Chapters The sun wasn't even up yet as Applejack carefully pulled herself out of Rarity and Fluttershy's grips, the pair pouting at the sudden lack of warmth until the farmer gently pushed them together before quietly getting onto the crystal floor of the bedroom she shared with her wives. She took a quick glance over the bed in the dark room with a soft smile.
"Love y'all. See ya for lunch." She gently whispered before slowly making her way through the darkness of the room. One thing that stunk about her decision to move in with the ponies that she loved was having to leave so early to get to Sweet Apple Acres for her share of the chores. Legally a princess or not, she was born an Apple and always will be.
After stopping in the kitchen to grab some leftover mini apple fritters from last night for breakfast, Applejack made her way to the door, reaching for the rack where her hat...wasn't hung up.
"What? Where the hay is my hat?" She double checked the rack, even moving around Rarity's various every day. "Did one of the critters take off with it?"
Just as she went to reach for the light, a soft glow appeared in the corner of her eye. Whipping around expecting to see Owlowiscious or Opal staring at her in the remaining hours of darkness, only to see an orb whip away with her hat. "Get back here with that!"
Quickly darting after the hat, she followed it back into the kitchen and nearly tripped over a chair that had been moved. "Whoa Nelly!"
After righting herself, she realized that in the few minutes since she left it, the room had been rearranged into a miniature obstacle course and the glowing orb was floating as if in challenge. With a grunt, she took it, hopping over chairs, sliding under Pinkie's cooking table and around one of Rarity's ponyquins and just barely keeping up with the thieving orb. "Why you-"
"What is going on in here?!" The light flashed on, revealing the orb to be a glow-in-the dark sheet wrapped around a very familiar body, which then crashed into a cabinet as Applejack collided with it. The hooves of Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and apparently disgruntled spouses used her magic to rearrange the kitchen before lifting the offending ponies into a standing position. "Explain. Now."
Tossing the hat back to its owner and removing the sheet, Rainbow Dash looked down at her hooves. "I was just pulling a little prank on AJ. Sorry for waking you up."
"A prank? Dang it, RD! I'm late for work!" Applejack looked at the shorter pegasus with an annoyed glare. "If ya wanted to play, then it coulda waited until lunch!"
"Especially since I got woken up by Rarity accidentally kicking me as she tried to block out all of your noise." Twilight said as she walked over to one of the cabinets and started pulling out ingredients for oatmeal. "You can make it up by going to the farm and helping out."
"But I have weather duty today!" Rainbow argued, looking up at the alicorn only to note that the purple pony was not meeting her gaze, one of the signs that this was a royal command. "...you're going to pull rank and get me out of it, aren't you?"
"Would you rather model for Rarity today? Scootaloo had to call in for a family emergency so she's short a pegasus model for her teenager line." Twilight asked.
"Ugh...fine, but I'm leaving the second Sugar Belle starts having one of her pregnancy temper tantrums." The blue pony huffed as she leaned up to kiss Twilight's cheek before following Applejack to the door. "I just wanted to have some fun."
"Well fun has to be earned in the Apple family and you've been one after sayin' "I do", you little varmint." Applejack huffed out before tossing her hat onto Rainbow's head. "Let's get going, sugar cube."
Author's Note
I'm open to suggestions, but for the most part I'll be updating this as I come up with new ideas.
I want to thank you for reading this and while I have yet to reply to what comments I have received on the little bits that I have written so far, I do read them and will get to them as soon as I have the time to give them the attention that they deserve. I hope that you have a wonderful day.
"Rainbow Danger Apple Belle Sparkle Shy Pie Dash!! Where are you, you jerk?!?!" Rarity screamed as she stormed into castle, gorgeous violet dress shaking with her movements, not even acknowledging the yelp from Spike as he fell from dusting one of the crotchet sculptures that Fluttershy made for the opening hall, some lime green jackalope. The unicorn's nostrils flaring as she whipped her head around in search of the offending pony.
"Geez Rarity, you look like someone just tore one of your sketches up." The dragon commented as he dusted himself off.
