//------------------------------// // Bringing Home Baby // Story: Oh Baby! // by TheNewYorkBrony //------------------------------// "Okay class," Ms. Cheerilee said. "I'm going to explain why I asked half of you to write down your names on a piece or paper yesterday. I've put them in this fish bowl," she gestured towards the clear glass bowl next to her on her desk, "And you will pick from it who your spouse will be for your semester assignment." Rainbow Dash rasied her hand. "Uh, spouse? Are we getting married or something?" Cheerilee shook her head with a laugh. "Not exactly. You see, when you grow up and live on your own, you will aquire responsibilities. Like," she went behind her desk and heaved what looked like a small baby wearing a diaper onto her desk. "Children." Applejack scratched her cheek. "Uh, Ms. Cheerilee? Ah don't quite get it." A few other students around her mumbled in agreement. "For the next few weeks you will be taking care of a baby with a partner. Your 'spouse'." She explained using air quotations. "This is to show you how hard it is to take care of a baby while maintaining a relationship. No I don't actually expect you to start dating your partner, but in order for this to work you both have to participate and communicate accordingly." "What if two guys get paired together?" Someone in the back asked. "Then you would have to just deal with it, now wont you? Same sex marriages of both sexes are common in this day and age anyway." She held up the fish bowl. "Now, I'm going to come around with the bowl. The half of the class who didn't write their name will pick a scrap of paper with their partner's name on it. Once everyone on that side has a paper, I will tell you to open it. And you can't change your partner once you have one." Rainbow Dash groaned. "Give me a break," Sunset Shimmer told her, rolling her eyes. "It can't be that bad." Cheerilee came around and every other student picked out a piece of paper with their classmates name on it. When she gave the go ahead, everyone opened the paper to see who their partner would be. "I got Rarity?!" Applejack barked. Not that she didn't like her. In fact Rarity was one of her very best friends. It's just...she couldn't see herself with someone like her. And especially not having a child with them. "Pinkie?!" Rainbow squeaked. "She can't even keep an eye on herself how is she supposed to take care of our pretend kid?!" "Sweet!" Twilight Sparkle said, turning to Sunset. "Looks like we're partners!" Of course this wasn't Princess Twilight, but her human counterpart. She had transfered from Crystal Prep at the beginning of the year and was quite surprised to find that she was already popular in a school she had never been to. But, with the help of Sunset and the others, she had gotten used to all the attention and settled into their group quite nicely. There were significant differences between her and Princess Twilight of course, but that was a good thing. Sunset wouldn't have it any other way. "Eeep!" Fluttershy squeaked. Everyone looked over at her for an explanation but it was clear that she was absolutely way too frightened to say anything. Rainbow grabbed the paper off her desk and snorted. "Adagio! Oh man, I'm actually glad I'm stuck with Pinkie now!" "Don't worry," Sunset told the pink haired girl, trying to calm her down. "I'm sure that she isn't as scary as she was before." She actually wasn't sure about that, but she wasn't going to tell Fluttershy that. Cheerilee handed each group a baby and a blank birth certificate. She instructed them to come up with a name and write it on the certificate before handing it back to her next class. "And remember," she said as the lunch bell rang. "You have to work together in order for this to work!" The gang's lunch table was unusually loud that afternoon, as each girl sat with her partner contemplating a name for their fake child. And so far, no progress had been made. "No!" Rarity shouted at Applejack, her lips set into a deep frown. "We are not naming our child 'Bailey Hay'!" Applejack snorted. "Why not?!" "Because it is too country! Our child's name should be something unique and a combination of the both of us! Not something that you came up with off the top of your head!" Rarity countered. "Fine! Then what do you suggest we name 'er?!" The farm girl barked. "Cherry Blossom." Rarity huffed. "Ah don't like cherries." Applejack said indignantly. "How are you going to name your child something apple related when all of your family has taken up every apple related name ever?! At least it's fruit related! Work with me here, darling!" The fashionista told her, exasperated. Applejack didn't say another word. She just grumbled to herself, and wrote 'Cherry Blossom' on the certificate. If this relationship was going to work, she was just going to have to shut up and let Rarity have her way sometimes. Though their argument was greatly overshadowed by the one going on further down the table. "Bubble Berry!" "Rainbow Blitz!" "Bubble Berry!" "Rainbow Blitz!" "Bubble Berry!" "Pinkie, I'm not naming our son something that lame! He obviously takes after his mama so his name is Rainbow Blitz!" Dash shouted. Pinkie slammed her hands on the table. "What are you talking about?! We're both his mamas so he takes after both of us! He can't be a baker like me with a name like Rainbow Blitz!" "Who said he was going to be a baker?!" Rainbow demanded, poking a finger into Pinkie's chest. "Obviously the squirt is gonna be a Wonderbolt like me!" "Nuh-uh! He's toats gonna take after me!" Pinkie said. "No, me!" Dash insisted. "No, me!" Pinkie insisted back. The girls glared at each other, probably sending literal sparks flying. Across from them, Sunset and Twilight had just put the finishing touches on their baby girl's birth certificate. "Aurora Dawn is a perfect name, Sunset!" Twilight gushed, pushing her glasses up on her face. "How ever did you come up with it?!" "Ah well," Sunset began, smiling modestly. "I just thought that our baby girl would have similar names to ours." Twilight smiled at her. "It's so cute!" She giggled. "This project is gonna be a breeze for us!" "Totally!" Sunset agreed. "Hey, you wanna take Rory to the park after school today? It's a nice day out and it'd be great for bonding and stuff." "Sure!" Twilight told her. "I should ask the girls if they want to..." her sentence trailed when she finally noticed the commotion going on at the other end of the table. "Er, maybe it should just be the two of us." she corrected herself. Sunset nodded. "Good idea." The other girls did wind up accompanying them to the park. And while there they discovered that the babies had chips in them that caused them to cry. They had to figure out the reason for the crying on their own without hurting it. That's when they also realized that the chips in the babies recorded whenever they were hit. While Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were busy pushing Berry Blitz on a swing, (they had decided to compromise,) the two other groups of new parents sat at a bench playing with their children. "I think you'd make a great mother, Sunset!" Twilight told the older girl smiling as she burped the doll after it's "feeding." "Oh yeah? Why's that?" Sunset replied, giving her an amused smile. "Well, you're really gentle, and compassionate. I think any kid would be lucky to have you as a mom." Twilight said, smiling at her genuinely. "I know I wouldn't mind having a kid with you." There was an awkward pocket of silence. "I-I mean, you know, if there was ever such a circumstance. Heh." The younger girl fretted, quickly pretending to clean off her glasses. Their awkward silence continued until they saw Pinkie and Rainbow bounding towards them out of breath. "H-Have you seen Berry?" Rainbow asked, breathlessly. Applejack's eyebrows knitted. "Weren't ya'll just pushing him on the swings a moment ago? How'd you lose him?" "Dashie thought it'd be funny to push him really really high and he kind of....flew." Pinkie explained, twirling her hair. "Flew?" Twilight repeated. "You mean you guys sent him soaring?" Dash nodded. "Pretty much." "Hey!" Pinkie said, pointing to a dog a few yards away from them. "Get my baby's arm out of your mouth!" she immediately began chasing after the dog waving her fists. Rainbow rolled her eyes but ran to catch up with her. Sunset let out a low chuckle. Something told her this was going to be an interesting project.