Berry Punch stifled a yawn - she had barely slept last night and now here she was in the waiting room of Ponyville General before eight in the morning. Not that she wasn’t thrilled to be there or anything. It was four days past Mom’s due date - everypony was both relieved and prepared when Vodka Sunrise went into labour early yesterday evening.
Unfortunately for Berry Punch, that meant running the kitchen and the bar, and being in charge of her three other siblings; Margarita, Martini Olive, and Lime Rickey. Cherry Cola came over after not too long and was a huge help, but it still left Berry feeling exhausted. She finally crawled into bed around three, only to be awoken a few hours later.
"She's here, Berry! Our new little sister is here! I'm a big brother, Berry! Woohoo!" Rickey had been running through the house shouting. Berry groaned, throwing her pillow at the six year old the moment he dared stick his head in her bedroom, who without missing a beat threw it right back at her.
So that was all the sleep she would get that night. And probably for many nights to come, now that there would be a newborn in the house. Seven thirty in the morning and she was sitting in the waiting room anticipating her introduction to her new baby sister.
"Care Ber!"
Berry's heart skipped, as it always did, at the sound of Cherry Cola's greeting. She jumped up from her seat and rushed forward to embrace him.
"How are you?" Cherry asked.
Berry smiled. "Tired. I barely slept last night, as you can probably imagine."
Cherry nodded, "I can. Have you seen her yet?"
Berry shook her head. "Father says there were some minor complications with mother - nothing to worry about, but they're putting her in a more private room so they can monitor her. The baby's doing fine, though, so that's good. Father says I finally have a sibling who's pink like me. I guess that's supposed to make me like her better."
Cherry frowned, "what do you mean by that, Ber? Aren't you happy about getting a new sibling?"
Berry glanced around the room nervously. Marty and Rickey were chattering away about some thing or another, and Margarita had a book in her hooves. Still, Berry lowered her voice to a whisper. "I was at first, but in six months, I'm going to be a mother myself. This whole thing is crazy. I told Dad it was because I thought they have enough kids, and that they're too old to take care of a newborn, and I don't want to help."
"What did he say to that?"
"He lectured me about maturity and responsibility and crap. I don't know if it's hormones, or if I'm just noticing for the first time, but my Dad is really being a jerk."
"I'm sure if he knew the situation, he'd treat you differently, Ber," Cherry assured her. "Speaking of which, it's after."
"Good god, Cher, she was born four hours ago!"
Cherry Cola smiled sheepishly.
A yellow nurse with an orange mane stepped into the foyer with her clipboard, and smiled warmly. "Cocktail family, they're ready for you to go in now."
The face of the pink earth pony in the hospital bed lit up when her children filed into the room. The younger two bounced up and down excitedly in order to get a glimpse of the bundle of fur that was their new sister. Her fur was pale pink - so pale it was almost white, and she had a small tuft of a slightly darker pink mane on her head. Her tiny eyes were closed as she slept soundly against her mother's chest. Berry found herself smiling in spite of herself.
"Calm down Rickey, you can see her if you sit still. Can you sit still for me, please?" mother was saying. She lowered the swaddled baby to the colt's level.
Rickey gasped, "She's so tiny Mom! When will she be big enough to play with?"
Vodka smiled, "oh, sooner than you think, Rickey," was all she said.
"She looks lovely, Mrs. Sunrise," Cherry said politely. Then he leaned towards Berry and whispered in her ear "She looks like a pink drowned rat." Berry stifled a giggle.
"Have you two thought of a name for her yet?" Margarita asked.
"Well, I wanted Daiquiri," Vodka Sunrise said,
"And I preferred White Lady," Whiskey Mac continued,
"But ultimately we both really like Piña Colada."
"Do they always finish each other's sentences?" Cherry asked, still whispering. Again, Berry tried not to laugh.
They stood around in the small hospital room and continued to make polite conversation. The boys took turns holding their sister and then Margarita. Before Vodka Sunrise could ask Berry Punch to take her turn, however, the mulberry-coloured mare excused both herself and her fiancé from the room.
The two hurried down the hall to where they knew Dr. Ciconia kept her offices.
"Piña Colada. I mean, seriously, do they want all of us to develop drinking problems?" Berry asked, with mock disapproval in her voice.
