Author note: This is in the “Battleships” series. Cover art by Doctor Whooves. Thanks for reading.
The Start of Something New
The taxi’s air conditioning was a welcome relief from the heat. Outside, the streets were drenched with sun, without the benefit of even a mild breeze.
Two ponies sat in the back of the car, talking quietly. Equestrians were nowhere near as large as the “regular” ponies found on Earth, so they fit in the vehicle without trouble.
The mare was orange-coated and green-eyed. Her straight mane was the color of straw and had been tied back. “Just relax, will you?” she said to her husband. “It’s a vacation, after all.”
“Sorry,” he muttered. “You know how I am with Earth.” Brushing his brown mane back from the horn on his forehead, an anxious look came to his face.
“They ain’t shootin’ at you this time,” the mare reminded him.
The car stopped in front of a house. The building looked like those on either side of it, save for a few small details. The mare gave the taxi driver a credit card to pay the fare. He swiped it through the machine, glancing at the name on it. “Thank you Miss Applejack.”
“That’s ‘Missus,” corrected her husband.
“Oh, calm down, Constant,” said the mare as the two ponies stepped out of the car. The unicorn grumbled, but said nothing more. His wife led him up the front steps of the house.
The front door opened in response to Applejack’s knock. A woman stepped out, smiling. She knelt and put her arms around the mare’s neck. “It’s good to see you again, AJ.”
The woman looked at the off-white stallion, her eyes lingering on his pocket watch cutie mark. “You must be Constant Clock. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Constant dutifully hoof-bumped her outstretched fist. “Hello. Beth, right?”
“That’s me. Applejack and I used to work together.” She stood back and motioned the ponies inside the house where the air conditioning was turned on.
“Have a seat anywhere,” said Beth. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Water, please,” responded Applejack. The woman nodded and went to the kitchen.
The orange pony settled herself heavily onto the couch. Her foal was due in less than two weeks, and while pregnancy didn’t slow the mare down too much, she would be happy get rid of the extra weight. She and Constant hadn’t come up with a name yet, but they still had time.
The stallion helped his wife get situated. He didn’t like Earth to begin with, and traveling so close to Applejack’s due date worried him even more. Still, both of their jobs had worked out with vacation time, so he had agreed to the trip, albeit reluctantly. He had very few friends on Earth.
The inside of the house was simply furnished, but clean. Constant’s job with the Royal Intelligence Service had taught him to be investigative. The owner of the home didn’t have enough junk lying around for him to tell much about her personality.
Beth came back with three glasses of water. Constant hadn’t asked for any, but he noted with some surprise that the mugs had enlarged, hoof-sized handles.
The woman took a sip from her own glass and asked, “So what brings you to Phoenix?”
“There’s some interestin’ countryside around here,” explained Applejack. “Ah also know a couple of ponies who got jobs in the mining industry ‘round here.”
Beth nodded. “This house and the rest of them on the street were built for mine workers back when there was a lot of digging going on.”
“What is it that you do?” asked Constant.
“I work for a defense contractor,” explained Beth. “They’re based in the area, and paid for me to move here.”
In a moment of anxiety, the unicorn wanted to ask if she made weapons, but Applejack started speaking. “We had a little problem gettin’ through customs,” she chuckled. “My passport is runnin’ out of pages and they had to find a new place to stamp it.”
The woman laughed. “Yeah, the Phoenix Dimensional Transport Hub is usually pretty good about customer service.”
Constant took a sip of his water. It had a slight chemical undertone, probably from whatever method the humans used to process it. He wondered how much longer his wife wanted to spend with this woman. They’d already been in the house for eight minutes and sixteen seconds, but it felt longer. Sometimes, it was a nuisance having a special talent related to time.
“Are you hungry?” asked Beth. “I was about to make lunch. How does spicy sound?”
Applejack smiled. “That sounds great.”
It didn’t sound great to Constant, but if that was what AJ was craving, he would go along with it.
“I’ll get started on that,” said Beth, standing up.
“Let me help,” said Applejack.
“You’re supposed to be relaxing,” said Constant. “This is part of your maternity leave.”
The mare sat back on the couch. “Well then you help her, sugarcube.”
Constant found himself in the kitchen assisting Beth with something she called Southwest Chickenless Salad. It troubled him that the recipe appeared to have been modified to be vegetarian, rather than starting out that way.
“So you work for the Royal Intelligence Service,” she said, trying to be friendly.
“I sit at my desk and do analysis,” replied the stallion. Beth gave him a look that suggested Applejack had told her why Constant didn’t do field work anymore. The woman probably felt sorry for him.
Before he could tell her how he felt about that, Applejack called from the other room. “Constant? I think I might have a problem.”
It was all the excuse he needed to rush out of the kitchen. His wife looked like she was in pain. He went over to her, gently laying a hoof on her stomach. “What’s wrong?”
“I think it’s happening,” said Applejack. Her face suddenly twisted in pain. “Yep, if that wasn’t a contraction, I don’t know what might be.”
This wasn’t supposed to happen. The foal wasn’t due yet! Constant swallowed nervously. “We need to get you to the hospital.”
“The nearest one is about ten minutes away,” said Beth, walking into the room. “I can drive you.”
