Sunset Shimmer glanced over at her High School graduation photograph. It had been four years since she had received her diploma, and soon she would be getting a bachelor’s degree. Pinkie Pie had made the party the best that she’d ever been to, and even Twilight Sparkle had been able to come. She and her closest friends had come very far since then. Currently she was engaged to Flash Sentry. They had dated back in the early days of High School, but that was for selfish reasons. He had broken up with her, but later, Sunset found her true feelings for him. When Flash saw that she had changed, they began dating again.
Most of Sunset’s friends were attending Cloudsdale University. Applejack didn’t go because she wanted to spend her life working on her family’s farm. Her older brother, Big Macintosh had married Fluttershy two years ago and moved out of her house, leaving Applejack to run it. Rainbow Dash was the captain of the Cloudsdale soccer team. Pinkie Pie was still an undeclared major because she didn’t really know what she wanted to do except, perhaps, be a party planner. Rarity was also married to a young man named Caramel. She was about to open up a boutique in the city as soon as she graduated. Fluttershy was studying zoology. While they were all very busy, they still got together on weekends when they didn’t have anything to do.
Pacing around her apartment, Sunset’s thoughts drifted to Rarity and Fluttershy. They were both pregnant and Rarity’s baby was due in a week. Fluttershy’s was due in three months. She couldn’t believe that two of her best friends were going to be mothers. The thought of them being parents just seemed strange. But it would be fun to play with the young kids if they ever needed Sunset to babysit. Sunset had not spent any time with young children recently.
When Sunset looked up at her clock, she gasped. “Oh no! My friends are expecting me to be at the café in five minutes!” Grabbing her purse, she stormed out of her apartment and ran as quickly as she could down the street. The café was only a quarter of a mile from the apartment, but it still seemed far away. After crossing two streets and combing through a crowd of pedestrians, she finally made it to the café.
“Hey Sunset!” yelled Pinkie Pie. “Over here!”
“Sorry I’m a bit late,” said Sunset. “I just got lost in thought and I—“
“Hey, don’t worry about it. You’re not that late,” Rainbow Dash said.
Pinkie said, “Actually, she’s two minutes and twelve and three quarters seconds late.”
Rarity offered Sunset a drink. “Here, Sunset. Steaming hot chocolate with buttercream and rainbow sprinkles.”
“How did you know exactly what I liked?” asked Sunset Shimmer, accepting the beverage.
“Oh, puh-lease darling,” Rarity said. “You’ve ordered that same drink the last six times we’ve been here.”
Applejack asked, “So what have y’all been up to lately?”
“Well, um,” Fluttershy began. “While I was volunteering at the animal shelter, I found the sweetest little puppy ever just begging to be adopted! They let me take him home and I named him Coco Flare.”
Rainbow Dash said, “But Fluttershy, you have, like, dozens of pets. How are you possibly supposed to take care of them all and still keep adopting animals! Not only that, but with a baby on the way, how will you juggle caring for them all?”
“Oh, Big Mac is really helpful. And I think I do fine. But you do have a point, Rainbow Dash. I’ll probably have to give up at least two or three soon. I’ll miss them, though,” she sighed.
“You gonna eat that?” asked Pinkie Pie, gesturing to Applejack’s cinnamon bun.
Applejack sighed. “You can have it, Pinkie. I’m not hungry.” Pinkie immediately stuffed the bun in her face, licking her lips.
Suddenly, Rarity started to cringe. Trying to fight back screaming, she gasped, “My baby! I... I think it’s coming!”
“Come on y’all, “Applejack said. “We need to get Rarity to the hospital right now!” She, Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer helped her up. Pinkie and Fluttershy followed them close behind, hurrying out of the café before they made a scene. Once they got outside, Applejack got Rarity, Sunset, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy into her car.
Applejack started the car and then rolled down the window. “Pinkie, I don’t have enough room in the car. But could you do us a favor? Phone Caramel and tell him what’s going on, and then get to the hospital as soon as you can.” Pinkie agreed and Applejack drove off. At least in the city, the hospital was only two miles away. Sunset Shimmer spent the drive reassuring Rarity that everything would be all right.
Once they got to the hospital, Pinkie Pie was already there. The nurses took Rarity to a ward and the rest of her friends anxiously waited in the waiting room. About ten minutes later, Caramel arrived. Even though it was going to be a while, they were all willing to wait as long as they had to.
About six hours later, Nurse Redheart came into the visitors’ room to talk to Rarity’s friends. “Your friend is doing fine and has given birth to an eight-pound baby girl. But, there seems to be something wrong with the baby that I can’t quite diagnose.”
Sunset stood up. “Is the baby okay? Is she sick? Will she survive?”
The nurse said, “She probably is going to survive, but from the condition she was born with is something that I’ve never heard of in medical history, so I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen to her. Come with me.”
Nervously, the five girls and Caramel followed Redheart into the ward where Rarity was in. Rarity was wearing a hospital gown and holding her child. Her baby’s skin was light pink, and she had purple and magenta hair that flowed like Princess Luna from Equestria. The baby had the brightest emerald eyes in the world. But what was completely shocking was the fact that she had a horn and pony ears. She also had a tail like that of a pony.
“What are we going to do?” asked Applejack. “And how is this even possible?”
Sunset replied, “I don’t know. We’ll need Princess Twilight’s help on this one. I’ll write her a message ASAP. But for now, we need to keep this a secret.”
“But does that mean that my baby will have powers, too?” Fluttershy asked nervously.
“I don’t know,” Sunset said, “but it seems likely.”
“What’ya going to name her?” asked Pinkie.
“Hmm…” Rarity thought or a moment. She looked at her baby and told her, “I will call you Stardust.”