bridge of my noise are more pronounced and several of the scars from barreling through the castle that one day have for the most part faded away. Nearly all of my muscles have toned up, clearer than what they once were but no bigger than they used to be. The stumps where my large wings used to be refuse to move but they can be forced with a bit of effort. My mane and tail have both faded from their light orange and yellow to something the more resembled dyed mustard. The almost white coat of fur I used to have has turned to a muted light gray with a tinge of yellow.

I feel as if I'm aging far too quickly. My world suddenly felt enormous and mind numbing. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes gently. Then I went and ate breakfast.

#1,436
Winter. Year 5 | Day 79. Evening. Neighagra Falls.

After scouring through and organizing all the notes the Designer had left behind, Twilight, Sitka, and I were finally able to create a multitude of volumes ranging from the histories of specific continents to the numerous amounts of different types of magic. It wasn't simply just elements and manipulation, it was about how. Some people had stones, others had runes, some sang songs and danced, few used blood, and those who used their heads. It was rigorous but it was worth it. At the end of all of it, we finally figured out the Designer's name: Lloyd Nebo Vojin. Strange name, honestly but I'm sure there's some meaning behind it. One that at first, we thought we'd never find out.

Celestia filled us in on that, saying that his name was many things. His first contained wisdom. The second after an ancient mythological god of his, Nebo, who invented writing. And his last name meant multiple things: soldier, peacekeeper, protector. She made the connection after he had left a note the last time they saw each other. He knew that I would eventually find out.

Speaking of predictions, I haven't been seeing the visions as much as I used to, rare as they were already. I think I figured out why they appeared though and that simply had to do with looking at someone the right way and think about who they are. While that issue is partly gone, the wisps I used to be able to see are gone from my sight entirely now. I still get the feeling that they're floating about me as I go about my daily life. As it is, I was never meant to see them in the first place. It seems the only thing that won't return to normal are my wings but I've found I can get by without them.

We'll be distributing the volumes in limited quantities first. Leaving those in the Canterlot library and several magic academies.