Hospitals. What wondrous buildings. So much happens within their walls that none can even begin to consider. But to most, this means nothing; they are solely focused on their own reason to being there and will have no desire to think of others. They have much more preoccupied minds…
A certain cyan and rainbow Pegasus was being brought into Cloudsdale General, about to give birth to three children.
She was already screaming in pain, just like on the journey there. And it only started a few hours ago. She was accompanied by one of her closest friends, called Audacious, or Sass to her friends. She is a mare a bit on the jolly side, dark yellow in colour and with a jet black mane in a tall spiralling style. She wore huge golden hoop earrings and many bangles around one of her front hooves, and a simple gold necklace which didn’t really match the rest of her.
“Excuuuse me, Honey. I think my girl here’s gonna be needing a room,” said Sass to the nurse behind the counter in a very condescending voice.
“Err… okay,” whimpered the nurse as she began to look for some documents. She found one and grabbed a pen. “Okay, err… what’s the nature of your emergency?” she squeaked, she was obviously new.
Sass gave her a very contemptuous look.
“Oh, right…” the nurse said with a nervous giggle. “J-just follow the signs to the Maternity Ward and they will deal with everything there.” she was visibly shaking as she pointed down a corridor to said ward.
“Thanks.” Sass took hold of the wheelchair the Pegasus was sitting in and ran through the halls with everypony diving out of the way of the determined Pony.
“It hurts so much!” screamed the Pegasus as she clutched at her pregnant stomach.
“I know Rainbow, I’ve been there. But just a little further and then we can get this whole business outta the way,” Sass managed to say in a friendly and calm tone, although it didn’t sound particularly natural.
She crashed through the doors of the Maternity Ward, bringing an unusual silence about the place. After some confused looks between doctors and patients somepony finally approached them. An experienced looking Midwife.
“By Celestia, she looks on the point of bursting, doesn’t she,” she said in an ear gratingly chipper tone.
“Why yes she is, Sugar,” Sass replied with great sarcasm. “Now can ya get us to a room?” her voice portrayed her doubt of the Midwife’s abilities.
“No problem. Just let me take that wheelchair and follow me.” The Midwife didn’t wait for a response and took command of the wheelchair. She walked quickly, Sass had trouble keeping up.
“So how much longer is mah mare here gonna be like this?” Sass panted in her efforts to keep up with the Midwife.
“That depends. How long has she been having contractions?” the Midwife had become much more professional now that she was on duty, losing any hint of compassion.
“A few hours now.”
“That sounds promising. Hopefully it won’t be much longer now then.” The Midwife took a sharp left turn into an empty room and quickly began the process of setting up Rainbow to prepare her for giving birth.
The midwife first heaved her onto the bed and tied a hospital gown around her. She made sure she was in a comfortable and practical position before setting about with attaching various electrodes to her body.
“What are you doing to her now?” Sass said with surprising anger, she was never fond of hospitals, especially with all the various machines they now decided to plug you in to.
“This is just a simple heart monitoring device. Now tell me, how many is she having?”
“I guess you mean babies, ‘cause that would be three.”
“Three?!” the midwife said as though impressed. “Well I wish you two the best of luck.”
“Oh no she didn’t! D’ya think we’re together like that, don’t you?” Sass was insulted by the accusation.
“What? Of course not! I was never insinuating anything of the sort! It just that one baby is hard enough… but three! Yeah this day isn’t going to be fun for either of you.”
“Well that’s just a lovely thing to say isn’t it?!” Sass now shouting with her building anger, stepping closer to the midwife threateningly.
“Leave it Sass,” Rainbow croaked up in a very tired and pained voice. “She’s not worth it.” She tried to force a laugh out, but nothing happened.
“Oh dear, look at you. I’ll go get a doctor; he should be able to give you something for the pain.” And with that, the Midwife left.
“You alright Rainbow?” Sass asked as she started stroking her hoof through Rainbow’s mane.
