(“My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic,” its characters and situations are copyright of their respective owners. Story copyright 2014 by George Pollock Jr. All rights reserved.)
Birthright
by
George Pollock, Jr.
Part IV
“Sometimes,” Twilight Sparkle said, “being a parent can be a real bitch.”
“Amen to that,” Sweetie Belle said, nodding.
“Well … yes …,” Fluttershy conceded.
Pinkie Pie put a large plate of cupcakes on the center table at Sugar Cube Corner. “Oh, I don’t know,” she ventured, “I’ve always kind of liked it.”
“You’ve had six foals, Pinkie,” Applejack replied with a chuckle. “Pretty obvious you must like it.”
“Well, gosh, Big Macintosh and I really love each other, silly.”
“Pinkie,” Twilight said, taking a cupcake, “I love books, but sometimes I close them and put them down.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.”
“Ya know, Mac always has been a hard worker ...,” Applejack said and smiled slyly at the others around the table. She took a cupcake and glanced knowingly at Twilight. They grinned quietly.
“Huh?” Pinkie repeated.
“Never mind,” Twilight repeated, grinning.
Fluttershy took the meaning after a moment, looked down and blushed.
“Oh, my …” Rarity snickered, despite herself. To keep the others from seeing her blush, she surveyed the baby-shower gifts on the neighboring table. Among the torn wrapping and ribbons, the infant toys were piled on one side. Elsewhere, there was a bassinet, champing rings, lots of blankets and baby caps, and many infant drinking cups. There also was a book from Twilight: “The Care and Feeding of Young Dragons.” Rarity had laughed aloud upon seeing the title and then scrambled for a grateful compliment upon observing that Twilight was confused – that she didn’t see a joke. Apparently, the book wasn’t meant as one. So Rarity scrambled. Quickly.
A crib stood nearby, a hanging spinner toy attached to the headboard. Five tiny pegasi hung from strings and floated somewhat aimlessly in a circle. From a sixth arm of the spinner hung a tiny toy dragon. It had obviously been attached in place of a pegasus. Rarity knew what it symbolized but allowed her younger sister, Sweetie Belle, to explain it: The dragon represented the father of Rarity’s unborn youngster. It was Spike. It had touched her deeply.
There was also a lovely baby carriage. “What a gorgeous pram!” she had exclaimed when Sweetie Belle had rolled it in from the next room.
“A what?” Applejack had asked.
Rarity had sighed. “Baby carriage, darling. Baby carriage.”
“Oh.”
“And it is lovely,” the unicorn had assured her. Because it was, Rarity had thought. Truly. A practical yet elegant design. Somewhere among her friends and her sister, somepony had good taste. She wondered who it was.
She sincerely hoped it was her younger sister. Sweetie Belle had a husband and a colt now. For several years, actually. To Rarity’s mind, there was some paradox – somewhere – that the younger sibling had married and had a foal before her. But birth order wasn’t a guarantee that marriage and parenthood would come in the same order, and she understood that. Rarity wondered why her own pregnancy had come so far along into her life – let alone by a young dragon. What possible purpose could The Steed have at this point for all that?
She didn’t know. All she knew was that the foal existed within her now. That was enough for her. She had decided that she would leave the rest to The Steed.
“Got any cravings yet, Rarity?” Pinkie asked. “I remember my cravings. Some of them were really weird. There was hay and pickles. And then I liked clover and pickles. And then I couldn’t get enough tofu and pickles. And then I wanted cupcakes and hot sauce. But I always liked that. I just wanted more. And then there was cupcakes and pickles.” She took a cupcake from the plate. “After that, …”
“Apples,” Rarity interrupted politely.
“Apples? That’s so boring!”
“Nevertheless, dear.”
“And I swear it’s keepin’ Sweet Apple Acres in business!” Applejack said, then laughed. “That’s all I have Apple Fritter doin’ anymore – pickin’ Rarity’s apples!”
“And your daughter picks some of the sweetest I’ve ever tasted, Applejack,” Rarity said. “Please do tell her thank you for me.”
“Will do. If I ever see her again. High school and activities and her friends and all.”
“I see.” Rarity took a sip from the glass of apple juice she held. She wondered whether she’d live to see her foal in high school. She didn’t like thinking like that, but she was just past her prime brood years; her doctor had told her that. But she hadn’t needed to be told. Before her night of passion with Spike, she had felt it not just in her body, she had felt it in her heart. She had been resigned to being foal-less. So if a foal was a miracle in itself, then hers – at her age – was yet another. And it was the offspring of a pony and a dragon. A “kirin,” she had learned it was called. Her family and friends had come to learn it, too. And a kirin was very rare in the world, like yet another miracle.
