Indigo
By Alaborn
Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein.
Chapter 4
Blue Twilight was one pony in the herd, a herd of young mares and stallions dressed in ridiculous blue cloth gowns and mortarboards. He reasoned that the mortarboard must have been invented by an earth pony or pegasus, because the hat just wouldn’t lay flat with his horn in the way.
The usher gave his signal, and the ponies in his section, all of whom were receiving degrees in computer science, rose and formed a line. One by one, they walked up the ramp and onto the stage. They shook hooves with the dean, and received their diplomas from the chancellor, taking them in mouth or aura. Then they walked down the other ramp and returned to their seats.
Blue Twilight moved his yellow honors tassel from one side of the mortarboard to the other.
In turn, the remaining departments followed their hoofsteps. The solemn procession continued until each of the roughly one thousand graduating ponies received their degree.
The university band played one last march, and when they fell silent, the chancellor stepped up to the microphone. “Students, faculty, friends, family, distinguished guests. The pursuit of education remains the noblest of tasks, the drive to improve one’s lot that began when that first ancient pony decided to plant a seed in a ground, to push two clouds together, to will a pebble to move. Today, these one thousand and seventy-seven undergraduates and one hundred and eighty-five doctoral students have completed their degrees. Yet their educations will continue. Whether in the classroom or in the work force, these bright young faces are ready to improve the lot of all ponies, much as ponies have done since the dawn of history.
“Now, let us all applaud the Royal Canterlot University graduates of the Class of 1648.”
A thunderous noise resounded through the arena as thousands of ponies stomped their hooves in applause. Blue Twilight looked into the stands; somewhere out there, his parents were cheering for him.
And his marefriend, too.
“Come on! Let’s get some pictures!” Blue Twilight’s mother said.
“Do we really need to?” Blue Twilight said.
“You only graduate college once,” his father said.
“Unless I wanted to get a graduate degree,” he countered.
“Oh, come on. It won’t take that long,” his mother said.
Blue Twilight wasn’t so sure. There was a large crowd around the dedicated picture spot. Still, they didn’t have anything planned until dinner. He followed his parents. Ruby Glimmer walked up to him, and leaned her body against his.
“Do you see that?” she said.
“Just like my high school graduation,” Blue Twilight said.
Ponies were taking photos on a raised wooden platform. Decorative rock walls flanked the stage, one with the crest of Royal Canterlot University embedded in it, the other with the emblem of Canterlot. But what both Blue Twilight and Ruby Glimmer noticed was the rainbow arranged behind the stage.
Six perfectly even, perfectly straight pillars of color provided a backdrop for the photos.
After waiting, Blue Twilight stood at the center of the stage, flanked by his parents. Ruby Glimmer took his mother’s camera in his aura.
“Smile!” she said.
And with that, Blue Twilight had another photograph showing a rainbow with six colors.
Blue Twilight fidgeted and adjusted his collar. He wasn’t nervous about his parents spending dinner with his marefriend; they had first met two days prior, and by all indications his parents loved Ruby Glimmer. Rather, the restaurant they had chosen to celebrate his graduation was a lot fancier than the campus cafeteria.
“Oh, would you look at the view!” his mother said.
The view was spectacular, Blue Twilight agreed. The Aerie, a revolving restaurant at the top of a tall tower, did offer a spectacular view of Canterlot, as well as fine cuisine and superb service.
Ruby Glimmer squeezed his hoof gently. “Relax, Blue,” she said.
“I don’t think I can. It’s just hit me. I’m going to be an adult, with adult responsibilities, and there’s no turning back.”
“Relax, son,” his father said. “You’re an honors computer science graduate. If you keep working hard, there’s no way you won’t find the same success at Intelligent Microchips.”
That lifted Blue Twilight’s spirits. He had gotten his dream job, working at Equestria’s biggest microchip designer. He was going to be working on the design of the seventh generation CPU, the grandfoal, so to speak, of the CPU in his current computer.
And the job was in Canterlot, so he would be near Ruby Glimmer as she finished her last year of school.
The wait staff soon came out with a salad service, prepared tableside. After four years of salads at the campus cafeteria, Blue Twilight had forgotten how good fresh greens could taste.
