Happy Endings I - Child of Legends

"I'll call her Berry Twinkle."

It wasn't that everypony had gotten over the fact that the foal had wings and a horn, but they were pushing it aside for Pinkie and Rainbow's sake. The two had fallen in love with the child immediately, and no one wanted to ruin that.

They were still at the hospital, and it was only a day since delivery ended. Everything was cleaned up, leaving a sparkling glow across the room. All of the ponies that were there yesterday came back today, except for Fluttershy. She had something to attend to with the animals. Rainbow Dash had stayed overnight, and slept on the couch in the room.

It was Pinkie Pie who decided on the name. "With her coat like a berry and her blue eyes twinkling, how could I NOT name her Berry Twinkle?"

"Sounds good to me," said Dash.

"Then it's settled," said the pink mare, the smile on her face growing. "She's beautiful." After a moment, she added, "And so are you."

The two shared a brief kiss.

Shortly after, Twinkle grew restless. "Is somepony hungry?" Rainbow Dash cooed at the foal. She tickled her tummy, eliciting a giggle from the child.

Pinkie Pie giggled too. "Actually, somepony is stinky. Pee-U! Let's get this diaper changed."

"Pinkie," began Twilight, the first to break the dialogue between the two," You stay in bed. I'll clean her up." Twilight took the filly and levitated her to the changing table.

~~~

"Dear friend of my sister," said Octavia, with a slight Canterlot accent. She looked at Twilight, who had recently finished changing Berry Twinkle's diaper and had put the child in Rainbow's care. "I have but one question. Why is the child an  Alicorn?"

"Octavia, I-I don't know" Twilight looked nervously around after hearing the question. Why is she bringing this up now?

"Perhaps I am asking the wrong question," she said looking at the ground. As Octavia looked back up, the purple pony saw that by the expression on her face that she was asking this question out of curiosity and not out malice. This calmed her. "Would you tell me every detail of the potion-making experience, no matter how minute? Perhaps then we can crack the case."

Twilight began. "Well let's see.  I walked down the stairs, and then checked that everything was in place. The ingredients were water, the eggs of each mare, a hair from Pinkie Pie, a feather from Rainbow Dash and the root of a plant known as Joke, not the more common poisonous variety."

"I set the water to heat up to ninety-eight degrees Fahrenheit, then  ground up the Joke. I then converted Rainbow Dash's egg into sperm, which I remember was a particularly hard spell. I even sweat a little. Then I put all the in- Oh. Oh. I know what happened. My sweat fell right into the pot. And I mixed a few times more than I should have. Oh."

Twilight almost fainted when she realized what happened, especially considering how angry or shocked some ponies might be at hearing what had happened and that it was her fault. What would the princesses say? What would happen to Berry Twinkle? Question swarmed through her head like parasprites, each question causing more to erupt. "We'll have to keep it a secret."

"That much is obvious, dear Twilight. But the child must eventually leave the confines of her parent's homes. What then?"

"I-I'll disguise her horn or wings!" Twilight said, feeling somewhat more pleased at having found a solution. Talking to the grey mare had shed some light on the situation, and was more helpful than she'd thought originally. "Do you think we should be able to tell anyone else, though?"

"Well I suppose you should be able to tell the rest of your friends, assuming that sweet pegasus Fluttershy hasn't done so already. Nurse Redheart... Let us ask of her silence or limited ability to tell. She is conveniently coming back right now."

~~~

After the nurse finished attending to Pinkie Pie and  Berry Twinkle, Twilight walked up to her. "Please don't tell anyone the... unique situation of the child. I think it could be potentially harmful to Berry's safety."

"Very well, Miss Sparkle," said the mare.

"Thanks," said Twilight. "I appreciate it." Nurse Redheart offered a smile.

"He told me, 'That's amazing! I'm writing to the local paper right now!' Then he left. I-I didn't get a chance to stop him."

"Oh. Well today is Thursday and the paper comes out on Monday, so there's time!" Twilight decided it was simple enough to simply ask for the article not to be published. Nurse Redheart still looked worried as she walked out of the room.

