TiM: A life Lived for Others

by Twidashforever

Is a life well Lived

The sun was shining brightly on Rainbow’s fur, she loved waking up to these types of mornings, as the warmth of Celestia’s sun on her fur was like a small gift from above. However, no amount of warmth could compete with the feeling she got from the mare sleeping peacefully next to her. Her wife, Twilight Sparkle, even after all these years, just looking at that face made Rainbow’s day. She would spend many such mornings just staring at her, wondering how she had gotten so lucky. Watching quietly, Rainbow noticed Twilight’s expression change with her dream. Twilight would never admit it but Rainbow knew just who she was dreaming of, and what they were doing in those dreams. That thought made her smile. It was going to be a wonderful day.

“Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom…”

Correction… It WAS going to be a wonderful day.

“Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom…”

Rainbow pretended to still be asleep, it never worked, but nopony could fault her for trying.

A soft voice whispered in her ear. “She's not going to stop you know.”

“I can pretend, can’t I?”

“You can try…”

“MOM, MOM, MOM…”

The voice was getting louder.

“MOM, MOM, MOM…”

She could not take it anymore, Rainbow sharply sit up. “WHAT?! What do you want, AURORA?!”

“Can I have a cookie?”

“… A cookie? Yeah, go ahead.”

“Thanks mom!” In a blur, Little Aurora Flash, the dark blue pegasus was gone, leaving a colorful trail in her wake as she flew down the stairs after her treat. Rainbow lay down and screamed bloody murder into her pillow.

“You shouldn’t have done that you know.”

“Yes Twi, I know. God that girl can play me a like a fiddle, can’t she?”

“Well, you are a cute fiddle, come here.”

Twilight reached out a hoof and wrapped it tightly around her wife, squeezing Rainbow to her chest like a big stuffed teddy bear.

“At least I'll get a few minutes with my favorite alicorn before we have to get up.”

“Actually, now that you are awake, I was hoping we could get a jump start on my lessons.”

Twilight rolled over and looked at her son; Dayspring Gleam was sitting patiently at her side of the bed, quietly waiting for his mother’s response, the little light-purple unicorn was always so endearing in the morning.

“Of course Dayspring, but after breakfast, let me take a shower first and we'll get started.”

Rainbow cursed the Gods themselves, they seemed to be teasing her today. Tempting her with small glances at the time she should have been able to spend with Twilight. As Dayspring happily left the two alone, Twilight looked over and noticed the adorable pout on her wife’s face. “C'mon Rainbow, let’s get started, tell you what, I'll get the shower started and you can come join me when you're ready.” Twilight gave Rainbow her best ‘you know what that means’, look.

Rainbow’s bad mood never stood a chance. Yes, the day did not start as she would have liked but she could not resist that look for all the bits in Equestria. “Alright give me a minute to get up and I will meet you in there.”

Twilight got up and started making her way to the bathroom; with a casual look back, she spoke. “Don’t make me wait too long.” and walked out the door.

Rainbow sighed aloud; she loved that mare more than life itself, but some days she wished that Twilight did not have such power over her. It seemed that no matter what mood she was in, Twilight was able to get exactly what she wanted every bucking time. Rainbow sit up and stretched her golden wings. Her wingspan easily extended past the bed, almost touching both sides of the room. She considered this situation carefully before coming to the only logical conclusion.

"WORTH IT!” With a beat of her wings, she zoomed out the door, following her wife into their extra-large shower.

…………………………………

“Aurora, mother said you could have one cookie, not the whole jar.” Dayspring spoke matter-of-factly as Aurora sit on top of the fridge, stuffing her whole face in the cookie jar.

“What, did you record it or something?” She said through a mouthful of cookie crumbs.

“Well, now that you mention it.” With a flick of his horn, a magical recording played on the wall, replaying the events where Aurora had asked for ‘A’ cookie and Rainbow had agreed.

Aurora just rolled her eyes, ‘of course he would.’ She thought. “So what, are you going to tattle on me?”

Dayspring had his muzzle back in the book at the desk, “There will be no need, you will tattle on you.”

“What does that mean?”

He glanced up at his sister. “Really? You don't remember last week, or the week before that, or even the month before that. You will sit there, finishing that entire jar of cookies. Then assuming you do not get a stomachache, you will be unable to finish breakfast. Either way, mother will know.”

“Just because that happened the last three…”

“Twelve.”

“Twelve times, does not mean it will happen this time.”

Dayspring gave his sister one last ‘are you serious?’ look and went back to his book. For her part, Aurora took that as a win. Day had stopped arguing, so that means he quit, that made her the de facto winner! She could go back to eating all the cookies she wanted.

………………………

To say that Rainbow had enjoyed the shower was an understatement. That refreshed her in several different ways. Twilight and Rainbow had been married for over six years now and it amazed Rainbow how every time still felt like the first. Every time they kissed, still felt like the one they shared under the Crystal Palace. As Twilight and she made their way down the stairs, Rainbow reflected that life could not get any better than this.

Blechhh!!

Well, maybe there was some room for improvement. A glance under her wing confirmed Rainbow’s suspension of the look Twilight was giving her; it was Twilight’s patented ‘I told you so’ look, which seemed to be a daily occurrence in this house.

“I know, I know.” Rainbow said. The pair made their way into the kitchen to find quite a mess waiting for them. Sitting on top of the refrigerator, Aurora had puked all the way down it. Covering herself, the fridge doors, and a large amount of the floor with half-digested cookie crumbs.

Rainbow looked sheepishly at her wife. “I’ll give her a bath?”

“Oh no, I will clean her up. YOU clean up this mess.” Using her magic, Twilight levitated her daughter off the fridge and the two made their way into the downstairs bathroom. Rainbow stared at the largest mess she had seen in a while. ’I should have known that wouldn’t work.’ She proceeded to grab the mop and bucket from the closet.

Dayspring Gleam did not look up from his book as his mother started cleaning the room, “I tried to tell her.” He said in his defence.

Rainbow sighed; he really was Twilight’s kid. “Well next time, TRY HARDER.”

……………………………

Twilight groaned as she took her daughter into the bathroom. With a casual flick of her horn, the water turned on and the tub began filling up. Placing her daughter on the toilet, she wet a towel and began wiping the cookie crumbs from her stomach, all the while listening to Aurora's complaining. “Oh, my stomach, I think I'm done for this time!”

“Somehow I think you will pull through, just like last time, the time before that, and the time before that.”

“But mom, it hurtsss soooo muchhhh!”

“How many cookies did you eat?"

“I don’t know... all of them.”

Twilight looked at her daughter, she was flabbergasted at that. "All of them! We just restocked that jar with four bags.”

“They were sooo good going down.”

“I bet, not so much coming up though, huh?”

With that thought in her head, Aurora began barfing again. Reacting quickly, Twilight levitated the trash bucket to her just in time to avoid yet another mess.

Twilight patted her daughter’s back as the last of it finally came up. “C'mon, let’s get you in the bath.”

“I don’t feel good.”

“I know honey, I know. However, it will pass. I tell you what. Later today let’s go over and see Auntie Rarity and Uncle Spike. How does that sound?”

Aurora looked up at her mom and smiled; leftover cookie crumbs covered her mouth. Twilight quickly wiped them off and levitated her daughter into the tub. ‘At least she is quick to recover; now I have to break the news to Dayspring. He's not going to be happy about this.’

…………………………………

Rainbow glared angrily at her son. He had been sitting there reading this entire time while she was forced to clean up his sister’s mess, “You could help to, you know.”

“Mother said YOU were to clean it up.”

“What, did you record it or something?”

Dayspring lifted his head and went to replay the recording of Twilight’s words. Rainbow recognized what he was about to do and quickly interrupted.

“You play that back and I'll ground you outside for a month, with NO books.”

Dayspring stared up in horror at Rainbow. “But…”

“No buts!”

He quickly stuck his nose back in the book he was reading. ‘I swear if it was not for our matching manes and the fact that I gave birth to him, I would say he was somepony else’s kid.’ Just then, she noticed the cover of the book that had his attention, 'Daring Do, and the quest for the Sapphire Stone.'

‘Maybe we do have more in common than I thought.’

As soon as Rainbow had finished cleaning up the kitchen she heard two sounds, one of which chilled her to her very bones. The first was the sound of a little pegasus filly flying around the kitchen. She liked that sound, it meant Aurora was happy, and if Aurora was happy, everypony else could be happy. The sound that upset her so was the sound of water droplets hitting every surface in the kitchen. Rainbow soon found her back soaking wet. Looking around, Rainbow saw that just about everything was getting wet, save for a young unicorn that had cast a magic shield around himself and his book.

“Looks like you missed a spot, Rainbow.” Twilight said teasingly.

“Very funny, Twi. I take it the bath went well.”

“Cheered her right up! A little too much by the looks of it. I do have to say, that was the easiest bath I've given her in a while, maybe we should start overloading her on cookies before night.”

“No.”

Rainbow was never sure when Twilight was being serious or when she was joking, as such; she defaulted to always assuming Twilight was not joking. After walking in on a few experiments Twilight was conducting on the twins, she learned that lesson. Rainbow never believed they were in any real danger but she drew the line at experimentation.

“I take it she would not wait around for you to dry her off.”

“Well, she is YOUR daughter after all.”

Twilight walked over and kissed Rainbow on the lips, their connection earned an “ewe” from the young pegasus who had stopped flying and sit next to her brother. Twilight and Rainbow broke off and smiled at each other, with a nod from Rainbow, Twilight turned to the little filly.

“Oh that's disgusting, huh?”

Aurora’s Eyes went wide, fear suddenly overpowering every emotion she had. “Oh no...”

She tried to get out of there, she tried anyway. As soon as her little flank left the chair, Twilight had her in a magic hold and brought her in between her two loving parents. Both of which started planting kisses all up and down her face.

“DAY SAVE ME!!!” Aurora screamed.

“Leave me out of this.”

“DAY SAVE ME, I AM YOUR SISTER FOR CELESTIA’S SAKE!”

