Does the Party End with Motherhood?

by Sith_Dreamer

Rating: teen
Tags: Sad, Romance, Slice of Life
Length: 11756

Pinkie and caramel have been together a while. Their relationship is about to change in a big way.

Sometimes unexpected things come in small packages. For Pinkie Pie, she is about to learn in the hardest way possible. Will her coltfriend Caramel stay by her side? Elsewhere, Fluttershy and Big Macintosh are dealing with their own problems. Will Pinkie's sadness provide an unexpected joy to them?

A sequel to my first fic, "My Old Apple Acre Home", co-written by my friend Zev. I'm not specificying who wrote which part, but each chapter is roughly equal parts of each of us. Picture is by giantmosquito, and is a temp until Zev draws us up a new cover.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-05 04:38:08 UTC

Prologue

Prologue

Sometime shortly before the events of “My Old Apple Acres Home”….

    It was another beautiful day in Ponyville amidst the trees of Sweet Apple Acres. Celestia’s sun shown bright across the orchard, as a cool breeze blew through it. It was here Big Macintosh was working as hard as ever, trying his best to get the day’s apple bucking done. He was joined by his long time friend, a brown pony who didn’t appear to be as strong as Big Mac, but was no less focused on the job.

“Ya know I’m always glad ta see ya Caramel. Ya’ been so busy in Ponyville all the time, Ah never get ta see much of ya,” Big Macintosh glanced at the brown earth pony not far from him.

“I’ll always try to make some time Macintosh.  The horseshoe business is always busy. Dress shoes, work shoes, even some interesting variations done special requests for ponies with certain... interests in the bedroom,” Caramel told his friend honestly.

Well uh, that’s interestin’ I suppose,” Big Mac gave a false smirk, clearly a little uncomfortable discussing other pony’s priavte matters.

“Don’t worry, we don’t get too much of that. There are a lot of hooves that need a shoe though,” he said cheerfully.

“So, are ya ever gonna ask that special mare ya’ll has been goin’ on about fer sometime now?” Big Mac asked as he swiftly kicked another group of apples from the tall tree.

    Caramel’s blush shown through his brown coat as clear as day, making Big Macintosh chuckle at him.

“Ah’m sure you’ll get around to it,” the red stallion joked, turning away and scanning which tree he’d be bucking next.

“Mac? You think I got a chance with her? I mean, I had the chance that day of the Gala, but I just couldn’t. Time I had any courage at all; she’d hopped on her way and out of that window. “

    Mac couldn’t help but chuckle at his friend.

“Far be it from me ta tell ya what could happen…but uh, I think ya might get working on that there courage a’yours.”

“Huh, wha…” Caramel trailed off as he turned to look  at the road leading in and out of Sweet Apple Acres.

    Big Macintosh’s sister was trotting up the road, a purple unicorn next to her, and a pink pony with a poofy mane bouncing behind them. Caramel quickly ducked away behind a tree.

“T’ain’t nothin’ getting’ done like that,” Big Macintosh rolled his eyes as he spoke.

“Nonononononono, I’m not ready. Nope, not ready. I’m just gonna stay here,” Caramel was shivering and sweating as he pressed himself against the tree.

“Always gotta do things the hard way, dontcha?” Big Mac sighed as he trotted toward the brown earth pony.

“Thank ya’ll kindly fer comin’ to help me bake up all those apple pies fer Carrot Top’s celebration. Hard ta believe her family’s farm was ready and runnin’ before Sweet Apple Acres was,” Applejack said back to her friends.

“It’s my pleasure Applejack!” Twilight said cheerfully, “I’ve been meaning to brush up on my baking skills for quite a while now.”

“And you know how much I love making super duper sugar sweets for everypony!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed between leaps .

“It was a bit of a surprise fer me, but with the Cakes tied down with their third foal, Pan, Ah’d bet they wouldn’t have the time fer such a big job.”

“Have you seen her yet? Ooooo, she’s soooo cute, just like the others! And she’s an earth pony!” Pinkie continued on.

“Heh, Ah can’t imagine having a foal. Lots work, and Ah’m not sure Ah’d be cut out for it,” Applejack gave a small laugh as she mused on the thought of motherhood.

    Lost in her thoughts, Applejack continued on with Pinkie in tow, unaware that Twilight had stopped to watch as Big Macintosh slowly pushed a brown earth pony with a cutie mark of three horseshoes towards them. The brown stallion was trying to plead for Macintosh to let him go as they got closer and closer to the group.

    Finally Pinkie and Applejack took notice and turned to see what was happening as well.

“Ah don’t know what Caramel did this time, but looks like Big Macintosh is trying to teach him a lesson,” Applejack grinned as they got closer.

“Applejack, girls,” Big Macintosh nodded politely when he made it to where they were.

“Caramel causing ya problems again, Mac?” Applejack asked, remembering his past forgetfulness.

“Ee-nope,” Big Mac replied, nudging Caramel away from him, “But Ah think this one has somethin’ he was to say to one a’ you.”

    All three of the girls stood bemused as Caramel forced himself to stand. He shook uncontrollably as he took a single step forward. Twilight and Applejack watched as he passed by the two of them, and came face to face with Pinkie Pie.

“U-u-uh h-h-h-I Pinkie,” he managed to sputter out. “I uh, I’ve been watching you f-for a while now and…well I-I haven’t been w-watching you but I’ve noticed y-you. I was just wondering if y-y-you might like to,” his jittery demeanor causing him to lower himself to a whisper for his question, “like to…go out sometime?”

    There was a long silence between all the ponies. Applejack wasn’t sure but she could swear a random group of tumble weeds blew by during that time. Soon, Pinkie took a deep breath and held it in her lungs for a moment. Then she opened her mouth….

“OhmygoshThatWouldBeTheBestThingEverNoPonyHasEverAskedMEOutBeforeAndI’mSuperExcitedBecauseOneFinallyDidAndItWasSomeoneAsNiceAsYouCaramelOhMyGosh!” Pinkie chattered so fast the other ponies could barely keep up.

“S-so, yes?” Caramel asked her.

“Of course!” she wrapped her front legs around him and gave him a large and somewhat painful hug.

    The others began to laugh as Caramel gasped for breath. Finally Pinkie let him go, dropping him to the ground with a thud. He gasped desperately for air.

“T-tomorrow night then?” he wheezed more than said to her.

“I’ll be there! Although you haven’t said where yet so I can’t really meet you there if there isn’t a there yet but everywhere is a there and everypony is somewhere so everypony is there, right? So I’ll meet you here then!” Pinkie was grinning possibly further than ear to ear.

    Caramel nodded with a smile.

“Alright, alright, ya’ll boys get back ta work. We’ve gotta get bakin’,” Applejack motioned to the other mares.

    Twilight could have had hearts in her eyes and it wouldn’t have made her look any less happy.

“That was adorable!” she squealed as she followed Applejack inside.

    Pinkie also went to follow them, but turned back to Caramel and smiled at him, giving a wink before galloping after her friends. Caramel tumbled over right after, looking like some pets when their pony owners taught them to play dead.

“Now, was that so bad?” Big Macintosh grinned down at him.

“I’ve only got one question. What in Equestria do I do on a date with Pinkie Pie?” he said, his whole body again shaking.