All right, she had decided long before this, the youngster was already a triple miracle.
“Have you decided on a name yet?” Fluttershy asked quietly. She always asked quietly.
“Miracle …,” Rarity whispered, not realizing she had.
“That’s pretty, Sis,” Sweetie Belle replied.
The older sister blinked and returned to the moment. “Pardon?”
“Is that what you and Spike decided on?”
“We … really haven’t discussed that yet.”
Fluttershy also blinked. “Thunder and I talked a lot about a name before we settled on ‘Ambrosia.’ She is very sweet …”
Pinkie Pie gobbled another cupcake. Nopony could say with certainty that she had actually reached for it. One moment, the treat was on the platter. The next, there was a pink blur, and the pastry was gone. And in the moment after that, Pinkie was chewing something, then swallowing it. “ ‘Miracle’ sounds like a good name for a filly, but what if it’s a colt?” she asked.
“I … don’t know,” Rarity replied.
Pinkie was already eyeing another cupcake. “So when’s Spike coming home?”
“A few days,” Rarity said. “I got the letter from him last night. He said he’d be back in a few days. He’s flying from the Occident of Pyra. That’s quite far away.”
“Bet he’s a happy pappy,” Applejack said with a grin.
“He said he was ...”
Twilight narrowed her eyes skeptically. “You don’t sound convinced.”
The white unicorn sighed. “If there’s any doubt … it’s mine.”
“You don’t think Spike will come through …?” Fluttershy asked cautiously. She always asked cautiously.
“YES, HE WILL!” The others started at the outburst, and Fluttershy cowered back in surprise. Rarity recovered her composure. “Forgive me … There’s a lot on my mind. But not about Spike. It’s just that I don’t know how I feel about … being pregnant. It’s so new … and strange …”
Sweetie Belle chuckled. “First one always is, Sis.”`
“Amen to that,” Applejack repeated from before.
“I really can’t remember,” Pinkie observed.
Twilight was silent.
“Especially this foal,” Rarity said. “It’s a pony-dragon … hybrid. There are so many unknowns. My doctor said there weren’t any alarming signs, but she admitted it was new to her, too. We don’t even know what normal development for an unborn kirin is.” Her tone turned deeper. “Something could go wrong, and we wouldn’t even know until it’s too late.”
Sweetie Belle, within foreleg’s length, reached over and touched her sister’s shoulder. “Rarity, it’ll be all right.”
“Hey, now,” Applejack broke in quickly. “This here’s a baby shower. There’ll be no talk like that while …”
The unicorn was too far down the path. “My Steed … can you imagine losing a foal after carrying it for so long?”
The others gasped suddenly. All but Twilight. She closed her eyes and said nothing. Nopony said anything for a few moments. Until realization finally hit the one who had spoken. Rarity’s eyes suddenly widened.
“OH, MY STEED!!” she whispered. “OH, STEED, Twilight!!” Her voice grew with contrition. “Oh, Steed, I’m SORRY!! Twilight, FORGIVE me!! PLEASE forgive me!!”
The purple alicorn kept her eyes closed. “You’re right … to be afraid … Rarity,” she said quietly.
“Twilight …”
Her friend finally opened her eyes and looked at Rarity. “It’s all right. … I understand. … I felt the same thing when I was pregnant with Wishful. It’s normal …”
“Every time … it’s normal …” From somewhere, Pinkie sounded wise.
“Rex and I have had three foals,” Twilight said, still quietly. “Wishful was our first … She just never woke up when she was born. But we’ve had three foals. We’ve always counted her …”
Another foreleg was reached out. A purple shoulder was touched. “Sugar Cube …,” Applejack said.
“Because … she was a part of our lives. And always will be.” Twilight’s eyes started, just, to rim with moisture. “Rarity …”
“Yes, darling?” Her friend sounded shamed and sympathetic at the same time.
“You’re right to be afraid for your foal when you’re carrying it. … So love your baby now. Don’t wait for it to be born …”
“Amen to that.” Fluttershy this time.
Silently, Rarity rose and walked to Twilight. She hugged her friend and nuzzled the alicorn on the back of her neck.
“I won’t wait, Twilight,” she whispered. “I promise.”
Twilight closed her eyes again, lifted a hoof and touched one of Rarity’s forelegs that was around her neck. Despite the moisture, there were no tears. A moment later, Twilight wiped her eyes and released herself from the embrace. “Yeah, well …,” she said in playful sarcasm, “… just wait until you’re wiping its rump at three in the morning …” Then she sniffled and laughed in release. The rest joined her.
