And Marshmallow Makes Three

Chapter 3: Shopping for Baby

   "Oh, Mr. Piggy, you've been so good to me over these past few years," Fluttershy stated as she stroked her beloved piggy bank with one hoof. "Keeping my bits safe and whatnot, but now it's time to give it all back!" She smashed the piggy bank against the floor, only to find that there was nothing but thin air now among the broken pieces of the pink piggy bank. She frowned. "Oh, no." She jumped and yelped as she heard a sudden knock on her door. Tentatively, she opened the door, just a crack, so that only one side of her face was showing. When she realized it was Rainbow Dash, she opened the door all the way and smiled at the pegasus.

   "You ready to go?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I want to hurry up and get this over with. Sorry, but I'm not much into shopping. You're lucky I'm even going."

   The yellow pegasus smiled sweetly. "And I appreciate it very much. Thank you." She leaned forward and gently licked Rainbow Dash's face.

   "Eck!" Rainbow Dash wiped her face. "Don't ever do that again!"

   Fluttershy smiled. "Sorry."

   "So, are you ready to go or what?"

   Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at the broken remains of her piggy bank. She looked back at her friend. "Sorry, but, no. I don't have any bits to buy anything."

   "Don't worry about it. We've got it covered."

   Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, no, no, no. I could never ask you guys to do that."

   Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Don't try to talk us out of it. We've already decided. Besides, that's what friends are for, right?"

   "I . . . I guess."

   Rainbow Dash. "Great! Now come on! The others are waiting!"

   "Would you guys mind if I brougth Marshmallow along? Sorry, but I couldn't find a babysitter on such short notice."

   Rainbow Dash nodded. "I guess that would be okay."

   Fluttershy smiled as she picked Marshmallow up from her basket, waking her up in the process, and hoisted her onto her back. She walked out of her cottage, making sure that the door was locked before she went any further. She walked below Rainbow Dash, who had to fly slowly due to the fact that Fluttershy walked at such a normal pace. Besides that, she didn't want anything bad to happent to Marshmallow, such as Marshmallow accidentally falling off and hurting herself. Luckily, the child knew well enough to hold on tight to prevent such a thing from happening.

   Every now and then, Fluttershy would turn her head to make sure that Marshmallow was all right. The child would simply smile at her and she would face forward once again, assured that the white skunk was fine.

   Eventually, the three of them arrived at the store. At the front entrance the other five were waiting, Pinkie Pie hopping up and down as usual, a giddy expression on her face.

   "Sorry we're late," Rainbow Dash apologized. "Fluttershy here just had to take her sweet little time."

   Fluttershy said nothing.

   "Well, the important thing is that you're here," Twilight stated. "Now, I've compiled a list of things that we need. I've made copies so that we can split up and each get what's required." A series of papers, illuminated by a purple aura, floated out of her saddlebag and floated in front of the others. "We'll meet up for lunch around noon."

   "Sounds good to me," Applejack said.

   Twilight smiled. "Okay then. With that said, let's get started."

   The group walked in the store, each one taking a different path. With Marshmallow, Fluttershy walked down the aisle that contained diapers, pacifiers, baby bottles, baby powder, and baby wipes. The piece of paper that Twilight had given her suddenly fell in front of her eyes. She turned her head and smiled up at the white skunk. "Thanks, Marshmallow." She turned towards the list. "Now let's see . . ." She looked around the aisle. "Everything I need is right here in this aisle. How convenient." She spotted a cart a few feet in front of her to her left beside the shelves containing the diapers. She held one in her mouth while Marshmallow grabbed the items that were needed, dumping them into the crate below. On some instances, the baby had to stand on Fluttershy's head in order to get some items, resulting in a headache for the yellow pegasus.

   Once Fluttershy had all of her things, she searched for the others to see if they needed help with anything. She spotted Rarity attempting, but ultimately failing, to get a crib down from a high shelf, supported by a ladder somepony was holding steady for her. She finally managed to get the box down, but it landed with a loud thud on the floor. The white unicorn glared down at the box and moved down to the floor.

   "Oh, Fluttershy," Rarity cried, smiling at the pegasus, "be a dear and help me with this, would you?"

   Fluttershy nodded and helped Rarity load the box into her cart. "Have you seen the others?"

   "I think I saw Rainbow Dash helping Applejack get some baby food," Rarity replied. "Walk with me?"

