Applebloom Is Pregnant

Chapters

Chapter 1: Confession
Chapter 2: A father
Chapter 3: Parenthood
Chapter 4: Nice to meet you
Chapter 5: Dinner
Chapter 6: Family
Chapter 7: The Surprise
Chapter 8: The Truth
Chapter 9: The New One

Chapter 1: Confession

It was a warm and uneventful evening in Ponyville. Everypony in town were busy attending their regular life with not much change. And at that time, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle each received a note saying “Meet you at the tree house. Code 5” After reading this they left everything they were doing and ran to the meeting spot. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have established a set of codes to call for help in case of emergency. For example:

Code 1 - Small emergencies, such as breaking one of Granny Smith’s jam jars.

Code 2 - Something they should still worry about. Like arriving home late.

Code 3 - School related emergencies. Forgetting a homework, or class project and it’s due date is close (Scootaloo uses this one the most)

Code 4 - Something big. Like messing one of Rarity’s fabric or stain Applejack’s hat with zap apple jam.

Code 5 - MY LIFE IS RUINED!

They arrived at the same time at the treehouse and walked near the door. From inside the house they could hear the sound of somepony clopping as if they were walking around the place non stop, also a soft voice almost muttering “Oh no” over and over. With caution, they opened the door and entered the place and saw Apple Bloom walking in circles.

“Hey Apple Bloom” Greeted Scootaloo.

The earth pony turned and saw her friends standing by the door “Oh! Hey guys, wh-what’s up?” She was shaking and sweating uncontrollably “A-Ah’, why don’t you sit? Or stay there, or get here, or…”

“Are you okay?” Asked Sweetie Belle

“Yes… No… Ah’ don’t know”

They entered the clubhouse and closed the door. They approached their friend and tried to calm her down “Hey, what’s wrong?” The winged pony asked.

“P-Please… Please promise me you won’t tell any pony. NO PONY MUST KNOW!”

Now they were sure something was very bad. And just as Apple Bloom asked they promise not to tell. But this didn’t help much.

Applebloom opened her mouth and tried to speak “AH… Ah’...” She couldn’t do it. Her heart was pumping like crazy, she was shaking on the spot, her knees couldn’t stand her, and she felt like she was going to faint. Her friends took her to her chair and in order to make things easier they asked no further about the topic hoping in that way Applebloom wouldfeel better.

After some time Applebloom took every drop of courage in her and stepped forward, she was going to tell her friends what she needed.

“Okay guys, I’ll tell ya. But you gotta promise you won’t say a word to no pony”

They sighted in annoyance because they have gone through that already, but if they were going to help her friend they will do it again only this time they made it official with a Pinkie Promise “Cross my heart, and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye”

Applebloom took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she thought if she didn’t see them it would be better. Finally she spoke “Girls… Ah’ … Ah’… Ah’m pregnant!”

Her friends quickly giggled after hearing that, but when they saw how serious she was looking and how she was at the border of crying their smiles disappeared.

“Wait what?!” Sweetie Belle couldn’t believe it.

“Hold on, are you serious?!” Asked Scootaloo

“Yes, Ah am”

Sweetie Belle was still in shock “B-but how?!”

“Sweetie Belle! I think we don’t need to know that” Replied Scootaloo “But are you completely sure, Apple Bloom?”

“Yes, Ah checked and checked and Ah’m positive. Ah’m preganant”

“Wait, you checked?” Scootaloo asked

Applebloom laid on the ground and curled herself into a tiny ball “Oooh what am Ah going to do? What will Granny say? And Big Mac, and… Applejack is gonna kill me!”

Applebloom cried, tears fell from her eyes to her cheeks like a river. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle could do nothing, but hug her and try to make her feel better. But the unicorn had a questions she could not ignore anymore “And, who is the father?”

This time Scootaloo didn’t stop her, it was the same question it was lingering in her head too. Applebloom cleaned her tears and with sobs she answer “It-It It’s Spike”

“Spike?!” Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shouted. Applebloom just nodded and hid her face between her hooves.

“Okay, just hold on. How can a dragon and a pony -” Before the unicorn could finish her sentence she was slap by one of the pegasus wing. There were many questions on their heads, but it was clearly not the moment to ask any of them.

Applebloom had finally confessed what she had to her friends, but instead of feeling better she felt worse than ever. She couldn’t stop crying even if at this point both her eyes and stomach hurt for all the tears she shed before. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sat right next to her and hugged her, but nothing seemed to make things better. They felt useless, their best friend was inconsolable and they could do nothing to change it. They tried thinking of something to cheer her up, but nothing felt appropriate for that moment.

Suddenly Scootaloo broke the crying “Come on, Apple Bloom. It will be alright”

“How can you be so sure?!” Yelled the earth pony.

“Because your family loves you no matter what. Yeah, they will be mad… Really mad, but they will be there for you… And your baby”

Apple Bloom eyes stopped tearing, but she couldn’t stop sobbing. When Sweetie Belle noticed this, she decided to intervene too “You don’t have to tell them right now. You should wait and tell them when you feel ready”

Little by little the little pony started to recover her usual color, and by cleaning up her tears she could control herself once again. After a couple of minutes she started to breath normally “Yeah, yer might be right”

“Does Spike know?” Sweetie Belle asked. This time she wasn’t penalized for that. Apple Bloom shook her head implying she hasn’t tell the dragon yet “I think you should, I mean he is the father and he has to take responsibility too”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to do it alone. We can be there with you if you want” The pegasus added.

“Thanks gals. You are the best” Apple Bloom hugged her friends

They looked outside and noticed that the sun had set, and it was time to departure “Oh no, I gotta run, Rarity will totally ground me if I get home late again”

“See you tomorrow at Pinkie’s?” Asked Scootaloo.

“Fo’sho, see you there”

They said goodbye and the trio split. Apple Bloom walked back to her house, which didn’t take her more than 5 minutes considering the clubhouse was in Sweet Apple Acres, but when she saw her house she stopped. She stared at the red building and she rubbed her belly thinking about how much things will change when the little pony growing inside her arrives Will they forgive me? She wondered, but then she heard a yell calling her

“There you are silly filly. We were worried about ya” It was her sister Applejack

“You were?”

“Of course! I don’t know what would we do without ya, specially me. Now, come on in, Granny made caramel apples”

And for the first time in the day the little filly smiled Maybe my friends are right She remember how much her family loves her and how much she loves them. There will be the time for her to tell them about her baby, but tonight she had some caramel apples to enjoy.

Chapter 2: A father

The sun had finally came out telling everypony it was time to start the day. Some ponies wake up just as the land is illuminated, while others sleep for a couple more hours. In the case of the Apple Family they usually let the youngest sleep as much as she needs to, unless her presence is necessary, after all she was still a filly in their eyes. As the light of the sun touched the little pony’s bed she started to open her eyes. But it was not the sun that woke her up, it was an aroma filling the whole place. The scent smelled like something she remembered, something she misses, and yet she didn’t know she misses It can’t be she thought as she jumped from her bed and ran down the stairs finding the origin of the aroma right in the kitchen.

Apple Bloom walked slowly towards her sister who was brewing something on a huge pot. Applejack turned and noticed her sister behind her “Howdy, sis. ‘Morning”

“‘Morning… is that?”

“Eyup! 3 gallons of my famous Zap Apple Cider”

The filly’s eyes opened wide as her mouth watered. She could almost feel the delicious taste of the cider in her mouth, but then she asked “Wait, what are we celebrating?”

“Nothing at all. I just thought about doing something nice for ya”

“Why?” She asked further

“You are my little sister, and I love ya. I just want to do something you like to show ya that”

A small tear appeared on Apple Bloom’s eyes, she ran to her sister and hugged saying “I love ya too, sis” She felt the warm body of her sister and how tight she was hugging her. The little pony felt something she often takes for granted: she felt secure. Most ponies just go on with their lives on a routine, doing something over and over knowing that if they stick on their usual activities nothing will go wrong. However, being wrapped in Applejack’s arms made her feel that nothing is going to harm her, not while she was around. Should I tell her now? The idea came into her mind Maybe not, this is nice She dismissed her initial idea and decided to enjoy the rest of the day and confess herself later.

Suddenly both BigMac and Granny Smith came in and saw the two ponies hugging “Awww isn’t that the sweetest thing. Where did I leave my camera?” Said Granny Smith

“You le -”

“It was a rhetorical question, Big Mac” She interrupted him.

The sisters broke their hugged and soon after the kitchen timer started to ring drawing everypony’s attention into it “Cider’s done! Take your cups!” Applejack hurried to the huge pot of cider and turned the flames off, while the rest of the family approached the cabinet cups on the wall. Each cup had the initials of each member written on it G.S, B.M, A.J, and A.B. Applejack served them their drinks and each of them sat on the table to enjoy the drink.

The cider tasted like no other. AJ’s recipe make it so the drink will have a bitter-sweet taste, it start up a strong and bitter but as you keep drinking the apple juice covers it up and make it really sweet. Its better when you sip some of it and let it some time in your mouth, is like if your taste buds find their soulmate. The family enjoyed deeply their drinks, it wasn’t very often they made that kind of cider. Usually when it’s zap apple season every single apple is sold, but this time Applejack took the ones they have been saving for this non special occasion.

After all of them finished their drinks, it was time to start working. Because of the the great way to begin the day, no one felt lazy or half asleep. They had their chores arranged, Granny was going to sort apples for orders they have, BigMac was in charge of the heavy duty as cleaning up the land and making room for the crops, Applejack was going to, as usual, buck apple trees, as for Apple Bloom her job was to collect apples and take the basket to the barn. The time passed as usual, they did their jobs with a smile on their faces, even if each of them stick to their job.

Hours went by and lunch time arrived. Applejack gave a sign to her sister, meaning it was time for them to leave the farm and attend their appointment. Pinkie Pie and her friends were going to gather at the Sugar Cube Corner, and every one of their friends will be there. Just another celebration without something needed to celebrate for, but it was fun for them to just be away from the routine. They walked into the place just the rest of the gang arrived.

“Hello, hello. Come in every one! Got a table reserve for you only, and another one for the little ones” Greeted Pinkie Pie wearing an apron. The Cutie Mark Crusaders separated from the group and went to the table reserved for them.

“Hey Apple Bloom… How are you feeling?” Asked Scootaloo

“Good… I think”

Sweetie Belle joined the conversation “Got any nauseas? Fatigue? Unusual Craving?”

“Sweetie Belle! Stop asking stuff like th-”

“Hello C.M.C.s! Hello… Apple Bloom” Spike entered the place and went straight to where the fillies were.

“Hi Spike!” The three of them answered in unison. He sat right next to Apple Bloom and gave her a wink, the others noticed this but acted as if they didn’t know anything of what was going on between them.

Pinkie came with her favorite dessert: the Pinkie’s Magnum Souffle, a special souffle she bakes when she feels particularly sad. The smell of chocolate and cinnamon was so sweet they couldn’t resist and ate it in a matter of minutes.

The table with Pinkie Pie and her friends was full of laughs and talks between the ponies. But the table with the little ones was completely quiet. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo couldn’t stop staring at Apple Bloom and Spike and tried not to say something that would make things more awkward that implied their knowledge of the baby, but that meant they didn’t know what to say leading to silence. While Apple Bloom thought of ways to confess to the dragon, and Spike not knowing what was going on.