"Oh it is much worse than that, Spike! A certain special somepony stood me up!" She replied before letting out a guttural roar that echoed throughout the castle.
In moments Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie all raced into the room, tripping over each other as they did so and ending up in a small pile at the base of the staircase.
"What's wrong?! Are we under attack?!"
"Did Discord go too far with another prank?!"
"Did parasprites overthrow the government?!"
They all clamped their mouths shut as Rarity glowered at them. "Where. Is. Rainbow. Dash?"
The alicorn was pushed forward by her oh so brave wives to meet the enraged one. "S-she's not with you? Last we saw her she was getting ready for your lunch date and talking herself up in that cute way she does when she thinks no one can hear her."
"Well obviously she wasn't excited enough to even show up, let alone send somepony to let me know that she would be delayed." The white unicorn huffed before her eyes started to water. "What if she doesn't love me anymore?"
The trio quickly wrapped Rarity in a hug, objecting to the notion that the blue pegasus would do such a thing.
"Let's check her storage room. It's where she keeps all of her outfits and that's where I saw her heading to last." Twilight suggested as she gently nudged Rarity towards the stairs. "At the very least we should find some indication of what she was wearing when she left since you know our outfits even better than we do."
"Well, I did design most of them myself, darling." Rarity said with a weak giggle, clearly still upset, but at least trying to gain some composure with some deep breaths.
With that the quartet headed up the stairs, leaving a perplexed Spike alone. "Man, the only difference between them being friends and being married is how long I get to relax before one of them runs past me with a freak out."
Back with the ponies, they had reached the room in question, noting that it was closed, but not locked, which wasn't unusual for Rainbow Dash if it wasn't her trophies, family photos or Daring Do books. Inside, however, wasn't what they were expecting.
There were the wardrobes and the large trunk that they knew was in there, but on top of said trunk was a pale blue unicorn mare with a sleeping mask on as she dozed gently, a line of drool running from her mouth to her silver mane.
"Trixie!!" Twilight yelled, startling the unicorn awake with a scream.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! Take the silverware! Just leave the teacups alo-" Trixie stopped, upon realizing where she was and slowly turned to the four mares looking at her with a mix of annoyance and confusion. "Trixie can explain..."
"Please do." The alicorn said, using her magic to lift the uninvited guest off of the trunk and onto the floor.
"Trixie often comes here to sleep off her temper when Sunburst does something annoying since Starlight doesn't want us yelling at each other anymore." The unicorn explained.
"Why don't you ask us first?" Fluttershy asked, raising an eyebrow. "We would gladly help a friend."
"I asked Spike and he said it was okay." Trixie said with a shrug.
"We'll have to talk more about this later. Right now we need to find Rainbow Dash." Rarity said, already opening up the wardrobes alongside Pinkie Pie. "You didn't see her, did you?"
"Not at all. Though I did dream of that time she saved me from some diamond dogs. She was more angry than Trixie remembers though." Trixie said as she tapped her chin.
Suddenly a muffled scream came from the trunk, causing all of them to look at it with wide eyes. Twilight slowly turned to look at Trixie. "Was that trunk closed when you came in here?"
The silver maned mare barely shook her head before the four ponies were upon the large trunk and flipping the lid open to reveal a very out of breath Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was dressed in an unfortunately sweat stained royal purple dress with rainbow accents and gasping for air as she tried to pull herself out, needing Fluttershy to pick her up by the nape of her neck.
"Oh our poor Dashie! Are you alright?!" Pinkie asked, quickly picking up and examining the rainbow maned mare.
"W-wa-water..." Rainbow Dash gasped out before chugging down a glass produced from Pinkie's mane. "Thanks. Need to get to lunch..."
"Oh Rainbow Dash, darling...you are too late to make our reservation." Rarity said as Rainbow Dash was let down on the floor. "I'm just glad that you're alright."
"But, but...you wanted to go for weeks!" The blue pegasus said with her voice regaining its strength as she spoke. "When I find out who locked me in that trunk, I'll..."
"It was an accident!" Trixie yelled before rushing out, not wanting to find out what was in store for her if she stuck around long enough.
