Unexpected Changes

Four more games. Four more games against four other teams. The league wasn't very large, but Lily's team had been invited to the national championships. They were even favoured to win, because out of the other seven districts, not a single one of the teams had gone undefeated. Lily and her team had. After defeating all five other teams in her district, the closest call being 13-12 against Trottingham, she was feeling on top of the world.

And then she woke up one morning to something kicking at her.

She tossed her comforter to one side, looking for what had struck her. Nothing. She jumped up to her hooves to see if it was something that had rolled under her. Nothing. Nothing was crawling on her body, either.

And then it kicked again, and she realised that the feeling was coming from inside of her. She placed her hoof on her belly, and a tiny hoof pushed back. The baby was forming.

She ran to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't look to be that big. Then again, she'd seen herself every day, and the transition had been gradual. If she looked closely, she could see stretch marks starting to form.

She took a deep breath and relaxed. Letting her abdomen fall as it wanted, she looked again. The bulge was small, but it was there. And that meant it was too late. She couldn't play hoofball anymore. Not until she gave birth.

She sat down on the rim of the tub, taking a few deep breaths. She knew this day was coming. She knew this would happen. She was almost three months into her pregnancy, meaning the first trimester was going to end soon. She didn't know what a trimester was, but she knew there were at least three of them, and she was expected to swell up during the second one. That was to start very soon.

There was a knock at her bedroom door, something she could hear from the bathroom. She poked her head out, and Granny was standing across the hall, waiting for Lily to call out to her. "Over here."

Granny turned around. "Early up, are we?" she smiled sweetly. "Is school time soon."

Lily squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "I'm sick today."

"Sick? Sick how?"

"My stomach is churning, and I feel like I'm going to throw up. That's why I came to the bathroom early."

It wasn't a complete lie. She'd come to the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror, but the rest was true. Granted, she was sure that the reason she felt like she was going to vomit was likely because of the news, but she was in no mood to go out today. All she wanted was to stay home and sort this out. She could go back to school tomorrow, if she could find a way to hide her bump, but even that was a temporary measure. Once she started showing for real, she had to hide. No one could know.

"I tell school. You want soup?"

Lily nodded. "Soup. Yes. Soup is good. And, umm... I think I should take a shower, too, and then go back to bed."

"I tell school."

Lily closed the door and returned to the tub. She didn't think she needed a shower when she came in, but it'd be nice if something were to keep her warm. Plus, she was nervous to the point of sweating, and she wanted to cry. She was sad because she couldn't play hoofball anymore, angry that the opportunity to participate in the championships had been taken away from her, happy that her baby was okay, excited that it was healthy, scared of being found out, mortified of what would happen if she made even the smallest mistake, and all of the emotions flooding over her at once were so overwhelming when packed together that she actually did throw up.

After flushing it down, she stepped into the shower and turned on the warm water. She needed to calm down and think about this.

Granny knocked on her door again before opening it. Lily was still in bed, curled up and sobbing softly. "Lily?"

She wiped her face and rolled over. "Sorry. I was just... nevermind. It's not important."

"Friends are here. How is feeling?"

Lily sniffed. "Can I see them?"

Granny stepped aside, pulling the door open. Daisy, Glory and Snapdragon came in, all wearing light jackets. "A little chilly out there, today," chuckled Daisy. "How ya' feelin'?"

As Granny closed the door to return to the kitchen and let Lily talk to her friends, she tossed the covers aside and sat up.

"Whoa!" gasped Glory. "You're fat now!"

"It's probably just bloating from being sick," sneered Daisy.

Lily shook her head. "No. Being sick didn't cause this. This showing up made me sick."

"Is it the baby?" asked Daisy, quietly.

Lily nodded. "Wanna feel?"

Glory and Daisy put their hooves up against Lily's belly, feeling the tiny little movements of the fetus moving around.

"That's so cute and small!" squeaked Glory, her hooves shaking from too much excitement.

"You seriously can't play hoofball anymore," warned Daisy. "If you even think of it--"

"I'm quitting," assured Lily. "It's too late. I have to miss the tournament."

Daisy let out a breath. They'd been trying to convince her to stop since the day spots were announced, and had been unable to convince her. At every turn, trying to trick her into bowing out in front of the coach had resulted in them being outsmarted. They'd never gone so far as to tell him the truth, that Lily was pregnant, because of what would happen next, but Daisy had faked an injury. Snapdragon hadn't caught on, and Cherry Pit wasn't in on the plan to begin with, so the game went on, but still...

"Snapdragon, would you like to feel?" asked Lily.

Snapdragon didn't answer. She was digging through Lily's closet, tossing clothes into multiple piles and grumbling to herself.

"Snapdragon!"

For a moment, she turned and looked back at the group, but then went back to rummaging.

"What are you doing?" asked Daisy. "If you're looking for that cute swimsuit she had, I have that."

"I'm not looking for a swimsuit," Snapdragon growled. "I'm looking for... Yes! This will do nicely..."