Starlight Sonata and Milky Way were left to their own devices as Digit Pi took Moonstone away to his room to help the stallion dry off, explaining that, no, he was not going to get run out of town for what he said.
Starlight just stood there, blinking as she tried to process what just happened. Her sister’s dancing around her whilst singing, however, made it clear what her sister thought about it. “Starlight and Moonstone, sittin’ in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes the love, then comes the marriage, then comes th-oof! Hey, no fair!” Milky Way protested, her eyes watering ever so slightly as she picked herself back up, her sister having tripped her. “Why are you so mean to me?”
Starlight looked down at her sister’s watering eyes, before deadpanning, “Milly, you can’t use the watery filly eyes on me, okay? I invented that, remember?”
“Oh yeah...” Milky said slowly, her eyes returning to normal. “Well then... I’ll go tell daddy!”
“Yeah, you go ahead and do that,” Sonata replied. “Just stop making stuff up that isn’t going to happen, alright?”
“Aww... But why not? He said you were really, really pretty, so that means he really likes you!” Milky Way protested, sticking her lower lip out a little in a pout.
Starlight sighed, replying, “Well... Because... Alright, look, some things just aren’t that simple, alright? Come on, it’s your birthday! Do you really want to spend it here in the bathroom? Come on!”
“Yeah...” Milky Way agreed reluctantly, before her eyes lit up. “Oh! Can I brush your mane? Please?” she begged, giving her sister her best pouty face.
Starlight thought for a second, then smiled, swooping her up and setting her sister on her back between her wings. “I suppose that, since it’s your birthday, I could relent and let you brush it...”
“YAY! Super secret special brushie brushie time!” Milky squeed, hugging her sister’s neck tightly. “You’re the bestest big sissy ever, Sona!”
Starlight laughed, nuzzling her sister for a moment before saying gently, “I know, Milly, and don’t you forget it!”
.o.O.o.
While still somewhat twitchy and nervous, Moonstone greeted the foals and fillies with another story, while Milky Way gleefully brushed her sister’s mane and tail the entire time, over and over until they had a bright sheen, reflecting the light rather easily, and was silky-smooth to the touch. Finally, once she was satisfied with her sister’s mane, Milky Way settled herself in Starlight’s lap, forcing her sister to cover her with a wing, just like a blanket.
“... And then the Prince swept the maiden off her hooves, setting her down gently in his carriage, wherefore they made off to his castle, and were wed that very day.” Moonstone finished, smiling widely.
A mixture of coos and cries of disgust filled the room from the fillies and colts respectively at the ending. Hot Streak piped, up, asking, “Mr. Moonstone, is dating really that gross? I thought it was supposed to be more awesome, like going to races and amusement parks, not sissy stuff like a picnic in a secret area!”
“Hey, that’s an awesome date!” the fillies protested, eager to defend their romance.
“Well, I wasn’t asking you, I was asking Mr. Moonstone, so blegh!” Hot Streak retorted, sticking his tongue out. He then turned to Moonstone, awaiting a response.
Moonstone shifted nervously, before admitting, “W-well... I don’t know... I’ve never been on a date, so I wouldn’t kn-”
“What?!” the group of colts and fillies shouted as one, feeling betrayed. Hot Streak continued to be the voice for the group, exclaiming, “But... But how?! You said you’ve traveled tons and tons of lands and stuff! How have you never had a date? You’re like, really strong with magic and stuff! You look awesome! How have you never been on a date?”
“W-well, I... Uh...” Moonstone stuttered, his ears falling flat against his head as he looked around, everyone looking surprised or disappointed to some degree. ‘It’s all the same... No matter how hard I try, or what I say, I’m never going to fit in, am I?’ he lamented to himself, swallowing. He unconsciously started to back up very slowly, his eyes watering slightly.
“That’s not right!” Milky Way shouted, stomping one of her small hooves on the ground in protest. “Everypony should have the chance to have a date when they’re big! Alright, Foal’s Forray Parley, right now!”
“What?” Moonstone asked dumbly, before all of the colts and fillies rushed away into another room, where they all started whispering together in a circle. They stopped when Moonstone tried to draw near, getting shooed away.
