Bookends Part 3: Or Family Values

As soon as the ambulance took Twilight and Cheerilee off to the hospital, the rest of the ponies went to let the rest of the families and friends know.

In front of the hospital, there appeared Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence along with Shining Armor, Twilight Velvet and Night Light in a golden flash.

Galloping faster that anypony thought possible came Applejack, Braeburn, Cactus Flower, Big Mac, Apple Bloom and most surprisingly at that speed, Granny Smith.

Rainbow Apple, Wind Walker and Rain Shadow all swooped down to the gathering.

They all went inside where the rest of Twilight and Cheerilee’s friends and half of Ponyville were waiting.

The two mares insisted they be in the same delivery room. They started together, they wanted to end together.

The beds were side by side where Twilight and Cheerilee could hold hooves. They had to bring in two midwife ponies because the contractions of the two ponies were at the very same time.

Out in the waiting area there was almost a fight for who should go back with the two. Then a nurse came out and said the two were requesting their mothers.

They also wanted Cadence to be there because she might never have a foal herself and Cheerilee’s could be the closest she might ever come.

And so no other pony would get their feelings hurt, no other ponies would be admitted.

Ponies started to grumble but Princess Celestia called for their attention.

“Everypony, please,” said the princess, “we aren’t here for ourselves. We’re here for Twilight and Cheerilee. I’d like to be there with them, and I could command the staff to allow my sister and I to go in. But this is something very personal for them. They’re about to become mothers, so who better to be there with them but their own mothers.

And don’t begrudge Cadence’s admittance, it might be her only chance to be there at a birth of Shining Armor’s child.”

Celestia neglected to say because Twilight and Cheerilee would forever be linked mentally, she and Luna were feeling the entire thing with them.

As the time wore on everypony was becoming concerned, especially Rainbow Apple. As each minute went by she appeared more stressed as if she was afraid of something.

Most of the other ponies talked among themselves about how the dynamic of their group will change with two of their group being mothers and what possible role they themselves would play in the lives of new foals. Actually, all the mares were excited.

Pinkie tried to mingle and keep pony’s spirits up. Trixie was starting to become uncomfortable being around ponies she’d not ever been on good terms with prior, especially the princesses. She felt this way despite everypony of them accepting her now as a friend and Pinkie’s partner. Plus the whole ‘having a foal’ thing was totally unfamiliar to her, having never been around anypony who’d had one.

Wind Walker also went from pony to pony to help keep their spirits up as well. Especially her niece whom she was becoming concerned about her anxiety.

It’d been several hours of hard labor. Both mares were almost spent.

Cadence was trying to keep out of the way. But she’d stand behind the beds, by both mare’s heads. She’d take a cool wet cloth and wipe her sisters-in-laws’ brows and speak soothing to them. To her credit, in spite of how she favored Cheerilee, and for obvious reasons, she was equally as helpful to Twilight as well.

“Mom,” said Twilight, “does it always hurt like this?”

“Yes, my Darling baby,” said Twilight Velvet, brushing back the bangs of her forelock, “but take my word. Once the baby’s here, you’ll forget all about this.”

“Is that true mom?” asked Cheerilee.

“Most certainly, my sweet daughter, and It shouldn’t be long now,” said Rain Shadow.

The midwifes were instructing the two mares when to push and when to relax. It was almost as if the midwifes were synchronized as well, they both said the same thing at the same time.

“I can see the head, now Push! Push! Push!”

Twilight held tight to Cheerilee’s hoof, they pushed with all that was in them. There was a rush from their bottom, the pressure was relieved. Then at the same time, there were the cries of two new lives.

The two older mares looked and smiled.

“Two fillies!” said Twilight Velvet.

“You were right, baby,” said Rain Shadow.

Cheerilee looked at Twilight; they smiled the largest smile of their lives. Their mothers gave their daughters a small hug and kiss on the lips, Cadence kissed them on their foreheads.

Out in the waiting area, Princesses Celestia and Luna had been sitting off to one side away from everypony. Everypony was too into their thoughts to notice the two sisters had discomfort written on their beautiful faces. They were holding hooves and breathing hard. They had sweat running from their brows. Then the two cringed hard and fought heroically not to cry out. As the foals were delivered, they relaxed and looked at the other. There were identical smiles of pride and joy along with gratitude on their countenances, so much so they dared a small kiss.

“It is done,” said Celestia, Luna just nodded.

Twilight and Cheerilee took a moment to catch their breath. It took a few minutes for the medical staff to take some measurements and clean up the infants. They brought the foals wrapped in blankets, Cadence received both foals, kissed them and then gave them to the new mothers.

Twilight received a beautiful little filly; she was so purple she almost looked black. When she opened her eyes, they were the color of Twilight’s. She also had the same mane and tail coloration as her mother without the pink and purple streaks.

Cheerilee also received an equally beautiful filly; she was pure white with a pink mane and tail also the pale green eyes of her mother.

They noticed neither filly had a horn.

“Earth Ponies?” asked Twilight.

“Yours is,” said the nurse but she folded back Cheerilee’s foal’s blanket enough to expose a little wing.

“A Pegasus!” said Cheerilee.

The two new mothers looked at each other and kissed.

“They’re perfect,” said Cadence.

“Have you thought of names?” asked Twilight Velvet.

“We haven’t decided on any yet, but some just came to me,” said Twilight, looking over at Cadence, “what do you think of…”

Cadence came back to the waiting room with the ponies there. All eyes turned to her.

“Two fillies!” said Cadence. Quiet cheers and ponies hugging broke out among the ponies gathered. There were tears of pride in Cadence’s eyes and she rushed to hug her husband.

