//------------------------------// // Welcome to the World // Story: Scarlet Foal // by Collins4112 //------------------------------// A/N: Welcome back. I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I really appreciate all the favorites and reviews and the reads. Thank you all. Thirteen hours. That's how long it took from the time she entered the hospital to when she gave birth. Ditzy was truly exhausted; she barely had time to see the foal before she passed out. The foal had been large, definitely had gotten that from its dad. Ditzy felt a lot lighter with the foal out of her. She had heard it cry when it was born, and that was enough to tell her that the foal was alright. Ditzy came to after about two hours of sleep. Big Macintosh was sitting in a chair nearby lightly dozing, she saw a large smile on his face even though he was sleeping. "Oh good, you’re awake." Nurse Redheart said. Ditzy hadn't noticed the nurse in the room, which wasn't a surprise since she still felt really drowsy. "I'm not sure if you were awake to hear, but you had a beautiful baby colt." Ditzy smiled as she fought through the haze of sleep to ask something: "A pegasus or earth pony?" "A pegasus, and might I say he's a strong one. He has to be one of the largest newborn pegasi I've ever seen." Nurse Redheart complimented. Ditzy chuckled to herself; she knew first hoof how big her foal was, but she was still surprised how much easier childbirth had been a second time compared to her having Dinky. Ditzy saw Big Macintosh's eyes slowly open. He clicked his tongue a few times. It took him a moment to realize where he was, but as soon as he did, he came to Ditzy's side. "Howdy Sugar Cube. How are ya feeling?" Big Macintosh asked in a gentle voice as he touched a hoof to her face. "Like I just lost a lot of weight." Ditzy joked weakly. Macintosh smiled one of his special half smiles. "Did you see him, Mac, did you see our boy?" "Ah did, and might Ah say it was one of the proudest moments of my life." Macintosh said, a gleam of pride in his eyes. He nuzzled her gently. "Would you like to see him?" Nurse Redheart asked. Ditzy felt her heart race, she felt the words come up her throat before she said anything. "Of course!" Ditzy tried to contain her excitement: if she hadn’t been so tired she was sure that she would be jumping around like a little school filly. Nurse Redheart smiled slightly as she left the room. Ditzy pushed herself into sitting upright. She looked at Macintosh and she saw how excited he was, and it just added to her own excitement. After a few minutes of waiting, Nurse Redheart came back with a foal wrapped up in a blanket. She gently put the foal into Ditzy's waiting legs. The foal was asleep, as Ditzy admired the fruit of her labor. He had a coat that was a shade of red so gentle that it was almost gray. His mane and tail were of a faint sandy yellow and Ditzy felt his small wings at his sides. Ditzy felt tears of joy brimming in her eyes. As she looked up at Macintosh, she heard the little foal yawn. She quickly turned her head back to the foal. The little foal’s eyes fluttered open. One eye looked curiously up at the new sight, the other drifted off into a direction. Wait...what? Ditzy looked at her son's whole face, his eyes wall-eyed, kind of like Ditzy's were sometimes became, but instead of refocusing his eyes stayed that way. Ditzy looked up at Macintosh and Nurse Redheart in concern. "Is he alright?" Ditzy asked with a quiver in her voice. Macintosh looked just as concerned as she was; he hadn't seen the eyes before. "Oh, yes, about that..." Nurse Redheart said, as she looked at a nearby chart. "It appears to be strabismus. Other than that it's too early to tell if he's ret...I mean has a mental disability." Ditzy felt a bit of sadness, but then she felt a surge of determination. "Well, I don't care. He's my son and I love him." "Ah do too. ‘Sides the eyes add character." Macintosh put in with a soft smile on his face. "That's nice to hear. Oh, it appears you have a visitor." Redheart nodded towards the door. Ditzy looked towards the door and saw Carrot Top with Dinky under foot. "I'll just leave you alone; I'll be back when it's time to fill out the paper work for the foal." Nurse Redheart left as Carrot Top and Dinky entered. Dinky ran up to Ditzy's side, and without thinking she jumped up on her mother. She looked excited and kept trying to peek at the foal. "Hi, mommy! Can I see the foal, please?" "Shhhh...Muffin please try to use your inside voice." Ditzy warned her daughter gently, seeing that she was disturbing the foal. Dinky craned her neck to get a look at him. "He's so cute!" Dinky almost yelled, and the foal's lip quivered like he was about to cry. With a chuckle, Macintosh pulled Dinky off her mother, despite the protests of Dinky. Carrot Top walked up to the side of Ditzy, on the opposite side of the bed from Macintosh. As she leaned in to get a view of the foal, she said: "Hello, little one, welcome to the land of Equestria." Ditzy smiled as her best friend greeted the newest addition to the Apple family. She could see that Carrot Top registered his little eye problem, but she didn't say anything about it. Ditzy looked back to her foal. He was looking at Carrot Top with a curious cock of his head. "He sure is cute, Ditzy. Have you picked out a name yet?" Carrot Top asked. Ditzy looked up at Macintosh who smiled and nodded back. "Carson. Little Carson Apple." Ditzy said. Carson was a type of carrot. Ditzy had convinced Macintosh that they should name the foal after Carrot Top, who had been a good friend for a long time. It took a moment for Carrot Top to realize that they had named the foal after her. "Eeyup. We thought that we ought to name our foal after somepony who helped us in our time of need." Macintosh explained as he tickled the chin of the little foal. The foal turned its attention up to its father, its eyes wide as it took in the immense size of the stallion. "I am