“Err… So… Nice weather today, right?” Said Spike. The fillies just nodded their heads.

“So… You slept well last night?” He asked again.

“Like a baby” Sweetie Belle answered. As soon as she noticed what she said she covered her mouth.

The dragon had enough and he was starting to get angry “Okay, what is going on?!”

“What do you mean?” Replied Scootaloo

“You’ve been weird the whole time. Just staring at me, and saying nothing. Are you guys mad at me? Do I got something on my face”

Before anyone could answer, Apple Bloom took the lead “Spike, we need to talk. But not here, can you go to the tree house after this?”

Spike looked at the other two ponies and noticed a bit of concern and worry on their eyes, whatever it was it must be something important “S-sure. I’ll be there” They tried starting a conversation trying to forget about their appointment, but every try ended quickly.

After a couple of hours the reunion was over and everypony headed back to their places, but Spike was nowhere to be found He’s probably going to the tree house now Apple Bloom thought, but then Applejack came along “Hey sis, ready to go?”

“Actually, I got something to do with the crusaders. Is it okay if I go home later?” She gently asked.

“Alright, but don’t return late again. Okay?” Said Applejack as she gave her back and walked back home.

With the sun in it’s way to set Apple Bloom walked to the treehouse, she suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach. She started doubting if it was a good idea, but it was something she had to. She saw the clubhouse and the idea of fleeing came to mind, but she quickly forgot about it, she knew this was her responsibility.

She walked in the house and noticed Spike sat on a chair right in front of the door, he looked impatient and at the same time very worried “Hey Spike” Apple Bloom greeted

“Hey, can you tell me what’s going on now?” He was straight to the point.

She closed the door behind her and walked near him “You see, Remember that thing we did the other night?”

The dragon blushed as he remembered the time he spent with Apple Bloom “Yeah, that was a good night”

“Well… Ah” She thought once she was alone with Spike things would be easier, but it wasn’t. She was once again shaking and dizzy. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and spoke without giving a second thought “Spike, Ah’m pregnant”

The dragon couldn’t believe it, maybe he didn’t hear her correctly “Come again?”

“Ah’m pregnant Spike… We are going to be parents”

Suddenly Spike’s heart began to pump faster than ever before, the room seemed to be shrinking down, and his mind went completely blank “N… No. you can’t be. This is a joke, right?! You are lying!”

“Spike, Ah’m being so sincere right now. Ah’m positive, we are gonna have a baby”

Spike started to breath faster and heavier, he looked away and put his claws on his face, as if he could wake up from a bad dream. His hands moved uncontrollably around his head “No. No. NO. NO! You can’t be, we can’t be. I didn’t know this would happen. We- We can’t have it. I can’t do this, what am I going to do?!” He walk back and forward across the room, but there was an idea he didn’t spoke out loud I have to runaway. I can’t let Twilight find out, and I can’t take care of the baby He thought.

But then, to wake him up from his state, he felt something on his arm. It was Apple Bloom’s hoof, it was softly touching him drawing his attention. The little filly’s eyes were full of tears “Spike, Ah’m scared. Ah don’t know what to do, Ah don’t even have a cutie mark and Ah’m gonna be a mommy. This is just too much for me, Ah can’t do it alone. Ah need you”

The dragon’s heart melted and his eyes soon started to let tears shed. His heart was still pumping like crazy, but his head started to clear up letting him think straight “You are right, Bloom. It’s my baby too, huh?...” He looked to the window and remember his alicorn friend waiting for him at the library. A shiver crossed his spine Sorry Twilight He thought while he put his right hand on the filly’s shoulder “Okay, I think if we are together we can make it work”

“So you are not running away” Asked Apple Bloom between sobs.

“Ofcourse not, I’ll never do that” How did she know I was thinking about it?! He wondered.

A smile appeared on the filly’s face and she jumped towards him, putting her arms around him “Thank you” She said.

Suddenly a knock was heard from outside of the door breaking the moment, followed by somepony calling with a familiar voice“Hey! Can we come in now?”

Spike walked to the door and opened it, letting Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle inside “Sorry, we needed to be sure if everything was okay” Said Scootaloo

Sweetie Belle started jumping around the place and hugged her earthpony friend “We are going to be aunts! We are going to be aunts!” Then she turned back looking at Spike and gave him a strong slap to his face “How dare you do this to her?!” She turned again and rubbed Apple Bloom’s belly “Oh, you are going to be the beautiest pony around, I’m sure” Once again she turned and gave him another slap “Don’t you think about consequences?!” Like a whipping top she turned and saw her friend again “We will always be there for you”

But before she could turned and slap the dragon again, she was stopped by Apple Bloom “Ah think he got the idea”

“Now, what?” Asked the pegasus

“Well, Spike is going to take the father’s role. Duh!” Said Sweetie Belle

The dragon looked down and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment “What exactly does a father do? I only have Twilight, so I don’t know what is it like to have a father”

“Seriously?” Asked the unicorn. She looked at the rest of her friends and noticed they also were looking down “Oh, right. Sorry” She then clear her throat and began her explanation “For my family, my dad is the one who goes to work and brings money to the house. He also is the one who repair stuff and protect us from the big bad monster that comes from the darkness at night. My mom cleans the house, makes food, do the laundry, read us stories, and a ton other things.”

Apple Bloom put her hoof beneath her chin and thought for a moment “Well, everypony always say taking care of babies is expensive… Spike, do you have any gems left?”

“Sorry, I ate the last one a couple of days ago” He replied

“I remember you and my sister collected jewels” Sweetie Belle added.

“Yeah, we went to the gems field and I dug them up… Wait, you want me to go to the gems field for jewels?!”

“You are the father, is your duty!” Said Scootaloo.

Spike didn’t like the idea, but he agreed to help earlier “Okay, but what will you do meanwhile?”

“Well, Ah’ don’t know anything about babies. Maybe we should ask somepony about the things we need and other stuff” Apple Bloom Answered. She was taking her responsibility serious.

“Okay, first thing in the morning I’ll go to the gems field… For you” Said the dragon

“Oh no!” Scootaloo broke the moment “The sun is setting down!” She jumped out side of the clubhouse waving her hoof “See you tomorrow!” She was then followed by Sweetie Belle who did the exact thing.

Spike and Apple Bloom stayed outside of the house and looked at each other in the eyes. They could see themselves in the reflection of the other’s eyes and they could only think of the baby. But Apple Bloom remembered she told her sister she wouldn’t be late outside “So… See you tomorrow?”

“Sure, Bloom” He replied. And they left the place knowing that tomorrow they will start a life they never have imagined before.

Chapter 3: Parenthood

Rain and thunder echoed across the orchard. Flashes of lightning was the only illumination, save for the windows of the Apple home—even there, one window was pitch black. Applejack stepped out to the front porch carrying a travel cradle on her mouth. Placing it down, she threw a couple of bags out as well. She looked up trying to find the stars, which she usually spent time watching, but tonight there was nothing but darkness in the sky. Turning around, her eyes never left sight of the floor, as she walked to the sofa where Granny Smith and Big Mac sat. Granny’s eyes were closed, but she was sobbing and little tears rolled to her cheeks; Big Mac’s eyes were full of anger, as if in the littlest provoke he will do something unthinkable. Right in front of them was Apple Bloom whose eyes were completely red and full of tears.

“Please… Ah don’t-,” said the filly before she was interrupted.

“You and… THAT can go now. We don’t wanna see you anymore,” Replied Applejack.

“Please, no. You’re my family.”

“And this is how you repay us? You brought shame to this family.”

Applebloom didn’t notice, but somehow she was already on the other side of the door, right next to the bundled foal. She fell on her knees and begged “Don’t make me go. I’m sorry sis, I’m so sorry! I love you.”

Applejack approached the door slowly, her face was expressionless, she looked at her sister right in her eyes and said, “You are not my sister.”

The filly’s eyes opened wide, she was no longer in the living room now she found herself on her bed, tears were still running through her eyes. She scanned the place looking for anypony, but she was all alone. For now she was safe from going outside on her own. “It’s okay, it’s all okay. It’s just a dream,” she told to herself. She tried to sleep once again, but it did not come. Sweaty sheets and the clock’s glare of 2:08 A.M weren’t helping.

“Darn it I have school tomorrow… Err… Later,” She groaned, flipping the clock face down.

Sliding out of bed, she pulled fresh sheets from the dresser to replace the sweat soaked ones. Fresh sheets and the evil red eye of the clock hidden, she stumbled up on her bed and slipped between the sheets trying to fall asleep again. But the image of her family throwing her out of her house was too scary to even close her eyes. She tried to keep her mind busy, she read a book, she counted sheep, and she even snuked into the kitchen to heat milk in order to relax, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t.

The day began, it was the start week and as every monday, the fillies gather at school to learn more. Fillies from around the town went to school happily, except for one. Apple Bloom ploded in direction of the school. Her hooves and eyes were equally heavy. Moving by memory alone, Apple Bloom gazed unfocused at the road. Unaware of her friends approach until they were shoulder to shoulder to her ”Gah! What the hay gus?!”

“Good morning, Apple Bloom?” They greeted in a unison

“‘Morning” She sighted and kept her eyes on the road.

The two friends exchanged a worried look “Are you alright?” Scootaloo Asked

“Yeah,” Answered the earthpony

“You sure?” Scootaloo asked again.

“Yes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Apple Bloom growled through clenched teeth.

Sweetie Belle jerked back from Apple Bloom with a frown “Oh no! The mood changes started!”

Apple Bloom sighted “It’s not that! I just had a hard night... I couldn’t sleep.”

The far off sound of the school belle echoed across the field, interrupting the conversation.

“The school bell! Run!” Scootaloo said, taking off in a full sprint.

The unicorn and pegasus ran to the school. Apple Bloom kept her slow pace and moved to where the sound came from. Maybe she would be tardy, but she didn’t really care, she couldn’t run even if she wanted to.

Apple Bloom rested her head in her hooves, if it wasn’t for the chair being uncomfortable she would have fell asleep a while ago. The classroom was filled with noise caused by the children. She couldn’t care less about what her classmates were talking about. She even ignored Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who were talking right next to her, expecting she would react. It wasn’t the fact that she didn’t sleep in the whole night, it was the dream she had what she kept her mind away from her. The hate in her sister’s eyes was the scariest thing she have ever imagined, the look on everypony’s face, and the fact that they would send her away, just made a huge knot on her stomach preventing her to focus on anything else.

A sound of the door creaking took the attention of the little ponies and saw the teacher entering the place. She greeted her students cheerfully “Good morning, my little ponies” The teacher said, everypony answered back except for Apple Bloom “We have an important lesson to get to. Everypony please take notes”

She dived straight into the day’s lessons, she kept a slow pace so the whole group could take notes without much trouble. The sound of the pencil moving on the paper and the voice of the teacher was all that could be heard. Apple Bloom had her pencil in her mouth, but just stared at the teacher. It was a technique she learned from Scootaloo, “as long as you keep looking at the teacher she will think you are paying attention”. The earthpony did just that, her eyes were frozen on her teacher, but her mind was elsewhere. This could be the most important lesson on her young pony’s life, and she wouldn’t even know.

‘What am I going to do? I better not tell my sister… No, no, it was just a dream… But what if she really do it? What if they threw me out? ... But they are my family, would they actually do that?’ She wondered on the topic over and over.

