Scootaloo was seated on top of one of those annoying exam room tables – the sort that were as tall as an alicorn, uncomfortable to sit on and had that crinkly paper that rustled every time she so much as twitched her tail. She was sitting with her hindlegs crossed, jiggling a hoof up and down as she tried to desperately clamp her thighs together in a vain attempt to relieve the pressure on her abdomen.

“She better get here soon,” she snapped, glancing at the clock to find that it was officially half an hour past her appointed time. “I’m so sick of waiting!”

Will laughed at her from the comfort of the nice-looking chair he got to sit in. Granted it was far too small for him, being designed more for ponies or at most a griffon, but it was still better than her exam table. He was sitting with his arms crossed before him, wearing a starched button-up shirt and some new beige slacks. It was a far cry from his usual muddy jeans and worn t-shirts, and though she wasn’t a fashion sort of pony, she would have thought he looked nice if she weren’t so mad at him for putting her in this predicament. If it hadn’t been for him, she wouldn’t be back at the doctor’s sitting around not allowed to pee.

“I told you, you should have used the bathroom while we were in the waiting room,” he said in that snide ‘I told you so voice’ which was apt because that was exactly what he was doing.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “And I told you, Nurse Redheart said I was supposed to have a full bladder for the appointment! She better not make me pee in a cup! Sure, it’s easy for you stallions! You can see where you’re aiming! But us mares have to just squat down and hope!” She knew, deep down, that she was going off the deep end, but the waiting was killing her.

“I’m grumpy,” she grumbled under her breath. “Sorry.”

He waved her apology away. “Don’t worry about it. If anything, it’s my fault. I should have remembered to bring Baby’s diapers.”

She mustered up the most dangerous-looking glower she could throw at his smirking face. “Will. Don’t make me get off this table. I will end you.”

“Sounds like we’ve got a happy family in here!”

Scootaloo jumped at the unfamiliar voice and looked to see a pale pink unicorn mare nosing her way into the room. Her mane, a darker pink than her coat, was tied into a professional, if harried-looking, bun. A few loose strands fell into her face as she looked over the top of a pair of black-rimmed glasses at a clipboard held in front of her with her sky blue magic.

“Miss… Scootaloo?” she asked. Scootaloo had barely nodded before the mare broke into a huge smile that reminded her greatly of her school teacher, Ms. Cheerilee; motherly and encouraging, but at the same time radiating intelligence and a bit of hawkish wit. “Very nice to meet you; my name’s Dr. Pearl. I’m the head of the Obstetrics/Gynecology department here at Ponyville General Hospital and, if everything goes to plan, I’ll be your doctor for the next eleven or so months!”

She spoke in a rush like she was almost on a caffeine high. Scootaloo didn’t think it was quite as bad as Pinkie Pie when she really got going, but she still felt like her head was spinning. Shaking herself, she asked, “We get the head of the department? Wow, I’d figure you’d be busier with more important patients.”

The question hadn’t come out exactly as she’d intended, but if Dr. Pearl took any offence she didn’t show it. Instead she gave a weary laugh that made Scootaloo feel like she’d hit the nail on the head. “It’s certainly true I don’t get to see as many patients as I’d like anymore, but your case is very special and our Chief of Medicine wanted only the best. And while I don’t like to brag…” She trailed off as she polished a hoof on the front of her labcoat.

Will sat up in his seat, his brow wrinkled in concern. “’A special case?’ Is there something wrong?”

“Oh, nothing like that!” Dr. Pearl said dismissively as she looked at her clipboard again. “I assume you’re… Mr. William Harkin? The baby’s father?”

