Dash's Secret Diary

Dash's Secret Diary

by Twippledash

Chapter 5: New Life

Okay, I didn't even know it was possible for me to feel this emotional...

I mean, Fluttershy gave birth to her foal yesterday, and I can't nearly express how delighted I was for her. And I am still so happy that I feel like... honestly I don't really know how to describe these feelings, but it sure feels strange and amazing at the same time!

Anyway, in the yesterday afternoon Fluttershy was in the Ponyville hospital, in maternity ward, and the foal delivery was estimated to be from just a few minutes to several hours.

I, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Twilight were sitting in a waiting room, only sound being ticking of a clock on a wall—and yes, even Pinkie was sitting silently for once. The silence was only broken by regular reports from a nurse saying everything was still fine with Fluttershy. We all had quite mixed emotions; on one hoof we were all nervous of Fluttershy's well being, but on the other hoof we were also excited to see our friend with her soon-to-be-born foal. The silence was really getting on my nerves, but I still managed to stay calm and just waited.

Big Macintosh was there also, but he was in there with Fluttershy to give her emotional support. On principle only the mare giving birth, her husband, and the birth attendants were allowed in there, so we had to wait outside. Not that we would have really wanted to be in there invading Fluttershy's privacy anyway. All we really could do was to sit in the next room and hope for the best, leaving all the work for the professional birth attendants.

It was common knowledge that foalbirth can be really painful even if one was using painkillers, so I was obviously really worried about how Fluttershy would be able to endure it. I tried to calm down by convincing myself that every mother have been through it, and that any serious complications were really rare nowadays. That didn't really subside my worries though. I just can't help but feel a bit overprotective of Fluttershy sometimes.

Finally after a few hours of waiting one of the nurses came out to inform that Fluttershy's foal delivery was just about to begin. She then went back in to help the other nurses, closing the door behind her. The maternity ward rooms were magically sound-proofed so the screaming of laboring mares inside would not disturb any other hospital patients. That meant we wouldn't be able to hear anything from Fluttershy during the foal delivery either. Which was probably for the best, as I don't know how much of her screaming in agony I would have been able to take before my instincts to protect her would have taken over my rational thoughts.

We couldn't hear anything, but we knew that Fluttershy would be giving birth as we were sitting there waiting. But as I said before, we couldn't really do anything else at the moment.

So we waited in silence, listening to the persistent ticking of the clock on the wall...

And we waited...

And waited...

Every second seemed like a minute and every minute was like an hour. It felt like we had been waiting for several hours, even though it was just a few dozen minutes until the same nurse came out with the news regarding Fluttershy. We all released a breath we had been holding as she told that the foal was born, and both the foal and Fluttershy were in good condition.

Rarity asked whether we could go in now, but the nurse insisted in giving her some more time to recuperate before letting any friends in. I complied grudgingly, waiting for fifteen more minutes with my other friends before the nurse allowed us to enter the room holding Fluttershy, Big Macintosh, and a pair of nurses who were still there to monitor the health of Fluttershy and the foal. Oh, and of course the foal was there too, curled in Fluttershy's hooves sleeping. I got to admit that seeing Fluttershy lying on the bed with her own foal wrapped in her forehooves was the most adorable thing I have ever seen. The sight almost made me burst into joyful tears on the spot, but I simply refused to be all that emotional in front of all my best friends.

The foal was a pegasus filly with bright yellow coat—slightly brighter shade than Fluttershy's—and she had a tuft of light brown mane on the top of her head as well as a tail of same color. I didn't initially see her eyes (she was sleeping as I mentioned), but she woke up for a few moments during our visit and I found then to be bright green just like Big Macintosh's. Fluttershy and Mac decided to give her name Sunshine, which I think actually fits quite well for her yellow color and for her being a pegasus—maybe she could even live up to her name someday, becoming a weather pegasus and bringing sunshine to the others.

I don't really know how long we all stayed there just chatting cheerfully. We didn't leave until after hospital's visiting hours were already over. Even then I tried to persuade the nurses to let us stay but they wouldn't take any of that, reasoning that the foal and the mother would both need a lot of rest. Fluttershy would have to stay for at least a night or two more in the hospital to be sure there wouldn't be any unexpected complications. Big Macintosh was allowed to stay for a while longer than the rest of us, but even he had to leave for the night eventually.

So we—I and my friends, save for Fluttershy obviously—walked out of the hospital to see it indeed was already quite long into the evening, but there were still a few hours of daylight left. As we walked down a road without any specific destination, we met with Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom who were driving the road with Scootaloo's scooter; she mostly flew everywhere these days, but still used her scooter to carry her friends when they were together. They knew Fluttershy was just about to have her foal and that we were with her at the hospital, so obviously they immediately started asking about her situation.

Once we had told them everything we knew, they wanted to see the foal themselves. But for the same reason why we had to left the hospital, they wouldn't be able to go in and see the foal until tomorrow. They understandably looked downcast, but cheered up quickly and soon zoomed off with the scooter to... do whatever they did that evening. I don't really know what they do together nowadays, seeing that they are not crusading to get their cutie marks anymore.

