Almost as soon as Applejack had left the house, the place fell suspiciously silent.
No squeaky noises. No furniture crashing to the ground. No baby babble, no laughing, no crying.
That got Rainbow Dash worrying.
For Wingbone happened to be fairly noisy as far as little foals go. In a few years, the little thing would turn out to be a rather introverted character, downright bookish, following in the hoofsteps of its auntie Twilight. Right now, however, as its little brain was expanding exponentially, the little earth pony/pegasus hybrid's learning strategy seemed to consist mostly in searching for new sources of funny noises. One especially fertile field in this regard turned out to be wrecking stuff, be it household appliances or it's mothers' nerves, usually both. Ever since Wingbone's birth the Apple family loved having houseguests, for it gave the little angel something else to break for a change- Spike was especially attractive in that regard.
Rainbow Dash had been relaxing on her favorite sofa, with a newspaper on her face, "hm"ing and "mhm"ing at Applejack's instructions as the workhorse prepared for leaving the farm, with Wingbone's activities filling the acoustic background with soothing baby static.
But now it had stopped. For several minutes, nopony had been pulling or chewing on mommy's tail either.
With growing anxiety, Rainbow lifted the newspaper from her face. (Incidentally, the lead article was about a pony mother who advocated weaning your foal only when it started getting bullied at school, and even then, it was supposedly better to have a parent-teacher conference about bullying.)
When Wingbone was quiet, that could only mean one of four things. One: Full diaper. Two: Lord Cuckoolhu. Three: Sleep (a rare phenomenon). Four: Baby Hungry. Wingbone was kinda strange that way.
It didn't smell like biohazard or Cuckoolhu in here, and it was too early for naptime.
Rainbow had always been afraid this day would come. Applejack was supposed to be in charge of feeding. What had the workhorse said before leaving the house? Something about how she had been in a hurry today...?
Rainbow gazed down from the sofa. Her eyes met those of the foal.
Big. Shiny. Full of... expectations.
"Oh no", she said, "Sorry to break this to you, but this is out of the question. It wouldn't even work. Probably."
The baby tilted its head, as if to say 'only one way to find out'. Rainbow was feeling increasingly uneasy. Cornered. There was a part down on her belly that had been feeling awfully... full recently. And now that the baby was staring at her like this, this very, treacherous part of her was getting all tingly.
"I said no. That's AJ's department. I'm your... OTHER mommy. You know, the flying, aerodynamic one? I'm a world-class athlete, and world-class athletes don't do... that stuff."
The foal's stare was merciless. 'Tell me, mommy', these big eyes were asking, 'if athletes aren't supposed to do 'that stuff', how come they have... udders?'
The weather pegasus rushed to the kitchen.
"Ehhh... yeah. Let's see, we should have some instant-formula around here... I've heard the modern industry is working miracles, why, with all the decorated eggheads working on it, it's bound to be even better than what comes out of... Damn it, AJ, where do you keep that stuff... Yes, I know, I should help out more around the house, thank you very much..."
She gave up. No formula. The little one didn't look like it wanted a bottle anyway. It craved the real deal.
The little belly was making rumbly noises.
Rainbow gulped. "Okay. This is reeeeeally awkward."
She was checking left and right, as if to make sure the coast was clear.
"Alright, then. But this will be a secret, between you and me. One word to AJ, or anyone, but ESPECIALLY to AJ, and I swear, I drop you into a volcano or something..."
The foal was looking as innocent- and hungry- as ever.
"Geez... The stuff you make me do... Maybe I should close the curtains..."
Oh, but it was such a beautiful day. Golden rays of sunlight were flooding into the room. The birds were chirping, the Pinkie Pie was singing, the gofers were gofering, some kind of monster was going on a rampage downtown. Everything was so... springful.
Biting her lower lip, Rainbow moved herself and the foal into position. Not that the kid needed much guidance. It knew the drill. Mommy is mommy, even if you have two of them.
It was strangely... peaceful. It didn't hurt a bit- not at all like the vampirish nightmare the pegasus had envisioned - and overall, it felt rather nice. Hormones flooding into Rainbow's bloodstream did their part to make her feel more comfortable.
As they were sharing this moment together, mother and child, they would have made a wonderful motif for a painting.
A painting Rainbow would have torn to shreds without hesitation, as well as the painter.
-
Applejack managed to get through the door while balancing the groceries.
"Mommy's back! Boy, I tell yah... there was one of them monsters in front of the line, and the fella keeps ranting on and on about 'Garglwargl' or something, holding off all the buisness... Turns out he just wanted a hug... At least the apple sale went smoothly today."
Rainbow Dash was helping her putting the groceries in the fridge.
"Did you feed the lil' one like I told you?"
"You know you can count on me."
Applejack smirked.
"Sugar Cube?"
"Hm?"
"You appear awfully cheerful this fine afternoon."
"I do?"
"You're humming."
"So I am."
"Baby didn't give you any trouble?"
"Oh no, it was really swell. We had a good time, didn't we, Wingy?"
Applejack grabbed Wingbone off the floor and started cuddling.
"You've been a good baby, huh? A gooood baby!"
-"Gaah!"
"That's right. Say, Rainbow..."
"Yes, AJ?"
"I could swear there was no variation in our stock of formula between now and this morning. What exactly did you feed the foal?"
"I, uh, I don't know what you're talking about. You must have miscounted."
"Miscounted, eh? Ah guess that's one possible explanation."
But Rainbow didn't like the way her partner was smiling all mysterious-like.