“Yeah. But I’m—”

“A nonmagical species?” Dr. Pearl interrupted. “That’s why I’m here. Cross-species pregnancies can be complicated; especially when one party is from a virtually unknown species. Seeing as Mr. Harkin’s the only human living in Equestria, there are no precedents for how a pregnancy of this nature will develop. If I’m to be perfectly honest, there will be a lot of unknowns as we move forward. Now I don’t want to worry you, but you need to be aware that I’m not exactly sure what to expect. But that’s why you get the best. I have a lot of experience working with interspecies pregnancies, and I’m going to get you through this, alright?”

She fell silent and from the way she looked at her, Scootaloo felt she was waiting for some kind of answer. Unsure what to say, she did what she often found herself doing recently and looked to Will. He was leaning forward in his seat, listening in rapt attention as the doctor spoke until he too looked her way. Seeming to know what she was thinking, he offered his hand out to her and Scootaloo placed her hoof atop it. Feeling just the smallest bit reassured, she nodded.

“Alright. Thank you, Dr. Pearl,” she said. “So, umm… What next?”

Dr. Pearl immediately launched into a number of routine checkup tests: blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, breath sounds; all of which came back perfectly normal. The doctor, Scootaloo noticed, spent just as much time taking notes as she did actually performing the tests, using her magic to manipulate the instruments in a dance around her until they looked like leaves in the wind. She was also fond of small talk, as the entire time she chattered away about this and that which Scootaloo mostly acknowledged with ‘yeah’s and ‘uh-huh’s when she stopped for breath. She would have been more talkative if only to be polite had each poke and prod not poignantly reminded her how badly she needed to use the restroom.

When at long last she’d finally had her fill, Dr. Pearl sat upon a stool to look over the notes on her clipboard. At the same time, the door opened and a nurse –unfortunately not Nurse Redheart like Scootaloo would have hoped– came in wheeling a cart before her with a machine on top consisting of a swiveling screen connected to a plastic wand by a coiled cord. The nurse excused herself without a word as Dr. Pearl looked up and clapped her hooves.

“Alright, now that that’s out of the way we can get to the fun part! So my plan today is to perform an ultrasound for you. You said in your admittance papers that your last heat was about nine weeks ago?” she asked.

“Yeah, about then,” Scootaloo said, looking to Will for confirmation. Their eyes met and he nodded. “It was just a little over two months.”

“Good! This is about when we like to have mothers come in. We should be able to get a good look your baby then.” She paused to look between them. “Before we get started, do either of you have any questions or concerns I can help address?”

Scootaloo shook her head, unable to think of anything to ask. Her mind felt woefully blank like it always did in a doctor’s office. She hated it, but she could never seem to think of what to ask until long after she’d left. Will, however, spoke up.

“I think our biggest question is the ‘how.’ We were told by Dr. Stable that since I’m a nonmagical species that it should have been impossible,” he said.

“Yes, Nurse Redheart made mention of you in her notes when she referred Ms. Scootaloo’s case to me. As he’s your primary physician, I’ve been consulting with Dr. Stable to come up with some theories as to how this happened, and I may need to continue seeking his expertise as we move forward. Is that okay?”

Will didn’t hesitate for a second before nodding. “Of course! You can do whatever you need to if it’ll help.” Despite everything, Scootaloo felt a rush of affection at his concern and made a mental note to give him an extra kiss when they got out of there.

“Awesome!” Dr. Pearl said as she fished a small plastic box no bigger than Will’s hand out of her coat pocket. “Would you mind allowing me to perform a quick test then? I promise it’s no worse than getting your temperature taken and may help answer your ‘how’ question.”

At his nod, Scootaloo watched as Dr. Pearl floated the box up to him. There was a pair of short metal prongs on one side that the doctor touched to his chest. After a moment, she withdrew the box and looked at a display on the front that Scootaloo couldn’t see.

“Hmmm, that’s what I thought…” Dr. Pearl mumbled under her breath.

“I’m sorry, wait. What was that you just did?” Scootaloo asked.

To her surprise, it was Will that answered. “She used an arcanometer. Dr. Stable used one on me when I first came to Equestria. It measures the amount of magic in you or something like that. I never quite understood it.”

