June 10th, 994
Doug waves at Pinkie as the mare leaves the farmhouse, heading for her morning shift at Sugarcube Corner. Before he leaves for his morning run he checks the foals, sighing to himself. Once again, Pinkie left him the task of cleaning up the room and getting everything back in order. He sniffs the diaper on Apple Bloom and grimaces; yup, each of them needs a change as well. He looks at the foal's face; while she is happily sleeping now, when she awakens she would be quite perturbed. Better to get it out of the way now and hope she goes back to sleep quickly than leave it for one of the mares to deal with. At least they are all weaned, and he has bottles and some solid food waiting in the fridge for when they get hungry.
He chuckles to himself as he picks Apple Bloom up and takes her to the changing table. She sleepily paws at him, trying to figure out what is going on and to get this aggravation away from her. She figures it out around the time he strips her diaper, laying there on the table and watching him with hungry eyes. She gets a little perturbed when he tries to put the new diaper on, stretching her legs as far as they can go in different directions. He smiles, saying in a singsong voice, "Once we get this diaper on you and your sisters we can get something to eat." As she continues to struggles he mutters to himself, "Or, if we could get you potty trained, but your mommy didn't like it when you had an accident last time!"
Apparently he was a little louder than he intended, as Apple Bloom stops struggling, a tear forming in her eye. Doug quickly slaps the diaper on her, cooing, "Hey, AB, it's okay, you'll get it soon! You got this!" The foal happily giggles, throwing her hooves up in the air. Doug tosses her up in the air and she gives a squeal as he catches her, ruffling her mane. Doug places her back in the crib, her sisters starting to wake up at the commotion. Doug checks Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo; finding they both need a change he grabs Sweetie Belle and quickly changes the foal before she can figure out that she should be struggling. He returns her to the crib to find Scootaloo standing, forelegs on the rail and her tiny wings beating furiously.
He ruffles Scootaloo's mane, supporting her chest as she stands on just her hind hooves. She holds her front hooves in the air, saying, "Peg Sigh!" Doug picks her up, saying, "Oh, you want to be a pegasi? You my little pegasus?" as he brings her to the changing table. Once she is done he lifts her into the air, holding her up with one hand while she squeals in delight, her wings beating even faster.
Doug smiles outwardly, trying to keep a happy face on. He can barely feel the difference her wings are making as they beat against the air. He swoops over to the crib, holding Scootaloo so she looks down on her siblings. "Who's ready for some breakfast?" he asks, scooping the other two foals in his free arm. He carries the trio to the kitchen; it looks like none of the other ponies are up yet. Doug opens the fridge, grabbing three bottles and checking if there are any leftovers. Seeing none, he grabs the milk and shuts the door. He pours each foal a bottle of milk before grabbing the flour and starting to make pancakes.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo start their bottles with gusto while Apple Bloom has a little more reserve, trying to figure out what Doug is doing. After the first batch of pancakes is cooking Doug checks on them, noticing that Apple Bloom is watching him with interest. He picks up the foal, placing her on the counter and saying, "Now don't roll over, it's a long fall and I don't want Applejack mad at me." Apple Bloom glances over the edge of the counter before slowly scooting away, still holding onto her bottle. Doug starts preparing the next batch of pancakes, explaining the process to a rapt Apple Bloom.
After all the pancakes are done Doug glances over to see Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo asleep, having finished off their bottles. Apple Bloom gives a yawn, her bottle nearly empty. He taps the bottle, saying, "Just a little more, AB, you're almost there. You can do it!" The foal stretches her hooves out before grasping the bottle again, lifting it up and finishing the last few drops. Doug quietly claps his hands, "Good job girl!" as Apple Bloom closes her eyes, falling asleep on the counter. Doug takes the three bottles, washing them out before setting them on the drying rack. He carries the three foals back to their room, placing them in the crib before returning to the kitchen. He places plates of pancakes, apples, and some oats on the dining room table with a few empty glasses and an open carton of apple juice. He grabs the eggs he made for himself from the frying pan, dumping them on top of one of the stacks of pancakes. He opens the door outside, stretching for his morning run.
Even with the mares giving him two workouts a day and the work on the farm, Doug still finds the morning runs enjoyable and often necessary. Rainbow comes when she can, but often the mare finds herself picking up one of the night shifts and is either working or too tired to come along. She still makes it most mornings, but this gives him a chance to think through the plans for that day, get a head start on his weather scheduling, or sometimes just to relax and clear his head.
Today his thoughts drift to the upcoming meeting with the unicorn specialists Celestia talked about. Celestia had offered to pay the costs of the treatment, but Doug balked. He didn't think she owed him for the... tests that Celestia and Cadance are planning on running in the future, and doesn't like the idea of trading one set of research for another. Celestia managed to talk him down to merely helping pay half the treatment costs, but he knows the Princesses will find some other way to try to pay him back. Like the dress with Rarity, or one of the 'catering' contracts that Applejack acquired with the Canterlot Castle dining ponies. Not that her apples and cider aren't the best he has tasted here - or ever, for that matter - but he hates the idea that he and his herd are getting special treatment for the potential help they are giving the Princesses, on a topic he thought no creature should be denied.
Doug notices how his frustration has sped up his pace, nearly winding himself while only halfway done with his second lap. He slows down, trying to lead his thoughts instead to the unicorns that will be coming later. They have finished their preliminary research and are ready to start more formal tests and observations. They have been quite tight lipped about what they will be doing and the potential outcomes, which Doug is not terribly happy about. They probably don't want to get his expectations up, or allow for false assumptions or understandings to spread. Well, they would figure more out after lunch.
Doug rounds the last bend, thinking about breakfast. He doesn't like to run on a full stomach, and hopes the mares know to leave the plate with the eggs and pancakes alone. On more than one occasion he had returned, finding a sheepish Rainbow with a plate of lightly sampled eggs and no pancakes. The ponies used eggs for baking but very few (if any) ate eggs by themselves, or even cooked with another meal. Doug smiles; his quesadillas had gone over well, but not the side of eggs or when he had tried omelettes, even ones with more vegetables than eggs. His eating one or two eggs per meal did lead to an increase in the number of chickens Applejack and Fluttershy keep, though.
Doug enters the front door, breathing a sigh of relief when he sees that his stack of pancakes is still there. Though, a slightly famished Rainbow Dash appears to be losing a staring contest with it. It is a good thing he placed his eggs directly on top of the pancakes, it makes it a little harder for the mare to pretend to mix up which plate is hers when she scarfs down her food.
Rainbow raises her hooves, saying, "Doug's home! Yey! So, uh, you want to make some more pancakes? The first batch was really good!"
Doug eyes her, "Sure, but don't you have work to get to?" He sees Big Mac heading outside with Applejack, the mare helping hitch Big Mac to one of the larger wagons. Looks like he would be doing another long distance delivery; from the looks of it, all the way to Canterlot.
Rainbow nods her head, trying to hide the devious look in her eye. "Yup! So, you won't mind if I..." The mare moves over to Doug's stack of pancakes, lifting the top one up and swiping the rest with one of her wings. She leaves all the eggs on the plate, quickly devouring the other five pancakes.
Doug sighs, trying to look disappointed and failing, "I suppose I asked for that, huh?"
Rainbow moves over, giving Doug a peck on the cheek, "Yup! You know you love it. Anyway, gotta go, see ya around!"
Doug shakes his head and smiles as Rainbow leaves the room. He grabs a box of nuts from the kitchen, sprinkling some onto the plate before picking up a fork and enjoying his breakfast.