Foals

The Royal Suite of the castle was situated on the twelfth floor at the top of a tower that looked straight out of a fairytale, with stunning panoramic views of the Crystal Empire and its environs. The couple had moved in there after their wedding and the whole Sombra debacle, however the tower was not serviced by working plumbing, and while it had an ancient hoof-cranked elevator there was currently no elevator maintenance budget and it had been deemed unsafe for use. After a very sweaty couple of weeks the couple had decided to relocate to more practical lodgings, moving to one of the guest suites on the northern side of the third floor. They still occasionally visited the tower for sex though.

Their new adopted residence was more humble but still well-appointed, and most importantly did have running water. It was not wanting for space, and had a rather nice view of Mount Everhoof off in the distance. Most of the rest of the floor was unused for now, with a few other rooms maintained as guest bedrooms.

Cadance wasn’t sure what to expect as they climbed the comparatively small number of stairs from the courtyard to the residence. She opened the door in trepidation, still half-expecting a room full of ponies to jump out at her yelling “Surprise!” If Shining was lying about not organizing a party, then so help me.

The first thing she saw when she entered their drawing room was Princess Luna sitting alone in an armchair by the fire, calmly drinking tea.

Even having assumed that Shining had something planned, she was caught off-guard.

“Oh…uh, your majesty… This is a surprise!” she stuttered while hastily genuflecting.

Luna looked up, rising from her chair and clapping her hooves together in excitement. “Excellent! That was the intended effect.” She made a sound that Cadance assumed was intended to be a laugh.

“But dear niece, we recall that we have spoken with you previously regarding protocol. There is no need to stand on ceremony between us Princesses.” Luna waved a silver-shod hoof in an exaggerated display of exasperation. “When in private we would take it as a personal endearment if you would simply address us as Luna. Or even… Auntie Luna if you should so wish!?” she added waggling an eyebrow conspiratorially and nudging Cadance with her knee.

“Ow… yes, Auntie Luna then. It’s good to see you, I missed you in Canterlot.” Celestia had told Cadance that Luna was out of town on official business. She certainly wasn’t expecting to find her waiting for her here when she got back home.

“Come here and give your Aunt a hug then!” Luna commanded, and Cadance obliged.

Charteris cleared his throat politely. The two equeries had been standing discretely in the doorway behind them. “Your Highnesses,” he bowed and Lock Step did the same, “if that will be all for this evening, we shall retire and leave you to it.”

“Yes, thank you Charteris, you boys may as well get an early night.” She winked at them, noting to her satisfaction the slight flush of color on Charteris’ face.

“Thank you Maam. Your dispatch box…” Charteris nodded to the red leather case which he levitated across the room, setting it down safely on top of the rosewood writing desk that sat under one of the room’s large sash windows.

She dismissed him with another nod of thanks and he and Lock Step retired, closing the door behind them with a quiet click.

“Are those two…?” Luna asked.

“Good friends. Yes,” Shining said, poker faced.

“So, Auntie Luna, can I ask what brings you out to our little empire?” Cadance asked curiously.

“Do we need a reason to visit our favorite castle?” Luna said.

Cadance blinked. “This is your favorite castle?”

“Aha! That was a humorous jape dear niece!” Luna said. “While this castle is a fine example of first-age neo-romantic crystal architecture, it does not in fact qualify as our favorite castle! However, you are arguably our favorite niece. We said castle instead of niece to subvert your expectations you see.”

“Ah… I see… Good one Auntie. You had me going there. Expectations subverted.” She gave Luna another hug and shot Shining a get me out of here look over her aunt’s shoulder.

Shining cleared his throat nervously. “This is great, you two catching up like this, but Cadance is still on Canterlot time… I think she may be feeling a little tired.”

“Oh yes, of course, enough japes and dilly dally. We did anticipate that you would be curious as to why we are here… Behold!” Luna’s horn lit up with a pale blue glow and the door to the royal bedchamber burst open dramatically, the heavy oak paneled doors opening inwards from the drawing room with a squeak.

Cadance squinted. Looking through the doors from where she was standing, nothing in the bedroom looked out of place. “Am I missing something?” She asked, confused. “Or is this actually another jape?”

Shining laid a hoof upon her withers and led her inside the bedroom. It still looked almost the same, but now she could see that a new door had been added, presumably connecting the Royal Bedchamber directly with an adjacent room off the same corridor.

“We did some minor renovations while you were away,” he said, unable to hide the pride welling up in his voice.

“We?” Cadance asked.

“Me! I did the carpentry and the paintwork,” he beamed proudly. “Well, mostly, Lock helped.”

“Oh dear. Well that explains your mane.”

“We also helped if you recall!” Princess Luna said, stepping into the room behind them. Her aunt’s coat was spotless Cadance noted.

“Uh…yes of course your… High... Luna.” Shining gulped nervously, turning back to his wife. “Princess Luna provided invaluable assistance planning and directing the works, and…and… helped so much with… all the other things!”