Twilight rolled her eyes at her retreating rival/friend before turning back to her well dressed wives. "Well even if you missed your date at a restaurant, you can still enjoy a nice lunch date together here at home and we'll make it for you."
"Oooh! We can use the menus I made!" Pinkie said, charging out the door with a smile on her face while Fluttershy followed with a soft sigh and small smile.
"That sounds awesome. Just give me a moment to change." Rainbow said as she turned back towards her trunk only to be picked up by Rarity's magic.
"Let's choose an outfit from something that somepony is less likely to use as a napping spot." Rarity said with a small smile before giving Rainbow a peck on the cheek.
Author's Note
I forgot the word minimum with the first chapter so this got posted alongside it.
One advantage to being small for the rest of her life is that Rainbow Dash could nap in a lot of places that most other grown ponies couldn't even imagine fitting. It also doubled as an excellent way to hide if she wanted to pull pranks or listen in on her wives to surprise them with gifts.
She knew it was a bit underhoofed, but she still struggled with the whole romance thing so "unexpected gifts" were her way of making up for where she falls short. It wasn't like she was one to use anything that she overheard for selfish reasons, the occasional little private in-joke not withstanding.
The first place she found herself was within Carousel Beautique, watching Rarity fit a new dress onto Sweetie Belle. Even with a new studio in the castle, the purple maned unicorn still preferred to do most of her business inside said establishment. Honestly the younger sister was more upset about the changes as she found the Beautique rather unsettling at night when staying there alone. She had a room to stay in at the castle, but Sweetie insisted that somepony needed to keep watch at night.
As she watched the sisters work, Rainbow felt a small smile form on muzzle as Rarity began to hum one of the songs Fluttershy wrote, a cute little number about how adorable ducklings were. It was syrupy sweet and relaxing, almost enough to cause the hidden wonderbolt to nod off, only for a rather abrupt interruption.
"When am I going to be an aunt?" Sweetie's question was like a record scratch, and not the cool kind DJs do.
"W-what? Where is this coming from?!" Rarity turned to her sister with wide eyes as she dropped her pins.
"It's just you're married, moved into a big, fancy castle and Applebloom keeps bragging about how awesome of an aunt she's gonna be. It's gonna be a lot worse if her and Diamond Tiara get together. Not to mention you guys going on about how great you are with Flurry Heart whenever you watch her," the younger unicorn shrugged, "just made it sound like you were getting ideas."
Rainbow Dash was sweating, trying to remember which window hadn't been reinforced yet so she could make her getaway before she completely freaked out from the idea of that much responsibility .
For her part, Rarity was already cooling the redness on her face and going back to placing the pins into the fabric her sister wore. "While I would certainly love the chance to experience the joys of motherhood with my wives, we do not plan to have any in the near future." She paused, looking about, probably for Pinkie given the mare's unique abilities, before leaning in a bit. "Though hopefully before Rainbow Dash and Applejack get too worn out to play with them. Just imagine how hurt the two of them would be to have a castle full of foals and not have the energy to play with them! It would be the worst! Possible! Thing!"
With that she dramatically fell back in one of her exaggerated fainting spells, which Rainbow took advantage of to fly out the door before things got even more awkward.
Rainbow Dash next found herself in a lovely tree in the animal sanctuary, next to some very polite koalas, trying her best to not think of having kids or how much she would hate it to not be the one to teach any winged ones how to fly.
Thinking it best to just sleep this off, she shut her eyes, focusing on the relaxing bird songs around her. She had almost drifted off when heard the sounds of two ponies walking just beneath the tree.
"I want a divorce." Those words caused the prismatic maned pegasus to sit up with a jolt, especially since the voice was clearly the very serious tone of Fluttershy.
Why would Fluttershy want a divorce? Was she not getting enough attention? Too much? Was Pinkie too loud? Was she too loud?!
"But why George. Haven't I been a good wife for you?" Applejack's stilted delivery derailed Rainbow's train of thought and she looked down to see the pair holding some papers in their hooves. "I cook, clean, iron ties and keep your cigars well stocked."
