All Good Things…

A pacing figure suddenly stopped and turned towards me.

“What is taking so long?”

I turned to look at Rainbow Dash, her recently short-shorn hair still damp from the pelting rain. I lifted an eyebrow and sighed.

“It’s labor, Dash,” I said as a bit of lightning flashed. “It doesn’t always hit hard and fast. Sometimes it takes time.”

“But it has been almost a day, Sunny,” Twilight said from next to me, thunder rolling softly in the background. “Middy was born only a few hours after my water broke.”

“But you are not me, my sunshine,” I replied, wincing slightly as another small contraction hit. “Everyone is different, some of us more than others.”

I had been in the hospital following my water breaking the previous night. While the contractions were definitely happening, they were spaced so far apart that I really could have finished the chores I had been working on.

Not that I was complaining, mind you. This pregnancy had been so easy that I sometimes forgot I was in the early months. It wasn’t until I started really showing that it had struck me that I really was carrying a tiny life inside me.

I glanced to the side, where AJ was napping with a tiny Midnight Sky in her lap. I was allowed visitors until my contractions grew to less than five minutes apart, but Middy was in a phase where she didn’t like being separated from either myself or Twilight for too long.

“Besides,” I sighed. “If nothing else, this is likely the last bit of restful peace we’ll have for a while. Middy is precious, but she also got into anything we didn’t nail down.”

“Sunset!” Twilight cried, swatting my arm gently.

“You know it’s true, Twi,” I smiled. “She always wanted to be in something, especially if it involved magic.”

The scientist hummed as she looked warmly over at the sleeping tyke.

“I suppose she was a little precocious,” she allowed.

Fluttershy stepped in, Redheart at her side.

“How’s the mother doing?” Redheart asked.

“I’m pretty ready to have this over with. I miss seeing my feet.” I quipped, giving a weary smile before groaning as another contraction hit. They were coming faster, now.

“How long between them now, Sunset?” Fluttershy asked, coming over to my side.

I shook my head, not entirely sure of the time. Twilight stroked a few strands of my hair out of my face.

“About seven minutes between them, Fluttershy,” Twilight checked her watch before nodding in confirmation.

“Alright then, we might be in the final stretch.” Redheart made a few notes in the chart. “Once they start hitting hard, we’ll have to ask the extended family to leave for the actual delivery.”

I sighed as Redheart pulled the curtain around my bed, taking a seat at the foot of the delivery bed. As she began to bundle the blankets up around my hips, I couldn’t help but feel a momentary flash of embarrassment. Twilight stroked my forehead as I felt a cold tool press against me, soothing me.

“It looks as though you’re fully dilated, Sunset,” Redheart said with a frown. “No change from an hour ago. I don’t understand why the contractions aren’t more frequent or forceful.”

“Maybe they just don’t want to come out,” I joked,

My laughter was cut off by a sudden, shooting pain through my body. I felt Twilight tense up beside me and Fluttershy looked over at AJ and Dash.

“Sorry, girls,” she said. “But could you two take Middy outside?”

As the two bundled up the tiny girl and left, I felt another strong pain and in the aftermath I recognized it as a contraction - a real one as opposed to the gentle ones I had been getting.

“Ok, Sunset,” Fluttershy whispered as I gasped in a lungful of air. “Not too long and we’re going to ask you to start pushing with each contraction. Remember to breathe deep, even breaths.”

I nodded, looking over at my wife only to see her doubled over slightly. After a moment of confusion, I realized that the sudden intensity of the last contraction had bled through the bond and she had felt it too. I smiled sheepishly and clamped down harder on our mental connection.

“Sorry, Twi, I… ung!” The strongest contraction yet rippled through me and I bore down, pushing as instructed. I felt something shift inside me, and my hips started going numb.

“Ok, the baby is crowning,” Redheart said. “It won’t be long now.”

Famous last words. It took another thirty minutes for Aurora to finally decide to join us in the birthing room, the storm outside breaking for a moment.

Listening to the slacking rain as I looked down into her tiny, squishy face, and at the face of Middy sleeping in Twilight’s lap, I thought that some things were worth waiting for.