“Apple Bloom? … Apple Bloom … Apple Bloom!” A familiar voice called her back. Sweetie Belle shook her to make sure she was still awake.

“What?”

“It’s lunch time, let’s go,” Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom shooked her head in confusion “Lunch time? Already?” She hadn’t even notice how much time have passed. “O-okay, let’s go” She wasn’t hungry, but she thought she might as well go in order not to worry the other ponies. Picking up her lunchbox, Apple Bloom followed her friends.

“Apple Bloom, could you come here for a moment?” Miss Cheerliee said before they had reached the door.

Looking at her friends, she gave a nod to telling them it was okay. Turning around, she made her way to the teacher’s desk. “Yes, Miss Cheerliee?”

“Don’t think I didn’t see you half sleep like a zombie earlier. If that doesn’t work for Scootaloo, it doesn’t work for you either” She said calmly, with a smile on her face. It was confusing for Apple Bloom, she didn’t know if she was being interrogated or if the teacher just wanted to chat. Miss Cheerlie took a sip from her coffee and continued “Now tell me, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“You are the happiest and one of the most engaged of my students. You always take notes and ask questions during the class. Today you weren’t even awake. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I’m here to help in anything you need.” Miss Cheerlise said with a concerned smile.

Apple Bloom could tell she was being honest. The filly looked away to think up an excuse to tell, maybe she should tell her teacher, but it didn’t feel right “You see Ms. Cheerlie… The thing is that Ah-” She stopped to think for a moment What if she tells my sister? What good would come to this? She thought in a fraction of second, she wasn’t sure but she took her decision “It’s just… Ah’ have been having these weird dreams lately, and sometimes Ah’ can’t tell if they are for real”

Miss Cheerlie looked pointedly into her student’s eyes “Are you sure?” She asked

“Yeah, no worries.” Apple Bloom smiled and tried looking away, her teacher’s eyes feeling like daggers.

“Okay, but no more sleeping in my class. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay, now go lunch break time is almost over.”

Gabbing her lunch box and went out with her friends who were waiting for her outside.

“What happened?” Scootaloo asked.

“Nothing. Ah just can’t focus on school right now.” Apple Bloom answered.

Sweetie Belle had just swallowed a big chunk of sandwich and decided it was a good time to ask a question “Hey, about...” She looked around to make sure no one was hearing “You know what. Who you are going to ask for advice?”

“Ah’ figured it was best to ask somepony who has actual experience about it. So, the only one Ah’ can think of is Mrs. Cake.”

“Make sense. We should go ask her after school. The sooner the better, right?”

They nodded their heads in agreement and went to a nearby bench to eat their lunch with the little time they had they had left.

The rest of class went normal, not really useful information for Apple Bloom ‘Who uses algebra?’ She kept thinking, but if she wants to keep a low profile she was needed to do her schoolwork. The school bell rang once again letting the ponies know it was that the classes were over. Every pony took their stuff and ran out of the school as quickly as possible, not that they didn’t like school but they prefered being outside. The trio walked out and moved towards the Sugar Cube Corner. If they are lucky the place won’t be full and that would give them the chance to talk.

Suddenly Sweetie Belle stopped, the other two turned and saw her friend immobile “What’s wrong, Sweetie?” Asked Apple Bloom

“Sorry, girls. I remember I have something to do. See you later at the treehouse,” The unicorn left almost running. Her friends didn’t know what that was about, but they had some more important stuff to do, so they moved along.

As they walked into the bakery they noticed that there were only Mr. and Mrs. Cake attending the place. Pinkie was nowhere to be seen and there were no customers, it was the perfect moment. The two fillies approached the counter clear their throats, giving the formal way to say that they were waiting to be attended.

“Oh! Hello, dearies. What can I get ya?” Mrs. Cake asked happily

“Well… We wanted to ask you something,” Scootaloo said .

“About what?”

“Er… About… Um… Babies,” Continued Apple Bloom.

Mrs. Cake eyes opened widely and her face turned all red “Umm isn’t that something to ask to your parents? ... Or relatives? …. Or teacher?”

“It’s just that Ah can’t let Applejack know.”

“Why not?” The usual smile in Mrs. Cake fade into a serious look. Apple Bloom suddenly knew this was not a good idea. Mrs. Cake lives with Pinkie, if Pinkie knows she will tell Applejack. On top of that she had told too much, she thought about a lie that would get her out of that predicament.

But then Scootaloo helped her. “It because… Applejack is pregnant! And she doesn’t want other ponies to know. Could you keep that secret?”

Apple Bloom put her hoof around her friend’s neck and spoke to her ear between clenches “What are you doing?”

“Hey! You are the one who screwed up. I just try to clean up your mess.”

They suddenly heard the baker giggling, she had her hoof on her mouth and she was blushed “Oh my. I didn’t know Applejack found a stallion, I thought she would be the last. Tell me, who is he?”

“She doesn’t tell. She wants to keep it as a secret until the time’s right. So, can you?” Scootaloo replied

“Of course, of course. I just still can’t believe it” After a few more giggles, she was back to normal “Alrighty then. How can I help?”

“Well, we wanted to know about how to take care of a baby properly, and how much does it cost, and some other tips you can give,” Apple Bloom said.

“Of course. First, is to keep track of the baby’s growth. Does Applejack go to the doctor regularly?”

“Not really.”

“That is just bad. She has to see the doctor at least once every month to see everything is alright. Please tell her that.”

Scootaloo took her notebook and a pencil and began taking notes of everything Mrs. Cake says “What else?”

“Well, babies are really expensive. Baby crib, baby bottles, baby clothes, diapers, medicine, toys, just to start. That can be really expensive, but you can buy some of those used. Ponies don’t like to do that, but it can save you tons bits… Come to think of it, I might be selling some of that baby stuff soon. Tell your sister, and we might do business.”

Apple Bloom listened to every single word, she didn’t want to miss the littlest detail about it. She was worried she might not have enough money, but she was also somehow excited “Is there anything else?”

“Well since it’s gonna be your niece or nephew, remember to let the baby sleep. Babies need to sleep a lot. And when they wake up they want to eat. For the first month that’s going how it is going to be. They might wake up in the middle of the night when you feel really tired, and you had to clean the whole place because your apprentice thought it was a good idea to put a cake inside a party cannon and shoot it inside of the building, and dealing with the customers’ complains for almost two hours…” Mrs. Cake looked agitated and she was clenching her teeth, but then she noticed who she was in front of and returned to her regular being “But you don’t worry. Just keep it down and help your sister with whatever you can. Is there anything else?”

“No, thank you so much Mrs. Cake,” Apple Bloom said.

Scootaloo took all her stuff and put it in her saddle bag “I got everything. Let’s go to the treehouse now”, Scootaloo said, trunking her notes into her saddle bag.

The sound of trotting could be heard, somepony was entering the bakery and greeted the little ponies “Howdy! Hey, you came here after school?” It was Applejack

Apple Bloom turned and noticed her sister standing right behind her “Wh-What are you doing?!”

“Granny sent for some biscuits,” She answered.

“Applejack! “Mrs. Cake cheered, trotting out from behind the counter to greet her.” I just heard about the little one, congratulations. But don’t worry about it, though. Your secret is safe with me. I’ll put some extra biscuits to Granny’s order, you know, now you’re eat for two” She said before disappearing into the kitchen to get the biscuits.

Applejack shook her head in confusion “What the hay was that all about?”

“Er… I dunno… She might got a bit “pinkied” … Uhm… Gotta go,” Scootaloo replied before the two of them ran out of the place as if the olden pony was chasing after them. If Applejack said something before that they couldn’t hear it, they just focused on getting to the treehouse.

The cutie mark crusader house is usually empty until later on the day, but now it was going to be the shelter of the running fillies. They ran the stairs fast, entered the house and closed the door. They were tired for running so long and so careless, they could barely breathe. After a couple of minutes they could regain their calm “Okay, that was close,” Said Scootaloo.

“At least Applejack didn’t find out,” Replied Apple Bloom

The pagasus reached her saddlebag and took out her notebook, she proceeded to read the notes she took while speaking with the baker “And speaking of which, I think we should go to the doctor. Remember what Mrs Cake said.”

“Ah don’t know. Ah don’t have money for that”

“What about Spike? Didn’t he say he would get some gems?” Scootaloo asked further

“Yeah… I think we will have to wait for him,” Apple Bloom said, looked outside of the window, watching the clouds move.

For now, she could only wait for her dragon to return.

Spike woke up early that day. The morning light had just entered the room. For Spike at least it was very early, he usually sleeps two hours after Twilight wakes up, but today he had something to do. He left a note on his bed saying “I have some things to do for the crusaders. Won’t be back until late.” Taking a bucket, heading out to the gems field outside of Ponyville. Ponies tend to avoid going to that field, there is a gang of dogs called “The Diamond Dogs” who look for gems or in some cases steal them. But since Rarity and her friends had a confrontation with them, there hasn’t been reports of witnessing them around the area anymore. Spike counted on them not being around so he could gather as much gems as he could.

Nice going, Spike He told to himself dropping the bucket on the floor. When he was with Rarity he got a cart full of gems in no time, but back then Rarity used her magic to detect where the gems where, and Spike just had to dig them up. This time Spike was alone, he had no idea where to start or how to look for gems on his own Well, let’ just get this over with He thought as he began digging on the spot. His claws touched the dirt and pulled it away craving for gems. One claw after another he pulled the dirt away and he descended slowly, he was focused on whatever sign of a gem he could see, a different color than gray or brown, a spiked shaped object, or a simple sparkle. But even though he was using until the last drop of his energy, there was no sight of any gems.

He found himself inside a hole as tall as him. There might be gems further, but if he went any deeper, he might trap himself inside of the hole. Jumping out of the hole, he, took three steps, and began digging again. A few shovels down his shovel finally uncovered something shiny. Pulling the stone from the soil with his claws, Spike examined his find, it was an emerald. Not very big, but it’s perfect color sparkled in the morning sun.

It looked delicious.

Brushing the dirt away, he held the gem between his teeth, but froze before he bit down.

Cleaning it up, and moved it carefully into his mouth. The image of Apple Bloom and the little baby growing inside her, reminding him of why he was here in the first place.

“It’s just one gem. No one will notice,” he thought. But the more he looked at it, the more Apple Bloom came to mind. Her big and bright eyes, and that cute little smile of her. After grunting and forcing his own hand to move towards his mouth, he threw the gem to the bucket A whole gem field, and I get to eat none of them. I wonder what would other dragons do in this situation He wondered and continued his labor.

He went on and on, digging hole after hole. Toiling in the summer sun, the heat, the sweat on his eyes, and the pain on his claws made it difficult to move on. He’d dug more than a dozen holes, but he only had a half-bucket as fruits of his labor. The idea of going back home and lay down on his bed came every five minutes, but he dismissed it quickly when the image of Apple Bloom came to mind.

He finished pulling out a few sapphires from the bottom of his current hole, he pulled himself out and spotted the new digging area. Everything in him hurt, his claws, his arms, his head, even his eyes hurt a bit. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and began digging a new hole. His arms started to move on their own. He stopped feeling his arms, and if it didn’t hurt, it meant he could keep going. Landing the shovel in the soil, a familiar voice paused him from further work.

