• Published 2nd Dec 2012
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Xenophilia: Further tales. - TheQuietMan

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53: I'll show you love, I'll show you everything

I'll show you love, I'll show you everything
Chapter published 21st May 2014

****************


Although visiting hours had long since passed, this didn’t mean that there wasn’t plenty of hustle and bustle around the corridors of Candy Cane Hospital’s maternity wing. Doctors and nurses made the rounds; moving from room to room, reassuring expectant mothers, checking up on those with newborns, filling out pile after pile of dreaded paperwork.

Even at this late hour the ward was still all a-buzz. After all, it wasn’t every day that the hospital was graced with a visit from a royal princess, let alone two of them in a single day.

Several of the new mothers - as well those more established repeat customers - were still awake. Many took the opportunity to recover from their recent ordeals, to let the life changing events that had taken place sink in. Others tried to spend what may well have been their first few moments of the day alone to bond with their foals.

Most though just took the chance to get some sleep as, by Celestia, they had earned it.

At the end of the ward’s main corridor, a door opened, the gap barely more than a crack, just enough for a rose coloured eye to peer out at the goings-on outside the private room. Apart from a single royal guard, positioned just a scant few body-lengths away from the door - positioned thus to keep watch for any over-eager journalists who might try and blag their way onto the ward - no pony was anywhere nearby. Any straggling well-wishers or late visitors had long since been ushered away from the room by the medical staff, determined that both mother and foal should be allowed to get some needed rest.

Carefully closing the door, Rainbow Dash, still clad in her Wonderbolts workout uniform from earlier in the day, took a moment to let her eyes readjust to the darkness of the room. The light crystals were dimmed, almost to the point of being extinguished, and the long, floor length curtains covering the glass door to the balcony were closed, though a small gap in the fabric let enough moonlight into the room for the pegasus to see well enough.

While rest of herd Bellerophon, and many of its closest friends, were either flumped out in a large guest room on the floor above or headed back to their homes where they could share this momentous news with the rest of their own friends and families, Rainbow had decided to take a chance and pay a little private visit to the herd’s newest arrival.

In the middle of the room was a single hospital bed - all fresh, crisp white sheets and hospital corners - on which slept an exhausted Lyra Heartstrings. Due to the summer heat, the unicorn slept on top of the sheets rather than under them, the familiar sight of her swollen belly now replaced by that of a stomach almost as taut as it had been before her pregnancy. Were it not for her swollen teats it would be nigh-on impossible to tell that she had given birth just a few short hours before - much to the chagrin of many of the members of the medical staff who had previously given birth themselves.

At the bedside, nestled in the space between the bed and the curtains, sat a low cot. Carefully, and ever-so-quietly, Rainbow made her way around the room, moving very gently on her tippy-hooves so as not to wake either the sleeping mother or her slumbering child.

Settling her rump down on the tiled floor, again careful not to make nary a sound, the pegasus reached into the cot so she could gently run a hoof tip though short red curls of the child held within.

“Hey kid,” she whispered, “sorry we didn't really get a chance to talk much earlier. It was all bit hectic, ya’know.”.

As Rainbow brushed an errant curl away from the child’s face, the sleeping foal cooed before rolling onto her side. Letting loose with a yawn that had to be waaaay to big for a child that small, she exposed a set of almost fully erupted baby teeth, with four surprisingly sharp little points, one on either side of the mouth, both top and bottom.

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow laughed softly, “Mommy Lyra’s gunna luuurve those bad girls. Let’s hope you're not a biter, right?”

As if in response, the newborn squeaked in her sleep before kicking off her small, yellow blanket with all four of her gangly legs. Reaching further into the cot, Rainbow pulled the covering back over the child, tucking it up under her forelimbs before touching a forehoof against the world’s cutest, tiniest nose with a gentle ‘bop’.

“So, how you doing so far? You liking the place?“

The pegasus glanced about the darkened room; taking in Lyra’s still slumbering form, making sure that the door to the corridor outside still closed as is the door to the balcony.

“Okay, so it’s probably not so great so far. Just wait ‘till we get outside though, lots more to see out there.”

Lyra snorted in her sleep, causing Rainbow to sit shock still for a moment, listening intently until she heard her herdmate’s soft breathing fall back into a steady rhythm.