“Now, like I said,” Applejack said, “that’s enough of that. This here’s a happy occasion. Next thing ta do is to get ready for Spike’s return. Rarity, you have a better idea of when he’s comin’ back? Better than a ‘few days’?”
The unicorn returned to all fours from standing. “He said three or four days from when he wrote the letter. That was yesterday.”
“That was fast,” Pinkie noted. “I didn’t think Derpy Hooves could fly that fast. Or that straight.”
“It came by dragon’s breath, not the regular mail. It just appeared in this ball of green energy in the middle of the air at the boutique last night. Quite scary at the time.”
Twilight had returned to the moment. “So he could be back here as early as ...” She calculated. “… the fourth.”
“Day after tomorrow,” Applejack said, without calculating.
“Or as late as the fifth,” Rarity said. “In either case, it gives me time for a day trip to Canterlot for work tomorrow.”
“You’re going to Canterlot before he gets here?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Do you think that’s OK?”
“It’s just a final fitting for Princess Celestia’s outfit for the summit coming up. I’ll arrive in the morning, have lunch with Rainbow Dash and then head to the palace for my appointment with Celestia. I’ll be back here in the late evening.”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “What’s a ‘summit’?”
Pinkie waved a hoof in the air frantically while finishing the last cupcake in another. Nopony had noticed yet that after their first treat each, the remaining pastries had disappeared in a pink direction. “OH! OH! I KNOW! It’s the total when you add numbers together! The ‘summit’!”
Silence. Until Twilight started smirking, and it became contagious. Smirks became chuckles became laughs. Amid the hilarity, Pinkie looked confused. “Hey! I was good at math!”
The alicorn recovered. “Pinkie … a ‘summit’ is a meeting of the leaders of realms. They talk about how things are going among the lands. It’s meant to make sure there are no misunderstandings among the lands and things stay peaceful.”
“Do they do math, too?”
“Not usually.”
“That’s too bad. Math is fun.”
“In this case,” Rarity said with a tone that tried to rein in Pinkie’s arithmetical enthusiasm, “Celestia is meeting the First Fire of Pyra – he’s the dragon king – and the leader of Mythos. He’s a manticore and the leader of the chimeras. They say he’s very bossy, doesn’t have a sense of humor and really doesn’t like any creatures who aren’t chimeras.”
“Hate ta sound prejudiced,” Applejack conceded, “but sounds like a typical Mythosian ta me.”
“Celestia told me, by the way,” Rarity added, “that his title is very strange. It’s ‘fuehrer.’ She said it’s very ancient.”
Sweetie Belle looked concerned. “Are you up to a trip right now? Even a day trip?”
Her older sister smiled. “Of course, dear. I’m not so far along that I’m exhausted because my belly is swaying with every pace I take.”
“That’ll change, Sis. That’ll change.” Her grin was knowing.
“And you’re going to see Rainbow, too? Busy schedule,” Twilight observed.
“The Wonderbolts are between maneuvers,” the unicorn explained, “so she has some free time. Seems that’s a precious commodity for a Wonderbolt. So I’m lucky to see her at all.”
Applejack nodded. “Tell her I said, ‘Howdy!’ ”
“And that we all miss her …,” Fluttershy added softly. She always added softly.
“Do you want to bring her some cupcakes?” Pinkie asked. “Oh – and tell her I said, ‘Hi!’ ”
“Actually,” Rarity replied, “I rather think she’d like that. Oh, but only if you have time to make them.”
“No problem. I’m making cupcakes all the time now. I’ll bring some over tonight. In fact,” Pinkie said eagerly, “I’ll set up the ingredients right now. It’s never too early for cupcakes. Be right back!” She rose from the table and headed for the kitchen.
Rarity raised a hoof tentatively. “Oh, darling, there’s no rush.”
“Too late! Gotta have cupcakes!” With that, the pink pony vanished through the swinging double doors to the kitchen.
A slight silence followed. “Never,” Twilight finally said, “come between Pinkie and her cupcakes.” The rest chuckled.
“So … um …are you and Spike going to live at the boutique?” Fluttershy spoke shyly. It was in her name.
“At least at the start,” Rarity replied. “But we’ll have to find a new place by the time I have the foal. The boutique will be much too small for the three of us. My bedroom will be empty after that, so I’ll use it for storage. Like Sweetie Belle’s old room is now.”
