Rainbow shifted under the bed's covers. Slowly, her mind registered that it was still before sunrise and she therefore should be asleep.
"Rainbow, dearie." It took another moment to realize that Rarity's voice was probably why she had woken up.
"Not now, babe," Rainbow groaned. "The foal still has to..." Unable to come up with a verb, her subconscious simply gave up.
She heard a chuckle. "I'm just letting you know that I'm about to leave for Dodge Junction. I have a special delivery to make for Cherry Jubilee's get-together, and I'm going to get some new gems while I'm there. I'll be back before sundown." Rarity kissed Rainbow's cheek. "Make sure you take care of yourself, okay?"
"Sure thing," Rainbow mumbled. "Love you."
Only vaguely aware of Rarity's hoofsteps, Rainbow drifted back to sleep with the persistent feeling that she was forgetting something.
Hours later, Rainbow awoke to a bright spring morning. She rolled herself out from under the covers, landed on her hooves, and stretched herself out. Another minute later, she remembered that Rarity had left that morning.
And then she remembered something else.
Her eyes went wide. "Rarity!"
Gripping her head in her hooves, she said, "Aw geez, I never told her! I was going to but she'd start asking questions and—" She let go and shook her head. "No. It doesn't matter anymore. I gotta help her. Think, Rainbow. Maybe I still have time. I can take the next train—no no, I'm faster than the train is. I can make it."
She rushed downstairs and grabbed her saddlebags. After tossing them on her back, she filled a few water bottles from the sink and shoved them in. She went through the front door and took off into the sky.
"Come on, kid, let's save your mom."
Rainbow flew as fast as a sustainable pace allowed. Following the train tracks across the country, she made her way towards Dodge Junction and the Badlands beyond.
She took a drink of water before placing the bottle back in her bag. "Just so you're up to speed, here's the plan, kid," she said, keeping her eyes on the ground. "If we get to Rarity before the salamanders do, I tell her what's up and we get out. If I don't see her, then they've gotten her, we take the train home, and Twilight and Starlight bust her out like last time. Either way, those things get nowhere near you. Got it? Got it."
Within a few hours, she had arrived over the Badlands. Her eyes darted across the landscape, looking for signs of her wife. Then she spotted a white shape below, along with three darker ones. She went into a hover high overhead, panting for air. The high sun over the desert didn't help.
"No no no. Okay, okay, plan A. I go back and get them." She looked to the west. "But Rarity's like a mile away from the colony, and there's only three of them. I whooped the butts of four last time." She took another swig of water. "I really need to let her go. I know she's going to be okay."
She took a few more breaths, eyes locked on the creatures kidnapping her wife. "I can't... I can't I can't I can't!" She growled. "I'm sorry, kid."
Rainbow swooped down. She landed on all fours in front of the salamanders. Two lead the way, both in armor. Behind them, Rarity had a black cloth bag over her head, with a rope tied around her head and through her mouth. A third salamander, dressed in fine clothes and holding a staff, held Rarity's leash.
"Hey!" Rainbow shouted. She could feel sweat running down her sides. Blinking a drop out of her eye, she said, "That's my wife!"
Rarity made a muffled noise of shock.
Both guards lowered their spears towards Rainbow. She took a few steps backwards, eyes on the guards. "You better look out, I'm a violent, sex-crazed animal."
The guards advanced. Continuing her walk back, Rainbow went on, "I gotta satisfy my sexual desires on that pony, and I'm going to knock your lights out if you get in my way. That's right, even with foal I just have to get my sex."
Rainbow kept her distance from the guards. She turned around, lowered her head to look underneath herself and raised her tail. "Look at me, I'm waving my goods around like some kind of perverted animal." A shake of her rump added to the effect. "I know what a salamander looks like naked, and I liked what I saw. Because I'm that sex-crazed."
Turning back towards them, Rainbow changed course to the side, tracing a large circle around Rarity and the third salamander. "But don't forget my violence. Punching salamanders gets me horny, and you look really punchable."
The guards still followed without saying a word, spears pointed at her.
"That's right," Rainbow said, looking into their eyes. "First I'm going to dent that armor of yours, then I'm going to sex up that pony."
Glancing to the side, Rainbow saw the third salamander relax and look away.
With a grin, Rainbow said, "Checkmate."