We all parted our ways briefly after that, and I flew over to a nearby field to do my routine evening flight training as usual. Nothing really interesting happened during the rest of the evening or this morning.

Anyway, hospital visiting hours are just starting and I'm going to leave now to see whether everything is still all right with Fluttershy and Sunshine.

—Aunt Rainbow Dash

Rainbow sighed as memories started flooding into her mind. "Sometimes I wish I could live those times again. All that joy and those feelings I felt back then... now it all seems to be just a distant dream."

"Yeah, I miss the old times as well," Scootaloo said. "And this diary just brings into mind so many wonderful memories from the past. Though not everything from those days is gone. For example, I get to see Sunshine at least once a week as she still works as a part of the weather patrol in Ponyville. However, even though I know the Sunshine now living in Ponyville and the Sunshine in your diary are one and same pegasus, it is still really hard to imagine her as a small filly," she said laughing.

"Actually, I have something that may help with that," Rainbow said. "I'm quite sure I have a photo album with some old photos of Fluttershy and her foals stashed somewhere in my bedroom. Would you like to check it out?" Rainbow asked as she already stood up, ready to walk off to fetch said album.

"Sure, why not," Scootaloo answered. "Do you need any help searching?"

"Nah, I've got a pretty good idea where it could be. Just wait here and I'll be back in a minute or two," the elder pegasus said and walked off to her bedroom.

Scootaloo nodded and just sat on the sofa waiting for Rainbow to come back. She glanced back at the diary and tried remember anything from those days. All she could come up with was a hazy memory of her going in the hospital with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow, and all her friends to see Fluttershy with her newborn foal. Sunshine was indeed quite fitting name for her, not only because of her looks, but as they later found out her personality was quite sunny also. She was—and still is—always beaming, her smile almost never faltering and she always tries to bring smile on the other ponies all around her. But that is where her similarities with Pinkie Pie end. On every other aspect she is quite much like her parents. She's not as shy as Fluttershy was or as taciturn as Big Macintosh, but she's still very meek and quiet compared to most other ponies.

Scootaloo's thoughts were interrupted as she heard Rainbow approaching the living room. The elder pegasus returned carrying a white photo album in her mouth. "Found it," she said with a muffled sound and put the album on the table next to the diary. "It contains some other photos from around that time, too. Oldest ones here are from a few months before Sunshine's birth, while the latest ones are several years after that," she said as she flipped through its pages. "So, Sunshine's birth... here!" She set the album opened on the table and said, "These photos were taken about a week after her birthday."

Indeed, in the first photo out of the four photos on the open page, there were Fluttershy and Big Macintosh sitting together with a bright yellow pegasus foal sitting at their hooves. There were various animals around them also as the photo had been taken in front of Fluttershy's cottage.

"Aww..." Scootaloo smiled as she looked at the picture. "They are so adorable together. Though I got to admit I wouldn't have recognized Sunshine from that photo if I didn't know it was her, even if her colors are the same as nowadays."

"Heh, yeah," Rainbow said, also smiling. "Then again, I guess you wouldn't immediately recognize yourself either if you looked at some pictures of you as a week old foal."

"Guess you're right," Scootaloo said and looked at the other photos on the open page. Next one was similar to the first, with the exception it was taken in the cottage rather than outdoors. Third featured Fluttershy and Sunshine again—Big Macintosh was absent from that one—but this time Rainbow and her other four friends were gathered around Fluttershy. Fourth photo was just a close-up of Sunshine sitting on the floor of Fluttershy's cottage, her bright green eyes looking towards the camera.

Rainbow sighed looking at the group photo of her and her friends. "I think that was actually second to last time our whole group—me, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and Twilight—had been together for a photo shoot, the last time being a few months over a year later when we were together with Fluttershy's first two foals. We just didn't spend much time together after I left for Wonderbolts. And just a few months later Rarity already moved to Canterlot, separating our group even more."

Scootaloo nodded understanding and said, "Yeah, like me, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle eventually chose to follow different paths. Apple Bloom moved to Appleloosa to help expanding their ever growing frontier town and Sweetie Belle moved to Canterlot where she quickly became quite a famous singer. And as you know, I was more like a freelancer, constantly on a move while performing here and there for many years. That is until I finally settled down and moved back to Ponyville, eventually starting my own family. I never stopped my performing though, except for when I was pregnant or on a maternity leave of course, just had most of my future performances in Ponyville or the towns nearby."

"Anyway," Rainbow said, "there is still a plenty of entries left and we'll get back to our friends later. Let's just move on to next entry, written just about a month after the last one." She pushed the photo album aside and flipped open the next page of the diary still lying in front of both of them.

So the time has finally come. Tomorrow I'll have to leave Ponyville to get into Wonderbolt training.

