//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Breaking of News // Story: Welcome To My Life // by PinkiePiedPiper //------------------------------// Welcome To My Life Chapter 1: The Breaking of News It was late. Most ponies in Ponyville were asleep. A warm July breeze worked its way down the deserted streets. Windows were shuttered and dark, and things were generally quiet, save the chirpings and creakings that are heard only on quiet nights. One window, however, was wide open and spilling candlelight into the square. Twilight Sparkle focussed on her chemistry textbook. This was the first time she was reading it not for personal enjoyment. It wasn’t for a class she was taking, but rather one she was preparing to give. In the five months since the Sauron incident, she had thrown herself at a vast project. She had organized with Princess Celestia and the Mayor of Ponyville to open the second largest university in Equestria. Both had expressed their full support. What was different about this university from the relatively nearby Canterlot University, was that there they only focussed on magic; spells, history, and magical theory. Twilight’s proposed education center would encompass a broad spectrum of fields and be readily accessible to all ponies with a will to learn; unicorns, pegasi, and regular ponies alike. Science, agriculture, art, medicine, law, history, politics, engineering; the whole works. With the plans fast tracked by the Royal Seal, construction had begun last month. Professor requests had been sent out to fill the classes, and resumes had already started to come in. the screening process was still some months in the future along with student applications. Twilight wanted to be sure everything was built and ready before any employees or students were 100% committed. Taking a sip of her tea, she continued studying. She personally planned to book her own schedule pretty tight and cover as many different classes as she could. She had not managed to get out to see her friends very much. In fact, she never seemed to leave the tree house at all. Spike did all of the errands and shopping, made easier simply because he was now big enough to carry all of their groceries by himself. He was now about the size of Twilight herself, and his last shedding had revealed a small set of proto-wings, of which he had immediately become obsessively proud of. She had deterred him from leaping from the nearest cliff, unassisted at least; by buying him a season pass to Scoot’s Sky Tours. He took advantage of this pass so often he had his favourite glider perpetually on reserve. Twilight had not seen him for several hours now even though he should have been back shortly after sundown, because that is when Scoot’s closed. She figured he had probably come back and gone to bed without her noticing as was apt to happen when she was deep in study. She got up slowly, due to both stiffness and her second trimester stomach, to check in on him, when the door swung open. Spike the dragon fledgling entered the library and stood in the doorway. Twilight could hear somepony behind him. He guiltily looked down, linked his claws together, and ground his heel at the floor. “Twilight?” he asked in his gradually deepening voice. “Can we talk for a minute?” “Sure Spike. What’s up?” she asked curiously. He stepped out of the doorway into the house. Light glowed onto the front steps, illuminating the ponies behind him. “It’s about your condition. And by we,” he clarified, “I meant all of us.” Twilight watched as her best friends filed in, one by one. Rarity came in first, “I didn’t tell them,” she defended. Fluttershy started to step in, but a rainbow blur whizzed past her. She hunched backwards as Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop in the center of the room. “C’mon, Shy!” a female cowpony voice urged, “Ah ain’t got all night.” Fluttershy walked in, followed closely by Applejack and Pinkie Pie. This was not the first visit Pinkie had made back to Ponyville since the liberation of her realm from the dark forces of Sauron, as she had had to get her affairs in order with the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner. By merely laying a hoof on an Element of Harmony, one could communicate telepathically with her, either just to catch up or to request her presence. Every time she did come back, she returned to her pony form. It was decided this was the best way to avoid any potential panic from sightings of a new draconequus on the loose. