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// 7: Can't Talk. Kittens. [Slice of Life] [Comedy] 
// Story: Thirty Minutes Shy 
// by Esle Ynopemos 
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((Prompt: An unannounced arrival.))

Nature did not tend to plan things out. Sure, it had its rhythms, and its patterns, and sometimes you could sort of guess what it was up to. But on the whole, nature generally happened when nature happened, and it was left to everyone else to clean up the mess when it did.

Right now, nature was happening in Fluttershy's cottage.

It wasn't entirely unexpected that the stray cat she had brought in a week ago might have kittens. It had been clear when Fluttershy had found her that she was very, very pregnant. But whether those kittens came yesterday or today or next week was entirely up to fate, and fate had chosen the night the weatherponies had scheduled for the biggest storm Ponyville had seen in years.

The wind and rain roared against the little cottage, making the windows rattle in their frames. “Angel bunny, is the water hot yet?” Fluttershy glanced over to the stove.

Angel stuck a paw into the pot to test the temperature. He looked back at her and nodded.

“Good. Can you bring it here, please?”

Angel looked at his tiny paws, and then at the pot that could easily hold ten of him. He raised a quizzical eyebrow at her.

Fluttershy pinched her eyes. “Oh, right. Um, Brock?”

A brown and gray badger shuffled up to the stove, a hot-pad in his mouth so he could safely grab the pot by its handle. While Brock dragged the pot across the floor to her, Angel retrieved a few clean towels from the closet.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said, smiling at both of them. She took stock of her supplies. “Water. Plenty of fresh towels. Sterile gloves. Whatever this thing is.” Fluttershy picked up a vaguely medical instrument that seemed to resemble a pair of pliers. She set them back down and inched away from them.

A strike of lightning lit the place up in a bright flash, and the cat let out a long, pained yowl.

“I've got you, honey, it's okay,” Fluttershy cooed, petting the cat behind the ears. “Just remember to breathe.”

The door swung open. At first Fluttershy thought the wind had blown it off its latch, but it was in fact a force far less predictable than wind.

“Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie cheered, oblivious to the fact she was drenched in icy rainwater. “There's a lightning-counting party at Sugarcube Corner! You've gotta come!”

Fluttershy did not take her eyes off her patient. “I'm sorry, Pinkie, but something else has come up.” She worked to steady the cat's breathing.

Pinkie peered over her shoulder. “Aw, did the kitty eat too much ice cream? Look at how big her tummy is!”

A bead of sweat formed on Fluttershy's brow as she concentrated. “No, Pinkie, she didn't eat too much, she's pr—”

The door swung open again. This time Rainbow Dash stood in the doorway, and she seemed very aware of the fact she was soaked. “Fluttershy, where the hay have you been? I need everypony with wings out there, or this storm is gonna spin off into Trottingham!”

Fluttershy grit her teeth. “I'm sorry, Rainbow, but this can't wait.” Angel mopped her forehead with a washcloth.

Before Rainbow Dash could shut the door, another pony entered the room. “Whoo-ee, that sure is a humdinger out there!” Applejack tipped her hat and a cascade of water fell to the floor. “Pinkie, we need ya back at the party. We can't count the strikes without yer Pinkie-sense tellin' us when they're comin'!”

Fluttershy shut out all the noise and focused solely on the cat. “You're almost there, sweetie,” she told her.

The room was filled with a bright pink flash. Twilight and Rarity appeared, the only two dry ponies in the house. “Fluttershy,” Twilight said, “we need you to settle an argument. Exactly what breed of cat is Opalescence?”

Fluttershy glared at all her friends. “Out!” she shouted. “Everypony that is not currently delivering a litter of newborn kittens, get out!”

There had never been five ponies in all of history that had ever scrambled so quickly out of a cottage into the freezing rain.

It was an hour later when an exhausted Fluttershy, hooves covered in things Rarity was best advised not to identify, allowed them back inside. Pinkie Pie squealed in excitement as Fluttershy introduced them to six tiny mewling kittens.

“Omigosh!” she cried. “I've got to put together six birthday parties!”