Tender and loving care...
"Gosh, Lunette! It's really great of you to volunteer to help at Coltonville hospital!" Melody exclaimed, smiling at the overly serious filly. "My mom works there as a nurse, and she needs all the help she can get!"
"Tis nothing, fair Melody!" Lunette waved a hoof dismissively. "Tis always my greatest joy, to bring aid and succor, to wounded ponies who are in the direst of need!"
"Cut the chatter, you two!" Clover snapped at them at them angrily. "We need to keep our eyes peeled for my sister!"
"Gee Clover, that's kind of mean!" Melody snorted. "And after we both came all the way down here with you!"
"Verily!" Lunette chuckled. "Methinks some pony dideth get up on the wrong side of the straw this morning!"
The filly only scowled at her two laughing friends.
The two had accompanied Clover to the train station, to welcome Medowlark and Cheval back from their recent tour of Equestria. Clover was especially worried about her sister, as the mare was already several months pregnant, and would be giving birth very, very soon.
"Have you spotted them yet?" Clover asked Melody, narrowing her eyes , and scanning the crowd coming off the train platform. "I know they've disguised themselves, to avoid the ponyparattzi!"
Lunette raised a hoof. "Perhaps I could assist in-"
"NO! I don't need your help!" Clover snorted. "I mean- you don't even know what my sister looks like!" Clover's face suddenly changed to a smile. "You wouldn't even be able to recognize her without a disguise, right?"
Lunette just stared at her, until Sweetheart suddenly called out. "Girls, look! There they are!"
The two fillies looked over, to see a pair of earth ponies coming in off the train. A purple mare with a bright yellow mane, and a white stallion with a red mane. They both were wearing trench coats and sunglasses, and seemed to be looking around nervously as they trotted forward.
"Hey you two!" Clover whinnied, as she and her two friends galloped up to them. "Long time, no see! How've you been?"
"Clover, so good to see you!" Meadowlark hugged her little sister, while talking in hushed tones. "And you brought two of your friends with you!"
"Hello, Meadowlark! Hi, Cheval! Good to see both of you again!" The cool Melody replied. "Allow me to introduce our friend, Lunette! She's from the Principality of Equestria!"
"Bonjour, mademoiselle Lunette!" He bowed to her. "Ve have just got done vith touring zee principality! It iz zee vonfderful and place to visit!"
"The only thing I wanted to do, was meet the royal sisters while we were there!" Meadowlark said with a sigh. "But they were away on a diplomatic visit. Such a pity!"
Lunette knew both of these ponies, of couse. The one of the most famous ballet couples in the world, Cheval and Meadowlark played in sold out performances from Fillydelphia to Applewood. Cheval was from the island nation of Fansee, part of the archipelago chain that also included the isle of Pony, and Tropical island.
"I thankest thou, good Cheval, and thou too, fair Meadowlark." Lunette replied, bowing to both of them politely. "Mayest thou giveth birth to a child most healthly and beautiful!"
"Why thank you, young lady!" Meadowlark replied, as Cheval helped her back to clover's car. "Such politeness reminds me of when we were back in Equestria!"
"You weren’t putting a spell of some sort on my sister, were you!?" Clover asked, after the couple were out of earshot.
Lunette's eyes went wide. "Well... er... that is.."
"Oh, stop teasing her, Clover!" Melody snorted, trotting towards the car. "C'mon, let's get your sister back home!"
Clover only scowled at Lunette, leaving the bewildered pony what the hay was going on....
....
"Hey, Luna! Take a look at this!" Celeste was laughing her flank off, looking at the newspaper, as Lunette came into the house. "Another UFO sighting over town! Boy, Dazzleglow and her handmaidens must be driving the republic authorities crazy!"
"Sister, listen..." Lunette replied, pulling the newspaper down, and looking Celeste in the eyes. " I am truly sorry about what I hath said at the concert. Verily, I did greatly speak out of turn!"
"And I am sorry, that I acted like a fool, and completely disregarded your wise advice!" Celeste looked up at her sister. "And I have to admit, I have been trying to relive my fillyhood a bit too much!" She shook her mane. "But being among such young, energetic ponies made me feel young again, myself!"
"I know sister, they beith truly wonderful friends!" Lunette agreed. "But our responsibilities as Princesses are important, and sooner or later, we must return thence!"
"I know, sister." The white filly sighed. "I've just been trying to ignore that for the longest time."
"But thou art also correct, we must take time off now and again, and not concentrate solely on work!" Lunette noted. "I believe we may havest some issues we need to sit down, and discuss most thoroughly!"
"I agree completely, Luna." Celeste replied with a sigh. "But first we have a dance to attend tomorrow night, where we have a lot of things to set right!"
"Tis wonderful that thou wishest to make amends for thy folly!" Lunette replied hopefully. "Art thou ready to go home then, sister?"
"No, I have not yet achieved the secondary goal that I had, in first coming to this place." Celeste looked at the paper again. "There's something I wish to discover here, Luna, and I have no yet done so!"
"Aha! Thou didst have another reason to infiltrate the republic!" Lunette's ears perked up. "I really wish thou would tellest me these things up front!"
"Luna... have you ever wondered why, in the history of the republic, why there were never any Pegasus or unicorns born to these earth ponies?" Celeste asked. "Their ancestors had married into the other two pony types as much as any other ponies had before they emigrated, so there must be some Pegasus and unicorn genes floating around in the republic's gene pool!"
