"We're closing." The young stallion working behind the counter at the Hayburger sounded reluctant. He had overheard a little of the conversation before the others had left Rainbow Dash to care for the filly. "If you need help moving her…"

Dash looked at the slightly pimply unicorn. "Thanks, but I have been getting good practice at this." She curled her wing tight, wrapping it around Cuddle and lifting. Wrapped in a living feather blanket, the filly didn't stir at all. "Home is out, guess we go to the castle." Rainbow paid for her food and made her way out into the cool night air.

The pegasus took her time, there really wasn't a rush. Rainbow Dash walked looking down to the filly wrapped in her wing, again and again. "I wanted to be a Wonderbolt, but then I saw I needed to be more." She looked up into the sky, watching a cloud blow past on a lazy wind. "Then I wanted to protect everypony, but then I met Muffins." She looked back down at her curled-up wing. "Then I wanted to have a family-"

"You taste like mommy." Cuddle yawned and looked up out of the cozy and warm feathers she was bundled in. "Well, like I imagine mommy tasted like." She looked down at her little hooves, holes bored right through them.

"I do?" Rainbow felt surprise at the admission by the filly.

"Yup. Lots of warm love, happiness, and hardness hidden." Cuddle looked at the mare that was carrying her, reaching out a hoof she booped Rainbow Dash on the nose. "Do you like flying?" The shift in topic was sudden, left Dash reeling.

Reigning in her surprise, Rainbow grinned. "Do I? How well do those wings of yours work?" She loosened her grip just a little, so the filly could get free.

Squirming out, Cuddle buzzed her changeling wings long enough to reach the ground before a swirl of green fire boiled around her. The resultant soft purple pegasus with off-gold mane looked up at Rainbow. "Well, I am giving you a head start…"

Dash's jaw almost hit the ground. "Did… did you just… Oh, it's on!" A swirling wind came to the mare's call and she shot into the air like a missile. Rainbow did look over her shoulder, seeing surprise on the filly's face. No sooner did Cuddle spread her wings and leap up than another strong wind caught her and sent her even faster, soon catching up to Rainbow.

"Woo! How do you do that?" Cuddle was pumping her wings, stunned at how fast they were moving.

"Magic!" Dash pointed at a balcony on the castle and the two flew like missiles toward it. At the last second both braced their wings out, shedding speed for lift, and spending the lift in a stall. "Great landing, squirt." Rainbow reached up a hoof to rub the filly's mane. "Let's head inside, I bet somepony is doing something stupid, we can watch and laugh."

Cuddle was already laughing as she followed the 'nice mare' inside. She had a moment where there was that hot memory of her mother, but nopony could replace her, not completely. Rainbow Dash was nice, though.

Cherry and Sleek had answered the royal summons and both were standing in the Night Court of Princess Luna. Cherry's name was called the second there was a free moment. Smiling at Luna, she tilted her head down. "My Princess, I come in answer to a summons?"

Luna smiled, she liked having nice ponies at her court, not that many nobles risked seeking her judgment. "We have some startling news, from Ponyville." Luna opened a letter that had a royal crest on it. "This was rushed to us via the train. Ahem. 'Dear Princess Celestia, we have an emergency, a strange changeling has been found living in our town and they may have turned another pony into a changeling…' I think that is enough. How soon can you travel there and help the new drone?"

Opening her wings, Cherry smiled at her Princess, a burst of green fire beside her revealed a second pegasus. "I think we can leave immediately."

Nice ponies indeed, thought Luna. "Wonderful. Take this." Luna floated a scroll over to the two ponies. "You understand that we would normally send for Twisty, and get lots of ponies involved… but I don't think we need all that for one pony." Taking the scroll, Cherry blinked at the royal seal on it. "In case anypony official asks questions."

Both mares bowed deeply to their Princess and turned to depart. "A changeling that can turn ponies into changelings?" Sleek looked at her wife, a half smile on her snout.

"Wanting to trade me in already?" Cherry gave Sleek a poke with a wing. "Let's go, when a princess asks you to do something in a hurry, you do it." Both pegasi lifted off, wings pumping as they began the quick flight to Ponyville.

Trotting around the parade ground relaxed Shining, it grounded her in a way that no amount of relaxation and breathing exercises could. And it reminded her of her duty, of her purpose. Working on her sixth lap, she felt an odd sensation as she turned the last corner. Her body felt distinctly strange, particularly in the back-end. Stopping, she turned to see the ground behind her was soaked, along with her vivid-blue tail. "What…"

"Your Highness!" A guard stallion galloped up, his eyes wide. "Your Highness," he repeated, close now, "that was your water. Can you still walk?"

"Water? Walk?" Shining blinked, the edge of panic that seemed to pervade her and her sister edged into her head. "Water… my water?"

The stallion nodded. "Yes, Your Highness, that was your water. Come on." Shining's hooves moved without her thinking of them, she took each step slowly as she followed along.

"Recruit Buckaroo?" Shining recognized the unicorn she was walking beside, he nodded to the question. "Thank you."

"Your Highness, it is not only my duty but my honor." Buck kept an eye on the princess beside him. He knew she was both astoundingly fit and capable, but she was also going into labor. Raising his voice, taking a deep breath, he yelled, "Recruit!" Four eager ponies rushed over at the call of even another of their number. "Go, find Princess Cadance!"

Four of the smartest salutes ever seen by a cadet were served up and they were off. Shining tried to take a mental note of the stallion's name, but just then it felt like her back end squeezed down on something, her muscles tightening. She stopped dead in her tracks and just closed her eyes.

