Rainbow Dash’s tail was lashing as she lay on the bed. It wasn’t that she was upset—precisely the opposite, in fact—it was that she was, as always, not great at being patient, and Twilight was taking forever to come up.

Then Rainbow heard hooves on the stair, ringing against the crystal, and she was immediately conscious of the way she was lying on the bed, just limply sprawled on her back. Was that sexy? Should she pose so she’d be looking sexy when Twilight came in? How could she even do that without a mirror to see herself in? Lots of mares seemed to be able to, Rarity struck sexy poses all the time. Rainbow would probably just look dumb if she tried.

“Sorry it took so long.” Twilight stepped into her bedroom, a sheepish smile on her face. Rainbow couldn’t help but smile back. Trying to look perfectly sexy didn’t matter, did it? Rainbow was a total dork, but Twilight was an even bigger dork.

“It took a minute to find this.” Twilight waved a silvery egg-shaped object she held clutched in her magic. It glowed with a warm indigo light that came from Twilight’s magenta magic mixing with the object’s own blue glow. Giving a little shrug, she said, “I put it somewhere so I’d know where it was, and you know how that goes.”

Rainbow couldn’t help but giggle, the last of her worries about looking stupid fading away. She and Twilight could embrace their awkwardness together, the same way they’d done so many times. Tonight was special, but it was still her, Rainbow Dash, and still Twilight Sparkle who she loved more than anything else in the world.

Twilight trotted over to the bed, her scapular feathers all fluffed up and her tail swishing with a high arch that told Rainbow everything she needed to know about Twilight’s current mood. Rainbow herself could feel a certain warm anticipation between her legs.

“Now, my wonderful, sweet, incredibly sexy love,” said Twilight, hovering the egg in front of Rainbow. “This needs to get inside you somehow. The instructions that came with it suggest breaking the stasis spell and extracting the genetic material into an appropriate container, but I had something else in mind.”

“’Extracting the genetic material into an appropriate container.’” Rainbow rolled her eyes, her tone playfully mocking. “Twilight, you nerd. Is that your idea of foreplay?”

“The proper term is ‘egghead’,” said Twilight with an exaggerated pout, though a moment later a smirk curled her lips up. “And no. My idea of foreplay is to not extract anything, but to see if I can get you nice and wet and wide open, so I can push this whole thing right in and dissolve the stasis spell inside you, filling you up and getting you, my currently fertile lover, pregnant with our foal.” Twilight drew the egg—filled with donated semen from the sperm bank, from the anonymous stallion whose stats they’d liked—down Rainbow’s belly, the cool of the stasis spell and the warmth of Twilight’s own magic tingling against her hide.

“Oh!” Rainbow shivered, her wings popping open to splay out across the bed. Twilight still sounded like such an egghead, but the mental image that came with what she’d just said was hot as anything.

“It’s pretty big, bigger around than the toys we usually use,” said Twilight, dragging the egg in little circles just below Rainbow’s navel. “But I think you can take it. Can’t you?”

Her voice turned challenging, and Rainbow couldn’t do anything but reply, “Of course I can take it!”

“Oh good.” The smirk was back as Twilight trailed the egg down lower, brushing it between Rainbow’s legs. Rainbow wasn’t very wet yet, but she could feel herself getting further aroused as Twilight twisted and rubbed the egg over her outer labia, right over where her clit lay, making her whine involuntarily.

“But first I think you need a little warm up,” said Twilight. The egg was suddenly gone, and Rainbow, realizing she’d shut her eyes, opened them to see Twilight climbing into the bed with her.

Twilight immediately went for a kiss, pressing their muzzles together and pushing her tongue into Rainbow’s mouth in a way that spoke of eagerness, of heated desire, of wanting to take and claim. Rainbow moaned into the kiss and gave as good as she got, pushing back against Twilight’s tongue with her own. It was half passion and half struggle for dominance, and for a while Rainbow managed to push her tongue deeply into Twilight’s mouth, taking charge, asserting herself. Yet somehow, as she always did, Twilight got the upper hoof, not only pinning Rainbow down physically with her larger, alicorn’s physique, but being so aggressive, so assertive with her kiss that Rainbow couldn’t help but eventually give in and melt into it, her tongue giving way, letting Twilight’s dive deep.

