Pure excitement and joy were flowing through the veins of both Rainbow Dash and Soarin. They each had a pen in their mouths, and they were officially signing the birth certificates of Bright Skies and Stratosphere. Already adorned with the name, weight, length, hoof prints, and date and time of birth of each foal, all that was needed were the signatures of their parents.

With their signatures clearly visible in bright, black ink, Rainbow and Soarin each set their pens down and looked each other excitedly in the eyes. As they shared a hug, Nurse Redheart took both certificates and put them with the rest of the couple's paperwork they had accumulated during the visit, which wasn't really that much to begin with. The nurse sealed all of the paper into a large envelope and handed it over to Soarin, and then she said, "There we go! Everything's all taken care of! You're ready to be discharged, Rainbow!"

The cyan mare was as eager as ever to leave Ponyville General at this point. Even though the service was decent, she didn't like being cooped up for too long, despite already being used to being bedridden due to the final stages of her pregnancy. "Thank you so much!" Rainbow replied.

"Yeah! Thanks!" Soarin followed up, "This place is amazing!"

"Well, then, how come you don't get injured more often?" Redheart asked with a half-lidded gaze.

"Uhhh..." Soarin replied, blushing slightly. This earned a laugh from his wife and Redheart.

"Anyway, congratulations, you two! Will I be seeing you again for the foals' 6-week checkup?" Redheart continued.

"Absolutely!" Rainbow replied, "See you then!"

"Great! Now, you just relax here while I get you a wheelchair, okay?"

"Sure!" Rainbow finished. With that, Redheart smiled and turned around, exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

Rainbow and Soarin then looked behind them at their two foals, who were once again sleeping in their makeshift plastic cribs. Rainbow slowly trotted up to them, simply watching them nap. After several seconds, she turned back to Soarin and asked, "You got the carriers?"

"Sure do!" Soarin replied. As their visitors were leaving last night, Soarin had asked Twilight to swing by her castle and fetch the two foal carriers that Dash had gotten as a present for the shower. They were harness-like carriers that carried one foal each and fastened around a pony's upper back, chest, and shoulders, going around the tops of their forelegs in the process. Pegasi needed these special carriers to carry foals because a normal carrier that earth ponies and unicorns would use would make it impossible for them to fly, as their flapping wings would get dangerously close to the foals' heads - given that they would be carrying two infants - which had the potential for injury.

The princess happily heeded the stallion's request, and was back in less than a minute, thanks to her amazing teleportation skills.

Right as Soarin was reaching for the carriers, he paused and asked, "Wait, can you fly now?"

Rainbow hadn't exactly thought about whether or not she would be able to fly immediately after delivering the foals. Even though her belly was still distended to an extent, she had gotten the foals out of her, which took a great deal of weight away from her body. "Uhhh..." Rainbow began replying, "I don't know. Let's see." With that, the cyan mare spread her wings and took a deep breath in. She began flapping her feathery appendages at a normal rate, but that wasn't really working. She then put a little more effort into flapping her wings, until finally, Rainbow Dash took to the skies for the first time in over six months. Even though she had only risen a mere six inches off the hospital floor, it was still a thrilling feeling for the pegasus.

Landing back on all fours, Rainbow asked her husband, "That answer your question, Soarin?"

The light blue stallion had a concerned look on his face. "Yeah, but...you didn't get into the air all that easily. Don't you think we should stay at Twilight's castle until you...you know...lose a little more weight?"

Rainbow understood her husband's concern, but she was quick to respond. Walking up to him, Rainbow placed a forehoof on her husband's shoulder and said, "Soarin, I think I'll be fine. I think the more I get used to flying again, the less effort I'll need to put in to get myself airborne. Besides, the more I fly, the more exercise I get. The more exercise I get, the sooner I lose weight. The sooner I lose weight, the sooner I can return to the Wonderbolts!"

"Yeah, I know, but I'm worried about you putting too much stress on your body by doing this all at once. If that happens, you'll have to wait a little longer before you can return to the team."