“Hey Spike, how you doin’?” Sweetie Belle said. She was carrying a saddlebag, and looked to be straight from school.

“Hey Sweetie Belle. What brings you here?”

“I just came to check up on you.”

“Thanks. Things aren’t as good as I hoped they would. Without your sister, this is harder than I thought.”

“Why my sister?”

“She knows that gem finding spell. Without it I’m going blindly.”

“Well, I don’t know any spell-“The filly reached her saddle bag and took something a big bottle of water “But I brought you this.”

Spike took the bottle desperately, and drank half its content in a couple of seconds “Thank you!”

Sweetie Belle giggled for a moment and noticed the dragon’s tummy was growling “I think you’re hungry.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t even filled a bucket,” Spike said, sitting down for a moment while he nursed on the rest of his water.

“Why don’t you just come back to town and eat for a moment, and then dig some more? You can’t dig without energy, right?” Suggested Sweetie Belle.

Spike thought about making up an excuse: it wasn’t necessary, or he rather finish the job and then go to eat. But he was really hungry, this has been one of the toughest job he ever done alone. “Yeah, thank you” He said.

Spike took the bucket and pulled it with him on the way back to Ponyville, while Sweetie Belle kept up with the dragon on a slow pace. To lighten up the mood the filly thought of start a conversation “So… How did you and Apple Bloom… You know?”

“I-I don’t want to talk about it” Spike blushed and shook in embarrassment, almost dropping the bucket of gems.

“Spike… Do you love Apple Bloom?”

The dragon remain silence, acting as if he didn’t hear the question. Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but to feel a little worry about her friend and asked again “Do you?”

“I don’t know,” Spike answered.

Sweetie Belle froze in place, her mind filled with the same question, but she noticed something in Spike’s eyes that prevented her from asking further: She saw regret.He never left sight of the road and kept walking. The filly knew this was one of those moments that she had to remain silence. They walked on direction to Ponyville and didn’t saying another word.

Chapter 4: Nice to meet you

The earth pony was sitting on a chair and leaning against the window to look out; the pegasus was lying on the floor staring at the sealing motionlessly. Just like her idol, waiting was something Scootaloo couldn’t do easily. If it wasn’t for Applebloom, she would’ve probably ran out of the place an hour ago when they started. Suddenly, the earth pony stood up, pushing the chair back and yelling as she ran to the door. “He’s back! He’s back!”

On the path going to the tree house, Spike carried an old rusty bucket. Sweetie Belle followed him closely on his right side. They stopped when they noticed a widdly-grinding Applebloom charging full speed at them. Said friend tackled, making him fall and drop the bucket. Gems flew through the air and landed on the field. “Yer back!!” Applebloom cheered.

“My back!” Moaned Spike.

Scootaloo had followed her friend slowly. She wasn’t as excited for their return as Applebloom was. “About time you showed up.”

“Sorry...” Sweetie Belle apologized. “But look at how many gems Spike collected!”

“That’s my dragon!” Applebloom said while resting her head between Spike’s shoulder and head. Ever since she told Spike about their baby, she felt closer to him and wanted to show her appreciation every time she could.

Scootaloo took a few of the gems that were scattered around the ground and inspected them carefully; closing her right eye and looking at the gem with her left as Rarity did sometimes. But in reality she didn’t even know what she was looking for. “This is perfect; now we can pay for the doctor!”

“Yer right! We should get going now.” Applebloom said while breaking the cuddle with Spike.

Spike stood up and cleaned the dirt from his body. Then, he thought about what he had just heard, and the idea of something going horribly wrong came into his mind. “What?! What doctor?! Are you okay?,” He asked.

“I’m okay; the doctor’s only for the baby.” She replied. The Spike’s face changed from one of concern to one of confusion. “Ah’ll tell ya on the way.” Applebloom finished. “Let’s go.”

Before going to the doctor, Spike took the bucket of jewels and placed it inside the treehouse. He was told to bring some of them, so he took a few of the green ones and hid them in the scales on his back. Due to the color of his scales, they were able to camouflage, making it perfect to carry them without anypony knowing. He used to do that with Twilight every time he wanted a snack.

The streets of Ponyville were full of ponies. Being the first day of the week, most of them had many things to do. Rose’s flower stand was almost empty; there were many ponies going from one stand to another looking for stuff they needed. There was a yelling crowd surrounding the mailmare, probably due to her redundant delivery mistakes. With all of this commotion going on, it was easy for the group of fillies and the dragon to go to the hospital without being spotted by anypony.

Upon entering the hospital, they noticed the whole place was very quiet. There was no one waiting in the waiting room. There weren’t any sounds, save from a fan on the ceiling and something else in the background. They couldn’t tell what it was. The only pony around was the nurse sitting on the front desk, leaning on her left hoof and flipping magazine pages with the other.

The little ones carefully walked towards the front desk. They tried not to be rude or startle the nurse. “Excuse me?” Applebloom asked.

The nurse pony turned her attention from the magazine and looked down at the ponies standing in front of her. Closing the magazine, she threw it behind her as if it was a piece of trash. “Oh… er… Hello, how can I help you?” The nurse greeted with a smile.

“We… Ah mean, Ah’m here for a checkup,” Applebloom replied.

The nurse moved to her right and took a couple of papers from a stack. “Okay, you will need to fill these in. I’ll help you out. I’ll ask you a question and you answer, okay?”

“Okay.”

“First, what is your name?”

“Applebloom.”

“Age?”

“Fourteen years old.”

“Is it a full checkup that you came in for, or is there something specific you want the doctor to look at?”

The filly looked down and fidgeted All of her friends knew about her baby, but telling it to other ponies was still hard for her. A few of her friend patted her shoulder in support, but the filly stayed mute.

The nurse noticed that Applebloom was not sure of telling her what she had. That was something common in ponies when they go to the hospital, they are too embarrassed about their situation that they don’t want to say it outloud “It’s okay, little filly. You can trust us. We are here to help you with whatever you need.” The voice of the nurse was soft and the smile on her face made the ponies feel safe and able to trust her.

Applebloom took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Ah’ need a pregnancy check-up.” She muttered in the softest volume possible.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear that. What was it?”

“Ah’ need a pregnancy check-up.” She muttered again. Her voice was almost as soft as Fluttershy’s.

“Could you speak up a little?”

Applebloom gave up.

“Ah guess there’s no use in hiding it here,” She thought to herself as she sighed. “Ah need a pregnancy check-up…please.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard. Now, a preg… ” The nurse’s eyes lit with concern as Applebloom’s words sunk in. Drumming her pen on the desk a few times before and focusing on the paper work. She slashed a few notes on the document before looking back up at Applebloom. The nurse’s face was no longer of comfort, instead it was of confusion and concern.

“Okay...” Drumming her pen again, she cleared her throat. “Okay, let me check some stuff here… Do you have any allergies?”

“No”

“Any record of… Okay we don’t need most of these” She placed the clipboard down “Okay, first. Are you a hundred percent sure you are pregnant?”

“Yes, Ah am.”

“What kind of pregnancy test did you take?”

“The Phanes Potion”

The nurse put her hoof on her head and thought for a moment. “Phanes Potion...? Wait, the one made out of crystal berries and asphodel roots?”

“Yup, that’s the one.”

“How do you know about that kind of potion?”

“Ah have a book that a friend gave me. It has tons of different potions.”

The nurse drummed her pen in a rapid rhythm, trying hard to not scrunch up her face. “Alright then, and who is the father.”

Spike stepped up nervously. He was holding his right claw with his left and his eyes kept moving from one point to another. “Th-That’s me.”

The nurse stared at both of them for a moment. She didn’t move, and didn’t say anything. She only looked at them. “Is this some kind of joke?” She asked. She hoped-

“No, we’re honest.” Applebloom replied.

“O-okay, just wait here. I’ll be right back.” The nurse turned to her right and walked through an aisle.

They stayed there for a couple of minutes and upon noticing the nurse didn’t returned they looked took a look around the waiting room and remembered the three lines of chairs being completely empty. They moved to the first line and took a sit while they wait.

“Hey, so how does this potion work?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Applebloom raised an eyebrow, trying to remember the whole process so she could explain it to her friends. “Well, you take all of these ingredients and mix them up. You have to smash them with a rock from a river until it becomes a sort of white goo. You take a hair from your mane and put it in, and if it turns blue, it means that you are not pregnant. If it turns pink, it means you are.”

The hospital was quiet, as if no pony was there. The only sound they could hear was the sound of a radio, but its volume was so low they couldn’t even identify what song it was. There was cold air coming from a vent on the wall that gave them chills, and the smell of medicine was so powerful they felt it wasn’t going to leave for several days. There was a reason why ponies didn’t like hospitals.

Sweetie Belle was twitching nervously in her chair. She imagined something would come out and attack them like in one of those movies she saw, even though her sister told her not to. “Wh-why don’t we return later?”

“I need to do this now.” Applebloom answered. “If you don’t want to be here, you can go, but this is something Ah have to do.” She recalled how Mrs. Cake had emphasized the importance of a doctor’s supervision, so she thought this was the best thing to do.

Sweetie Belle thought about going through the door and heading straight home, but looking at her friend made her think “

Scootaloo was feeling the worst thing she had ever felt. The two things she hated the most in the world were combined at that time: Waiting and hospitals. She was biting her lips to prevent herself from screaming, and she had her hooves crossed so she wouldn’t try to run. She didn’t want to say anything, because if she did she might yell something she would regret later.

After some time passed the nurse returned. Her face was more serious than before. “Could you follow me please? The doctor is going to see you now.” She said in a harsh tone.

They all exchanged looks with each other. The creepy atmosphere along with the serious tone of the nurse made the hospital feel like a hostile environment, but Applebloom didn’t think about it as much. Getting up from her chair, she walked through the aisle followed by Spike. The others took a little time to calm themselves as they walked the path too. After turning right they spotted the nurse standing outside of a room, through the door they saw a doctor sitting next to a bed with a weird machine at his side.

He had a white coat covering his whole body “Hi, little ones. I am Doctor Frost Hoarse. The nurse told me there was a rare situation here.” His voice was more upbeat than the nurse’s. He also look more cheerful and happier “Come here, don’t be afraid.” He said

With nowhere else to go, they walked inside the room slowly. Scootaloo was the last one to enter, and after she entered the nurse shut the door. This made everyone in the room jump, including the doctor. She walked over to the machine next to the doctor and invited the little filly to accompany her. “Please, Applebloom, jump up onto this bed.” She ordered.

Applebloom walked very slowly. Although the doctor’s face was happy, the whole place looked like one of those horror movies Sweetie Belle forced her to watch. She jumped up onto the bed and laid on down it. It was very stiff and kind of hard; it wasn’t really comfortable and she couldn’t imagine sleeping on it. She saw the nurse at her right tweaking the machine and pressing buttons. “Wh-What’s that?” Applebloom asked.

“This? This is an ultrasound machine. It’s used to see the baby ponies when they are still in the mommy's belly.” Doctor Frost answered in a soft voice, very similar in the way Ms. Cheerilee would explain something. “Now, Phanes Potion is fairly accurate for a test, but sometimes it can make mistakes. I’m pretty sure it was an error, and to make sure, we are going to use this to look inside of you and see if there’s a baby present.”

Applebloom put her front hooves on her stomach as a shield. “Does it hurt?”.