Once Twilight had sufficiently asserted herself, she broke off the kiss, looking down at Rainbow with a satisfied smile on her face. Rainbow licked her lips, a shiver running down her spine. How could such a dork be so incredibly sexy?

Twilight took a deep breath. “Mmm. I can smell you. You must be nearly warmed up enough already, just from a kiss.” Twilight giggled. “So slutty! I love it.”

Rainbow squirmed, feeling her cheeks heat in embarrassment. It was a pleasant kind of embarrassment, though, she liked being teased like that by Twilight, and Twilight knew it.

“I bet you taste amazing too. Let’s see.” Twilight lowered her muzzle and lapped at Rainbow’s pussy. The slick pressure of her tongue pressing over Rainbow’s sensitive lips felt amazing, making Rainbow moan. The involuntary sound was ridiculous, and Rainbow flushed, but it seemed to only egg Twilight on, she started licking in a steady rhythm, pressing her tongue in further with each stroke, parting Rainbow’s outer labia, and the inner too, to eventually lap over her clit.

Rainbow’s already embarrassing moan slid up to a gasping squeak at that, her wings snapping out wide and her back arching, hips lifting involuntarily to Twilight’s questing tongue.

“Mmm,” was all Twilight said in response, and she wrapped her hooves around Rainbow’s thighs and settled in, licking eagerly, expertly, making Rainbow writhe and whimper.

Soon Rainbow had her back arched, her wings stretched achingly wide, and her legs twitching, hips lifting, while Twilight held her down firmly and continued to lick relentlessly. Rainbow’s moans were growing higher and higher in pitch, but before they could reach a crescendo, Twilight suddenly lifted her head.

“Sounds like you might be ready. Let’s see, shall we?” There was a pause, and Rainbow, feeling disappointed that Twilight had stopped, opened her eyes to see Twilight scooping the egg up in her magic.

Twilight rubbed the small end of the egg against Rainbow’s labia, making Rainbow squirm at the cool-warm tingle of it. “Oh my, this just slides around, you’re so wet!” Twilight let out a wicked little giggle. She rubbed the egg up and down, sliding it teasingly over Rainbow. “Let’s see if it’ll fit inside…”

Twilight started to press the tip of the egg in. Rainbow moaned at the feeling of being spread open. The narrow end parted her lips easily, began to press inside, but almost immediately the wider middle of it began stretching her. Rainbow whimpered, the sensation edging towards pain as Twilight slowly pushed the egg forward. The egg was so big, and she suddenly wondered if her mouth had yet again gotten her into trouble, with her declaration that she could take it. Could she?

With another of those little giggles, Twilight began to rock the egg back and forth, moving it just a tiny bit at a time. Rainbow whimpered again, squirming, almost wanting to pull away as each forward nudge stretched her out, but wanting to push down too, to feel the egg filling her up. “You make the best sounds,” said Twilight, continuing the slow, relentless motion.

Rainbow wanted to say something in protest, but she couldn’t manage to get any words together. All she could manage was another whimper. Twilight just giggled again and rocked the egg harder against Rainbow, and all at once she pushed it all the way in, which made Rainbow gasp sharply. The egg slid more easily now that it was fully inside, but the stretch was still bordering on painful.

A shock of pleasure went through Rainbow, and her befuddled mind just managed to realize that with the egg now fully inside, Twilight had leaned down and licked her again. Rainbow felt herself clenching around the massive egg as Twilight’s clever tongue found her clit and began lapping over it.

Rainbow moaned loudly, her wings aching, stretched out wide once more on the bed. She was full to the brim with the egg, and Twilight’s tongue was driving her mad.

Finally she managed to gasp out, “Twilight! Please!” and Twilight instantly redoubled her efforts. Her tongue lapped insistently, and Rainbow squirmed, clenching down on the egg, and moaned loudly.

Twilight didn’t relent, she continued, doing exactly what she knew Rainbow liked. The egg pushed even deeper, the tip pressing against Rainbow’s cervix, adding a more intense pain to the ache of the egg’s stretch. Rainbow whimpered and squirmed, then breathed a sigh of relief as Twilight withdrew it by some tiny fraction. A moment later she gasped and let out a whimpering cry as it pressed down on her cervix again. Meanwhile Twilight continued to lick. Her tongue seemed full of endless energy, working over Rainbow’s clit again and again. The pain of the egg against her cervix was too distracting, too much, holding her back from the pleasure that she trembled on the very edge of. She writhed and moaned, wings thrashing, body bucking, her voice shameless, all worry about how uncool she might sound or look totally forgotten. The egg bore down relentlessly within her, and Twilight licked relentless without for what seemed like an eternity.