“Don’t get me involved.”

“Oh, I think it's too late for that.”

Dayspring looked up in horror at Twilight, as his mom easily broke his strongest shield and levitated her son over to them. Forcing him to share his sister’s fate.

Several minutes later the four broke apart; several times the little ones were able to squirm away from their parents. Twilight soon teleported them back, not letting them get away from the tickle torture. Having exhausted all their energy, Twilight, Rainbow, Dayspring, and Aurora all lay in a big pile, panting heavily on the freshly mopped floor. Their energy may have been spent, but they all had big smiles on their faces. Unsurprising it was Rainbow who broke the silence, well more precisely; it was Rainbow’s stomach that broke the silence.

“Hungry, Rainbow?”

“I could eat.”

“How about you, Dayspring?”

“That would be nice mother.”

“Anything you want in particular.”

“WAFFLES!!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, she honestly did not know why she even asked, it was his favorite food after all.

Aurora jumped up on Rainbow stomach, soliciting an ‘ump’ from her mom, “Hey, what about me?”

Rainbow grabbed her and started rubbing her purple, blue, and orange mane, “Don’t you think you had enough to eat?”

“But I'm hungry!”

“Then you can have some fruit.”

“I want waffles!”

“No.”

“But…”

“No buts Aurora, you can have fruit and that’s it.”

“Fine…”

Rainbow reflected, ‘Shes cute when she gets all pouty like that.’

Twilight walked over and gave her wife a kiss on the forehead. She was proud of Rainbow for standing up to the little firecracker, even if she knew Rainbow would eventually lose. ‘I would say five minutes before she gives in. I'll go ahead and make an extra plate.’

Twilight was very impressed. It took Rainbow six whole minutes to finally cave to the puppy dog eyes Aurora had been giving her the entire time at breakfast. “Fine, you can have some waffles, but don’t make me regret it.”

Twilight floated a ready-made plate over to their daughter, who took it and began chowing down in earnest. Rainbow and her wife had a whole conversation through looks alone.

‘Really, you had a plate ready to go?'

'I knew you would cave.'

'How did you know I would cave?'

‘You always cave.’

‘No I don’t.’

‘Rainbow, look at your daughter’s face and tell me that again.’

Rainbow glanced over to Aurora’s face and saw the look of pure joy as she eagerly devoured her stack of waffles. Dash smiled before turning back to Twilight.

‘Celestia I'm a softy, aren't I.’

‘I wouldn’t have you any other way.’

‘I love you Twi.’

‘I love you Rainbow.’

After finishing her stack of waffles Aurora looked up and saw the lovey dovey looks her moms were giving each other, she knew where this would lead and had to act fast. “Hey Dayspring, mom said we're going over to Auntie Rarity's today!” She smiled as she just dropped her ace in the hole.

A look of fear crossed Twilight’s face; she had forgotten to tell Dayspring that. She slowly glanced over to her son. As Twilight expected, the tears were already starting to fall from his eyes, as he gave her the look of someone utterly betrayed by one he loved. “But…but…but…” He could not manage to finish the sentence between sobs that were building up in his throat.

One look at Rainbow told Aurora that ‘that’ might have been a step too far. “Uh oh.” She booked it out of the room flying as fast as her little wings could take her; Rainbow took off, hot on her hooves.

Twilight walked over and picked up her son, hugging him tightly to her chest. “Shh, it will be ok…”

“No it won’t, this ruined everything!!!”

He started balling in earnest, Twilight could do nothing more for him at this point then hug him tightly, trying to make sure he knew the world would not come to an end over this slight change in plains. After a few minutes, she felt he was ready to face it head on.

“You ok now, Day?”

“No…”

“You want my help to fix it.”

“No… Yes…”

“Ok, grab your list; and I'll help you fix it.”

Dayspring reached out with his magic and grabbed his checklist for the day. It covered every eventuality of the day’s events. Allowing time for family bonding, foods fights and even tickle fights. It was an incredibly diverse schedule, that allowed for swaps, changes, and substitutions. However, there was no room as it currently stood for extended family. Twilight sighed, this little colt liked to plan everything in his life, as long it was on his checklist anything could happen. Try to deviate without giving him written notice signed in triplicate several days in advance and….

Reflecting on it made Twilight realize that she was still mad at Rainbow for how LONG she laughed when Twilight brought up her concern about it.

Twilight looked over the checklist one more time, it was very impressive. “What about this ‘CMCINC’”

“NO! I can’t remove that!”

“Why, what is it?”

“It’s a secret.”

“You never keep secrets from me.”

“Sorry, pinkie promised.”

Twilight sighed, something about it seemed familiar, and she had a funny feeling that, whatever is was, they would be dealing with the fallout later. However, nopony breaks a pinkie promise.

“How about this, we move your study session to nine tonight, and you can take your bath tomorrow morning?”

“I don’t know, it’s hard for me to fall asleep without my bath.”

“I tell you what; I'll give you some Apple Family cider to help you fall asleep.”

“Thanks mother!” Dayspring yelled.

Dayspring embraced his mom, Twilight was relieved that she had found a way out of this situation. Of course, now she had another problem. Convincing Rainbow to part with some of her extra cider. Their hug was soon interrupted by a loud crash coming from upstairs. “What the hay was that?” Placing her son down, Twilight went to investigate what the other two mares in the house were doing upstairs.

…………………

Aurora flew for her life, she was not exactly sure what Rainbow would do when she caught her but the longer she put it off, the longer she knew she would stay alive. She may not know what the punishment would be but she knew the crime. ‘Never upset your brothers schedule.’ Twilight handled any last minute schedule changes personally for Dayspring; Nopony else was allowed to do that. Aurora flew past a floor lamp at breakneck speed, knocking it over in the process and earning a loud ‘Ow’ from her pursuer. Dash may have been faster, but in this house, maneuverability had the advantage, and nopony had moves like Aurora. Not in the air at least.

Still, that would only get her so far. Rainbow was fast, the fastest pony alive and she had the metals to prove it. They actually had to ban her for life from racing, changing the rules so that princesses could only watch. Rainbow was not bitter about it. After winning the five hundred mile dash in ten seconds, she was going to retire anyway, what was the point if it was not a challenge?

Rainbow could have easily caught Aurora; but what would have been the fun in that? Aurora had some moves to her, and Rainbow wanted to see just how good the little pegasus could fly. She was impressive, very, very impressive. Aurora stayed low to the ground. She ducked and dodged around all sorts of obstacles. She knew Rainbow was faster but she also knew that with bigger wings Rainbow would not be very maneuverable in the house. The little filly had all the natural talent of Rainbow and more. Had Rainbow not been so mad at her she would have let Aurora escape, giving her that small victory. Dash had gotten so enamored watching her daughter’s skills she failed to notice that Aurora had knocked over a lamp. One that came crashing down on her head.

“Oww!!”

Aurora turned, not used to hearing her mom in pain. “Mom, are you alight?”

“Gotcha!”

Rainbow captured the little filly in her hooves, rustling her hair and messing up her already messed up mane.

“Hey! No fair!”

“No Fair? You dropped a lamp on my head!”

“You were going to kill me!”

Rainbow gave her daughter a look she knew all too well.

“Ok maybe not kill, but you were chasing me!”

“After what you did to your brother, and mom, you deserve a lot more then that young lady.”

“It’s not my fault he's like that.”

Rainbow resumed the look; Aurora ducked down in Rainbow’s hooves. “Aurora Flash…”

Aurora knew she just pushed all the wrong buttons with that comment.

“I’m sorry.”

“What exactly are you sorry for?”

“I’m sorry I said that about Day, I didn’t mean it; he can’t control how he is, and I'm sorry about what I did to him and mommy.” Her eyes started puffing up. “ They hate me now, don’t they… do you hate me.” Tears started falling from her eyes.

“Shh… I could never hate my little princess, and neither could they. We all love you, Aurora, always remember that.”

“Are you sure they don’t hate me… you don’t hate me even a little.”

“Not even a little, we all love you.”

“I love you too, mommy.”

“Thank you Aurora, you have no idea how much joy you have brought into our lives.”

As the two hugged each other, Twilight slowly backtracked down the stairs, not wanting to interrupt this rare moment of bonding between the two mares she so loved.

“Now Aurora, I may have forgiven you, but you still have to apologize to Twilight, and Dayspring.”

“Ok, I will, but can we stay like this for a few more minutes.”

“We can stay like this for as long as you want, my beloved.”

Five minutes later, the two made their way downstairs, Aurora ran up to Dayspring and immediately started to apologize; Rainbow approached Twilight.

“I talked some sense into her, told you I don’t always cave.”

Twilight smiled and hugged her wife. ‘Ya you big softy, I saw what you two were doing up there.’ She did not say it, that would ruin the mood, and besides, she wanted to keep that memory just the way it was.

“Did you get Dayspring taken care of?”

“Sort of, he’s good to go but there is something I promised we would give him.”

“Name it.”

“Some of your Apple Family Cider.”

“Not that.”

“Rainbow…”

“Twilight…”

“Tell you what, you do this for me and tonight I will do something special for you.”

“Like what?”

“Na ah, you have to make the promise first.”

“So you want me, Rainbow Dash, to part with the last reserves of my cider, for a favor that you, Twilight Sparkle, will do later tonight. and you won't even tell me what that is going to be.”

“Yep.”

“Why do I feel like the dumbest mare in all of Equestria?”

“I think you mean the luckiest.”

“You know what; I think you might be right.”

The two embraced in a long, drawn out, kiss.

“Hey mom, were going to go play for a little bit, ok by!”

Aurora and Dayspring both tried to run up stairs. They were soon stopped by Rainbow voice.

“AURORA! GET BACK HERE!”

Aurora stopped at the bottom of the steps, she knew she was in trouble, but, yet again, did not fully understand why. She turned around and slowly made her way back to her parents.

“Yes…”

“Didn’t you forget something, young lady?”

“I apologized to Day!”