"Tis rather odd, I'll give you that! Such statistics are truly most baffling!" Lunette agreed, considering the idea for the first time. "I suppose I could check around in the maternity ward, when I volunteer at the hospital tonight."
"Perhaps..." Celeste was cut off by a knock at the door, which Lunette opened to find Patch. The pony trotted inside, and sat down beside the two fillies.
"Hey Celestia, hey Luna!" She told them with a great big grin, taking a cookie from the jar on the counter. "How are things going in Princess land?"
"YOU TOLD HER?!? HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!?" Celestia roared in the Royal Canterlot voice. "Luna! Now the others won't treat us normally anymore!"
"Chill out, your royal loudness!" Patch chuckled. "I won't tell the other girls, I've been friends with royalty before!"
"Still, she shouldn't have blabbed!" Celestia scowled. "We're trying to keep a low profile!"
"Worry not sister, she is our most trusted friend!" Lunette reassured her sister. "Patch will faithfully protect our secret without fail!"
"The only thing I want... please, please let me go back and visit Equestria with you!" Patch pleaded.
"But why?" Lunette asked. "Art thou not happy here in the republic?"
"Well, I am happy here living with my friends." She replied, pawing at the ground, and looking down. "But I've always wanted to visit a magical land, and see magical creatures!" She got excited again. "All of my life, I've wanted to fly away, and go on a great adventure! Like there was a magic deep inside that is a part of me, and yet it is missing from my life!"
"Well, thou canst discuss these matters with Celestia!" Lunette replied with a sigh. "I doth need to get to the hospital, for my volunteer work most charitable!"
"Have a good time!" Patch called after her, as the Princess trotted out the door. After she was gone, Patch turned back to Celeste.
"So, you live in a castle? That's so cool! Can you control the weather? Have you ever met a dragon? What's a dragon look like? Does working magic hurt? Do you really raise the sun? Do the sun's flames burn you? Why does-"
"I'll get you for this, Luna!" Celestia grumbled to herself, as Patch rattled on and on...
...
"Lunette! Bedpan cleanup, room three!" A purple mare with a light purple mane and Nurse's cap snorted. "Then get back here, I need you to check a pony's blood pressure!"
"As thou wishest, Nurse Tyme!" Lunette sighed, trotting into room three to get to the gross task. While Nurse Tyme, Melody's mother and the head nurse on this floor, returned to her paperwork. "I shall complete the task thou has assinged to me with complete and utmost efficiency!"
She had received a little informal medical training back in Equestria, and had indicated as much in her fabricated paperwork for the republic. So when the understaffed Coltonville hospital discovered this, they wasted no time in putting the volunteering filly to work. Changing diapers, checking temperatures with a flank thermometer... all of the unpleasant tasks which the nurse's and nurse's aides did not want to dirty their hooves with.
After completing the unpleasant task, Lunette trotted back out into the hallway, trying to hide herself. This modern hospital was so different than anything they had in Equestria! White washed hallways, computerized monitoring equipment. Lunette decided right then and there they would have to import some of this life saving technology from the republic!
"N-E-E-E-E-I-G-H!" A whinny of pain came out of the nearby maternity ward. Curious, Lunette pushed through the double doors, and trotted quietly up to a room door, straining to cloak herself under an invisibility shield.
"Push, Meadowlark, Push!" An accented voice cried in a panic. "You can do do it! You're almost zhere!"
"It hurts Cheval! IT HURTS! AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The mare's voice cried out in agony. Her screams filled the hallway, reminding Lunette of a pain that she had once known herself.
"Meadowlark is giving birth to her baby!" Lunette realized in shock. "I hope the baby's going to be okay..."
"Congratulations, Miss Meadowlark!" The doctor's voice came out of the room. "You are the proud mother of- BY THE HORSEMATER!"
"SACRE BLEU!" Cheval's voice yelled in horror.
"What? What is it?" Meadowlark asked. "Where is my baby? Let me see my baby!"
It was at this point that Lunette trotted into the room, covered under the cloaking spell. It was at that moment, that she saw the baby. It was an adorable little brown colt, with the loveliest brown eyes...
... and a pair of tiny brown wings.
"A Pegasus!" Lunette nearly fell over in shock. "She gave birth to a Pegasus!"
The attending nurse quickly cleaned the baby up, and covered his wings by wrapping him in a blanket, before giving the newborn foal to it's mother. The doctor moved to prevent Cheval from telling his wife, then went over and hit a button on the intercom.
"Nurse Tyne? We have a code P!" He snorted. "Please bring the equipment, and get down here at once!"
"A code P?" The invisible Lunette thought to herself. "What in the world is-"
It was at that moment, that the invisible filly heard the approach of the squeaking wheels of a surgeon's cart. As Melody's mother passed Lunette, the filly noticed several scalpels and surgical tools laying on a tray...
..right next to a small disposable sanitation bag, about the size of a young foal's wings.
"No... it can't be..."
Everything in Luna's mind suddenly fell into place. No Pegasus or unicorns born in the republic... a society that hated everything but earth ponies.... Patch's dreams of flying and love of magic... Suddenly, a horrible picture formed in the princess's mind, causing her to gallop straight out of the hospital and into the cold, Coltonville night.
"SISTERRRR!" She wailed, as she galloped off into the night.