Everypony had heard. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. No emotion was shown on anypony's frozen features. If the little one hadn't laughed, then perhaps time would truly stop, and their lives would never move forward. But she did, obviously oblivious to the current predicament, oblivious to the possibility that her life was in danger. She simply laughed, and for a moment, they all laughed too. Just to escape.

~~~

The next day, Pinkie Pie and Berry Twinkle checked out of the hospital. She was accompanied by Rainbow Dash and Octavia. As they left, the Canterlot mare turned to face the others. "I must bid farewell, my train leaves soon. Please do write me when you sort everything out. I wish you the best."

Octavia trotted off in another direction. "Bye!" called Pinkie.

"Bye," called Dash.

"Bye!" squeaked Twinkle sharply.

"Hey," said Dash."Her first word already! Octavia, she actually said bye!" shouted Dash, unsure if she heard.

Pinkie Pie smiled, the bounce slowly returning to her step, although limited for the child's safety. "So now we meet up at Fluttershy's house to tell the rest all about Berry Twinkle and then we can go to where they make the newspapers to tell them not to say anything. Just like Twilight said yesterday. Wow, we were all so scared about the Gazette printing that we forgot there was such an EASY solution!"

Oh Pinkie. Is anything ever that simple?

~~~

Twilight suggested Fluttershy's house. It was the most secluded, and they couldn't risk anypony else finding out. "I don't trust the bunny," said Dash, rather loudly.

"Rainbow Dash, manners! That was very rude," Rarity chided.

"Oh," said Fluttershy. "He's very sweet. Aren't you, Angel?" The rabbit responded by kicking her.

" Now let's take a look at this here foal." Applejack opened up the blanket." Aww... ain't that the cutest thing anypony's ever saw. An' a unicorn, to. Mus' be in the family."

"Yeah," said Twilight, shifting her hooves. "About the unicorn thing... Now you have to promise to not tell anyone. Pinkie Promise."

In unison, the two ponies that didn't know repeated the rhyme with the appropriate hoof actions.

"Alright. Twilight said. " The four of us that didn't do the Pinkie Promise already know. Pinkie?"

She took the blanket off the baby.

"What in tarnation?..."

~~~

"So in conclusion, we need to go to tell them that the article cannot be printed." Twilight had spent the last few minutes telling the three that weren't there about nurse Redheart's mistake.

"Then it simply must be done," Rarity declared. "Obviously not all seven of us can go. How about... yes the parents should go, of course, and Berry Twinkle- Oh, that's the first time I said her name! I think I would be of use, especially if it's a stallion, So then it's decided. "

Everyone agreed, and so they set off on the lovely Friday afternoon.

~~~

At the office of Printing Press, everything was neat, everything was clean. Not a single paper out of place, everything filed in the proper cabinet. It was a good idea not to bring Twilight, thought Rarity. She would have gone crazy from the impeccable details of the room Ahead of her, she saw a white stallion with a cream-colored mane and a black tail. Interesting. Usually one's mane and tail would be the same color.

"What do you want?"

Rarity stepped forward. "Why, my fine sir, we simply wanted to know if you received any particularly... interesting news recently."

"And if I did, why would I tell you?" He continued speaking in the same voice as he did earlier, a gruff monotone.

"Let me elaborate," said the mare. "Anything about... a baby alicorn?

"Maybe I did," he responded.

"Would you mind not printing that? For this filly's sake? For her parent's?" She batted her eyelids.

Emotion finally crept into the voice of Printing Press. "Not print it?! Are you out of your mind? What would be the story then? Of course, the Apple family apple cupcakes recipe. We hadn't had a good story in years! We've lost thirty-two percent of weekly buyers, in fact, at some point a newspaper for FOALS got more popular than the Ponyville Gazette!

Rarity remembered that paper particularly well.

"So the answer is yes, I WOULD mind not printing it. In fact, let's get some pictures."

A swarm of cameraponies came in, snapping pictures of the Pinkie, Rainbow and Berry. The ponies squirmed and swatted to no avail. Twinkle began to cry.

Soon, the cameraponies left, and the three ponies cried along. Rainbow Dash stalked up to him. "THE FUCK! YOU COMPLETELY VIOLATED US WITH THOSE CAMERAPONIES! YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! I SWEAR IT!"

"Security!" called Press.

"And he has the audacity to call security," said a still seething pony.

"Now," said the stallion. "I trust the three, sorry four of you to leave on your own accord."

"Mabye no, countered Pinkie, scraping her hooves against the smooth and flawless floor with an audible screech. She too was carried out, though the guardponies were careful with her child.

Finally Rarity left, face covered in tears, as the door slowly clinked shut.