“Where’s Spike gonna sleep until then?” Applejack asked. “Where does a young dragon sleep, anyway?”
Rarity seemed surprised and confused simultaneously. “Why, he’ll sleep in my room with me, of course. At least next to my bed. Where else?”
A grin came back. “That’ll be cozy.”
“Which is precisely why we’ll need a larger place.”
Twilight had been refilling her teacup. “Well, at least you know a good estate agent.” She grinned at Rarity’s younger sibling as she set the teapot back onto the table and reached for the sugar bowl.
Sweetie Belle grinned. “Didn’t get this for nothing, you know.” She reached down and patted her cutie mark – a “For Sale” sign. “But I can’t sell to Rarity. Conflict of interest. But I can recommend an agent, Sis. That’s OK to do.”
“Well, thank you, dear,” the older unicorn said. “But let’s keep that for later.”
Applejack squinted. “But what about when Spike’s fully grown? Ain’t no home in Ponyville that big.”
“Again,” Rarity replied, “we’ll keep that for later.”
“AW, FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA!!”
All but Twilight started at the cry, and all turned toward Twilight. Her pink-purple magic aura was levitating the sugar bowl and a spoon. Her gaze was focused intently into the bowl. She finally sighed and put the items down. “Out of sugar,” she huffed. “Thought I was the only one with a sweet tooth.”
“I’m sorry …” Fluttershy apologized softly. “I mean … I took the last spoonful. I like a lot of sugar in my tea, too …”
“Not a problem, Sugar Cube,” Applejack said soothingly. “We all like it. I’ll just go get some more.” She made the first slightest movement to get up from the table.
“Oh, let me get that, darling,” Rarity volunteered. “I’m already up.” Her horn glowed its light blue, and the aura enveloped the bowl. It rose from the table and started to glide away as she trotted off toward the kitchen. “Be right back!”
She passed the swinging doors into the kitchen. “Yoo, hoo, Pinkie Pie!” she called musically. “We need more sugar!”
The room was quietly, surprisingly, extraordinarily Pinkie-free. Rarity halted and scanned around. “Pinkie?” No pink pony popped out of nowhere with a gleeful “Hi!” The emptiness of the room didn’t need to pop out at her. It was already there, in full silence.
Where could she be? Rarity thought. She paced into the kitchen slowly. In confusion and concern. “Pinkie Pie …?”
“In HERE!!”
The voice had come from the walk-in pantry on the other side of the room. It was, Rarity realized, Pinkie’s. But somehow, it sounded … irritated. As if the speaker was in the middle of something terribly, terribly important and that answering was an inexcusable – no, horribly unforgivable – bother. The door was almost closed, so Pinkie wasn’t visible inside. Rarity trotted over, opened the door and stepped inside.
And gasped.
A pink pony was standing on its hind legs, its back toward the unicorn. It was diligently using a metal scoop to collect flour from a wooden bin on a shelf. The flour phoomped regularly into a large measuring cup. In that Rarity had seen Pinkie doing such before, there was nothing strange about it.
It was the mane. The tail. They were both pink. They were both straight.
They were both – as Rarity knew, and deeply feared – Pinkamena.
Amid the shock, Rarity heard the door creak mostly closed behind her.
“What do you want?” the pink pony asked. It didn’t face Rarity – just kept scooping flour and sounding deeply annoyed.
“We … ran out of sugar …,” the unicorn explained, recovering. Somewhat.
A deep, inconvenienced sigh. “Hold on. Let me do this first.”
“Oh, no bother. If you just tell me where …”
“I’ll GET it!!” The answer was a harsh, sharp whisper. A final scoopful of flour flew into the cup, followed by an upset, hollow clunk as the scoop was thrown back roughly into the bin. Then another sigh – frustrated and again deep.
“Is everything all right, dear …?” Rarity asked warily.
“Everything’s fine,” the other pony growled, then turned toward Rarity. The unicorn saw blue eyes of imbalance. The cool gaze of suspicion, of subdued hostility and contempt. Hateful eyes.
Oh, my Steed, Rarity thought. It IS Pinkamena …
The eyes lit on the sugar bowl hovering between them in a light-blue aura. “Gimme that,” Pinkamena snapped and grabbed the bowl. She placed the measuring cup on a shelf and faced another bin, marked “Sugar.” Grabbing the scoop within, she started filling the bowl.
“Thank you …,” Rarity said, unsure. Think, she prodded herself, think … “I’ve … admired how you’ve handled motherhood … um … Pinkie. I’ll probably seek your advice.” She chuckled awkwardly. “I mean, after six foals …”
“Seven,” Pinkamena corrected quietly but harshly, not looking at the unicorn.
