Dawn, Dusk, and all the colors inbetween
Rainbow Dash was undeniably panicking.
No, wait. That wasn't entirely true. She was absolutely terrified as well. And completely furious. Twilight was in the hospital. For something, a something that no one knew. And, what was worse, someone should've told her that waaaaay before now, but instead, they chose to leave telling her said news be until after the show. No, not even after the show, but instead after she had gotten cleaned up and showered off, and walked, high on life, out of the locker room.
Minutes, nay, hours wasted.
And for what? A show with her at the front, her being the headliner? Buck the show. Twilight was in the hospital, alone, with who knew what happening to her, and she was not with her, helping her, watching her. And, for what seemed to be the hundredth time since this had started, Dash also found herself furious with not only herself and the situation, but her choice that had led up to this moment as she stormed through the halls of the hospital.
She should've just said no. They could've just adopted, instead of using some insane, untested, risky magical amalgamation that Twilight had made up in her downtime. Yeah, Sure, Twilight was the element of magic and all, and yeah, she was undoubtedly the greatest mage of the era, but that didn't mean that the idea was a good one.
Look at Starswirl. Greatest mage the universe ever had seen, and he had a list of failures longer than anyone she could list, with the possible exception of Princess Celestia. And what was ever worse, that concept Dash should've understood, as she herself was the same way.
You can't achieve greatness without making a very long list of screw ups. So, why again did she agree to this whole thing?
Oh yeah. Because she was a complete and total idiot, and, worse, as massive sap. When she agreed, she had actually thought that having an actual baby, a foal of their own, would be a fantastic idea. Something that the two of them made, something that proved that they really and truly loved each other.
Heck, it still sounded like an amazing idea, if not for the whole "it might kill Twilight" thing that she found out about later.
But that didn't matter; she just understood that Twilight had put herself in danger. And, as Rainbow Danger Dash, she would do anything to get Twilight out of it.
"Ma'am, can I help-"
"I need Twilight Sparkle's room, now!"
The nurse jolted back at both the volume and anger in Dash's tone before looking at the nearby ledger, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel guilt. She was a in a rush, with terrible things happening, and ponies had pretty much went and actively sabotaged her efforts to keep her wife; Her, like, most important thing ever, safe. Dash had a right to be as absolutely angry as she wanted to be. They should just be happy that she wasn't hitting ponies to get them out of her way, or just hitting them in general.
"Uh, room 421?"
The Pegasus didn't take even a moment to acknowledge the information, and instead turned around and looked for any way to get up several floors. And, as luck would have it, there was a nearby staircase, which Dash immediately bolted towards. And, as Dash pulled the door open, she found herself lamenting something she never expected herself to want; She wished that they were in Ponyville's hospital. Dash knew the layout of that hospital like the back of her wing at this point. But here, in Canterlot? She just hoped that she was storming in the right direction. She couldn't afford to waste time at this point.
But, hay, at least she understood the whole floor system. 421 meant fourth floor. Easy as cake. But once she got there, she had to make sure she was even in the right wing of the building. The hospital was huge, after all, and it undoubtedly had several fourth floors, all scattered across the several buildings that made it up.
It only took Rainbow a couple seconds to jet up the stairs, before landing at the fourth floor's doorway, and pushing her way hastily through. But, to her surprise and irritation, it had a bottleneck; a single long desk, several nurses working at it, and a pair of heavy doors that were very obviously locked with several heavy bolts. It actually managed to make her hesitate for a moment; This wasn't any kind of ICU she had ever been to.
Maybe it was for VIPs?
"Ma'am, can I help you?"
The unexpected question pulled Dash out of her momentary confusion, and she quickly rushed up to the desk. "I need to find Twilight Sparkle. They said she's in room 421."
The nurse nodded, and casually looked at the screen that sat ahead of her. "Alright... Let's see. Ah, I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait for a moment, they're transferring them to another room. Can I get a name?"
Dash found herself sighing. She still had no idea what was going on, but it seemed that she was lucky enough to be in the right building. "Uh, Rainbow Dash."
The nurse nodded, before returning to the screen. But after a moment, they raised a brow and, to Dash's increasing confusion, smiled. "Oh. Well, Congratulations! The birth went without a hitch, and once we get them settled into the new room, we'll let you in. It'll only be a minute."
At the word "Birth", Dash's mind froze, and it took her several moments to recover. "What!? The, er, the baby wasn't due for another two months!"
"Babies, actually. Twins are often born early."
Rainbow simply slumped backwards onto her flank, and tried to comprehend the significance of what she just learned.
Twins?
Birth?
Dash found that her mind was suddenly thrown down a metaphorical flight of stairs as her previous worry and rage was found to be completely invalid, and instead, the emotions were suddenly replaced with a different kind of terror. She was a parent.
And, what was worse, she knew nothing about kids, but now she was a mother for two of them. She thought that she had more time to figure it out, but apparently, the universe wanted her to figure it out the hard way.