“So when do you return home?” Blue Twilight’s mother asked Ruby Glimmer.
“My train leaves next Friday afternoon,” she replied.
“Any problems with finding a place to stay after your school year ended?” his father asked.
“Not at all. A lot of students stay past the end of the school year, even those without summer classes or labs. I have my room until the end of the month, if I wanted to stay. But I miss my family.”
“We know the feeling,” Blue Twilight’s mother said, looking pointedly at him.
“I’ll return home for Hearth’s Warming. Don’t worry, Mom,” Blue Twilight said. “I’d return home sooner, but new employees don’t exactly have a lot of vacation time. I have to keep working hard. Right, Dad?”
“Right you are, son,” his father replied.
“How about you? When do you return to Seaddle?” Ruby Glimmer asked.
“Tuesday night, on the overnight train,” Blue Twilight’s mother said. “We’re going to stay in town to help our little Blue furnish his new apartment.”
“And anypony who’s seen my dorm knows I need the help,” Blue Twilight said. That “anypony” included Ruby Glimmer, but he didn’t feel like revealing that to his parents, even if they already suspected that fact.
By this time, the entrees were ready. No surprise, it turned out to be a lovely meal. Blue Twilight, his parents, and his marefriend dined and ate for nearly three hours. It was an indulgence he wouldn’t be able to afford again, so Blue Twilight made sure to relish the experience.
Blue Twilight looked over his apartment. “It’s beautiful,” he told his mother. Thanks to her efforts, his new apartment looked like a home. The furniture was a combination of new and secondhand pieces, but it was all the pictures and accents his mother added that made things look homey.
“And we finished just in time,” his father said. “We’d better get to the train station!” He headed to the front door and opened it.
“All right. I’ll be right there,” Blue Twilight said.
Once his parents stepped out of the apartment, Blue Twilight picked up the telephone and made a quick call to Ruby Glimmer. “I’m leaving to take my parents to the train station,” he told her. “I’ll be home around 8:30.”
“I’ll be there,” she replied.
After seeing off his parents, Blue Twilight took the streetcar back to his new home. He made sure to find an apartment a short trot from a streetcar station. From his new home, he was two streetcar rides from the train station, from his workplace... and from Star Swirl University. The latter was a trip he expected to make frequently, either he or Ruby Glimmer.
Blue Twilight returned to his now-empty apartment and assessed it. The faint smell of fresh paint and industrial cleaning fluids still lingered. The apartment was rather small, and a bit old, but it did have two bedrooms, since he wanted a separate computer room. Everything was neat and in its place, very much unlike his old dormitory.
He heard somepony knock on the door, not long after 8:30. Blue Twilight opened it, and greeted Ruby Glimmer with a smile.
Ruby Glimmer hugged him. “Let’s see how a big and important computer chip designer lives,” she said.
“It’s Canterlot. If you’re not a noble or one of the Princesses, you’re going to be disappointed,” he said.
“I don’t know. This looks pretty cozy,” she said.
“I guess I can give you the tour, as short as it is.” Blue Twilight showed Ruby Glimmer around the apartment. “It’s not much,” he said.
“It’s a lot bigger than any dorm on campus,” Ruby Glimmer said.
“That’s not much of an accomplishment.”
“It looks very nice,” she said.
“I have to thank my mother for that,” Blue Twilight said. “I have dishes, pots and pans, and real furniture for once.” They looked into his bedroom. “Like a real adult bed,” he said, motioning to the princess-sized bed. He chuckled. “Let’s face it. Two ponies are not meant to share a twin bed.”
“It’s never stopped us before,” Ruby Glimmer said with a smile.
“So, do you want to do anything? See the neighborhood?”
“Maybe later,” Ruby Glimmer said. “Right now, there’s a new bed that needs to be broken in.”
Blue Twilight missed breaks. Fall break, Hearth’s Warming break, spring break. Being in the work force, he didn’t get breaks other than the weekends. His few vacation days were spent taking a week off around Hearth’s Warming, not like the three weeks between semesters he enjoyed as a college student.
He missed seeing his college friends, but thanks to e-mail, he was able to keep in touch with them. Many took jobs with big computer companies, like him. Others took their chances with Internet start-ups, who hoped to revolutionize the computing world. Tall Tree was the most interesting case. He was working full time on Swiftfiction, from his parents’ home in Ponyville. He did have to give his old roommate credit for following his passion, and earning something of a living from it.