The pain denied Rainbow her climax, keeping her there, holding her back, the intertwining sensations a wonderful, horrible torture. Then, finally, Twilight pulled the egg back by some tiny distance once more and began licking with unbridled enthusiasm, until Rainbow finally arched her back and cried out, pushed over the edge by the combination of the slick pressure against her clit and the overwhelming pressure of the egg within her.

In the instant after the wave of her orgasm crashed over her, that pressure vanished as Twilight broke the sealing spell and released a flood of hot, perfectly preserved seed within Rainbow.

“Ah!” Already awash with pleasure, Rainbow felt an even more intense shudder go through her. Twilight didn’t merely release the seed, either, she began almost immediately to use her magic to corral and push it within Rainbow, renewing the pressure on her cervix. Now, though, it wasn’t a hard egg, but the hot, wet mass of semen that Twilight’s magic was driving against her, sending a stream of it squirting deep within, into Rainbow’s womb.

“Oh, Celestia!” Rainbow couldn’t hold back the cry, another shuddering convulsion of pleasure going through her. It was all too much, and she felt like she was on the verge of fainting, but although the world went hazy around her, it didn’t quite go away.

Slowly the physical pleasure of her orgasm and the weirdly intense mental pleasure of knowing she was maybe being impregnated right then both faded and reality reasserted itself.

Twilight had legs and wings both wrapped around Rainbow, cuddling her in a warm, comfortable embrace. Rainbow sighed happily, loving the way Twilight held her. She’d never, ever, ever admit it out loud, but she kinda liked being so much shorter than Twilight. It was nice. Her whole body felt warm too, a fuzzy pleasure lingering in her. As she finally managed to have a coherent thought, though, her mind went instantly to their purpose tonight.

“So, did it work?”

“Hmm?” Twilight nuzzled her cheek, her voice softly puzzled.

“The pregnant thing, did it work? You can like, look with your magic, right?”

Twilight chuckled. “Oh, Rainbow. I wish! But it’s just two cells. Even knowing more or less where to look, finding just two specific cells and seeing if they’ve gotten together yet is impossible. Your body’s natural magic will drown out any magic from the union entirely for weeks yet.”

“Oh. We won’t know for weeks?” Rainbow couldn’t help but sound plaintive.

“Don’t worry. Assuming you are actually ovulating right now so there’s an egg to be fertilized, then we’ll know in about a week, when implantation happens and your own body chemistry starts changing. That’ll show up to my magic sooner than the embryo itself.” Twilight smiled. “If you’re not ovulating now, but do so in the next day or two, the sperm will still be good, and we’ll know a week after that.”

Rainbow frowned in thought, but that math was simple enough to be easy for even her non-egghead self. “So one week, maybe plus two or three days.”

“Yep! I’ll scan you every day. Though we don’t have to wait a week to try again.” Twilight grinned. “Today was the most fertile time, probably, but there’s at least another week in your fertile window, and I’ve already been promised two more eggs, with two more nice, prime stallion loads.” Twilight giggled wickedly. “So we have lots of fun to look forward to.”

Rainbow felt her cheeks flush, but she giggled too, and gave a little wiggle in Twilight’s embrace. “Sounds like fun! Though if we have too many rounds like this one, I might explode or something, that was really, awesomely intense!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Twilight smugly. “And I’ll try to do even better next time. Assuming you can take it.”

“Of course I can take it!” said Rainbow, and even as she knew her mouth was probably getting her into trouble again, she had no regrets whatsoever.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Twilight bounced around the room with manic energy, and Rainbow felt almost like doing the same thing herself, though she was trying to play it cool.

“Really? Really, really?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Really! You’re pregnant! We’re going to be parents!” Twilight’s four hooves were all suddenly on the ground, wings folding in, her posture subdued. “Probably. I mean… the first quadrimester is risky. You could…lose it. Especially the first few weeks. It’s, well… It’s way more common than ponies talk about, but I’ve read everything I can about pregnancy lately. The statistics are pretty clear. Nearly a one in five chance it won’t be…viable.”

“Oh.” Rainbow swallowed.

