“You really didn’t like the ending?”
“No way! Did you? I thought it ruined the whole book!”
“Are you sure you’re not overreacting?”
“Well, maybe not the whole book, but it was still stupid!”
Twilight cocked her head, raising a curious eyebrow at Dash. The two of them were on their way to Ponyville’s local bookstore to pick up the latest Daring Do novel and spending the trip arguing about the last one. This was an afternoon they’d planned for the next release, but the fact that it was Rainbow Dash who had suggested they walk there was enough to throw Twilight off guard. Not that she could blame her; Dash wasn’t in a position to be doing much flying, lately.
“I thought it was refreshing! You hardly ever see Daring Do get a moment of weakness, she’s always saving the day without much effort. If you ask me, watching her fail once in a while makes her more relatable. I think it shows how much the writer’s grown.”
“Why would I wanna read a book about Daring Do where Daring Do loses?” Rainbow Dash scoffed in disgust. She flapped her wings like an angry chicken, but only rose a few inches off the ground. “And her getting captured? Come on, she’s gotten out of way worse situations than that! It felt like something the new writer just made up so something bad would happen.”
“You mean contrived?”
“There’s a word for that?” Dash paused and scratched her chin. “Huh. Well, yeah! It felt ‘contrived.’”
“But isn’t it boring to just read about Daring Do succeeding all the time? That ending makes me want to read the next book so much more! The whole reason we like her is because of the struggle. You really should read the essay I wrote about the series.”
“Hey, Twi?” Dash sighed and looked her friend in the eye with a gentle smile. “I’m not gonna do that.”
“Fine. But you get my point.”
While Dash continued to complain about her loathing toward the last book, Twilight slowed her gait and stole a glance at her friend’s middle. Dash’s belly inched ever bigger by the week: she looked roughly six or seven months along, if the diagrams from the library were any indication. Though she didn’t seem uncomfortable, Rainbow Dash was beginning to walk with an awkward, wide-legged shuffle as her stomach pushed her hips and back legs apart. It even very slightly swayed from side-to-side with the rhythm of her trot.
Twilight sighed and frowned to herself. Dash’s ever-advancing pregnancy had grown too apparent to ignore, but that was exactly what Twilight had to do. It drove her crazy that she was mere inches away from her friend’s very first foal, but had to needlessly dance around the subject. She had a million questions to ask, but knew asking them wouldn’t do any good.
When she realized she’d been staring at Dash’s baby bump for too long, Twilight shook her head and pulled herself back to the present.
“And in the prequel books, we find out Daring Do was trained by a circus escape artist, so she can break out of anything. But then she can’t get to the temple in time because she’s tied up? With ropes? Like, c’mon!”
“The ropes were magic. Anyway, how have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while. It seems like you’ve been spending a lot of time in Cloudsdale lately.”
“Huh? Oh, I guess so,” Dash said with a shrug. “I wanted to see my folks for a little bit and spend time with S...sssssssome friends. Friends you don’t know, from out of town, they went to another school.”
“I’m not from here.”
“Yeah, that’s probably why you don’t know them.”
“I- Okay, sure. How are you parents? Are they excited about the-” Twilight bit her tongue and spluttered. “About...seeing you? Again? Their daughter? That they love?”
“Oh totally, I haven’t been home in a while. They’re helping me get ready for the foal...tball
season. Foal-tball is what we call the little league back home. I’m... gonna...be a volunteer coach in the fall. Yeah.”
“Oh! G-great!” Twilight said with a smile. “I’m sure they’ll be a... big help.”
Independently of one another, Twilight and Rainbow Dash thought to themselves how much awkwardness they could have avoided if they were just better liars.
“Look! We’re at the bookstore!” Twilight shouted with a relieved sigh.
The cozy little building on the east end of town might as well have been Twilight’s dream home, a shabby little cottage practically overflowing with books. Every square inch that wasn’t taken up by shelves had cushions and chairs for customers to use at their leisure. They even had an old cat. Every bookstore needs a cat.
“I wish we’d gotten here when they opened,” Twilight huffed, shuffling her wings. “I hope they aren’t sold out already.” There was a poster on the window advertising the release of the new book. Behind it, the store was bustling with activity.
“Hey Twi, you go on ahead,” said Rainbow Dash, motioning her forward. “Grab a copy for me, I’ll stay out here.”
“Huh? Why, is something wrong?”