“Pinkie, I know for a fact that you and Big Mac have six foals.”
Pinkamena stopped. Then a small sigh and bowed head. She closed her eyes. “Seven,” she repeated softly, though still sounded contentious. “We’ll have seven.”
The meaning materialized for Rarity. She gasped again. “Pinkie!! That’s wonderful! Congratulations!”
“Yeah, whatever.” Pinkamena opened her eyes and finished filling the sugar bowl. “Shoulda gelded him in his sleep after the first one …”
“Pinkie!! That’s horrible!!”
The second scoop slammed angrily into a bin. “No, it’s the TRUTH!!” It was a hot, whispered yell, delivered with the venom of altered blue eyes. “Pregnancy is horrible! The weight, the sickness! The waddling around like a bloated bear! The pain in your ankles! Everything!”
“Well … surely by now … you must be used …”
“And foalbirth! Squirting out an entire foal while you’re in the worst pain you’ll ever feel! EVER!! Every second, you’re screaming and feeling like you’ll rip apart!”
Suddenly, Pinkamena moved – sugar bowl in hoof – snout to snout with Rarity. The unicorn felt the pink pony’s hot snorts on her face. She felt fear.
“AND …” Pinkamena said in a soft, cruel voice, “you’ll spend every second of that asking yourself, ‘WHY?! WHY did I do this to myself?! Why did HE?! WHY?!’ ”
Rarity quivered. “Because … you … love him …?”
Pinkamena let out the single most contemptuous snort Rarity had ever heard. “Then let him have the Steed-damned thing …”
Think, Rarity, think …
“Because … you … love the foal … and want it, anyway …?
A smile slowly curled on Pinkamena’s face, a change that Rarity found upsetting at best. “Well, well, well …,” Pinkamena whispered, “seems you’re smarter than your career choice lets on.”
She lifted one of the unicorn’s hooves and set the bowl on it. Then a devilish grin. “Twilight’s right,” Pinkamena said. “Try to remember you love the damned foal when you’re wiping its rump at three in the morning.”
Rarity nodded by reflex only. The pink pony patted the unicorn’s cheek with a hoof. “Good girl,” she said in a playfulness that was unsettling. “Tell the others I’m starting the cupcakes. Don’t tell them they’re mostly for me. The craving has started. You know what that’s like, don’t you, darling?”
Rarity nodded again, and her horn glowed its light blue again as her magic enveloped the sugar bowl. It lifted slightly from her hoof, then hovered as she lowered her leg. And she thought.
“Regardless, dear,” she replied with what she considered remarkable calm, “congratulations to you and Big Mac.”
Another sigh. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever.” Pinkamena took the measuring cup of flour from the shelf and considered. “Oh – and don’t tell the others about No. 7 yet. Mac and I just found out, OK?”
“Of course. We’ll have the shower at my boutique.”
“Not much need for a shower after six foals. We have so many hand-me-downs, we pretty much have everything we need. But with four fillies and two colts, gotta admit the colts have gotten the short end.” She followed with a shrug and a chuckle that seemed – seemed – full of acceptance.
Rarity noticed, quite by coincidence, that the ends of the pink pony’s mane and tail had started – slowly – to curl again. She thought it was a good sign. “Nevertheless,” the unicorn replied, “at my boutique.”
“Don’t forget the cupcakes,” the other pony finished. And before Rarity’s eyes, the pink mane and tail actually started curling with increased speed.
She indicated the levitating bowl. “Thank you for the sugar.” She turned, pushed open the door and trotted away. As she did, the pony now becoming Pinkie Pie began to wonder – from out of nowhere – what, along with cupcakes, she would crave this time.
Rarity stopped at the swinging double doors and closed her eyes. She took a deep, trembling breath, released it and opened her eyes. And she stepped through the doors.
She returned to the dining room and placed the sugar bowl on the table. “Sugarrrr!” she announced brightly.
Twilight didn’t miss an instant. Her magic grabbed the bowl and spoon. “Thanks, Rarity.”
Sweetie Belle regarded her older sister curiously. “You were in there a bit, Sis. Couldn’t find the sugar?”
“Oh … Pinkie Pie got it for me …” The unicorn surveyed her friends and sister. And she recalled the pink friend in the other room who had depth unseen. Not mere merriment. Passion, as well.
They were all friends. With families. And a family of friends.
“We were just talking about motherhood,” Rarity concluded.