Dr. Pearl nodded. “That’s basically the idea. Every species, magical or no, has some inherent magical energy within them. What sets them apart is the amount. A magical species is defined as one that, on average, naturally has at least 750 thaums. To put that in perspective, the three primary species of Equestrian pony typically have between 950 and 1250 thaums.”

She paused to let the information sink in before continuing. “Now this number is actually arbitrarily defined and has been adjusted a number of times throughout Equestrian history. Currently, it’s only set at 750 to accommodate the Iron Ponies up in mountains north of the Crystal Empire. I say ‘arbitrarily’ as functionally there’s almost no difference between a being with 750 and 749. It’s small enough to almost be negligible.”

All the numbers soared straight over Scootaloo’s head until she almost felt dizzy. “Okay, so… what does that mean for us?”

Dr. Pearl looked to her clipboard again tapped her hoof against something on it. “Mr. William, when you had your first physical exam with Dr. Stable, he ranked your magic levels at a 23, correct?”

“Umm, yeah, I think so,” he said. “It’s been a while, but that sounds right. Why? What am I now?”

She held up the arcanometer, on which the screen read ‘625 thaums.’

“Wow!” Scootaloo barked, unable to help herself. “Is that normal?”

“I can’t really say with any certainty,” Dr. Pearl said, tapping her chin in thought. “I’ve never known any species to change so radically in magic levels before. Fluctuations of ten, maybe fifteen percent are possible under the right circumstances, but nothing like this.”

“Well, before I came to Equestria, I lived in a place completely devoid of magic,” Will said. “Could that have anything to do with it?”

She hummed in thought as she considered it. “It’s possible that if one were completely starved of magic, it could take some time for the levels to even out. It’s possible that you’re still in that process.” She shook her head. “Regardless, the point is that the decision to label humans a nonmagical species may have been hasty, if understandable given the level of information we previously had. I think the most likely scenario is that, over time, you have obtained sufficient levels of magic to enable conception.”

As Dr. Pearl finished, Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel unsettled. It had seemed so safe back then. They had nothing to fear by letting go and simply enjoying her heat instead of just enduring it like she had always done before. And enjoy it they had. It had been so simple, so freeing to let go and just enjoy each other’s love and passion. She had never imagined that something so simple would have landed them here. In hindsight, it seemed so foolish.

She sighed and rubbed her hoof into Will’s hand, almost to remind herself that it was still there.

“Well, I guess that settles that,” she mumbled. “Where do we go from here?”

“Next, I’d like to do an ultrasound. We’ll be able to get a look at the baby and see how it’s developing. That will hopefully give me an idea of a baseline of what to expect throughout the pregnancy. Plus,” Dr. Pearl said, smiling knowingly, “by this point it should be big enough for us to get a really clear image of it!"

As Dr. Pearl instructed her to lie on her side, Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel somewhat amused at the doctor’s neverending cheer. She reminded Scootaloo a lot of an older, pinker Sweetie Belle as she hummed a happy tune while smearing some clear gel on her stomach. It was freezing, which didn’t help her need to pee in the slightest, though Will gently rubbing her back took her mind off it somewhat.

The wand felt strange against her stomach as the doctor slid it around with her magic. The gel sunk into her fur, leaving it feeling greasy and matted in the wrong direction. She had to fight the urge to groom it. As well, the way it pushed into her belly fat made her feel like she needed to start working out. Maybe she’d gotten too stationary since moving in with Will.

She couldn’t see the screen as it was turned away from her, and Dr. Pearl’s face betrayed no emotion at all. She desperately wished she could see something – anything to know if the baby was okay. It had to be healthy. She couldn’t bear it if an innocent baby had to suffer just because she’d been irresponsible enough to get herself knocked up. The seconds ticked on to minutes which continued on to hours as she sat holding her breath. Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay…, she chanted to herself.