“She did I swear!” Dayspring jumped to his sister’s defense, he did not like ponies getting in trouble for something they did not deserve and would often stick up for the ones that he saw fall into that category. Needless to say, it was a rare event to see him standing up for his sister.

“Indeed you did and I'm proud of you for that, however, he was not the only pony you needed to apologize to, is he?

Realization dawned on the young pegasus’s face as she stared up at Twilight, “OHHH…” Aurora ran up and gave her mom a big hug. “I'm sorry mommy. I didn't mean it.”

Twilight reached a hoof around her daughter and hugged her back. “It’s ok Aurora, just try and think about the consequences of what you say from now on, for me, ok?”

“Ok mommy. I’ll try, for you.”

“That’s all I can ask.” Twilight kissed her daughter on the top of her head. “Now you and your brother go play. I'll be down here if you need me. We'll head over to Rarity’s for lunch, sound good?”

Aurora looked over at Rainbow, “What will you do, mom?”

Rainbow just smiled back at her daughter. “I have a few errands to run in town, I'll be back before lunch. Why, will you miss me?”

“Always.”

Rainbow and Twilight just giggled at each other with that comment.

“Now run along and go play, your brother is waiting for you.”

Aurora gave Twilight one last squeeze before flying up stairs; Dayspring was hot on her hooves.

Rainbow walked over and kissed Twilight on the cheek. “Thank you.”

Twilight blushed a little, “for what?”

“For making me the luckiest mare in Equestria, I can never repay you enough for all of this. Because of you, I'm still alive, you gave me back my life, a life worth living, one filled with such bliss and happiness, and a family! It's been six years and I still cannot believe that! I love you Twilight Sparkle. I know I say it every single day but it will never be enough. I could say it every second of every day for the rest of my life and it would still never be enough. So, thank you.”

Twilight knocked her wife on her back, and stood over her form. “Rainbow, you truly have become a big softy, haven’t you?”

“For you Twi, I'll be anything you want me to be.”

Twilight lay on top of the mare she so loved and kissed her passionately, their lips parted to allow their tongues to finish what their mouths started.

Aurora stared at her parents from the top of the steps. Sure, she made a big show of not liking the lovey dovey stuff, but she loved her parents. Their love for each other was an inspiration to the young pegasus. Secretly, she loved the lovey dovey stuff, as long as nopony else found out that is.

“Aurora, you coming?”

“Coming Day!” She took off down the hallway, not wanting Dayspring to find out just what she was looking at.

…………………

“Alright you know the game plan for tonight, right?”

“For the hundredth time Day, Yes!”

“Remember what they told us, tell no one!”

Aurora sighed, few ponies knew this side of her brother; most just saw him as a shy geeky unicorn with a natural affinity for magic. Aurora knew better. Yes, he was a bit obsessive, yes, he enjoyed reading and studying far too much, but he was dedicated. His dedication was a little scary at times, this being one of those times.

“I still don’t feel right about keeping this from our moms.”

“What, are you going to break a pinky promise?”

Aurora shuddered inside, she had come close one time to breaking a pinky promise, that day would live in infamy in her little mind for the rest of her life. Pinkie was the funniest adult she knew, but she could be SCARY at times too. “No, of course not…”

“Then we stick to the list.”

‘You and your lists,’ Aurora just nodded, as Day started to double check the checklist he needed to create the checklist for tonight’s agenda, yet again.

………………

After a few minutes, Twilight finally let her wife get up, she did not want to but there was a lot still to do. Besides, Rainbow did have a few errands to run. “Don’t forget to pick up the milk.”

“Yeah, it’s on the list Twi.”

“So, it was on the list last time too and you still forgot.”

“One time!”

“Six times.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I keep telling you to double check the checklist before coming home.”

“You know I hate checklists.”

“Yeah, but you love me.”

“I do.”

They kissed one last time before Rainbow headed out the door. Bags over her flank and a very big scroll sticking out from one side.

“Be back later kids, be good!” Rainbow shouted up the stairs.

“We will!”

‘Two bit says they are in trouble by the time I get back.’ Rainbow smiled as she headed out the door. ‘This truly is a great life.’

Twilight called out a quick “Love you” before Rainbow shut the door behind her, it was soon followed up by a muffled, “Love you too, Twi!” Twilight sighed as her wife left for the market; she turned and noticed the sorry state the living room was in. It was times like this she was grateful for moving out of the tree-castle. She missed it, but that was no place to raise two growing foals. She could only imagine the destruction these two would cause there.

“Well, it’s not going to clean itself.”

Twilight got to work, trying to improve upon the organized chaos of the house before Rainbow got back.

…………………

Rainbow took her time shopping; sure, she missed Twilight when they were apart. Yet, she knew only housework awaited her should she finish too soon. Besides, she needed some time to stretch her wings and let loose. Briefly, she considered giving herself a real workout. Yet the restraining order preventing her from doing such was still fresh in her memory, Ok, so she caused a little destruction, it was just a few million bits worth. What was the big deal? Yes, maybe five sonic rainbooms over Manehattan might have been pushing it. However, it made Aurora happy. Seeing the huge smile on that little filly's face was worth a billion bits to Rainbow.

Sadly, Celestia disagreed; she had delivered the restraining order to Rainbow herself. Informing the pegasus that within Equestria airspace, she was not to exceed three sonic rainbooms without a life threatening reason, and despite Rainbows stringent objection to the contrary; the opportunity to see Aurora smile was NOT a life threatening reason.

Rainbow did not usually disagree with the princess, however, on this she most certainly did. She had offered to send everypony in Manehattan a photo showing them that it was indeed worth it. Celestia declined the offer; however, she did take two. One for herself and Luna. Rainbow smiled at that, she knew that smile was worth more than a few bits in damages. Twilight had been pissed after she got word of the destruction, until she saw that photo, if it could cause Twilight to forgive her, then it was definitely worth it.

Flying around Ponyville, Rainbow remarked at how much the town had changed; the addition of three new members of Royally to Ponyville's roster had caused quite the growth in population. Miraculously, the feel of the town had stayed the same. Yes, it had increased in size, but it still felt like Ponyville. The townsfolk welcomed everypony with open hooves. Parties were still a weekly occurrence and everypony still knew everypony else. If Rainbow had to identify a cause. She would first say it was Twilight’s meticulous planning, (She was always first on every one of Rainbow’s lists) then she would say it was Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie only seemed to get happier as time went on. First, it was the birth of Rarity and Spikes's little one, then the coming of Aurora and Dayspring. If it were possible to die from excitement, there was no doubt in Rainbow’s mind Pinkie would have been six feet under years ago. Not that Rainbow would ever wish such a fate on the pink mare, if it were not for her and Fluttershy, Rainbow doubted she and Twilight would have made it this far. Those two where the most reliable foal sitters Rainbow knew. They had pulled Twilight and Rainbow’s flank out of the fire more times than she cared to count. Being a princess was not a lot of fun, and the duties that came with it... Rainbow never wanted such a fate, yet she never regretted it for an instant. The more time she got to spend with Twilight the better. ‘Housework or no, I'm getting back ASAP!’ A sonic rainboom soon appeared over Ponyville, much to the annoyance of several of the town ponies who were woken up by the loud noise.

…………………

Twilight was proud of herself; she managed to clean the whole downstairs in less than an hour. It was a new record for the mare. Of course, she could have cleaned it in a lot less time if she wanted too, but after a few times doing just that, she quickly found herself with WAY too much free time in the day. Much to the chagrin of the twins, who wanted some personal space as well. Therefore, she learned to tone it back some, taking time to do it slowly. Thinking about the two little foals caused a sinking feeling in her stomach. They were never THIS quiet; she had not heard anything from them since Rainbow left. That was bad, very, very bad.

“You two alright up there!” Twilight shouted up the stairs.

“.....”

Ok, now she was really worried, Twilight made her way upstairs to find out exactly what was going on. Her suspicions increased tenfold as she recognized the early warning spells Dayspring had cast on the staircase. Tripping it would alert the young unicorn to the approach of someone coming to check up on them. It was a little scary how quickly he was picking up on the advanced spells, but even still, he was not in the same ballpark as Twilight. She easily cast a counter detection spell, now she could walk past them without alerting Day to her presence, or informing him one of his spells was nullified.

Coming to their room, she found a far more advanced spell had been cast. Somehow, Day had cast an anti-sound spell. In this barrier, they could be as loud as they wanted without anyone else knowing about it. It was a rookie mistake; yes, she would not hear what they were doing. However, they would not hear her either. ‘At least this explains the detection spells on the staircase.’ There was no need to dispel this one; it only stopped sound from traveling in and out, not ponies from going in or out.

Twilight opened the door, they were definitely up to something, and it had to be bad for all these precautionary measures to be in place, what she found inside shocked her. Both Dayspring and Aurora were sitting quietly on their beds reading. Twilight smiled at the two and silently closed the door behind her, not wanting to disturb their enjoyment. On the way back down the stairs a strange thought occurred to her. ‘When was the last time Aurora picked up a book?’ Running back up the stairs Twilight threw open the door and dispelled the illusion.

Dayspring turned with a guilty look towards his mother, “Ahh, what gave us away?”

“Aurora, reading? Really?”

“I told you that wouldn’t work!”

“If you would pick up a book every once in a while it would have worked just fine!”

“SILENCE!”

Twilight examined what remained of the room. Dayspring had been using this time to practice magic on his sister. Several of her feathers were strung out all over the place. The fur on her chest had been turned from dark blue to several different shade of pink and green. She could only guess he had bribed her with more cookies as there were several bags teleported up from the pantry all around the room. One of which she was actively munching on. The room itself had seen better days; from the looks of it, Aurora had Day test his spells out on the different objects around the room before allowing him to try them out on her. ‘At least she has some common sense.’ Based on the burn marks, some of those spells would have been very bad had he used them directly on her.

“Aurora, go to my room.”

“But mooommmmm.”

“NOW, I will deal with you in a minute.”