Again, Rainbow understood why Soarin felt this way. However, she was sure that she would be fine, so she smiled and said to her husband, "Soarin, I don't want you to worry. If I don't think something's right, I'll let you know, okay?"

Soarin returned his wife's smile and replied, "Alright, Dash." He then kissed her on the lips.

As the two pegasi pulled away from each other, Nurse Redheart came back into the room, pushing a wheelchair as she did. "You guys ready?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm ready!" Soarin replied, "How 'bout you, Dash?"

"Yeah! Let's go!" Dash responded. She then trotted over to the wheelchair and sat in it, getting comfortable as Soarin picked up the foals from their respective cribs. They were still asleep, so the stallion flew slowly over to his wife, gently lowering them into her awaiting forelegs. After that, Soarin took one of the foal carriers and fastened it to his upper body, his forelegs slipping through the bottom holes with ease as he tightened it around his upper barrel, the carrier not interfering with his wings in any way.

Soarin then turned to Redheart and Dash and said, "Let's go!" He then took the other carrier in his teeth, holding it for his wife as they exited the room. Soarin simply walked alongside Nurse Redheart, who was pushing Dash in the wheelchair, all while the cyan mare was cradling her sleeping son and daughter.

After a few minutes, all five ponies were outside the hospital building. Dash then handed Stratosphere over to Nurse Redheart, who un-swaddled the infant before gently lowering him into the carrier his father was wearing. This caused the newborn colt to wake up, and he began to get fussy as the outside air was unfamiliar to him. However, he sensed his father right behind him, and he also saw his mother directly in front of him. This calmed the colt down quickly, and he ceased his light sobs and grunts as he got a look at his new surroundings.

Meanwhile, Dash unwrapped the blankets from around Bright Skies before handing her daughter over to Redheart. Next, Dash got out of the wheelchair and took the other carrier from her husband's mouth, quickly pulling her head and forelegs through the openings and fastening the carrier down. After that, Redheart repeated her earlier actions, gently placing the filly into the carrier, her tiny hind legs slipping through the small openings at the bottom while her forelegs poked out of the slightly higher holes, securing her against her mother, albeit at a slight downward angle, much like her twin brother.

Once the foals were secure, Redheart handed the large envelope containing the paperwork and birth certificates over to Soarin, who immediately took it in a forehoof as he began hovering above the ground. "Alright, now," the earth pony said, "You folks have a wonderful day! And once again, congratulations!"

"Thanks!" Rainbow and Soarin replied in unison as Rainbow began flapping her wings. Within a few seconds, she was floating alongside her husband, and the two of them flew higher and higher until they reached a comfortable height.

Both Rainbow and Soarin had something on their minds as the kept climbing. They were worried their foals would be frightened by such an immediate introduction to heights. The twins were already wide awake, which only made the two elder pegasi that much more worried. However, as they got higher and higher, nothing happened. In fact, their foals actually seemed to be enjoying being so high up. Rainbow and Soarin looked at each other once again, this time in confusion.

Their glance at each other was brief, and Rainbow's face quickly sported a smile as she said, "That was easier than I thought."

"What?" Soarin asked in response, "You thought the foals wouldn't like heights?"

"Not really. You think its some natural instinct that pegasi are born with? You know, like being accustomed to heights immediately after birth?"

"Who knows? We can ask Twilight about that later. Right now, I just wanna get home."

"Same here," Rainbow finished with a smile. Never in her life had she looked forward to going home as much as she did right now.

Rainbow and Soarin slowly touched down on the fluffy, white clouds that made up the walkway of their cloud house. It took Rainbow a few seconds to get readjusted to walking on clouds, and she had been the slightest bit worried that she wouldn't be able to stand on them for a little while longer, but those worries were put to shame as her body refrained from sinking into the cloud below her.