“Alright…” Dr. Pearl said, still distracted by the screen. “This tells me quite a bit.”

Scootaloo couldn’t tell if her tone was reassuring or not. Just as she felt the first pangs of panic setting in, the doctor broke into a sly grin.

“Wanna see your baby?” Dr. Pearl asked.

Scootaloo could only nod.

As the doctor’s magic turned the screen towards her, Scootaloo wasn’t sure what she was expecting to see. Would it already look like a baby or was it still just a weirdly-shaped blob? Was it a pony or some kind of pony/human mutant? But as her eyes fell upon the black-and-white blurry image, her breath caught in her throat. Behind her, she felt Will’s hand clutch down on her shoulder.

The low resolution of the image made it difficult to see the fine details, but it was unmistakably a pony. It’s head alone was about as big as the rest of it’s body and it’s legs were little more than stubs, but it was absolutely a pony. She looked upon it’s closed eyes and thought it looked like it was just taking a nice nap. Completing the picture was the fact it had a hoof up to it’s mouth like it was sucking on it.

It really was a baby… growing inside of her. Their baby.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Dr. Pearl said, though Scootaloo hardly heard her. Her attention was locked on the picture and the doctor’s words largely went in one ear and out the other. “It’s too early to tell the gender yet; we’ll most likely be able to see that around week 17 or so. As for the baby’s type: I don’t see a horn in development, so odds are it’s not a unicorn. With the way its laying, we can’t see if it has wings or not, but we can’t rule it out either. I would say tentatively that you’re looking at a baby pegasus or earth pony.”

“But it’s… definitely a pony?” Will asked. “It’s not… I don’t know, going to grow hands or walk on only two legs or something?”

Dr. Pearl let out a bell-like laugh. “No, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about either of those. As far as I can tell, its developing exactly as I’d expect a pony to at eight weeks. We’ll want to keep a close eye on that as we go forward to make sure it stays on track, but for now I’d say your baby’s looking nice and healthy!”

“Thank God,” Will exclaimed, his relief evident in the massive exhale he let out. “That’s great! That’s great, right babe?”

It was only when he gently shook her shoulder that Scootaloo even realized he was speaking to her. “Oh, uh… right.”

What did finally draw her attention away from the screen was a rattling, raspy sound as a piece of paper slid sideways out of the ultrasound machine. With her magic, the doctor passed it over and Scootaloo took it with her wing. Depicted on it was the scan of her baby, zoomed in so that it filled the frame. She became aware of Will’s presence as he leaned over to look at it with her.

“I’ll give you two a moment alone,” Dr. Pearl said and excused herself from the room.

Will leaned closer until his chin bumped the top of Scootaloo’s head. “How’re you feeling, Scoots. Talk to me.”

Words didn’t want to come to her. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the shock that had so firmly taken hold. “I don’t even… It’s like, I knew I was pregnant, but I have a tiny freakin’ pony growing in me! Like, sweet Celestia, Will! You know what I feel like? I kinda feel like I’m in a sci-fi/horror flick where the mare has a monster parasite thing growing inside her just waiting to burst open her stomach and eat her alive.”

Will was silent for a moment. “Did you just compare our baby to the monster in a bad B-movie?” As he breathed a weary sigh, she was half afraid that she’d upset him, until she saw him smirk out of the corner of her eye. “I mean really, our baby would at least be triple-A material! Don’t sell him short before he’s even born!”

Scootaloo repaid his mockery with a punch to the shoulder, which he pretended hurt as he dramatically recoiled. As he went back to lovingly stroking her side, she smiled down at the grainy picture once again.

“Our baby, huh?” she echoed.

The half hour after the doctor returned was filled with talks of diet and nutrition, prenatal vitamins Scootaloo would need to take and symptoms she would need to keep an eye out for. Dr. Pearl also informed her she wanted to do bi-weekly ultrasounds to monitor the baby’s progress and to foresee any potential complications hopefully before they happened. If Scootaloo had disliked doctors before, she could already tell she was going to hate them before the next nine months were up. All the while Will did his best to ask the questions she couldn’t think of, which she was thankful for.