Aurora pouted as she slowly walked by her mom, Twilight made out a slight mumble as she walked past. “Not fair, I didn’t do anything.”

Dayspring looked as guilty as it was possible to look. He sheepishly spoke, “I’m sorry.”

“Not good enough young one!”

“… She let me…”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought. Let’s see, your punishment for this will be…”

“Ah I know! No study sessions for a week!”

“NOOOOOOO…”

“I don’t want to hear it. What was the one rule we agreed to?”

“…”

“Dayspring, I'm waiting.”

“Don’t cast magic on other ponies”

“And what did you do?”

“She said it was fine!”

“Before or after you promised her cookies?”

“After…”

“Thought so, the punishment stands, go downstairs while I clean up in here and then take care of your sister.”

“Can I still read Daring Do?”

“Sure, just don’t cause any messes. I finished cleaning up down there.”

“Ok, thanks mother.”

Dayspring grabbed his copy of Daring Do, and then headed downstairs to get back to his favorite hobby. Twilight was a little flustered with him over this, it was not the first time she caught him casting spells on his sister, and she doubted it would be the last. It was a little disconcerting how much trust Aurora showed the young unicorn. However, she would do anything for cookies.

It took her a few minutes to clean up their mess. Magic messes were always the worst, she had to find the right counterspell to use on some of the burns. Twilight was somewhat impressed on how talented her son was getting; however, she needed to have a talk with Aurora about letting her brother use her as a spell-test dummy. When she finished in the kids room she now had one more mess to clean up, her daughter.

“Aurora, I'm coming in.”

Twilight opened the door to her room to find the little pink and green pegasus sulking on her bed.

“I didn’t do anything.” She grumbled.

“I know, sweetie.”

“Then why are you punishing me?”

“I’m not, I'm punishing your brother.”

“But I told him it was ok.”

“After he promised you cookies?”

“Yes…”

“Aurora, he bribed you. That’s not the same.”

“Its not?”

“Would you have let him do it without the cookies?”

“No... Oh.”

“Now stand up, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Aurora stood up and stretched out her wings, Twilight noted with some dismay just how colorful her daughter had become; it was a little cute, and disturbing. Thinking quickly, she teleported up a camera and took a picture before Aurora knew what was going on.

“MOM!”

“Hush, Rainbow will want to see you like this.”

“Oh, you think she will like it?”

“I know so, provided you are back to normal first.”

“Ok.”

It took Twilight sixteen different counter-spells to get her daughter’s color back to normal. For her part, Aurora just giggled as her fur turned back to its dark blue hue.

Once they were done, Twilight wrapped her daughter in a big hug, one she returned very affectionately.

“You didn’t ground Day, did you?”

“No, he would have liked that, I took away our study sessions for the next week.”

“Oh… that’s kind of cruel, isn’t it?”

“Well it is a punishment after all.”

“Thanks for not grounding him.”

“Why's that?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Let me guess, you pinky promised?”

“Yep.”

“Uh Hu.”

The bad feeling returned to Twilight as she held her daughter close, something was going to happen, something bad. Whatever it was, she was sure it involved the mysterious ‘CMCINC.’ Twilight was starting to wish that she had grounded Dayspring instead. However, the punishment had already been handed out; she would not go back on her word or punish him twice for the same crime.

“Mommy, you're squeezing too tight.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s ok.”

Twilight’s thoughts were soon interrupted by a noise coming from downstairs. “Honey, I’m home!”

Aurora squirmed out of Twilight’s hooves and took off in a flash down the stairs; a scream of “Mommy!” could be heard throughout the house. Twilight could not help but feel a little jealous at the relationship Rainbow and her shared. It seemed like a secret pegasus only club that she was not allowed to join. It was a little unfair, she had wings too. Then again, she and Dayspring Gleam had their own club. So maybe in the end it balanced out? ‘Na... I'm going to get in that one too.’

Rainbow's smile widened as the little rambunctious bundle of joy flew into her hooves. “You miss me, squirt?”

“Always!”

“You get into trouble while I was away?”

“No.”

“Aurora…”

“I didn’t I swear! Day did though.”

“Oh, what did he do this time?”

“I think a picture's worth a thousand words on this one.”

Rainbow looked up at her wife, who was coming down the stairs with a polaroid floating out in front of her. She levitated the picture up for Rainbow to see. Rainbow dropped her daughter as she fell over laughing, for the next five minutes she could barely breathe.

“WE ARE SENDING THAT TO EVERYONE!”

“Already taken care of.” Twilight had several letters made out in the time it took Rainbow to catch her breath. She had expected this reaction and made copies of the photo while coming down the stairs to send to all their friends and family.

Rainbow got up and put on her serious face before yelling out. “DAYSPRING! COME HERE, NOW!”

A little unicorn colt came walking into the room, his head down and tail between his legs. “Yes, mother?.”

“Get over here.”

He shyly walked over to Rainbow, not knowing what to expect.

Rainbow whispered into his ear. “Next time, add a little purple and orange, ok?”

He looked up at Rainbow with a grin on his face. “I was going to! But… then I got caught.”

“Well, now you know what you did wrong.” Rainbow scooped up her son and started messing up his mane.

Twilight glared at Rainbow, “He’s being punished, not encouraged!”

“Oh yeah champ, what did you get?”

“Mother took away our study sessions for a week.”

Rainbow whistled. “Seems like punishment enough for me.”

“But mother!”

“No buts Dayspring, you and your mom agreed to a set of rules, you broke them, now you have to face the consequences.”

Softly she whispered into his ear, “Even if it was hilarious.”

He smirked back at her and squirmed his way out of her hooves. He went back to the kitchen table with a little spring in his step that was not there before.

Rainbow turned back to her daughter. “And you young lady, how many times are you going to let your brother cast spells on you.”

“He gave me cookies.”

Rainbow turned to Twilight. “There were more cookies left?”

“He found our emergency stash.”

“I told you that was not a good hiding place.”

“Ya, Ya.”

“We got to do something about your cookie addiction one day little one.”

Aurora smiled brightly at Rainbow and took of upstairs. Into whatever trouble she could find.

Rainbow watched her go with a smile; she noticed Twilight was also watching their daughter, so she surprised the mare with a kiss.

“What was that for Rainbow?”

“Who needs a reason when I have you?”

“That’s sweet; you’re still not getting out of helping.”

“But…”

“No buts!”

Rainbow and Twilight both headed into the kitchen, carrying the bags Rainbow brought back with her from the market. After a few minutes, Twilight noticed something was missing. “Rainbow, where’s the milk?”

Rainbow hung her head in shame. ‘Buck me.’

………………

After her second trip back to the market, once for milk and now for bread. Rainbow was beginning to change her mind about checklists. As usual, Twilight was right, why did she even doubt her wife after all this time? Twilight was always right. ‘You think in six years of marriage I would've learned that lesson by now.’

Rainbow looked down, spotting a particular mare walking by with a red bow on in her hair and a hammer and nails cutie mark on her flank. Zooming in, Rainbow landed right in front of the mare hoping to startle her a little.

To her credit, Applebloom did not even jump.

“Hey Rainbow, what'd you break now?”

“What? You think every time I come see you it’s because something's broken?

Applebloom just stared at her.

“Fine, a lamp was knocked over. But it wasn’t my fault.”

“Aurora?”

“Aurora.”

“Well I’m still blaming you, that little filly is too cute to take any blame.”

“Yeah, she is…” If Rainbow’s smile were any bigger it would split her face in half.

“I'll swing by tomorrow and take a look at it. In the meantime, do not let your wife try to fix it. PLEASE!”

“Don’t worry about that AB; she learned that lesson once already. Wait... why can’t you swing by today?”

“I'm busy, Sweetie Belle is back in town and putting on a performance tomorrow. I have to get the stage ready in town hall for her to play on.”

“Sweetie Belle is performing here?! Why am I just now hearing about this?”

“Cause it has nothing to do with Twilight for one. The only thing you seem to keep up to date on is your family, and Daring Do.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No. The way your family is, if anything I'm jealous. Just promise me you won’t mess it up, I’ll kick your flank all around Equestria if you do something stupid.”

“Trust me AB; I know how lucky I am. If I mess this up you wont have to. I'd kick my own flank around the world for being that stupid." Rainbow said with a smile.

Soo… you got any extra tickets?”

Applebloom just shook her head.

“Ahh, I want to take the family to go see it too.”

“Then go ask Sweetie Belle, I'm sure SHE could get all ya’ in to HER performance.”

“Where is she?”

“Where else? Town Hall.”

“Thanks, AB!”

Rainbow flew over to Town Hall, noticing for the first time the signs that had been posted all around it, they all had Sweetie Belle on them. She burst through the doors in a heartbeat, startling all the ponies in the room until they realized who it was.

“Hey Rainbow Dash! What’s going on?”

“Sweetie Belle! How is our world-famous singer doing?”

Sweet Belle walked up to Rainbow, followed closely by Pinkie Pie.

“C'mon, I'm not that famous.”

“How many albums have you released?

“Twelve.”

“How many continents have you NOT been too?”

“…”

“That’s what I thought, now come over here and give me a hug.”

“When did you get so sappy?”

“When you have kids of your own, you'll understand.”

Sweetie Belle went and hugged Rainbow, earning an ‘Awe’ from Pinkie Pie.

“You guys are soo cute! Almost as cute as Aurora, almost.”

Rainbow just laughed, “So if Pinkie Pie knows, how am I just learning about this today?”

“Oh, there was a last minute change of plans, one of my shows in Manehattan was canceled, something about a sonic boom making the building structurally unsound, I don’t know all the details but since I couldn’t go there I decided to come back for a few days, then Rarity talked me into doing a performance tomorrow. As soon as she said that, Pinkie just popped up out of nowhere and offered her assistance.”

“So, I take it your invitation for us was lost or something?”

“Nope, got them right here!”

Pinkie pulled out several letters and dropped one in Rainbow's hooves.