“Eeyup, even Ah don’t know that,” Big Mac chuckled once again, “That mare is one of a kind.”

(Author’s Note: For anyone wondering what the exact timeline of the story is, it goes like this:  This prologue technically comes first in teh sequence of events. The entirety of My Old Apple Acre Home comes next, except for the last chapter. The last chapter takes place 3 years later Dash and AJ nreak up, AJ runs away for nearly 3 years.. In between these 2 chapters, Dash and Twilight dated for a year, but things didnt work. Big Mac also left with Applebloom for Appleoosa to work.  Right before the 3 year mark, AJ come sback to Ponyville with a daughter, Apple Blitz. Big Mac and Applebloom return soon a swell, due to Granny Smith's deatha nd remain there. Then my fic Fillysitting happens 5 months after that and this about 7 months after that fic.

That may be a bit confusing but maybe it helps.)

Everything Feels New Again

((Sith_Dreamer) Author’s Note: From here on out this becomes a joint fic between me and my good friend Zev. So if we need a note, we'll list whose note it is and such. I do have a couple of things to address here though: You’ll understand things a lot better if you read “My Old Apple Acres Home” first. Secondly, when it comes to foals, “I was writing them closer to human babies, so despite the recent episode allowing them to walk as early as a month and even briefly talk, I assume they will stay in the foal stage until they are at least two, hence why Applejack’s daughter, Apple Blitz will still not be anywhere near the levels of the show Cutie Mark Crusaders or other fillies. Ok, sorry for this being long winded. Enjoy!)

Chapter 1

Nearly 4 years later…

“Wow, it’s really amazing!” Rarity stood in awe like most of her other friends at the site before her.

With some improvements, Sweet Apple Acres stood before them nearly the same as it was before the fire that had claimed it almost four years prior. The apple trees were still growing but several large ones already stood in place of the ones that had been lost.

“Wow Big Macintosh, Applejack, how in the world did you ever manage the money to build this?” Twilight asked. “ I know you’ve had jobs and all, but with Apple Blitz, and with everything you’ve been helping Fluttershy with Big Macintosh, how did you afford it  or have the time to do all this?”

“Zap Apples!” a bouncing Applebloom shouted to the purple unicorn.

“Huh?” Twilight looked a bit confused.

“Ah helped ‘em too because Granny Smith taught me everthin’ she knew about harvesting Zap Apples  back when I was a little filly.”

“And then ol’ Filthy Rich as well as some other ponies picked up shipments like they used ta,” Applejack continued the story. “Since Zap Apple jam is so rare and expensive, it easily boosted our earnin’s and we’ve been working on it ever since. Especially while you two were off in Canterlot fer a while.”

“I got babysitting duty,” Rainbow Dash sighed heavily, but smiled at the little cyan filly that clung to her back.

The group laughed at her comment.

“Well I knew all about it!” Pinkie Pie seemed to spring into the air from out of nowhere. “It’s all Caramel has been doing when he hasn’t been helping with his family’s business. He’s so amazing sometimes,” Pinkie got tearey eyed for dramtic effect.

Everypony just smiled. It seemed Pinkie Pie would always be Pinkie Pie.

“It’s really great to see it again,” Twilight Sparkle mused, glancing around and the orchard. “What new things did you add?”

“Well, we expanded the bedroom so Dash and I could share the room, as well as move the crib in fer Apple Blitz. We made the normal rooms for Big Macintosh and Applebloom, although we didn’t try to make one like what Granny Smith had. It would’a been too sad fer us,” Applejack lowered her head as memories of Granny Smith flashed through her mind.

Dash knew what was going through her mind. She trotted up next to her marefriend, and wrapped a wing around her. Apple Blitz stood up on her haunches and gave a confused look at what Rainbow was doing.

“Sorry everypony, just getting’ caught up in ol’ memories, that’s all.”

None of the others said much on the issue. Big Macintosh stepped forward to continue the tour of their rebuilt home.

“You ok?” Dash whispered softly to her as the group moved on ahead of them.

“Yeah sugarcube, just thinking about the old days again. Ah miss her a lot ya know.”

“Who wouldn’t,  AJ? She was a pretty amazing mare. She was like, the original cool pony,” Dash tried to cheer up Applejack with her logic.

Applejack laughed a little bit and nuzzled up to Rainbow Dash, burying her head under the cyan wing. Apple Blitz quickly stood up, although a bit wobbly still, and ran across the cyan wing to her mother, latching on happily to Applejack’s neck.

“M-Mommy!” the little filly cried sweetly.

Despite her sadness, Applejack couldn’t help but feel joyous over the sound of her daughter’s voice, and the warmth that radiated from the mare she loved. IT was all the little filly can manage to say at this time in her life, but it meant the world to Applejack. She wanted to enjoy every moment she could.

After a few moments, the two mares and their filly looked up to see a starry-eyed earth pony staring at them from a few feet away. Finally sure they had seen her, Pinkie Pie bounded towards them enthusiastic as ever.

“Awww, you guys are so adorable. Just like you Blitzy!” Pinkie poked the little filly on the snout, making her giggle uncontrollably.

“Well, uh, we were kinda hoping nopony was spying on us,” Dash tried not to sound mean or upset with Pinkie.

“Oh nonononono, I wasn’t spying. I was just waiting patiently for you to finish whatever you were doing! And now you are done so we can talk!”

“Well you are right Pinkie but-“

“The other night Caramel and I were out, when he asked me about doing stuff with our friends and I told him I never thought about it but it’d be like when more people show up to a party and its even more fun! And then I thought I’d ask you two, and Twilight and Rarity, and Fluttershy and Big Mac and we can have a big date as friends somewhere!” Pinkie finally stopped to breath.

“Heh, well Pinkie, if it’s this week, Ah think we’ll have ta pass fer now,” Applejack told her, “We’ve still got a lot of work ta do on the farm before it’s ready. Plus we ain’t got no one ta watch little Apple Blitz here.”

“Oh, alright,” Pinkie didn’t look down for long. “I’ll go ask Twilight and Rarity, and see if they feel like going. They already have so little time together they need it! Or Fluttershy and Big Macintosh! I know wedding bells are for sure in the air for them!” Pinkie continued on, hopping circles.

Apple Blitz tried to bat at the cotton candy-like mane that swopped past her every few seconds as the pony it was attached to celebrated nothing more than still having other ponies to ask, Every so often a few  strands of hair would fly out of Pinkie’s mane and Apple Blitz would wrap herself in them playfully. Soon after though, Pinkie knew she had to reach the others before they made plans. Pinkie Pie dashed in the direction of her next target as quickly as she could.

“Sorry Pinkie, but I can’t. I have a huge presentation to give to the Canterlot School Board on how to better manage their funding for the year. I can’t miss anything when it comes to what, even for a few hours,” Twilight Sparkle told her.

“Alright,” Pinkie spoke softly, a little more hurt that things we’re not going her way.

“I-I wouldn’t mind going. If… if you don’t mind,” a sweet, timid-sounding voice spoke up.

“Oh hi Fluttershy! I was coming to ask you next. You and Big Mac need to come for a fun filled night out with me and Caramel!” streamers shot from behind her seemingly from nowhere. “You really have to!”

    The timid yellow Pegasus moved toward the others from the apple tree she’d been relaxing under, waiting for her coltfriend to finish some work he had had to do for the day.