And the Web site was doing well, too. Blue Twilight knew that only because Tall Tree wasn’t good about answering e-mails, but he did respond to messages on Swiftfiction. As a result, Blue Twilight spent more time logged in as Indigo than he would have preferred.
When winter was finally wrapped up, Blue Twilight was able to enjoy his second vacation, spending five days in Mihaymi with Ruby Glimmer. It wasn’t a true spring break, like his marefriend got to have, but he was glad to enjoy the warm sun and ocean waters with his special somepony.
Come April, Blue Twilight found himself working long hours, as the deadline for his project team approached. They needed to finalize the design and test the prototype CPU. It was bad timing, as Ruby Glimmer was completing her final projects, where she had to demonstrate her mastery of spellwork to the satisfaction of her professors. The whole process was nerve-wracking; it made Ruby Glimmer sick to her stomach. He wanted to be there for her, but was only able to visit on weekends.
On April 29th, Blue Twilight’s team was done. Their design work was officially approved by management and passed on to the manufacturing team. The team left work early, heading to a nearby tavern to celebrate. Ales and ciders were shared among the team, all paid for by the boss.
The team seemed willing to shut down the bar, but Blue Twilight had other plans. After dinner, he excused himself, and boarded the streetcar to take him to Star Swirl University. There was a certain somepony who had passed her final examinations, and he wanted to celebrate with her.
Blue Twilight knocked on the door to Ruby Glimmer’s dormitory room. She opened it, and immediately greeted him by pulling him to her and kissing him.
“Congratulations,” Blue Twilight said, when they finally came up for air.
“It feels so good to have passed,” she said.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked.
“Not really. I’m still feeling sick sometimes,” Ruby Glimmer said.
Blue Twilight frowned. “Is it the horn flu? Or regular flu?”
“It’s definitely not the horn flu, and I don’t feel constantly awful like with the flu,” she said. “It’s something else.”
“What?”
“It’s easiest if I show you,” she said.
Ruby Glimmer went into the bathroom and soon returned, a thin piece of plastic held in her aura. It was not something Blue Twilight had ever seen in person, but he knew just what it was.
It was a home pregnancy test. And it showed a plus sign.
“I... um... ah....” Blue Twilight stuttered.
Ruby Glimmer shut him up with a passionate kiss, and then looked him in the eye, her muzzle pressed to his. “I don’t want you to feel bad about this. I’ve always wanted to be a mother, to have a foal to call my own. Knowing what my parents had to go through in order to have me, I was always afraid I would be in the same situation. I know we weren’t expecting this, but now that I know it’s happening, I’ve felt nothing but joy. And I can’t think of a better stallion to share this with than you.” She kissed him again.
Blue Twilight looked at his beautiful marefriend, at the almost magical glow about her. They had talked about her moving in with him after graduation; now that much was certain. “Yes. Absolutely, yes. I want to share this with you, all of this.”
Blue Twilight and Ruby Glimmer both agreed they wanted something simple. So, they arranged for a simple wedding ceremony after Ruby Glimmer’s graduation. Her family was already in town, so it worked out. Blue Twilight’s parents, and a few of their friends, also joined them.
Tall Tree was officially Blue Twilight’s best stallion, although the title didn’t mean much when they didn’t do a formal dinner (or bachelor party). He did get to needle Blue Twilight for meeting his fiancée thanks to Swift Current.
“Okay, that’s one thing good to come from the series,” Blue Twilight admitted.
The day after the ceremony, everypony involved in the wedding met for brunch, and then most of the guests departed. Ruby Glimmer’s parents stayed to help her move out of the dormitory. It didn’t take long; Blue Twilight remembered just how little he had to move out of his own dormitory the previous year.
Had it only been a year? Blue Twilight knew it to be true, but with how eventful the year was, it sure felt like longer.
They worked late into the evening, and when they were done, they had a late pizza dinner. After dinner, her parents returned to their hotel room, leaving the newlyweds alone. Their apartment looked warmer, cozier, with the added touch of Ruby Glimmer’s decorations.
