//------------------------------// // Friends And Family // Story: Delivery Day // by pabrony //------------------------------// [The next morning] "It's about time you woke up, sleepyhead," Sunny teased as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I groaned slightly as my back pain was about twice as bad as it normally was. "What time is it?" I asked as I knocked my glasses off the small table beside me. "It's half past time to hold the baby," she continued to tease. "Oh funny," I said. "Seriously, what time is it?" A giggle escaped her lips before she answered. "It's quarter after nine." "WHAT?!" "Shhh. I just got Gleaming to sleep," she fussed. "Relax, Twilight. It's not a big deal that you slept late." "But, but…" "Twilight. Chill." I reluctantly calmed down, then got up to use the restroom, wash up in the sink, and change my clothes. While I was putting my clean clothes on, I heard our first visitor of the day. "Whoa! You had twins?" Rainbow Dash said. "Sure did," Sunny replied. "That is freakin' awesome," said Rainbow excitedly. "Hey, where's Twilight?" I opened the bathroom door and stepped out, pajamas in hand. "Right here. I figured I should freshen up before anyone showed up." "Nothing wrong with that," she said. "Don't wanna be stinking up the joint while your friends are hanging out with you." "Speaking of which," Sunny started, "could you hand me my deodorant out of the suitcase?" I reached into the suitcase and grabbed her deodorant, which was then snatched up by Rainbow and tossed across the room. "Rainbow, be careful," I fussed. "What? It wasn't near either of the babies," she replied. "That's beside the point," I said. "Hey, it's fine. I caught it. Nobody got hit. Nothing got broken. Everyone just calm down," Sunny interrupted, causing Rainbow and I to call a truce. "So which one is the cooler one?" "They're both the same as far as coolness goes," Sunny said. Rainbow clapped hands and did a fist pump. "Sweet! That means I can hold both of them!" "Umm, you could've held both of them even if one was cooler," I deadpanned. She shrugged her shoulders and sat down in the recliner as Sunny carried Gleaming to her. Rainbow looked at our daughter and I noticed a tear roll down her face. "Are you okay, Rainbow?" I asked. "Yeah it's just...this is the coolest thing I've ever done." [Later, around lunchtime] "As much fun as its been hanging out with you guys, I've gotta go home and get ready for work," Rainbow said. Sunny and I both thanked Rainbow Dash for her visit and gave her a hug when we heard Applejack and Rarity talking in the hallway. Rainbow quickly tried to escape before Applejack came in, but her attempt was met with failure. "Rainbow Dash," Applejack said. "Applejack," Rainbow answered back. "Still whoring yourself out to the Wonderbolts?" Applejack quipped. Rainbow didn't answer. Instead, she glared at Applejack - with a noticeable amount of emotional pain in her eyes - for a couple of seconds before walking away. "Applejack, that was uncalled for," Fluttershy said. "Especially in here." Applejack let out a huff and replied somewhat angrily, "She started it." "Fluttershy's right, darling. This is not the time nor the place for that." Sunny and I just looked at each other as Applejack got the riot act read to her. "Alright, alright. Fine," Applejack stated. "You guys ready to visit or are you still going to argue with each other?" Sunny asked. Applejack took off her hat and held it remorsefully against her legs. "Sorry, y'all." "I know you still have some ill feelings toward Rainbow Dash, and it's understandable," I said. "But you probably should make up with her. I'm not talking about the two of you dating again. I'm talking about just being friends with each other once again." An awkward silence filled the air momentarily before Sunny broke it. "Wow, Twi. You almost sounded like me there for a minute." "Now that the arguing is over with, where is the little darl-" Rarity said. "Oh! Oh my!" "Well this sure was unexpected," said Applejack. "So how do you like our little surprise?" I asked. "Um, I do wish you would've told me about it," Rarity said. "They are quite the beautiful dears but I only made one outfit to wear home." "Hey don't sweat it," Sunny said. "We won't be leaving until tomorrow at the earliest, so you'll have plenty of time to make a second one." "Um, can I, uh, hold one of them?" Fluttershy asked from behind Applejack. "Of course you can, Fluttershy,"  I said. "Which one would you like?" "Oh, I...I'm not sure." I scooped up Gleaming Dusk and carried her to Fluttershy, who was waiting patiently in one of the chairs in the room. "Here. This is Gleaming Dusk. She might fuss a little bit because she just woke up a little while ago," I told her. Rarity, meanwhile, had taken Solaria and sat on the sofa bed. "Sunset, darling, how are you holding up?" "I'll be honest, I'm sore," Sunny said with a laugh. "Well, whatcha sore from?" Applejack asked. "Well, my stomach hurts from all the contractions. My boobs hurt from the milk stored inside of them," Sunny paused as she turned a slight shade a pink, "and my coochie is hurting for obvious reasons." "You birthed both of them naturally?" Rarity asked. "I sure did," Sunny said proudly. "Why do you ask, Rarity?" I asked her. "One of my distant cousins had twins and the second