Confused, he walked back slowly to Starlight, inquiring, “What’s a... Foal’s Forrey Parley?”
Starlight rolled her eyes, though she was smiling a little when she answered, “Well, it was something my peers and I came up with when we wanted to talk in private, away from the adults. It had a lot of ‘big pony words’, so the adults let us get away with it. It died off for awhile, until I told Milly about it one day. She decided to bring it back because ‘vintage things are so in right now’, or something like that. So I don’t know what they’re talking about, but odds are, you’re either going to love it, or hate it. So yeah, good luck,” she smirked at him.
“T-thanks,” Moonstone replied gratefully, missing the sarcasm in Starlight’s voice.
.o.O.o.
Luna trotted her way from her room to the dining hall for lunch, where her sister was awaiting her. “My apologies, Celes, I was going over the new tax reforms and lost track of time. Didst I keep you long?”
As the younger sister sat down, the elder shook her head, smiling, “Hardly, unless ordering a drink counts. So,” she continued, taking a sip of her iced tea, “are they coming along well, since you were so engrossed in them, or because they’re a headache?”
“Because they maketh no sense,” Luna retorted, snorting quietly. “What happened to the simple format I had in place when I... made my departure?”
“Well,” Celestia said, speaking slowly as she thought. “Things just got slowly more complicated, until it snowballed into what it has become now. That’s why I wanted you to look at it, since you did create the first version of the tax code.”
“It was so much more simple though!” Luna protested.
“Yes, but- Hello, Cadence,” Celestia greeted, interrupting herself as she turned to the new arrival. She was about to turn back to Luna, when she noticed something rather different. “Cadence dear, are you alright? You’re practically glowing! Did you use some new shampoo, get a coat bleach or something?”
“No, not exactly,” she replied, blushing. She looked around to make sure there weren’t any servants or soldiers nearby before making her way to Luna and Celestia, looking around one last time.
“What art thou looking for?” Luna asked, starting to look around as well.
“N-nothing!” Cadence exclaimed suddenly, jerking her head back forward. “Just... I-I haven’t told Shining yet, and I don’t know how he’s going to take the news, so even though I’m happy I’m also nervous because I don’t know what he’s going to say, or-”
“Cadence, are you alright?” Shining Armor interrupted from the double doors, trotting inside. “You look flustered! Is something wrong?”
“Did you get the guards in place like I requested, Captain Armor?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” he replied swiftly, saluting. “I have two guards watching the front, two in the back, and another two in plainclothes wandering the streets nearby, just in case.”
“Excellent. Please wait in the throne room for further instructions. I’ll be along in just a bit,” Celestia ordered, turning back to Cadence.
Having no other choice, he saluted again, turning to head back to his post, but not before flashing his wife a quick smile, relaxing himself as she returned it, seeming to calm down. Once he left everyone breathed a sigh of relief, before Luna said, “Well... Now that he’s hath gone again... Congratulations. How art thou going to break the news to him?”
“I don’t know!” Cadence exclaimed, sighing. “I mean, I want to think that he’d be excited as well, but what if he... Wait a second, I haven’t said what the problem was yet!”
Celestia frowned as well, looking back and forth between her confused niece and her smug sister, trying to work it out as well. “Yes, what is the problem?”
“More like problems plural, but yes, go ahead, Cadence, tell her! Or shall I?” the princess of the night inquired.
She grinned widely when Cadence’s telekinetic grip on her fresh cup of tea faltered, shattering on the table as she exclaimed, her eyes growing wide. “Plural?! What do you mean... oh gosh...” Her eye twitched involuntarily before she collapsed, struggling not to hyperventilate. her eyes were highly dilated, shifting from royal sister to sister.
After a moment of silence, filled only by Cadence struggling to regain her breath, Luna turned to her sister, saying calmly, “She could use a fresh cup of tea to help calm her down. I guess that’s something new about this age I have yet to learn about: why mares react so differently to being pregnant, and yet so simil-”
“What?!” Celestia gaped, blinking dumbly at her sister, before turning back to Cadence, helping her to her hooves, though she still looked spooked.