Rainbow sighed contently as she felt cloud beneath her hooves for the first time since she'd visited Grey Nimbus in the hospital. Having her hooves on solid ground for so long had been quite uncomfortable for the pegasus who spent most of her time in the air, and she was glad to have all of that over with.

Soarin unlocked the front door and opened it, allowing Rainbow to enter before he did. As Soarin closed the door, Rainbow took a deep breath, exhaling and sighing at the same time shortly after as the familiar scent of home swept through her lungs. She then looked over to her husband and said, "It's so nice to be home, Soarin."

"It sure is, Dash," Soarin replied, walking over to give his wife a brief hug, one that didn't press the foals' heads against one another, "It sure is..."

After breaking the hug, Rainbow walked over to the couch and took Bright Skies out of her carrier, setting her on the cushion. She then took the carrier off of herself, stretching her forelegs a few times to relieve the bit of stress that had built up during the flight back home. Soarin soon did the same with Stratosphere, setting the colt next to the filly and undoing the carrier, setting it aside as he took one more look at his wife, and then back at his kids.

Bright Skies and Stratosphere curiously poked and prodded at the couch they were on, testing their new surroundings. Their parents found it rather amusing, the two elder pegasi giggling lightly as the twins explored the piece of furniture.

After about a minute, the silence was broken. "Hey, Soarin?" Rainbow began, looking toward her husband.

"Yeah?" Soarin asked in return.

"Like I said at the hospital, we don't have anything ready for the foals here."

Soarin immediately facehoofed. "You're right..." he replied, "And I said we shouldn't worry about it. That was silly of me. Come on, we gotta go back to town and..." he paused upon noticing something over in the kitchen that he hadn't noticed when they had walked in. "Hang on, Dash," Soarin continued, walking over to the kitchen and leaving his wife to watch the foals.

As Soarin arrived in the kitchen, he saw a small basket with various flowers and a small note inside. He picked up the note and opened it, only to find some familiar writing on it. It read:

Dear Rainbow Dash & Soarin,

First of all, congratulations on the birth of your foals! Second of all, welcome home! I can tell you enjoyed staying at my castle, but don't think I wasn't doing anything while I was alone at your place.

My friends and I have left a surprise for you in your spare room. We knew that you either couldn't be here or were busy with work and/or other things over the past several months, and we wanted to prepare something special for not only you, but for the foals as well.

See you soon!

-Twilight Sparkle

"Hey, Dash," Soarin continued after reading the note to himself, his mouth turned upward in a smile, "Looks like we've got something waiting for us in the spare room next to our bedroom."

"Really?" Dash asked, "What is it?"

"I don't know. Let's go find out!"

"Alright!" Dash finished. She then stood on all fours on the cloud floor, and then picked up Bright Skies with one of her forelegs and held her. "Hey, can you get Stratosphere for me?" Dash asked her husband.

"Sure," the stallion replied, walking past his wife and scooping his son up with a foreleg.

Hovering slightly above the ground, Dash and Soarin floated upstairs and made a right, stopping at the first door on their left, which was their spare room. It had been used mainly for storage and/or guest accommodations throughout the time Dash had lived there. Others may have considered it to be a bedroom, which, in that case, would be one of three in the spacious house. There was a bathroom right across the hall from the spare room, as well as a powder room downstairs, and that was pretty much it in terms of rooms for the house, apart from the kitchen, living room, and dining room, which was right next to the kitchen.

Soarin twisted the knob on the door to the spare room and pushed it open, but neither he nor his wife were prepared for what they saw. In one corner of the room, there was a white, slightly-larger-than-normal crib and a wooden changing table. In another corner, there was a beautiful, white rocking chair, which sat right in front of a large, circular rug that was mainly laying in the center of the room. There were a few shelves with foal toys in another corner, a few larger cushions and pillows in another, and all the walls had various decorations hanging on them, ranging from brightly colored rainbows to small pictures and/or posters of the Wonderbolts.

