//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Welcome To The World // by Sweet Tale //------------------------------// This was it. This was the moment. I stood in the doorway just staring at my wife who was writhing in pain on the bed. Various nurses and doctors were trying their best to keep her calm by applying a cold cloth to her head or trying to hold her down. The look on her face said it all. It said 'Get this baby out of me!' "Jason!" I picked up my jaw from the floor and looked at Haywick who had returned to Sarah's side. "Come over here!" Following his orders, I shut the doors and ran over to my wife. Clutching her hand, she turned to me and smiled. "You're gonna be alright...everything's gonna be fine..." I gave her a small kiss on the forehead. "How are you feeling?" Her smile grew and she tugged my hand to bring me closer. "How am I feeling?" she whispered through gritted teeth. I leant right down until I was face to face with her. "Let me describe it to you. Imagine your private area being run over by a steamroller then being trodden on by the longest marching band in the world who all decided to wear golf cleats." She shoved me away from her with force. "HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?!" All I could think of was ways to protect my crotch from such agonising pain. Sarah lay back on the bed, grunting at the pain she was still feeling. Haywick pulled out two plastic rods and attached them to the end of the bed. "Miss Sarah, if you place your hooves in these stirrups." I leant down and whispered something in his ear. "Oh...my apologies. If you place your feet in these stirrups, that would make it easier for you." Sarah did so, casting a glare at both myself and Haywick. "Oh come on...I corrected him at least." I retorted with a huff. "Oh god...I know what's coming now. Are you gonna take a look down there?" I asked the black-maned doctor. "We already did our examination earlier but yes, we will need to measure how much Sarah is dilating." Haywick poked his head under Sarah's gown and made a shocked gasped. Taking his head back out, he took a big gulp of air. "Umm...this is much different to a pony's...area during birth. N-nothing we can't handle..." "What do you mean?" asked Buster. Walking around to the end of the bed, the rest of the team followed suit and peeked under the gown. "OH MY GOODNESS!" exclaimed Buster as he violently withdrew his head from the gown. "What is that?!" "I've never seen anything like it!" cried Baker. "You guys never seen a woman's privates before?!" Sarah shouted, clutching her stomach again. "Now team, let's just stay--" started Haywick. "I am not happy with this!" Buster continued. "We can't do this! This is unknown to us!" added Baker. "Listen here! If you don't get this baby out of me right now, I will rip your tail off and shove it right up your--" "ENOUGH!" The entire room fell silent as Haywick lost his cool. "I thought we were all professionals here? You lot seem to have forgotten that we have done this a thousand times before. Granted we've been delivering foals to mares, but the principle is still the same. Now control yourselves, because if Sarah doesn't rip your tail off first then I will - when I throw your flank out of the room!" We all remained stunned at Haywick's speech. But it seemed to have worked as Buster, Baker and Gears all had defiant smiles on their faces. "We all good?" I asked with hope. "Yeah!" the three medical staff said in unison. "AAAARGH!" Sarah's screams once again gathered our attention. Steams immediately dashed to her side and grasped her hand. "Sarah, you need to listen to me. I need you to breathe, OK? Breathe!" "WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?!" she screamed, now breathing extremely fast and trying not to let the pain get to her. "OHHHHHhhhh....get this baby out of me!" I grasped her other hand and held it tight. "It's coming babe, it's coming." I glanced towards the end of the bed. "Haywick, what does she need to do?" Haywick removed his head from under the gown and smiled. "She needs to start pushing. Now." "You mean...it's coming now?!" I replied. "Come and have a look." I let go of Sarah's hand crouched down next to Haywick. "You see here?" I looked under the gown. "HOLY...wow...that's just..." Even though I was staring at the most private part of a woman, I couldn't help but smile. I poked my head out from the gown and smiled at my wife. "Come on babe! You can--" "AARRGGHH!" *WHACK* "...ing to be alright?" "He sh......to the head." I opened my eyes and my vision was fuzzy. I could make out a white blob and a smaller purple blob. Soon enough, my vision returned and I was met with the smiles of Celestia and Twilight. "Hello Jason." Celestia said. "Are you feeling alright?" asked Twilight. "Ugh..." I sat up slowly and brought my hand to my face. "What am I..." I touched my nose. "ARGH! What the..." The pain that emitted from my nose was agonising. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Celestia added with a giggle. "I'm afraid Sarah's foot got loose during a contraction and...well...she lashed out. Unfortunately, your face was in the way." Twilight murmured. "She...kicked me in the face..." Twilight levitated a mirror to me which showed me the extent of my injury. My nose was bloodied and swollen and my left eye had a rather nasty mark on it. "Bloody hell...trust Sarah to..." *SMASH* "SARAH! I need to be there for the birth!" I dropped the mirror as I remembered why I was in Equestria in the first place. Jumping off the bed, I made for the door and ran out of it as fast as I could. "Jason! You need to rest!" Celestia shouted after me. "NO! I need to...need...WHERE IS SHE?!" There were many corridors to choose from - Sarah could be down any one of them. I chose a corridor at random and continued down it, ignoring the growing pain in my head. "Come on...come on Sarah...sp-speak to..." I started to feel faint and slowed my run down to a walk. I keeled over and dropped to my knees as my vision started going blurry. "Jason!" Twilight shouted. I felt her hooves on my shoulders as she pushed me onto my backside. "You need to stop. After receiving a blow to the head, you aren't fit to be using so much energy." I took slow, deep breaths. "Then...you need to take me to her. I need to see the birth." I got to my feet. "I can't miss it." "Jason...you can't be there for the birth." I froze at Celestia's words. Surely she didn't mean..."What?" I turned to face her, praying she was