Night had fallen, and as he prepared to turn in, Rainbolt couldn't help but pick up that old framed photo. The one of him and his Firefly shortly before their Rainbow Dash was born. The doctors had warned them of the complication early into the pregnancy, but Firefly never backed down. She had been determined to bring her baby into the world, and they had agreed to hope for the best.
Then, the birth happened. Firefly lived long enough to see her baby filly, give her the name Rainbow Dash and as much love as she possibly could before she passed away, leaving the weather factory worker to raise their daughter on his own. He'd never blamed Rainbow Dash however. She was the light of his life, his pride and joy, and he couldn't help seeing the best of himself and Firefly in her. However, the day he'd dreaded most eventually came when he had to tell Dashie about her mom and how she passed away. It'd broken his heart when she cried and blamed herself, and it had taken so much heart-to-heart'ing to convince her that it wasn't her fault. That her mother had wanted her so much, she'd looked death in the face and spat in it, just to have the chance to love her baby, brief as it was.
"Goodnight, my girls," the rainbow-maned stallion whispered as he kissed the photo and put it back on his bedside drawer.
He laid himself down, got comfortable... and looked over to the empty bedside. Though it was moments like this where he honestly felt lonely, he just never had the heart to find somepony else. Sighing, he closed his eyes, and set himself adrift into slumber...
Morning came, and Celestia's sun had the inconsiderate nerve to shine a beam directly into his face, stirring him from his serene rest. Awareness pushed out his dreams, and he groaned in hesitation as he sat up and stretched out some kinks in his back and shoulders. Yawning, he got up and ambled groggily into his bathroom where he did his typical morning piss into the toilet, brushed his teeth, his coat, straightened up his mane and...
Huh, I could use a bit of a shave, he thought to himself as he noticed his five o'clock shadow... and then looked down at his body. He stuck to a typical workout regimen to maintain some of the muscles he'd built up back in college, but as he rubbed his paunchy belly, he strangely recalled a memory of his Dashie saying he had a great dad bod, and thought, Have I put on some weight, lately...?
"Oh..." Her voice caused his ears to perk and he stepped back into his bedroom and saw Windy was waking up too. His wife's coat was just a slightly lighter shade of their daughter's, while her mane was done in a pixie cut and colored a pinkish orange, and she shared the same cerise purple eyes as their daughter.
Sitting up, she took notice of her husband and said, "Good morning, hon..."
He wasted no time and hopped into bed, causing Windy to bounce, waking her up completely as she cried out in alarm and giggled as he pulled her into a sweet and frisky cuddle. She fended him off, laughing at the change of their morning ritual... when she noticed a tear going down his face, "Honey, are you okay?"
"Oh, sweetheart," he replied while pulling her closer to give her a warm and tender kiss, "I'm just so darn happy you're here."
"And I'll always be here, Rainbolt," Windy assured.
"Rainbolt? I haven't used that name since college," he responded though... it seemed to ring some kind of bell that hadn't been rung in a long time.
"Eh, I'm feeling oddly nostalgic this morning," Windy shrugged before getting out of bed. "I'll get started on breakfast, and don't you forget to mow our cloud-lawn today or you're in for it, Bow Hothoof."
All right, all right, I'm on it," Bow held up his hooves in surrender as he pulled on his favorite shirt from his bedside drawer, and paused to look at the open photo album he'd left on top of it, and smiled at the sight of one of his favorite family photos in it.
Yesterday evening, Celestia and Sombra had been out on the balcony, enjoying the night settling in as the stars began to twinkle above. Resting her head onto her husband's shoulder, Celestia sighed happily as Sombra gently rubbed his hoof over her belly. She was over halfway into her pregnancy and their foal was growing healthy and safely inside of her. For all her life, Celestia had feared perhaps she would never experience the joy of motherhood, even if she was still expecting. After... what happened in their past had torn her and Sombra apart, she'd considered herself unworthy of romance and never sought out another romantic partner.
She'd dove into ruling and looking after all her little ponies, thinking of them as her children instead.
But fate, long as it had taken, had been kind and shined upon them, giving them a second chance. They'd been reunited, they'd married, and now at long last they were to be more than husband and wife. Soon, they would be mother and father.
Their last checkup with the royal physician had assured them that their baby was healthy, but despite their earlier wish to not be told their foal's gender, wanting to be surprised, it had been slipped that they were going to have a a colt. Although a bit of the fun had been spoiled, both Celestia and Sombra were elated to learn more about their baby.
Sitting there on the balcony, with his expecting wife, Sombra was content. Before long, they would have a son whom they would hold him most dear to their hearts, and he would ask for nothing more other than his wife and child's good health and happiness.
"This is so peaceful..." he whispered to her, wrapping his wing around her, unable to stop touching her belly.
"I think we should enjoy it while we can," Celestia giggled softly, "Once this baby comes, moments of peace will be few and far in between."
"True, but it will be absolutely worth it," Sombra kissed her on the cheek, and Celestia sighed.