The jawbones of both elder pegasi hung slack as they looked at the new nursery before them. They had no idea that their friends had been up to this. Rainbow and Soarin took a quick glance at each other as a huge wave of relief washed over them both. They both had been worried about this ever since Rainbow had brought it up at the hospital, but now, they didn't have to worry about a thing.

"Dash..." Soarin began in a hushed whisper, "It's...It's..."

"Awesome!..." Dash exclaimed in a whisper. She hadn't really been inside a nursery since she herself was a foal, and now that she was in a brand new one for her own foals, it made her feel very warm on the inside.

Rainbow and Soarin took a few more looks around the nursery before they heard a tiny yawn. Rainbow looked down and saw Bright Skies getting nice and comfy in her foreleg, the filly resting her head against her mother's chest and closing her eyes. This made the mare smile. She knew now that it was time to test out the new crib.

Rainbow brought her daughter over to the white crib, which had an interesting mobile attached to it up top. There were four objects hanging from the slowly spinning device, including a sun, a moon, and copies of both Rainbow Dash's and Soarin's cutie marks, which would give the foals some familiarity. There was also a foal monitor sitting in its own little spot on the side of the crib, which would alert the elder pegasi if one or both of the foals were in need of something.

Rainbow pulled the side of the crib down and lay her daughter on the soft, white sheets. Though Bright Skies preferred to sleep close to her mother, she found her new crib rather comfortable, and she lay her head back on the pillow and fell asleep almost immediately. This brought another smile to Rainbow's face, and to Soarin's as well, as he lowered Stratosphere next to his sleeping sister. Once the twins were side by side, Rainbow smiled at Soarin, and he smiled back. They then both looked back at their children, taking in the pure beauty of two new souls resting comfortably together.

Rainbow's concentration on the foals was broken as she caught a whiff of something rather unpleasant in the air. Given some of the food that she and Soarin had received while at the hospital, Rainbow turned to her husband with a slight look of disgust. "Ugh...Soarin, really?" she said in a slightly annoyed tone, holding a hoof over her nose.

"It wasn't me, Dash," Soarin replied.

At that moment, it clicked in both ponies' heads. They looked down at the foals and noticed that Stratosphere had not fallen asleep like his sister. The colt's face was beginning to sport a look of discomfort, and it was at that moment that Rainbow and Soarin knew what was happening, and they were in no way looking forward to it.

"Uhhh..." Soarin began, a look of anxiety visible on his face, "Looks like we gotta...you know..."

"It...sure appears that way...doesn't it...?" Rainbow replied in a nervous tone. She carefully picked her son up and moved him over to the changing table, but instead of getting right to work, both she and Soarin just stood there with anxious looks, neither pony really wanting to take on the filthy task of changing a foal's diaper.

After thirty seconds of doing absolutely nothing but staring at Stratosphere, Soarin said, "Well...I guess we should...take it off?"

"Yeah...That's a...good start..." Rainbow replied, still sounding nervous. The stallion then slowly reached a forehoof up to his son's side and, slowly but surely, undid the adhesive straps securing the diaper to his waist. With an audible gulp and a nervous glance at his wife, Soarin slowly opened up the diaper, but nearly gagged when he took a quick look inside.

"Uuuggghhh..." Rainbow groaned, nearly wanting to vomit upon seeing such a sight.

Both ponies cringed as they saw what Stratosphere had done. After several seconds, despite his massive hesitation toward the situation at hoof, Soarin finally convinced himself to move forward. "Come on, Soarin..." he thought to himself, "You're a freakin' Wonderbolt! You shouldn't be afraid of anything!" "Dash?" Soarin said to his wife, "If were gonna change Stratosphere's diaper, we may as well get it over with."

After letting loose a hesitant sigh, Rainbow gave Soarin an authoritative look and replied, "You're right."

With that, both pegasi turned back to their son. Soarin carefully removed the diaper from Stratosphere's rump and disposed of it in the nearby odor-blocking trashcan that had been given to them along with the nursery. As he was doing so, Rainbow looked in the storage area underneath the table itself, opening the cabinet-style doors to find that it had been fully stocked with diapers, wipes, and foal powder. If there was any time where Rainbow felt she owed her friends one, it was now.