Blue Twilight took the dirty dishes to the kitchen. “Wow. I’m beat,” he said.
“Me too,” Ruby Glimmer said.
“I’m looking forward to getting to sleep.”
Ruby Glimmer nodded.
Once the dishes were done, they headed to bed. But they didn’t go to sleep until much later.
His apartment had never been cleaner, Blue Twilight noted. Due to her work, Ruby Glimmer was home more often, and took care of most of the shopping, cleaning, and cooking. Those tasks fell to Blue Twilight only when Ruby Glimmer got hired for a job.
Gem enchantment was not what somepony could call a full time job. The need for this kind of spellwork was sporadic. Blue Twilight understood the principles; the enchanter wove a functional spell within a spell matrix so that the functional spell could be used repeatedly and safely, without mana leaking or the spell discharging completely. The need to weave two powerful spells at the same time made this a job few unicorns could handle.
So, every so often, Ruby Glimmer would be contacted by a messenger. She’d head somewhere, normally being gone overnight, and would return with a hefty bag of bits in compensation. Also, every time she came back, she had something new for their foal. Thus, as time passed, Blue Twilight watched the second bedroom in his apartment change from computer room to nursery.
Late in the summer, Blue Twilight accompanied Ruby Glimmer to the hospital. The checkup and ultrasound was routine, but given how long the foal was along, they knew they’d probably know sex and type by the time they were done.
Ruby Glimmer leaned against Blue Twilight. “I’m so excited!” she whispered.
Blue Twilight returned the gesture, and gave her a quick nuzzle. “Me too.”
For Blue Twilight, the doctor’s appointment just involved holding Ruby Glimmer’s hoof as the obstetrician and nurse worked. She lay on her back, exposing her belly, which was just beginning to show her pregnancy. The nurse spread the clear goop across her belly, and the obstetrician charged his horn. An image of the unborn foal started to take shape in the air above them.
“Hmm,” the obstetrician said.
“What is it?” Ruby Glimmer asked.
“Nothing out of the ordinary; foals develop a bit differently, after all. You said you were five months along?”
“That’s what we think,” Blue Twilight said.
“We, uh, weren’t keeping track, so it’s hard to be sure,” Ruby Glimmer continued.
“Without knowing exactly how far you’re along, I can’t say for certain, but since I’m not seeing a horn or wings developing....”
“An earth pony?” Ruby Glimmer said.
“Most likely,” he replied.
“Wow. I never would have expected that, given my family,” she said.
“Or mine,” Blue Twilight added. Every blood relative Blue Twilight had ever met was a unicorn.
“Harmony guides the foal,” the doctor said. “It just means he will be happy.”
Blue Twilight noticed something in the doctor’s words. “He?”
He nodded. “That is something we can confirm.” He shifted the image and pointed. “It’s a colt!”
Ruby Glimmer squeezed Blue Twilight’s hoof, and they shared a smile.
With the news that they were having a colt, Ruby Glimmer’s maternal instincts went into overdrive. She decorated the nursery with colt colors and shapes, and started picking up toys for an active colt. Blue Twilight could foresee the noise their son would make banging around all those wooden toys.
One weekend, they worked to assemble a small bookshelf. Once the paint was dry, Ruby Glimmer filled the shelves with books from her collection.
“The first Swift Current series?” Blue Twilight asked.
“Of course. Our son will read the classics,” she replied. “By the way, what do you think of the name Strong Arm?”
Blue Twilight frowned.
“Kidding!”
Another month passed, and the time came for Ruby Glimmer’s next checkup. Like the previous appointment, Blue Twilight offered moral support as his wife underwent the ultrasound exam.
The doctor hemmed and hawed as he worked the spell. It was taking longer than before, and he was not projecting the image. Blue Twilight got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, which only worsened the longer the doctor went without speaking. Ruby Glimmer squeezed his hoof; she looked worried as well.
“What’s wrong?” Ruby Glimmer finally asked.
“Your foal is... not developing normally,” he said. “I’ve never seen something quite like it, nor have I read about it in any medical journal.”
“What is it?” Blue Twilight asked.
“We want to see,” Ruby Glimmer affirmed.