"It's times like this I wish we weren't royalty," whispered Celestia, "How complicated our lives are, how much attention is demanded from us..."
"I understand what you mean," Sombra whispered back, "When I was ruling the Crystal Empire, I never really had time to... Well, great duty calls for us to embrace great responsibility."
"Sombra, I've been working on a lullaby and... would you like to hear it?" asked Celestia.
"In this beautiful moment? I would love nothing more," Sombra smiled and cuddled his Tia, and felt her place her hoof over his own, the both of them rubbing her pregnant belly, as she took a deep breath.
Look to the stars, my darling baby boy
Life is strange and vast
Full of wonder and joy
Face each new sun with eyes clear and true
Unafraid of the unknown
Because we'll face it all with you...
On a balcony, watching her sister and brother from afar, Luna felt a tangled knot of emotions bittersweet, as she conjured a locket that carried the one picture of that she once held so dear to her heart, before she took a deep breath herself...
Look to stars and gaze up at the moon
Even as these days pass,
I’m always thinking of you…
Face each new day and keep your hope alive
I promise I will be there soon,
It won’t be long til I’m with you…
She wiped away her tears and closed the locket, when she felt a presence and uttered, "This- This isn't a good time..."
Stepping out of the shadows behind her, a Lunar Unicorn, garbed in Lunobi style clothing, as he knelt down and bowed, "My apologies, Your Majesty. But we have discovered something in the Shetland Isles, something we feel you must be made aware of."
Sighing, Luna faced the Lunobi, wearily asking, "And what is it?"
The Lunobi reached into a pouch and pulled out something for Luna to see, and the moment her eyes fell upon it... she GASPED in utter disbelief!
It was a baby rattle. A rattle she had not seen in over a thousand years.
Raising their tropical smoothies together, Chili Spice and Joe held their new spouse's gaze warmly, as they enjoyed their honeymoon only a couple of weeks after they'd married in a private ceremony. A while back, Joe had made the out-of-nowhere suggestion that they elope. At the time, they knew they were in love, they knew they wanted to be together, and they also knew they didn't care to be made a big deal of regarding their relationship.
So... Chili had accepted, and Joe had taken her to Rainbow Falls, where they sought an officiator to wed them in private. That same night, they consummated their marriage (even though they'd done plenty of hanky-panky long before they'd run off), and toured Rainbow Falls a while before Joe had surprised Chili with a honeymoon to a beach resort in Horseshoe Bay.
After spending nearly two glorious weeks at Horseshoe Bay's premiere resort, the two had slowed down after so much beach walks, scuba-diving, volleyball (Chili had poked at Joe needing to shed a bit of his paunch after seeing his performance), and lot's of other fun activities. Their time away from home was drawing to a close, and honestly they were relieved.
"A toast, to us, to our combined business, and to our future," Joe smiled as he began to suck up his smoothie threw its straw.
"And to our family," Chili added as she placed her hoof over her barrel.
For a moment. Joe wondered exactly what his wife meant... when his eyes widened in realization by her gesture, and he fell over, fainting, to Chili's amusement. She'd finished up her smoothie and salad before calling upon a bellcolt to help her get her husband to their hotel room. Needless to say, Joe woke up absolutely stunned to confirm that he was going to be a father... and boy did they make love that night!!!
The next morning, Joe and Chili woke up, the both of them remembering this was their last day at the resort, when they noticed the almost-four year-old pegasus colt sleeping sweetly between them. The little colt had a dull red mane and his coat was the golden yellow of pasta. Looking upon their little boy, they looked up at each other, smiling warmly as Chili whispered, "I can't bare to wake him up just yet."
"Me neither, and... our train doesn't leave till this afternoon," Joe pointed out.
"Let's go ahead and sleep in," Chili suggested, "Pepper will wake us up eventually."
Chuckling, Joe nodded, "It's been a great family vacay, but I'm glad we're going home today."
"Shh, back to sleep, handsome," Chili boop'd her hubby's nose and they laid back into their pillows, laying their forelegs over their son, Pepper Flake.
Somewhere in Equestria, a time portal opened, and out fell three figures, landing in a heap of ow's, watch it's, get off me's, followed by some shoving and grumbling before they each sat up.
"Uh, girls? Where are we?" said the first voice, sounding just a little... out of it.
"Ugh, nice going, Adagio," complained the second voice in a sarcastically snarky manner.
"I don't want to hear it, Aria! And Sonata? Just go to sleep," snapped the third, sounding vexed. "ERRRRGH! If I ever see that miserable unicorn again I'll... wait, something's wrong here!"
The three figures realized they were standing on hooves and then they took a closer look at each other and saw what they were.
A cerulean blue unicorn with a jagged blue and purple eighth note over a pink heart on her flank as a cutie-mark.
A mulberry purple pegasus with a cutie-mark of a two-toned purple star over a forte symbol.
A light brilliant gold earth pony, her cutie-mark displayed as a gem beside a G-clef.
...
...
...
That was when they all pointed at each other and screamed!!!