//------------------------------//
// 3. The Royal Foalsitters 
// Story: Smoke and Mirrors 
// by Baby Boo 
//------------------------------//





DREAMSWEET was helpless with giggles, and her face was red as a beet.  Despite her frantic waving for them to stop, the grownups kept piling on messy details, and adding jokes about other cases of breached baby bio-containment, enjoying the age-old tradition of embarrassing the offspring.

Rainbow Dash was the first to tire of the teasing, as a brightly-painted game stall caught her eye.  "Aw hay yeah, they got Fog Ball!  C'mon, 'Shy, you gotta watch this – I rule this game!"

She tugged eagerly at Fluttershy's tail until the yellow pegasus was drawn along in her excited wake.  "Um, okay...  I don't think I've ever seen you play it."

Dash drew up to the stall counter and reared up, puffing her chest at the pony running the game.  "Say goodbye to that big huge Zapp knockoff on the top shelf, mister, 'cause she's going home with Rainbow Dash!"

The game pony, a stout grayish-blue pegasus with a dapper wax-curled green mustache, tipped his straw boater hat and gave Dash a challenging grin.

"Well now, little lady, you talk a good game, now let's see your aim!  Five throws for a bit, one prize level per hit."

"You are so on."  Dash slapped a coin onto the counter.  The game runner dipped his hooves into a glass tank of thick grey mist behind the counter, and rolled a glob of the vapor into a ball, which he lofted toward Dash.  With careful swings of her wings, not actually touching the ball, Dash tossed it back and forth for a moment to judge its dynamics, then flung it up and, as it dropped, powered it forward with a strong sharp flap.

The ball floated over to the target range, a multi-layered plywood landscape of fanciful castles and woods, peppered with red-and-white rimmed target holes.  Dash's ball struck close to one of the targets, close enough that part of it sloshed through the hole while the rest spread out on the wood and puffed away to nothing.

The game pony clucked his tongue.  "Sorry, hotshot, gotta get the main body through the hole."

Dash growled and narrowed her eyes at the targets.  "Next ball," she said in a low, dangerous tone.









The rest of the group stepped out of the flow of traffic, to wait beside the game stall.

"Reckon she'll keep that up until she gets the big prize," Applejack said.

Dreamsweet poked her shoulder.  "Well, what about the story then?  I don't see what any of that had to do with mirrors."

"Oh!  Heh, I guess we did get sidetracked there, didn't we?"  Applejack chuckled.   Rarity had the grace to smile sheepishly and shrug.

"It was a nice story and all," Dreamsweet said to Rarity,  "but I already knew that I was born."

"Hah!"  Applejack gave Rarity another teasing grin.  "Okay, so as I was sayin' before we got so elegantly interrupted, the mirror story started a little while after you were born..."

She looked over to Twilight, who took up the thread.  "It was the first time Cadance and Shining Armor had an obligation to travel that they couldn't get out of.  And let me tell you, your mother was not happy about leaving you at home."









"You're sure there's enough milk?" said Cadance, stopping to turn back toward Twilight, while Shining Armor boarded the train behind her.

"I'm pretty sure the royal kitchen has plenty," Twilight said with a reassuring smile.

"And keep an eye on the right front latch on the crib gate, I think the screw might need tightening —"

"Applejack will take a look at it as soon as we get back."  Twilight's smile faded from reassuring to forced.

"Make sure to check the padding on the corners in the suite, sometimes the glue comes loose, oh, and remember that she likes the stuffed blue star for naps, but the orange owl for bedtime – Ahh!  Did I accidentally pack the owl?  I need to check –"

"Cadance."

"Are there enough diapers?  There are five more closets of them down in the service corridors if you need them."

"Cadance."

"And remember not to throw her out with the bathwater!"

"Cadance!  Look at me – look at me!"  Twilight reached up and seized Cadance's shoulders, made sure she had the panicking Princess parent's attention, then put one hoof to her own chest, drawing a deep breath, and spreading her hoof outward as she exhaled.  She repeated the gesture until Cadance followed along, with a nervous puff of self-aware laughter.

"Everything will be fine, Cadance.  She'll have me, and Luna, and all of the Elements of Harmony, and a castle full of guards, and pretty much the whole Crystal Empire watching over her.  I've got your checklist, and you know how I am with checklists, right?"

Cadance managed to smile and bobbed a skittish nod, anxiety still glittering in her eyes.  "I know, I know, I just... I don't want to leave her!"

"Of course you don't." Twilight stepped forward to draw Cadance's shaking form into a hug.  "But I promise, we'll be just fine, and you'll be back before you know it."

Cadance nodded again, and managed a more genuine smile.

The train whistle blasted suddenly, making Cadance jump.  The cylinders of the steam engine began to chuff, building up to running speed.  Reluctantly, Cadance began to back toward the passenger car entrance while still looking at Twilight and her friends.  "Okay, okay, it's all going to be all right.  Absolutely.  Just don't forget her 5:30 bottle.  And make sure she has that blue star for her nap afterward, and, and, remember the –"

The farewell party waved in a firm, now-get-going sort of way.  With seconds left before the train got moving, Shining Armor came back out of the car and, in the most loving and gentle way, hauled his wife bodily inside.

When the train had pulled away, Twilight brought out Cadance's checklist.  The scroll unrolled across the length of the platform and down off the edge.

"Okay, so... as soon as we get back, we'll need to give her a bath, which means we'll need to have the bath crystals, and the foal shampoo, and... apparently a toy goose... Pinkie, you'll be on bottle-warming, and Rarity, you make sure the changing cabinet is fully stocked, and – oh!  Who's got the pink bag?  For the drive home, we'll need the juice bottle, and her oat puffs, and –"

"Twilight," said Applejack.

"– do you think we should stop somewhere to get more powder?  I didn't inventory that before we left...  and of course the window in her room already has safety latches, but we should probably inspect those, and we definitely need to get more padding.  Just think how sharp most of the castle is!"

"Twilight," said Rarity.

"... maybe we should hire a professional nanny for the week, what if something happens and we all have to go use the Elements at the same time that Luna has to raise the moon?  Of course, there's a lot of palace staff... but how do we even know which ones know how to attend to a baby or a checklist?  We definitely have to stop and get some medicine in case she gets a cold, or a gas attack –"

"TWILIGHT!" cried everypony in chorus, including some of the complete strangers waiting for the next train.  "It will be FINE!"









"And everything was fine, for the rest of the day," said Twilight.

"Aside from all of your heart attacks," Pinkie added, sticking out her tongue.  Twilight tongue-stuck right back.

"It all went fine," she continued, determined.  "The trouble didn't start until later, when we were all dumb enough to believe you were down for the night..."