“Oh well, I’ll have to ask Big Macintosh first. But um, it sounds like it would be a really nice time,”

Fluttershy squeaked.

“This’ll be so great then! We never get to spend anytime together anymore and when you do have time you usually spend it with Rarity when she has time and then none of us have any other time and it is really sad when that happens!”

“A-alright Pinkie Pie, I’ll let you know as soon as I talk to him,” Fluttershy smiled sweetly.

    With a huge grin, Pinkie Pie bounced off to find her own coltfriend, who had gone to help Big Macintosh in the orchard for the first time in a long while.

    After Pinkie had gone, Fluttershy stopped Rarity and Twilight from heading back into Ponyville right away.

“What’s the matter Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, a look of concern spreading across her face.

“Yes darling, you know you can tell me anything,” Rarity assured her.

“Well, um, Big Macintosh and I had decided…oh I don’t know if I can say this,” she kicked her hoof in the dust, trying to build up her confidence.

    The other two waited patiently, knowing Fluttershy would always have her troubles expressing herself, even around her closest of friends. The yellow Pegasus sighed, and took a deep breath.

“Well, we haven’t made any wedding plans or anything, but with everything finally getting back to normal, and all, Big Macintosh and I have been talking about…foals,” the last word she nearly whispered, causing her friends to lean closer.

“What was that Fluttershy?” Rarity asked.

“Foals,” she said slightly louder.

“Foals?!” Twilight said in surprise. “Did I hear you right?”

    Fluttershy made an eep sound and dropped to the ground. She nodded as a means to answer Twilight’s question.

“Oh Fluttershy, I think it’s marvelous. Marriage and all that is so old fashioned anyway, and I can tell you two are made for each other!” Rarity nudged Twilight hard in the side for how she’d acted.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, it was just a bit surprising is all. Of course Applejack having a foal was quite a surprise too, but look how well she’s taken to motherhood. Even Rainbow Dash has adapted quite well.”

    Fluttershy picked herself from the dirt, flapping her wings to blow the brown dust that had clung to her coat.

“Well…we’ve got an appointment with a doctor that’s making a special visit from Canterlot tomorrow,” Fluttershy blushed before she said the next part, “We’ve already been trying, and nothing has happened so far.”

“Well I’m sure everything will turn out just fine my dear. I can’t imagine a better father than a big, strong stallion like Big Macintosh,” Rarity reassured her.

“If you don’t like what that doctor tells you, I’m sure Princess Celestia could get you seen by even better doctors. I’m sure any problems might even be  able to be fixed by the Princess herself.”

  Fluttershy smiled at her friends, relived to not have to go into any more detail on the matter.

“I admit Fluttershy, if anypony is cut out for motherhood, it’s you. The way you deal with animal and pony alike is astounding. I’d bet a foal wouldn’t be a huge change at all,” Twilight said honestly,

“Although one might give Big Mac a run for his bits.”

The three ponies had a laugh at her comment, enjoying the brief moment before they would each have to return to the things they had to do.

When Fluttershy found Big Macintosh in the orchard, Pinkie Pie was there too, chattering like mad to him and Caramel. It seemed Pinkie had already mentioned the night out to the red stallion, and he seemed generally happy to take a night out. Fluttershy knew Big Macintosh wasn’t a pony who cared for much away from the farm and work, like the nightlife of Ponyville or fancy food brought from Canterlot. Still even he needed a day out and it was always better with the mare he loved.

“Oh Fluttershy, I know you were going to ask but Macintosh was right here and I was already talking to Caramel and guess what? Caramel mentioned it too! And he said yes! So you should like totally be getting ready and they’ll be done soon and get ready and I’ll go get ready too and we’ll all meet here.

That’s where we’ll meet, I had a feeling it was!”

Every time Pinkie rambled ,the words ran circles around her head and made her dizzy. She managed to nod, and keep herself from dropping to the ground.

“Oh, what if, after we went out, we had  a party! That would be so awesome, it’d be like a night out after-party!” Before anyone could answer her, Pinkie dashed off, either to get ready or to plan a party, nopony could be sure.

“How do ya ever put up with her, Caramel?” Mac asked, himself a little overwhelmed by Pinkie’s antics.

“She’s a really sweet pony,” Caramel smiled as he spoke, “She’s a handful, but she always means well. And I gotta say, she kinda balances my personality out a bit.”

Fluttershy nodded, not quite sure what he meant.

“Um, Macintosh, I've gotta go feed the animals now. They're probably already getting hungry.” Fluttershy said lightly, and motioned towards the sun in the sky.

“Ah’m sorry Caramel, Ah completely forgot Shy needed mah help . Ya mind takin’ these apples up ta the barn fer me?” Mac asked.

Caramel nodded. He watched as the couple trotted off to the road that led into town. He wondered where they were off too, but he loved how happy they looked going. He couldn’t help but wish Pinkie could be so calm once in a while.

Later that evening, Celestia’s sun began to set, casting slight darkness over the world as Luna’s moon took place. Over by the apple orchard stood Pinkie Pie and her coltfriend, playing a game by one of the trees as they awaited for their friends to show.

“37 times in a row... how are you so good at this game, Pinkie?”

“I played this game a lot with my sisters, silly! It was one of the only games that we could sit around and play,” Pinkie exclaimed as she looked up at her coltfriend. Not long after could they hear the sound of hoofsteps in the grass not far from where the two were sitting. Caramel looked over the pink mare to see two ponies trotting towards them; Fluttershy and Big Macintosh.

“Sorry if we’re a little bit late,” Fluttershy called over as they trotted closer to the couple by the tree.

Caramel couldn't help but notice both ponies looked so happy together. Having cleaned up and put on clothes for their night out, the couple seemed to shine. Caramel smiled, but kept his thoughts to himself.

“Nah, you guys aren’t too late,” Caramel waved a hoof dismissively. “But we should probably start heading to this restaurant now before it gets too late.”

Pinkie suddenly was jumping around Fluttershy and Big Macintosh as she spoke, “Yup! If we don’t get there soon then it could close and then that would mean that we couldn’t have this double date and then I would be sad because then all four of us couldn’t spend the night together and have fun!”

     Fluttershy and Big Macintosh were caught off guard by this act of excitement from the pink pony. Big Mac tried to look over at Caramel, giving some odd expression. Caramel just shrugged and motioned for them to follow him. The four of them trotted through Ponyville, on their way to their desired restaurant. Pinkie couldn’t contain her excitement, as she bounced around the group the whole way to the restaurant,  getting weird stares and glances from other passer-bys. A few minutes had passed since then, and the four finally made it to the restaurant.

“Table for-”

“Table for four!” Pinkie jumped in front of Caramel, getting right in the waiters face as she yelled. The waiter jumped back, completely not expecting the sudden act of the pink mare just before him. Caramel face hoofed as Fluttershy and Big Macintosh gave awkward smiles to each other and the other ponies staring at the group.

“Uh... right... uh right this way,” the waiter tried to recollect himself as he picked up four menus from nearby and motioned for the other to follow him to their booth.

Pinkie, as always, was bouncing around as she followed the waiter. Pinkie was the first to jump into her seat at the booth, as the other three slowly shifted their way over. The waiter placed the menus in front of each couple and seemingly took off with a bit of haste. Caramel noticed this and glanced over as the waiter took off to tend to other customers. He shrugged this off, thinking nothing of it and picked up his menu to find something to order. Pinkie slammed her menu done, seemingly ready to order, and startling the rest at the table.

