Baby Blues

Twilight Sparkle woke up the next morning inside Golden Oaks library, lying in her bed. In a daze she slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She felt so confused; everything was wonky and out of place. She managed to jerk herself out of bed and get to her hooves.

Twilight’s nose twitched. A faint smell wafted up from downstairs that made her stomach churn. Her mouth was then filled with the bitter taste of copper as bile rose in her throat. She dashed for the bathroom and emptied whatever her dinner was from last night into the bowl.

After cleaning herself up, Twilight trotted downstairs only to find Spike standing over the stove, preparing what appeared to be pancakes. Although they looked and smelled delicious, Twilight couldn’t help but grimace as her stomach disagreed. She took a seat at the table just as Spike turned around.

“Oh, good morning Twilight. I made pancakes.” Spike greeted, smiling kindly.

“Good morning Spike and thanks, but no thank you. I’m not very hungry.” Twilight replied, feeling a stab of guilt. Her friend had gone to all that trouble making pancakes and now she was telling him she wasn’t hungry. She felt awful.

Spike shrugged, “it’s cool. I figured you wouldn’t be hungry anyway. You passed out at the doctor’s yesterday and he…told me why…y’know.”

Twilight’s smile faltered. “So you know?”

“Yeah. Are you really gonna have a foal, or was he just yanking at my leg?”

“No, it’s true. I am gonna have a foal, but it’ll be a while. Probably another ten months or so.” Twilight answered.

“I can wait. In fact, I think this is pretty exciting. I mean…I’m gonna be a big brother. Or a cousin. Or an uncle. Or am I the dad?” Suddenly the little dragon went into panic mode. “Does this mean I’m gonna be a dad?!”

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle. “No Spike, you’re not going to have to worry about being the dad. You can be whatever you wanna be, I’m sure the baby will love you no matter who you are to it.”

Spike smiled lop-sidedly, “Thanks Twi. Maybe I’ll be ‘Big Brother Uncle Cousin Spike’.” He chuckled at his own joke.

Suddenly the doorbell rang, followed by some knocking. Twilight was about to get up to answer it but Spike stopped her. “No no, let me handle this. You’re pregnant, afterall!” He reminded, running to the door. Twilight rolled her eyes.

The scaly little dragon opened the door, grinning when he saw the pony standing there. It was Rarity, smiling but at the same time looking quite nervous. Spike drooled, “H-hey Rarity…Come on in.” He made a welcoming gesture inside, to which Rarity immediately obliged.

“Thank you, Spikey-Wikey. Is Twilight around? I…I need to talk to her in private.” The diva pony was obviously agitated as she jogged in place. Spike nodded, “She’s in the kitchen.”

Rarity galloped into the kitchen, sighing in relief once she saw her friend. “Oh Twilight, is it alright if I…eh…talk to you about something?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course! I also have something I need to talk about, but you can go first. Mine can wait.” She bit her lip self-consciously; was she really going to do this? Nopony else knew except Spike and the doctor. She had no idea how Rarity would react, whether she freaked out or would be consoling and sympathetic.

Rarity took a seat next to her friend and took a deep breath. “Do you promise not to tell anypony else if I tell you?”

“Of course, Rarity. I’d never—“

“Pinkie Promise?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. There, I promise I won’t tell.”

Rarity rubbed her hooves together fretfully. “Well…I’m…I don’t quite know how to tell you this but…” The white unicorn began to tear up. Tears began to cascade down her cheeks in profusion as she uttered, “I’m pregnant.”

Twilight was taken aback by the news. Was it really true? She and Rarity were expecting foals at the same time? Was that even possible? Seeing how upset her friend was, Twilight smiled and said lightheartedly, “Well, isn’t that funny, I am too.”

Rarity lifted her head and locked eyes with the purple Princess. “You…me…I…what?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah…I sort of found out yesterday, at the doctor’s.” She rubbed the back of her head uncertainly, blushing a bit as well.

Rarity wiped her tears away and smiled, despite her fears. “Well now…how convenient.” She laughed.

“Yeah…nopony else except Spike knows, so could you keep it a secret?”

“Of course I can, darling.”

At that moment another knocking was heard at the door. Both mares quickly stood up and ran to see who it was. As Twilight opened the door they came face to face with Pinkie Pie, wearing a party hat and grinning from ear to ear. She blew on the noisemaker in her mouth, saying, “Hey girls! I came to give Twilight her invitation to my latest party, but since Rarity’s here too…I’ll give both of you your invites!” With a giggle the pink pony tossed two invitations to her two friends before bouncing away.

Curious, Twilight opened her letter. “Congratulations! You are invited to Pinkie Pie’s First Baby Shower. Yep, you read right, Pinkie Pie is pregnant with her very first foal and wants you to join the celebration! Party starts at three ‘o clock this afternoon.” She read aloud, her eyes widening.

“Pinkie is pregnant as well? Talk about coincidence!” Rarity commented, her own eyes doubling in size.

“Well, I’m happy for her anyway. Maybe it’ll be fun. I wonder how Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Applejack are going to react.” Twilight said, snickering a bit.

~—~

“Here you go cutie.” Fluttershy spoke in her soft voice, smiling as a baby bunny munched on the carrot she had just given him.