Twilight put a wing over her. “The odds are still really in favor of it taking. I just wanted to be sure you knew. And maybe we shouldn’t tell everyone else? They might be let down, you know.”

“Well we gotta tell everyone at some point. They’re gonna notice eventually!”

“Oh, well, yes, it’s usual to announce at the end of the first quadrimester, after four months.”

“Four months! That’s forever!”

Twilight chuckled and leaned in to kiss Rainbow’s cheek. “My silly, impatient Rainbow. You do know you’ll be pregnant for almost a year, right?”

“I know! But waiting for the baby is one thing, waiting to even talk about it is gonna be impossible!”

“Well… We could tell the girls, I guess. And I want to tell Princess Celestia, definitely.”

Rainbow nodded. “Hey, if it’s, you know, bad, they’ll be there for us. So maybe not everybody, and not like, the royal foal announcement, but I want to tell our friends right away.”

“Oh sweet Celestia.” Twilight put her wings over her face dramatically. “Don’t remind me about the royal foal business. Poor kid. Poor us! I still don’t know how Shiny and Cadance dealt with all the formal fuss. Though I guess the crazy baby alicorn business headed off most of the formality, everyone was too busy just getting through.”

“Uh… Are we going to have a crazy alicorn baby, Twi? Because I love you, but I remember what Flurry Heart was like, and I dunno if I can cope.”

Twilight laughed. “Anonymous stallion DNA, remember? No alicorn genes to get in there. So no, we’re not. You remember the sheet we looked over. He’s a pegasus, with good flying stats. So the worst we’ll have to deal with is if the kiddo is an early surge flier the way Pound Cake was.”

“Awesome! That I can handle.” Rainbow finally gave in to the impulse to take to the air, and did a quick backwards loop of sheer delight. They were indoors, but the high ceilings in Twilight’s castle meant there was plenty of room. “Woo hoo! We’re gonna have a foal!”

Twilight only smiled up at her and laughed with joy.

“Ugh. So did I hit anypony?”

“Nope, you’re clear. Nothing down there but some squirrels.”

Rainbow groaned again and flopped over on the cloud. Twilight, who’d been checking the ground below, alighted beside her and rubbed between her wings sympathetically.

“Hey Twi?”

“Yes?”

“What time is it?”

Twilight’s voice was puzzled, but she replied, “About three in the afternoon.”

“Wish whoever named it ‘morning sickness’ had been standing down there. It’s bucking all the time sickness. Ugh. Here I thought the first part would be the easy part. I can still fly, but…” She spat again, unable to quite get rid of the lingering taste of bile.

“Well, in most ponies the, er, not-morning sickness clears up during the second quadrimester.” Twilight’s rubbing turned to a sympathetic pat.

“So two more months of wanting to barf all the time. Great.”

“Probably. Though, uhm, some ponies experience nausea all the way through.”

“Push me off the cloud now and put me out of my misery,” groaned Rainbow. Twilight just kept rubbing her back.

“That was great!” Twilight turned her stopwatch to show Rainbow the time on it as Rainbow looped back to land beside her on the workout course grass.

“That was boring,” groused Rainbow, her eyes drifting, for the thousandth time today, to the high-speed aerobatics course that drifted overhead, a series of fluffy white obstacles and rings, with the bright specks of pegasi darting among them.

“You’re flying great, all things considered.” Twilight’s smile was sincere, encouraging, and didn’t help one bit.

Rainbow scuffed the ground with one hoof. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” She looked up again and heaved a deep sigh. “I knew I’d be put back in the reserves when we planned this. I knew I’d be taking a break from the acrobatics and tricks. I knew all that. I’m just sooooooo bored. I’m going to go mental by the time the little squish arrives.” Rainbow poked her stomach with one hoof. There was a small bulge there, visible only because of her impeccably trim figure. If Twilight had been the pregnant one, her own fluffier middle would still be covering the swelling entirely.

“Hey, at least you haven’t vomited on the course in nearly a month now.” Twilight couldn’t help but grin as she said that.

“Woo,” said Rainbow sarcastically, with a mock-excited hoof wave.

Twilight chuckled and leaned in to give Rainbow a nuzzle. “I appreciate everything you’re sacrificing for me. You are the most awesome partner possible.”

Rainbow scuffed a hoof again, blushing. “I guess. I want the baby too, it’s not just for you. It’s just why does it have to be such a pain?”