“Not at all. I will put this on your belly and everything will appear on this screen.” The doctor explained.

Applebloom looked at her friends. They were smiling, trying to look optimistic in order to make Applebloom feel more comfortable, even though they couldn’t shake the creepy imagery of what the room looked like.

“Spike…could you come here?” Applebloom asked.

The dragon walked up to her left side. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Ah just wanted you to be with me.” She replied. Spike gave her a smile and stroked his fingers softly through her mane.

The machine made a beeping sound, and the screen turned on. It showed a lot of black with some gray textures on it. “Okay, the machine is ready. Shall we?” The doctor asked.

The filly spread her front hooves, letting the doctor put a probe on her stomach. It was cold and had a gel on it that made her coat feel weird. After a couple of seconds, once the probe had touched different parts of the filly’s stomach, the doctor stopped for a moment and looked at the screen very carefully.

“This…this is unbelieveable.” The stallion stammered.

“What? What is it?” The filly asked in concern.

The doctor took the screen and tilted it, letting Applebloom and Spike see. They could only see a tiny ball in the middle of it. The doctor took his glasses off and they could clearly see him smile. “That…that is your baby. Congratulations, you ARE pregnant.”

Applebloom let out a huge gasp, even though she already new that she was pregnant in the first place. The fact that she could see her baby was something she never imagined. “That tiny…” She couldn’t finish her sentence; her eyes were watering intensely, only this time, she had a big smile on her face. These weren’t tears of sadness as the ones she had shed before; these were tears of joy and happiness. “Hello there, Ah’m your mommy. Nice to meet you.” She said quietly, touching the screen.

Spike was motionlessly standing right next to Applebloom. He couldn’t stop looking at the screen. His heart beat faster than ever before, and his breathing was so heavy he felt he would shoot fire through his nose. His right claw was stroking Applebloom’s hair, while the other one held Applebloom’s left hoof very tight. As he looked down and noticed her watching the screen, his fears suddenly began to vanish. Fears of what anypony would say about the baby, the concern about money, a place to live, and about their future were completely gone. Now there was just him, her, and the baby. He leaned and kissed the pony on her forehead.

The other two couldn’t see what was on the screen, but they could see how happy their friends were, and that was enough for them. However, there was one pony in the room that didn’t have a smile on her face.

“Excuse me, doctor, but how could a pony conceive with a dragon?” The nurse asked.

The doctor crossed his front hoof and took a deep breath before making his explanation. “Well, as you know, ponies have never been close enough to dragons to study them. Aside from some behaviors, we know next to nothing. We don’t know how their bodies work, nor anything about their chromosome structure. The only non-violent dragon we know is Spike, and Princess Celestia strictly forbade us to do any kind of exams on him.”

The doctor closed his eyes for a moment and continued. “There is a theory that states that dragons might have the same aura powers as earth ponies, which would be the reason for them being able to resist high temperatures to the point of molten lava, extreme cold conditions, and breathing fire. If there was a resonance between the dragon aura and the pony aura that resided inside the pony’s body, that could lead to a chain reaction into her…”

Before he could finish, he noticed that no one in the room, except for the nurse, was understanding anything he was saying. He cleared his throat and thought about a way to make things easier to understand. “In other words, it might be because of magic.”

“So, what do we do now?” Spike asked.

“Simple, you have to take care of the baby and make sure nothing happens to it. No drinking alcohol… Well, you can’t do that to begin with. No hot tubs or jacuzzis, but you can take hot showers. And don’t do any physical activity that demands a lot of you, but stay as active as is comfortable for you.” The doctor said.

“And we need to let you parents know about this situation.” The nurse added.

“No!” Spike and Applebloom blurted in unison.

“You can’t do that! We haven’t told them yet!” The dragon said.

“Look, your parents are going to find out sooner or later. It might as well be now.” The nurse stated, seeming to recover her soft voice.

The doctor put a hoof on her shoulder and took part of the conversation. “I think we can do something here. I won’t tell your parents, but you will have to let me check up on the baby every once and a while and take record of everything.” He said cheerfully.

“Why do you wanna do that?” Applebloom asked

“Well, the baby of a dragon and a pony is something no pony has ever heard of. This could be a major medical breakthrough.”

“Ah just want to make something very, VERY clear. Just like what the Princess did, Ah’ don’t want any experiment or any medical…things going with my baby.” Applebloom said sternly. Her voice was very deep, and her eyes looked at the doctor fiercely in order to let him know that she was not joking.

“Fair enough, but you have to come here every week. I want to keep track on the growth of the foal. Deal?” The doctor offered.

“Deal.” Applebloom agreed.

The nurse pushed some buttons and pulled a few things on the machine. The machine made a few sounds, and threw something out of a slot. “Here are a couple of pictures of your baby. You can take them if you wish. Congratulations, by the way.” The nurse said.

“I’ll be seeing you next week. Remember, no alcohol, no hot tubs, and no rough games. Take good care of yourself and the little one.” The doctor ordered. The cheerful voice of the doctor made Applebloom think things would be better after all.

Spike took the pictures, and Applebloom jumped down from the bed. She was then hugged by her friends, who were waiting patiently for their turn to talk to her. “Oh my gosh! Congratulations, Applebloom!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“I’m sure you’re going to be the best mommy ever!” Sweetie Belle added.

“Thanks, gals.” The Applebloom replied.

The doctor stood up and moved to the door. Leaving the room, he wanted to give space to the fillies to enjoy their moment. The nurse stayed behind to accompany them to the entrance. “I don’t want to ruin the moment, but we need to talk about the payment. Theses kind of procedures are really expensive and-” But the nurse was quickly interrupted.

“We got it covered.” Spike said while showing the nurse a handful of gems. “How much will it be for the checkup?” He asked.

The nurse’s jaw dropped, and her eyes opened widely. “Err… I’ll just take a couple of these and everything will be fine.” She said while taking a few gems.

Once the payment was done and everything was clear, they were preparing to leave the hospital. Sweetie Belle had been biting her lower lip since she was in the waiting room earlier. “Excuse me, miss. Why is this place so…barren?”

“We don’t know, to be honest. Maybe ponies are taking better care of themselves nowadays. This is good, of course, but it doesn’t really leave us with a lot of work.”

“Yeah, fascinating. Come on Sweetie, time to go.” Scootaloo said in a sarcastic tone.

The doors of the hospital opened, letting the little ones leave. They noticed that the sky had started to change from blue to dark tones of different colors. The very first star of the night had just appeared. Scootaloo stretched her wings and gave a big yawn. “Well, this was a long day. See you tomorrow, and congratulations again.”

Sweetie Belle walked near her friends, but suddenly stopped. She frowned, as if something was bothering her. The couple could only see how strange their friend behaved. After a couple of moments of head-shaking, Sweetie Belle turned around and said, “Congratulations again; see you tomorrow!”

“What’s gotten into her?” Spike asked.

“I dunno...” The Applebloom replied. There was something in Applebloom’s right hoof that she considered more important now: the picture of her baby. She raised her hoof and took another look at it. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“‘She’?” The dragon asked.

“Yeah, this baby is gonna be a beautiful mare.”

“How do you know it’s a ‘she’? It could be a tough ‘guy’.”

“Ah’ can feel it, and you know that the mother always knows best.”

“Whatever.” The dragon replied while throwing his arms into the air.

Applebloom smiled as she continued to look at the photo. Her eyes were shimmering, thanks to the few rays of the sun that had still refused to set. Spike’s claws were shaking, and his eyes were focused on the pony right in front of him, but his mind was remembering the pony back home waiting for him. He had the other copy of the ultrasound in his right claw, but for the moment, however, he wanted to hide it.

“Ah’ think it’s time for us to go.” Applebloom said, waking the dragon from his daze.

“Huh? Oh, yeah...” Spike shook his head. Watching the sky above reminded him that the night was about to cover the land soon, so if he didn’t get home promptly, Twilight would be worried. “I’ll go to the gem field tomorrow, too. I’ll leave the gems at your place so no one gets suspicious. What do you say?”

Applebloom leapt towards Spike and put her arms around him, giving him a big hug. “Thank you...” She tilted her head softly and placed her lips on Spike’s cheek. He froze in place. In the past, Applebloom used to kiss him when he wasn’t looking in order to make him nervous. He liked it, even though he never told her.

Spike slowly moved his arms, trying to reach the pony and wrap her in his arms as well. Before he was close to it, however, the earth pony broke her hug and turned around. “See you tomorrow, darlin’.” She winked her eye and smiled, only to then move forward towards the house site at Sweet Apple Acres. Spike watched her walk until he couldn’t distinguish the silhouette from the darkness. He thought to himself as he run full speed towards the Golden Oak Library.

One after the other, the feet of the dragon ran quicker than they normally did. He took a glance ahead, noticing the lights of his house still on. He pressured his pace and raised his arms forward to open the door quickly.

Once he reached the entrance of the library, he took the doorknob and opened it carefully.

His thoughts continued while he pushed the door slowly in order to keep it from squeaking. Before he came in, he took a small peek inside to spot where his friend was. He put his head against the door and looked through the gap between the door and the wall, only to notice the alicorn standing right in front of him.

"Hello, Spike. Where have you been?" Twilight asked. Her face showed a smile, and her voice was strangely calm.

"Oh...err... Hi, Twilight. I was with the Crusaders. Didn't you see the note I left?” Spike put the picture of the ultrasound behind his back and leaned on the wall to hide it from Twilight.

"I did; I'm just asking where you’ve been." Her voice was still unchanged. Due to this situation, it was rather creepy for Spike.

"I… We were at the treehouse."

"The whole day?"

"Yup." He said awkwardly, forcing a smile and looking directly into Twilight’s eyes. He hoped it would make her believe him.

"And what is it that you had to do?"

"Umm......you know, Cutie Mark Crusaders… Jewel Testers, Gemologists, and…Dragon Tamers." He said with his ongoing smile. He had been struggling so much that his cheeks began to hurt.

Twilight looked him in the eyes. Her face began to change by frowning a bit, but it quickly went back as it was. "Okay, just dont be so late next time. Now come on; dinner’s ready." She turned around and went directly to the kitchen.

“Got it!” Spike answered. He took the picture and, before he went to eat, hid it beneath his pillow.

The idea of telling Twilight about the baby came to his mind over and over, and so did the kiss that Applebloom had given him. There were more things swirling around in his head than he could’ve ever imagined. He had no idea what could happen if he told anypony about them. For now, though, he didn’t want to think about it. Now, he just wanted to eat dinner with his friend and rest.

Chapter 5: Dinner

It had been two days of digging for Spike since he’d went to the hospital, and took a look to the little foal who will change their lives. While Applebloom and her friends kept their usual routines of going to school and being with their families, Spike went to the gems field. Every day he woke up early, even before Twilight did, and left his home to work. Sweetie Belle came after school with water and a snack. Once he considered his work was done, he took the bucket and leave the gems at the treehouse with Applebloom and went home. Twilight is always there waiting for him, and he always gave the same excuse “I was with the Cutie Mark Crusaders” Even Though this was an unusual conduct on Spike, Twilight didn’t questioned him as long as he did his chores at home.

Spike found himself on the field and gazed upon the multitude of holes he had dug. His muscles remembered them too. His whole body hurt, his claws were twitching in pain, and he was so sleepy his eyes were half open. He kept going when the image of his foal came to mind.