   Fluttershy smiled. "Of course."

   The two of them walked down a few aisles before spotting Rainbow Dash tossing a few jars of baby food into Applejack's cart, the two treating it like a game, as if the task of shopping bored them. After tossing a few dozen jars of baby food in the cart, Rainbow Dash landed by Applejack's side and both looked over what was next on the list.

   "The next we gotta get is a changing table," Applejack announced. She looked around. "Where the blue blazes are those?"

   "Aisle eight, I believe," Rarity piped up.

   The group of four, plus Marshmallow, walked down to the aisle specified and each worked together to look at different changing tables. All of them seemed to agree that one with crates for storing wipes and diapers would be best. The look of the changing table wasn't particularly important to Fluttershy, just as long as it was sturdy to where it could support Marshmallow's weight and had crates where she could store supplies. They finally setlted on an oak changing table that they all felt would go nicely with the interior of Fluttershy's cottage.

   "Now can we go home?" Rainbow Dash asked once the box was loaded into the cart.

   "Not just yet, sugar cube," Applejack replied. "We still need a crib, blankets, pillows, and maybe some stuffed animals and toys."

   "I think Twilight and Spike are taking care of all that," Rainbow Dash remarked.

***

   "Okay, next we need . . . blankets," Spike remarked, smiling.

   "Check," Twilight replied, trotting down a row of aisles before turning into one of them. She observed the different blankets. "Which one do you think she'll like?" She turned her head to look at her number one asssitant.

   "Does it really matter?" the dragon asked. "I mean, she's a baby. She's not going to care about what blanket she gets."

   She nodded. "You're probably right." Using her mouth she grabbed a blanket and dumped it in the cart. "What's next, Spike?"

   The purple dragon observed the list. "Hmm . . . pillows, toys, and a crib."

   She nodded. "Where are . . ." She turned to see such items resting on the shelves opposite of her. "Oh." She chuckled to herself and began retrieving pillows and various toys and dumping them in the cart. She spotted one crib that she liked and requested that Spike get it down for her. The dragon succeeded in his task, but ended up falling on his back, the box on top of him. The box was lifted of him by Twilight using her magic and dumped in the cart.

   "Thanks," Spike replied. "Now, can we get some lunch? I'm starving."

   Twilight smiled. "Sounds good to me. Come on, let's go find the others."

   The others were located at one of the checkout lanes. They stood in line, each one with their cart packed with baby items. Up ahead, Twilight could see Marshmallow riding on Fluttershy's back, and the thought of Fluttershy giving Marshmallow a pony ride popped into her head and delighted her. One by one, each of them dumped their items onto the counter and the total was tallied up. The total cost came to three hundred bits, a fact that didn't surprise Fluttershy in the list. True to Rainbow Dash's word, though, she and the others collected all of their bits together and handed them over to the cashier before loading their things in their carts again.

   While the others ate, Fluttershy was left with feeding Marshmallow. Trying to eat while doing this proved to be futile, so she ended up discarding her lunch and concentrated solely on feeding Marshmallow instead. Luckily, Rarity fed her from time to time while she fed Marshmallow, even though Fluttershy looked quite embarrassed about being put in such a position. The others didn't make a big fuss about it and even offered to care for the child once she was done feeding Marshmallow so she could enjoy her lunch properly. She gratefully handed Marshmallow over to Applejack, who held her close and tight, while she went about eating her lunch, which was just as well since Spike and Pinkie PIe weren't done eating.

   Once lunch was over with, they each walked to Fluttershy's and went about setting up Marshmallow's nursery in a spare bedroom that Fluttershy rarely used. The room was right next to Fluttershy's bedroom and so it would be easier for her to get to Marshmallow in case anything happened. However, at the suggestion that they set up the nursery in the spare bedroom, Fluttershy suggested that they set it up in her bedroom so that if Marshmallow ever stopped breathing in the middle of the night, she could get to the baby and faster. The others agreed that her idea made sense and so they set about setting up the nursery, helping each other put the various furniture together. To keep her occupied and so that she wouldn't get in the way, Spike took Marshmallow down to the first floor and began playing with her, along with Angel. It wasn't long, however, when the others decided to take a break, feeling tired from their constant working, and Fluttershy led them down to the kitchen for some refreshments, which was just as well since Marshmallow began crying upon seeing the yellow pegasus, reaching out for her. The yellow pegasus lovingly picked her up and carried her into the kitchen, setting her down on the floor and asking Rarity to look after her while she got the child something to eat, suspecting that Marshmallow was hungry.

