Twilight Sparkle hovered over her screaming friend's hospital bed. The doctor had said that Rainbow Dash was going to be fine, but that didn't mean Twilight wasn't worried. When Midnight Sparkle was born, Twilight hadn't been comfortable, but she didn't remember screaming quite this much. No doubt Applejack would tell her differently, but she wasn't here, so it didn't matter.
The doctor left the room momentarily, and another uncharacteristically piercing screech was ripped from Rainbow's throat. Twilight couldn't stand it anymore. She hated to think that this would be what her friend would remember of her birth. She glanced around to make sure the doctor was still away, and then closed her eyes and directed a wave of soothing magic toward Rainbow Dash. Just as she finished the spell, she heard a sharp voice from the door.
"Twilight!" said Nurse Silver Light, her face darkened with a frown. "What in Equestria do you thing you're doing?"
Twilight hung her head. "I'm sorry, Nurse. But she seemed in so much pain, I just couldn't help it. You know how I am about people being in pain."
Silver Light's face softened. "Alright," she sighed. I'll tell the Dr Hoof I put her on a tranquilizer."
Twilight nodded, relieved, and sank back in her chair. Another howl erupted from Rainbow Dash, but Twilight knew that she wouldn't remember any of it.
Dr Hoof came hurrying back. "They should be out any minute now," said the nurse.
Twilight looked hard at her friend's sweating, pain-contorted face anxiously. Rainbow Dash moaned and an enormoous shudder racked her body as Dr Hoof extracted the first foal. Twilight gasped. The little Soarin-shaped colt came tail-first. His furry face, when it came into view, was paler than Rainbows own, and his breath wheezed in and out of him with great difficulty. Twilight was still worrying about him when the next foal flew out, thankfully face first, and landed neatly in the doctors outstretched hooves. She was light blue with a rainbow mane, like Dash, but she was scrawny and weak, and the nurse rushed off with her to hook her up to some machine to get her breathing. Rainbow Dash was screaming again, and Twilight moved closer and held her hoof. Rainbow squeezed it with such a death grip Twilight felt sure it would fall off. The cyan mare squeezed her eyes shut, pushing with all her might, but the third filly would not come. Dr Hoof pressed his hoof to Rainbow's still-swollen stomach and shook his head. Rainbow Dash gasped and, with a shriek, pushed the last filly out.
Dr Hoof held the limp foal, looking sadly at her pale little face. "This one may not make it," he said finally. "She's not breathing yet."
Twilight panicked. She simply couldn't let one of her best friend's foals die. She concentrated all her magic on the limp, almost white filly, pushing air in and out of her lungs, begging her heart to start beating. Finally, the little creature coughed and screeched weakly. Her coat slowly turned back to its normal cyan color. Rainbow Dash had passed out from exhaustion shortly before, so Twilight quietly excused herself from the room and went to announce the birth to the others, who were waiting impatiently.
"They're out," she said simply. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack mobbed her almost before she got the words out.
"Do you know if they're fillies or colts? Is Rainbow OK? We heard her screaming from all the way out here. Is she awake?"
Then Pinkie Pie came bouncing in by some unknown entrance, shrieking and giggling madly like the walking explosion she was.
"OhmygosharetheyOKdidDashiedogoodwhereisshewhencanIseeherwhereinEquestriaarethefoals!?!" Pinkie babbled.
Twilight managed to explain that there were two fillies and a colt, yes, they were all fine, and no, Pinkie couldn't go see them because she wasn't allowed in the maternity ward, before Nurse Silver Shine drove her out of the hospital.
"I'd better go see how she's doing before I can answer all these questions," said Twilight, extracting herself from the mob. "She may have woken up by now."
Twilight bumped into Dr Hoof on her way back to Rainbow Dash's room. " What happened? Is Rainbow Dash OK? Is she awake yet? What about the foals? Will they make it." Twilight asked as she hurried into the room after the doctor.
"Not yet," he answered wearily. "They fillies are off the machines now. The colt wasn't on any. He was relatively healthy, compared to the other two."
Rainbow Dash woke and tried to sit up, then winced and sank back down. "What happened? Are my foals Ok? And why is Twi so scared?"
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Twilight shook her head to clear it, and went back to watching the four foals in front of her. Midnight Sparkle, being just old enough to go to school, was forcing Daring Dash, Rainbow Shine, and SoarinDash sit through a pretend lesson in geography. The little pagasi kept kept fluttering away, making it very difficult for their make-believe teacher to keep them in line, seeing as she had no wings herself. Midnight tried levitating herself into the air to try to catch the three, but she was far less agile then they, and soon gave up.
Rainbow Dash swooped down and was immediately attacked by an ecstatic Rainbow Shine, who jumped into her mother's embrace with a little shriek, like a baby bird. The other two continued to tease Midnight, who sat down and claimed that pegasi in general were no fun, and that she would have nothing else to do with them in the future. Rainbow Dash gently set Shine on the ground and picked up the sulking Midnight.
"Who are you calling 'no fun,' missie?" Dash said, tickling her. Midnight squirmed free, giggling, and playfully said, "You, Auntie Rainbow!" The pegasus swooped her up again, this time lifting Midnight up as she flew, so she couldn't escape.
Twilight just had time to slap the cloud-walking spell on her daughter before Rainbow Dash, Midnight, and Dash's three foals rose too high to reach. "Be careful with my filly, you rascal!" She called after Rainbow Dash. But then she smiled. this would be the perfect time to get a nap.