“Pinkie, I told you to drop those off!” Sweetie shouted.

“I did, I dropped them off into my bag!”

“No… go deliver them!”

“Oh, that makes much more sense!”

In the blink of an eye she was gone, Rainbow laughed at the frustration that was evident of Sweetie Belle's face. “Now you know how the rest of us feel.”

“Ha, ha.”

“Alright, well I'm going to go home, I'll see you later!”

“Wait, did you hear Scoots is coming back today?!”

Rainbow paused mid-flight, “Scoots is coming back to town?”

“Yep, her train gets in at 11.”

“What the buck you girls! How am I just hearing about all this?”

“Don’t ask me, I just found out earlier myself, I would go pick her up but…” Sweetie looked back at all the work she still had left to do.

“Alright, don’t worry about it. I'll go greet my sister. It’s the least I can do.”

“Well you better hurry, you got about two minutes to get to the train station.”

Rainbow looked back at the clock, which was stubbornly reading ten fifty-eight, “Oh, horseapples!”
…………………

Scootaloo looked around the train as it pulled up to her hometown; she had the first class train car all to herself. Being a successful dancer had many privileges, looking back she never would have guessed that this would be her special talent in life. She had accepted that she would never be able to fly, but she had some real moves on the ground. Moves that nopony else could hope to match.

Her wings gave her an advantage over any earth pony or unicorn. Other pegasus were too incline to take flight instead of staying on the ground. Her disability made her the perfect dancer. Giving her grace and strength that nopony else could hope to match. She owed it all to Rainbow Dash. She would always be grateful to her sister for all the help and support she gave her over the years.

As if thinking about her was enough to cause her to appear, Scootaloo’s vision soon encompassed a sonic rainboom as a rainbow streak made its way right to her.

“Hey Rainbow!”

“Hey scoots!”

Rainbow picked up the mare in a bear hug and lifted the two off the ground, her golden wings easily allowed her to carry both their weight without difficulty.

“Yeah, I'm happy to be back too.”

“What the hell Scoots! Why am I just learning about this today?”

“Well, somepony ended up damaging my dance studio in Manehattan, Something like FIVE sonic rainbooms or something. Sound familiar?”

Rainbow placed Scoots back on the ground and looked sheepishly at her hooves, “Yeah, that…”

“Don’t worry about it, I got the picture. Totally worth it by the way. Where's the little firecracker anyway?”

“Oh she is back at the house, you want to come see her?”

“Try and stop me!”

The two sisters spent the time walking back to the house. Happily catching up on all the events that they missed. Rainbow could not stop gushing over her daughter and knowing her personally, Scootaloo could not get enough of the stories.

“Wait, so she was green and pink today?”

“I wasn’t there to see it myself but Twilight took pictures, it’s the cutest thing I've ever seen.”

“I want a copy!”

“Don’t worry, we have your letter ready to go, but as you're already here, we can just give to you now.”

“Thanks sis!”

“No problem.”

“RAINBOW DASH!”

‘Buck me’ Rainbow thought, Twilight only called her by her first name if it was something bad. ”Yes, Twilight?”

“Where have you been? We should've left for Rarity's half an hour ago.”

“What? We weren't going to leave until eleven-thirty.”

“What time is it?”

Rainbow glanced up at the clock tower, which stubbornly read noon.

“Horseapples, sorry Twi, found out Scoots was back in town and we must have gotten sidetracked on the way here.”

“Did you at least get the bread?”

Rainbow silence told her the answer.

“Well, we're running behind. So let’s get going. You can get the bread on the way back.”

“Sorry sis.” Rainbow said to Scootaloo.

“No problem, hey, can I get that picture real quick?

“Sure.” Twilight levitated Scootaloo’s letter over to her.

“Thanks!”

“Will I see you later?”

“I'm sure you will. Thanks Rainbow, thanks Twilight.”

Twilight forced open Rainbow’s wing to acquire her normal spot, “C'mon we're already late.”

“Hey Sweetie Belle is performing tomorrow, she got us all tickets.”

“Don’t change the subject. I'm still mad at you.”

“Sorry Twi.”

“I forgive you, but there is someone else to you need to apologize to.”

“Sigh… sorry Dayspring.”

“…”

Aurora looked at him “You mad bro?”

Dayspring let out a loud “Hmm.” As he walked past his family.

Rainbow watched him walk by. “Ahh, he mad. Twi, little help.”

Twilight lifted up the stubborn unicorn with her magic and placed him on Rainbow’s back. Knowing what was coming next, Dayspring held onto Rainbow’s body for dear life as she shot straight up in the air. Twilight and Aurora just sat back and watch the two as Rainbow performed barrel roll after barrel roll for the mad unicorn.

“You think it will work this time?”

“Of course, it works every time.”

“I'm glad you guys can’t cheer me up that easy.”

“Really, want a cookie?”

“Cookie!!! Where, where?”

Twilight smirked as she teleported a cookie from the freshly stocked cookie jar for the pegasus to enjoy. ‘And you kids think we don’t know how to cheer you up.’ As Aurora devoured the tasty treat, Twilight lifted her daughter up and placed her on her back. The two made their way down the street towards Rarity’s boutique. Earning a plethora of ‘ahhs’ from passer-bys. Twilight could not help but think that when Aurora stopped being this cute she was going to get in REAL trouble, but that was a problem for later. As of now, Aurora could kill somepony and Celestia herself would let her off with a slap on the hooves. Then again, so would Twilight.

As they arrived at the Boutique, a loud ‘WOOSH’ sound soon accompanied them as Rainbow and Dayspring landed. The little unicorn definitely looked worse for wear. His rainbow mane was sticking up at all angles, every fiber of hair on his coat was frazzled. Twilight would have been concerned. She would have been, if it were not for the huge smile that covered his face.

Twilight lifted the little unicorn off Rainbow’s back and placed him on the ground. It took three tries but after the third, he was able to stand without her magic.

“Well Day, How'd you like it.” Aurora flew up to her brother; she always enjoyed seeing his reaction after Rainbow took him on a flight.

“That. Was. Totally. Awesome!!! First we were like wooosshhh, then we went and woosshed.” He began bouncing around and doing his best to demonstrate the moves Rainbow had taken him through, suffice to say, he was just running around in circles. For her part, Aurora simply hovered in the air with a big smile on her face as she watched the little colt run around.

“You're an amazing mom, Rainbow.”

“You’re not too bad yourself, Twi.”

“Twilight, Rainbow! Glad you two could finally make it!”

“Hey Spike! How's your better half?” Rainbow teased.

“Rarity's inside, readying the picnic basket.”

“Picnic basket?”

“Yeah, Twilight sent a letter earlier today that you guys were coming, so Rarity decided to do lunch outside, is that ok?”

“Of course, Spike.”

“Come inside for a minute.”

The five made their way into the boutique, from the looks of things a tornado had beaten them inside.

Twilight commented, “Is it always this bad?”

“Not going to lie, yes. Little Ataxia is quite the handful.”

“Where is the little one anyway?”

“I'm sure she's destroying something upstairs.” Spoke Rarity.

Rarity walked in with a picnic basket levitated in front of her.

“Hey Auntie Rarity! Can I have a cookie?”

“I don’t know, Aurora, How many have you had today?”

She stared down at her hooves, running them along the carpet. “I don’t know.”

“One hundred thirty-two” Twilight spoke.

Rarity’s jaw hit the ground. “One hundred thirty-two… well, I guess one more won’t make a difference.”

She levitated a cookie out of the basket towards Aurora, who snatched it out of the air and started chowing down.

Rarity smiled at the cute filly before turning back to Twilight with a serious expression on her face, “Rainbow?”

“Rainbow.”

Rainbow was not even paying attention, to enamored watching her daughter enjoy the tasty treat.

“Well, we should get going. I’ll go grab Ataxia, and we can be on the way.”

Spike reached out and kissed his wife before she headed up the stairs.

“Oh, Spike can you send these letters out? The cutest thing happened today and I want to make sure all our friends have a copy.”

“Sure thing Twilight.” Spike took the letters from Twilight and sent them all to their intended receivers in one fell swoop. He long ago mastered the ability to send letters to anyone in Equestria, however, only alicorns could send back.

Twilight watched Spike with pride in her eyes. She was always so proud of Spike, and now that he had his own family, her feelings for the dragon doubled. Sure, he was still walking around as a pony, but he knew the truth. So did everypony else. His purple coat was a match for her own, however, his light green mane stood out in any crowd. Spike's cutie mark was a scroll in the middle of a green fire. Twilight had taught Rarity how to turn him back into a dragon on her own. Something Twilight had insisted he do once a week. To go back to a pony required Twilight's help though. She did not mind, his happiness was her only concern.

A little bundle of trouble came bouncing down the stairs soon interrupted her reminiscing. Ataxia looked like a normal unicorn filly, but looks could be deceiving. Ataxia had a dark blue mane, and could use magic, much like her mother. She had a purple coat and could breathe fire, much like her dad. What troubles, well, everyone who knew her was her magic. She could perform the strangest spells. High-level stuff that she had no business knowing existed at her age. Much less be able to cast, it was almost as if the only limit this pony had was her imagination.

Fortunately, it was nothing Twilight could not undo and after several months tutoring Rarity, it was nothing she could not undo now either. However, Ataxia was only getting more powerful and soon Rarity’s magic would not be able to fix it. To make matters worse, Ataxia only seemed to be happy when things were NOT where they should be.

“Hey Aurora! I learned a new trick! Want to see?”

“Sure!”

“No.”

“But mooommmmm!”

“No buts Aurora! Your mom said no.” Rainbow replied.

A glance at Rarity’s face confirmed what Twilight already suspected, Rarity had not taught her any new tricks. Spike’s stomach soon got the whole groups attention.