“Shining…What other things? What did you do to the castle?” Cadance asked suspiciously.

Luna took another step forward “Behold! … Again!” she said excitedly, opening the new conjoining door.

Cadance gaped. The adjoining suite had been converted into a large foal’s nursery painted in shades of pink, cream and purple like her coat and mane.

She stepped through the doorway and into the room, looking around. The floor was freshly carpeted in light pink. A large heart-shaped shag-pile rug covered much of the floor in the center of the room, its turquoise a fairly close match to the color of her cutie mark. A giant pink and purple plush ursa was sat in the middle of the rug.

Against the far wall, dominating a full quarter of the room was the largest crib Cadance had ever seen. It appeared to be a tidy conversion of a filly’s double four poster bed, with crib railings added, the whole thing painted a light pink with fuscia colored bedding.

Near the door as they entered sat a large diaper changing table and colorful cubicle shelves carrying the largest assortment of diapers Cadance had seen in one place. In one corner of the room there was some kind of foam play-mat surrounded by a play-fence.

“Shining…?” She said quietly. “What is all this? You know I’m not pregnant yet right?”

“I know. I know.” He said trying to sound cheerful, but only succeeding in sounding worried. “This was Princess Luna’s idea actually. The thing is, we’ve both been so stressed from other ponies worrying about when you’re going to get pregnant…”

“We know our sister means well, but we understand the pressure to… perform to Celestia’s expectations.” Luna stepped into the room beside her, laying a wing around her niece’s shoulder and patting her gingerly in a manner Cadance could only assume was intended to be comforting.

“We, that is to say we ourself personally thought that an alternate approach might be warranted. We read in a parenting tome once that conception can be inhibited by psychological stresses leading oneself to compartmentalize and abstract the concept of foal-making as a duty, rather than as as a natural biological imperative.”

Cadance didn’t feel like making foals as a biological imperative sounded any less stressful than as a duty, but she didn’t say so. “Go on.” She said, tapping her hoof on the soft plush carpet distractedly, looking around the room, her head filling with questions.

“The author asserted that surrounding oneself with objects intended for the forthcoming issue - by which we mean foalish objects intended for foals - can help make your body’s subconscious desire for bearing foals concrete, and act as a marital aid in conception. In other words, help your mind prepare for having a foal.”

“I see…” Cadance said, sounding unconvinced, her muzzle wrinkling slightly. “And which book was this? I have read a lot of parenting books recently, and I don’t recall reading anything like that.”

“Oh some seminal work, by an eminent pony in the field no doubt. The name escapes me.” Luna said unconvincingly. “Alas we doubt there are any extant copies to consult. We probably read it quite some time ago.” She added, playing her immortal card.

Cadance sighed, looking around the room again. “Well, thanks. I guess?” She took a deep breath, composing herself, not wanting to appear ungrateful. “I'm sorry, that sounded rude. I mean actually thanks Auntie. And you too Sweetcakes.” She gave Shining a playful kick. “This is very nice… It just took me by surprise.”

She stepped further into the room, patting the giant ursa plush on the top of its head with her hoof, then inspecting the paint finish on the bed with her wing. “You should really have included me in the design process, but I have to say, you did a good job, I’m impressed. I didn’t know you were such a hoofystallion,” she said to her husband.

“I haven’t had much practice since shop class at the Academy, but I like to think I’m pretty hoofy,” he said, blushing proudly. “Also Lock worked for his family’s furniture business as a joiner before he, er… joined the Guard,” he admitted. “I wanted to do most of the work myself, but he made sure I was doing stuff right.”

“I do have some questions though. This bed… it’s quite large for a crib?” Cadance observed.

“That was our idea.” Luna asserted.

“She means her idea.” Shining whispered.

“Yes, that is what we said,” Luna said, her hearing as sharp as ever. “We thought, in the eventuality that the foal is born as an alicorn then on balance of probability they may be quite large. Celestia doesn’t believe it will happen, but we suspect we have read more books on Alicorn genetics than our dear sister. And of course there is always the happy possibility of you bearing twins.”

“Besides, this way it will be easy to convert the crib back into a bed when they get older,” Shining pointed out.

“It’s very pink?” Cadance continued, running through her mental list of questions.

“Not just pink. But we did want a filly right? We can always repaint if we have a colt, if you’re that worried about gender stereotypes. There’s nothing wrong with pink though. I like pink. In fact,” Shining leaned in and whispered in her ear, “some of my favorite ponies are pink.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek, successfully making her turn more pink than normal.

She pulled away from him and continued her inspection of the room, heading for the changing table which also seemed to be built unnecessarily large. Just how big does Aunt Luna think alicorn foals are? Is there something she isn’t telling me? Should I be worried?

She eyed the large cubicle wall of diapers.

“That’s a lot of diapers,” she said, looking suspiciously at Shining. Her husband just shrugged, indicating with his head towards Luna.

“Auntie, why does it look like you just walked into a diaper store and bought everything?” she asked.