An ear piercing scream was emitted by the pregnant Pegasus, shaking the glass in the room.
“Oh my!” Sass shouted. She turned and ran out of the door, stopping just outside it. “Hey! Doctors! I don’t think we can wait much longer!” she shouted at the top of her naturally loud voice, meaning it was a very loud shout indeed.
A brown Pegasus in a lab coat flew through the air and landed next to Sass. “What’s the problem over here?” he asked, mildly annoyed at her shouting. But then he heard another scream.
“Okay. That makes sense now. NURSE!” he shouted over his shoulder and then gave a loud whistle through his hoof.
An entourage of nurses collected around him and awaited orders. He gestured for three of them to follow him and Sass back into the room.
“What’s the patient’s name?” he asked Sass.
“Rainbow-.”
He didn’t let her finish. “Alright Rainbow. Let’s have a look then.” Without hesitation he placed his glasses on his nose and then peered under the gown. “Alright, you’re definitely about to give birth.” He retracted his head and ordered the nurses to gather for him various medical equipment and supplies, and they did so swiftly.
“Sass? Sass?!” Rainbow shouted in a tired manner, desperately waving a hoof around for her friend.
Sass grabbed it. “I'm here, Sugar, I'm here,” she said whispered delicately.
“Good. I want to thank you so much. I couldn’t have done this on my own.”
“No worries mare. You’re my best friend, and I know you’ll return the favour if I ever asked.”
Rainbow was about to say something, but instead her mouth was taken over by a huge surge of pain as she started screaming again.
Sass used her remaining hoof to remove one of the sticks that kept her mane on place, causing it to fall slightly. “Here. Bite down on this,” she said as she placed the delicate porcelain stick between Rainbow’s teeth.
“GIVE ME THE DRUGS!” Rainbow shouted through the bar.
“Far, far, far, FAR too late for that,” the doctor said as he busied himself with some medical equipment that didn’t look particularly safe.
“Sorry Honey. looks like you’re going natural this time ‘round,” Sass said carefully, she knew all too well how angry mares can get during this time, her having two kids and all.
Rainbow had been hoping for a girl, she didn’t really know why but she did. When she first found out she was pregnant she didn’t really care, she was just too happy to be having a child. But it all started when her husband left her, only two weeks after they found out the tremendous news, after that she wanted a girl. She would have given her wings for a little girl.
She went for her first scan, Sass by her side, and when she found out she was having triplets she could have exploded, the chances of at least one of them being a girl were tripled.
She cried that night she was so happy, something she never thought she would ever do when being told the pain of giving birth would be tripled.
And now it was judgement day. Would life be kind on her and bless her with a little girl she could name after herself, or would it be harsh and give her a trio of colts. She wouldn’t have minded that either, to be honest, she’d still love them. But they’re just not fillies.
A whole half an hour past before the first one popped out. A crying mess, covered in red gunk, being vigorously rubbed in a towel before being taken to be cleaned properly.
“What is it?” she tried to ask, but the pain of the next one was there already.
The second was out in only ten minutes, in exactly the same state as the first. Although the third was being a little more troublesome.
“This is one persistent little bugger!” the doctor said through gritted teeth as he tried to work the baby out. It may have taken a shorter time to come out but it seemed the most uncomfortable to Rainbow.
The baby came out. Rainbow hadn’t felt such relief in all her life, as she signified with a huge sigh and a little tired laugh.
“Well done Sugar. I'm proud of you,” Sass said as she nuzzled her friend’s sweat soaked cheek.
“Well that’s… odd,” the doctor said as he looked at the third child.
“What?” Rainbow said, trying to sit up and look, but she was far too exhausted.
“This baby…”
“C’mon doc. What the hell’s wrong with it?” Sass said worriedly, if anything happened to Rainbow’s children after what she’s been through she wouldn’t know what to tell her.
“This baby… she has no hair,” he stated with the utmost confusion.
