Lil' Cheese was practically beside himself with excitement and nervousness ("nervicited" his mom had said). His Aunt Maud was finally having her baby. It wouldn't be long now before he'd have a new little colt or filly to play with. Having seen pictures of himself as a foal, held in the loving embrace of his parents, Lil' Cheese was sure he was going to love his Aunt Maud's foal from the moment he saw it.
It felt like it had been forever since Maud Pie had first told her extended family that she was pregnant. The months seemed to tick by agonizingly slow as far as Lil' Cheese was concerned. Why couldn't the stork deliver Maud's foal already so that he could meet it? Why did it have to take so long?
Now, at last, the day of delivery had arrived. Maud had been admitted to hospital just an hour or so earlier, and Lil' Cheese and his parents had rushed over as soon as they'd heard the news. Unsurprisingly, they weren't the only ones in the hospital's waiting room: There was also Lil' Cheese's Aunts Limestone and Marble, as well as his Grandpa Igneous and his Grandma Cloudy, and they were all sitting there with solemn faces, a stark contrast to Lil' Cheese's energetic pacing of the floor.
"Aunt Maud's been in there fiveever, that's longer than forever!" The colt with a cheesy yellow coat complained. He either didn't notice or didn't care about the looks he was getting from other ponies.
Cheese Sandwich simply got up from his chair and approached his son, patting him gently on the forehead in the hopes of calming him down. "Well, junior, these things take time. Celestia knows, you sure took your sweet time coming out when your mom was pregnant with you."
"Nu-uh!" Lil' Cheese protested with a shake of his head. "Mom said I popped right out as soon as I was ready. I didn't keep everypony waiting for hours and hours."
Cheese Sandwich just sighed. It was no use trying to argue with his son on such things. "Well, not everypony's like you. Sometimes, foals don't want to come out right away when it's their time. Just relax, son. I'm sure we'll be meeting the new foal soon."
The colt with the same mane style as his parents frowned, his mane and tail deflating a little bit. "That's what everypony's been saying since we learned Aunt Maud was pregnant. I'm tired of waiting. I wanna meet the new baby pony already!"
"Now, Lil' Cheese," Pinkie Pie lightly scolded without getting up from her chair. "Your father is right. You need to be patient. Trust me, mister. I'm just as excited to see the new foal as you are. But it's like planning a party, you can't rush it."
Lil' Cheese slowly trotted over, locking eyes with his mom as he whined. "Why's it taking so long? Shouldn't the stork have delivered the baby to Aunt Maud already? And if it's coming from a stork, why does it have to be inside her tummy?"
"Because that's just how things work, mister," Pinkie sweetly replied. "You were no different. The stork delivers baby ponies to ponies who want to have foals, then the foal spends time in its mother's tummy until it's ready to be born."
Cheese Sandwich trotted over, a tad bit concerned about what his wife was saying. "Honey, you know that's not really how it works." He whispered into her ear.
Pinkie just whispered back to her husband. "You know that, and I know that, but Lil' Cheese isn't old enough to know where foals really come from. When he's a little older, we can sit him down for 'the talk' and teach him about the birds and the bees."
"What do birds and bees have to do with foals?" Lil' Cheese asked, having overheard his parents' whispers.
With a somewhat flustered look on their faces, both Pinkie and Cheese said in unison. "Nothing."
Then Pinkie had an idea. "Tell you what, Lil' Cheese? Why don't we talk about something else to help pass the time?" She put a hoof to her chin, then gasped as an idea came to her! "Hey, I know! I don't think I've told you the story about how you were born."
"What do you mean? Of course you told me about that," The colt with the same mane and tail color as his mother sweetly replied with a toothy smile. "You said even when I was born I was unusually sticky, like melted cheese or tree sap. And you said you were sure I'd grow out of it eventually."
The pink party pony replied. "Well... yes... I told you about that. But I don't think your father or I ever told you about what happened before then. There was a lot you weren't there for," She couldn't help but giggle. "Oh, I can remember it like it was yesterday." And in her mind, she was already flashing back to the time now years passed when she had decided she was ready to have a child of her own.
Over a pancake breakfast in the loft above Sugarcube Corner, the very loft she lived in with her husband, Pinkie Pie said outright. "I want to have a foal!"
Cheese Sandwich took the declaration surprisingly well. "Honey, are you sure we're ready for one?" He asked in a somewhat nervous tone of voice. "A foal is a very big responsibility, after all."
Pinkie waved a hoof. "Oh relax, Cheese. You forget, I have tons of experience from foalsitting Pound and Pumpkin Cake when they were foals. If I could handle those little rascals, I can definitely handle a foal of my own."