"That's just it, Samantha!" The yellow pegasus raised her voice. "You're more maid than wife! You never ask about my day, take a polite interest in my hobbies or join me after dinner! Am I so repulsive that you try to avoid me?"
"Of course not, George. I-" The farmer let out a growl and tossed the script on the ground. "Fluttershy, I love you, but why dija get me to practice with an' not somepony who can stand these frufru roles?"
"Well, Rarity has dress orders to fill, Twilight was busy, Rainbow Dash is worse than you are at these and Pinkie...would have set up props." Fluttershy listed off with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Applejack. I just...really want to do this right. It's my first time being in a play without all of you helping out."
"Oh shoot, sugarcube. You'll be amazing! Maybe ask the one playing this Samantha character to rehearse instead?" Applejack suggested, pulling her wife in and giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
"I tried, but Vinyl tends to still be asleep at this hour if Octavia doesn't need her to be up." As the pair shared a laugh, Rainbow slipped away. That little divorce scare ruined her chances of napping without burning off some more energy.
Not all of Twilight's books reached the back of the shelf, leaving a little space just big enough for the small Rainbow Dash to fit in, so long as the cat wasn't there already.
Luckily that wasn't the case so she could relax as her royal egghead wife quietly enjoyed whatever tome pile it was today.
No uncomfortable questions about a massive decision.
No false divorce declarations to scare her half to death.
Just the slow turning of pages, scribbles of a quill to parchment and the occasional buzzing sound followed by Twilight's adorable giggle.
Whatever it was that she was doing sure sounded like a good time.
Suddenly the bookworm let out a loud gasp, followed by a happy scream that prompted Rainbow to move one of the books she hit behind to see what the big deal was.
Twilight was practically hopping around her chair, a book in front of her glowing and buzzing as she did so. "OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GO-uuuuaaaaaahhhhh!!! Celestia needs to know as soon as possible!"
Before the alicorn could run off, Pinkie popped out from under the table. "Know what? That Sunset's journal is still buzzing?"
"Huh? Oh! Right...Sunset needs to be the one to tell her when she's ready." With that she went back to overlooking the journal, holding the party pony a safe distance in her magic. "Well, it looks like we'll have a baby shower to plan in two months."
Rainbow froze, flashbacking to the conversation she overheard earlier. Who was having a kid?! She knew Sunset was married to her world's version of, well, themselves. It was hard to think about sometimes, especially when she was stressing out like she was now. Counterparts meant that there was a version of them over there and vice versa, so if any of them were pregnant, then that would mean one of them here was too...right?
If so, then which one would it be? Pinkie? Twilight? Herself?! She wasn't ready to be a mom! She hadn't even earned her full retirement benefits from the Wonderbolts yet!
"Oh, they had a donor. Vinyl Scratch's older brother. She didn't share the full details, just that they felt it was the right time and that it was agreed that she would be the best choice to carry." Twilight explained, not knowing the relief she was giving to a panicking pegasus. "She'll probably explain more when they decide on a date to visit."
"So, when are we going to have some foals?" Pinkie's voice was filled with anticipation, much like a foal herself.
As Rainbow moved one of the books so she could see the room, a nervous voice came from the door. "Twilight? I, uh, accidentally burned my curtains...again."
The princess chuckled a little. "How about after our dragon is old enough to keep his flames in check?"
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sat at Sugarcube Corner, a bottle of apple soda for each of them as they talked about their day.
"So I tried scaring Rarity by asking about her having foals and she just gave me this whole speech about planning and other stuff before Rainbow Dash scared us both with one of her pranks." The unicorn groaned. "I was supposed to be the one doing the prank."
"Least ya didn't have ta hear your sis tryin' ta act. Applejack came back from her lunch with Fluttershy an' was quotin' some play between trees." The earth pony huffed, taking a sip of her soda.
"You're just mad that it distracted you from daydreaming about Diamond Tiara." Sweetie Belle said with a smirk which grew as her friend blushed.
"Oh shut it."