“Well that’s one way to say let’s get going.” Twilight nodded to her wife’s comment as the group made their way out the door and up to the top of the hill. It was soon obvious that Spike had been the one who cooked this lunch. He was easily the best cook Twilight had ever known. She missed his cooking, she missed him. Such is life, eventually everyone grows up and leaves the nest, not that it ever came easy for those who stayed behind. It happened with Spike, and one day, she knew it would also happen with Dayspring and Aurora. She did not regret any of it, as of now, it was not as if she was lonely or anything, hell with the twins she did not even feel the gap he left, well, at least not all the time anyway.

Rainbow looked over and saw the expression change on her wife’s face; she knew what was going through her mind. It was the same every time they went out with Spike and Rarity. She had to act fast. Reaching over she wrapped her hooves around Twilight and rolled on top of her. Planting kisses up and down Twilight’s body.

“Rainbow! What the hay?”

“You want me to stop?”

“I didn’t say that.” The two were starting to giggle now.

Rarity and Spike just smiled at each other. They were happy for their friends. The relationship Twilight and Rainbow had was definitely one for the history books. They could not recall one real fight they ever had. It seemed as if they both knew just how lucky they were just to have the other in their life. Given how it had begun for them, that might be pretty close to the truth.

Aurora let out a loud “Eww.” As her mom’s started making out on the grass. Spike soon stopped her from digging that hole any deeper. “Why don’t you kids go play?”

“Ok, Tag your it!” Aurora tagged Dayspring and took off in a flash, straight up.

“No fair, you can’t fly in a game of tag!”

“Says the two magic users!”

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Ataxia concentrated her magic on the spunky little pegasus and Aurora’s wings suddenly tripled in weight. She started falling toward the ground like a rock.

Thinking quickly, Dayspring caught her in a magic field seconds before she hit the ground. He dispelled the enchantment on her wings before turning to glare at Ataxia. “No Ataxia, we do not use magic on other ponies! Ok? New rule, no magic, and no wings!” the other two nodded and the game began in earnest. With Dayspring still ‘it.’

Twilight and Rainbow watched the display with a smile on their faces. Twilight was ready to act, of course. However, she had given Dayspring the chance to rescue his sister himself. They had both seen Aurora fall from much greater heights and be fine, still they were proud of their son. “Hmm, maybe a week without study sessions was a bit much. What do you think, Rainbow?”

“I would say that qualifies as good behavior, as long as he doesn't screw it up, make it three days.”

“Sounds good to me.”

She resumed kissing her wife as Rainbow became increasingly distracted watching the kids play. Twilight knew what she wanted. “Go, join them.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I love watching all of my favorite ponies have fun. Take Spike and go, enjoy.” A slap on her flank told Rainbow to hop to it.

“Thanks Twi. Yo, Spike, let’s see if we can show these kids something new!”

“You’re on, Rainbow!”

Twilight stood up and watched Rainbow leave with Spike after the kids, it always amazed her just how much she missed the mare’s touch. It was unrealistic to expect Rainbow to always be by her side. However, that was Twilight’s only true wish right now. She had everything she could possibly want. Except for more time to spend with Rainbow. ‘We're going on a vacation, just the two of us.’ It was as good as done. Once Twilight made such a decision, you might as well write it into law. Speaking of things written into law, she turned to Rarity.

“Next group get together still at your house?”

“Actually no, we can’t do it at the boutique.”

“Rarity?”

“Hey I'm not trying to get out of it or anything. Last time that happen royal guards showed up at my door.”

Twilight just smirked, true to her word she had indeed ensured they all got together at least once a week. Just to make it official there was a decree dictating that anyone who tried to get out of it would be escorted by the royal guard. They had all laughed at it; at first, thinking that it was a joke. Until two years ago when Rarity had ‘too big an order.’ Then they all found out how serious Twilight had been. It had become a running gag with her friends afterwards, even Rarity was able to laugh about it, but the decree still stands. What had Luna said? There are benefits to being a princess.

“Well we can always move it to Sweet Apple Acres. I'm sure that Applejack won't mind.”

“Speaking of Sweet Apple Acres, Applebloom stopped by the other day, said something about taking Ataxia over there around four. Not sure why though, she seemed to beat around the bush on that one.”

“Four o’clock, Huh? That's odd, Dayspring has something scheduled for that time too, he seemed adamant that it was important to him. Something about a CMCINC…”

“CMCINC? What could that be?”

“I asked, he said he pinky promised, Aurora too.”

“Strange…”

A white pegasus flying down from the sky wearing shining gold armor soon interrupted the two.

“Excuse me Princess Twilight Sparkle; Princess Luna and Princess Celestia request you and Princess Rainbow Dash to report to the castle.”

“I think we officially have too many princesses.”

Twilight playfully stuck her tongue out at her friend before turning back to the guard. “What is this about?”

“Trade negotiations with the Griffon Emperor, apparently he will not talk with anypony save you and Princess Dash anymore. I'm sorry I don't know any more than that.”

Twilight smiled, Siros could be difficult at times, and this was not the first time they had to be called in to negotiate a pact between their two lands. “Very well, I will need to find a foal sitter then we will be on the way.”

“That’s why he got me first, Twilight.”

Twilight looked at the yellow pegasus that had just landed and laughed a little. “Celestia thinks of everything, doesn’t she.” It was not a question.

“RAINBOW!” The golden wing pegasus flew over to her wife. Noticing for the first time the royal guard standing by her side. “What now?”

“We have to get to the castle.”

“What, why?”

“Siros.”

“…Fine.”

Rainbow looked down at Fluttershy and Rarity, “You girls ok if we leave them with you.”

“Darling, I'm sure with Fluttershy’s help we will be able to deal with any issues that might arise.”

Rainbow had heard that statement before, it was not true then, and she doubted it would be true now. Sadly, they had no real choice. She landed and walked up to her wife. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

In a flash, Twilight teleported them both straight to Canterlot, leaving Rarity, Spike, and Fluttershy to deal with the three little foals. Somehow, Rarity had the sinking feeling that they were still outnumbered.

Rarity turned to the Royal Guard and batted her eyelashes, “You have to get back right away?”

“Yes, I'm required to report back as soon as my task is complete.”

Rarity nodded at that then let out a call, “Aurora! Come here for a second.”

The cute little pegasus came bounding over the slop and jumped into Rarity's hooves. Rarity proceeded to whisper something into her ear.

Aurora turned and looked daintily at the guard. “Excuse me, mister guard. I was wondering if you would like to play with us.”

He would not make it back to Canterlot until morning.

………………………………………

Rainbow banged her head on the table yet again, much to the chagrin of the negotiators on both sides. She did not care what they thought of her actions. If they were worth a buck, she would not have had her family outing ruined by this crap. Ok, yes, it was important, yes, the trade negotiations would ensure Equestria's prosperity and that its ponies were fed during the next winter. However, that did not mean she had to like it.

Her saving grace came from the last place she expected, Emperor Siros placed a claw to his beak and cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of the whole room. “I think a few minutes recess is in order.” Rainbow looked up at her rescuer and mouthed a silent “Thank you” before Twilight led her out of the room. The two were soon joined by Siros himself as they walked into the gardens.

“Nice to see some things never change, Princess Dash.”

“You mean like how I keep telling you not to call me that?”

“Yes, that too.”

Dash sighed; they seemed to go through this every time they got together. Formalities were such a bore. “So, what's this really about?”

He smiled at that, Siros liked Dash, she was blunt, but honest. Never afraid to speak her mind or charge into any situation headfirst. He was a little jealous that Twilight had stolen her heart before he got a chance to know her. “To the point as always, I'm afraid some of my more ‘esteemed’ councilors feel I'm letting Celestia walk all over me. Therefore, they came up with a new list of demands for our yearly trade negotiations. I know its rubbish but…”

“If you don’t at least make a show of it, it'll cause trouble back home.”

“You are correct Princess Sparkle. I'm sorry I dragged you two into this; I figured that with the savors of the world sitting opposite of us, they might be a little more flexible. I'm afraid once again our pride gets in the way.”

Twilight thought about this for a while, “So, it’s just an appearance issue.”

Siros nodded.

“I think I have an idea.” Rainbow smiled at that comment, she loved watching her wife work over ponies that thought they were smarter than she was.

As Rainbow expected, Twilight’s plain was masterful. She walked back into the negotiating table and gave away the farm in pretty words, calming that her conversation with Siros convinced her of the error of her ways... Rainbow did not understand half of what she said. The negotiators on both sides of the table were too shocked to fully catch on to the subtext of the conversation. Yes, they would pay more bits, to be negotiated at a later date, in private between Twilight and Siros. Yes, they would increase food production, to be delivered to Equestria, not to the empire. On and on it went. All of it, carefully hidden in plain sight.

The Equestrian negotiators were silenced with a glare by Rainbow. The griffon negotiators were all too quick to sign on the dotted line. Only Rainbow, Twilight, and Siros knew the truth. The original deal would be honored, the rest swept under the rug. However, now the griffons could head back and claimed they scored a victory over the savors of the world. Rubbish of course, but it never hurt to let the other side save face.

Siros was the last of his delegation to leave. He took Rainbow and Twilight hooves in turn and shook them each. “Thank you my friends, this will eliminate any doubt left, and next time it shouldn't even be an issue.”

“Happy to help.” Rainbow replied.

“Anything else we can do for you while you're here?” Twilight asked.

“Now that you mention it, before we sent for you Celestia got a picture delivered to her from you two in a letter, it had the cutest little green and pink pegasus filly I've ever seen… Do you have a copy I could take back?”

Twilight and Rainbow both looked at each other and smiled, Rainbow replied. “I think we can manage that.”

Before they could leave, Twilight and Rainbow were called before Celestia, apparently the equestrian negotiators had given her an earful about what had occurred. For her part, Twilight simply listened to the allegations noting each one in a mental checklist, when finally she could speak, Twilight addressed every allegation in turn, pointing out exactly what it meant and where that was shown in the contract. They were all left speechless at the masterful play Twilight had pulled off. When she finished, Celestia just looked at the alicorn with a big smile on her face. She turned to the Negotiation team and addressed them. “I told you, Princess Sparkle doesn't make mistakes, didn’t I.”