“This is so great, you guys! We finally get a time to talk to each and catch up because before we were all so busy helping Applejack and we spent a lot of time with our partners and I was sad, but here we are now, getting together and finally being able to talk for a while!”

“Oh... um... yes, this is nice.” Fluttershy managed to squeak out, still slightly startled from Pinkies sudden outburst.

“Yes, it’s been a little while since we last talked, Caramel,” Big Macintosh noted. “How’s that job of yours been?”

“Busy as always, I’ll tell you that,” Caramel stated as he put down his menu, shifting closer to Pinkie. Pinkie rested her head on Caramel’s shoulder, keeping the large smile that was plastered across her features.

“I always thought the both of ya made a great couple,” Big Mac stated as he took a sip of his water glass. He placed a hoof on top of Fluttershy’s, whose was already laying atop the table they were sitting at. Fluttershy looked over at Big Mac, a smile creeping on her features.

“I thought the same about you two,” Caramel smirked as he responded. Big Mac just shrugged, looking back at his marefriend.

The four of them sat there, chatting for what seemed like hours. Pinkie did her job at keeping the situation itneresting, switching from one topic to the next, until they ended up on a topic that seemed to hold all four ponies' attention.

“I’ve always thought about having a foal at some point,” Fluttershy stated.

“I’m sure you’d be a great mother, Fluttershy! You’re always so kind and always taking care of animals that it wouldn’t be too much of an issue for you!” Pinkie nearly yelled out across the table. She was bouncing in her seat as the thought of Fluttershy made her a bit excited.

“Well... yes...we've...well, we've been trying,” Fluttershy looked down, her usual look of embarassement growing across her face. Big Mac placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

Fluttershy went on to explain the things she'd already told Twilight and Rarity. Pinkie grinned from ear to ear the whole time, while Caramel just sat and nodded, interested but indifferent emotinally.

“Well that’s just super amazing! I bet it'd be super cute and then I could baby sit like when the Cakes- ”

Pinkie tried to keep rambling, but was stopped by the waiter who trotted by to drop off their bill.

“I got this, don’t worry you guys,” Cararmel exclaimed as he put down the bits to cover the bill.

“We should probably head out too, it’s beginin’ ta get late,” Big Macintosh stated as he shifted out of his seat. Pinkie and Caramel just nodded and followed suite. The four of them stopped in front of the restaurant to say their goodbyes to each other and then parted ways.

The walk from the restaurant was unusually quiet, especially for Caramel who’d rarely known silence while in the company of the pink party pony.

“It’s pretty late out, do you mind if I stay with you for the night, Pinkie?”

“Of course it is!” Pinkie exclaimed, embracing Caramel. Caramel returned the embrace and kissed Pinkie on the cheek, making her giggle.

Pinkie kept thinking back at how Fluttershy had told them about wanting a foal. She could see a perfect image of a happy family between Fluttershy, Mac, and a foal, and thought it was just adorable. She hoped Fluttershy would get her wish. Pinkie hated to see her friends sad. She had been happy for Applejack, and loved everytime she got to see little Apple Blitz. She loved everytime she got to see and play with foals. Pinkie just couldn't iamgine herself with one though.

Caramel could tell that Pinkie had something on her mind, but wasn't sure what it could be. Not knowing what to say, or if he should say anything,  he pecked her on the cheek again, causing Pinkie. to smile at him like she always did, before they continued on their way back to Pinkie’s.

For Every Bit of Happiness, There is Sadness

(Author’s Note: If you read the first chapter the day it was posted, which was the same day as the prologue, the first chapter has changed and you should re-read it again. This chapter will make mroe sense because of that. Enjoy!)

Chapter 2

“Just one more game!?” Pinkie moaned as she clutched Caramel’s leg while he tried to make his way towards Pinkie’s couch.

“No Pinkie Pie! It’s…” he forced his leg forward, dragging Pinkie across the floor, “really late. I’m really…” it came time for him to move that leg, and drug her a few more feet, “really tired.”

“Oh please please please please please please please please!”

“Pinkie! No!” Caramel wrestled his leg free, his hoof finally slipping through her tight grasp.

    Pinkie lay across the floor as Caramel picked a blanket up between his teeth, and tossed it to the end of the sofa.   He climbed on top of the spongy cushions and sat down, eventually rolling over onto his back. Pinkie maintained her position on the floor. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

“I’m sorry Pinkie. I’m just sooo tired from all this work the shop’s been getting, as well as helping out Big Macintosh and-“

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!” Pinkie cut him off as tears exploded from her eyes.

“No Pinkie! No no nononononon NO!” Caramel tried to stop her wails, “Don’t do this Pinkie Pie!”

   It was as if a torrential rain had begun in Pinkie’s room, the floor was suddenly a foot deep, then three feet deep in tears. Caramel could see an ocean’s worth of fish swimming in the salty sea. Five feet, and it had engulfed the couch.

“Alright Pinkie, alright! One more game!” Caramel squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the salty substance creeping up his legs.

    When he opened his eyes, everything was dry. No tears, no fish, not even his coat was wet. Pinkie stood in front of him with the biggest grin yet, her eyes sparkling as brightly as diamonds.

“Pinkie I don’t know how you do that but-“

“Don’t question the way of Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie dashed to the closet and rummaged through several items, before settling on one game.

   She pulled out a large handmade mat and a small paper disc with colors on it. She threw the mat out across the floor, covering her floor with circles of green and blue, yellow and red, purple and pink. She tossed the disc on the floor next to it. It had a circle colored like a rainbow, with a small black arrow that spun around it.

“Wha-what is this?” Caramel seemed confused by what Pinkie had laid before him.

“It’s called Twisty silly. Or Twisted. OR Twist-Tie, or something like that.”

“Where’d you get this game from, Pinkie? And uh, how do you play it?”

“Oh, Lyra told me all about it. She said humans play it all the time. I have no idea what that means, but it must be awesome!” Pinkie bounced over to the mat. “To play it, we each spin the arrow until it lands on a color. Then we put one hoof on it. Then we spin again, and again and each time we have to put a hoof on that color. And if you fall down or can’t reach a color, you lose!”

“Sounds simple enough,” Caramel admitted, climbing back off the couch and stepping onto the map.

“Hehehe, we’ll see Melly, we’ll see.”

    An hour had passed and Caramel was losing for the third time. He couldn’t reach the green circle, and now he stood, hoof outstretched over Pinkie’s form, trying his best to even touch the tip of the green circle.  It was no use however, and suddenly he tumbled down on top of his marefriend. She burst into a fit of laughter, amused that she’d once again won the game. Caramel however was experiencing some different feelings.

“Her body is so warm when we’re this close,” he said to himself, “ We never really get this close. Pinkie never seems to want to.”

     He’d been having feelings like this since the game started. First  he couldn’t help but stare at her round pink flank. He shook off as many thoughts as he could about the things he could do involving it, but more and more poured in.  He thought about stroking her mane in the dark, kissing her lips in ways her lips had probably never once kissed before. He was sure his  thoughts were at the root of his lack of concentration on the game, which had lead to all of his loses up to this point.