Rainbow didn’t her the whole thing, she just focused on one word. “She? I-it’s a girl?” she asked hopefully.
“Well, um… yeah, but-.”
“Oh YES!” she screamed. The joy she felt was incredibly. She didn’t feel tired or in pain anymore. “I wanna see her!” she said as she threw her hooves forward so she could be given her.
“Wait a minute so we can clean her up, and then we can bring you the others as well.” The doctor stood up with the baby wrapped in a towel resting in his foreleg.
Rainbow would never admit it be she didn’t care about the other two, she just wanted her daughter.
Sass caught a look at the filly as the doctor left the room, her face contorting with confusion. “Err… she has… no hair. Whatsoever.”
“What?” Rainbow said in an airy voice, she was just too happy to listen properly.
“Your daughter. No mane. Or tail.”
Rainbow looked up at Sass, a look of doubt across her face. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. She really had no hair. Just the same blue coat as you.”
“Oh…” Rainbow looked down again, her brow furrowed. She had not expected that.
“C’mon Rainbow. Get some sleep,” Sass said sternly.
“But I don’t wanna sleep, I need to see my children.”
“There will be plenty of time for that after you get some sleep, Sugar.”
“But I'm not ti-,” she stopped mid-sentence thanks to a yawn, and fell asleep near instantly.
Sass chuckled warmly and left the room so Rainbow could sleep. Also, now she could go and look at the three new joys of her best friend’s life.
Several hours later, after Rainbow had some significant rest, she was now awake. She was on her own in the room, the staff and Sass decided to give her some time alone with her three new children.
It had been well over an hour now and she had only just stopped crying. The smile on her face was impossible to remove; the only thing that would do it would be to take away her children.
She couldn’t take her eyes off them. They were beautiful. They all shared her blue coat, and the other two had the same rainbow manes. Her daughter in the middle looked rather comical with no hair when compared to the other two, haired fillies sandwiching her. That’s right, three babies, three daughters. Her dream had come true.
She only needed one daughter to make her complete.
When she saw the first hairless one she could have danced she was that happy. Then they had brought the second one over to her, that’s when the unending smile started. And the third one just overloaded her. The happiness she felt was unimaginable; she could have exploded, but resisted the urge.
She burst into tears the moment her eyes laid upon her. She didn’t know what to do or say when all three of her new born daughters were laid in front of her.
The two with hair were twins, they looked identical in every way, and both had beautiful deep blue eyes.
The other hairless one was somehow not identical, not just because of the lack of mane but also a little different in shape. And her eyes matched her mother’s with the most beautiful of rose colours.
Rainbow started laughing quietly, her daughters just made her want to. There was also possibly the sense of “screw you” in her thoughts when her ex-husband popped into her mind. He would have hated having three daughters.
Eventually, her mind allowed her to think coherent thoughts again.
“Well… I should really give you names, shouldn’t I?” she asked them, although the only one which made any kind of response was the hairless one, who began to watch her mother intently, as if eager for a name.
“Let’s start with you on the left then.” Rainbow looked at the daughter on the left. “I should really name one of you after me, and after all, you’re clearly going to grow up quite a looker. Only seems right that you should be called Rainbow Swirl as well.”
Rainbow Swirl went to kiss her first named daughter, but her face refused to let her formulate the correct facial position, meaning she could only smile. So she just rubbed her muzzle against hers instead.
She turned to the other haired one. “And what about you?” Rainbow went into a deep concentration, trying to think of names.
Her ex-husband wouldn’t have let her use the name Rainbow and definitely would have refused to let her name their child after herself. So she worked furiously, trying to come up with any Rainbow based names she could think of.
“Hm… this is harder than I thought it would be. You look so much like your sister, I can’t think of any names whatsoever that would suit you other than Rainbow Swirl…” Her brow furrowed, she was growing annoyed at her brain. She thought this would be the easy part, but coming up with three names is tricky.
“C’mon brain, think!” she ordered, tapping her head with a hoof in the hopes to wake it up.