“But hey,” the pegasus chuckled as her herdmate snored ever-so gently in that way that she always denied ever happened, “at least you’ve got lunch on tap right there.”

Stroking the kid’s mane again, Rainbow marveled at the little bundle of cuteness laying curled up before her; the soft cream fur, much softer than that of any foal she’d ever held before, the short little nose, the luscious curls of red and orange, and what surely must have been the longest legs on any foal ever. To top it off, under those tightly closed eyelids were hidden a pair of the most vividly golden eyes that the pegasus had ever seen

“But you, you little cutie, aren’t you just the most awesome thing ever?”

Soft as a feather, a hooftip brushed across the sleeping child’s chin.

“There’s so much we can do out there, so much we can show you. Mommy Lyra’s gunna show you how to be all badflank and enigmatic and stuff; Mommy Twilight’s gunna show you how to be all eggheady and magicy; Daddy’s gunna show you how to build things and be all smart, and I’m gunna show you how to be totally awesome while you're doin’ it.

As Rainbow toyed with the end of the foal’s fringe, the child cracked open her eyes, the golden hue of her much-smaller-than-pony-normal irises glinting in the dim light. Catching sight of a pale blue hoof dangling just in front of her face, she reached out, catching the tip of the adult mare’s limb between two tiny forehooves.

“Hey there, you,” the pegasus beamed, “We’re going to have a great time, especially once you meet everypony else. You think you you’ve seen a lot of ponies already, you will not believe how many aunts and uncles and cousins you’ve got out there. Okay, so they’re not all blood-related or anything, but who cares, they're gunna love you like crazy anyway. Everypony will, I guarantee it.”

Rocking herself from side to side, the child swang Rainbow’s hoof along with her own body. She sure was strong for her age, measurable as it still was in hours.

“Your mommies and your daddy love you allready. Yeah, that’s right, you’d best believe it. Especially Lyra, she loves you the most. You’re her special little gift.”

Pushing part of the tiny filly’s mane behind an equally tiny and delicately rounded ear, Rainbow’s chin came to rest on the side of the cot.

“You should have been mine, you know...” Rainbow sighed. “You were so nearly mine. If only I wasn’t made so... wrong.“

Pushing at the huge forehoof in front of her with all four of her much smaller hooves, the foal paused, cooing at at the adult, wanting to be played with again.

Closing her eyes, Rainbow sniffed. There wasn't any moisture forming around the edge of her eyes, not at all.

“Why wasn’t it me? Why did I have to be this way? What did I do wrong?”

From the darkness behind the emotional pegasus came her answer.

“You're not ‘wrong’, Rainbow,” Lyra said softly from where she still lay on her hospital bed, “don’t ever think of yourself that way. Nopony else does.”

Wiping at her eyes with the forehoof that didn’t have a tiny foal hanging from it, the pegasus turned her head, finding a pair of golden eyes reflecting back at her in the moonlight. As the unicorn shuffled closer across the sheets, the moonlight momentarily hit her wedding band, sending a flash of golden rays around the otherwise dimly illuminated room.

“We’ve never thought of you as anything but perfect... absolutely perfect just the way you are.”

Reaching out from the bed, the unicorn lay a hoof on her herdmate’s shoulder.

“And she is yours... just as much as she’s mine. She’s ours, Rainbow, all of ours, and she always will be.”

Pulling back her forehoof, Lyra patted the middle of the bed.

“Please, bring her here.”

Reaching into the cot with her forehooves, Rainbow wrapped the child in her little blanket before using her wingtips to lift the bundle free, momentarily holding it against her chest before gently laying it down in the empty space between Lyra’s waiting hooves

As the pegasus backed away, Lyra shuffled her body towards the opposite edge of the bed before once again patting at the covers, inviting her herdmate to join mother and daughter on the single bed.

“I’m not sure there’s room,” Rainbow said.

Lyra just smiled.

“Silly filly, there’ll always be room for you.”

Wiping at her eyes with a wing tip - still no moisture there, no sirree - Rainbow climbed up onto the bed, positioning herself as a mirror image of her herdmate, the wriggling bundle of intense babyness encircled in a fortress of legs and barrels, nested with walls made up of parents that loved her dearly.