He tried to pull himself up, his coat rubbing against hers as he stood. He shivered with delight, experiencing feelings he’d never had in the whole time they’d been together. He could feel his face getting warm with excitement. He hadn’t considered what else might appear excited.

“Caramel!” Pinkie shrieked in a fake tone, “What in Equestria is that about?!”

   Caramel craned his neck down to notice the large protrusion that was extremely visible between his legs. He quickly closed them in an attempt to hide his excitement.

“Well-uh-um, I was just-I don’t- we were getting so close and I liked it so much. We never get that close Pinkie and while I’m not the type of colt to push an issue like that, but I’d really like to get closer to you Pinkie. If you want to that is,” he put his head down in a way reminiscent of Fluttershy.

“Closer like in there?” Pinkie motioned toward her bedroom.

   Caramel nodded.

“Well of course silly, all you had to do was ask!”

“Oh... I don’t know about this now, Big Mac.”

“Don’t ya worry, it will all be fine,”

Fluttershy and Big Macintosh had stopped outside the doctors office by this point. Fluttershy looked up to Big Mac, looking for some sort of guidance. He gave her a warm smile and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder, then motioning with his head to go in. She nodded, slowly pushing the door open and stepping inside the office; Big Mac following suite.

“Ah, Fluttershy, is it?” She nodded.

“Welcome, welcome! Here, take a seat,” he pointed to a nearby set of chairs on the other side of the room with his hoof. They did as they were told, land were soon sitting across a large desk from the uncorn.

“Now we’re going to have to take some tests,” He picked up a clipboard with his magic, jotting down a few things with a quill surrounded by a deep red aura,.then got up to head for the door before being stopped by Fluttershy.

Fluttershy squeaked. “W-what kind of tests?”

“Just some blood tests, possibly an X-ray, those sort of tests. Now I’ll be right back, I need to get a few things for this first test,” He trotted out the door, closing it behind him with some magic.Fluttershy looked to Big Mac, nervousness riddled across her expressions. Big Mac put a hoof around her, pulling her close to him to attempt to comfort her.

“Now don’t ya worry, Fluttershy. It’ll be alright.”

   A couple hours had passed since the testing and the doctor had left the room again to get the results. The couple just sat in the exam room in complete silence, awaiting the doctors return. Fluttershy looked down, and began fiddling with her hooves as she waited. Big Mac was looking around at all the charts and posters that were hung up around the room. A poster of the heart came into view. He stared at it, looking over its parts and what each part was. Suddenly, their ears perked up when they heard the turn of the doorknob and the door swing open. Big Mac noticed an unsettling look upon the doctors face. Something was bothering him, or rather, what he had to say to the timid mare.

     The doctor sat back in the chair across from the couple. He set his clipboard down on the table next to him and clasped his hooves together. He took a deep breath before telling the couple something they didn’t want to hear. “Well your results are in now, Miss Fluttershy.”

“What did the results s-say?” she questioned.

“Well...” he took another deep breath. He looked over at Big Macintosh, who was sitting quiet through most of what was happening. Glancing back at Fluttershy, he noticed that she was slightly leaning forward, just awaiting for the results. “The results say that you won’t be able to have a foal,” he finally stated after some time.

     Fluttershy’s expression immediately dropped to one of disappointment, then to sadness as a few tears began to sneak their way into her eyes. Those words. It was as if somepony just took a knife to her heart. As if her heart was just crushed, and somepony just left it there to rot. It was apparent to the doctor what he had done. It was never easy to do. To break these sort of things to ponies and couples like these two was one of the hardest parts of his job.

Fluttershy began to sob, one of her greatest fears suddenly realized; such a motherly figure to be deprived of having a foal of her own.

“B-but how?” She barely managed to choke out.

“It appears that there may be something wrong with those organs, but we’ve for sure diagnosed you with a very rare blood condition. Your blood at this stage is doing all it can to sustain you, but there is no way it could support a growing foal as well.”

   Big Mac bit his lip, not knowing what he could say at the time. The best he could do was be there for his marefriend, and try to help her through this tough time.

“I-I don’t understand how this could happen,” her sobs getting worse, tears flowing down her cheeks. Big Mac held her close to him, rubbing her back and trying to get to calm down.

“There’s nothing that can be done about this is there?”

“The good news is that there is medicine that can help you, and I’ll be sure to prescribe it. However, the likelihood of you ever bearing a foal is less than ideal,”he stated, a frown across his features as he looked at the couple.

Big Mac looked down towards the ground, disappointed, but never letting go of his marefriend. He could feel his own eyes beginning to wet, not just on account of the news, but also that he’d never been able to see a pony as sweet as Fluttershy in such a state.

“I’m terribly sorry, Miss Fluttershy. It’s these kinds of things that make it hard for me to be a doctor.” He stated as he picked up his clipboard with his magic and trotted outside the office, closing the door behind and leaving the devastated couple behind.

   That same morning, a much happier scene was unfolding in Pinkie Pie’s bedroom. Caramel woke up, his mane looking rough from the long night before. He felt much different than he usually did. He thought back on the night before, and found himself realizing how much even in the throws of passion was Pinkie Pie... just so Pinkie Pie. He smiled, realizing he’d likely have not had it any other way.  The pink mare next to him began to stir, and  he watched in silence until she finally sat up, rubbing her tired eyes.

“Morning Pinkie,” Caramel said with a smile.

    Pinkie’s mane was just as disheveled as his own. She turned to him still looking sleepy, then suddenly her eyes widened and she seemed to wake up almost instantly. Her mane suddenly poofed itself back into place as she jumped from under the covers and began to bounce on top of the mattress.

“You see what happens when you just ask ponies for nice things!” Pinkie shouted happily, “Although I’d hope everypony wouldn’t do that if you asked. That’d be weird. What if you asked like, Mr. Cake. I mean, Rainbow Dash and Applejack are two mares and are together, so I guess colts can do that to but I don’t really know, so I guess if you asked Mr. Cake he might, but then why would you do that?”

   Pinkie stopped talking for the moment, having confused herself.

“I’ll, uh, keep that in mind Pinkie,” Caramel chuckled, glancing around the room for a clock.

   When his eyes found one, he quickly jumped out of bed.

“OH no, I’m late opening the shop!” he cried as he scrambled out of bed, looking for his clothes.

“Uh Caramel, you don’t normally wear clothes silly,” Pinkie pointed out.

“Oh... yeah,” he said, quickly running up to her and giving her a kiss, before darting out of her room, past a very confused Cake family, and out the door of Sugarcube Corner as fast as his hooves could take him.

Pregnant?

The hospital lights beat down in a light different but just as bright as the sun. Pinkie Pie waited alone in her room, not sure why she ended up in so much pain this particular morning. Once the Cake twins had left the room, they managed to get Mrs. Cake up to Pinkie within seconds. After making sure there wasn’t any blood or anything else that looked like it might prevent Pinkie from moving, she summoned her husband to the room, and Mr. Cake had carried her gently but swiftly to Ponyville General. He’d promised to stay and wait for her until she was done, but he’d opted to stay out of the examinations for Pinkie’s own privacy.

She sighed as she laid on her side, looking more melancholy than most ponies ever saw her. Her normally fluffy hair had slightly straightened, not completely falling across her whole head but several strands had begun to fall, especially in front of her eyes.  She heard a rustling in the hall, and several familiar voices spoke loudly to one of the hospital staff.