“Very few good things come without some cost, I’m afraid.” Twilight smooched Rainbow on the nose. Rainbow rolled her eyes and crinkled her nose, but smiled too.

“Yeah, I guess she’ll be worth it.”

“I’m sure she will be.”

“She’ll be my kid, she’ll be the most awesome thing ever,” said Rainbow, losing some of her slouch.

“That’s the attitude!” Twilight clapped Rainbow on the shoulder. “Now come on. I want to do another lap with you before we go home. Heck, maybe in another month or two I’ll even be able to keep up with you, slowpoke!”

“You wish!” Rainbow grinned and took off towards the start of the course, with Twilight in her wake, both of them smiling and laughing.

“I am a whale. I am a snail. I can’t fly.”

Twilight’s eyebrows were both up in amused disbelief. “Rainbow, all four of your hooves are off the ground right now.” Rainbow was indeed currently in the air, hovering over the grass of Ponyville’s flight range. She was just over nine months pregnant, and the bulge of the growing foal was more than visible; it was downright unmissable, especially on her otherwise petite figure.

“You know what I mean!”

“You mean you’re a little slower than usual.”

“You were ahead of me earlier! You!”

Twilight’s eyebrows went up a little higher. Rainbow flushed. “I, uh, I wasn’t trying to insult you, just, uh…”

“I fly slow, I know.” Twilight giggled and flourished her wings. “Larger wings. Falcons are faster than swans, that kind of thing. It’s fine. And I know it’s hard for you to be so slowed down. I appreciate how much you’re sacrificing for our baby.”

“Argh.” Rainbow Dash put her front hooves over her face. “It’s not about sacrificing!”

Very gently, Twilight patted Rainbow on the cutie mark, which was as high as she could currently reach, with Rainbow hovering just above her. “It is, though. You’re frustrated and upset, because you’re giving up so much of the flying you love for the sake of the foal.”

“I knew that, though! It’s dumb. I knew that’d happen, and it’s totally worth it, I just… Ugh! I’m not good at explaining things, Twi.”

“It’s okay, Rainbow. Do you want to call it a day and head home?”

“No! I can totally do another couple of laps. Even if they’re slow. And boring. I’m so bored. Urgh.” Rainbow shook her head in frustration, hunting for words. “It’s the boring, see? I knew I’d be giving up stuff, I knew that! And I’m not mad that I’m not fast, it’s worth it! I just didn’t think it would be so boring! Months and months of being bored, bored, bored, doing laps to keep in shape, no tricks, no speed runs, just laps and laps and oh Celestia I’m so bored!”

“Hmm.” Twilight tilted her head to the side, in that way that meant she was thinking, and Rainbow found herself wondering if she should have stayed quiet. Twilight was a problem solver, and Rainbow had just given her a problem. It was going to get solved, one way or another, but would Rainbow like the solution?

There was a faint fizzing sound and the world went slightly purple around Rainbow. She blinked, realizing she was now in the middle of one of Twilight’s magical shield bubbles.

“Uh, Twi?” Rainbow expected her voice to echo, but it didn’t, and the air moved around her as if the bubble wasn’t there. She’d been inside a shield spell before, but not one quite like this one, apparently. Usually they blocked air.

“It’s a failsafe barrier. It lets air through but will cushion you from anything solid, like other ponies, or trees or, you know, the ground.” Twilight grinned. “With that on, I feel okay with you doing something a little more energetic, especially if we also go up high.”

Rainbow nodded. Altitude was time, when it came to flying accidents. The higher you were, the wider the window for somebody to catch you in. It was why things like Wonderbolts shows and the Young Flier competitions were held so far up.

Twilight fanned her own wings, and her hooves lifted off the ground. There was a teasing little twinkle in her eye as she said, “You’re slow enough now that maybe a little air tag would be an almost even match?”

“You’re so on,” said Rainbow, grinning back. “And I’m going to wipe the sky with you, Twi.”

“Maybe!” Twilight laughed. “Come on, let’s go find out.”

“Oh yeah!” Rainbow increased her wingspeed, lifting higher, with Twilight following close behind, horn still glowing as she kept the shield spell alive.

“And Twi?” added Rainbow as they flew side by side, Twilight’s wingtips just shy of where Rainbow’s reached to the outer edge of the bubble.

“Hmm?”