baby was delivered via cesarean," she explained. "I just assumed that was how all twins were delivered." "Shucks. Y'all are gonna have yer hands full whenever these little ones start moving on their own," said Applejack as she booped Solaria's nose. "They are really cute," Fluttershy said quietly. "If you ever, um, need a babysitter, I can do it." "Thank you, Fluttershy," I said. "Well be sure to keep that in mind." "So...which one of y'all got the first dirty diaper?" Applejack asked with a slight chuckle. Sunny reluctantly raised her hand. "I did. I was nursing Solaria when she...you know." The rest of us got a small laugh at her expense as a small blush crossed her face. "Darling, it's the first of many, many dirty diapers." "Well, it's like Granny always says. It's gotta go somewhere," Applejack said, eliciting a small laugh from the rest of us. [Later] "Knock, knock," said a male voice from the doorway. "Hey, Azure," I said. "Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity...you remember my brother-in-law, Azure Glide. He was also the first officer on the scene when I was in my accident." "Pleasure to see ya again, Sugarcube." "Um, hi. It's nice to see you again," said Fluttershy, who had a slight blush on her face. Rarity nodded in acknowledgment of Azure as she studied his face. The sound of a woman clearing her throat behind him caused his face to become scarlet. "Sorry, Celia," Azure said. "This my girlfriend-" "Ahem," the woman interrupted. "Excuse me. This is my fiancé, Celaeno," he said as his blush became brighter. "She's, um, Captain of the Canterlot City Police Department." "Captain?!" Applejack said, surprised. "Boy, you sure aim high." "Darling, I did not mean to be rude when you arrived - as I am a lady, after all - but whatever happened to your face?" Rarity finally asked. "Well, you see, I was on this one case in a very high-profile neighborhood and this uppity crook that I was tracking smacked in the face with a bag of razor blades," he said before getting flicked in the ear. "Ouch! Alright, alright." "Didn't we talk about stretching the truth to impress people?" Celaeno asked as the rest of us laughed. "Fine. I was tracking a crook. However, it was in a slum," he explained. "I did finally catch up with him, but he wasn't uppity. He was a complete psychopath. We got into a brawl and he cut my face a few times." "Azure. Celaeno. It was nice making y'all's acquaintance but we gotta get going," Applejack said. "Fluttershy's got a date with Vinyl later and me and Rares have, ahem, plans for later tonight." "Plans?" Sunny asked with a raised eyebrow. "Ah, ah, ah. A lady never discusses her sex life," Rarity said just before slapping both hands over her mouth and turning a bright shade of red. "WHOA!" I shouted, waking Solaria. "Since when did you two start dating?" "A few weeks ago," Applejack said. "We were planning on keeping it a secret for now." "Celaeno, would you like to hold one of the girls while Applejack and Rarity finish making asses of themselves?" Sunny asked. "Sure," the green haired woman answered. Sunny then handed Gleaming to Celaeno. "She's even cuter than Azure described." The girls finally left, which left Azure and Celaeno in the room with us. For whatever reason, Celaeno had a warm smile slowly grow across her face. Her smile was nearly identical to the one that Sunny had when the nurse handed Gleaming to her for the first time. I cleared my throat to get Azure's attention. When he looked at me, I nodded in Celaeno's direction. He turned to his fiancé and she looked up at him with that facial expression. "What?" he asked her. Rather than answer, she looked down at Gleaming and then back at him. "What?" he repeated. "What is it that you're trying to tell me?" "Ohhh...nothing," she said, sing-song. As Celaeno began playing with Gleaming, Azure came up to me with a worried look on his face. "Honestly, I wore a rubber," he whispered to me. "I mean, I just proposed this afternoon in front of all of our fellow officers. Had I known she was pregnant, I would've proposed sooner. Dad is going to kill me when he finds out." "Well, I don't know what to tell you, Azure," I whispered, pulling him into a hug. "At least you proposed to her before the baby bump appeared." "What are you two whispering about?" Celaeno asked us. Azure went back over to her, knelt down on the floor, took her hand and explained what was going on. Almost immediately, she burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Sunny asked. "I'm not pregnant," she said after calming down. "You're not?" Azure responded. "No, silly. I was trying to tell you that I hope we have a daughter as beautiful as Gleaming Dusk someday," Celaeno said, laughing a little more. "Oh," he said with a nervous chuckle. "I hope we do as well." Sunny and I smiled at the couple as Solaria began fussing in her crib. "Well, someone's either jealous or hungry," I said. "Probably hungry. It's been a few hours since she had anything," Sunny said. She walked over to Solaria and brought her back over to the bed. "It feels odd not waddling like a penguin when I'm walking," she joked as she began nursing Solaria. "It looks odd not seeing you waddle like a penguin when you walk," I laughed. "Funny." I turned my attention to my brother-in-law. "So have you told anyone else yet?"