Passing by the old holes he and picked a new place to start. Putting the bucket down, he began digging. Dirt and fragments of rock flew and hit his face as he placed another claw on the land, but thankfully due to the dragon scales he didn’t feel a thing. After a few more minutes of his work, he reached the limits of what he could climb back, he took another peek to the bottom of the hole looking for a sign that a jewel was there, only to make sure that the was nothing only dust and dirt.

“Another stinker,” He thought. Some spots didn’t have jewels and he doesn’t know until he was on the bottom. For him, doing so much work and not finding something was the worst waste of all.

Climbing up, he took a few steps to his right and started a new hole. His eyes focused on the bottom looking for the slightest shine of a gem. The dirt became darker as he approached the limits of what he had established, however, he saw nothing but dirt.

He repeat the process three more times, selecting a place, digging a hole and finding nothing. But those attempts turned to be in vain. He stumbled on the ground breathing heavily, his arms feeling like if they had pulse on their own and his claws pained as if they will break in any time. He was covered in sweat and as always he forgot to bring something else besides the bucket.

Looking to the sun, he noticed it was high in the sky. Turning his attention to the path leading to Ponyville, he expected to see his friend, but found nothing "Sweetie Belle should be here by now. Where is she?" He wondered.

He would have to return soon, and the bucket was still empty. He clenched his teeth and curled his claws into fists "Come on Spike. Just one more hole. You have to make it count!" He told to himself, getting up on his feet and moving to the next spot.

He decided to make this one count. His arms moved slower but stronger and his eyes were wide open. Spike went deeper and deeper, and upon reaching the limit he saw nothing but more dirt. There was no gems there. He stared at the darker ground beneath him looking for something, anything. He turned around and scanned the pile of dirt behind him in case he accidentally dug up a gem between the dirt. But no matter how hard he looked there was only dirt, stones, and his own sweat.

Heartbroken he let out a sigh “All this work for nothing. You are going to be a great father,” He told himself. He didn’t want to leave, he wanted to be there until he found at least one precious stone, however, if he arrived home late Twilight will get suspicious. For today all he could do was to leave the place. Dragging the empty bucket at a slow pace he walked back to Ponyville. Plodding down the path with his head down and looking at the road, he felt too embarrassed to face anyone at that moment.

Arriving the outskirts of the town, Spike found himself on a crossroad. On his left side was Sweet Apple Acres, ahead the town square and his home. The days before he stopped at the treehouse to greet Applebloom and leave the jewels previously going with Twilight. But today he had no jewels to leave “I probably shouldn’t go, there’s nothing I can give her,” He thought, but before heading off, he thought again “But… At least I should stop and say hi… I’m probably going to be yelled at by her… And Twilight…What the hay.”

Spike turned to his left and walked the road heading to the apple farm. His eyes were empty aside from his mind which was filled with thoughts "What am I going to tell her? Sorry, didn't find any gems... At the gems field?" With so much things inside his head he felt like there was an itch inside that he tried to relief it with scratching it, however no matter how much he tried to make the itch go away it didn’t seize.

Spike arrived under the tree and took a small look to the clubhouse, he noticed something weird about it. The windows were covered with what appeared to be black curtains, it was something small but very strange considering that the cutie mark crusaders had never covered the place aside from the movie nights they sometimes have. For the first time Spike felt the necessity of knocking the door before entering. He approached the door and knock it once… Twice… Three times. A soft voice could be heard coming from it saying “Come in” The accent was unmistakable, clearly it was Applebloom’s but there was something odd about it.

Spike pushed the door open, letting himself in. The first thing he noticed was the darkness inside the place due to the curtains, everything inside was pitch dark but a small candle in the middle on the room illuminating over a round table. On the other side of the table there was Applebloom sitting with her hooves folded. She was wearing a golden bow with colorful strings around and a blue sapphire on the middle of it, one of Rarity’s best works according to Spike, also she had eye shadows and a little bit of lipstick.

“Welcome home, dear,” Applebloom said with a gentle and feminine voice.

“Err… Hi… What’s all of this, Bloom?” Spike felt a little nervous about what it was something new to him. Suddenly there came a thought “Wait… Are we celebrating an anniversary? ... When is our Anniversary?! I knew I should have kept track of it. I don’t have something for her!”

Appleboom giggled a little and explained “Ah just-“Before proceeding the little filly cleared her throat. “I just wanted to do something nice for you. Please have a sit” Her voice was sweet and and she tried as hard as she could to hide her way of speaking.

Spike was still a little confused, but he accepted her invitation. He came near, pull out a chair, and sit with her “What now?” He asked.

“Now… We eat” She said while standing up, and leaving the sit behind her. He went to another

table at the right that had five dishes in a silver cover. She took one with her mouth and placed it in front of her date.

“We’ll have a three course meal cooked by the crusaders,” She introduced and took the silver cover from the dish revealing a bowl with soup “First, mushroom soup made by Sweetie Belle. Bon appetite.”

“Really?” He asked

“What? You don’t like it?” Applebloom raised a concern.

“No, no, it’s not that. It’s just that nopony have ever done something like that for me. Thanks” Spike was touching his hands nervously, it was a tic for him he couldn’t get rid of.

“You are welcome. Now eat it while it's hot.”

“Alright!” He couldn’t hide his excitement.

He took the spoon next to his right hand and shove it in the bowl, he took a slip and put it in his mouth. The moment the soup touched his tongue he knew something was extremely wrong. The water had no taste aside the pepper and what it seemed to be milk, the mushrooms were not done making them squishy from the outside but hard in the inside, on top of that there were other hard things on the soup he couldn’t identify but he hoped they were croutons. Taking a deep breath he let the liquid slide through his throat. He succeeded drinking one spoon of soup, but there was a whole bowl of it still waiting for him.

He looked up and noticed Applebloom staring at him with a smile and not a bowl of soup on her side of the table “Hey, aren’t you going to eat some soup?” Spike asked.

“Nope, I don’t really like mushrooms,” She answered

Spike looked at the bowl and hesitate, the spoon on his hand danced around from the shaking he couldn’t control. He put the spoon down, took the bowl and pour its content to his mouth and directly into his stomach, that might give him a tummy ache later but for now his job was done.

“Wow, you really are hungry” Said Applebloom. She then stood up and went to the table where the rest of the meals were. She took now two dishes and placed them on the table, one for her the other for Spike “Course two, hay sandwich made by Scootaloo” She announce while revealing the next dish.

“A sandwich! That’s simple, there is no way somepony screw this up,” Spike thought after seeing it. Spike took it and gave it a big bit, he then regret it. Somehow, Scootaloo found a way to make the worst sandwich ever. The bread was burned, it was almost pure ashes, but the inside and the cheese was not done. Scootaloo obviously tried to hide this by adding pickles, onions, celery, cucumber, and avocado; all this ingredients combined with the mustard, mayo, and ketchup. It was uneatable, but because it was Applebloom who planned all this for him he took all his courage and swallow it.

Spike looked to front and noticed Applebloom didn’t have a sandwich on her plate, instead there was a bowl of salad, he noticed the different ingredient like cranberries, strawberries, apple slices, and something else he couldn’t spot, also it contain some seasoning that smell sweet. Compared to the sandwich that salad looked like the most delicious thing ever. “Hey, why aren’t you eating a sandwich like mine?” Spike asked

“I didn’t feel for a sandwich, I’m not really hungry. That’s why I decided I should eat a salad,” She responded happily“So anyway, how’s work?”

Spike tried to look away, but the lack of light made it difficult to spot something in the dark “Um…

Err… I didn’t find any jewel. I dug like a dozen holes and got nothing”

After hearing this Applebloom smiled. “It’s okay Spike. We got plenty for now, although I don’t know how many we need, but it’s okay I know you are working very hard.”

This was not the response Spike was expecting. “I promise I’ll find more tomorrow. I’ll bring a bucket full” He said

“I’m sure you will. Now, eat up before it gets cold”

Spike hoped she would forget about the dinner and he could threw up the sandwich before she notice, but sadly that wasn’t the case. He stared at the rest of his meal for a couple of minutes while Applebloom devoured hers. He took a deep breath, gathering every drop of courage inside of him, took the rest of the sandwich and put it in his mouth. He closed his eyes and deposited the rest on his mouth and made it slide through his throat trying to taste as little as possible. He felt tired, even more so than after spending the day at the gems field.

Applebloom has just finished her salad “I hope you are ready for the last course,” She said when she stood up and went for the two plates remaining.

“Sweet Celestia, just take me now!” He thought when he saw his ordeal was not over yet.

“Tada!” Applebloom said while revealing the content of the silver cover “Apple pie made by yours truly.”

The slice of pie was still steaming hot. It looked really good, but he was fooled before. However, this time Applebloom had a slice of pie for herself. When Spike saw this he felt a little more confident that the pie was at least eatable. He took the fork, took a very small piece of the desert and without a second thought he found a place for it inside his mouth.

Reluctantly tasting the pie, he opened his eyes in amaze. Not only was the pie good, it was really good. The bad taste of the last meals that lingered in his tongue had vanished. It was crispy, on the inside, but really soft in the inside; the apples were sweet scent and it was clear something was added to the recipe to make it taste better “Sugar? Honey?” Spike wondered, but he didn’t really wanted to know. In that moment they didn’t exchange a word, they just enjoyed

the sweetness.

The plates on the table suddenly were empty, leaving the dragon and the filly feel satisfied “Wow that was amazing. Did you really make it yourself?” Spike asked.

Applebloom shook her head answering “Yup-“She cleared her throat again to get back into her former self “Indeed. Granny taught me that recipe a long time ago.”

“Thanks again for the dinner. But, could you go back to your true self?”

“I thought you like this.”

“I do, but I like you more”

Applebloom cheeks became red when she heard this. It wasn’t that often when Spike

compliments her, and even though their relationship have reached a level further of just flirting and fooling around, she still felt a little nervous whenever something like that happens “O-okay… Thank you,” She said.

“And… Honestly, why did you make dinner?” Spike asked.

“Ah was bein honest. You’ve been workin so hard lately that I thought you deserved something nice,” Appleboom answered while taking away her bow and letting her mane down. With a swift move she shook her head and wave the mane around.

Spike let out a small “whoa”, he watched how she moved her hair as if he was hypnotized. He then woke up when he noticed Applebloom was staring at him with a grin on her face “Err… Well that was great… Err… Thanks again” Suddenly an image of her purple friend back home came into his mind, reminding him he promise not to come back later “Twilight!” He yelled “I’m sorry, Bloom, but I think I have to go now”

“It’s okay. Ah ran into Twilight earlier and asked her if it was okay if you came and be a little late… That is if you really wanna go” Applebloom replied with a soft voice, kind of apologetic.

Spike felt tired from all his work and his head was filled with the idea of laying down on his bed, but he also wanted to stay for a while with Applebloom. He looked down thinking of his option, but then something caught his attention, something white and small that was curled and hiding in the corner of the room “What is that?” He said pointing at the object.

Applebloom turned and saw what the dragon was speaking of “Oh… That’s my futon,” She answered.

“Why do you need a futon here?”

“Sometimes when I have a lot of things in my mind I like to get out of my home and come here and just lay down.”

Spike related to what she said. Even he sometimes likes to go to the balcony of his house and look at the stars when he felt disturbed. Suddenly an idea came to mind to find a solution to his dilemma “Do you wanna see the stars?”