Rainbow swiveled on her hoof, opened her wings, and darted past the guards. The third salamander had barely turned back when Rainbow spun around mid-air and delivered a kick to her chest with both hind hooves, knocking her across the ground. She planted her hind hooves into the ground, wrapped her forelegs around Rarity's chest, and launched herself straight up.
They were well above the clouds before Rainbow leveled off. Rarity squirmed while making a series of unpleasant noises. "Whoa, babe," Rainbow said, "hold still. We're pretty high up and I don't want to drop you. My grip isn't that good right now."
A shallow glide returned them to the ground. The salamanders had become tiny dots in the distance. After fiddling with the knot for a bit, Rainbow managed to untie Rarity's rope and pull the bag off of her head.
"Hey, babe."
Rarity stared at her. "Not to sound ungrateful, but how in Equestria did you know to come out here and rescue me?"
With a smirk, Rainbow answered, "Time travel."
Rarity's eyebrow raised. "And this was the outcome you had in mind."
Rainbow's smile turned into a grimace. "It's... complicated." Glancing past her, she added, "Let's get moving. I don't know if those salamanders are going to come after us." She broke into a trot. "I got water if you're thirsty."
Magically fetching one of the bottles, Rarity took a drink while keeping pace. "What was all that about violence and a sex craze? You've rarely been in the mood for months."
"Salamander thing. They think we're all dumb animals for some reason." She shook her head.
Rarity looked at her. "Did you really present yourself to them?"
Laughing, Rainbow said, "Yeah. It was really funny." She sped up to trot in front of Rarity, looked back at her, and hiked up her tail. "Besides, this looks good. I know you like to see it. I got to make them real jealous of what nobody else can get."
Rarity's eyes went down to Rainbow's rump. She smiled and looked back up. "I can't say I disapprove of the view. Speaking of, how do you know what a salamander looks like naked? I got the impression from my... rather brief conversation that they had a strong nudity taboo."
Grinning ear to ear, Rainbow said, "Time travel." She let her tail drop and moved back to Rarity's side.
"Whatever the case," Rarity said, "I dread to think what they had in mind for me. I'm glad you came."
Rainbow looked towards Dodge Junction in the distance. "Yeah, me too."
---
Rainbow Dash lounged on the couch in Twilight's castle. Outside, the sun dipped below the horizon. Inside, Twilight sat in front of Rainbow jotting on a scroll. Nearby, Rarity indulged herself with a cup of tea.
"So, after you showed the guards your genitalia, for reasons I still don't understand," Twilight said, "you then flew towards Rarity."
With a flick of her tail, Rainbow said, "Yeah, you got it. Then I kicked the fancy-dressed one in the chest, grabbed Rarity, and took off out of there."
"I see. I'll be sure to relay your reports to Princess Celestia." Twilight lowered her scroll.
"Oh yeah, make sure to tell her how rude they are and that they think ponies are mindless animals." Rainbow waved her hoof.
Looking at her, Twilight asked, "What makes you think that?"
"That's what they said! Those jerks."
Twilight looked over the scroll hovering in front of her. "You didn't tell me they said anything."
Pushing the scroll down, Rainbow said, "Not this time, last time."
"You mean in your vision?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Whatever. They tied me up in front of their mayor Kez-lack or whatever his name was. He said a lot of stupid stuff about ponies and then threw me in a cage with Rarity overnight before you and Starlight busted us out."
"Twilight," Rarity said, "If you don't mind, I'm going to head home. I've had a long day." Setting down her tea, she stood up.
"Of course," Twilight said.
"See you at home," Rainbow added before turning back to Twilight.
Watching Rarity leave, Twilight said, "Something has been bothering me about your vision. Things just aren't making sense."
Shifting her weight on the couch, Rainbow said, "Because it wasn't a vision. I went back in time."
"Which we've already established can't be true." Twilight stood and paced around the room. "At first I assumed you only saw a few moments of time and your imagination filled in the rest. But you predicted the source of the disturbances and the existence of the Roundhill. Then the, um, accident at the Spring Bloom and now Rarity's kidnapping? A vision of that span of time and that amount of detail is... just absurd! I'd wonder if you've somehow gained the power to see the future, but that's just as ridiculous, not to mention you've apparently changed at least part of it."
Watching her walk, Rainbow said, "I still don't know anything past when we died, so I get to be normal again pretty soon. Speaking of, you're still not planning on zapping it and waking it up, right?"