“Now hold on, why can’t we see her?” the voice of a familiar cyan Pegasus asked above all the others.

“When she gets her results, you can all come in and visit to your heart’s content, but until then, you have to wait. We don’t know what her situation is yet, and any unwanted stress could easily make things worse,” a voice that sounded like Nurse Redheart replied to her.

“Come on ya’ll, we’ll just go out to the waitin’ room. Can’t make us wait forever,” Applejack’s voice said, followed by several slow hoofsteps and several audible grumbles, most notably by Rainbow Dash.

     Pinkie couldn’t help but wonder just who had come. She wondered if Rarity had made the trip back from Canterlot to find out if anything was really wrong. Pinkie hoped she hadn’t gone to such trouble. She then began to wonder if Caramel was out there. She’d never had time amidst her constant use of her boundless energy to think much on her relationship with him. She knew she loved him, but she realized she always did most of the talking and he liked to stay mostly quiet, and she realized just how dysfunctional their relationship could be. Still, she decided he had to love her back, or else he’d have left long ago. With another sigh, Pinkie tried to think of happier thoughts, realizing just why she hated the serious things that claimed most of the world around her.

     Lost in unfamiliar thoughts, Pinkie didn’t notice the click of the door opening until her doctor was standing in front of her.

“Ah, good, hmm, what time is it?” he checked a fancy watch strapped around his foreleg, “Ah yes, evening Ms. Pie. I’ve got good news, and... I’ve got  more good news for you.”

“Say what?” Pinkie retorted quickly, sitting up to get more comfortable.

“Well, the good news is, physically, you are absolutely healthy. No nasty sickness or physical ailment. Now are you ready for the other bit of good news?”

   Pinkie cocked her head for a moment, but nodded all the same.

“It would seem, Ms. Pie, that you are expecting a foal. Congratulations!”

     Pinkie didn’t realize her eyes had widened. She didn’t realize how pale she had become. She sat there, perfectly still, completely in shock.

“Hmmm, Ms. Pie?”

     Pinkie didn’t respond for several more seconds, before simply slumping down back into her hospital bed and passing out.

“Hey, come’ere ya’ll, Ah think she’s comin’ around.”

   Pinkie’s first thought was how cliché it was for her to open her eyes to the blurry sight of all her friends crowded around her bed. Her second thought was overwhelming joy that they were there.

“Hey everypony,” she spoke softly.

“Pinkie, we all couldn’t believe what the doctor said about your diagnosis. It’s amazing! I mean, it really sounds amazing.  Is that how you feel about it?” Twilight seemed to have suddenly picked up Pinkie’s slack by launching a fast paced barrage of comments at the pink pony.

     Pinkie looked away. Her life had suddenly become very confusing. She glanced around at her friends. She could see Twilight and Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and their daughter Apple Blitz, Fluttershy and Big Macintosh. Rarity it seemed hadn’t made it back in, and Pinkie wasn’t sure that she would be coming. She also noticed the lack of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but she hadn’t expected them. Then she noticed one other pony was missing.

“W-where’s Caramel? Does he know?” Pinkie asked the others.

   They all shook their heads.

“Sorry sugarcube, seems he got called into the shop after we saw him earlier at the orchard. He just couldn’t leave,” Applejack told her.

“But that’s good, right? So you can tell him yourself,” Rainbow pumped a hoof at her statement, which Apple Blitz tried her best to mimic below her.

“Caramel is the father, isn’t he Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked, suddenly sounding concerned.

“Yeah,” Pinkie said, still in a bit of shock.

    While most of her friends tried  their best to comfort her, she didn’t notice Fluttershy, a look of extreme hurt in her eyes, quickly fleeing the room. Big Macintosh slowly crept up to Applejack and whispered something in her ear. Applejack gave a nod, and Big Mac left a few seconds later.

    Pinkie sat up on the bed, listening to her friends gush about the all the wonderful possibilities a new foal would bring. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were especially talkative on the subject. Pinkie continued not to speak, still letting  the revelation soak in.

Meanwhile in the nearby park, a familiar canary colored pegasus sat all by her lonesome, crying. Big Mac looked everywhere around the proximity of the hospital trying to find where Fluttershy may have run off to. After a couple minutes of searching he began to hear the faint, yet distinct sound of somepony crying. He followed the sound which soon after brought him to the park that was by the hospital. He caught sight of Fluttershy sitting on a bench by herself, crying into her hooves. He slowly made his way over to where she was at and stopped once he was standing right in front of her.

Fluttershy's ears perked up as she heard somepony approaching. She sniffed and looked up from her hooves to see that it was her coltfriend, staring at her with concern showing clearly in his eyes. She dropped her head to look at the ground, opening her mouth to say something, but nothing came of it. Big Mac took a seat next to her, waiting for her to talk about what the issue was, even though he was fairly certain about what it was. Finally she gradually lifted her head up to look over at Big Mac before speaking.

“I’m sorry, Big Mac... I-I just... I don’t know what to think right now,” she managed to choke out. Big Mac didn’t say a word. Instead he pulled Fluttershy into a hug and rubbed her back to try and comfort her and stop the crying. Fluttershy buried her head into his shoulder, letting everything that has been bugging her, out.

     They sat there for what seemed like hours before pulling away and finally digging into what the this whole thing was about.

“It’s... It’s just not...”

“Fair?” Big Mac finished.

“Yeah,” Fluttershy responded, looking down at the ground again.

“Hey, Flutters. You gotta know that life is never always fair. Some things work our way and sometimes they don’t. We just have to deal with what life throws at us,” he said in hopes that Fluttershy would know what he was saying and accept it.

   Fluttershy took in what Big Mac had just said. She thought over all the times where life was and wasn’t fair and it was true. Some moments it was fair, but others it just down right wasn’t. There was no changing that. “Yeah, I suppose so,” she said a little reluctantly.

Big Mac pulled her into another hug, happy that she was accepting of such a fact. she pulled away before she spoke again.

“So now what will I have to do?” she questioned, trying to figure out a way that she could get such a privilege.

“Well... there’s always adoption, I guess. I don’t know what else there is that we could do,” he suggested.

“You think it will work out?” she said a little worried.

“Don’t you worry, Flutters. It will work out just fine, I promise you,” he glanced in the direction of the hospital, then back to Fluttershy.

“C’mon, lets get back to the hospital.”

_____________________

After a few hours, things began to wind down and one pony or another had something to attend to, leaving Pinkie alone in the hospital. Twilight had promised to come back as soon as she found Caramel.  Beyond the beeps and whirrs of the machines they’d hooked Pinkie to, the room was silent, something the pink pony was not accustomed to.

“I’m gonna be a mother!” she spoke to herself happily, like she’d talk to anypony else. “If they are anything like Pound and Pumpkin were, then it’ll be super-duper great! We’ll play games and bake cookies and stay up late and read scary stories!”

Pinkie thought for a moment.

“But what if they aren’t like the Cake twins? What if they don’t like parties? What if the foal doesn’t like to play what I like? And I can’t just give back this foal like when I used to babysit,” the worry creeping into Pinkie;s voice was evident.

     A small chuckle came from across the room. Pinkie’s doctor had had the door cracked and heard all of Pinkie’s ramblings.