For her part, Rainbow just looked bored throughout this process.

“Yes, your highness. We're sorry for doubting you.”

“Oh it is not me you have to apologize to.”

“Sorry, Princess Sparkle.”

Rainbow chimed in, more on reflex than anything else.

“What exactly are you sorry for?”

“We're sorry for doubting you during the negotiations.”

It was Twilight’s turn to add something.

“And?.”

The leader cleared his throat before continuing.

“And bringing such unjust claims before Celestia without talking to you first.”

“Very good, I forgive you, now go to your room and think about what you did.”

Rainbow glared up at Twilight with eyes as big as dinner plates, ‘Twilight did not just say that.’

The negotiation team just hung their heads low and proceeded home to their rooms to think about what they did.

Twilight just sit there with a normal look on her face, not aware of exactly what had just occurred.

When the last of them left, Celestia could no longer hold it in any more. The white alicorn broke down in a fit of laughter. Rainbow Dash soon joined her.

“What is so funny?” Twilight asked.

It was five minutes before anypony could answer.

Celestia was the first to recover, “Twilight, you just sent them to their rooms.”

A look of horror crossed Twilight’s face. “No I didn't! Did I?”

Rainbow just nodded, “You told them to go to their rooms and think about what they just did.”

Twilight’s entire face turned beat red before she spoke, “I can never come back here again.” She shrunk down, making herself as small as possible.

“Look at it this way my student; I doubt they will ever make that mistake again.”

“Yeah Twi, she’s right. You did a great job here. So what if they got sent to their rooms, least you didn't have to spank them.” Rainbow went back into her fit of laughter.

The mental image of holding the negotiating team over her knee and punishing them soon caused Twilight to join in. Not even Celestia was able to hold back for long.

“Oh, I have quite the story to tell Luna tonight.”

“Send her my best, will you.”

“Of course, Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight got up and nuzzled Rainbow, “We should get going, Rainbow, I'm sure they are missing us.”

“Well I was missing them as soon as we left, seems only fair to me.”

Celestia smiled at the two, “Twilight, I know I have told you this before, but for what it’s worth, I'm glad you proved me wrong. You two make a very cute couple.”

“Thanks, princess.”

“Next time you come, bring the kids. I always look forward to seeing them.”

Rainbow got up and stood by her wife. “We will.”

Twilight brushed up next to her wife and cast the return teleportation spell.

…………………

The first thing the two noticed upon teleporting to Rarity’s boutique as the complete and utter mess the outside had become. Glancing up at the clock tower that read three fifty, Twilight realized that this had all happened in the last three hours. Rainbow and Twilight rushed inside to find out what happened to their family and friends.

If outside was a complete and utter mess, inside was a disaster area. The living room looked like it had been pulled out of the house, shaken up, and then put back. Clothes and dresses were thrown everywhere. The only sign of life was a medium size dragon lying on his back in the center of the room.

“SPIKE! What happened?”

Spike lifted his head and stared at Twilight, “The horror, Twilight, you have to save Rarity…”

“Where is she spike?” Rainbow asked.

“Upstairs, she bolted herself in the bathroom.”

Rainbow and Twilight ran upstairs, taking in the full horror of the destruction around the house. When they arrived at the bedroom, the first thing Twilight noticed was the royal guard lying on his side. From the looks of things, he had been defeated while guarding the bathroom door.

“Rarity! Are you in there?”

“Twilight, is... is that you?”

“It’s us Fluttershy! You can come out now.”

Fluttershy unlocked the door, checking one last time to make sure it was safe. Her worried expression changed to one of joy when she saw Rainbow and Twilight standing outside.

“Rarity, we can come out now, it’s them, they've come back.”

The white mare ran out of the bathroom and hugged the two tightly. “It was the WORST THING EVER!”

“What happened, Rarity?”

“I'm afraid, the kids were given soda.”

Rainbow and Twilight both looked at each other; they knew what happened last time that occurred. Nopony in this town was stupid enough to give those kids soda; Everypony in this town had learned that lesson the hard way. If that was the case Rarity had gotten off lucky.

“Who would be that stupid?” Rainbow asked.

Rarity just looked at the fallen pegasus guard. “It wasn’t his fault, he didn’t know better and I didn’t see what he was doing until it was too late. He sacrificed himself to save us.”

“Where are they?” Twilight finally asked the sixty-four million-bit question.

“Applebloom came over and got them, I don’t know how she did it but they seemed to calm down immediately after she reminded them of some induction ceremony today. We… we didn’t believe it so we stayed in here and kept the door locked.”

Something triggered in Twilight as her mind put the pieces together. ‘Induction ceremony… INC…’

“RAINBOW WE HAVE TO GET TO SWEET APPLE ACRES, NOW!!!!”

“What Twi?”

The clock started chiming four in the distance, “UGG NO TIME.”

Twilight wrapped a wing around Rainbow and teleported them both to Sweet Apple Acres. The sound they heard coming from the barn caused them both to freeze faster than any Windigo could ever hope to achieve.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS INDUCTION CEREMONY COMPLETE!!!”

Rainbow flew up and threw open the barn to find Dayspring, Aurora, and Ataxia all high hoofing each other wearing those dreaded red cloaks with the lion seal on the back. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo where behind them, each with a proud look in their eyes.

Falling from the sky, Rainbow sank back on her hind legs, her voice barely a whisper. “How could you betray us like that?”

Twilight walked up and hugged her wife; she let Rainbow cry into her chest. It was too late, their twins were now Cutie Mark Crusaders, and there was nothing they could do about it. After a few minutes, Scootaloo approached the two.

“Hey Sis, don’t worry about it, it'll be ok we'll teach them the right way to be a Cutie Mark Crusader!"

“That’s what I'm worried about.”

Scootaloo ignored the jab and hugged her sister. When they broke off Rainbow had one condition for her.

“Promise me Scoots, promise me, NO EXPLOSIVES!”

“I'll do you one better, I will pinkie promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Twilight just nodded at that, she helped her wife get to her feet and lead them away; back to Rarity’s. Someone had to break the news to her. Glancing back, she called out “Bring them back by six, ok?”

“Ok.” Scootaloo watched as the two-limped back, utterly defeated. She smiled to herself, a wicked, evil smile. ‘After all, when are fireworks considered explosives?’

……………

In Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie suddenly sit up; her expression went from super happy to very mad back to super happy. “Silly, of course fireworks aren’t explosives.” She proceeded to go back to planning her 'Welcome to the CMC' Party.

…………...

It took Twilight the better part of an hour working at full power to get the boutique presentable again. During this time the rest were told to stay outside and not come in for any reason. Rainbow swore she saw a few dimensional portals open up through the broken windows. That ended any discussion that might have occurred about helping. Whatever was going on was far too dangerous for any of them to be around. As such, they decided to go out for coffee instead.

Sipping coffee, it finally dawned on Rainbow why Twilight had gone to such extremes to keep them from helping. Rainbow now had to tell Rarity about Ataxia joining the CMC. ‘Clever Twilight, I'll have to get you back for that one.’

Clearing her throat, Rainbow did her best to approach the subject as tactfully as possible. “You should know, Ataxia just joined the CMC.” In other words, with no tact once so ever.

Rarity spit her coffee across the table. “She did WHAT???”

Rainbow did her best to wipe her face off, luckily, it was not that hot. “Yeah, apparently AB, Scoots, and Sweetie Belle had a meeting planned with them at Sweet Apple Acres, they inducted them there.”

“My… own… sister… I'll kill her! C'mon Spike!” Rarity grabbed the dragon by the ear and with a strength Rainbow did not believe she possessed, pulled him out of the coffee shop. Rainbow just laughed as she mounted him and they took off in the air, looking for somepony to hurt. She laughed until she realized one small fact.

“They stuck me with the bill.”

………………

Half an hour later Rainbow was getting done with her shower, she heard someone walking in the house. “Hello?”

“Hey Rainbow, it’s just me.”

“Hey Twi, how'd things go?”

“Well the boutique is back in order, Rarity's pretty mad though, she wasn’t able to find where they took the kids.”

“Did she honestly expect to?”

“I don’t think so, I just think she wanted someone to vent to.”

“Uh Hu.”

“What are you doing, anyway?”

“Oh, just getting out of the shower.”

“Really, why were you taking a shower?”

“When I told Rarity what happen she spit her coffee all over me.”

“Really?”

“Yep”

“Need some help getting those hard to reach spots?”

“No, I just got done.”

Suddenly the bathroom door opened up and a purple alicorn walked in, in her most seductive voice Twilight asked, “You sure?”

Rainbow blushed intently, “Well, now that you mention it.”

Twilight pushed the pegasus back into the shower and cranked up the steam. She smiled as she remember Rainbow baulking at the amount of bits she wanted to spend on this shower, ever since it was installed Dash had never complained once about it and she never would again.

‘BEST INVESTMENT EVER!’

………………

It dawned on Rainbow that maybe the steam shower option was a waste of bits after all; she doubted it was really doing anything at this point when she heard the door open downstairs and the very familiar sound of the twins running around. Rainbow looked down to Twilight and sighed, “I cannot catch a break today.” Twilight worked her way back up Rainbow’s chest to her muzzle and kissed her on the lips.

“Don’t worry; I’ll make it up to you tonight.”

“You already told me that once today, Twi.”

“Did I?”

“Yes… My cider, remember?”

“Oh Yeah… Guess I better double up my surprise then.”

Rainbow smiled at that soft tone, “This better be one hell of a surprise.”

Twilight stared at her wife, her hoof wandered up and down Rainbow chest. “Trust me, you'll love it.”

“I trust I love you.”

“I love you too, Rainbow.”

“Do you.”

“Yes.”

“Enough to finish?”

“Tonight Rainbow.”

“Ahh C'mon!”

“We got maybe a minute before the twins get in.”

“I can finish in ten seconds flat.”

“I know, but what’s the fun in that?”