Grabbing the plastic box of wipes, Rainbow popped the lid open and took the first one out, putting it in her forehoof. She then lifted Stratosphere's hind legs and brought her hoof forward, albeit slightly hesitantly, eventually rubbing her son clean.

Soarin was already standing by with the foal powder from underneath the table as Rainbow finished wiping the colt's rear. As she stepped aside to dispose of the used wipes, Soarin created a small, white cloud as he applied the powder to his son's rear. Once that was finished, Rainbow grabbed a fresh diaper from underneath the table and put it on her son, fastening the straps until it was fitting snuggly around the colt's waist.

Once they were finished, Soarin and Rainbow took a small step back to admire their work. For the first time, they had successfully changed a foal's diaper. While some new parents did so while at the hospital, the staff there took care of diaper duty until Rainbow and Soarin went home.

"Wow," Soarin began, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I...guess not," Rainbow replied. Though she was thrilled that she and her husband had changed a diaper with seemingly no trouble at all, she wasn't looking forward to changing very many more.

After several seconds, Rainbow hovered above the floor and began cradling her son in her forelegs. Even though she was proud of both herself and Soarin for making it through the sudden ordeal, she couldn't help but feel proud of her son for holding on and being patient. She hated to have to make him wait, but that was all over. "Who's a good boy?" Dash playfully whispered to her son, tickling his cheek. The colt giggled at his mother's actions, squirming slightly as he felt the cyan hoof tickling him. Rainbow couldn't help but find her son's actions downright adorable.

Soon, after coming down from his giggling fit, Stratosphere yawned and closed his eyes, leaning his head against his mother's chest as he slowly drifted off for a nap. Rainbow smiled warmly down at her son, happy that he was finally able to relax.

"Awww..." Soarin said, noticing what his wife and son were up to.

"Hey!" Rainbow replied, silently, "Don't 'awww' me!" Even though she herself thought the sight was cute, there was the occasional time where she still wanted to think of herself as...'cool'.

"Heh...Sorry, Dash," Soarin responded, resting a forehoof on his hovering wife's shoulder, "I can't help it. You holding Stratosphere like that is just way too cute."

After a few more seconds, Rainbow replied, "Yeah, you're kinda right." She then leaned slightly down and kissed Soarin on the lips. After that, Rainbow gently lay her snoozing son next to his sister, both foals looking as peaceful as ever as Soarin gently pulled the white blanket over them.

As the happy parents watched their foals sleep soundly, Soarin wrapped a foreleg around his wife's neck, pulling her close. For some inexplicable reason, watching his children sleep was better that watching the Wonderbolts go through a formation. The same could be said for Rainbow, as she couldn't take her eyes off the foals, either.

After a while, Rainbow's and Soarin's respective minds soon came back to reality. They looked at each other lovingly one more time, kissing briefly before Rainbow brought the side of the crib back up to its original position. She and Soarin then turned to walk out of the nursery, but as they neared the door, they were stopped by the sound of a crying foal. They turned back to find Bright Skies wailing, and they were quick to return to the side of the crib. Soarin pulled down the side, wanting to get a closer look to see what was bothering his daughter. However, he wouldn't be using his sense of sight to detect the problem, but rather his sense of smell, instead.

After taking a couple of sniffs, Soarin turn to his wife and nervously said, "Uhhh...Dash?"

Upon hearing her husband speak, Rainbow took a few sniffs of her own, and as she did, it was clear what was happening to the filly in the crib. "Aw, great..." Rainbow said to herself as she facehoofed.

It was going to be a long day...

Author's Note

So...yeah. I guess this would be a good time to warn you that you may come across random diaper-changing scenes throughout the next several chapters. I won't be giving any advance warning about them at the beginning of chapters, so be prepared.

Other than that, Merry Christmas!