I have quite mixed feelings once again. On one hoof I want to get into Wonderbolts as soon as possible, but on the other hoof I don't want to leave my friends or Ponyville. I know I am not leaving permanently, but for what I've been told about the training, the next time I'll be back in Ponyville will be weeks or maybe even months from now. And even then it will be just for a weekend or so until I have to leave again.

I have already done everything I need to do here before leaving; I have signed off from my weather job, informed town hall and post office about my long-time absence, packed all my necessary stuff, and so on. This diary is not in those things I'm packing to take with me, as keeping this hidden in the shared living quarters would be near impossible, and I doubt I'll have much time or motivation to write into this there anyway.

I'll have to leave tomorrow before noon, so Pinkie is having a farewell party for me tonight. That will be the last time I'll have any time together with my friends before leaving, so I'm going to take everything I can out of it. Sure my closest friends will almost definitely be out there to say goodbye and wish good luck as I leave tomorrow morning, but it will likely be just a very short get-together to send me on my way.

Anyway, enough of that. Here are some more or less interesting things that have happened during last month.

Fluttershy was soon enough released from the hospital, and now she is once again living in her cottage with Big Macintosh and their foal Sunshine. I haven't seen Fluttershy out of her cottage too often lately other than feeding and taking care of her animals. That is quite understandable though; from what I've heard taking care of little foals can be really demanding. Also, Sunshine is getting to the age when she might just start flying all over the place any day now. That phase luckily never lasts long and she'll soon be unable to fly until years later, but I still hope Fluttershy will manage to keep up with her.

As for my other friends, last week Rarity mentioned that she has been saving some bits lately to buy a new boutique in Canterlot. She still apparently needs some thousands of bits more—Canterlot housing is quite expensive—but she seemed to be determined to finally expand her fashion business. I don't really know why she has such and obsession of Canterlot, as all I see in it is just a bunch of prissy and self-centered ponies. Then again, she herself is quite prissy too—or "refined" as she would describe herself—so maybe she just feels like she belongs to Canterlot, similar to how I feel like I belong to the Wonderbolts. And actually I got to agree fashion business would be more profitable in Canterlot that here in Ponyville, seeing that not too many ponies around here wear clothes save for some special occasions.

Oh, one more thing I actually forgot to mention in the last entry. I have seen Soarin' visiting Ponyville several times after my audition, specifically he has been here to visit Applejack's farm to buy some more apple pies. He had apparently been craving for those ever since the Grand Galloping Gala, but didn't know where to find the mare who had been selling them. And now that he finally found that out, he had become a regular customer to the Sweet Apple Acres visiting them about once a week. It also seems that he and Applejack have become quite good friends together, as sometimes they just have a friendly chat in addition to Soarin' just buying and eating some pies.

Guess that's all. I'm sure I'll miss all my friends when I'm away, but then again I knew all along that we couldn't all stay together here for the rest of our lives. We all have our own desires and our group was bound to break apart at some point. I mean break apart physically, as in going our own ways, but despite that I wish our friendship will last forever.

—Rainbow Dash

"At least you got that last wish," Scootaloo said. "As far as I know you all are still on good terms with each other."

"Yeah," Rainbow said. She glanced at their group photo in the photo album, her lips turning into a sad frown. "And we all still consider Fluttershy a close friend too, even if she hasn't been around for decades. Sometimes I still feel like blaming somepony, even myself, for her passing away so young even though I know it wasn't anypony's fault."

Scootaloo's mood also fell a bit. "I miss her also, even if I didn't know her as well as you or your friends did. But grieving doesn't bring her back, no matter how much we do it, so we should probably just move on. We'll sure to get back to that later anyway."

Rainbow sighed. "You're right. I have mostly got over it, but reading this diary and looking at these photos really bring back a lot of memories. Mostly good ones, but also the painful ones like Fluttershy's death." She put a slight smile—albeit a somewhat forced one—back on her face. "But like you said, we should just move on for the time being. There is time for grieving, and there is time for recalling some happier memories. And I'd prefer this moment to be the latter."

"Right," Scootaloo said, looking back at the diary to find something else to talk about. "I guess Applejack and Soarin' didn't realize back then that him visiting her farm on a regular basis was a beginning of a strong relationship between the two."

"Nor did I," Rainbow said. "In all honesty, I think at that point it was nothing more than a friendship building up. But little did they, or anypony else for that matter, know that would eventually develop into a loving relationship."

"They were sure quite a dynamic couple, always having competitions with each other," Scootaloo said laughing. "It seemed that in addition to eventually becoming her husband, Soarin' also replaced you as her main competitor in sports, seeing you were not around that much anymore."

Rainbow shrugged. "Well, what can I say? Wonderbolts just took almost all of my free time for years. I really took all their training seriously, unlike Soarin' who sometimes seemed to be quite indifferent about attending any training. And he did quit Wonderbolts to live with Applejack in Ponyville, just a few years after I joined." She looked down at the diary and added, "And speaking of training, next entry has something about my first months of training in Wonderbolts."

"Well, what are we waiting for then," Scootaloo said and turned on the next page.