Cherry Cola laughed. "How come you got off so easy then, hm?"
"My great grandmother had a sense of decency - Berry Punch was her name."
Cherry feigned disappointment, causing Berry to cast him a quizzical glance.
"Something the matter, sweetheart?" she asked.
"Yes. I was expecting a more exciting tale than that."
"I'm sorry to let you down, but that's the way the ice crushes," the mare replied, jabbing him in the ribs.
"I'm glad to see you're both in high spirits this morning," Dr. Ciconia smiled at the young, laughing couple. "Please, come inside."
****************
This appointment passed much like the last one, as the Unicorn carried out various checks and took notes on her little clipboard. Finally, she put the pen and paper down, then turned to Berry Punch with a smile.
"Now Berry Punch, I need to ask you to lay still. This may tickle just a bit."
Dr. Ciconia positioned herself to cast the spell she had cast so many times before. Her horn flared, emanating magic which she directed to the figure of the young mother sitting patiently. Within seconds, she could see everything she needed to see about the foal.
Moments later, the magic drained from her horn. She picked up her clipboard (with her hooves this time), made a few markings, then smiled at the young parents.
"Everything is in ship shape condition, you two," she smiled.
Cherry got up from his chair, smiling proudly, "Thanks so much, Dr. Ciconia," he said, moving towards the door.
"Wait," Berry said, "that last spell you cast - that's the one that lets you see inside my womb, right?"
The doctor nodded.
"Could you, um, tell me if it's a colt or a filly? I don't think I could bear to wait and find out."
"What about you, Dad? Do you want to know the foal's sex?" The unicorn turned to Cherry curiously.
The brown stallion nodded, "sure, I'd love to."
"Well then. You'll be pleased to learn that this fall you will both be parents to a happy and healthy unicorn filly."
"A unicorn filly," Cherry breathed.
Berry froze. She could have sworn she heard disappointment in his voice. And suddenly, she was disappointed too. Disappointed and confused and scared and frightened and alone. She refused to look Cherry Cola in the eyes. Keeping her head low, she got down off the bed and fled from the room.
"Berry, please come back!" she head Cherry shout as she tore off down the hall. "Berry, we can talk about this!"
He sounded frantic. Hurt.
And well he should. If she had done what she thought she had done, he would probably never want to speak to her again.
*****************
"Berry Punch?"
The elderly librarian fixed her glasses as if to get a better look at the mare standing before her in the tree that was Ponyville's library.
"I just heard about your mother, dearie. Do wish her a big congratulations for me when you see her. But, pray tell child, what are you doing here at a time like this?"
"My grandmother made a compilation of our family's genealogy, did she not?" Berry asked. She loved old Novella as much as the next pony - she was a kind-hearted and dependable earth pony who somehow managed to remember everypony's favourite books.
"She did. Tequila Sunrise spent hours working on that family history, bless her. Are you hoping to carry it on, then? I suppose you're here to inscribe the name of your new sibling then," the pony disappeared into the back room where the town's archives were kept, still chattering away. "Is it a filly or a colt? And what did they name the little one?"
"Filly, name's Piña Colada."
The old mare laughed, "of course that's what they named her! Trust the cocktail family." She emerged from the back room carrying the box of files.
"Here you are, dear, would you like me to help you with it?"
"No, thanks," Berry replied. She tore open the box and began rummaging through the papers. She had no interest in recording the birth of Piña Colada at this point - she was far more interested in the ancestry.
For half an hour, she sifted through birth certificates and death certificates and little bits of mouth-scrawled documentation. And next to every single name was marked the exact same two letters: E.P.
Earth Pony.
When she had combed through the entire box, she started trembling.
"Earth Ponies," she breathed, which got the attention of the librarian.
"Is something wrong Berry Punch?" Novella asked, approaching the mare slowly.
"Earth ponies," she repeated, "we're all earth ponies. We've always been earth ponies."
Her limbs trembled. She felt cold all over, her heart was racing and she was breaking a sweat. She felt nauseous for the first time in three weeks. She gasped for air and when she couldn't inhale any, she tried to scream.
"Berry Punch. Berry Punch, can you hear me?"
And then everything went black as Berry Punch collapsed against the town's librarian.