Written by: Aurora
Standing in the doorway and narrowing her eyes, Rarity scrutinized her latest creation right down to the minutiae.
It wasn't yet another avant-garde design or fabulous dress which she had fashioned, though. In fact, the challenges posed by these past endeavors now seemed trivial, mere foal's play compared to the enormous responsibility that had been placed upon her shapely shoulders, only minuscule facets of the monumental task she currently faced!
An entire room she had to get perfect this time, in every little detail. She had tackled interior design and decoration before, true, but this... This was just staggering. As had been the cost: the everfree-wooden furniture alone had cost a small fortune. But when the salespony mentioned off-hoof that it had been made by the same renowned master-craftsstallion who had supplied the necessities for the Royal Nursery of the Crystal Empire, how could she have possibly resisted? She had to have it.
After all, her client was only the most important pony in the entire world – to her, at least. And the deadline? Close, and getting closer by the minute! Close, and completely, utterly absolute! Merely thinking about not being entirely finished on time was enough to make the stressed-out fashionista break out in a cold sweat.
Her horn hummed wearily as she strained to work her magic just a little longer, squeezing out the last dregs of mystical energy from her dwindling reserves to telekinetically re-sort an entire wardrobe's worth of miniature outfits – each more adorable than the next – on the basis of fabric, size, practicality, and a plethora of other variables, most of which only Rarity could appreciate. If this kept up it'd be snoutwork within the hour, she knew, but she just couldn't force herself to go to bed and recharge just yet.
Fluttershy ought to be coming home any minute, after all. And what would she say if she saw things in complete disarray like this, with baby-clothes just strewn willy-nilly about the place, not even correctly color-coded yet?!
Well, yes, all right, she would probably say it was all perfectly wonderful and tell her self-tormented marefriend to get some rest. But when had Rarity ever let reality get in the way of her rampant perfectionism?
Her eyelids had started drooping again, but she caught herself just in time. She actually found herself wishing she'd paid more attention when Twilight – equally prone to pulling all-nighters – had tried to teach her that spell that rendered matchsticks completely unsnappable...
Just when she took another sip of coffee, however, the bell affixed to the front door of the Carousel Boutique chimed. The noise was as gentle and delicately beautiful as the pony who had no doubt just quietly slipped in – just in time for Rarity to spew out the muzzleful of hot beverage in a most unladylike and cliche fashion.
Galloping in place in a brief moment of panic and looking around frantically, Rarity soon became a blur of white and purple motion, the Doppler effect making the high pitch of her whinnies and squeals rise and fall to comic effect as she raced to and fro.
Was the furniture all aligned properly? Had none of the stuffed animals fallen over? Did any of her last-nanosecond changes ruin the overall symmetry of the room? Was the ornate crib spotless and were the pleats in the heavy curtains convincingly 'natural?'
“Rarity? Are you in here?”
“NO! I mean, yes, yes!” Giving her frazzled mane the most cursory and rudimentary of once-overs, Rarity had only moments left afterwards to wipe the unsightly, telltale sweat from her brow. “Haha! Of course I am; where else would I be, darling?”
This was it, the moment suprême.
But still the door did not swing open. “May I come in now?” the muffled voice of Fluttershy asked from behind the beautifully-painted wood. ”Or, um, would you like me to wait another twenty-four hours?”
”No no, do come in, my dear. Just, erm, just putting on the finishing touches, you know how it is...”
“A-are you sure? Because last time–”
Rarity winced. She remembered; the startled screams going back and forth, the way she had hastily airlifted Fluttershy out again, the hyperventilating...
“That was, ah, different. You caught me at a bad time.”
“Oh, okay then...”
The timid pony gingerly pushed the door open with a hoof and peered inside. The wide-eyed look of wonder in her eyes was so full of delight and quiet admiration that even Rarity couldn't have misconstrued it for anything else.
“Oh my, Rarity!” Fluttershy gasped. “This is, this is wonderful! You really outdid yourself.”
Racing over, she clumsily hugged her tired but proud marefriend.
She still wasn't quite used to her tummy getting in the way so much...
“Teehee, you're really starting to show, my darling,” a fawning Rarity tenderly teased her.
Fluttershy giggled and nodded, sitting down on her haunches to fondly rub a hoof over her distended and noticeably pregnant belly. The two expectant mothers shared a look of untold bliss, followed by a longing kiss.
But then Fluttershy remembered why she had hurried over, and her expression inexplicably darkened.
“I just got back from Nurse Redheart's office,” she began, picking and choosing her words with the kind of delicate care that tended to make the little hairs of Rarity's withers stand up.
“Yes, and...?”
“Well, it's just... This is all so very, very beautiful, but, um...”
“But?”
Pausing again, Fluttershy looked around the meticulously-designed and thoroughly-stocked nursery, all in subtle shades of pink and white and riddled with little hearts, from the myriad hoof-sewn quilts and blankets to the massive curtains and intricate canopy. She glanced at the dresser, stuffed to the gills with tiny little dresses and bonnets, and then to the collection of beautiful dolls and pink pacifiers Rarity had (somewhat prematurely) amassed.
She sighed.
“WELL?!” Rarity cried, a keen note of hysteria to her voice. “Is she okay? Tell me our little filly is okay!”
Desperate, trembling hooves clutched Fluttershy's cringing shoulders.
The pressured pegasus only managed a nerve-wracked, strangled little squeak, wherein only those most intimate with her might have discovered some semblance of language.
“What-what-what...? What was that?” Rarity's mouth hung open, and she swayed unsteadily on her hooves.
“S-she's not – you see, the nurse had Twilight do another ultrasound spell, and...”
Fluttershy took the deepest breath she'd yet taken.
“Oh, Rarity... they must've just missed it the first time around...”
“Missed... it...?” the monotonous-sounding unicorn repeated incredulously. “Buh-buh-buh-but...”
“It's a colt... We're having a little colt.”
There. She said it.
“Oh, I see,” Rarity said, nodding and seeming quite relieved–
–and then promptly fainted.