Rainbow drew in a deep breath. It was hard for her, sometimes, to say it, but she felt like she would nearly burst with it right now. Twilight had fixed things for her yet again. Even if it wouldn’t be the same as doing real aerobatics, the chance to cut loose just a little without risking the foal was going to save Rainbow’s sanity, she was sure. So she had to say it. “Love you. Thanks for this, really.”

Twilight’s cheeks turned adorably pink and she smiled as she replied, “I love you too, Rainbow.”

“I hate you, Twilight. I really, really, really hate you.” Rainbow Dash started to draw in a breath, then let it out suddenly in an explosive shout of “Celestia’s suckling teats!”

Twilight simply kept rubbing Rainbow’s shoulder soothingly. Rainbow was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV in her forehoof, which was clamped down to the bed after they’d had to re-insert it twice. Her other forehoof tapped restlessly on the bed’s railing. Her hind hooves weren’t in the stirrups yet, she wasn’t to that point, but she had been given an epidural, which Rainbow had determinedly not watched go in, and which Twilight had found completely fascinating to watch. The anti-pain medication was probably helping, Rainbow’s cursing had been even louder and more inventive earlier, but the nurse had explained that completely numbing her would make the delivery harder, so the goal was to partially numb, but leave some sensation.

Rainbow had said that apparently this meant the medication only went to one side, because she could feel everything on the left, and her right hind leg kept falling asleep. The nurse, on being told this, had only shrugged, and Twilight didn’t know enough to know what else to do. But things were progressing, at least.

“Sorry,” said Rainbow, relaxing as the contraction passed. “Ugh. Ow. How much longer is this going to be?”

“They said probably at least another hour, but you’re getting very close, and the foal is doing fine.”

“That’s good, at least.” Rainbow tapped her hoof some more.

“Do you want me to read to you? Or hold the book for you?” Twilight patted the copy of the latest Daring Do book sitting beside her.

Rainbow gave an impatient little wiggle and tugged at the strapped-down hoof. “I dunno. I can’t read. Dunno if I can follow the story. No, never mind, you read. Yeah, that’d be nice. I’m going crazy here.”

“I’ll read then.” Twilight opened the book and cleared her throat. “The night was still, perhaps too still, as Daring Do slipped silently along the seaside path. The only sound was the faint hiss of sea on sand…”

Twilight got about a third of the way into the book before the doctor checked Rainbow again and, after extinguishing her horn, said, “Looks like you’re ready to push. Let’s get your hooves up.” After getting the stirrups set, and after Twilight helping Rainbow lift the numbed leg into one, the doctor said, “Try bearing down, how does that feel?”

Rainbow made an inarticulate grunt.

The doctor lit her horn again. “Good, good. It’s going to take a while, every push will make a little progress, but every relax loses most of it. That’s fine and natural. Now, when you feel the urge, push again. Let’s get a rhythm going and get this little filly out, shall we?”

“Yeah, it’s about time,” said Rainbow, then grunted again, face tight with effort.

It did take a long time, an amount of time that made Twilight fret and Rainbow come up with more than a few additional curses. Various positions were tried too, including simply standing on the bed for a while, in the “traditional” four hooves down pose. They did everything except put Rainbow in the tub, the doctor noted that they weren’t set up for water birth here.

Finally, in the otherwise still hours before the first hint of Celestia’s sun showed, the doctor made a pleased noise, and said, “Just a few more pushes, Rainbow Dash, you can do it.”

Twilight, who at the moment was holding up Rainbow’s numb hoof, stroked her cutie mark. “Push, Rainbow, you’re almost done, it’s almost over.”

Rainbow made another inarticulate noise and pushed.

“A few more,” coaxed the doctor.

“Luna’s frozen fundament!” shouted Rainbow, exhausted and frustrated, and pushed again.

“There, she’s more than crowning, one more, maybe two,” said the doctor.

“Augh!” Rainbow pushed again, then made a strangled sound of surprise, while the doctor let out a shout of triumph.

“There she is, her head’s out! One last push.”

“OhSweetCelestiathatfeelssoweird,” said Rainbow, all in one breath, then a moment later the doctor was pulling up a little bundle of soggy, blood-streaked, baby blue fur, that immediately opened huge blue eyes. Twilight felt a stab of confused love at she met that unfocused gaze. This odd-looking thing was their daughter, her daughter.