“Pinkie,” he started sternly but his features softened quickly, “Despite how idyllic Ponyville may seem sometimes, do you know just how many Ponies I get in here younger than you, some of them still young fillies, who’ve made this “mistake” or that “mistake” and end up right where you are? To be honest far too many, but most of them, they have no way to take care of themselves. they put their burden on their parents or on other ponies, or sometimes they decide upon other options. I can’t say I fully condone those, but considering the life those foals may have had to lead, well...” he wipes his brow with his foreleg. “Well lets not talk about that.”

    Pinkie seemed a bit confused by all this.

“Ms. Pie, what I’m saying is, you have a job, you know who your foal’s father is. You’re an adult now, and you actually know quite a bit about caring for baby ponies. I think you’ll do just fine.”

    Pinkie managed to grin ear to ear.

“Doctor, when I get out, I’m throwing you such a big party!”

An Interesting Development/ Letters to the Princess

(Sith’s Note: Anyone happen to have any idea what the general idea of pony lifespan is? I’ve always assumed it was human length, but others suggest less or more. I’m assuming a 1 year old foal though, based on the Cake twins, would have the capacity of human two year old, so maybe normal ponies live half a human life span?)

Chapter 3

Six Weeks Later…

Pinkie awoke like she did every morning, popping out of her bed and landing on all four hooves, her frizzy hair instantly popping back into place. Today though, as soon as she landed her stomach began to knot up, making her feel like somepony had kicked her extremely hard. She lowered herself down easily, trying to let the pain pass. Before she could do anything further, the door to her room burst open and in bounded Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. The two were now close to six years old, and as playful as they’d ever been, although Pound had lost his natural flight abilities as all Pegasi did, and Pumpkin had stopped having her magic bursts some time ago.

“Pinkie, it’s the weekend! Time to play with us!” Pound shouted a she hopped into the air with the intention of jumping on Pinkie.

Pumpkin, being much more observant than her impulsive brother, yanked him back with her magic. She seemed to instantly recognize something was wrong.

“Pinkie, are you ok?” she asked the usually chipper party pony.

“Oh yeah… I think. I’m not actually sure,” Pinkie could barely speak from the pain.

“Sorry Pinkie, I didn’t know,” Pound apologized, rubbing the back of his head and glancing away.

“It’s ok. Can you get your mom for me?” Pinkie asked them.

Without another word the filly and colt dashed down the stairs as fast as their legs could carry them, leaving Pinkie alone and confused as she waited for Mrs. Cake to come help her.

Six weeks had passed since Pinkie and Caramel had finally moved into the next stage of their relationship, and Caramel had not been one to let it sit as a onetime deal. Every time after they were finished he would either leave her small apartment or fall asleep for the night, listening to the sounds of her talking about an array of things, whatever was on her mind. Somewhere inside ,Caramel, he wondered if she enjoyed what they were doing. He took notice as to her expressions and sounds, but he’d known with his previous marefriend that anypony could be a pretty good liar when they needed to be. Caramel was sure, even if it was a horrible act to the pink pony, she’d lie through her teeth to see one of her friends smile, especially her coltfriend.

                Today, Caramel had managed to get his brother to watch the shop so he could head out for a day at Sweet Apple Aces. He’d heard the news that had followed their night out about Fluttershy’s predicament, and he knew Big Macintosh would be doing everything he possibly could to make her happy while they looked for more options.

     He trotted up the road, the wind blowing through his dark brown mane as he hummed to himself. It was a tune he’d heard Pinkie singing before, something about smiling. Ahead, he could make out an orange form bucking apples from one of the trees closest to the road. A smaller cyan blur dashed around her.

“Applejack!” he shouted as he got closer.

“Mornin’ Caramel!” Apejack shouted back, tipping her hat to him as he approached.

   Apple Blitz continued to run about around her mother, tumbling down into the soft dirt every so often from her still wobbly legs.

“What brings ya out here this fine mornin’?” AJ asked.

“Coming to see Big Macintosh, and the rest of you of course. Didn’t expect to find you out here, especially without your other half.”

“Rainbow’s out doin’ some flyin’. Ah reckon she’ll be back anytime now. That’s her break from little AB here, and she keeps on talkin’ about them Wonderbolts. Ah’m sure she’ll make it one day but, well, Ah don’t know if I really want her too. She’d be gone all the time and-“ Applejack was cut off as a cyan blur tackled her to the ground and began to furiously kiss her.

   Caramel stared on as Rainbow Dash straddled over her lover, continuing to kiss her playfully before stealing a few more passionate ones. Apple Blitz had stopped running for the briefest of moments to watch her mothers in blissful awe.

“Ma Dashie!” the tiny filly cried, scampering toward the two and jumping with all the might her little legs could muster.

     Blitz crashed headfirst into Dash’s neck, knocking her off Applejack, and landed with a thud on Applejack’s stomach. She shook her head furiously, her blonde, red-streaked mane waving in the breeze.

“Hey Little Bit,” Dash smiled as she sat up and wrapped a hoof around Apple Blitz. “So what were you talking about down here, AJ?” You want to tell me, I want to know!” Dash faked a whine.

“Well shoot, Ah didn’t know ya’ll was getting’ so big, AB. Oh, yer right there, I couldn’t tell ya from yer Ma fer a minute there,” Applejack smirked, causing Dash to stamp a hoof down in faux anger.

“Bah, suit yourself then. What are you doing here anyway Caramel?”

“Well, I thought anypony was welcome at Sweet Apple Acres,” Caramel smirked.

“Oh come on, don’t be a smartass now,” Dash rolled her eyes as she spoke.

“Smartass!” Apple Blitz repeated very clearly.

   At that moment, with one hoof blocking Blitz’s vision, Applejack took her other hoof and bashed Rainbow Dash on top of her head.

“Ow! What the hel-heck was that for!?”

“Exactly what ya corrected yourself for just now, yer language Dash. She knows about ten words, and one of ‘em is now smarta-, ahem, s-m-a-r-t-a-s-s.”

“Alright, alright, sorry. Jeeze,” Dash rubbed the top of her head.

   Apple Blitz giggled at their fight, mostly unaware of what any of it meant.

“Well, anyway, I just came looking for Big Mac. I figured since he and Fluttershy have been having such a rough patch, maybe he could use the company. I haven’t torn myself away from either work or Pinkie Pie lately, so I had hoped to hang out with him.”

“Sorry ta break the wheel off yer wagon Caramel, but Big Mac ain’t here. Took ‘em a while, but Twilight got them a personal meeting with the Princess to try and help with their problem. All three of ‘em left fer Canterlot this morning, Rarity too, though Ah’m pretty sure she was going to check on the progress of her first Carousel Boutique chain store. How she’s ever gonna keep up making enough fashions fer two stores is beyond me.”

“Oh, alright,” Caramel lowered his head, a little ashamed he’d put off trying to be there for his friend for so long.

“Don’t beat yourself too much now,” Dash gave him a playful punch in the leg. “Besides, Big Mac isn’t going anywhere. I’ll come get you personally the minute they come back.”

“Heh, alright. Thanks you two,” Caramel nodded and headed back towards town, probably to find out where Pinkie Pie was that morning.

     The two mares watched as he went, Applejack leaning her head on her marefriend’s shoulder.

“Smartass!” Apple Blitz chirped loudly, breaking the silence between the three of them.