The next half hour was spent in the waiting room, going over everything they learned with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who had both attended as promised. Sweetie had even dragged Spike along, who offered Will a congratulatory fistbump. Sweetie was over the moon, pulling both of them into fierce hugs that threated to break their ribs while singing the praises of how much she was going to spoil their foal after it was born.

“Well, Sweetie, we haven’t really decided if we’re keeping it yet,” Will said once she’d released him and he could breathe again. Sweetie’s face fell while Apple Bloom’s eyes narrowed.

“Y’all ain’t thinkin’ about adoption, are ya?” she asked.

“I’m just saying we haven’t talked things through yet,” Will said.

From the look she gave her, Scootaloo thought Apple Bloom might press the issue, but eventually she relaxed and shrugged. The question stuck in Scootaloo’s mind, however. Were they thinking about adoption? Was that what she wanted? It had to be either that or keep it, she supposed. But still doubt lingered in her mind even as Sweetie and Apple Bloom asked a thousand questions she barely even heard, allowing Will to answer them for her.

Was she really considering having this baby? She was too young to be a mother! She had only graduated school less than a year ago. All of her hopes and dreams still lay before her, waiting for her to chase them. Being the best on her scooter, winning tournaments and getting nationally recognized: that wouldn't be easy as a mother. Her father had had to give all those things up when she was born. She had Will to help share the responsibility with, but would that be enough?

She was outside the hospital waving goodbye to her friends before she even knew what had happened. As they walked away, she let out a downcast sigh.

“Scoots?” Will asked, making her jump. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking.”

She looked up to the man she loved. He was silently watching her with this sad look in his eyes that might have pissed her off any other time. She didn’t like being pitied and she suspected that was exactly what he was doing. The poor filly in over her head. How sad for her.

That’s not fair, she chided herself. Will was one of the very few people older than her that she knew that took her seriously. He was likely just worried about her. He was like that pretty often –likely a side effect of being nearly ten years older than her– he often acted like he needed to look out for her and protect her from the world. It was patronizing, sure, but it made him happy so she let him.

“I know that was a lot to take in,” he said. “My head feels like it’s spinning. You wanna head home? Take a nap or something? We can always talk later.”

“No,” she said before she’d even thought about it. She was restless. Her hoof twitched in agitation, scratching at the ground. She needed to go… somewhere. Anywhere. “Let’s take a walk!”

Ponyville passed in a blur of colors and faces as she trotted through the town. Ponies stopped to wave or say hello but she barely noticed them. She walked without direction or purpose. The where just didn’t matter to her, as long as she kept moving. Will eventually managed to catch up and fell into place by her side. They passed Sugarcube Corner, where the tantalizing smells of baking bread filled the air, the fountain in the town’s square spraying it’s sparkling water and even the small monument that marked where an unassuming library had once stood.

It was as they walked through the entrance to the park that Scootaloo finally had some inkling of where they were going. She picked up her pace until she was racing through the trees and flowers with the wind whipping against her face. She spread her wings just to feel the air underneath them. On instinct she began to flap them, intent on taking off and soaring away.

At least, until she remembered she wasn’t alone.

Her hooves scrabbled across the dirt as she ground to a halt and spun around. Will was doing little more than jog to keep up with her on his long legs, wearing a most bewildered expression from her sudden flight. Something about him chasing her, the man she loved so much, amused her and brought to mind memories of days spent in this very park playing tag with her friends.

A fleeting, silly idea struck her. She wanted to laugh just thinking about it. But still she dropped her stance low and kicked at the ground. Tensing her muscles and flaring her wings, she stood her ground. Will only seemed to realize what was happening a second too late as he tried to stop himself as well, but to no avail.