“We need to get back to Equestria,” Constant insisted.
“You remember how long that cab ride was,” said Applejack. “Don’t forget the time it’ll take to do through security once we get there.”
They’d been in the taxi traveling across the city for fifty-eight minutes and sixteen seconds. Plus about fifteen minutes for the security check, and the time it would take to get help from there…
There was no choice, but Constant didn’t have to like it. “I don’t want you to have to use a human hospital.”
“What’s wrong with it?” asked Beth. “I’m sure that you don't want a veterinarian.”
Constant glared at her, completely forgetting tact. Beth ignored him and helped Applejack up. The three of them went out the door.
Beth’s car had been baking in the sun and was sweltering inside. She suggested that Applejack take the front passenger seat to be closer to the air conditioning vents. Constant wanted to sit by her, but reluctantly agreed that it was probably for the best.
Seatbelts had never really been compatible with pony anatomy, and even less so with pregnant mares. Constant knew wearing one was the law, but for the moment cared very little for what the human police might say.
Eleven minutes and twenty eight seconds later, the car pulled into the hospital lot. Emergency Room? thought Constant as he read the sign over the entrance. Yeah, I think we have an emergency.
The hospital staff did not seem more than mildly surprised to have a mare in labor come through the door. One of them ordered, “Call Doctor Nether.”
“Does that doctor specialize in ponies?” Constant asked one of the nurses that was showing Applejack into the maternity ward.
“No,” she replied, “but don’t worry, he’s good at what he does.”
Constant worried anyway. While he knew that the basic mammalian birth process didn’t vary too much between the species, that was still more that he wanted to chance on some quack.
Applejack got comfortable in a private room. Constant and a nurse stayed with her. After waiting exactly twenty minutes, the stallion said, “Where’s the doctor? Shouldn’t he be here by now?”
“The doctor should arrive any minute.” The nurse turned to Applejack and advised her to take deep breaths and calm down as her contractions got closer together.
The door opened. “Sorry I’m late. I wasn’t at the hospital, but they told me I should probably come in for this.” Applejack’s husband looked up. The doctor that had spoken was a pony.
Constant felt a sudden relief. Thank Celestia. He turned to the nurse. “I thought you said he didn’t specialize in ponies?”
“Well, maybe just a little bit,” said Doctor Nether. “Don’t let the hooves fool you, though.”
“What do you mean?” asked Constant, bewildered.
“I’m a gynecologist,” explained the doctor. “Delivering babies is part of the job. I’d take off my scrubs and show you my cutie mark, but, well…” he laughed. “It’s a gynecology cutie mark.”
“Babies? Human babies?” demanded Constant.
The doctor frowned. “What else would I be doing in a human city? Don’t worry, though. It’s been a few years since my days at Trottingham General, but I still remember how to deliver foals.”
A few more nurses came in and the procedure was begun. The doctor seemed to think that they had Applejack in good hooves—hands? In fact, because of Nether’s hooves, he let the nurses handle most of the delicate procedure, up to and including snipping the umbilical cord.
Fifty-three agonizing minutes later, the life of a new pony began. The filly had her father’s eyes and a beauty all her own.
“Congratulations,” said Doctor Nether. “What are you going to name her?”
Constant stared at Applejack, who smiled tiredly and said nothing. He looked back at the doctor. “We hadn’t decided. There was supposed to be a little more time before this happened.”
The doctor shrugged. “We’ll let your wife rest for a while and you can think about it.”
The nurses assured the new father that there was nothing to worry about. He looked back at his wife—and daughter!—before going out the door, a smile coming to his lips. The excitement of the situation was fading, and Constant could feel a contented exhaustion taking over.
Outside in the hallway there were two chairs. Constant dropped into one of them, for the moment not caring that he was sitting right next to Beth.
“It’s a filly,” he said.
The woman smiled. “What are you going to name her?”
“We don’t know yet.” Constant sighed. “We haven’t had enough time to think.”
“Were there any problems?” Beth asked.
“No,” the pony replied.
“I was just wondering,” she said. “Because before you went in with AJ, you were asking about a doctor that specialized in ponies.”
“We actually got a doctor who is a pony,” he told her.
“Oh, that’s good.” Beth nodded. “A nurse told me that their pony specialist was with another patient.”
Wait, the pony wasn’t the pony specialist? What kind of sense did that make? Constant almost felt slighted that they hadn’t received the care of a more qualified doctor…even if it was a human. Constant sighed. Maybe he had been overreacting earlier.
Beth thought of something. “Because she was born here, your daughter will have dual citizenship with the United States, right?”
Constant held his face with his forehooves. Dear Celestia!
Three minutes and forty-six seconds later, the stallion’s stomach growled loud enough that Beth heard it. She stood up. “I don’t know if the cafeteria is any good, but it’s better than nothing.”
Constant decided to go with her. Along the way, they passed by Applejack’s room. Through the window, he spotted his wife sleeping peacefully. Curled up with her was their foal.
Constant smiled. Okay, maybe he’d been a little harsh on the people. They’d given him a daughter, he couldn’t be too angry. He turned away from the window and looked at Beth. “I guess it’s time for a celebration. I’ll start with buying you lunch.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she told him.
“It’s all right,” he said. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