     Dash burst out in a laugh at the surprise of the little filly. Another hoof quickly plopped down on Dash’s head, making her crash to the ground, grabbing her head in pain once again.

   Meanwhile at the library...

“So that’s what the doctor told me and I, uh, was hoping you would have a book or some sort of spell or something that could help...” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, trying to take in what all Fluttershy had just said to her. The pruple unicorn had just returned herself from an extended stay in Canterlot, teaching a few classes to the new fillies and colts that had been enrolled in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She’d gone with Rarity who was once again rubbing elbows with high society and pushing her new fashions wherever she could. sadly, work had gotten the best of both of them, and Rarity had been forced to stay in Canterlot while Twilight had had to return to Ponyville for the sake of the library. Neither had been able to spend much time with the other, and Twilight’s leaving had only put further strain on their relationship.

“That is... if that’s alright with you...” Fluttershy hid behind her mane, looking down at the ground waiting for Twilight’s response.

Twilight snapped back from he thoughts about her her marefriend she missed so dearly with honest concern for Fluttershy’s situation.

“Well, Fluttershy... I don’t think I could do anything to help you. I’m not sure there are any cures that anypony knows of, noted in any of these books that is,” she waved her hoof around her, signifying the books around them. Twilight could tell the disappointment in her friends expressions at that moment in time. “But I suppose I could double check,” she stated, looking at all the books around her.

Fluttershy glanced up, still hiding behind her mane, but in that very moment, Twilight could see the light in her friends eye. Fluttershy gave a slight smile as Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder and then making her way towards one of the bookshelves.

“This may take a little while,” Twilight muttered as she began to pull book after book off the shelf in front of her.

She piled any book that could be related to any sort of medical kind of thing by her, tossing some others in another pile to be re-shelved later. Fluttershy just watched from the same spot she had been sitting at. Her eyes darted from book to book that was being levitated through the air. Fluttershy’s eyes soon began to spin in circles and she became wobbly, as she tried to regain herself before she toppled over onto the floor.

At that very moment, Spike decided to pop in the library through the front door. He took a few steps in before he realized what was actually going on, well for the most part at least. Fluttershy turned around the see the purple dragon walk in as he pointed towards the piles of book around Twilight with a confused expression.

“Twilight is helping me look for a cure for this... uh... condition I have,”

“Ooohhh, okay,” he gave a slight nod.

He inched himself further into the library until he was right next to Twilight. He looked over at Twilight, who was busy flipping through books, before he picked up a book from one of the piles reading “Remedies for the Sick.”  He placed the book back down on the pile before nudging Twilight to get her attention.

“Oh hey there, Spike. I didn’t hear you walk in,” she gave him a brisk hug before returning to her current task.

“Looks like you could use some help, there Twi. I could start on this shelf over here,” Spike offered while he walked to the other side of the room to another bookshelf that hadn’t been touched yet.

“Oh that would be great! Thanks, Spike!” Twilight exclaimed.

Hours later and many tossed and thrown books later...

“I just can’t seem to find any leads in any of these books!” Twilight threw the book across the room in frustration, led by the slamming of her face into the desk she was at.

“It’s alright Twi. Don’t blame yourself for this,” Fluttershy said as she walked up and lay a hoof on her friends shoulder, hoping that it would calm the purple unicorn some.

“Yeah I guess so. I just want to be able to help you, Fluttershy,” she lifted her head off the desk, peering around for any books she may have missed.

Twilight let out a sigh when she noticed that she had gone through every one of them. She glanced over at Spike, who had apparently fallen asleep on one of the open books that he must have been reading. Twilight smiled, before turning back to Fluttershy.

“I just don’t know what else there is that we could possibly do,” she said, a slight tinge of sadness in her voice for not being able to help in any way.

“Well... um... maybe you could... uh... ask, Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy quietly suggested. Twilight pondered the thought for a moment, trying to think of what all Celestia would say to doing such a thing. She tapped a hoof to her chin while contemplating before taking out a piece of parchment and a quill.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

With that, Twilight levitated a quill and parchment to her, deciding Spike was better left to his rest for now. She began writing.

Dear, Princess Celestia,

I hate to disturb you, but I have a request that I must ask of you. As of late, my friend, Fluttershy has just recently found out that she has some sort of disorder that prevents her from having foals. I was wondering if you had some sort of spell or some sort of cure that we have yet to find that could help her out. I apologize that this will be a short letter and that it has nothing to do with my reports on friendship, but I will send those in soon enough.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle.

     She set the quill down and began to roll up the scroll. She looked back over to Spike who was still passed out on top of one of the books that was scattered around the room.

“Well I think we should call this a night. I’ll send the letter in the morning when Spike is awake, so come back sometime tomorrow, in the afternoon preferably,” Twilight stated as she turned back to face Fluttershy.

“Oh, well alright then. It is getting late afterall,”

Twilight nodded.

“Well I guess I’ll come back tomorrow then,” she walked over and embraced Twilight in a hug before saying thank you and heading out into the cool night outside.

Twilight closed the door behind the canary pegasus and turned around to see the mess of books that were scattered around. It’s rather late out... I’ll just clean this up in the morning, Twilight thought to herself. She trotted over to Spike, picking him up and laying him on her back before she turned herself in for the night. She deeply wished Rarity was back from Canterlot. She hadn’t had a chance to snuggle with her marefriend in such a long time. With a sigh she headed up stairs with the little dragon in tow, and hoped she wouldn’t have to bear too many more lonely nights in the future.

The next day had arrived and Fluttershy had done everything to kill some time before heading down to the library to find out what the Princess had said. She wandered the market area looking for ingredients for certain dishes that she may want to make later that night, doing her best to not let the market ponies get the best of her with their prices. Eventually a couple hours had passed and she started to make her way towards the library, hoping for a positive outcome. The library came into view as Fluttershy trotted closer and closer. When she reached the front step, she knocked a few times before Twilight came to answer the door and let her come inside.

“So any reply from Princess Celestia, Twilight?” Fluttershy questioned.

“Yes, but... well... here, I’ll just let you read the letter,” Twilight levitated the letter from Celestia and held it in front of Fluttershy so she could read it.

Twilight Sparkle, My Faithful Student,

I’m sorry I must be the bearer of such bad news, but I am afraid I cannot be on any more help than the doctors that have seen to Fluttershy already. The fact of the matter is, it would take extensive surgery and as you know, our magic cannot just make something out of thin air. I know you may not need the explanation, but for your friend, when we change one object into another, we are rearranging the atoms into something else, and that is how living things can become other living things, but we cannot make something like a table into a living creature. Only forbidden magic has been known to give life but the consequences for even trying such would be dire. In short, it would take other parts of Fluttershy herself to fix what she needs, and that may prove to be more harmful than her, and I do not say this lightly, simple problem. I wish there was more that I can do, but i do hope you understand my position on this matter.

Your Friend,

Princess Celestia

“B-but... why?” Fluttershy choked out.

“F-Fluttershy, it’s all right there. I-I-I’m really sorry,” Twilight had to hold back tears herself.

Tears began to pour from the yellow Pegasus's’ eyes while she read the letter over and over again. Twilight took the letter and set it back down on the desk from where she got it from previously. She pulled Fluttershy into a hug to attempt to calm her friend down once again.