“Nah, I’m okay. I just gotta...preen, that’s all. Feathers are looking kinda ragged.” Dash fanned out her wings and nibbled at her feathers for a moment. Twilight cocked her head to the side, then realized Dash had grown too big for both of them to walk through the front door side-by-side.
“Oh come on, your wings look fine. If you don’t hurry up, they’ll be gone by the time you get inside!”
Dash grunted and frowned, tapping her hooves anxiously in the dirt. With a resigned sigh, she tucked her wings away and followed Twilight inside, her rounded belly brushing the sides of the small door frame.
“Mmmmm, smell that?” Twilight said. “I love old bookstore smell.”
“Just kinda smells like...wood. And dust.”
“And paper! C’mon, the new releases are at the back!”
Twilight skipped excitedly down the cramped rows of bookshelves, weaving in between startled customers with surprising agility. If the other ponies were surprised to see the local alicorn princess darting through them like an over-caffeinated filly, they were even more so by the pregnant Wonderbolts flyer carefully inching her way down the narrow corridor of books.
“Sorry. Sorry. ‘Scuse me. My bad. Gotta get through here…” Dash muttered to the customers as they tried to squeeze out of her way. Her bulging sides brushed against everyone she passed by and more than once knocked a book off its shelf. Despite the inconvenience, the customers -- mostly older mares -- were surprisingly patient and even gave Dash sympathetic smiles as she passed by them.
“Who puts the new releases at the back of the store?” Dash grumbled once she caught up to Twilight. She ignored her, flipping through a copy of the new book in her hooves. Far from being sold out, the entire back wall of the store was dedicated to the series, with dozens of copies still available. Dash forgot her bad mood and quickly snatched one of the books off the shelf as if it would run away if she let go of it.
“Daring Do and the Legend of the Raven King,” Dash said, reading the title out loud. The cover was a striking image of Daring Do standing in an empty field while a black bird took flight against a white, cloudy sky above her. “Awesome.”
“If you guys don’t see me leave the castle for a few days,” said Twilight, “this is why.”
“Twi, it’ll only take you like four hours to finish this.”
“You think I’m only going to read it once?” Twilight closed the book with a soft whump and let out an excited squeal before dropping it in the tote bag she’d brought with her. After passing a second bag to Dash, she chewed on her lip and hesitated for a moment. Now came the hard part.
“There’s a couple other books I need to pick up while I’m here,” said Twilight. “Could you help me out?”
“Uh...you sure?” Dash shuffled uncomfortably and subtly touched a hoof to her belly. “It’s just that... the dust in here is making my allergies go crazy.”
“It won’t take long!”
Without taking no for an answer, Twilight pulled Rainbow Dash behind her as she headed toward the opposite end of the store. Dash grumbled, following after her dutifully and only stopping to pick up yet another stack of books her belly knocked over. By the time she caught up to her, she realized with a look of horror what section Twilight was standing in: maternity and childcare.
“Wh-wha-what are you... What are we doing here?” Dash asked, struggling to keep her voice calm.
“Oh, Cadance and my brother are thinking about having another baby,” Twilight said casually, without looking up from the books. “I thought it would be nice if she was a little more prepared the second time around.”
“Oh. Uh. Yeah, good idea.” Dash cleared her throat and looked at the crowded shelf. “You gotta be prepared for...all that.”
“Maybe this one…” Twilight levitated a book off the shelf, making sure to angle it so Dash could see over her shoulder. The title read Building a Nest: A Guide to Pegasus Parenting above a photo of a feather in a nest.
“Hmm. Cadance and Flurry have wings, but Shining doesn’t. I’ve heard this one was good, but maybe not for them.”
While fighting every instinct in her body to put the book back where she found it, Twilight committed the sin of setting it down on the shelf next to her and consciously looking away. She waited a few seconds before peeking out of the corner of her eye, finding the book gone and Dash’s tote bag hanging a little heavier off her neck. Twilight smirked.
“This one’s a classic, even my mom had a copy,” she said, taking out a well-worn paperback of My Little Baby: Motherhood Miracle. “Oh, wait, she already gave hers to Cadance last time.” Twilight set the book down on the shelf, just below Dash’s nose, then looked away. Like before, a few moments later, and the book was mysteriously gone.
Applejack was determined to get Dash to admit the truth, but Twilight thought that was missing the point. Whether she would admit it or not, her friends needed to be there for her in whatever way they could. If Dash was going to be sneaky about her pregnancy, then maybe her friends needed to be sneaky about their support, too.
