We're sorry you had to see that, dear.
Fluttershy sat at the kitchen table, shaking, and blowing on a steaming mug of hot chocolate.
Her father carried a mug of tea to her mom, sitting at the opposite side of the table, and then Dad sat down, too.
"So," Mom said. "I'm sorry you saw that. Why... why are you home from school early, dear?"
Fluttershy took a sip of chocolate, but spilled several spoonfuls on her forehooves. It burned her skin, but she ignored it. "I have a fever. The nurse sent me home."
"Oh! Oh no! Do you feel all right?"
"Not really," Fluttershy said. "I have a sore throat, and my right ear is blocked. When I blew my nose, it was nasty and green."
Mom frowned. "We'll have to take you to your doctor in the morning, they'll be closed for the day before I can get there with you this afternoon. I'm moving so slowly...." Mom patted her extremely pregnant belly.
"I can take her, dear," Dad said. "We'll make it if I carry her and fly. You just stay here and rest."
"No!" Fluttershy said. "I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me what... how... why... that thing I saw!"
Mom and Dad sighed.
"What we were doing," Mom began.
"Is perfectly natural and normal," Dad continued.
"It's how two grownups who love each other," Mom said.
"Make a foal," Dad told her. "How a mare gets pregnant. It's just part of life."
"A wonderful part of life," Mom finished.
Fluttershy held her nose above the mug of chocolate and sniffed. The steam entered her sinuses, and helped relieve some of the pressure and pain from her burgeoning head cold.
But what she had seen just ten minutes before..... nothing was relieving the pressure or pain those sights, smells, and sounds were leaving inside her head. She continued shaking. Her wings drooped.
"I.... I don't understand."
Dad rubbed his chin. "We hadn't planned to have this conversation with you for a few more years, but I suppose today is going to be the day."
"Why?" Fluttershy said. "Why wait until I'm older?"
"He's your father, right?" Mom said. "You understand that I carried you in my belly for almost a year, and then you came out as a baby. What does a father have to do with making the foal?"
"I don't understand."
"You love those library books about animals, down dirtside, right?" Dad said. "The baby animal books? How are baby animals made?"
"Animals do that too? Yuck yuck yuck!" Fluttershy clenched her eyes.
"Dear," Dad said, "Ponies are animals, too, you know. We can build houses and change the weather—but we're not so different from any other mammal, really."
"But Mom!" Fluttershy said. "You're already pregnant. You said my little sister—"
"Or brother."
"—or my brother will be born any day now. Why are you trying to make a foal when you already have a foal inside you?"
"The difference between ponies and animals is," Mom said, "Ponies sometimes do... what we were doing... for reasons other than to make a foal."
"What kind of reasons?" Fluttershy looked up at Mom and Dad, but her mane fell over her eyes, and she just left it there.
"Well, for one," Dad said, "It's fun."
"It didn't look fun," Fluttershy said. "You two were... were... sweating. And grunting. And trying to stay balanced...."
"I'm eleven moons pregnant, Fluttershy," Mom said. "I have trouble balancing under any circumstance."
"But," Dad said, "this is something two ponies, a married couple, do for fun, and because it lets them get closer. Love each other more, and more deeply."
"That doesn't make sense," Flutershy said.
"It's true, though," Mom said.
"But... but Dad... his... his... was in your vagoo, Mom!"
"I know, I know, that's how it works, dear," Mom said. "I'm sorry you had to learn it this way, instead of from us sitting you down and talking to you."
"Or from a book," Dad said. "That was what we were planning, when you were a little older."
"So... it... is fun?" Fluttershy asked. "I don't think I believe you."
"'It' is called 'sex,' dear, or 'making love.' And it's the most fun thing in the world... well, usually. When you're this pregnant it's more of a chore than fun." Mom reached across the table to place a hoof on Fluttershy's.
Fluttershy drew back before Mom could touch her. "I have a cold. You don't want to get it, and hurt the baby."
Mom grimaced, and put the hoof on her belly.
"Mom, Dad.... you didn't look like you were having fun."
"Really, we weren't," Mom said.
Dad's eyebrows arched. "Speak for yourself."
"But," Mom continued, "there are other reasons to do that sort of thing. You know that babies come out... the vagoo, right?"
Fluttershy nodded, looking down at her mug of chocolate again.
"So after your sister or brother comes, my vagoo will be.... very sore... for several months. We'll all be tired from taking care of the baby. You father and I, just in general, will not want to make love for a while."
"So.... so.... so you wanted to get in a last.... time?"
"Not wanted," Dad said. "Needed."
"I don't understand," Fluttershy whispered.
Mom waved around the house. "Look at this. Table, chairs, counters, oven, rug, pantry. In the living room, couches, bookshelves, recliner, fireplace, coffee table. What keeps these objects from falling through the clouds and smashing some unicorn or earth pony on the head?"
Fluttershy looked up, and cocked her head to get the hair out of her eyes. "Pegasus magic."
"What kind of pegasus magic?" Dad asked.
"I– I– I– I don't know."
"If two pegasi make love on a piece of furniture, it will charge up its cloud-balancing magic for six months, or a year. But that's the only known way to make the magic work."
"That's why you two were.... making love.... sitting on the edge of the baby's crib? ....wait, who discovered that magic in the first place?"
"We'd already recharged the changing table and the baby's dresser today," Mom said, and tapped a hoof on the kitchen table. "And this table. We keep a ledger of every piece of furniture in the house. All pegasi who own a cloud house or apartment have to keep careful notes, or their furniture will start falling through the clouds onto ponies below."
"If you hit a pony on the head with a dresser," Dad said, "you could go to jail. Keeping furniture's magic charged is an important part of being a pegasus adult."
"But.... but.... but you said 'making love' is for two ponies who love each other very much. What about ponies like Aunt Stormy, who aren't married?"
Dad rubbed his face with his hooves. "That's a fair question, but I was hoping you wouldn't think to ask it for a few years. Two single pegasi will make an arrangement, even if they don't love each other, to keep their houses from falling apart."
"What about our desks at school?"
"The teachers.... um...." Mom trailed off.
Fluttershy had a thought, and passed out, falling right out of her chair.
Fluttershy woke up fifteen minutes later, tucked into her own bed.
"Honey! Dear!" Mom said.
"What happened? You fainted on us!" Dad said.
Fluttershy bounded out of bed and scrambled across the room, backing her tail into the corner opposite the bed. She pointed at the bed with her hoof.
"Mom! Dad! Why doesn't my bed fall through the clouds? What did you do while I wasn't at home?!?"
Author's Note
Constructive comments are always welcome!