A moment later, she jumped as a thought came to mind. “OO! I know!” she said ecstatically. “Rainbow Shine! Perfect!” she said with relief; that was two of the three. She rubbed their muzzles together like she did with Swirl.
“And now you,” she said as she turned her gaze onto her and immediately started laughing again. “You look so stupid!” she laughed. The little hairless filly looked up at her with what seemed to be anger.
“Oh I'm so sorry, little one, but when you’re older you’ll understand.” Rainbow managed to calm herself.
“Right, now for the tricky one. The Third and final one. And what makes this harder is the fact you have no hair, so I can hardly call you Rainbow. What if your mane was a different colour?” she asked her, although the filly just gave her an evil look.
“Alright, alright. I’ll hurry up,” Rainbow said with a little laugh. She began to inspect every inch of the filly for inspiration before ending on her wings.
“Wow. Those are some lovely wings,” she said as she started playing with them gently. “And look, you’re already strong enough to hold them up yourself! I bet you’re gonna be a strong flier when you grow up. Perhaps join the Wonderbolts or something. And I have the perfect name for you. Pause for dramatic effect… Rainbow Dash.”
Dash smiled a broad toothless smile and held out her hooves for her mummy to pick her up.
Rainbow smiled more and took all three of them in her embrace, hugging them tightly yet gently.
“I love you, my little Rainbows,” she whispered, tears starting to form in her eyes again. Naming them had made them more real.
Sass walked in and even managed to stay quiet. She was followed by her two children, a colt and a filly, seven and five respectively. Although her husband must still be at work, thought Rainbow.
“Hi Sass,” she said quietly.
“Heyya Rainbow. How are ya holdin’ up, Sugar?” she said, trying to match her volume, and almost succeeding.
“I'm good thanks. I named them as well,” she said proudly.
“Really? Are ya gonna introduce us to them then?”
“Of course!” Rainbow lessened her hug on her children so she could show them off. She introduced each one individually, getting happier and happier as she did so.
“This one’s Rainbow Swirl, for obvious reasons. She’s clearly going to be beautiful, just like me,” she said arrogantly.
“This one is Rainbow Shine, because she looks shiny, I guess. If I'm honest, I actually don’t know why, it just seemed to fit…”
“And finally, Rainbow Dash,” she said with a cool tone in her voice. “She is going to be the coolest and most awesome Pegasus ever. Not to mention the fastest. Just look at her wings!” she said proudly.
Sass nodded approvingly. “Well they’re some mighty fine names. I'm sure your stallion won’t be to please at all,” she said with a sarcastic smirk once Rainbow had finished with the pleasantries.
“I should hope so!”
“Mummy?” asked Sass’s daughter. She matched her mother’s colour scheme, although her mane was short and curly.
“What is it, Honey?”
“Can I see them?”
“Of course!” Sass stooped down to allow her daughter to get on her back and raised her up to see them. The filly jumped off the bed and sat next to Rainbow so she could look at the newborns.
“Awww! They’re so cute!”
“Bleurgh,” this sound was made by Sass’s son. Sass just chuckled and shook her head.
“Don’t you wanna see?”
“NO!” he shouted. “It’s way too girly!”
“Suit yourself then.” Sass turned sarcastically moodily back to her friend and began to gawk at the babies.
“Why has that one got no mane?” asked the little filly, rather rudely pointing a hoof at Rainbow Dash.
“I don’t know, Honey,” Rainbow said with a giggle. “She just wasn’t born with one.”
“What?” said the colt. “Lemme see!” He barged his way through to in front of his mother to get a look at said hairless baby. He laughed really loudly. “She looks so stupid!”
“Now that ain’t nice, Coal!” stated Sass angrily.
“That’s okay Sass. She does look rather stupid,” Rainbow said calmly, as if pointing out the obvious.
Sass opened her mouth to talk, but nothing came out, so she shut it again and had to agree. Rainbow Dash did look incredibly humorous.