Many months passed by. My belly growing as the baby inside me did.
"The baby is doing great Princess!" The doctor told me and my regular appointment. "Would you like to see the baby?" he asked.
"Could I?!"
"Sure, there's this new machine that lets us see images of babies before they're born to make sure they're healthy."
"THAT'S AMAZING!" said Spike. He had come with me just in case I needed him
The doctor put some clear jelly on my belly and used a weird wand looking thing that was hooked to a monitor. A black and white triangle appeared on the screen and a crude outline of a foal was shown in the middle of the triangle. I could see a tiny horn and little wings on it. I couldn't believe that the image on that screen was of the foal inside me.
"That's it? Said Spike. "That just looks like a blob in a triangle."
"Look at it closer" said the doctor. He pointed out different aspects of the baby so Spike could see it.
"OH! I see it now!" "It looks kind of cute now that it doesn't look as much like a blob anymore."
"Thank you doctor for showing us this!" I said.
"No problem." "Would you like to know if the baby is a girl or boy?" The doctor asked.
"Now how is he supposed to know that!" Spike exclaimed.
The Doctor and I exchanged a look. "I think I'd rather not know." I said.
"OK, some parents like to be surprised."
After the appointment, we went back to the castle.
"Princess, how could the doctor know if the baby is a boy or girl?" Spike asked.
"Well, the same way you know a boy pony from a girl pony."
"By their voice?"
I giggled, "No, not that." I whispered how you could tell in his ear.
"EW! GROSS!" Spike exclaimed.
"Well, that's how they can tell."
Later on I picked out the room that would be my baby's room. I thought about how I should paint it since I didn't know if it would be for a colt or Filly. I decided to paint it to look like the Crystal Empire backdrop. With Shining Armor's cutie mark on all the furniture. I also knew I had to come up with a name for it too.
"Spike, what name should I call the baby?" I asked. Spike had become my closest friend since the tragedy.
"Well Princess, since you don't know if it's a colt or filly, why not name it whenever you see it?"
"That sounds like a good idea Spike."
Time passed on. We waited and waited for to baby to come. Finally the day had come!
"SPIKE! IT'S TIME!"
"REALLY?! I'LL GET EVERYTHING!" He ran around gathering stuff to stay in the hospital then ran out the door.
I sighed as I hobbled towards the door. "Spike! I think you left someone behind !" I shouted.
"Sorry Princess!" Spike said as he rushed back in.
Time passed...Then the doctor was holding my beautiful baby.
"It's a girl! He said as the nurse handed her?
Spike recovering from his faint, looked at her, "She's so cute!" he exclaimed.
She opened her eyes and Spike was the first thing she saw. She blinked then looked at me, then Spike, then went to sleep.
"Aww!" Everypony said in unison.
"Her name?" Asked the nurse. " I need it to fill out the rest of her birth certificate."
I thought for a minute. "Skyla. Her name shall be Skyla."
"Princess Skyla." The nurse said as she wrote down her name on the birth certificate.
After a short stay in the hospital, Skyla and I came home. When we got there, the whole kingdom, the Princesses of Canterlot, Twilight and her friends from ponyville, and of course, Shining and Twilight's parents.
"WELCOME HOME!" Everypony shouted. They all tried to crowd in at once to see her.
Spike took on the offence and yelled "Get back! You're crowding her!" He had become very protective of her since her birth at the hospital and hadn't left either of our sides since then.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came to look at the foul.
"She is so precious!" Celestia said.
"Indeed sister! I wish her well." Luna said.
One by one everypony came to see her.
"Look at my little niece! She's so cute!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Wow, I'm a grand dad! Said Twilight's dad.
"And I a grand mom!" said Twilight's mother.
"We'll come visit as often as we can to spoil our little grand foal!" Twilights mom said.
"Spike, did you want to come home with me after the celebration?" Twilight asked.
"Are you kidding me Twilight? Now that the baby is here, Cadance will need me more than ever!"
"OK, you're right Spike. You sure do like that baby huh?"
"Of course I do! I was the first thing she saw when she was born!" Spike beamed.
"Well I think it's about time to go." "Take good care of Cadance and my niece!"
"Well, duh! Of course I'll take good care of them!"
Once it was evening, Celestia, Luna, Twilight and I, presented Skyla before the whole Empire to introduce her to the world.
"I declare that this foal will be the next ruler of the Crystal Empire!" Celestia sated before all.
"I, as current ruler of the Crystal Empire agree that my daughter will be the next in line for the throne!"
The ceremony finished off with dancing and general celebration until the wee hours of the morning.
Spike and I said our goodbyes to everypony as they went their separate ways. It was just me, Spike, and baby Skyla.
Years had passed. Skyla was now a young Filly. She was at the age that every filly wants to know what their cutie mark could be.
"Momma! When will I get my cutie mark?"
"Someday sweetie!"
"Hey Skyla! I know of some young fillies back in ponyville who once wanted to know what their cutie marks would be, so they went on adventures to find out!" Spike said.
Spike by this point had grown as well. No longer was he the baby dragon that came to help me out all those years ago. Now, he was a young adult dragon. He had decided that he still wanted to live here even though he didn't need to. With Skyla growing older I told him that he didn't need to stay bet he insisted. Even Twilight or Rarity couldn't get him to leave. I could see he treated Skyla like his own young and thus didn't want to leave.
"Tell me about the ponies that wanted to find their cutie marks!" Skyla said with the excitement that only a filly could muster.
"Ok, ok." "They were called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They'd do everything they could think of to get their cutie marks."
"And did they? Did they get their cutie marks?"
" I'm sure they did. I lost track of them years ago."
"Do you at least know what they did to get them?"
"Sorry Skyla, I don't know."
"How come you don't have a cutie mark?"
"Because I'm a dragon and dragons don't get cutie marks, Only ponies."
"Oh! OK. I'm going to go off to be a Cutie Mark Crusader!" Then she galloped off.
"I hope she doesn't get in to too much trouble" I said.
"She'll be fine" Spike said.
Moments later, we heard a piercing scream.
"SKYLA!" Spike and I shouted.
We ran to where we heard the screams, yelling out her name.
All we found was a note.