"The Roundhill's dead—"
"—which is what you said before it killed you—"
"—but no, we're not going to do anything to it. Especially in light of everything else you foresaw." Twilight stopped and turned to her. "What you remember can't be what would happen, but whatever would is at best neutral and at worst catastrophic, that much I'm sure of."
Rainbow rolled off the couch, landed on her hooves, and stretched. "Close enough. I have a foal coming in a month so there's enough to worry about. I'm getting hungry, so I'm going to head home. Thanks for not destroying ponykind, Twilight."
Walking out into the night, Rainbow took a deep breath.
"Hey, kid," she said. "You, uh, you didn't mind getting up close and personal with the salamanders again, right?"
Her foal remained still. Rainbow figured she was asleep.
Regardless, she continued, "I said that Twilight and Starlight rescued us last time in front of Rarity, didn't I? Why did I have to open my big mouth? Now she knows she could have been saved without me. If she hasn't figured it out by now, it's only a matter of time."
"I got a second chance at this and I blew it!" She stomped her hoof.
Looking ahead at the Boutique, she straightened up. "No use putting this off. I gotta face the music."
Finishing her walk, Rainbow opened the door and found Rarity inside. Rarity turned to look at her. "There you are. Did you work out with Twilight what was going on?"
"As far as she'd let me." Rainbow tried not to wince.
"That's good. I need some time to relax after today. I'm going to take a bath." Rarity turned towards the stairs.
Rainbow's ears drooped back and she lowered her head.
Turning her head around, Rarity said, "Would you like to join me?"
Stiffening up, Rainbow said, "What?"
Rarity smiled and half-closed her eyes. "I would oh so love to show my gratitude towards the brave mare who rescued me from those savage creatures." A flick of her tail punctuated her sentence.
"Oh, uh." Rainbow paused. "I'm not really in the mood."
Rarity's smile faded. "Ah, yes. Of course. I understand."
With a few hurried steps forward, Rainbow said, "I'll take mine after you're done, okay? I could use a little less stress." She took a breath and attempted a smile. "Bad for the foal, you know."
---
Rainbow Dash lay on the downstairs couch, digesting her breakfast. Next to her, Rarity sat on the rug, reading one of her corny romance adventure novels to their child.
The previous day had been filled with Rarity sewing and stitching and draping cloth on mannequins and acting like absolutely nothing was wrong. So far, this day promised the same.
"...and then the handsome young Beef Pastry tore through the vines with his teeth, freeing his beloved Porcelain Dish. Gripping her in his rugged hooves, he looked into her glistening amber orbs, and said—"
"You endangered our foal!" echoed in Rainbow's head.
She gripped the sides of her head in her hooves and shouted, "I can't take this any more!"
Rarity shifted back, dropping the book out of her magic. "Dearie, if you didn't like the book, you could have said so earlier."
Hopping off the couch, Rainbow leaned down to Rarity. "I know you're not stupid, Rarity. Tell me: why aren't you mad at me?!"
Rarity stood up. "About what?"
"I told Twilight that last time she and Starlight rescued you. You know I didn't have to save you. I know I didn't have to save you. But I threw myself and the foal into danger anyways. For nothing! You should be furious!" Rainbow stomped her hoof.
Turning and taking a few steps away, Rarity said, "You told Twilight that you kept your distance from the salamanders while you were taunting them."
"Well, yeah. They had real sharp-looking spears. I didn't want any of that business."
Rarity turned back. "And suppose one of them had charged you. What would you have done?"
After looking down for a second, Rainbow said, "Well, I'm a lot faster than they are, so I would have been able to stay away or fly off."
"So was the foal truly in danger with you guarding her like that?"
With a step backwards, Rainbow said, "This isn't fair."
Rarity magically levitated the book and returned it to the shelf. "Are you truly that upset that you didn't risk our foal? I hope that you don't plan on endangering it on purpose."
Pacing around the room, Rainbow said, "It's just... today's the day. Last time, today's when we fought."
Rarity's eyebrows went up. "Fought? Whatever about?"
Rainbow added stomps to her steps. "Because I messed up big time, really did put the foal in danger, and I still could have gone and gotten help and stayed safe and then we got into a huge argument." She stopped and fell onto her rump. "And then the Roundhill killed us and I'll never be able to talk to that Rarity again. I'll never be able to work things out with her."