“Maybe this one? Flying Fitness: Maternity Edition? Cadance is already in good shape, she doesn’t need this one.” She put the book down and picked another. “This one’s about balancing motherhood as an athlete. That doesn’t really fit Cadance, either.”
“Nah, not really.” Dash hesitated, then gingerly pulled a book out of the shelf. “You...you think she’d like this one?” It read Beautiful Mess: Surviving the Struggles of Your First Foal.
“I don’t think so. She already had Flurry Heart, remember?”
“Oh... Y-yeah. I’ll just...put this one back, then.” Dash put the book gingerly back on the shelf, then cast Twilight a side-eye glance. Pretending not to notice, Twilight turned around and waited for the book to mysteriously ‘vanish.’
“Wow, I’m so surprised,” Twilight said after ten minutes of searching. “This store usually has a much better selection.”
“Y-yeah,” Dash said, struggling as the weight of her tote bag pulled on her neck. “W-weird.”
The two of them headed toward the counter, which was staffed by an older mare with a silver mane and a pair of thick-rimmed glasses.
“I suspected I’d see you at some point today, Princess,” the mare chuckled as Twilight handed her the Daring Do book. “Only one?”
“For now. Trust me, you’ll see me again soon.” Twilight paid and took her book before stepping aside. Waiting until she got home would’ve been agony, so she began to read the first chapter while Dash approached the register.
“Just one for me, too,” Dash said, grunting as she hefted the heavy bag on the counter. “And a...few others.”
“Just a few,” the mare said, raising an eyebrow at the pile of books. As she rang them up, Dash shuffled uncomfortably in place, touching a hoof to the left side of her belly. She jumped, made a soft ‘Oh’ sound, and stole a glance at her rounded barrel. Twilight peeked over the edge of her book just in time to watch a soft flutter of motion push out from inside Rainbow Dash. She quickly ducked behind the book to hide her giggle.
“Alright, that comes to twenty-seven bits, total,” said the mare. As Dash fished for her coin purse, she glanced down at the pegasus’s belly and asked with a casual air, “When are you due?”
“D-Due?” Rainbow Dash froze, her eyes darting around the room, before saying in a loud voice, “Uhhhhh... Pruh-Probably sometime next week! Gotta get my books back to the library before they’re due, can’t really afford a late fee, ha ha ha!”
“Library?” The mare cocked her head to the side. “No, I meant-”
“Twenty-seven bits right? Here’s thirty-two keep the change I don’t need a receipt gotta go now BYE.”
Dash shoved all her new books into the tote bag and hurried away from the register, not caring about her awkward pregnancy waddle as she rushed to the door. Twilight, who hadn’t been paying the slightest bit of attention, glanced up from her new book just in time to watch her friend’s rainbow tail disappear around the corner.
“Dash?” Twilight dropped the book in her bag and rushed outside, finding Rainbow Dash catching her breath next to the door.
“W-wow, all that dust,” she panted. “Makes it hard to breathe. Guess I needed some fresh air pretty bad.”
“Are you feeling okay?” Twilight asked. Dash glanced up at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Uh, yeah? I’m fine! Why are guys always acting like I’m made of glass or something?” She stood up straight and adjusted her bag, trying to hide her labored breathing. Twilight forced herself to smile, despite her concern.
“If you say so. Hey, make sure to let me know when you finish the book! I’ll need someone to talk to about it,” said Twilight as they began walking back.
“Yeah, me too. I’ll need someone to complain to if the ending sucks as bad as the last one.”
“You’re really hung up on that ending, aren’t you?” Twilight said. “Did it really bother you that much?”
“I guess. I dunno.” Dash sighed and slowed her gait slightly. “It’s like... the Daring Do books are cool ‘cause when she saves the day or whatever it...makes me feel like I can get through hard stuff too, y’know? It really bums me out to see her blow it.”
Twilight read between the lines and felt her heart ache for her friend. She moved to Dash’s side and extended a wing-hug across her back, having to reach extra far to span the bulging width of her belly.
“But that’s why the new book is going to be so exciting!” Twilight said, cheerfully. “We get to see all the great things Daring Do’s going to do to make everything okay in the end.”
“...How do you know everything’s gonna be okay?” Dash asked, shuffling under Twilight’s wing. “You haven’t read it yet.”
“Because she can do anything,” Twilight answered. “And I believe in her.”