"Uh..."
Yep. It was official; Rainbow Dash's admittedly average mind was shot. Fried, Dashie.EXE failed to respond. Kids. Foals. Not later, not in the future, but now. She was a parent. Her parents were grandparents. There was two new members of Royalty in the world. She was a mom.
That thought put some life and coherency back into her thoughts, but at the same time, it brought back her fury. She was gonna totally kill that manager that thought this news could wait when she got back to the stadium. Career opportunities her flank, She missed her twins being born because he thought it could wait until later.
Also, another thought. She was a complete and total mess. She never got to brush her mane before she shot over here, and the high winds didn't do her wet mane and coat any favors. This was the first time meeting her children, and she was looking like she had just got away from a fight with a rat over a garbage sandwich before losing, and then deciding to try and lick her wounds in a raincloud. Her coat was blown and twisted every which way, her mane and tail was raggity, and she was exhausted from her previous show, and the stress-filled trip over to canterlot.
Hay, she even did a Rainboom on her way over, after the two she did in the show. A personal record, sure, but the exhaustion didn't help her look any better, nor did the extremely high-winds. And this was her kids she was talking about; She couldn't meet them looking like a hobo.
But, luckily, she had to wait a moment. The thought brought a bit of relief to Dash, and she let out a small breath. And better yet, there was a bathroom nearby. She could just duck in, and make herself look totally awesome, and make a amazing first impression. It would be totally-
"Mrs. Dash, they're ready to see you."
Crap.
Rainbow Dash found that she was feeling yet another jolt of mental whiplash, but after a second she nodded, straightened her back, and moved toward the door. She may not look the part, but maybe she could dredge up some false confidence to let her fake it. Confidence made even the grimiest of mud monsters look better, so it should work for her. After all, confidence was kinda her thing.
"So, uh, where do I go?"
The nurse didn't answer, and instead stood up. "One moment please, We'll need to clean you off."
The instant Dash heard that, she sighed in relief. Oh, thank you random medical pony. So, was there a shower she would use, or-
Before she could continue on that train of thought, the was a bright flash of light.
"There, you're sanitized. Now, I'll show you to the room, if you'll follow me."
Curse you, random medical pony. Rainbow kept a sigh from escaping her lips, and nodded, following somewhat dejectedly behind the nurse as the doors opened up on their own accord, her confidence dashed quite effectively. The pair walked wordlessly for a few moments, passing several nurse's stations and rooms, before they finally arrived at a closed door with, to her surprise, a guard pony standing in front of it.
"We have a visitor for Mrs. Sparkle. Her wife is here."
The guard pony looked her over for a moment, before nodding and stepping aside, and Dash took a final breath to calm herself. This was it. After this, there was absolutely no going back. With that in mind, Rainbow put a hoof against the door, and pushed it open. And, once she stepped through the door, there was a greeting.
"Heh... took ya long enough."
The voice sounded very tired and weak, but ultimately immediately recognizable. Twilight. She was sitting in a large, circular bed, and for a moment, Dash pondered why that was. This was a hospital, so one would assume that they would just use a hospital bed. But, after a moment, the pegasus decided that it didn't matter, and she stepped forward, an apologetic expression on her face.
"Sorry. I didn't even know you were in the hospital until after the show."
Twilight just gave a weak smile in response, and gave a weak motion for her to move forward, which Rainbow immediately followed. She could see Twilight, but not the newborns. Where were they?
"They're beautiful."
Of that, Dash had no doubt, but that still didn't change the fact that she couldn't see them. Again, where were they? The pegasus stepped closer. But, once she got to the side of the bed, she watched as Twilight lifted her wing slightly, and that was when she spotted them. A pair of tiny bodies, curled up beside Twilight, right below her wing joint. The pair had different colored manes, and one of them was a Pegasus, while the other was a unicorn. But, the thing that Dash got caught up on was their size.
"They're so... tiny."
Without missing a beat, Dash shuffled her way onto the bed, awkwardly crawling towards both her wife and the newborns while a growing expression of wonder dawned on her face. And, once she managed to pass the barren wasteland that was the bed, she leaned in towards the pair of newborns, her face only a foot or so away from the twins. And, Dash found that, as always, Twilight was right. They were beautiful. They were both sitting there, beautiful. Wonderful. Amazing.
"God. they're..."
The Pegasus looked at the tiny pair of foals, and made a shaky, watery smile. She then let out an involuntary snort of what was definitely not a sob, and continued to stare.
"They're totally awesome."
Twilight, as she always did, rolled her eyes and continued to smile.
"Awesome as you?"
Dash didn't immediately answer, and instead stared some more at the tiny ponies. They were there, being amazing. And, to her surprise and delight, one of them gave a tiny, heartwarmingly adorable sneeze. And it was at that moment that Rainbow Dash knew that she had been usurped.
"No... even more."
Author's Note
Completely, utterly, irrevocably inspired by Kerui8D's First Morning