He took the futon and placed it outside of the treehouse. The apple trees went really high and because of their leaves and branches they didn’t see the whole sky. But thankfully the area where the treehouse Is located had trees around it, instead of alongside it, making it like a window where you can see the night sky. Cleaned the ground from rocks and branches that could make them uncomfortable.

Spike stumbled upon the futon and put his hands behind his head “Come on, Applebloom,” He invited his marefriend.

Applebloom hesitated for a moment, but eventually she gave in. She laid down and settled her head between Spike’s chest and his chin and put her hooves around him, cuddling him. Even though their relationship has become more mature, she still feels nervous.

They focused their attention up in the sky and gaze upon the beautiful image that Princess Luna made for them. The stars shined brighter like Hearth’s Warming decorations, only they were prettier. Applebloom felt the heartbeat and breathing of Spike “It’s going faster. He’s nervous too?” She wondered. And just on that moment Spike raised his hand pointing to some stars.

“L-look there! That’s Leo’s constellation,” He said.

Applebloom raised her eyes and looked at the place Spike indicated “Really?”

“I don’t know,” He said “Twilight tried to teach me where the constellations are, but I never picture them the same way ponies see them”

The earthpony giggle when hearing the explanation “Ya know, I don’t get constellations either. But when Ah was little Ah used to identify things in the stars… Like this” Applebloom raised her left hoof and pointed to some stars, she then pointed to other as if she was connecting them “See that star and line it up with that one, and with those over there, and those over there, and… What do you see?”

Spike followed the patron with his eyes and noticed they made a figure “Is that… An apple?”

“Correct!” Applebloom cheered.

Spiked giggle, the image of the apple that the filly spotted was more precise than the image of the constellations “Okay, let me try” He raised his right hand and imitated the way Applebloom connected the stars “See that star, and connect it with that one, make a line here, then link with that, and those… And, what is it?”

Applebloom followed the patron as well, she found the answer to the mystery very quickly “A diamond!”

Spike gave a big snored for little, he didn’t think she would guess it that fast “That’s it.”

They played that game for three more turns, guessing whatever they saw on the sky. A present, a hay burger, an opened can, a fishing rod, a window, and a sofa. They learned to enjoy the game, and Spike had forgot about how exhaust he was before. Finally, it was Applebloom’s turn once again.

“Okay, this will be a little hard,” She expressed before she moved her hoof around.

Spike’s eyes moved along side with the hoof. The image was kind of abstract and, as Applebloom said, hard to identify. But with some thought and a little imagination he finally guessed what the image was.

“It’s… A… Babycrip,” He answered with a very timid voice.

Applebloom look directly into Spike’s eyes and gave him a smirk “Nope, it was a boat”

Spike startle from finding his answer wrong, and from telling his answer out loud “Oh… First strike. My turn”

Spike focused his eyes and the stars in the sky and pointed with his finger at on of them, but before he could start linking the Applebloom put her hoof on his hand and place it down “Wanna talk about it?” She asked

“About what?” Spike replied. Applebloom put her hoof on her belly and rubbed it a little bit, giving the indication that she was speaking of the baby “Oh… That?” He said nervously.

“Are ya scare ‘bout this?” Applebloom asked.

Spike’s eyes didn’t look into the filly’s eyes once “It’s just that I don’t have a father. I do what I do because of what Sweetie Belle told us and from what I gathered in books. What if I make a mistake? What if I’m not a good dad?”

Applebloom cuddle him more, hugging him tighter “The fact that you’re worrying about it proves that you are going to be a great father. I’m so happy you are with me. I love you”

Spike’s eyes opened widely, in all of the time he’s been with her she had never once say something like that. Actually, the only pony who said was Twilight and that was every once in a while. He looked into his heart looking for the correct answer, but he didn’t find it. But he couldn’t just stay there mute, he had to say something “I-I….”

Once again, he was interrupted by Applebloom who put her hoof on his mouth “You don’t have to say it. Ah’ know you don’t love me” She said, her voice was weak “I know you don’t feel the same way. But Ah’m happy you stayed anyways and you try to help me” Tears began to roll through her eyes and fell onto Spike’s chest, he felt the cold drops.

“Don’t say that!” Among the tears Spike spoke “Applebloom, there is no other pony in all of Equestria I would like to be with other than you. You are my best friend, and you are my marefriend, it’s just that I have never told that to anypony. It’s just hard for me.”

Appleboom stopped her sadness and began her confusion “What about…?”

It was Spike’s turn to interrupt “Rarity? It was a childish crush. Nothing more than that. Don’t worry, Bloom.”

There were still a few more tears on Applebloom’s eyes, but these lingered from her sadness before. She placed her hooves on Spike’s face touching his scales softly. She closed her eyes while she moved her head forward placing her lips against Spike’s. Their hearts moved slower until it felt like if they have synchronized. The sweet breeze in the apple orchard and the smooth sound the wind made just made the perfect moment for two lovers kissing. They broke the kissing once the lack of air forced them to breath, they were still new to this.

Applebloom returned to her cuddling position and Spike put his claw on her mane and began brushing it. Applebloom was biting her lower lip, there was something else bothering her “Ya know, we haven’t think of a name yet. Got anything in mind?”

Spike raised an eyebrow “What about Spike Jr? Sounds good, right?”

“Nah, Spike is not a name for a girl” Applebloom answered.

“Are you sure is a girl?”

“Positive.”

Spike decided to remain silent about that topic and prefered suggesting a name“What about Jewel?” He suggested

“Nah, we need something better”

“Okay, how about Jade?”

“It doesn’t sound good enough”

“How about Diamond?”

“NO!”

“I’m not good at this,” Spike said.

“It’s okay, we don’t need to think about it yet, let’s just stay here and relax”

The time stopped for them, the night sky and the light of the moon gave them the perfect spectacle for them, and the wind on the trees was like music to their ears. In that moment there was nothing on the world but them and the little one.

Chapter 6: Family

Another day started in Ponyville, as the early working ponies started their activities Spike was heading to his workplace with bucket in his hand and a song in his mind. He was skipping instead of walking and he was singing a tune cheerfully "It's friday... Friday…," He sang.

Before he found about his baby he didn't care much about fridays, but after all the work he had done he was looking forward to the weekend and to sleep for hours.

He arrived to the gems field and gaze upon all the holes he made as he remembered all the gems he gathered. The promise he made to Applebloom about coming back with a bucket full appeared on his mind. He turned his head and focused on the right side of the field that remained untouched and gave a small grin. He cracked his knuckles and marched forward. He began his work eagerly, his claws breaking the ground in a fast pace and his mind centered on finding jewels.

The ground cracked after a couple of Spike's shovels and it revealed a treasure within. Five green emeralds together as sisters showed up. He took them and carefully placed them inside the bucket. He was excited to find gems so early, but he knew he needed more to fulfill his promise. He continued digging the whole and he was surprised when after a few inches lower he found more and more gems of every kind, he didn't even reached the two foot mark and he already found fifteen different gems. He remembered something Rarity told him a while ago "Some jewels come from volcanos, and when the volcano erupts it frees some of these. So, you can come across places where there are many gems because they most likely come from an eruption," He may have found a volcanic jackpot.

Spike had his attention on the ground in order not to damage a jewel, but this meant he didn't notice a figure that slowly approached him from behind "Hi Spike. Those are a lot of gems you got there," The voice was very neutral and very clean, not a sign of greed, mockery, nor any other bad intention. He knew that voice; it wasn't Sweetie Belle, she usually just jump right in, besides it was too early for her to be out of school. However, that voice came from somepony he knew. He hoped his mind was playing tricks on him, or at least that he was mistaken and that the pony behind him was not the one he imagined.

Spike slowly turned his back to see the origin visitor behind him, his whole body shook in fear, when he recognized the purple coat of the pony. Her horn was surrounded by magic aura that was lifting the old bucket and her wings were spread taking all the attention towards them. Her face didn't show any emotions at all, she was just looking directly at his eyes "Twilight!" Spike said, the fear of being punished crossed his mind for a moment “Wh-What -?”

“Hey Spike, what are you doing?” Twilight asked calmly.

“Oh… Errr nothing… You know, I craved for some chems and came here for some before going with the crusaders” Responded Spike. He tried as much as he could to hide the fact that his claws were shaking and to control his voice to sound as natural as possible.

Twilight raised an eyebrow before replying “That’s weird, in all the years we’ve been here you never once came here for gems alone, not even when you almost starved to death. And it’s weird that you mention the crusaders, because as far as I know they are in school right now. In fact, they were in school during all the periods of time you left the house,” Not even once did she raise the tone of her voice. In past occasions just a simple lie would make her rage, however, this time she remained calm.

Spike jumped of surprise “Dang it! I forgot about the school schedule,” He thought. He tried to look away to make time to think of an excuse “Oh… Yeah… I… I really wanted a quick snack, you know, and I was going to wait for them at the crusader’s spot, I know where the key is. Anyway, how did you find me?”

"I followed you to see where you were going,” She said focusing her attention on Spike who was still in his hole.

“Y-you followed me?! How dare you?!” His voices was a mixture between worried and fake outrage. There was no real reason for him to feel anger, but he wanted to make the conversation to moved as far from the reason he was there as possible.

“You lied to me and snuck out of the house every day this week,” For the first time her voice raised a little. Twilight placed her right hoof on her chest, took a deep breath, and expelled the air to relax, a technique she learned a while ago to not losing control “Now, tell me why are you here. And don’t you dare lie to me again.”

Spike took one last glance around the place to spot something that could help him get away or to remember something that might help him get out of the situation. His eyes stopped moving around and centered at Twilight’s who was waiting for a response. He lowered his head, he knew there was no exit. In defeat he responded “Okay Twilight, I’ll tell you. But I can’t do it alone, we need to wait for somepony else to help me explain.”

“Who is that?” Twilight asked

“Applebloom,” He answered.

Twilight didn’t asked further, she nodded with her head and helped Spike to get out of the hole. Twilight turned around and walked slowly towards to path to Ponyville while Spike took the bucket with gems walking right behind her. They didn’t exchange a word, they focused on the road. The only noise between them was the the steps of the alicorn on the ground and the bucket Spike was dragging. Before they went to their house Spike reminded Twilight about Applebloom, they went to the treehouse and left a note on the door saying “Go to the library when you get this. Spike.”. The left the apple orchard and head straight home.

The Golden Oak Library was completely empty, usually ponies don’t come there very often and because of that it gathers a lot of dust. Twilight asked Spike to do his chores as normally, which were to clean up his mess and shelf all the books to their proper place. Meanwhile, Twilight dealt with cleaning up the whole place and organize everything. Every time it was time to do their chores they talked to each other, joke about something or turn the radio so the music would make things less boring. However, this time Spike couldn’t say a word, he feared if he say something he would make things worse, he didn’t even dared to touch the radio. Spike noticed how Twilight still didn’t show any emotion at all, he found this creepy, it was scarier than when she actually got mad and yell at him.

A couple of hours passed, lunch time has came and went, and, aside from a couple of words, they haven’t talk to each other. The silence in the library was overwhelming. They almost never found themselves in completely quietness, not even in Twilight’s marathon readings.