   The high chair had yet to be built, but this didn't concern any of the others seeing as Marshmallow could easily be fed without it. Spike, being the only one with actual fingers besides Marshmallow herself, offered to feed her and Fluttershy agreed to the idea, seeing that the skunk seemed to get along with him. He had a hard time getting the jar of baby food open and had to have Twilight open it for him. He was taken aback when Marshmallow actually accepted the food that he proposed to her, not expecting her to take it. Fluttershy reminded him that it had been at least an hour and a half since her last meal, so of course she would be hungry.

   After everything was set up, the others went home and Fluttershy put Marshmallow to bed. The baby skunk seemed to be happy that she finally had a bed and didn't have to sleep in the basket anymore. Still, Fluttershy decided to keep the basket so that it could serve as Marshmallow's bassonet and stroller when the two of them were out for a walk among the residents of Ponyville. Fluttershy gave her her bedtime bottle and went over to her bed. Angel hopped up by her side while she retrieved a book from the shelf above her bed. While she wasn't as enthusiastic about reading as Twilight, one of her bedtime hobbies was snuggling up with a good book and doing a bit of light reading until she got too tired to read another sentence. She set her bookmark down by her side and began reading the last chapter that she stopped on. While reading, she would look up peridoically to make sure that Marshmallow was all right. At least she knew what to do if the child should stop breathing again in the middle of the night, thanks to the many pamphlets she'd read on the topic.

   At around midnight, she let out a yawn, an early sign that she was growing tired. She placed her bookmark at a good spot to stop reading and she put the book back on the shelf, snuggling under her covers and holding Angel close while she rested her head on the pillow.

***

   Fluttershy was actually kind of grateful that Marshmallow had woken her up in the middle of hte night with her wailing. At least she knew that Marshmallow hadn't stopped breathing. She guessed that it had something to do with the fact that she had changed the position that Marshmallow slept in. It seemed to be working so far. Once the railing was down and she picked Marshmallow up, the child calmed down significantly, though she was still letting soft sobs escape her mouth.

   The two of them went downstairs to the kitchen, the baby skunk holding her bottle limply in her paw. By this time the high chair had been made, but Fluttershy wasn't about to feed her baby food. She guessed that the child wanted a bottle of milk. She set Marshmallow on the counter, taking her bottle and filling it with fresh milk before placing it on the pan on the stove. She stood in front of Marshmallow to catch the skunk if she should suddenly fall. The child simply sat, grinning while she sucked on her thumb, swinging her legs back and forth, the heels of her feet banging against the cabinet doors beneath her. Leaning forward, Fluttershy took a whiff of Marshmallow, to see if the child needed to be changed or not. Her nostrils were met with the somewhat foul stench of urine and she nodded her head, concluding that the child needed to be changed.

   She waited until the bottle was hot to take it off the stove. This would give her enough time to take Marshmallow upstairs and change her without the bottle losing any of its warmth. The two of them headed back up to Fluttershy's room and Fluttershy gently set Marshmallow down on the changing table, bending down to retrieve wipes, baby powder, and a fresh diaper. She set the items beside Marshmallow. While she skunk happily sucked on her thumb and played with one of her feet, Fluttershy went to work giving her a change. Even if she was new to parenting, she knew how a diaper change was administered. It was common sense, really. Once she wiped down and the wet diaper was disposed of in the diaper pail by the changing table, Fluttershy taped a new, clean diaper on Marshmallow. The child sat up, her diaper rustling audibly as she moved.

   Fluttershy chuckled and nuzzled her nose with Marshmallow's as she said, "You look so cute." She smiled at Marshmallow and the skunk climbed onto her head and slid down her neck, turning around so that she was facing forward, gripping Fluttershy's mane gently so as to prevent herself from falling off. "Now, let's go get you fed."

   The bottle was still warm enough to be consumed. She handed it to Marshmallow, who began sucking eagerly while the two of them went back upstairs to the bedroom. Marshmallow climbed into Fluttershy's lap and sucked happily on the nipple of her bottle while Fluttershy held her close, rocking her back and forth. The child looked so happy that Fluttershy couldn't help but smile herself.