Scootaloo sprung. With a powerful kick of her hind legs and a thrust of her wings, she propelled herself forward with all the force her small body could muster. She barreled headlong through the air, making a beeline for Will’s chest. He tried to turn at the last moment, but only succeeded in rolling with the collision. They both tumbled to the ground, Scootaloo on top of his chest, dazed and confused. She rolled with it until she was perched on top of him with her forehooves pinning his shoulders to the ground. Then, with a fierce predatory grin on her muzzle, she lurched down and bit him square on the nose.

A moment passed in awkward silence.

“Ow,” Will said flatly, with absolutely no trace of pain. “That hurt so much. The mighty huntress has caught me once again. Whatever shall I do?”

“Submit to her every whim and desire,” Scootaloo purred. She planted a kiss on his lips that he eagerly returned. “I can think of all kinds of things I want to do to you right now.”

“That does sound good,” Will started haltingly before pointing off to the side. “But this may not be the best place for it.”

She followed his hand to see a trio of foals playing ball less than twenty feet away. Two of them she recognized as the twins, Pound and Pumpkin Cake, who belonged to the owners of Sugarcube Corner. They were running around, laughing and shouting without a care in the world as they bounced a giant rubber ball back and forth between them and their friend, a cream-coated, purple maned filly she knew from around town but had never met. The three were completely lost in their game, looking like they were having the time of their lives.

They looked so… happy. Just three best friends out enjoying a lovely day together. She used to do the exact same thing with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle before they each got busy with life and responsibilities. She had so many wonderful memories of playing in this very park, of sleepovers in their clubhouse and impromptu picnics made of pilfered apples. She wondered if those three foals already had such memories of their own.

“Will?” she asked suddenly. “Did you have any best friends growing up?”

“Uh, one, I guess… Jack,” he replied. “Scoots, are you okay? First you take off and then you tackle me, and now you’re asking about friends?”

“Jack…” she said to herself, ignoring everything else he said. “That’s the man that married your sister before you came to Equestria, right? Did you two ever do anything fun together?”

“Scootaloo,” Will said, giving her a meaningful look. “We need to talk about things.”

“I just keep thinking, you know?” Scootaloo interrupted. “I have all these memories of awesome things that have happened here in Ponyville. Stuff I’ve done with my friends or Rainbow Dash or my dad and… our baby will have those kinds of memories too! If we… I don’t know, put it up for adoption – if we let somepony else take it… we won’t be part of those memories, will we?”

“Are you saying–?”

“I don’t know, maybe?” she said. Reaching down to their folder of information, she withdrew the picture from the ultrasound. “I just… I look at this and it hits me, you know? This is our baby. We made this! I don’t know if I can just give that up. What do you think?”

She watched his face as he looked down to their baby and for the first time since before the doctor’s appointment, warmth bloomed across his face. He looked genuinely happy. He couldn’t keep the grin off his face even as she saw him trying to go back into his ‘mature adult’ routine.

“I can’t say I don’t want it. I really want kids. I want this kid. But are you sure you want it? This isn’t us getting a pet or anything. This is a baby – an entire lifetime of responsibility and… diaper changes!”

Scootaloo scoffed as she flipped the folder closed again, her mission accomplished. “I’m pretty sure it’ll outgrow diapers in a year or two.”

“Well yeah, but when they’re older there’ll be grandfoals and they’ll have diapers too!” His arm rose to wrap around her shoulders and pulled her close to his strong chest. Even sitting in his lap, he was still big enough to have to curl down to kiss the top of her head. It had been intimidating at first, being intimate with someone so much bigger and stronger than her, but she knew he was gentle on the inside. He couldn’t have hurt her if he’d wanted to. So instead of being afraid, she felt safe. Loved.

His voice dropped to barely above a whisper. “Are you really sure about this? I want this but not if you don’t. I mean, you’ve still got a lot ahead of you, Scoots. If you think you aren’t ready for it, I won’t blame you.”