Cheese wasn't so sure. "But I was an only child growing up, Pinkie. You said it yourself: Taking care of kids isn't the same as playing with them," He shuddered a bit. "The first time you roped me into helping you foalsit, that... didn't go so well."
The pink party pony trotted over, looking her husband deep in the eyes. "So? We could always take parenting classes. And it's not like we'll be entirely on our own. We have my whole family for support, not to mention my friends. Heck, we have Pound and Pumpkin, not to mention Mr. and Mrs. Cake."
The party planning stallion let out a sigh. He'd learned long ago that it was best to go along with what his wife wanted. It took a lot to talk her out of something once she'd set her mind to it. Plus, deep down, a part of him had to admit the idea of starting a family of his own didn't sound so bad. "I suppose having one foal won't be the end of all of Equestria," He agreed after a bit of contemplation. "You're sure you're ready for it, Pinkie? You know it's going to be a very big undertaking."
Pinkie just giggled in reply. "Come on, Cheese. You think I don't know what I'm in for? You'll be the lucky one, you won't have to carry our little bundle of joy around in your tummy for almost a year."
"Yeah, but once our foal is born we're going to have to do things like change diapers, prepare bottles, go shopping for clothes, all that stuff," Cheese Sandwich commented. "Does it have to be now? Can't we maybe put this off for a year or two?"
"Nope, I'm ready and I'm not waiting another minute!" Pinkie Pie firmly insisted. "I don't know how long we'll have to wait until we actually succeed. But I know we can do it. And whatever comes our way as a result, we'll face it together."
"Well, honey, let's at least wait until after breakfast before we do anything crazy," Cheese insisted to his wife as he led her back to the table. "We'll both need a lot of energy, after all."
"Ah, so that's how you decided to get the stork to give you to me," Lil' Cheese interrupted. "So, how did you find out it was me if I was inside mom's tummy? Did you have to ask the stork ahead of time if you wanted a colt or a filly?"
Pinkie nervously giggled. "No, we didn't have to ask the stork for that. Magic and technology have come a very long way since I was just a foal. Once I found out I was pregnant, it didn't take the doctors long to tell me that it was a colt. I still wasn't sure what to name you, though. I couldn't know until you came out of my tummy what you were going to look like."
Cheese Sandwich couldn't help but chuckle. "You practically drove yourself crazy thinking up names for him, on top of getting his nursery all set up. I think you had what they call: Mommy Fever."
The pink party pony playfully waved a hoof as she tried to keep herself from blushing. "Oh come on, don't act like you weren't excited too. Although, yours was more of a nervous excitement. You kept wondering if you were ever gonna be a good father for our little pony. And it didn't matter how many times I told you you were worried over nothing, you kept worrying anyway."
Lil' Cheese bounced up and hugged his father. "I can't believe you'd ever doubt yourself, dad. You're the best dad in all of Equestria! You're just as fun as mom, and sometimes you let me go on those trips with you. You know, the ones you go on when your 'Cheesie Sense' calls you away."
Cheese Sandwich smiled as he returned the hug full force. "That's nice of you to say, son. I'm glad you think so highly of me. Being a father was a life changing experience for me. But I wouldn't have traded it for the entire wide world of Equestria, not even on those days when you could make it hard to love you."
"Who could ever hate me?" The colt with a light pink mane and tail insisted as he ended the hug and jumped down. "I'm the cutest, nicest pony you'll ever meet. Everypony says so."
"Yes, but sometimes you can be a bit much for someponies. And some non-ponies," Pinkie cautioned her son. "But you're you, and I wouldn't have you any other way."
Cheese Sandwich, meanwhile, was looking towards the doors of the hospital that led to places such as the operating and recovery rooms. Off-hoofedly, he mentioned. "I hope everything's going okay for Maud. She's been in labor for hours now."
The pink party pony reassured her husband. "It runs in the family. Mom says it took hours for her to have Limestone and Maud, and even longer when she had Marble and I at the same time. And don't forget, Lil' Cheese's delivery took a few hours too," She giggled in spite of herself. "Boy, those hours sure were something. I hope you didn't take anything I said during them personally, honey."
"Not at all, dear," The party planning stallion sweetly cooed as he trotted over to his wife and nuzzled her mane. "I know and love you enough to know when you're you and when you're not. And you certainly weren't yourself when you were in labor. Heck, the day of the delivery, you weren't acting like yourself."
"Yeah? Well you try carrying a foal around in your tummy for nine months while he keeps kicking you," Pinkie somewhat playfully replied. "Then tell me if you would still be yourself." And she was now recalling that fateful day years ago when Lil' Cheese had decided he was ready to make his arrival.