Twilight left the shower and began drying herself off. A VERY horny Rainbow followed, upset that she had be left unsatisfied. Seeing this, Twilight wrapped a towel around her wife and brought her in for a long sloppy kiss. “Don’t be so grumpy, I told you it will be worth it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ok.”

They finished drying each other off; taking a little more time than was actually needed. Just in time for the twins to burst in. shouts of “mom” and “mother” following in their wake. Scootaloo stood outside the door with a smile on her face. “Sorry, I tried to keep them out for as long as I could.”

“It’s fine Scootaloo, we had just finished.”

Rainbow added. “Well, one of us had.”

Hearing that comment in front of the kids, Twilight grabbed a wet towel with her magic and slapped it upside Rainbow's flank. Earning a loud “Oww!” for her troubles. Twilight glared at her wife as Rainbow rubbed her tender flank.

Scoots just laughed, “Alright, I said I would have them back by six, so I will leave you love birds alone for tonight.”

Rainbow and Twilight just sighed at the fresh bruises covering their foals. This was going to be something they would just have to accept from now on.

Twilight reached down and picked up Dayspring, “Alright, who's hungry?”

“Me.”

“Me.”

“Tell you what Rainbow, why don’t you get started on dinner, and I’ll get these two cleaned up for supper.”

As a way of reply, Rainbow leaned in and stole one last kiss from her wife. She then took wing and flew downstairs. Twilight watched her go in wonder, how a pegasus with a twenty-seven hoof wingspan could fly around in this house was a mystery she had yet to solve after five years of trying. It baffled her sense of logic and amazed her all the same. Watching her leave, Twilight added ‘re-measure Rainbow’s wingspan’ to her mental checklist, they looked even bigger than last time she measured them,

She dismissed the idea and turned back to the two foals, they both needed a bath. “Alright, who wants a bath!”

She was quickly greeted with dual shouts of “NO!” as they took off in the other direction.

Twilight sighed… ‘It’s going to be one of those nights.’ Tonight she was not in the mood for hide and seek, she reached out with her magic sense and after a while found the two foals. Briefly, she reflected on how much easier it would have been if she could still see into the magic plane, but she quickly dismissed that idea. Twilight had made her choice and never once did she regret it. All at once Twilight readied the bath water, cast an anti-escape bubble on the tub, and teleported a filly and a colt that actually thought they could get away from her directly into the tub.

“Hey, no fair!”

“Funny, that’s what I said when you joined the CMC today without telling me.”

Aurora looked at Dayspring, “Told you they would be upset.”

“AB said they wouldn't let us join if we told.”

Twilight stuck her hoof in and started washing behind the unicorns ears, “I wasn’t upset that you wanted to join the CMC, I was upset that you felt you had to keep a secret.”

Aurora looked up at her mom, “You mean you wouldn’t have stopped us?”

“Well, I can’t speak for Rainbow, but no, if it’s something you wanted to do. I would never stand in the way of that.”

Dayspring started crying, “I’m sorry mom. AB just thought it would be best if we didn’t say anything.”

Twilight was taken aback by that; it had been ages since Dayspring had called her anything but mother. “It’s ok honey. Just know, you never have to keep secrets from me, or Rainbow for that matter. I want you guys to be able to tell me anything, ok?” She scooped up the little colt and gave him a big hug. One in which he returned with all the enthusiasm he could muster. “I love you, mommy.”

“I love you too, Dayspring.”

Aurora started pouting in the corner of the tub. She was the one who usually got the attention, why was she feeling jealous like this? Twilight noticed this and quickly scooped her up too. “What, you think I would forget about my little princess?”

“Mommy, we're getting you all wet.”

“Right this second Aurora, I couldn’t care less.”

Twilight held the two in her hooves for a few minutes before deciding to just join them in the tub.

…………………

Rainbow laughed as her three favorite ponies in the world all came down the stairs with towels wrapped around them. “So, you decided to join them then.”

“It seemed easier.”

She nodded at that, it was a lot easier if you just join in whatever they were doing at the time.

“Well c'mon you three, I got dinner ready!”

“What are we having, mom?”

“Daffodil sandwiches!”

Aurora shot into the air “My fav!! Thanks mom!”

“No problem honey.”

Aurora quickly flew over to her spot and began inhaling her sandwich, Dash turned to Dayspring, “You better hurry, or she'll get yours too.” The little unicorn took his moms warning to heart and ran to his spot. Just in time to beat Aurora to his sandwich. Rainbow and Twilight just giggled to each other at that display and set down to join their family at dinner.

Dinner conversation included several new spells that little Ataxia showed Dayspring that he wanted to learn. Twilight could not help but be impressed. Some of those were VERY advanced spells she knew Rarity did not know. She made a mental note to get Rarity back in for another round of studying. If Ataxia started casting those around the house, Rarity and Spike could be in serious trouble. She also made a note to add a few more drills on Ponyville's early warning system. They might be needed very soon.

When Aurora started talking about their CMC adventures today, Twilight realized she might have made a slight error in judgment upstairs. While she wanted them to feel comfortable talking with her about anything, there were some things she would prefer not to know. Like Dayspring’s adventures with CMC mountain climbers. Luckily, Rainbow swooped in for the rescue before she had to hear the end of that story.

“So, who's excited for Sweetie Belle's concert tomorrow?”

A chorus of “me, me, me” followed that announcement.

“I don’t know, Twi, what do you think? They don’t seem that excited to me.”

“I think you're right, Rainbow, I don’t see why we would take little foals that weren't looking forward to it.”

“We are too excited!!!”

“I don’t know Twi, I am not feeling that level of excitement.”

“Yeah, me neither, maybe we should give those tickets back.”

“NOOOOOOOO!!!”

“Hmm, maybe they are excited after all. What do you think, Twi?”

“I'm still not sure; I know how we can test it though.”

“Oh, how's that?”

Twilight levitated the two tickets over to Rainbow, “Well, if they were really, truly, excited they would be able to get them from you, don’t you think so Rainbow?”

“You know what Twi. I think you're right.” Rainbow said right before grabbing the tickets.

Dayspring was the first to take the hint, he teleported onto Rainbow's lap and tried to grab the tickets from her mouth.

The poor colt did not stand a chance. Rainbow flipped off the chair tossing him safely on the couch in the other room. Aurora tried next; the little pegasus flew up and dive-bombed Rainbow, hoping such tactics would get her the surprise. Rainbow expertly sidestepped the filly, giving her a little slap on her flank with her wings while she passed. “You two gotta want it more than that!”

With that, the completion was on in earnest. The twins started working together to take on the older mare. They never stood any real chance; sure Rainbow would eventually let them win. However, that was not the point, it was getting close to bedtime and they were much easier to put to sleep if they were exhausted.

After fifteen minutes and three broken picture frames the chase was over, both twins lay on top of Rainbow, panting heavily. They were exhausted to their core, but they were both smiling with tickets in their mouths.

“Good job you two. Time for bed,” Twilight spoke.

Dayspring got up and walked over to Twilight giving her one last hug for the day. “Night mommy.”

Rainbow looked at Twilight with a jealous glare in her eyes that spoke everything she was thinking ‘did he just call you mommy?’ Twilight just hugged him back and nodded.

Aurora tried to complain. “But I’mmm nooootttt Sleeeeeeeeppppyyyy.” The yawn in her voice gave away the lie way too easily.

“Sure you're not, little one.” Rainbow ruffled up Aurora’s mane with her hoof. “Tell you what, you go lay in bed and I'll read you two a bedtime story.”

“Thanks mom!” Aurora hugged Rainbow before giving an equally big hug to Twilight.

After the two ran upstairs to get ready for bed, Twilight walked over to her wife and plopped down on top of her. She rested her head on Rainbow chest. “Besides, this is my spot.”

“Jealous of your own kids, Twi?”

“I'm jealous of anyone who gets to be close to you who's not me.:”

“Hey, I vowed on three separate weddings to be yours forever, and you know what they say. All good things happen in threes.”

“Speaking of threes, Rainbow you know that spell I've been working on.”

“That’s a lot of spells, Twi. Can you be more specific?”

“The one we break out for special occasions only.”

“OHH, the sex change one!”

“Rainbow! shh!”

“Relax they can’t hear us.”

“Yeah, heard that before.”

“Relax Twi…. Wait, are we going to try it again tonight?”

“Well… I can cast it on you if you want.”

“What, why only me?”

“Because, it worked.”

“Wait are you saying what I think you're saying?”

“Yep, Rainbow Dash, you're going to be a mother again. I'm pregnant.”

Rainbow stared at her wife before it finally clicked… She lifted Twilight off the ground and flew them around in big circles.

“This. Is. Awesome!”

"I can’t wait to tell the twins!”

“Wait…” She landed and gently set Twilight on the ground. “ You told me we couldn’t get pregnant using that.”

“That’s just it Rainbow, we shouldn’t be able to. The entire math and testing says it is not possible, yet the pregnancy test I got at the hospital said it happened. My weird cravings and sex drive also correspond with that result.”

“Do you think it might have something to do with Gaia? “

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Rainbow kissed her wife passionately. “I don’t care who gets the credit, as long as I get you.”

“You will always have me Rainbow, never forget that.”

“As long as I get to wake up next to you, you got a deal.”

“Tell you what, go and read Aurora her bed time story, and when you are done I'll be waiting for you in bed.”

“You're on, egghead.”

“Oh, Rainbow?”

“Yes Twi.”

“Two things, don’t forget Dayspring's cider.”

“Yeah, yeah, what’s the second?”

“Don’t keep me waiting to long….”

“Never!”

Twilight sighed as the love of her life flew up to their room to grab the cider for her son, in no time at all she flew into the twin's room. Twilight slowly rubbed her stomach, enjoying the thought of being the mom this time around. She made her way up to their room; placing out some candles she put on some soft mood music. Twilight paused next to a picture of her brother on the mantel. “You're right BBBFF, the easiest thing to do in life is to have a life lived for others. Do that, and it’s a life well lived.”

Ten years later