joking but all she had was a smile. "What's funny?" "Jason..." She walked up to me and put a wing around my shoulder. "You can't be there for the birth." She used her magic to open the door in front of us. "Because it's already happened." There, in front of me, laying on the bed, was my wife. And what was in her arms broke the emotional floodgates. The room was silent, only for my footsteps to break that silence. Walking across the tiled floor, I approached my wife but never took my eyes off the little bundle that lay in her arms. "Jason." Sarah started. She turned the bundle around to me. "Say hello to your little boy." I couldn't control my emotions as I slowly took the baby from her arms and cradled it. Tears began to stream down my face as I held this beautiful creation. "Hiya mate...h-hello..." A tear dropped onto my hand as I couldn't tear myself away from staring at him. "Look at you, eh?" I leant down and planted a kiss on his tiny forehead. Turning back around, I sat down next to Sarah and leant against her. "Well done." She raised her hand and wiped a few tears from my cheeks. "Look at him...he's just perfect." Celestia, Twilight and Luna all came over to view our newborn child as I held him tight to me. "He's adorable..." Celestia said quietly. "Did you decide on the name?" asked Luna. "Yeah." Sarah answered. "We decided to name him after a friend of ours who recently passed away." Sarah took him from my arms and held him close to her. "Welcome to the world Glen." I noticed that Haywick was the only one of his team still in the room. Getting off the bed, leaving the three Princesses to view the baby, I walked over to Haywick and leant down next to him. "We couldn't have done this without your help. You and your team." "All in a days work." he said with a triumphant smile. Still full of emotion, I put my arms around him and hugged him tight. "Thank you...thank you so much." I released the hug and saw that Haywick's eyes were teary. "You...you are..." He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes with his hoof. "You are most welcome. It was all part of the job." "That and much more." said Celestia who was approaching. "You and your team successfully performed a birth to an alien species with no knowledge of their anatomy and birthing procedures. You just didn't do your job - you proved me right when I said you ARE the best doctor." Haywick's smile couldn't get any bigger. His eyes started to tear up again but before he showed any more emotion, he quickly bolted out of the room and out of sight. "He'll be fine." I said. We both returned to Sarah to see Glen being held by Luna. "He's a cutie isn't he?" "He certainly is." Luna replied, nuzzling the infant. She passed the baby back to Sarah. "I think the best course of action would be for you two...sorry, three, to return home." "What? So soon after giving birth?" I exclaimed. "Surely that's not safe." "I can assure you it is." Celestia replied. "Certain spells were used on Sarah to speed up the recovery process. You will find that she is perfectly fine." "It's true." She lifted up her clothes to show her belly. "See! No excess skin or anything!" "That's incredible." I helped Sarah out of the bed, making sure that Glen was being safely held at all times. "So..." I turned to the three Princesses who were smiling greatly. "Listen. I can't thank you enough for helping us in our time of need. You helped us go through one of the biggest events of our lives." "Is there any way we can repay you?" Sarah asked. "Only one." Twilight replied, earning a look from Celestia and Luna. "Promise to bring him back once in a while for a visit." she asked with a smile. I leant over and gave his face a little stroke with my finger. "I promise. Right honey?" Sarah nodded. "Then we shall bid you farewell. Please take care of your new addition and don't hesitate to contact us if you need help for anything." instructed Luna. The solar and lunar Princesses' horns began to glow as that familiar feeling came back to us. "See you soon." And with a flash of light, we were back in our house. There was only one difference. The storm had finally stopped. The three Princesses continued staring at the point where Jason, Sarah and Glen had just vanished from. Sharing a glance with each other, they all nodded and teleported back to the throne room. "That baby was so cute!" exclaimed a giddy Twilight. "Indeed it was. I do hope they come back soon." added Luna." "..." "What's wrong Cel.." There, stood firm on the steps next to the throne was a unicorn mare and her Pegasus partner. The unicorn was shaking and had an unmistakeable look of rage on her face. "May I help you, my subject?" Celestia said. "Help me?" the mare said quietly. "Help...ME? WHY NOT US?!" she screamed. "Subject! You shall not shout at...wait..." Luna stared at the mare and then gasped loudly. "Oh my...sister, we may have forgotten about something." Celestia focused on the mare and Pegasus until it clicked for her as well. "Summer Breeze...your...ohhh...your wedding." she groaned, holding a hoof to her face. Summer's rage all but subsided as she noticed the Princesses' embarrassment. Besides, it was what she was after anyway. Celestia stepped in front of them and nodded towards Luna and Twilight who took a seat on either side of the couple. "I am most sorry that this happened to you. But I would like to make up for it now. Given that both Luna and Twilight can act as witnesses, I can approve your marriage right now." "But...we want our wedding! Nothing fancy...just a wedding with our families." Summer replied, looking downtrodden. "You didn't let me finish. I can wed you now..." She placed a hoof on Summer's shoulder. "...and pay for an after-wedding party tomorrow. How does that sound?" Summer's mood picked up almost instantaneously. She nodded vigorously, as did her partner, Grid Iron. "Yes! Thank you!" "Then by the power vested in myself and the Equestrian Royal Family, I name Summer Breeze and Grid Iron husband and wife!" *Three Days Later* It was another miserable day in Keswick. Living this far up North, you're sure to get horrible weather at this time of the year. Despite the weather, the rain did supply a rather nice rhythm as it hit the windows. Jason was sat in his armchair, cradling Glen as he quietly snoozed. Jason was close to dropping off as well. "Jason?" Sarah's voice stopped said slumber. "Yeah honey?" "I'm filling out the birth certificate. Erm...what should we put down for 'Location Of Birth'?" "Erm...pass?"