Ten months later…
***
Fluttershy laid in bed at Ponyville hospital, with a nurse tending to her as she went through labor. Just outside the room stood Dr. Redheart, Discord, and Zecora.
“I’m sorry, but only the mother and father are allowed in the delivery room,” Dr. Redheart said to Zecora. Discord sighed and spoke back.
“Look, I know you’re a little new to this whole being-a-doctor-instead-of-a-nurse-thing, but just to be absolutely clear, my wife-” Poof! A giant styrofoam pointer appeared in the air and pointed at Fluttershy.
“-has asked for Zecora-” The pointer pointed at Zecora.
“-to be in that room-” It pointed at the door.
“-when she has the baby,” he finally finished. On the word ‘baby’, the pointer in the air had transformed into a floating, two-dimensional baby bottle. Dr. Redheart’s face had gone bright red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. A second later, the bottle disappeared.
“I’m sorry sir, but-” Dr. Redheart was interrupted by the nurse slamming open the door to Fluttershy’s hospital room.
“The baby’s coming,” she said. Dr. Redheart immediately dropped the conversation and walked into the room, closely followed by Discord and Zecora. Though Dr. Redhaert stared daggers at them, she said nothing at Zecora’s entrance.
A few minutes and a couple of painful cries later, the filly was born. At first, Dr. Redheart smiled at the filly she’d just delivered.
“It’s a girl,” Dr. Redheart said. Fluttershy smiled.
“Arceus. Her name is Arceus,” she said.
Though all seemed well for a single happy moment, the doctor’s smile faded when she got a closer look at the baby.
“Oh no,” Redheart said almost inaudibly.
“What?” Discord asked.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before. The baby… She’s not crying,” Redheart mumbled confusedly.
“You do know that not all babies cry when they’re born?” Discord asked condescendingly.
“Is she ok?” asked Fluttershy.
“It’s not that she doesn’t have the urge to cry. Her body is very tense, and her eyes are squeezed shut much more firmly than they should be. It’s almost like she’s holding in her tears.”
“It cannot be! How is it so?
I was convinced if this happened, we would surely know!” Zecora cried. Zecora looked around the hospital, seeming to look at it in a whole new way. Then she looked back at Arceus. Fluttershy had never seen Zecora so panicked.
“I must take the child and get out of here!
I need to get her where no one is near!”
Then, just like that, Zecora grabbed Arceus from Dr. Redheart roughly, and ran from the room, presumably from the hospital as well.
“Zecora no!” Fluttershy screamed. Discord stared at the door in shock. Without a word, fluttershy tried to jump up and follow Zecora.
“Fluttershy, wait! You're still connected to the machine!” yelled Dr. Redheart. After realizing that the doctor was right, she yanked all of the cords off of her, and ran as fast as she could, stumbling due to her epidural having not worn off yet. With Discord’s help to run, Fluttershy caught up with Zecora and Arceus just a few minutes later.
Zecora hadn’t taken Arceus far. They were in the middle of an empty acre of land within viewing distance of the hospital.
“Please stay back! Don’t come any closer!
If you do, I fear your lives may be over!” Zecora yelled. Even with her loud volume, Fluttershy and Discord could barely hear her across the distance.
“What is going on Zecora?” yelled Discord with a threatening tone in his voice. Fluttershy just stood and stared. She was shocked, confused, and scared.
“I beg you to be cautious of your daughter’s incredible powers.
For they multiply not just over years, but even over hours.
Suppressing them will only lead to more of what you’ll soon see.
But letting them out will be dangerous if not done carefully.
The two of you took a mirage, and made it something real.
And you’ll find that actuality is an infinitely bigger deal.”
Zecora paused when she heard a tiny moan from Arceus, who was still incredibly tense, and was clutching her tiny eyes together even harder than before. Tears of concentration formed at the corners of the newborn filly’s eyes. Zecora looked sad, but determined as she stared at her innocent face. She turned her attention back to Fluttershy and Discord.
“And now with so much left to say, I fear that I haven’t the time.
So with all you are and all that is, remember my final rhyme.
The only way to free your child from the clutches of her curse,
is to release her magic and not hold back, but not in our universe.”
Before Fluttershy and Discord had the chance to react, Zecora looked down and saw Arceus take a preparatory breath. Then she looked up with tears in her eyes, and smiled solemnly. No more than a second later, Arceus let out her first cry, and with it came power. Pure power poured from the tiny filly, and blasted out in every direction. It was white, loud, and too bright to look at. The whole town heard the ominous boom.
Dust and rubble flew into Discord and Fluttershy’s eyes. When they were able to see properly again and most of the dust had cleared, Fluttershy ran towards Zecora and Arceus. When she found them, her eyes filled with unshed tears.
Arceus lay in the middle of a circular crater that spread out in every direction for at least twenty feet around her. Her eyes had finally opened. Her coat and mane were black and white, not unlike Zecora’s, but instead of being striped everywhere, she was mostly white with just a few black stripes, and a blob of black around her eyes, almost looking like a superhero mask. Her eyes were quite a contrast to the rest of her petite body. Where the whites of her eyes should have been, they were the same color green as Fluttershy’s eyes, but in the center, where the color usually was, they were blood red.
Arceus looked around. She seemed confused. It was as if she was looking for Zecora.
Although Fluttershy understood what had happened, between the state of Zecora and the tears in her eyes, her eyes could hardly make anything out. All she saw was black and white and red all over.