What Might Have Been

What Might Have Been

Chapter 8: Happiness

By: SleeplessScribe

Nova and I were both ecstatic about my pregnancy, but it was a little disheartening to learn that I was now prohibited from flying very high or very far until I had the foal. This meant I wasn’t able to practice for the induction ceremony. My husband told me he wouldn’t practice either, but I pretty much forced him to continue and was content with watching him. I was also unable to participate in any races this season, since I was only five months in when racing season actually began.

Unfortunately, a few accidents postponed the induction ceremony for quite a while. I never did get good details on what happened, but the event landed five new recruits in the hospital. Some were worse off than others, but they were all out after another few months. Luckily, I was able to at least watch the induction ceremony, though I had to be helped by Gale and Overcast. I looked like I had swallowed a basketball at this point, and they were both giggling about it all the way to the Cloudiseum. Not only that, but I had been getting cramps as of late, so that didn’t make things any easier.

A list of absentees was called out prior to the ceremony, and I had to admit, it kind of hurt to hear my name on said list. One that was done, each recruit who made it came out in alphabetical order—which meant it would take a while for us to see Nova—came out to perform individual routines.

Gale had gotten so excited that she jumped out of her seat. I let my curiosity get the best of me as we watched, and I nudged Gale to get her back in her seat. “So Gale, you already know what the rest of us are doing, but what have you been up to lately?”

The mare puffed out her chest and flipped her mane. “You’re looking at the captain of the very first coed Katamar team!”

I couldn’t help but grin; Katamar was Gale’s favorite sport, so I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that she pursued a career with it.

Overcast giggled and clapped a little as well. “Oh yeah, I read about that in the newspaper! They didn’t give your name, but I should have known you were behind that!”

She flashed a grin at us and turned back to the arena. “Yeah, I didn’t want all the old timers coming at me with their canes because I brought the genders together for a sport that used to separate them.”

I nodded and returned my attention to the performances. Luckily for us, there weren’t too many new recruits, and not all of their names began with consecutive letters. I was starting to get my cramps again, and this time they were actually pretty bad. Sharp pains shot through my body like I was being stuck with needles everywhere. Both mares turned to me when they heard me groaning, but Gale—as usual—beat Overcast to… words.

“Spitfire, everything okay? If something’s wrong, let us know. We don’t need to be taking any chances right now, got it?”

“Y-yeah… I’m fine.” The cramps began to settle down after a little bit, and now the “M” names were starting to begin their performances. “Don’t worry about it; I’ll tell you if something feels off….”

They both nodded started watching the performances again. However, it wasn’t long before I started cramping up, and this time they were so severe that it was hard for me to move. My stomach contorted and I was brought to me knees. This time it felt like I was having nails hammered into me as opposed to little needles, I began sweating, and a much sharper pain made me yelp as I grabbed hold of Gale.

“We need to go! We need to go!”

She nodded and lifted me to my hooves. With one of my friends at each shoulder, they gave me enough support to where my hooves barely touched the ground. They rushed me to a carriage, and we were taken to the hospital immediately. The ride was a painful blur of turns, jolts, tears, and sweet, but futile, attempts at comfort. As soon as we arrived, my friends managed to support my weight again as they quickly carried me inside. We didn’t even have to say anything once the girls brought me to the receptionist at the counter; the minute she saw us, she called for a few nurses to pick me up on a stretcher and find me a room.

Some mares talk about how painful childbirth is, and I have to say… they’re absolutely right. Both of my friends were allowed to stay beside me as I was put on a bed and prepared for the labor. Sweet Celestia, the only thing I could compare that experience to was the pain one would experience by pulling their bottom lip over their head.

I was in there for hours just groaning and screaming, but my title of “Loudest Pony in the Hospital” was taken from me when we heard the pony equivalent of a bull in a ceramic store outside.

