//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: Sweet Words 
// Story: Pinkie's Permanent Position 
// by fallen starr 
//------------------------------//

False alarm was probably the sweetest words Pinkie could have heard at that moment. Practice contractions, before the big event. She was free to leave. Amethyst had vanished at some point, so Pinkie was left to make her way home alone. 
The lights were on when she arrived. She walked in, tired and ready to sleep, to see all her friends. “Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked. 
“Yep! Just fine.  A little tired.” She walked over and slouched into a chair. 
Twilight levitated over a cupcake and some water. “We’re glad to hear it. Amethyst came and got us all. Then she ran off again.” 
“Yeah, so weird. Said she had to make it up or something.” Dash shrugged. “Seriously, though, everything’s cool?”
Pinkie nodded. “Yeah. They said I still have a few weeks to go.” She took a bite of the cupcake. 
“Ah, well, good. It wouldn’t do to have a shower after the foals are born.” She smiled. 
Pinkie yawned and then giggled. “Why do they call it a shower anyway. Nothing is raining. Wait.” She turned to Fluttershy. “Can Discord make it rain chocolate milk again?”
“No!” Five voices shouted at once. 
Pinkie held up her hooves. “Fine, fine.”
“Alright y’all.” Applejack stood from the booth she had been in. “I think it’s high time we let the mother-to-be be. Go on and get some sleep, sugarcube.”
Pinkie watched, smiling and waving, as her five best friends said their goodbyes. Then she sighed and made her way to her bedroom. She was just drifting off when she heard a knocking on her window. She sat up and squinted. Then her eyes widened. She scrambled out of the bed and threw the window open. “Thundie! What are you doing?”
“Ame told me you were having the foals!” he held up his hooves. “I don’t know. I went to the hospital and they said you went home.”
She smiled, biting her bottom lip. She moved out of the way and let him into the room. “Apparently my body has to practice. That’s all it was.”
“Well, I’m here now anyway.” He laughed. “Honestly, Spitfire nearly pushed me off the base when she heard. I have to go back tomorrow.”
“So…you want to spend the night?” Pinkie yawned. “I’m afraid I’m not up for much else right now.”
It took him a few moments to answer, but in the end, he nodded. “Yeah, that’ll be great.”
Pinkie climbed into the bed and held up the other side of the blanket for him. He took a deep breath and slid in. He carefully wrapped a hoof around Pinkie. She giggled and turned her back to him, pressing against his underside. She could feel his heart beating, fast and hard. She held his hoof in hers. “You’ve never slept a bed with someone, have you?” she asked. It was gentle and quiet. 
“Does Rumble count?” She felt his breath on her mane. 
“No.” She turned again to face him. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
Thunderlane licked his lips. “Yeah.” Then he leaned forward, planting a kiss on her lips. “I’m totally okay with this.”
“Okay.” She grinned and turned again. They lay for a few moments, neither moving or saying anything. “Will you hold me?” she asked.
She felt his hoof sneak around her middle as much as it could and he scooted closer. “I’ll never let go.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck and they slowly drifted off.



Thunderlane started staying over after that. It was wonderful falling asleep in his hooves. Reserve training was finished after the weekend, and slowly, more and more of Thunderlane came to Sugarcube Corner. When he wasn’t on weather patrol, he was helping Pinkie and the Cakes. Mostly he watched the twins, but that allowed the three of them to efficiently run the shop. 
As Hearth’s Warming approached, Pinkie felt herself getting more and more excited. Not only was this her favorite holiday, but her foals would be coming soon. During the last visit, Dr. Rosehoof had informed them that twins normally came earlier and to be ready at any time. 
It was a bitterly cold winter day. The sun was shining and snow wasn’t planed for another  two weeks. It was really the perfect winter day to stay inside by the fire and cuddle. Pinkie sighed, watching the clock on the wall tick away. Thunderlane would be home at any second, and then she could have him read to her while they sipped hot chocolate and ate popcorn. 
The bell above the door chimed and she looked up to see him. She grinned at him, but he didn’t grin back. “You have a letter from Double Diamond.” He walked over and laid it on the counter. 
She blinked at it. “He ignored the last three I sent him.”
“I guess not. Maybe he finally freed time on his busy schedule.” He tossed his coat onto a coat hanger and stuffed it in the closet. “Or, I don’t know, he realizes it’s time and he’s wanting to back out of being a father completely.”
“Thundie,” Pinkie said. She dropped the letter and moved over to him. “We talked about this.”
He sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. He just makes me so angry. If I were him I’d…Celestia, I’d be over the moon. He hadn’t spoken to you in months. Is that how he’s going to treat his kids?”
Pinkie sighed. Maybe the fireplace cuddles would have to wait. “Let’s just open it, okay? We’ll see what it says and go from there.”
He took a deep breath and released it. “Okay.” They sat at a table and Pinkie put the letter between them. “I don’t like the way you say he treated you.”
“It’s not like I was the best.” She sighed. “We weren’t good together. It’s why we ended up breaking up. He isn’t a bad pony, Thundie.”
“Let’s just…see what he said.” He looked at the letter and then to Pinkie.
Pinkie picked it up. “Ready?” He nodded. She almost giggled, thinking about how it would have been so much less serious if she had been the one to get the mail that day. “Dear Pinkie,” she read aloud.
It’s nearly time for the foals to come, isn’t it? I wish I could be there to see them. The last few months have been surreal. There are a lot of things I want to say to you, to say to my foals. 
Do you ever wish you could go back in time? To change one thing or stop yourself from making a mistake?
She looked up. “Actually, that’s a really bad idea. Did I ever tell you about when Twi and I broke into –“
“When you stole the time travel spell? You love that story.” He smiled. “So yeah.”
She looked back down to the letter.
I would have never broken up with you. I miss you. I tried, so hard, to get over you. The day I kissed you and you pushed me away I was crushed. I really thought we had a chance. That you were just saying you had a coltfriend. 
I saw you with him. I followed you and Twilight. Weird, right? I’m a freaking stalker or something. You didn’t even know I was there. I heard what he said to you and what you said to him and I came back to my village.
I guess you’re happy, and I’m happy for you. 
I want to be in my foals lives. I do. I’ll be sending them things and letters. However, I just signed a contract to go on an x-games tour over the next year. Hopefully that’ll be enough time for me to move on. We’ll see, I guess.
Let my kids know I love them. Ask Thunderlane to take good care of them. I know I can’t ask that of him, I have no right. I am anyway. 
Please, don’t respond.
Pinkie laid the letter between them. She sniffed, wiping at the tears that fell down her face. “I don’t know why I’m crying.” Thunderlane moved seats to sit beside her and wrapped her in his wings. 
“Hey, it’s okay. He obviously has some things to work through, and you have some things to work through. Pinkie, you’re having kids together.” She sniffed and buried her face in his neck. “It’s hard. Do you regret breaking up with him?”
He felt her sob shake and held her closer. “No,” she squeaked out. “I don’t.” He stroked her mane and they sat for few moments. After a time, she pulled away, wiping more at her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
He held her face in his hooves. “No, no, don’t be sorry. You’ve done nothing wrong.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead.  “Come on. We’re both off tomorrow. Let’s enjoy the day, okay?”
She sniffed and nodded, following him up the stairs and to the living room. The settled down in the area Pinkie had already prepared in front of the empty fireplace. Thunderlane worked on making a fire while Pinkie watched. She knew she should get up and help or make the hot chocolate and popcorn, but she really didn’t feel like it. Instead she waited for him to finish the fire and curled into him. He covered her with his wings and then both of them with the blankets. Snuggled close, they fell asleep.