It hadn't been long at all after Pinkie's insistence that she was ready to have a foal that she'd learned that she was pregnant. She took the news quite well. "Oh, this is the best thing ever!" She'd excitedly exclaimed on that day. "I can't wait until my little pony is born! I'm finally going to be a mommy!"
But as the months went by and the pregnancy ran its course, the pink party pony started to discover that no amount of planning could prepare her for the trials and tribulations that awaited her: Be it bouts of morning sickness that left her so drained it was all she took just to make it out the door, weird cravings for the most bizarre and unusual foods that she'd never had before, and of course the bulge in her stomach as what would be Lil' Cheese slowly developed inside of her.
Of course, many ponies were there to help, and Pinkie was most grateful for the support they offered. Without them, she wasn't sure how she would've managed the nine months all by herself. And through it all, she remained her usual upbeat, chipper self. For the most part, anyway.
The day of the delivery dawned like any other day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when the sun rose to signal its arrival. And when Cheese Sandwich woke up, his wife was still by his side, sleeping peacefully. Everything seemed to be going okay. "Not long now," He thought to himself as slowly got out of bed and went about his usual morning routine. "Our son should arrive any day, the doctors say. Hey, that rhymed!"
Opting to take advantage of the fact that he was the first one up for a change, the party planning stallion decided to make breakfast for his wife. He had to make sure she was still getting enough energy and nutrition, not only for herself but for their hopefully soon to come foal.
Before the stallion with a brilliant gamboge coat had the chance to get started, however, the peace and tranquility of the morning was broken up by the sound of a sharp scream from the bedroom! He immediately dropped everything he had been doing, racing to be by his wife's side! "Hon, what's wrong?!" He asked as he came rushing into the bedroom in time to witness his wife frantically panting, apparently in great pain!
"Oh, you know what's wrong!" Pinkie Pie hollered as she grit her teeth, all the while she was panting and appeared to be sweating! "You did this to me, Cheese!"
"I thought you wanted this, honey," Cheese blinked in surprise. This was the first he was ever hearing of apparent regrets. Suddenly, it dawned on him! "It happened, didn't it?"
The pink party pony forced a nod. "What was your first clue, genius?! Our son's ready to come out, and here you are, just standing around!"
Now it was Cheese Sandwich's turn to worry. "Oh, why now?! We have to hurry, get you to the hospital! Can you walk?!"
"I don't care what you do, just hurry!" Pinkie screamed! "Oh, I feel like I'm about to burst!"
"Okay, okay! Just stay there! I'll go get help!" The gamboage coated stallion replied with a swift blink, and raced downstairs as fast as he could!
Pound and Pumpkin Cake soon learned from Cheese Sandwich about Pinkie going into labor, and they immediately sprang into action! With their help, it wasn't long before an ambulance was called to Sugarcube Corner, and two ponies in white outfits carried Pinkie into the back of it on a stretcher. Then the ambulance sped away to the nearest hospital, all the while Pinkie squeezed and pressed down hard on Cheese Sandwich's hoof.
The ride to the hospital was brief, and in no time at all Pinkie had been wheeled into a room in the hospital to be assisted in the delivery of her first ever child.
"Cheese Sandwich, I swear to Celestia, if you ever get me pregnant again I'll bite off your head!" Pinkie hollered as her labor pangs became more and more intense.
"Dear, you don't mean that," Cheese nervously replied. "Hopefully, once the foal's out, you'll be back to your usual self."
"Mr. Sandwich, sir," Nurse Redheart spoke up as she came trotting by. "I think it might be best if you wait outside. I promise you, your wife is in good hooves. We'll do everything we can for her."
The earth pony stallion with a brilliant gamboge coat was, naturally, quite hesitant at the mere thought of leaving his wife in her most desperate time of need. "No. I'm not leaving her! I don't care what she says to me. We're both responsible for that foal, and I'm gonna be here for her no matter how long it takes for our son to be born!"
"It doesn't matter where you are, Cheese! I'll find you!" The pink party pony proclaimed. "I'm in so much pain right now it's not even funny! Oh, I don't know how Mrs. Cake could handle two foals at once! This is the worst feeling ever!"
Nurse Redheart could only shrug her shoulders, sensing that Cheese Sandwich wasn't going to be convinced. "If you really wanna stay with your wife, I guess that's okay. Just don't say I didn't warn you. This is not going to be pretty."
Cheese nodded his head quite slowly. "I know, I know. But Pinkie needs me now more than ever. I'll put up with a few insults and..." He briefly shuddered, knowing what Nurse Redheart was referring to. "Anything else."