“Out of the way! Excuse me! Look out!” In moments, the door swung open and my husband rushed towards me, taking one of my hooves in his own and nuzzling my cheek. “Sorry I’m late. Soarin was watching you guys from the sidelines so he could tell me if anything happened. I bolted out of there as fast as I could, but I wasn’t allowed to leave until the ceremony was over.”

A loud groan prevented me from speaking, but I still managed to smile as he held my hoof. Just having Nova there made things much easier for me. Despite that, the hours dragged on, and I was still screaming. The sun had gone down quite a while ago, and as it began to rise again, it was finally time for the doctor to start saying: “Push.”

Of course, that didn’t make things any easier. However, what did make things easier was Soarin busting through the door. A few of the nurses began to reprimand him for coming in, but I waved them off. All of my best friends—a spouse is the best friend you’ll ever have—were here now, which made the process just a bit easier. It still hurt like hell, but their support helped me take my mind off of the fact that I was pushing a foal out of me.

Except for the fact that I wasn’t.

The pain slowly subsided as my cords were cut. Yes, cords. When the doctor had done all the cleaning and wrapping, he revealed two foals when he turned around. “Congratulations Spitfire, Nova. You have a healthy colt and a healthy filly.”

My jaw dropped as I was given both of them. Neither of them had colors that matched mine or Nova’s exactly, but they both had two tone manes—though it wouldn’t really be noticeable from afar until they were at least three—and light orange coats, but the filly’s colors were a bit closer to the yellow area of the color wheel than the colt’s.

Fortunately, the doctor had gotten them calmed down and asleep, despite them coming out bawling and screaming. I looked to my friends, and they were all crowding around to get a look at them. Tears began to blur my vision when I saw the ones in Nova’s eyes, and there was only one thing I could say.

“We did it….”

He smiled and kissed my forehead, gazing at the foals with lit up eyes. “Yeah, we did….”

It took me the rest of the day to regain my strength, so for the hour or two I was awake, Nova and I talked about names. We agreed that I would get to name the filly, and he would get to name the colt, and we must have been thinking along the same lines. He named the colt Ember, and I named the filly Cinder.

As soon as I was allowed to start walking around again, we all went to the nursery to check on them. The twins were sound asleep, adorably wrapped up in their little blankets. Anypony that knew me well would talk about how I hated appearing soft and girly, but my hard, badass exterior faded away when I was around my best friends, and it absolutely melted when I looked at the foals.

Parenthood, in some ways, was easier than I thought, and much harder in others. Being Wonderbolts didn’t make it any easier, but Nova and I managed to work out something with the higher ups that allowed us to take turns. One of us would attend to business with them, and the other would take care of the twins. Luckily, we had awesome friends and parents that were more than happy to help. In fact, when they started speaking, the twins referred to Gale and Overcast as aunts and to Soarin as an uncle.

Eventually Rainbow Dash got to meet the twins too, and she fell in love with them. She didn’t show it like I did, but I could tell. Things were good, and we were all happier than the mind could imagine. I said Nova made me the happiest mare in all of Equestria when he married me, but this was truly the highlight of my life. And it still isn’t over.

23 Years Old (Present)

To this day, being a mother is still the thing I am most proud of. Even with my dad naming me captain of the Wonderbolts after he retired, I can honestly say I love my husband and my kids more than my career. I have to admit, back when I first met him, I could have never imagined that Nova would be my husband, let alone that he would father our twins. Now, however, I thank Celestia for my life and all the blessings in it.

The twins are really starting to get active, and they both talk—albeit naïvely—about being Wonderbolts themselves. It’s so adorable to watch them fly around outside, pretending to be Nova and me. And of course, Nova is still a big, big part of my life. He makes everything easier to do and adds to the number of reasons to do them. I said that I couldn’t imagine marrying him way back when, and now I claim there’s no one I’d rather be with.

I’ve got the career of my dreams, a wonderful marriage—with its healthy share of arguments—and two beautiful foals with a not so healthy share of arguments. My life is a chore at times, but even if I could go back, I wouldn’t do anything differently.