//------------------------------// // The Birthday (Chapter One) // Story: A Hopeful Melody // by deerstunt //------------------------------// Chapter One It was midnight in Canterlot, the streets were quiet and the sky was clear. The ponies of the city were quickly awoken by the sound of hooves running through the streets, the screams of the soon to be mother echoing out. The wooden carriage was occupied by a dark brown stallion with a dark orange mane named Carnelian Melody, and a bald grey mare named Majestic Melody. The carriage was being pulled by four white stallions rushing to the hospital to give birth to a filly. Once they made it, they rushed to the back of the carriage and slowly carried Majestic into the hospital while Carnelian stood close by to make sure his wife knows he is there for her. They down the corridors of the hospital into a room, but a nurse stopped Carnelian and told him to stay out for health reasons. Carnelian quickly snapped! "Are you nuts? Don't you see I am the father of that child and the husband of that mare?" said Carnelian with frustration. "We understand who you are and we do apologize but you have to stay out here until it is safe for the child," said the nurse calmly. He sighs and slowly walks to a sitting pad and waits with worry. He tries to calm himself but he can not because of worrying how things may be. Carnelian's mother died in childbirth and he doesn't want to lose her. Majestic had a miscarry previously and he doesn't want to lose another child. He sat and prayed to Celestia, for safe guidance. He can't help but worry, but he tries to get rest so he lies his head on the side wall and waits for the news. Hours later, the nurses woke Carnelian up and Carnelian stood up in a hurry to hear the nurses giving him the okays to go see his wife. He starts to walk to the doors that he was once stopped at. Pushing them open he sees a long hallway with no other hallways connected to it and everything was so clean. The nurses started to guide him to the room which held his family. The nurses left him at the door and continued down the hallway to perform their duties. Carnelian stood outside the door biting his right hoof and hoping for the best but expecting the worst. He pushed the door open to see his wife holding a gray filly. He smiled with the dumbest look on his face he walks over to the bedside and gently picks the filly up. A tear rolls down his face while he held the little filly. Majestic looked at Carnelian with a smile and said "What are you going to name her?" "I don't know, I never thought about it. I was more worried that she wouldn't be okay." Carnelian replied still smiling widely. "How about Octavia?" Majestic questioned. "Octavia Melody is a beautiful name!" Carnelian answered giving a smile of approval "Hello Octavia, it's me daddy." The doctor strolls in to notice the family's love, he smiled and laughed. He brought in the filly carriage to take the her for medical treatment, such as shots and to test if the filly has any diseases. The father puts their newborn in the carriage and watched the doctor walk out with the child. He looks back at Majestic, and she starts to cry. Carnelian understood why she was crying and held her, she fell asleep minutes later. The nurse then walked in shortly after Majestic was asleep. The nurse started to question Carnelian. "If you don't mind me asking, why was she crying? This is a good night for her," asked the nurse with a worried look. Carnelian looks at the nurse with a confused face and replies,"I am shocked you don't know, as you can see by her head, she has no mane." Carnelian answered. The nurse nodded her head and letting him continue. "When she was giving birth to our first child, she gained a terminal illness that wasn't contagious. The doctor said there is no real reason why she was exposed to the condition," Carnelian finished. Talking about his wife's condition always made me uneasy. The nurse looked at Carnelian and started to apologize as she started to walk out of the room with a shocked but depressed expression on her face. Carnelian rubbed Majestic's head while she slept, to help her sleep. She needed all the rest she could get from what she just went through. The doctor came back in to let Carnelian know that if he wanted to continue to stay in the hospital, he must go to the waiting room. Carnelian was very tired and was slowly walking back to the waiting room to get some rest. Once he got there and sat back down, the nurses provided him with a meal, a blanket, and a pillow for the night. He went to sleep to wait for morning to come. A dream came to Carnelian in the middle of the night, he was sitting in the middle of the street, the sun was rising and he heard the sounds of