//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 - Ready or Not... // Story: Expecting // by Shahrazad //------------------------------// Pinkie adjusted her military cap and took in a deep breath. “You’re not going into labor,” Pinkie said, her brow flat. “AHHH!” “Somepony, call the doctor!” Hooves scrambled, papers flew everywhere, and doors rapidly opened. “You’re going to get up, finish this rehearsal, and everything will be fine,” Pinkie said, her right eyelid twitching. “GYAHH—” Trixie seemed to choke on her yell. Huffing, she trembled to all four hooves. “T-Trixie is alright…” Everypony froze, like deer caught in the light of an oncoming train. “A-Are you sure?” Twilight asked. “It’s five weeks early! She’s just faking it,” Pinkie said, her nose in the air. “Well, it hurt, but it seems to have— YAHHH!!!” Trixie fell to her flank again, clutching her belly. “I order you to stop! You’re invited to the wedding, but you don’t get any speaking lines!” Pinkie cried, one hoof pointing at Trixie’s stomach. Big Mac lifted Trixie as if she’d broken a leg. They staggered to the door, ponies surging ahead of them. “Ah reckon it’s time,” Applejack said, galloping out the door. “Ah’ll git the doc!” She disappeared down the road at a fantastic pace. “Eeeyup.” Pinkie darted in front of the onrushing crowd and used her body to block the door. Grinding her teeth, glaring daggers at the unborn foal, she screamed, “Get back in there, or I’ll put you back in! This is insubordination!” Her pupils shrank and held a red tinge. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Big Mac bowled her over like a runaway freight train. The group carried Trixie and Pinkie, still hollering curses, in the direction of the hospital. The barn door creaked closed. A moment later, Granny Smith hobbled into the barn. “What in tarnation is goin’ on? Where is everypony?” She glanced down when her hoof stepped on some fabric. “An’ whose cap is this? W-Were we gittin’ a visit from a general?!” “Prep for emergency delivery,” Nurse Redheart commanded from the back of the gurney. Trixie lay upon it, breathing fast enough to hyperventilate, covered in a sheen of sweat. Big Mac acted equally uncalm. The six friends could hardly keep up. The medical staff were waiting for Trixie because of Applejack’s warning. “Gosh, I hope everything will be okay,” Fluttershy mumbled from the back of the group. “How long since labor started?” Nurse Redheart yelled over her shoulder at Twilight. “About nine minutes!” she called back. “I don’t get it,” Rainbow Dash said quietly. “She’s going into labor, not dying. What’s the rush?” The entire group had to make a sharp right down a long corridor. Tearing down the hallway, Twilight huffed out her answer. “W-Well, there’s a possibility of complications. And we need to be there when the foal comes out to fix things if there’s a problem.” “Right… I get that,” Dash replied. “But what’s the rush? How long before the foal is here?” “GYAHHH!” Trixie cried again. “Equines deliver foals on average between fifteen and twenty minutes. We’re already nine… make that ten minutes in. If there’s any complications, we might not be ready in time,” Twilight replied, just as the group pushed into a delivery room. The nurses transferred Trixie to a foaling bed, draped a sheet over her lower end, slammed her hind legs into the stirrups, and pulled her legs apart. “Trixie isn’t ready for this now. Can we schedule this for next—AHHHH!” “Wow, fifteen minutes? That doesn’t seem like a lot of time. I thought labor was longer, like sixteen hours or something,” Dash said from the air. Dash and Fluttershy hovered over the group; there just wasn’t enough room otherwise. After getting violently knocked around twice by the medical staff, Twilight huffed, spread her wings, and joined them. “Sixteen hours? What kind of species would spend so much time in labor? That’s just crazy! No female would have a second baby after such an experience. No… I’m quite certain evolution would require any species to get labor over with as quickly as possible,” Twilight said with a nod. “Oh, that makes sense. I guess twenty minutes of pain really is a long time.” Dash pursed her lips. “I hope it’s over quick, I don’t like seeing ponies in pain.” “It isn’t always quick. Rabbits can take over an hour for labor,” Fluttershy interjected. “An hour? That’s gotta suck for the momma rabbit. How do they do it?” Dash asked. “Well, you have to remember, rabbits can give birth to a dozen babies at once.” Fluttershy bit her lower lip. “I hope Trixie only gives birth to one foal.” Dash’s mouth fell open. “I didn’t even think of that!” “Don’t worry, when we checked, there was only one foal. Trixie isn’t going to have twins,” Twilight supplied. Fluttershy sniffed. “Oh, birth is always so beautiful.” Trixie screamed as a puddle of pale yellow liquid dripped onto the floor. Dash’s nose crinkled up. “Did… did she just wet herself?” Twilight stifled a laugh. “Y-Yes, it isn’t unusual. I’m surprised her water hasn’t broken yet. That’s when we know the foal is on the way.” “Yeah, that’s the other thing. I hear that expression all the time when it comes to birth, but what exactly does it mean? You can’t break water, or any liquid. It’s just gonna go back to whatever shape it was in.” Dash blushed a bit when Twilight and Fluttershy looked at her like a filly. “I-I didn’t really pay all that much attention in health class.