“They’re beautiful,” she whispered to Shining. “I truly wish it was I who could’ve given birth to your child, perhaps in the future. But I’m just as happy and I know we’ll love them both as if they were ours.”

“I know,” said Shining, “in a way, they are ours as well. But I know Twily and Cheeri will take good care of them for us.”

Shining kissed his wife unconcerned with who was watching.

Twilight and Cheerilee were given a double room, they had their beds together. They were nursing the infants and true to their word, they nursed their infant on one side and then switched foals to feed the other on the other side.

They were finishing up when they allowed the first of the visitors to come in. It was Cadence and Shining Armor, Braeburn and Cactus Flower, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Also Granny smith was allowed to come in as well.

As the foals finished, Twilight took her foal from Cheerilee and gave her to Braeburn.

“Here’s your daughter, Braeburn,” said Twilight with a smile, “a strong healthy Earth Pony."

Braeburn and Cactus Flower held the little foal in awe, then they passed the foal to Granny Smith who held the foal as it were the most precious thing ever.

“And here’s your daughter, Shining Armor,” said Cheerilee, “a beautiful Pegasus.”

Shining Armor held the filly as Princesses Cadence, Celestia and Luna gazed in wonder at the little filly.

“I got to hold her already,” whispered Cadence to her aunts.

“Lucky,” said Luna with a chuckle.

“What are their names?” asked Princess Celestia.

Twilight and Cheerilee both reached for their foals, then Cheerilee gave hers to Princess Celestia;

“We want you to meet,” said Cheerilee, “Celestia Cadence Sparkle.”

Twilight gave hers to Princess Luna;

“And meet,” said Twilight, “Luna Apple Sparkle.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

“See,” said Granny, “she is named Apple.”

Everypony looked at Granny who had more pride on her face than perhaps even the mothers.

Because of their connection, the new mothers felt the overwhelming pride the princesses were feeling, almost as if they were their own foals.

Next came Twilight and Cheerilee’s friends along with Rainbow’s aunt Windie. You’ve never seen such a fuss over two foals.

Pinkie was beside herself wanting to play with them, even though they were way too young yet. But she did sing a birthday song to them.

She explained in The Hive, there were, with one exception, only certain ponies who were allowed to procreate. The foals are raised and taught by specially trained wet nurses and nanny ponies. Most of The Hive never got to be around foals, so there was always a mystery involved with the young. This was the reason for Pinkie/Phantasm’s fascination with all foals.

Trixie didn’t know what to think, she’d never been around small foals, nor had she ever wanted to. But now, they were giving her the greatest thrill of her life, next to finding love with Pinkie. Her envy of Twilight in the past was a selfish one and was expressed in such a way it drove ponies away. But now she envied Twilight and Cheerilee in a good way. It got her thinking of things that she’d never even considered and she made a mental note to talk to Pinkie about it later.

Applejack and Rarity just held the two little fillies in awe. They never expected for their friends to be mothers. But now, it felt so right. Applejack was understandably proud of Luna’s middle name. And Rarity thought that with the beauty of the newborn foal, Celestia was a perfect name.

Fluttershy had brought Loki, he was in complete rapture just looking at the foals. Fluttershy put a foreleg around him as he held first one then the other. Neither Fluttershy nor Twilight thought that they’d ever see this being totally speechless. Loki looked at Fluttershy, he had tears in his eyes.

However, it was Rainbow who showed the most fuss. Not just over the fillies but Twilight and Cheerilee as well. After handing the foals back to their mothers, Rainbow started to ask a lot of questions. She was very concerned about the delivery and how much discomfort and pain that her friends went through. Cheerilee could see that Rainbow looked more than just curious.

“What’s up Rainbow,” asked Cheerilee, “is there something wrong?”

All the friend’s eyes were on the blue Pegasus who started to blush.

Rainbow looked at her friends and then to Big Mac who nodded, then back to her friends.

“I was just curious about the whole birth-thing,” said Rainbow, “after all, it looks like I’ll be in here in about eight months to do the same.”

Unfortunately, the squeals of glee got the infants crying. The loudest was from Wind Walker, who grabbed her niece and hugged her so hard, it was hard for Rainbow to breathe. The other mares, not in bed, gathered around and hugged and kissed Rainbow as well.

It was truly a happy day.

Twilight and Cheerilee were able to bring the foals home after a couple days in Hospital. At check out, the couple found out Princesses Celestia and Luna had covered all expenses personally, the entire prenatal work and hospital stay. Even the insemination procedure.

At home in the library, there was a constant flow of visitors and well-wishers. Spike relished his new role as big brother. He doted on the foals almost as much as the mothers did and constantly wanted to hold and play with them, one smile from a foal made his entire day.

The two mares delighted in their arrangement of nursing both foals. They were bonding just as planned, both of the foals reacted the same to either mother. There was never the thought of ‘my foal’ or ‘your foal’, just ‘our foals’.

One day, about a week after the foals had come home, Princesses Celestia and Luna came to the library. Twilight and Cheerilee weren’t expecting them, nor were they expecting all their close friends to show up all at the same time. The friends were not sure why they’d been asked to be there.

It was soon made evident when Pinkie and Trixie arrived wearing some nice dresses they’d had Rarity make for them. Igneous Rock, Cloudy Quartz, Limestone, Marble and Maud Pie accompanied them.

“I’ve asked for all of you to come here today for a reason,” said Pinkie, a huge smile on her pleasant face, which was only matched by the one on Trixie’s face. “I’ve asked Princess Celestia if she’d do a favor for me.”