"Okay then," Nurse Redheart replied and turned her attention to Pinkie Pie. "Alright, everypony. Deep breaths. Here we go!"
Thankfully for both Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich, the actual "delivery" part of the pregnancy went smoothly. WIth just a few pushes, Pinkie gave birth to a very healthy earth pony colt. His coat was a lovely light yellow in color, his mane and tail were as pink as his mother's, and his eyes appeared to be of the same green shade as his father's. Nopony could deny the parentage even if they wanted to.
"What are we gonna call him?" Cheese asked his wife as she held their newborn son gently yet firmly in her hooves.
"We'll worry about that later," Pinkie replied as her eyes suddenly started growing heavy. It was as if all the energy she usually had been drained out of her as a result of the recent ordeal. "Right now, all I wanna do is nap."
"So do you understand now, son?" Cheese Sandwich asked his son in the present. "There's no point in rushing these things. I'm sure your Aunt Maud's foal will be born as soon as it's ready, and not a moment sooner."
Lil' Cheese sighed, reluctantly sensing his father probably had a point. "I know, I know. I just really, really, really want to meet him, or her. I've been waiting for so long already. I feel like if I have to wait any longer, I'm gonna explode!" As if to emphasize that point, he started shaking and leapt into the air! Thankfully, he didn't explode or even come close to doing so (despite the concerned looks from a few nearby ponies).
"Trust me, Lil' Cheese, I know how you feel," Pinkie Pie commented. "I'm really looking forward to meeting my new nephew or niece. But I know there's nothing I can do to make it happen any faster. It's not surprising Maud's foal would take longer, she's never been one to do things fast. In fact, I think it's a good thing it's happening now. When I had you, you weren't actually supposed to be born for another week."
At that the colt let out a gasp! "What?! Really?! Why didn't you tell me, Mommy?! I didn't mean to come out before I was supposed to!"
Pinkie just giggled and snorted. "Oh Lil' Cheese, you couldn't help it. You decided you were ready, and that's all there was to it. You shouldn't feel bad about that. All I'm saying is that not everypony is like you," She then got up and trotted over to her son. "For now, we just have to be patient. And when your Aunt Maud's foal does arrive, I'm sure she'll let us come and see him, or her. Who knows? They might even ask your father and I to foalsit them, just like we've asked them to foalsit you."
"Yeah, and I remember them saying it was because they had so much fun taking care of me that they wanted to have a foal of their own!" Lil' Cheese nodded back. "That's all the more reason why I really can't wait!"
Fortunately, as if the universe itself had heard the colt's proclamation, the doors at the other end of the room swung open. Out trotted Mudbriar, who despite what he had undoubtedly been through as a result of his wife's labor looked none the worse for wear. "Sorry to keep you all waiting," He apologized to the gathered crowd. "The delivery took longer than we were expecting. But you don't need to worry. Maud is resting now and the delivery is complete."
Lil' Cheese ran up to his Uncle Mudbriar, bouncing up and down while excitedly exclaiming! "Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! It's here! It's finally here! This is the best day ever!" And he immediately saw fit to ask. "So, is it a boy or a girl? Can I see the new baby pony? Can I?! Can I?! Can I?!"
Mudbriar, with practiced precision, gestured a hoof and motioned for his nephew to calm down. Then, without changing his overall expression, he informed everypony. "Well, that's part of why we had a problem. It's not a colt or a filly."
"What?" Lil' Cheese blinked in confusion. "How can it not be either of those?"
Mudbriar patiently explained. "Because it's not one foal we're dealing with, but two. We had twins."
The stick loving stallion's statement came as a shock to the entire extended Pie family that were on hoof! Needless to say, all of them were just now learning of this fact. Up to this point, there had been nothing to suggest Maud was pregnant with two foals at once.
"And why did thou not tell us this sooner?" Igneous questioned his son-in-law with a quirked brow.
All Mudbriar could say in response was. "Maud wanted it to be a surprise... so, surprise."
A series of gasps split the air, followed shortly by an excited shriek from Lil' Cheese! "Oh, that's even better than I was expecting! Now I have two new playmates! Oh, I can't wait to meet them!"
Author's Note
Kikio3000 asked last year if there was a story of Maud Pie babysitting Lil' Cheese or Maud's baby being born. At the time, I told him (or her) not yet. But I felt like the idea for Maud's baby being born was too good to pass up. And I decided to tie it back into Lil' Cheese's birth.
Like with the prequel/sequel I'm drawing heavy inspiration from A Slice of Cheese, that's where the idea of Maud having twins came from.