Sitting next to her, Rarity said, "Maybe that Rarity had a good reason to be angry, but this Rarity doesn't."
As she looked away, Rainbow said, "I picked a fight with the salamanders. I didn't have to. I was looking for you, I saw a group, and I told them to attack me. I hit them. They hit me." She took a breath. "The salamanders didn't know I was pregnant. Look at how much of me is foal. None of them hit it, but that was dumb luck."
There was a brief silence, broken by Rarity. "I see."
Still avoiding eye contact, Rainbow said, "That's why you were so mad. And why you should be mad now. Because I did that to our foal."
"If you found yourself in that situation once more," Rarity said, "would you do it again?"
Rainbow's wings sprang open. "No! I never should have done it in the first place!"
Rarity sat up straight. "Then I see no reason to be upset. You certainly don't need me to tell you how much you care about the foal's well-being. If anything, you should be... no, never mind."
Looking back at her, Rainbow said, "Should be what? Wait, you think I should be mad at you? Unless you've been using my gut as a punching bag while I'm asleep, I can't think of anything you've done."
This time Rarity looked away. "I wandered out into the wilderness on the edge of Equestria alone, leaving my pregnant wife behind. I was too distracted by a finely-dressed, smooth-talking creature to notice an ambush. Our foal would never have been near the salamanders in the first place if I had just been more cautious. What kind of wife am I if I am so willing to make you a single mother?"
"Fath—" Rainbow stopped herself. She laid her wing across Rarity's back and held her close. "Rarity, I know what you keep saying, but I'm not her mother. I can carry her, I can give birth to her and nurse her, but I can't be her mother. I can't do all that kind and caring mom stuff. Look at me. I can barely take care of her when she's inside me. You think I have a chance once she's born?"
Rarity looked back. "Rainbow, I'm sure you'll do great."
"Well, I'm not. The foal needs you, Rarity. I need you. I know there are ponies out there who can raise a foal on their own." She put a hoof to her chest. "But I'm not one of them. I can't do this alone. I can be her dad. But she needs her mom."
Laying her hoof across Rainbow, Rarity said, "There's nothing wrong with a foal having a cool mother. You can still be her mother, no matter how you act."
Rainbow relaxed her wing's grip. "Maybe, but now I have to know. Why does it matter to you so much that I'm the mom?"
"Well, it's only logical." Rarity's eyes darted back and forth. "She's in your womb."
"No no. It can't just be this." Rainbow prodded her belly. "Why am I Mom?"
Tensing up, Rarity said, "It-it's just... it's just..."
"Just what?"
"I'm jealous!" Rarity shouted into the air.
Rainbow's wing slid off Rarity's back. "What?"
"There! I said it! I'm jealous!" She slumped down.
Replacing her wing, Rainbow asked, "Jealous? Of me?"
"Yes! Something wonderful and miraculous is happening inside you, and I want it inside me instead!" She took a breath. "Seeing you grow larger, knowing that there's a new life in there. I want to put my hoof on my belly and know there's a foal under it. I want to feel it whenever it kicks. I want to look back and see myself bulging outward. I want to feel its weight hanging from me. I even want to give birth to it, no matter how much it'll hurt!
"And I can't." She sniffled. "I can't do any of those things. And then you didn't even care about the miracle you were carrying. You treated it like it was no big deal, like it was a big inconvenience instead of a new life." Wiping her eyes, Rarity continued, "And one day you announced that you did care about it a great deal. I thought things would be better. You finally saw it the way I did. But that only made me feel worse. You experienced what I couldn't and you loved it.
"And every time you say I'm her mother it feels like you're mocking me. You're rubbing it in my face that I'll never bear your child, that I'll never know what it's like to have a life inside me."
"Aw geez, Rarity," Rainbow said, looking over at her, "I had no idea." She held Rarity tight against her side, against her foal. "I can't put the foal inside you. And if it was up to me, if you didn't care either way... well, I don't think I could give this up. But would it make you feel better if I called myself Mom? I mean, I can try being an awesome mom instead."
Rarity leaned into her. "It would mean quite a lot to me."
"Sure. It'd be weird to call you Dad, though." Rainbow paused, then smiled. "I know, you don't have to be Dad. Let's give her two moms instead."
Returning the smile, Rarity said, "That does sound lovely."