   Marshmallow took her time with drinking the entire bottle of milk, wanting to enjoy it as much as possible. Of course, Fluttershy didn't mind, knowing that it would take a while for the child to drink the whole bottle. Besides, the baby needed more sleep than her. While she only needed three hours of sleep, the baby would need several, so it was no surprise that Marshmallow would sleep for much throughout the day. This wasn't a problem for Fluttershy until she realized that if Marshmallow was sleeping a good amount of the time during the day, then this would prevent her from interacting with her friends as much as she would have liked. She just hoped that her interactions with Marshmallow didn't do any untold harm to her relationship with her friends. She loved them all, but Marshmallow needed her and she couldn't just abandon the baby during its time of need.

   It took at least a half-hour for Marshmallow to completely drink the bottle of milk, after which she was burped and then placed back in her crib and Fluttershy gave her a stuffed animal to cuddle wtih before she herself turned in for the night. She hoped that Marshmallow wouldn't wake up until morning.

***

   Rainbow Dash flew back and forth in her bedroom, her mind clouded with thoughts. She finally stopped, hovering in the air, scowling down at the floor below her. She lifted her gaze and stared at the ceiling in thought. Why does she remind me so much of . . . him, she thought to herself. She had yet to grow comfortable around Marshmallow. Anytime she was around the kid, she was reminded of what had happened the last time she was around someone else's kid, a memory she tried her best to forget about it. She had thought that she had pushed it aside out of her memory, but Marshmallow had suddenly brought it back full force, and she couldn't stop remembering what had happened that fateful night. The only question was, if Marshmallow was left in her care, would it happen again? She hoped not.

   She glanced down at her bed, where a plate that contained some crumbs of chocolate cake and a empty, stained glass rested: her dinner for the evening. She had needed some comfort after her long day of being near Marshmallow. Being around the skunk, albeit she was very young, frightened her. It did nothing but bring back negative emotions and bad memories. If Fluttershy ever asked her to babysit, she would flat-out refuse. While she hadn't refused to babysit Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, she had made up an excuse to avoid babysitting, not wanting another mishap happening on her part.

   She shook her head. Now that she thought about it, she realized that it hadn't entirely been her fault; it had merely been an accident, though she supposed that she should've been looking after the child a little more closely. Then again, it had been her first babysitting job and so she was still new to the whole parenting thing. Somehow, she had been able to maintain her patience while feeding and caring for the child, even succeeding in doing a diaper change without any harsh side effects such as her eyes watering or passing out from holding her breath for too long.

   She groaned and put a hoof to her head. All this thinking was giving her a headache, which unfortunately meant that she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. She sighed and decided that she might as well try to get some sleep, even if she knew right off the bat that she wasn't going to get any. She set the plate and glass down on her bedside table and climbed into bed, the covers bringing her some comfort and warmth, but unfortunately wouldn't ultimately aid her in her quest to get some sleep.

   She stared up at the ceiling, her mind seeming to become more and more clouded by the minute. She let out a sigh and turned onto her side, her eyes falling on a photo of her and her friends that was taken last summer at Sweet Apple Acres, the ten of them (Spike, Big Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith included) just getting together to have  a good time, just for the hay of it. She smled as the memory floated through her mind. Spike had set up the shot, jumping in at the last minute so he could get in the shot. All had had a wonderful time. She frowned, wondering if such good times lay ahead of her and her friends if Marshmallow was included in the bunch.

   She wondered how Fluttershy was doing with looking after the child. No doubt due to the other night's situation, the yellow pegasus was taking extra caution with Marshmallow to ensure that another incident like that never happened again. She couldn't help but wonder if the others would be helpful in taking care of Marshmallow whenever Fluttershy needed to go somewhere and couldn't take Marshmallow with her. If so, she hoped Fluttershy wouldn't ask her to watch over Marshmallow. Then again, she probably would need to. With how expensive diapers and other baby supplies were, it was common sense that Fluttershy would need to get a job. Given that she loved helping people, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but smile as she thought about Fluttershy getting a job at the hospital, and Pinkie Pie could also get a job there keeping the patients entertained and upbeat. The two of them would make a great team together.

   With her worries behind her and a smile on her face, she pushed one hoof underneath her pillow and closed her eyes to go to sleep, no longer fearing that she wouldn't be able to get a good night's rest. WIth such great friends like hers, they were always there to help, even in her subconscious when she couldn't get to sleep.