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were somewhat taken aback by the size of their friend. Twilight smiled sheepishly and blushed. She had never gotten around to telling any of them about the pregnancy, save Rarity. Party Favour had told Pinkie of the situation in private shortly after the fact. “Oh… my!” Fluttershy said quietly. For Fluttershy it was normal, but for everypony else it was nearly a whisper. “What in tarnation have you been up to?” Applejack said slyly. “You got fat!” Rainbow pointed out bluntly. Twilight sat down again on her well-worn reading cushion. “I suppose I do have some explaining to do…” Spike had already placed cushions in a circle for each of them. He went to bed because he did not need to hear the story a second time. * * * * * Twilight sighed as she finished her tale. It was not the first time, and would probably not be the last. The others had listened intently as she had recounted her journey from start to end, leaving out nothing. It felt good to unload the unedited version to them. Even Spike had not been told all of the details, primarily the girly ones. The circle had closed in over the course of the story until the group were practically shoulder to shoulder. “You simply cannot continue stressing yourself over this university business,” Rarity said finally. “But there’s just so much to do…” Twilight protested. “How will everything be ready for the school year if I don’t work as hard as I have been?” Applejack responded, “Y’all don’t have ta have it done for this year, do yah?” Twilight looked down. “I suppose not. That was an unrealistic goal, now that you mention it.” Applejack continued, “Ah can see y’all are trying to do a big job all by yerself, an’ Ah don’t think that that’s gonna turn out well. If anypony knows anythin’ about bitin’ off more than she can chew, it’s me!” She tapped her chest and laughed. “But it’s still so much work to oversee the construction, organize the application forms, and get ready for classes I’m going to be teaching,” Twilight pointed out, “and it still has to be done.” “We can all lend you a hoof, dear,” Rarity offered. Twilight looked up. “I can help to make sure that the building is painted and decorated fabulously!” “An’ Ah can make sure it’s built right an’ proper.” “Macky and I can bring refreshments to the workers, and I can see if I can get the animals to help…” “I can keep the skies clear of rainclouds, and help get mail sent off on time! I have to work on my endurance flying anyways.” “And I’ll come back and throw a party when it’s done!” Twilight’s eyes teared up at the kindness of her friends. “Thank you, thank you all! You really are the best friends a mare could have.” Applejack placed her hoof around Twilight’s neck and gave her a hug, which the rest of them joined in on spontaneously. As the others returned to their cushions, Applejack left her hoof where she had placed it. “Ah have something to tell all o’ y’all, too,” she confessed, looking around the tight circle. Being the Element of Honesty, this was hardly a surprise that she was confessing something. “Ah think Ah’m gonna have a foal of mah own!” An eruption of happy chatter and congratulations flowed from the mares. They had figured it was bound to happen one of these seasons. It was actually kind of odd that it had not happened last year considering how hard they had been trying. Amidst the chaos, Fluttershy spoke gently, “I… um… Macky and I are having a foal, too…” Attuned to picking up their friend’s soft voice, the group silenced immediately and looked at her. She smiled, the kind that is known to be accompanied by a heart stopping squee. After exactly two seconds of pure silence they burst out in congratulations once again. Twilight was overjoyed that her friends had taken it so well, and that now she knew she was not alone. She had only been alone by her own doing. She remembered that when you have good friends, you don’t ever have to get through your problems alone. That was going to be a letter to Celestia for sure. She still had not told her mentor about the pregnancy. She was not ready for that conversation. Also, part of her was worried that the Princess would try to send Stalwart Bastion back to his human world. At this point, she was certain that it was pretty well impossible, but her maternal instincts to protect her child against any threat, no matter how unlikely, had gripped her tightly. As the group volume died down, Pinkie, too, spoke out, “Well girls, I can tell you for sure that I’m not! I don’t know about you two, though…” she trailed off with a wide smile and looked at Rarity and Rainbow Dash. The other three looked at them expectantly (no pun intended). “Don’t look at me!” Rainbow Dash burst. “Lightning Storm and I have only gone out once or twice, and that was after Hearts and Hooves!” She directed the group attention to the white unicorn beside her. “Rarity and that Royal Guard, on the other hoof…” Rarity mocked a look of shock. She turned up her nose and shut her eyes. “Oh, the nerve of you girls! Granted, Sir Comet Fire and I have been together for some time now, but a lady does not get pregnant before marriage!” They held their gaze. Rarity peeked one eye open and lowered her head slightly. “But not necessarily practice abstinence.” Laughter and assorted giggles bounced around the room. * * * * * Spike jammed his head deeper under his pillows. He had almost succeeded in getting to sleep, but was blasted awake with the outburst after Applejack’s revelation. Avoiding this behaviour was exactly the reason he had gone to bed earlier, and the topic seemed to be degrading quickly into areas he wished to stay oblivious to. He cursed himself for going hang gliding before organizing the meeting. The thought of flying snapped his focus back to the dream he had begun having, and tried to will himself back to sleep to continue in his unconscious air-borne escapades. It did not work, but he kept trying until finally the noise in the next room quieted down. Sighing, he began to drift off. A rooster crowed. Spike groaned.