The silence of the library was finally interrupted when somepony knocked the door. Spike rushed to open it, just to break the uncomfortableness in the situation, the door quickly moved revealing Applebloom standing on the other side “Howdy,” She greeted “What’s up, Spike? What do ya need me for?... Oh, hey Twilight.”

Spike only did a gesture inviting Applebloom in. She entered the house and moved to the living room the others, she noticed the lack of communication and certain mood in the air making the place feel different “So… What’s going on?” She asked

Twilight stepped forward and replied “What’s going on is that Spike was about to tell me what was he doing in the gems field, but for some reason he said he needed you to be here.”

Applebloom gasped and covered her mouth with her hoof, a quick look at Spike revealed his anxiety. He was shaking, he couldn’t keep control of his hands, he was unable to give an explanation “Look, Ah’ know we should have tell you this sooner… We just weren’t ready,” She explained.

Suddenly, a noise interrupted Applebloom’s speech. It was something they were not expecting. Twilight started to giggle, almost laughing, the couple’s expression changed from concern to confusion as they tried to figure out what was funny about the situation “Oh you two,” Twilight said “Don’t be so scared. I was just playing with you.”

“Playing?” Spiked asked.

“I was trying to teach you a lesson. You shouldn’t lie to me, if you need something you can only ask,” She explained as she took a deep breath to regain her composure “I know about you two.”

Applebloom and Spike jumped from the surprise, they couldn’t believe what they just heard coming from Twilight being so calm and happy “You do?” Asked Applebloom.

“Come on, everypony knows about you two,” Said Twilight “You’ve been dating for months.”

Spike finally understood what was happening. Seven months ago Spike and Applebloom became a couple, but they didn’t want other ponies to make a big deal about it. Instead of telling their family and friends they just kept it as a secret and if somepony asked them if they were going out they just said they were only good friends. They have been doing it for so long that they forgot to tell their families about it.

Spike found an option to get out of the situation and used it “Y-yeah, that’s it. We are together now, sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

“It’s okay. But if you want to get things for Applebloom you can work here, you don’t need to go to such a dangerous place,” Replied Twilight. Spike sighted in relief, Twilight was not the prankster kind but he had to admit that was a big one.

“Wait! That’s not it,” Applebloom stepped up.Her voice was strong.

Spike covered Applebloom’s mouth and whisper in her ear “What are you doing?! This is our way out.”

“We can’t get away with this for ever. They’ll find out sooner or later” Said Applebloom.

Twilight curiosity finally made her take action “What is going on here?”

Spike took a look at his lover’s eyes, he knew what she said was true. He could escape the confession this time, but he will have to face it again another day “Do you have the photo?” Applebloom asked.

“Yeah… I’ll go get it;” Spike answer and walked the stairs up to his room.

Twilight looked confused as things went further “You should take a sit,” Suggested Applebloom.

After a couple of minutes Spike came down holding something on his hands and place it in the table in front of Twilight. A magic aura covered the piece of paper and levitated towards the alicorn’s face.

“Is this a ultra sound picture? Why are you showing me this? Who is this from?” Asked Twilight.

“That’s mine,” Replied Applebloom “That’s my baby.”

Spike decided to add to the conversation “It’s ours, We are going to be parents,”

The picture fall to the ground, floating gracefully. Twilight’s horn stopped glowing with magic as her eyes opened widely. Her legs couldn’t stand her any longer and she stumbled onto the chair behind her. She began to breath heavily “Is… Is this a joke?” She asked.

Spike moved his head telling her it was not “It’s the truth. I’ve been going to the gems field to dig up jewels to pay for the baby stuff.”.

Twilight sit there completely frozen, she didn’t even blink. A few minutes passed until she finally stood up and spoke “I… I need a moment,” She said while she took the photo lying on the ground with her magic and walked up the stairs to her room.

Spike was about to go with her, but Applebloom stopped him by putting her right hoof on his shoulder “Maybe we should let her alone. At least until it sink in her,” She suggested. Spike was not sure about leaving Twilight alone, but she mentioned needing space. He followed Applebloom’s advice and stayed in the lower floor of the library.

Time flew and concern grew in the couple who waited downstairs. They looked at the clock on the wall and noticed that two hours have passed since they were left alone on the living room “I can’t way anymore;” Said Spike “I gotta go talk to her.”

“Ah’ guess you are right. Maybe she need to let things out” Applebloom replied.

Spike approached the stairs, and before he walked them up, he turned to Applebloom “Could… I mean, if you want to… Could you come with me? I could use some help.”

Applebloom’s eye shined when she heard this. Spike was always there to help anypony who needs it, and ponies sometime helps him back when they saw him in distress. However, he has never asked anypony for help, nopony knew if it was for pride or stubbornness. This might not be important to other ponies, but for her this was the a sign that she meant something big for him “O-of course! Ah’ll be with you,” She said, walking along side him.

The reached the second floor and approached the door leading to Twilight’s bedroom. Twilight and Spike used to share the same room, but after Spike grew up he insisted in having a room of his own and taking over the guests room. They carefully opened the door that contained a pony laying on the bed in darkness. The curtains were half closed letting a small glimpse of light coming into the room. Twilight was collapse on the mattress with her head on her pillow and on her right hoof was what looked like the picture Spike gave her. She was not crying, but the WETNESS? on the pillow showed she did for quite some time.

Spike moved slowly towards her friend in distress, he walked on the tip of his toes to prevent startling her, Applebloom followed her closed though the idea of coming allow quickly seemed like a bad one. When Spike reached what seemed like an appropriate distance he tried to talk to her friend “I told you I need a moment;” Before he began he was interrupted by Twilight who spoke first.

“It’s been two hours, Twilight,” He said

Twilight gave a look to Spike, her eyes were glowing red with small tears lingering on them. Spike couldn’t look at her, it was too painful to see her in that state and him being the culprit of it. He looked down and took a good look of the picture on her hoof; it wasn’t the ultrasound of his baby, it was a picture of him when he was a baby. She noticed his pupils going down and his eyes opening a bit, she could tell he saw the picture.

“You were are a beautiful baby dragon,” She said “That I took the exam and I hatched your egg. I was so happy to be under Princess Celestia’s wind and my parents were so proud, everything was great. Then, they told me they were going to sent you away to the dragons realm. The Princess told me they found your egg during the dragon’s migration and that they didn’t know who your parents were, they were going to sent you away and hope for the best. A baby! Can you believe it?!... I couldn’t let it happen. I asked the Princess to keep you and raise you, of course she warned me of my young age and the big responsibility it is… I didn’t care, I took you with me and in that day on cared for you. You were so stubborn, so naughty, I couldn’t take an eye from you or you’d go do something and I would have to clean up, but I never complained. I was happy you were there, that you were safe. I always… I always…,”Twilight stopped her story for moment to clean up the few tears on her eyes “I always saw you as my son. But no matter how much i called you that you never called me mom. I guess is obvious since being with someone from a different species is hard. I stopped calling you that, and you always called me Twilight. Then, we stopped considering us as relatives and we called ourselves friends. I treated you only like my assistant and nothing more! I lost all your trust! I don’t blame you for each time you went through the wrong path. I blame myself for not being the pony I wanted to be for you… The pony you needed me to be,” As if Twilight’s eyes recovered from all the time crying, a river of tears manifested. She covered her face with her pillow to prevent Spike to see her in that state.

Spike was shocked his eyes were also watering a bit and he was speechless. He has never heard Twilight saying something like that before, and he never saw her crying like that. The weight of years of guilt fell on his shoulder, all the time he was naughty, all those pranks, all those hughes he rejected, and all those times he wished he was with other dragons and not with her flashed like a movie on his mind. Pictures of what he didn’t want to see and the scars he made in her heart.

Applebloom felt the pain each of them was going through, she clearly knew that wasn’t the place she should be. He thought of leaving them there and let them talk, but she made told Spike she would be there. She put them in this situation and she was going to take them out of it. She approached Spike putting her left hoof around him and her right on the other side. Spike jumped scared, he forgot Applebloom was there and now she was hugging him “What are you doing?” He asked.

“I dunno, seemed like you needed one,” She answered giving a look to Twilight who was still crying on the bed.

Thanks to the hug Spike was able to leave his state and to think straight “Thanks Bloom,” He said.

He moved to the bed and sat right next to the devastated pony. Using the thinness of his claws he used his fingers to comb Twilight’s mane as she used to like “I wish I knew this before. You used to nag me a lot, always telling me what to do and not to leave the castle’s ground. I heard about the hatching and thought you only kept me because it was your responsibility. Even that you were always there for me, protecting me, even when I burned Celestia’s bedroom you defended me and took blame for all my bads. I always thought of you as something more than a friend, but I was scared you didn’t think of my the same way” Spike stopped when he felt the head of Twilight tilt and switch position letting an eye to see him “This was my… No it wasn’t a mistake. It’s the result of MY lack of precaution and my lack of thought. I take responsability of… Her, just as you took responsibility on me. I want you to be there with us… Mom.”

Twilight left her shelter and freed her head staring at Spike. She then got up on her hooves and launched into the dragon and embrace him with all of her heart. Spike raised his arms and responded to that hug with his own. The soft fur of Twilight tickled him on the chin and the wings were something he wasn’t still used to, but he didn’t mind any of this. With something as small as that, they found what they needed to heal the wound they made to their own hearts.

After a minutes passed they broke the hug, Spike raised his hand and cleaned the still running tears on Twilight’s eyes. Twilight looked up and remembered they were not a lone, Applebloom was sitting on the floor looking at them with a smile from ear to ear. Suddenly a purple aura covered the earth pony head to tail, she levitated across the room and landed right between Spike and Twilight “So, I guess you are part of this… Family now, right?,” Said Twilight.

“Really?,” Applebloom asked.

“Of course! I mean, granny Twilight wouldn’t let the mother of her granddaughter out,” Replied Spike.

Twilight suddenly let a gasp out, she remembered why all of that started “I-I… I’m going to be a grandma… But wait, what about all the expenses? Taking care of a foal is not easy and certainly not cheap.”

“That’s all why I was working so hard on the gems field,” Answered Spike.

Applebloom nodded her head “With all the gems we have so far Ah’ think we can pay for all the doctor’s checkups, the crib, and other stuff.”

Twilight couldn’t hide her impression, she was amazed on how well they had everything planned “That’s great… Wait… Does Applejack and your family know about it?”

Applebloom waved her head one side to the other “Not yet. Ah’ll tell them soon, Ah’ promise. Ah’ just want Spike to be there with me when Ah do.”

“Ofcourse,” Answered Spike, holding Applebloom’s hoof with his hand.

Twilight invited the couple for some hot cocoa and they talked about what they have been gone through so far. In his nightmares, Spike expected it to be much more worse and now he felt happy and closer to his mother than he has ever do. Once the sun was about to set it was time for Applebloom to leave, when she was about to step through the door to the outside Spike stopped her. Before she could react he launched to her and placed a kiss on her lips, when he broke the kiss he said “Thanks for being with me. I love you.”

Applebloom was shocked, her whole body was paralyzed as her heart pumped in a mile per hour. If it wasn’t for Twilight giggling behind Spike she could have stay in that state for hours. Once she could gain control on herself she responded to Spike “I love you too. Take care.”

Applebloom left the library and walked back home. Thankfully when she tells her family about her baby things will go as good as there.

Chapter 7: The Surprise

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Chapter 8: The Truth

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Chapter 9: The New One

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