“We’ll just have the hide-to-hide bonding for a little bit, and then we’ll get her cleaned up. Her other momma can cut the cord, if she likes?” The doctor deposited the little bundle on Rainbow’s chest.

Rainbow made another startled sound, staring down at the mess of newborn now lying on her. “…oh,” she said after a moment, the then she was folding her forelegs—they’d untied the one in the process of having her change positions—around the foal and nuzzling it. “Oh. She’s so gooey. But she’s so real. Wow. A real baby.”

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at Rainbow’s dazed, surprised tone. She leaned in and nuzzled Rainbow and the foal. “She is. A real baby. Our baby. Welcome to the world, Skylark Dash Sparkle.”

The hospital room’s lights were dim, but outside the morning sun was bright, and strands of it filtered in through the gap in the curtains on the room’s one window. The foal had been cleaned up, diapered, and swaddled, and was now a fluffy blue bundle in a bassinet at Rainbow’s bedside. She’d also been fed, which had caused another round of cursing—apparently her suckling had been enthusiastic enough to hurt—but the nurse had been happy with how it had gone.

The door swung open and the doctor, a cream-colored, middle-aged unicorn mare, came into the room. “Hello there, mommas. Everything is looking good, so I just have some care instructions for Rainbow.” She nodded at the pegasus. “You did tear slightly during the delivery. I stitched it up while I was finishing with the afterbirth, since it’s simpler to do while you’re still anesthetized. That means you’ll need to take some time to heal. Here’s an instructions sheet for aftercare. And do note the part where it discusses sexual activities. You’ll want to refrain from sex until the tear has healed completely, which can take up to six weeks.”

Twilight and Rainbow exchanged glances, and Rainbow’s voice was strained and incredulous as she said, “Six weeks?”

“Yes,” said the doctor, giving a nod.

Twilight took the paper in her magic, and started to read.

Meanwhile Rainbow was giving the doctor a kicked-puppy look. “Really? Six weeks? With no sex?”

“Re-opening the tear would be very painful. There are still things you can do…”

Twilight suddenly started giggling. “It’s fine, Rainbow.”

“Huh?”

“We’re both mares,” said Twilight, still giggling.

The doctor suddenly flushed. “Ah, yes, I mean, of course.”

“Huh?” said Rainbow again.

“The care sheet specifies no penetration. We can do everything else.”

“Oh!” Rainbow’s sad look vanished. “That’s fine then!”

“Ahem.” The doctor was still a bit pink in the cheeks. “Yes, other activities are fine. Now, we’ll send you home with a care kit, so you have everything you need to keep the area clean. You will want to wear clothing, and pads, for some time, since in addition to the wound you’ll also be passing the rest of the uterine lining and amniotic sac. Also—”

A small wail from the bassinet interrupted the doctor, who smiled and said, “Also, there are instructions for nursing, which you probably need to do now, it’s been two hours since she last ate.”

Twilight scooped up the now-awake, wiggling, and complaining foal and gave her to Rainbow.

The doctor smiled. “I’ll leave you two alone, though you can ring if you have any more trouble nursing,” said the doctor.

“Thank you,” said Twilight. Rainbow was already cradling the foal in the appropriate position, tucked across her belly, head near her hindquarters so she could reach.

Rainbow winced as the little filly latched on and started sucking enthusiastically. “Eeugh. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get used to that. Ouch.”

“Poor Rainbow. And our poor sex life. Every two hours? Plus all the diapers and whatever else she gets up to. Mares or not, I think we’re not going to be doing much for quite a while. Maybe longer than six weeks.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow winced again as the little foal took a particularly hard pull. The wince immediately smoothed out to a smile as she stroked the baby’s downy fluff of a mane. “Worth it, though. It was all so very, very worth it.”

“I’m glad it was.” Twilight leaned over and kissed Rainbow’s forehead. “I love you, Rainbow Dash. You are the best, most awesome wife a pony could ask for. And you make cute babies.”

“Love you too,” said Rainbow, smiling. Then she winced again and added, “Next foal it’s your turn, though.”

“Oh geez. We might only be having one, then,” laughed Twilight, but she leaned over and kissed the foal’s cheek too. Then everything was quiet, except for the soft, contented sounds of a foal eating, as the new family rested together in comfortable warmth.

Author's Note

This was drawn at least slightly from real life. The "miracle" of birth is miraculous, but it's also a load of things that make one super cranky and annoyed.

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