As Rainbow watched, Lyra leant forward towards her foal, extended her tongue and began to lick at side of the child’s face.

“Hey, “ Rainbow laughed, “I think she’s plenty clean by now.”

“I know,” Lyra admitted between tongue-y strokes, “but newborns need a lot of grooming,” *lick* “and love,” *lick* “and attention.” *lick “It’s a bonding thing.” *lick* “I’d hate to think what’d happen,” *lick* “to any poor filly,” *lick* ”whose mother wouldn’t clean them properly.” *lick* “Here, give it a try.”

“Yuck!” the pegasus stuck out her own tongue. “Na-ha, No way. I know where she’s been.”

“Really? And I thought you’d finally started to like where she’d been?” Lyra teased.

“Please,” Rainbow blushed as she laid her hooves over the damp little foal’s even damper littler ears, “Not in front of the children.”

Using a hoof to hold one of the filly’s ears down to expose the soft fur behind, Rainbow motioned downwards with her head.

“You missed a spot.”

Running her tongue from her child’s ear, all the way along Rainbow's arm, up her neck and across her face, Lyra finished up by planting a soft kiss on the very end of her herdmate’s nose.

“Eeeeww, gross!” the pegasus play-whined

“You love it. Mommy Rainbow.” Lyra grinned as she laid her head down on the single pillow.

“Yeah, fine,” Rainbow admitted as she also laid her head down - her nose almost, but not quite, touching Lyra’s. “You're right, I do.”

******************

In a darkened room, two grown mares dozed, nestled together as they were on a single bed. Between their entwined hooves lay a slumbering child, wrapped up warm in a soft, yellow blanket.

Across from the bed, a door opened silently, staying open just long enough for a figure to slip into the room before closing again just as quietly. Stealthily the newcomer moved across the room, making sure that the three females curled up together on the bed did not awaken.

Standing by the bedside, long arms reached out, lifting the child from between its two mothers. Strong yet gentle hands cupped the foals tiny form, careful not to jostle her incase she awoke and just as careful not to wake her mothers in the process. Wrapping the filly up in her blanket, the tall figure held the child close against his chest.

Crossing the room in just a couple of strides, he opened the glass door to the balcony and stepped outside.

******************

Staring up at the night sky, Lero held his daughter close to his chest as he searched the heavens for a particular star. While the sky was relatively clear of clouds there were still a few wisps hovering about over the city of Canterlot, left in place by a late night weather crew preparing for the summer shower scheduled for just after the rapidly approaching dawn.

“Dad always said,“ Lero shifted the bundle against his chest, bringing the by-now-awake filly’s head closer to his face so she could better hear his voice, “that if I ever got lost, or needed to find my way home, that I should look for Polaris, that it’d show me how to get home.”

As if on cue, the clouds parted, the stars beyond free to shine their silvery light down onto the fair city far below.

“There it is.” Lero turned his body, so the swaddled baby cradled against his chest could see the stars. As he pointed at the Pole Star, the filly cooed and burbled her appreciation of all the bright, sparkly lights, her small golden eyes blinking as she tried to take it all in. As if it was aware of its role as the centre of the observer's attention - and mayhaps it was - Polaris brightened, bolstered in his brilliance by his closest companions.

“I doubt he thought I’d ever be lost on a completely different planet though.”

As the human peeled part of the blanket away from his daughter’s head, a warm summer’s night breeze caught at her hair, much as it also caught at his own. Strands of red and orange fluttered in the breeze before settling back into place.

“Mom. Dad. Hi. I thought you might like to meet someone. This is Sweet Jennifer Cassandra Nausicaa Spirit Michaelides, the first child of herd Bellerophon. She’s your granddaughter.”

Lifting the tiny foal just a touch higher up his chest, Lero whispered into her ear, “Say 'Hi', Sweetie.”

After loosening more of the blanket, he carefully held one of his daughter’s forelimbs between two fingers, waving the tiny cream hoof towards the stars. It might have been just his imagination, or wishful thinking, but for a second it seemed to the human like Polaris pulsed that bit brighter in return.

Idly rubbing a thumb against the soft fur of the filly’s ankle, Lero continued his one sided conversation with the night sky.

“I have no idea how long it’s been for you all since I, err, left... but, well, she’s probably your only granddaughter, unless Nausi’s changed her mind about the whole thing, finally found herself some nice girl and settled down.”