The doctor nodded and projected the image. “You can see here that his hooves are not forming properly. Even if you’re only five months along, they should be clearly visible by now. Over here, the tailbone is shrunken, not distinct from the body. And his skull is misshapen.”
Blue Twilight stared; he had seen pictures in books, and this was not what a foal in utero looked like.
“But is he healthy?” Ruby Glimmer asked.
“That is good news,” the doctor replied. “Heartbeat and brain waves are strong.”
Blue Twilight let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
“Now, there are options available for you,” the doctor said. “We have counselors available who can....”
The scowl on Ruby Glimmer’s face was enough to make the doctor shut up. She looked to Blue Twilight; in an instant, they knew they were in agreement.
“We will love our colt, no matter what he looks like, and even if he ends up unwell, we will cherish him for as long as he has on this world.”
To that point, Blue Twilight had thought Ruby Glimmer’s pregnancy to be an easy one. Her morning sickness had passed early, and she didn’t even have any strange cravings. But no longer was this an easy pregnancy, with routine and periodic checkups. Their monthly examinations were replaced by multiple visits with different doctors, specialists in all aspects of foal development. But none had seen anything like their case. None could tell them more about what was wrong with their foal.
Ruby Glimmer was adamant that nothing was wrong with their foal. He was just different.
Even though their case remained a medical mystery, the pregnancy proceeded through its normal gestational period. When Ruby Glimmer’s due date neared, she was admitted to the best hospital in Canterlot.
Ruby Glimmer was wheeled into a hospital room, Blue Twilight following. A large number of doctors and nurses worked efficiently to hook her up to the various monitors. And once they were done, it was eerily quiet, with only the beep of the monitors interrupting the silence.
“I’ve never seen a hospital like this,” Blue Twilight said.
“Because yours is a special case, we’re keeping you in a private wing,” the doctor said. “To ensure your privacy, there is a small, hoof-picked staff attending to you, only ponies that know about your case. We have specialists and surgeons on call in case something goes wrong.” He turned to Ruby Glimmer. “Please, contact us immediately when you feel a contraction.”
Ruby Glimmer cradled her ample belly. “We will.”
The doctors and nurses left, leaving the couple alone. “I don’t suppose you’re having contractions yet?” Blue Twilight said.
“Not yet, but I’m ready,” Ruby Glimmer replied.
“Are you nervous?”
“I’m worried, of course, but as long as we stand together, there’s nothing to be afraid of. We’ll stand strong for our little Shooting Star.”
Blue Twilight gasped. “Is that....”
“Yes, our colt will be named Shooting Star.”
“I love that name,” Blue Twilight said. “It’s not from Swift Current, right?”
Ruby Glimmer smacked him.
It took less than a day for the contractions to start. From that point, Ruby Glimmer was constantly monitored. When they grew close enough, the doctors and nurses filled the room, ready for anything that might happen. The nurses spoke to Ruby Glimmer, encouraged her, gave her water, and wiped the sweat from her brow.
All that Blue Twilight could do was be there for Ruby Glimmer, and offer a hoof for her to crush each time the contraction hit.
“Your foal is in the birth canal. I need you to push, Ruby Glimmer,” the doctor urged.
Ruby Glimmer grunted, hissed, moaned with each push.
“Push!”
Blue Twilight put his free hoof over Ruby Glimmer’s, wishing he could lend her his strength.
“Push!”
Ruby Glimmer screamed, followed by another cry, the healthy cry of a foal drawing breath for the first time.
“Push!”
With the help of the doctors’ magic, Ruby Glimmer finished delivering the foal. With surgical precision, they cut the umbilical cord and cleaned up the foal. Within minutes, they levitated the newborn to Ruby Glimmer.
Blue Twilight looked at their foal. The foal’s wrong shape was intimately familiar to him, from seeing so many ultrasound images. But now that he was born, there were more details he could see. The foal had no coat, with only a small tuft of dark brown hair on the top of his head; the color of his bare skin reminded Blue Twilight of a ripe peach. Where the forehooves should have been were five spindly digits; the foal held them together tightly, as if he were trying to imitate the shape of a hoof. And two chubby hind legs ended in soft, plump little appendages, each with five tiny digits.
Ruby Glimmer took their foal in her aura and looked at him. “Our son... is a human?”