A long time after becoming pregnant with a foal, Flurry Heart was nearing the magical day. The ultrasound said she would have a filly. The shower was held one month before her due date. Everyone was surprised, and started bringing gifts in the most beautiful of styles. Cadence was excited.
"I can not wait to see your little daughter, Sweet Pea.", she said with tears of happiness in her eyes.
The following month, Pound Cake was getting dinner ready, when Flurry Heart screamed loudly in agony. She was beginning to have a severe cramp, because she was at the end of her pregnancy.
"POUND, IT'S HAPPENING, NOW!!", she screeched.
Pound engaged the signal to alert Brandon that she was going into labor. He arrived at once and took them both to the Crystal Hospital. Sirens wailed as the ambulance shot through the town. However, the circumstance was going to be harder than Brandon had anticipated. He took an ultrasound, and discovered that the cord was around her daughter's neck. This would make a vaginal delivery dangerous for both Flurry Heart, and her baby.
"I am terribly sorry, Flurry Heart, but you need to have a C-Section done.", Brandon said as he wheeled Flurry Heart to the operating room.
Flurry Heart shuddered when he told her that. She knew that meant she would need surgery. Upon arrival in the OR, she was given an oxygen mask, and electrodes were attached to her. Brandon and Link then put on hairnets and surgical gowns. These would keep their scrubs clean and keep the bodily fluids out of their hair. They gave her an IV of pain medicine to try and numb her as much as possible. Suddenly, they realized that time was running out. The baby's heart-rate had jumped up, to the point of being too high. Brandon bravely grabbed the scalpel and started making the initial incision. They warned Flurry Heart that the anesthetic had not gone into full effect. So they told her to cope with the severe pain that followed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!", Flurry Heart screamed in pain as Brandon made the incision. Then she faded out. The monitors indicated that the pain had caused her to go unconscious. Link quickly switched out the oxygen mask with a nasal trumpet. He snaked the tube up her nose, and opened the valve to keep giving oxygen.
Blood spurted from the incision for a brief moment, and splattered on their gowns. They then knew it was a good idea that they put gowns on, over their scrubs. They progressed until they had reached the amniotic sac. Brandon cut it open with his surgical scissors, and removed the baby pony from Flurry Heart's womb. Flurry Heart was startled awake by what happened next, squeezing her eyes tight shut while covering her ears.
"WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!", the baby screamed as she took in her first breath of life, and squirmed like crazy, kicking Brandon's right cheek.
Both Brandon and Link squeezed their eyes shut and gritted their teeth. The baby's ear-piercing cry scared the living daylights out of all 3 of them, and their ears hurt. Brandon had a bruise from where he had been kicked. She eventually quieted down, and they could clean her up. Opening their eyes, they saw how pretty she was. She had pinkish-white skin, just like Flurry Heart. Her eyes seemed to be the same color as her mother's eyes, but they were unsure, because her eyelids were puffy and red. Her hair was a mix of her parents' hair colors. She had light-blue hair like her mom, with a few locks of dark brown like her dad.
After Brandon cut off the cord and removed the placenta, Link took the little one to be cleaned. After Link cleaned her, he used a custom piece of equipment to figure out her skin's sensitivity, with a 1 being not sensitive at all, and a 10 being hyper-sensitive. Link nearly jumped, when he saw that the guage read 12. He had to be careful, because this meant that her skin was far more sensitive than her mother's skin was at birth. Link then opened a drawer, and took out a soft, pink diaper, decorated with stars and a moon. After strapping it on the little one, Link handed her back to Brandon. She was still crying, so Brandon soothed her with a sweet tasting pacifier. He then grabbed a soft, blue baby blanket, wrapping the little one snugly. Upon closer examination, Brandon saw that her eyes were swollen shut, just like Cadence and Flurry Heart, but she could open them a mere half-inch. Neither Cadence, nor Flurry Heart could open their eyes at all. Trying to open them any farther, would cause severe pain, and she would cry her lungs out. Blood was mixed in with her tears, but that subsided quickly, even though her eyelids were still swollen. After taking off his gown and hairnet, Brandon calmly handed Flurry Heart her baby daughter. Flurry shed tears of hapiness as she cradled her newborn daughter. She removed the pacifier and began to feed her daughter. Suddenly, the doors flew open, and Pound Cake was rushed in on a stretcher. Link said he would work on Pound Cake. Brandon gave him a thumbs up, sutured Flurry Heart's incision shut, and bandaged her.
Link began CPR, after the doctor said that he was going into cardiac arrest, due to a heart attack. Link worked with all of his might, but nothing would work. Pound saw his daughter for a few seconds, before slipping into darkness.
"She's .... beautiful.", he said between staggered breaths.
"Let's call her ... Diamond Radiance.", he said, with his last breath.
Diamond suddenly started crying at the top of her lungs, because she only got to see her father for 30 seconds before he died.
His funeral was held the following day. Cadence was crying harder than ever. Cup Cake and Carrot Cake were heartbroken over the loss of their son. Pumpkin mourned heavily over her brother's death. There was nothing they could do, but they knew that he had flown back into God's arms. Flurry was not at the funeral, because her surgical wounds needed to heal. Twilight visited her niece, to keep her company. The swelling in Diamond's eyes had gone down, and she could open them completely. Twilight gushed when she saw her new grandniece.
"She's so cute.", Twilight said through tears of happiness.
"Yes, she is certainly a bundle of joy.", Flurry heart replied sleepily.
"Can I hold her?", Twilight asked.
Flurry Heart nodded lovingly and wrapped her in the blanket that Brandon had used. They both had tears in their eyes, as Flurry handed her baby to Twilight. Diamond opened her sleepy eyes halfway, smiled at her Great Aunt, cooed happily, and went back to sleep as Twilight cradled her in her hooves. The crystalling was held only 3 days later. Flurry chose to crystal her daughter herself, because Sunburst had lost his life in the war. However, happiness and love were still present. This crystalling was done in memory of Pound Cake as well.
"AWWW SO SWEET!! Come to your grandmare.", Cadence said when she went to see Diamond, after the ceremony.
Diamond cooed sleepily, as she reached for her. Cadence picked her up, and kissed her on the forehead. She then cradled Diamond, singing to her, before putting her back in her crib. Flurry Heart hugged her parents before they went home that night.