“Will, I don’t need you to protect me. I want this too. Maybe I didn’t want it right now, but that’s life. You can’t always get what you want. Believe me, I’ve learned that! But I’ve decided this is what I want. We’re starting our family. Just… a little earlier than we planned.”

Will gave a small chuckle as he shook his head. “You’ve been spending too much time around Rainbow! What did I do to get stuck with such stubborn mares?”

Scootaloo stuck her tongue out at him. “You know you love it.”

She fell silent as she reclined into his chest. Images of the possibilities of their future played through her head like movies: a little filly enthusiastically ripping open Hearth’s Warming presents, friends and family gathered around to sing Happy Birthday to a colt. There’d be pictures to commemorate the moments and pencil marks on door frames to track the growing foal’s height. There’d be sleepovers and adventures for cutie marks. So very many things lay in wait and all they had to do was embrace them.

Together, they continued to enjoy the pleasant day while they watched the foals play. Eventually Pinkie Pie came to join in on their game for a few rounds until apparently deciding it was time to go home and leading them away. With little else to amuse them, Will and Scootaloo decided to return home as well. They largely walked in silence until their cottage come into view.

“You know, there’s one thing we haven’t talked about yet,” Will said as he pulled open the front gate. “How and when are we going to tell your parents? You know, your three crazy and overprotective parents that are probably going to want to kill me?”

Scootaloo held up short. She hated to admit that he had a point. Her dad and Rainbow’s parents had always treated her like the baby of the family, and she couldn’t imagine that they were going to take to the idea of her having a baby. She had no idea who was going to be worse: her dad or Rainbow’s mom.

“Ughhhh… You’re right, we’re screwed. Okay, we need a plan! We need to come up with the perfect way to break the news to them. We’ll have to break it to them easy; assure them that we had no idea it was even possible! We were kinda responsible, right? I mean, we went to the doctor and everything to see if it was safe! It’s not our fault if the information he gave us was wrong! But what if they don’t buy that? What if they think we should give it up?! What if– Eep!”

She was cut off by a pair of hands grabbing her barrel and bodily lifting her off the ground until she was lying belly-up in Will’s arms. He grinned down at her even as she crossed her forelegs in a pout at being taken by surprise.

“Take a breath, babe,” he said. “It’s not like we broke their favorite vase while they were away. We don’t need a special story or anything because we’ve done nothing wrong. We’re adults and we’re having a baby. They can be happy for us or not, but it’s not our problem.”

“That’s easy for you to say! It’s not your family that’s going to be all ‘I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.’”

To her surprise, Will didn’t have a snappy retort waiting for her. Instead, he looked away, but not before making a movement she almost thought was a flinch. But that didn’t make sense. It must have been a trick of the light or maybe she’d just misjudged what he actually did. She shook the thought off as Will dug the key out of his pocket and made to unlock the door.

“Actually, uh… about my family…” he started before stopping short. “That’s weird… The door’s already unlocked.”

“Did we forget to lock it before we left?” Scootaloo asked.

“I don’t think so…” Will said as he opened the door and peeked inside.

Slowly, he led the way inside and immediately sounds from the TV filled the air. Scootaloo recognized it as the whirlwind buzz of flapping wings from a Wonderbolts race. Over that was a familiar voice shouting complaints and advice that the competitors onscreen couldn’t hear. Will and Scootaloo shared a look before bursting inside.

The heavy smell of garlic filled the air, coming from an open pizza box on the table. Next to it sat two full six packs of ice cold apple ciders dripping with condensation. And in the middle of the couch with a sheepish look on her face and pizza sauce all over her lips, was Rainbow Dash.

“Uh… hey guys!” she said, wiping her face with a hoof. “I’m home!”

Author's Note

As a random bit of trivia, Dr. Pearl's first name is Pink. Make of that what you will.