Her nerves weren’t helped, however, when the doors slammed open, Shining Armor there once more as he rushed forward, asking, “What’s wrong?! C-Cadence? Are you okay? What’s wrong?!”
Wrapped in her husband’s hooves, she allowed herself to just melt into his embrace, burying her face in his chest while she tried to calm herself. After a moment of feeling her husband stroke her mane, she felt calm enough to talk again, though her voice still quivered ever so slightly as she spoke softly, “I-I have to tell you something... I... I think I’m pregnant.”
Armor digested the information for a moment, before asking calmly, “Okay, and what’s the problem?”
She blinked, before stammering, “P-problem? I... what?”
He chuckled nervously as he said, “I’d like to think I can tell when you’re afraid of something after all these years, Cadence. Your eyes refuse to look in one spot for more than a second, and you’re trembling a little. So what’s the problem? Are you afraid of a miscarriage? Are you afraid of the strange appetite you’re going to develop? Are you afraid of the cramps?” With each question asked, she only shook her head, until he asked a question she wasn’t expecting.
“Are... are you afraid that I’m going to be a bad father?” he whispered, swallowing hard. “I know I don’t know anything, but I swear I’ll try my best!”
“I...” Cadence blinked, before frowning as she hit him on the head with her hoof, exclaiming, “Moron!”
“W-what?” Armor replied, stunned from the hit.
“Stop being so calm when I’m freaking out! Why aren’t you freaking out?!” she said, her eyes watering. “You’re making me feel like I made a big deal about nothing!”
“Because if I freak out, then that would only freak you out more, wouldn’t it?” he countered, noticing how she calmed down just a little, her feathers settling back down on her wings. “Now... Can you tell me what is bothering you, then?”
“W-well... I didn’t know how you would take the news,” she admitted, allowing her husband to hug her again, nuzzling him. “I... When you said we’d worry about it later, if it happened, you sounded like... Like you didn’t want any kids, so I just thought... I didn’t know-”
She was interrupted by a soft, passionate kiss, cutting her off abruptly. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the sensation before she opened them again slowly. After looking into each other’s eyes for a moment, Armor started to laugh, slowly at first, but starting to grow.
“What’s so funny?” Cadence asked, trying not to worry that he was laughing at her.
“I was just thinking that I should get started on writing Twily a letter, that’s all,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I was so busy last time that I didn’t tell her about the wedding, and she was rather... Put off with me, shall we say. So I was just thinking that if we’re going to make sure she has plenty of time to prepare for a foal shower or something, that we’d better tell her now, or she’ll never forgive us!”
“Alright,” Cadence agreed, turning to face the sisters to ask for their forgiveness, when she found that they were on the opposite side of the large table, eating. “What the... Hey, come on! You couldn’t wait for us?”
“Pancakes waiteth for no mortal!” Luna said through her stuffed cheeks, drenching another plate-full of the delicious food in blueberry syrup.
Celestia, for her part, swallowed guiltily, before looking around for a moment, offering weakly, “Cake? I saved a slice... I think.”
.o.O.o.
“SPIKE! Where’s Star Shimmer’s Supreme Start to Studying Sea Ponies?! I can’t find it anywhere!” Twilight Sparkle shouted, searching her shelves frantically as she pulled out book after book.
“Didn’t Lyra borrow that last week?” he shouted back from the other side of the room, deftly balancing a large stack of tomes he was attempting to re-shelf. He leaned forward to put another book back, when he felt a familiar rumbling in his stomach. “Uhhh...”
Panicking, he managed to set the stack of books on top of the bookshelves before belching green fire, a scroll appearing in front of him. While managing to catch the scroll with his claws, he lost his grip on the ladder, falling to the ground painfully. “L-letter, Twilight...” he commented, dazed.
Twilight huffed from the other side of the room, before teleporting over to Spike, trying not to be snarky. “How long to ponies need to borrow books for, anyway? The most I’ve ever needed a book for is a couple of hours! I know I read fast, but a week?”
“Beats me, Twilight,” Spike answered, dazed from his fall, but quickly recovering. “So what’s the letter say? Who’s it from?”