“We did. Is that not how purchasing transactions are performed these days? We’re afraid we don’t get to go out shopping very often.” Luna said, not blinking.

“I meant, it looks like you bought all their inventory.”

“Yes. It seemed an efficient means of procurement.”

Cadance blinked, taking a closer look at the stacks of diapers. “Some of these diapers aren’t even for foals,” she observed.

“We don’t know much about modern diaper sizing. We assumed they would grow into the different sizes if they don’t fit right away. That is generally how it works with foals we understand; they increase in volume over time proportionate to their age. Up to a point anyway."

Cadance levitated a very large very pink diaper from one of the shelves and held it up in front of her aunt for closer inspection.

“If you think an alicorn is going to grow into these as a foal then I think maybe I need to reconsider whether a natural birth is the best option after all… at least a third of these diapers are adult sized.”

“Oh.” Luna said dismissively. “We had not considered that a foal supplies store would stock such things when we asked them to deliver everything they had in stock. Perhaps the castle tailor could bring them in a bit?”

“They are disposable diapers Auntie, they aren’t made of cloth. I don’t think you can cut and sew them. And we don’t have a castle tailor here.”

“Well if they are disposable we suppose you could simply dispose of them, though it seems like such a waste. Perhaps you could donate them to a charity, or use them for practice.”

Cadance blinked and turned away from her aunt, back towards the diaper wall, hiding her blush. “What… exactly… do you mean by use them for practice?”

“On each other dear niece. Or on the guards if you prefer. So you are familiar with how to change a diaper when the time comes.”

If Cadance had been drinking at the time, she would probably have done a spit take. As it was, she definitely did a take. “I…what..? I assure you I’m quite familiar with changing diapers. I was a babysitter for years after all.”

“And your husband?”

“No experience whatsoever I’m afraid!” Shining said helpfully. “I had poor hoof-eye coordination when I was younger and Mom wouldn’t let me near Twily when she was changing her, in case I poked her eye out or something.” He grinned sheepishly.

Luna shot Cadance a concerned glance. “There you are then. Q.E.D. We don't want any foal eyes being harmed."

“That doesn’t mean I’m about to make Shining diaper me for practice! I like my eyes too! There are classes for that… where you practice on dolls. I’m pretty sure,” Cadance protested.

She watched as Shining and Cadance both averted their gaze from each other, blushing. “Parenting techniques have changed over the aeons, and we perhaps haven’t kept up with the latest trends,” Luna acknowledged. “It was just a suggestion, maybe you should sleep on it?” she said shrugging.

At the mention of sleep, Cadance stifled a yawn. “Well I have to say, this is all really very generous. I certainly wasn’t expecting this. If you don’t mind though Auntie, I’m very tired..."

“Of course! You must be exhausted from your trip dear niece, and in any case we must imminently be about our night duties. We have taken the liberty of sequestering ourselves in a spare suite in the Southern wing, and our guards are very discreet. You won’t even know that we are here. We shall return to Canterlot early on the morrow, but no doubt we will see each other again before we depart.”

“Good night Auntie Luna. Thank you, for all this!” Cadance hugged Luna, who returned her hug beaming happily, then stepped back waving her hoof and disappearing in a flash of blue light, teleporting to her room.

Cadance breathed a sigh of relief, glad to be alone with Shining again. She rested her head on his shoulder, savoring the quiet. She was about to kiss him in a semi-naughty manner when her aunt suddenly teleported back into the room with another blinding flash.

“Apologies… have either of you seen our opossum? He seems to have scampered off somewhere!” Luna said, kneeling down to check under the crib.

Cadance forwent the hassle of a proper dinner in favor of a hastily constructed cucumber and dandelion sandwich and a mug of chamomile tea. Shining took this as an excuse to eat junk food for dinner, guiltily wolfing down a packet of barbecue flavored hay crisps before bed.

She spent a few minutes relieving herself and removing her makeup in the en-suite, before changing into her favorite pajamas. They were a simple affair made of cozy brushed cotton with a design that was fillyish in its simplicity, light pink with purple trim and covered with a pattern of hearts in white and a darker pink. She had been gifted a much more luxurious and finely crafted set of silk pajamas by Twilight's friend Rarity for the wedding, but she preferred wearing these.

She climbed into bed next to Shining who was reading some kind of espionage novel with skimpily clad mares on the cover. She planted a kiss on his cheek before putting her reading glasses on and levitating her red dispatch box over with a sigh, turning to her much less sexy reading material.

At the top of the stack of papers was a yellow adhesive note on which ‘Remember to procreate tonight’ was written in Charteris’ elegant hornwriting. She frowned, peeling it off, and shoving it somewhere in between reports further down in the stack. Tomorrow's problem.

After signing several documents requiring her immediate approval and making a valiant effort to make it through an unnecessarily long report on hay taxation reform she dozed off.

Shining gently lifted the case off Cadance’s lap and set it on the ground with his magic. He removed her reading glasses, and kissed her cheek before turning out the lights, draping a fore-hoof around her barrel.