"Contraction. Okay, I remember this, count the time…" Buck began mentally working through the numbers. He got to thirty before he saw relief on Shining's face, the mare panting and looking shell-shocked. "First one?"

Shining nodded. "Kind of. I had a few cramps over the last few weeks, nothing that intense though." She tried to take a walk and her leg wobbled so much that she started to fall.

"Got you." Buck was as gentle as he could be, supporting his Princess by her shoulders and hips, rather than try to cradle her. "You okay?"

"I am about to have a foal… maybe?" Shining relaxed a little, the grip not firm, but at least stable. "I don't want to have him out here, though. Being born in the practice square might be a bit much of an omen." It tickled her, however. She began to float along at a faster pace than she had walked, Buckaroo taking up an easy trot that ate the distance up quickly. Just as the two reached the front gate there was a flash of pink and Cadance was standing there, her wings flared up.

"Shiny!" Cadance looked at the magic carrying her wife and turned to Buck. "Please bring her up, one of those colts at least recognized what was going on." She practically jumped from hoof to hoof, feeling so nervous.

"Cady!" Shining looked up at her wife. "Cady… calm down, this is all right." It struck Shining Armor how silly things turned out, that she was having to reassure Cadance while it was her that was in labor. I am in labor, the thought ricocheted around Shining's head.

"How long have the contractions been?" Cadance led the way inside, her magic working as a battering ram for doors and anything stupid enough to get, and stay, in her way.

"Pick a room, Your Highnesses." Care Giver met them, coming from the other direction. "It matters not, just make sure the bed is half-way comfortable and is covered in linen you do not like so much."

Cadance and Shining both grinned at the joke. Shining felt herself being guided through a door into a guest room. Lifted up, she was set on the big bed within. The moment she had control back, she turned and lay back sideways, the relief on her back end lasting only seconds before her eyes crossed at the muscle contraction.

"Things are progressing. Hold on to it as long as you can, Princess." Care reached up and gently probed at the alicorn's side. "He is on his way. You, guard, have you been present at a birth before?"

Buck felt, somehow, more cowed by this mare than his Captain, Princess Shining Armor. "Yes ma'am, my wife had a filly early last year."

"Good, get me some towels. As many as you can grab with that horn of yours." Care turned next to Cadance. "Your Highness, I don't need you down here, but she does up there." She pointed further up the bed, to the side where Shining was facing.

Cadance blinked and without thinking, teleported about six feet. "How are you doing Shiny?" She crouched down and reached over to brush the mane back from her wife's face.

"I am trying to push out your son." Shining put more heat into the words than she meant, but if the anger registered as anything beyond true to Cadance, she couldn't see it. "Cady, I love y-" Another contraction started, Shining's world trembled with the muscles pushing and squeezing. She wasn't sure how long it was going to last, but a distinct jab of pain hit, before it evened out. "Love you…" She felt heavy, weak.

"Good girl, that one hurt a bit more?" Care saw the alicorn nod. "Then you are getting into the main event. Your body is opening up for him, it is going to hurt, but I promise you, Shining Armor, it is worth it."

"Shiny, Shiny look at me." Cadance brought her snout down so she was nose-to-nose with her wife. "Shiny, I am here with you, I have been through this, remember?"

"I waited outside…" Shining was panting, but the face before her distracted her from the lingering pain. "I won't wait outside next time."

"You won't. Your body is-" Cadance's words trailed off as she saw the expression on her lover change, another contraction coming on, and strong. It eased again, Cadance leaned in and kissed her wife. She kept talking, kept whispering and distracting Shining, but it was not something that could be rushed.

Care counted down the duration and time between contractions, gently probing for signs that the colt was shifting down. At last, after another painful-looking contraction, she felt movement within Shining. "He is coming." The words gave Shining a burst of energy, when the next contraction came she pushed, feeling her body give as the mass inside her began to work through. "Good, keep it up."

"I love you so much, Shiny." Cadance felt her element boiling inside her, her love palpable as she had her snout pressed beside Shining's.

Shining couldn't reply now, her focus was intense and entirely aimed within herself. But she couldn't ignore the power boiling in her wife. It reminded her that there was more than one reason for this, and that she had somepony who would always be at her side.

With an immense push from the mare, Care worked the soft towels in and under, catching the foal. Shining's eyes opened, staring into Cadance's own. "He's out?" Her body was still doing things, things she didn't want to think about. She was sore, weak, and wanted just one thing.

"He is." Care did everything needed, as she was trained, and carried the wrapped colt up to show to the parents. "Squirming and wriggling, a strong little colt." She bent forward, laying the little colt down with her forelegs.

Shining's eyes were wide, she could feel tears pouring from them as she looked down at the little blue snout peeking from the blankets. "He's perfect." Cadance too was enraptured. "Shiny, you need to feed him."

Nodding, Shining's pink magic gently lifted the foal, and giving him a kiss on the nose she tucked him down between her back legs, careful to shift one back. "I had him, Cady I had him. Thank you so much." She was weak, worn out, but everything was worth it. The little colt was nursing strong and Shining Armor felt more complete than she ever had in her life.

Author's Note

I sobbed a little at the end, happy thoughts. Also, yes I know I promised I wouldn't actually go through labor with a character, but I did leave all the not-so-nice bits out.

What will his name be?

I am starting something new. "Ask x", x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and I they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, I They will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post!

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