“It’s from Shining!” she exclaimed excitedly, quickly reading the rest, before the letter drifted to the ground, her eyes unfocused.
“Umm... Twilight?” Spike asked, picking up the letter nervously, waving his free paw in front of her. “What did the letter say?”
“I’m going to be an aunt!” she screeched excitedly, her eyes expanding far more than seemed Equinely possible. “Cadence is pregnant! Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!”
Spike watched as Twilight jumped circles around him, before he found his chance to escape, dodging out of the way and to the table, while she kept ranting in Pinkie Pie style. “I’m going to be the best aunt ever! I’ll teach it how to use magic, and how to do research, and how to invent spells, and how to-”
“So when did Cadence get pregnant? You know, I keep asking where foals come from, and why only the mares get pregnant, but you always change the subject on me! Can you tell me now?” Spike interrupted, tilting his head to scratch at it idly.
Twilight froze in midair, her eyes shifting from large, luminous orbs to tiny pinpricks, her irises barely visible. Her left eye twitched ever so slightly, her mane growing askance, before she blacked out entirely in a dead faint, crashing into the ground hard enough to shake the bookshelves.
Spike blinked, then sighed, muttering as he walked out of the Library, “Yeah yeah, I’ll go get the girls. Figures. Right when I finally cornered her about it, she goes and faints on me. Just my luck...”
.o.O.o.
It had been awhile since the ‘Foal’s Forray Parley’ started, and Moonstone was growing more nervous by the minute. It also didn’t help that the mare sitting next to him didn’t seem to be in a good mood. Swallowing his fear, he cleared his throat quietly, doing his best to look Starlight in the face as he got her attention. “U-umm... L-lady Starlight? A-about earlier?” he asked, doing his best to keep the nervousness out of his voice. “I-I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to barge in on you in the bathroom. I wasn’t trying to look at you in the shower, and I didn’t mean to embarrass you. Digit Pi told me about some more city pony rules and stuff, so now I know, and I won’t do it again. Sorry.”
Starlight watched as he looked back away, seeing how he was trying to keep from fidgeting, as well as trying not to look at her, lest he embarrass her further. She stared at him for a full minute before relenting, sighing, “Alright, I accept your apology... Just don’t even think of doing that again, got it?”
“Y-yes, Lady Starlight. Thank you,” he added, smiling slightly before turning back forward, though his eyes kept wandering the walls listlessly.
After looking around for a minute, her curiosity got the better of her. “What are you looking for? The bathroom is upstairs,” she smirked, making fun of the stallion.
Moonstone jumped, snapping his head back to her, before forcing himself to look forward again, trying to relax, but failing. “Watching... Always watching for attacks,” he answered quietly, his eyes skipping from door to window, lingering momentarily on each one before rushing to the next.
“What, is something going to attack me if I leave the room?” she quipped, rolling her eyes, though he either didn’t notice, or chose not to comment.
His voice, however, gave her pause, as he sounded much older and venerable, taking on a softer, deeper tone than he normally spoke with. “It’s dangerous business, going out your front door,” he quoted softly.
When he saw that he had her attention, he continued. “The outside world is... not a forgiving place to live... You live in constant fear, never knowing where your next meal is going to come from, or if you’ll be safe when you go to sleep, if you’ll wake up. The slightest distraction, show the tiniest bit of weakness on the road, and you’re begging every thief and brigand out there to come and steal what little you have, slit your throat, and dump you into a ditch... I know that Digit told me that the city is safe, that I don’t have to worry about being attacked, but... I can’t take that chance. Too many times I’ve lost something for not paying attention when I thought I was safe, too many... valuables,” he choked out, his eyes hard as he looked away adamantly, still glancing from door to window.
Starlight didn’t know how to respond to that, caught off-guard by his serious answer. She didn’t know what to make of it. Everyone else she knew would have heard the mocking in her voice, and either ignored her, or replied in kind, but instead he answered her calmly and honestly, choosing to ignore her tone, listening only to the words she used, rather than how they were used. Lost in thought at how different he was, neither she nor Moonstone realized that the foals were done talking, and were coming back...