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “It means—” “You're not dilated,” Nurse Redheart interrupted. “What?!” Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity cried in unison. “Nnnope?” Big Mac asked with a dopey expression. Nurse Redheart appeared from under the sheet and stood, perfectly calm and composed. “You’re not dilated,” she repeated. “You’re not in labor, these are false contractions.” Trixie, drenched in sweat, glared at her. “These are not false contractions. Trixie assures you, they are quite painful.” Nurse Redheart rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you’re not faking it, but you’re not in labor, either. Drink plenty of fluids and get some bed rest. Change positions if you get another contraction. These sorts of things are brought on by stress, which you would know if you’d paid any attention during your foal classes. Are you experiencing any undue stress today?” “How dare you!” Pinkie suddenly screamed. “Pardon me?” Nurse Redheart asked, a forehoof to her chest. Pinkie ignored her and stomped up to Trixie, tearing the sheet off of her. Trixie blushed, the smell of urine still strong in the room, and the last scrap of her dignity gone along with the sheet. Pinkie grabbed Trixie’s belly with both forehooves and screamed right at it. “How dare you interrupt our wedding rehearsal! I want to yell at your adorable face! Get out here, right now!” Applejack, Big Mac, and Nurse Redheart all looked at her with flat brows. “While I’d love to see the circus act you’d perform to get the foal out, I can’t allow you to abuse my patients,” Redheart said with a huff. Pinkie whirled on Redheart, her hair going flat. “Oh, you want to get in my way?” Pinkie’s eyes drifted in different directions. Nurse Redheart glared back with an icy stare. “You think you know crazy? I’m a nurse at the end of a fourteen-hour shift. I’ve had one interrupted meal today. I’m running on six cups of coffee, compassion for my patients, and frayed nerves. And you think you can threaten me with crazy?” Redheart towered over Pinkie. The flat hair appeared less crazy and more scared of poofing out under Redheart’s gaze. “Sister, if you want to see crazy, threaten one of my patients again. I’ll show you crazy!” “Okay! I think it’s time to go. Thank you all for this… wonderful practice run.” Twilight nabbed Pinkie with her aura while Big Mac lifted Trixie. They all backed out of the room, while Redheart tracked Pinkie like a predator. Twilight smiled, sweat trickling down her neck, as they all exited the room. She used her magic to close the door. The group trotted down the hall, everypony’s hackles sticking straight up. Once they stepped into the sunlight, Pinkie turned to Twilight and whispered, “I looked into the abyss...” “Huh?” “...And Nurse Redheart was staring back at me!” Pinkie finished with a harsh whisper. “Is… Trixie an important patient?” Trixie mumbled. “Eeeyup.” “Even if Trixie might have teased Nurse Redheart just a bit?” “Eeeyup.” Trixie looked at Big Mac, confused. “Trixie… hasn’t ever had another pony care so much about her. Trixie is unsure how to feel about this.” Big Mac pulled her close. “S’all right. Good nurses‘re like that.” “She’s not trying to trick Trixie? Get Trixie to lower her guard so she can strike?” Big Mac shook his head. “Nnnope.” “What in tarnation is goin’ on here?!” Granny Smith said, as she burst into the room with a lantern. Big Mac and Trixie yelped. Trixie pulled the sheets up to her chin, while Big Mac tumbled out of his bed and onto the floor with a thump. “Nothing is occurring here! Everything is fine!” Trixie said, although her blushing cheeks did little to convince Granny Smith. “Ah told ya, unmarried ponies ain’t sleeping tagether in this house! Now y’all git ta yer own beds, or Ah’ll tan yer hides!” Granny Smith glared at Big Mac in particular. Trixie struggled to roll out of bed, but her swollen belly prevented her. “Trixie… will leave… no need to…” “Ah’m goin’.” Big Mac brushed past Granny Smith, his head hung low. “Wh-What? Why? This is your bed,” Trixie called after him. “Ponies sacrifice things fer friends an’ kin. Somethin’ ya should be doin’ fer yer foal. Every day.” Granny Smith just stared at Trixie for a moment before she nodded and shut the door. Trixie stopped, mouth agape at the closed door. “Perhaps, not every pony who is nice to Trixie is out to swindle her,” she whispered in the dark. “But Trixie can’t be nice, or else ponies won’t like her. Ponies must quake in awe or fear of Trixie.” Trixie’s voice quavered. She thought about laying in the hospital bed, her hind legs strapped apart, the smell of urine and helplessness. “What else could Trixie do, if ponies do not tremble in fear and awe when Trixie enters the room?” Trixie looked down at her own belly, an amorphous shadow in the dark. “The grand finale will be a bit more impressive than pulling a rabbit out of Trixie’s hat.” She rubbed her belly, feeling the foal’s hoof follow her own.