screams and anger all around him. As they got louder, Carnelian stood his ground, watching his home. The light of the torches got brighter from both ends of the street, he still sat and watched the house. The mob came and completely ignored him and started to throw the torches toward his house. Carnelian still sitting and watching his home burn, he heard the sounds of his wife screaming and Octavia at the window looking at Carnelian, then he couldn't look anymore. Suddenly Carnelian woke up with a sudden shock and a cold sweat just to notice it was just a dream. He folded his blanket and put his pillow on top of the blanket and set it to the side. As he was thinking about his dream, the first thing he thought of was Octavia, and started to walk to the nursery to see his child. He looked through the window to see his child right up front. The nurses start to do tests on her to check everything is good. He couldn't walk away from the window, so he took his front hooves and put them on the window and tried to get Octavia too look at him. She couldn't anyways because she couldn't open her eyes. The nurses close the blinds and the doctor started to walk out down the other end of the hallway. "I'm guessing you are wanting to hear the news about your daughter?" the doctor said with a positive attitude. "Yes, tell me everything!" Carnelian answered with excitement. "Octavia is good and healthy, she will be ready to go home with you later today," the doctor stated. Carnelian smiled with joy and started to run toward Majestic's room. He opened up the door to find, a new patient lying in the bed where she had been. Carnelian was very confused so he turned around to ask a nurse or a doctor for help or guidance. He found a nurse and questioned. "Where is the pony that was in this room last night?" asked Carnelian with a concerned tone. "She was moved to the recovery and rehabilitation center down stairs. She's in a very bad condition and too ill to go home today and will be staying with us for another week or so," the nurse replied calmly. Carnelian started to walk down the stairs and headed to the front desk to get more information where Majestic was located at. "I'm looking for Majestic Melody, what room is she located in?" he questioned. "Two-Eighty-Three, right down this hall here," the front desk pony replied pointing it out. He started to walk down the hallway, to hear nothing but the quietness from any of the rooms. He walked down the hallway counting the numbers on the doors. 279...281...283, he knocked on the door and opened it with a gentle push continuing into the room to see his wife who was lying on a bed having a conversation with the mare next to her in the room. He saw them laughing and enjoying themselves. Carnelian was happy to see his wife was okay. He came into the room to hug and kiss his wife and to be properly introduced to Majestic's new friend. "This must be your husband?" the mare questioned. "Oh yes, here let me introduce you Carnelian. This is Fairy Scratch," Majestic said with a smile. "Pleased to meet you Fairy, so what are you mares talking about?" Carnelian asked. "Oh, I was telling Fairy about our new filly Octavia," said Majestic smiling. Majestic turned back to Fairy "Do you have a filly now?" Majestic asked curiously. "Oh yes, her name is Vinyl. She was born days ago but she was ill and wasn't able to leave the nursery for awhile, so they sent me down here until then. From what I was told, she is going to be healthier than ever after they get done with her," Fairy answered. "Was she the unicorn with the white mane and short blue hair?" Carnelian asked. "Yes, you've seen her?" Fairy replied. "Yeah, she was next to our filly in the nursery and she looked really happy to be around so many fillies," said Carnelian with a smile. They continued to talk about their fillies and their life events, joking around and laughing for hours to come. Then the doctor walked in to talk to Fairy. "Your child will be perfectly fine and will be ready to go home, so you will be checking out of the hospital today," the doctor said. Fairy, Carnelian and Majestic all smiled to hear the good news. Fairy got up off of her bed and into a wheelchair, before leaving she spoke to Majestic. "Try to get me after you get out of here and we can have a play date with our fillies," said Fairy smiling. Majestic nodded her head with a smile of agreement and she silently laid her head down on the bed while Fairy was rolled out of the room with the doctor. Carnelian smiled and said "Looks like Octavia is going to have a friend to grow up with now." Majestic smiled and kissed Carnelian then laid back down to get some more rest. Carnelian sat down on a chair in the room and waited patiently while she slept.