As the moonlight glinted off of Lero’s wedding band, Sweet Spirit reached out and grabbed at it, succeeding only at clapping both forehooves around her father’s hand. Turning his hand over so his palm was facing the sky, Lero watched as the filly toyed with his fingers, curling each one in towards his palm before moving onto the next one.

“I didn’t see me as a daddy before, still can’t believe it’s actually happened to be honest.”

Now that each of his fingers were curled, his hand now held as a loose fist, Sweetie got to work curling each finger back out again.

“But here she is.”

As he run a fingertip down from just below the happily squeaking child’s stubby little horn, between her eyes and all the way to the tip of her nose, Sweetie’s hooves grabbed at his hand again, this time holding his fingers fast as an eager mouth latched around them.

“Hey you. No milk there, I’m afraid.” Lero laughed as his daughter tried, unsuccessfully, to suckle at his fingers. “I’ll take you back to mommy in a minute, Sweetie, I promise.”

The filly just growled before she settled on chewing at the tip of her father’s index finger.

“Owww, Hey you. You, young lady, you’ve got sharp little teeth, don’t ya? Yes you do. Promise not to bite mommy’s teats again and I’ll take you back in. Deal?”

Spitting out the world’s least bountiful teat, Sweetie pushed her father’s hand away, replacing it with the tip of her own hoof. Wiping baby drool from his fingers and onto his shirt, Lero looked back to the stars.

“I tell you what, I hate to admit it but I never thought I’d see anything of me in her. I mean, we’re not even the same species. Heck, we’re not even sure what species she is yet. Twi says she’ll probably get a whole new taxonomic designation all to herself.”

Remembering how it had felt for him, when he had first arrived in Equestria, the only one of his kind the whole planet over, Lero’s face fell for a second.

“That might be kinda lonely though.”

Pushing the thought aside, he turned his body so Sweetie could again see the stars as he bounced her gently against his chest. As she grinned and giggled in that nonsensical way that only children can, her short little golden mane bounced and fluttered in the breeze.

“But yeah, look at her. She’s got mom’s hair... almost... and these cute little ears, and this tiny little nose, and check out these teeth, she’s got some proper little noshers in here... much to Lyra’s ‘delight’. Ooh, take a look at these...”

Taking one of his daughter’s forehooves in his fingers, he gently held it outstretched, a small protuberance clearly visible on the back of her cream coloured ankle.

“Just look at this, she’s got thumbs. Well, not really thumbs, they’re more like little nubbins really. But she can properly move them, see?”

Using just a fingertip, he pushed at one of the ‘nubbins’ by just the tiniest amount. Almost instantly the child pushed back and pretty soon father and child engaging in an unannounced ‘wiggle war’. Sweetie thought it was the best thing ever... for all of about thirty seconds, and then she got bored and gave up. Pulling the child up under his chin, Lero let his beard rest against her mane, leaving it hard to tell where the tiny filly ended and the grown man began.

“She’s perfect.“

Slowly, turning his body just at the waist, Lero rocked his child from side to side.

“Just think of everything you could be. Will you take after your mothers? You could be a great scientist, or a musician, or an athlete. You could even work with your hands like me.”

From her position against her father’s chest, little Sweetie waved her hooves at the stars.

“Haha, okay, hooves then. Or you could be something completely different, something nopony expects. All these things you could be, whatever you want, it’s all yours for the taking.”

“Whatever will be, will be, the future’s not ours to see, que sera, sera.”

As her father’s singing floated off into the night sky, Sweetie giggled, waving her hooves even more frantically than before.

“But whatever happens,” Lero turned his attention back to the stars, “whatever she wants to be, she’s proof I was here, someone to carry on when I’m gone, someone to show that I made a difference, to make sure that our line doesn’t end with me.”

Shifting hands, Lero tickled at the filly’s nose, inciting even more giggles. One thing was for sure - this was one happy baby.

“No, it doesn’t end with me... it begins with her.”

Holding the child out so he could take a good look at her in all her giggly, wavey, drooly, happy glory, Lero leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forehead.

“Welcome to this crazy world of magical, talking, pastel-coloured ponies, kid. You're going to love it here.”

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