Stay With Me

The moon held high in the night sky above and the feeling of solemnity and calmness that usually came with the night was broken as the solar princess now panted heavily in desperation.

She had awoken to a rather painful shot of pain that once it had died down, was replaced by uncomfortable contractions of her abdomen muscles. She took deep breaths as she struggled to sit up from her side.

"N-nurse..." she heaved. Trying her best to call for the one she needed most. Or at least the bat pony guards outside of her chambers.

Her bed was soaked with amniotic fluid from her breakage and had managed to make it's way through the sheets. The last thing the princess wanted was to change her mattresses but the thought quickly shook from her head as she struggled to signal for help.

"Nurse....!"

Celestia's contractions came harder and she groaned at the intensity of the pain.

D-Damn it...!

She cussed underneath her breath as she struggled now not to only call for assistance but to gather all the strength she had to get out of bed and towards her chamber doors. But in her weakened state and her body doing it's best to push out the foal, the most the sun ray princess could do was get a hoof on the ground with battered eyes.

Annoyed, angered, and frantic the princess could hardly move. As another contraction came, a shot of intense pain reeled up inside of her.

She screamed loud enough to awake her sleeping guards.

The guards eyes immediately shot awoke as the princess's screamed rattled their insides and echoed through out the halls. Their hearts pounding with a force of adrenaline from the sudden noise. Responding on instinct, the two bat ponies slammed open the princess's chamber doors as they opened their mouths simultaneously.

"Princess!"

Their eyes circled the room until they locked on the sun princess breathing heavily from beside her bed. Her sheets and blankets carrying a dark spot and draped messily off the side of her bed.

"Princess...!" they repeated as they both rushed over to the side of Luna's counterpart. Celestia stood with eyes darkened with fine lines and her pastel coated tail more erect than before.

"....go get..." she heaved. Her cheeks puffing up as she let a spill of air escape. "....Pastel Hearts."

"Yes Ma'am!"

The two armored stallions quickly made their way to the door but not before one of them turned around.

"Um princess, would it not be wise for one of us to stay here?"

"yes...I suppose so." She looked to the other guard. "Do you know...Pastel Hearts? She is located right next to me a hall down. Obtain...her."

The guard saluted. "Yes princess!"

As he shut the door behind him the other guard was left to look on with an akward look.

"Um..."

"Are you just going to stand there or do something?" Celestia asked.

"Oh no your princess I...what would you have me do?"

"Just...make me comfortable until she arrives. The...blankets on the bed...take those off and make a pile for me please."

"With further ado your majesty."

"It seems as though Princess Luna is now the one who never catches a break huh?"

The mare took a sip of her hot chocolate as she looked outside her assigned bedroom window. Watching as the night princess swooped pass on her gothic chariot.

"It is not as though night court is filled with many participants. After all ponies, with the exception of bat ponies, are mostly daytime creatures. Because of that, she probably has little do on her plate outside of making sure her subjects are safe. Day Court should be little problem for her Pastel." The white, dark grey maned unicorn took a sip from her cup. Her cutie mark was one of a crystal like diamond having small dust clouds around it.

"Still, as a princess of the night with duties to do, isn't taking on the day court stressful as well? She'll be up twenty-four hours a day Diamond Dust." Pastel, a white unicorn with a pink mane walked over towards the table that her friend was seated at.

"I'm sure her princess has found a way to manage. You have noticed that she is far out at night less often. She probably has changed her scehudle to suit the needs of the day. After all, that is when most of the work gets done at. After all, she does have little to do in night court besides a few bat pony squabbles."

"I suppose."

"I wanted to ask...when is Celestia exactly due?'

"She is due any day now. By the time that she had entered her second trimester, Princess Luna had assigned me as her personal monitor and midwife by Princess Celestia's own request. I couldn't help but honored Feather."

the tanned earth pony laid down her cup on the table next to the neatly stacked UNO cards. Her dark brown mane was tied back in a ponytail and her flank held the image of a feather lent brush as per her name's sake.

"I figured you did. After all, you'll be the one attending to the royal baby before and after it's born. That itself is a privilege."

"Everypony in Canterlot and through out has been talking about Princess Celestia's pregnancy. Canterlot in particular is making a big fuss out of it." Diamond stated with a flick of her mane.

"Of course they are. Their nobility most of 'em. You attend the right parties, talk about business, give to charities, and laugh at awful rich pony jokes. That's just the cake, the fact that one of the princess's is pregnant even after a thousand years of no history of such from either one of them is the icing on their cake. Of course their going to want to have answers to their questions on why the princess was so adamant on keeping her pregnancy secret..."

"Probably because she doesn't want nosy rich ponies in her business." Feather took a sip of her tea.

"And who the father is. Celestia has not been with any pony else. Some are wondering and gleefully guessing who the father is. Some are going so far as to say it is the foal of the Prance prince who came here last year. After all, Prance nobility is known for their, ahem, charms."

"Oh please! As if the princess would care to grab hold of his flank!"

Diamond chuckled mischievously. "You never know~."

Feather gave a roll of the eyes.

"As much as I myself am curious it is not of importance to us if the princess herself desires not to discuss it. Besides, my duty is to care for the foal no differently than any other. After all I am handling a royal ba-" Pastel paused at a sudden thought.

"What's wrong Pastel? Tirek got your tongue?" Feather teased.

"No." The unicorn sighed. "I just now realized that since I'm the one whose going to be with the foal, I am the one who is going to be pressed for questions in public."

"Of course! Mare, you should have saw that coming!" Diamond smiled.

"No good thing goes unpunished. Have fun dealing with those rich ponies."

"Truly Feather you make it seem as though you have such a contempt for rich ponies."

"Cause most of them are snobby. I don't mind rich ponies. Some of them are really, really nice. Like Fancy Pants, but then you have those like Marie Paris who is famous for being famous and never reuses the same outfit. If I was poor, I'll raid her trash can everyday. Probably find a diamond toothbrush for all I know." she begun to mumble. Pondering the thought.

Pastel smiled. "Oh Feather..."

Before the three ponies could react, the doors of their chambers jolted open. Startling all three of the poor ponies causing Diamond to spill some of her hot chocolate and Feather to fall from her cushion on the floor. Pastel remain almost composed with the exception of her wide eyes and fur standing on edge.

The male bat pony stood panting slightly at the door. "Miss...Pastel Hearts, the princess needs you...right away."

"Well won't you look at that? The time has come." Feather smiled.

"Is Princess Celestia in labor already?" Pastel questioned.

"Yes. It would appear that way. She was Breathing heavily and her body seemed as though it was having visible cramps."

"Contractions...so she's started."

"Should I go get the kit then?" Diamond asked.

"Oh, yes! Feather go get some towels and a bowel. My kit Diamond should be under my bed." Pastel looked to the guard. "We'll follow you."

The three mares followed close behind the bat pony guard and to where Celestia's chambers were located at. The guard opened the door to reveal the solar princess laying down upon a pile of blankets stripped directly from her bed. Her head leaned over as she took deep and trying breaths while gritting her teeth. The guard that stood next to her seemed rather confused, unsure of how to handle the situation but stood composed as possible. Doing what he could to ease the sun princess's situation.

"P...Pastel."

The unicorn smiled and walked up to the princess. "Greetings princess, I have already sent Feather to obtain towels and a bowel. She is coming any second now I am sure. As for you fellow guard, you are dismissed for now. I will handle everything else."

The guard gave a salute.