“Take your time with that now; we don’t want you to choke or anything.” She chided.

A knock on the door alerted the butter yellow Pegasus. A normal pony would go and answer it to see who had knocked, but Fluttershy reacted to things rather…differently.

“Eep!” She squeaked, dashing underneath a blanket. When she realized that it was only somepony at the door, Fluttershy poked her head out and sighed in relief. “Oh. I’m coming!” She called, trotting to the door. As soon as she twisted the knob, an explosion of streamers and confetti burst in her face, blowing her pink mane back. In surprise Fluttershy stiffened, fainting on the spot like a frightened baby goat.

“Hey Fluttershy!!” Pinkie Pie greeted, grinning from ear to ear, as always.

The shy Pegasus smiled knowingly, carefully getting to her hooves. “Oh, hi Pinkie. What brings you here? N-not that it’s an inconvenience or anything…I…oh, why don’t you just come on in?”

“Nah, I just came here to give you this!” Pinkie produced a letter, giving it to Fluttershy. Giggling as she bounced away, she said, “I look forward to seeing you at the party!”

Fluttershy smiled, “Another party. Well that sounds nice, Pinkie hasn’t thrown one in a while. She must have something big planned.” Tentatively she opened the invitation and read through it.

“Congratulations! You are invited to Pinkie Pie’s First Baby Shower. Yep, you read right, Pinkie Pie is pregnant with her very first foal and wants you to join the celebration! Party starts at three ‘o clock this afternoon.”

When she finished reading, Fluttershy promptly fainted. Again.

~—~

Rainbow Dash was relaxing atop a cloud when she heard the familiar cries of Pinkie Pie down below. The blue Pegasus cranked her head down to get a closer look, only to be face-to-face with her pink friend. She cried out in surprise, but quickly regained her composure. “Oh, hey Pinkie Pie. What’s up?”

Attached to Pinkie’s back was a bunch of balloons, full of helium, which provided a safe and easy trip up. The pink pony smiled and wordlessly handed Rainbow Dash her invite before she used the pointy curl that was her mane to pop the balloons, one by one. It took a while, but she floated down gently and then merrily trotted away.

Rainbow rolled her eyes knowingly and opened the invite. She quickly scanned the letter, her eyes boggling out as she read further.

“Wait, WHAT?!” The Pegasus exclaimed in astonishment. “I gotta tell Applejack!” With that, Rainbow Dash zipped away towards Sweet Apple Acres.

~—~

“She’s WHAT NOW?!” With one final slam of her back hooves, Applejack managed to make a crack in the tree as apples tumbled and careened to the ground. Rainbow Dash had scarcely made it in time; just as she arrived Applejack had already received the letter and Pinkie was hopping away. Luckily Rainbow was able to tell her friend the news before she opened the letter.

Rainbow Dash nodded and sighed, “It’s true! The letter says so. Can you believe this?!”

“No, ah can’t! How…how could she? She’s not dating any stallion, much less married to one!” Applejack shouted.

Rainbow snickered, “Guess she partied a little too hard then, huh?”

The orange earth pony needed to sit down and absorb the new information. “When did this even happen to her? Don’t get me wrong, ah’m happy for Pinkie, but ah’m also a lil’ worried about her. Does she really think she can raise her own foal?”

“I dunno AJ, but as long as we’re her friends we’ll be there to help and support her all the way, right?” The blue Pegasus assured.

“Since when did you start makin’ speeches?” Applejack said.

Rainbow smirked, quite smug indeed. “And was there ever a time that YOU didn’t?”

“Alright, y’all are askin’ for it now.”

~—~

“Roses? Can Trixie talk with you for a moment?” Trixie poked her head around the corner of the wall, her eyes locking on the hefty tan mare that was boiling a pot of water in order to cook the hay spaghetti she had prepared for that afternoon’s lunch.

“Of course, honey! Go ahead and take a seat, dear. I’m all ears.” Roses replied brightly.

Trixie gulped and shakily walked over to the kitchen table. Pulling up a chair, she sighed. “Trixie knows that she already told you that she was with foal but…she…she would like to move in with all of you until she can make some…self-arrangements.” The blue unicorn nervously chewed on her lip, bracing herself.

Roses went stiff and momentarily stopped what she was doing. Then she sighed, cranked the stove temperature to low and then trotted towards Trixie. “You can stay for as long as you need to, but I don’t think I can manage another pony in the house. You’re not a bother at all, but I don’t think it would make a very good impression on your foal. I know that Snips would love to have a, so-to-speak, “little sibling” to chase around for a while, he’s always wanted one. But still honey, I would consider finding a temporary job and save up some bits until you’re capable of affording your own place. Sound okay, dearie?”

Trixie smiled weakly and nodded. “Trixie wants to thank you for your hospitality, Roses. She greatly appreciates it.”

Roses smiled back, “Think nothing of it, dear. Now I’m going to finish cooking the spaghetti, would you like some?”

Trixie nodded. “Trixie would like that. And…Roses?”

“Yes, hon?”

“Could you…possibly…top Trixie’s spaghetti with some ice cream? She has had the craving for quite some time now.”