honored." Carrot Top sniffled, a tear running down her face. Dinky had gotten tired of waiting and climbed back on the bed, more gently this time. Dinky snuggled up next to her mother to get a good view of the foal. "Meet you little brother, Muffin." Ditzy said to her daughter. "Howdy." Dinky shook Carson's little hoof, he just looked confused. Ditzy giggled. The new born foal yawned, tired out by the minutes of activity. He fell asleep quickly in his mother's legs. Nurse Redheart came back just as Carson settled in. "So, shall we begin?" The medical pony asked. Ditzy nodded, as she gave the foal to Carrot Top. Nurse Redheart put a pen into her mouth. "Name?" "Carson Apple." Big Macintosh said. Carrot Top gave him the foal after she finished ogling over the newborn. Nurse Redheart filled out the rest of the birth certificate. "So, we're going to suggest that we keep the foal here for a day or two, to make sure there are no complications." Nurse Redheart explained. Ditzy nodded as the tiredness from before resurfaced. Redheart filled out the rest of the paperwork. "I'm supposed to take the foal back to the nursery now...but I think I can come back and do that later." "Thank ya kindly." Macintosh said. Nurse Redheart left the room with the paperwork. Big Macintosh looked down at his son, who was asleep in his legs; he had a fatherly smile on his face. "Well, I got to get back to mind the store. Congratulations you two." Carrot Top said as she walked out the door. Ditzy felt an inner peace. Her family now had its fourth member, and all of them were in the same room. Ditzy let herself drift off to sleep as she wrapped a leg around her daughter. "Boy howdy! Y'all have a mighty cute foal, Macintosh!" Applejack's voice shook Ditzy out of her sleep, too soon for her liking. Macintosh was still holding the foal when Ditzy opened her eyes. Applejack and Apple Bloom were looking over his shoulders to get a view of the still sleeping foal. "Eeyup." Macintosh didn't look up from his son. Then Ditzy turned towards the door, as she heard the click drag of Granny Smith's walker. In a few moments, Granny Smith pulled herself through the door. "Back in my day, we didn't have these fancy pants hospitals. We gave birth in the home." Granny Smith complained, but Ditzy smiled. It wouldn't be a visit from Granny Smith without her complaining about something, and Ditzy could see the smile on her face as she shuffled over to Macintosh. "How do ya feel, now that you’re a dad?" "Ah was a dad before..."Macintosh winked at Ditzy, he was the only one who had noticed her waking up. “But now Ah have a son, and one that can fly as a bonus." "You’re gonna be a great dad, grandson." Granny Smith said. Ditzy could see by the way Macintosh shifted at the compliment, that it meant a lot to him. Granny Smith shuffled closer to him. "Looks like he's gonna be a big one." "Just like his pa." Applejack punched him in the shoulder. Apple Bloom hopped up to her brother’s back to get a better view. "Maybe me and the Crusaders could get our cutie mark in foal sitting!" Apple Bloom said. "No!" Ditzy, Applejack, and Macintosh almost shouted in unison. The sound of loud voices woke Carson. He started to cry, and Macintosh sighed. Almost as soon as the foal started to cry, Nurse Redheart came in and took the foal from Macintosh. "I'll just put him in the nursery for a while." Redheart said. She took the foal with the gentleness of an expert, and carried the crying foal out of the room. After a while of visiting, Applejack had to get back to work on the farm. She took Apple Bloom and Granny Smith with her. Big Macintosh woke Dinky and took her outside to play a little bit so that Ditzy could get some rest. Ditzy settled herself back into her hospital bed, and almost slipped back into much needed rest when she heard some very soft hoof steps. Ditzy opened her eyes, and saw her timid yellow friend standing in the doorway. "Oh sorry, did I wake you? I um... I'll just come back later." Fluttershy nearly whispered as she started to back away. "Fluttershy..." Ditzy sighed: she was very tired but she supposed she could stay awake long enough to talk to her. "Come on in here." Fluttershy shyly stepped into the hospital room. She half hid behind her long pink mane. Ditzy sat herself upright. Fluttershy said quietly: "I'm sorry that I...um...fainted." "It's alright." Ditzy forgave her. She would have done it anyway, but Fluttershy's sad eyes made Ditzy feel bad. "So...um...where is the foal?" Fluttershy asked in her normal voice, which Ditzy still had to strain to hear. "He’s back in the nursery. I think you can go see him if you want." Ditzy said. Her vision blurred a moment, and she yawned. "Oh, it's a colt?" Fluttershy asked with interest in her voice. "Yeah. He's a big one too. Nurse said he's the biggest pegasus foal she had ever seen." Ditzy said. Fluttershy smiled gently, as she came up to the side of Ditzy. "There were no problems, right?" Fluttershy asked: she had genuine worry in her voice. It took Ditzy back about how much she cared about everyone of her friends. "Well...um... He seems to have a case of strabismus." Ditzy said. Ditzy wasn't sure how she felt about the issue yet, but she did know that she loved Carson no matter what. "Oh no! Is he going to be alright?" Fluttershy gasped and started to pant. "Yes, strabismus is where his eyes are off center, kinda like how mine are sometimes, but his are stuck that way." Ditzy explained, and Fluttershy calmed down from her frantic pants. Ditzy patted her shy friend's shoulder. "Now, I need to take a nap." "Oh okay...see you later..." Fluttershy shyly. "Of course you will." Ditzy said, as she went to sleep for some much needed rest. ________ Ditzy woke up in the middle of the night. Her internal clock was messed up due to the labor taking her though a whole night. Big Macintosh had taken Dinky home and was going to spend the night at home with her. Ditzy laid in bed for a while, but quickly got bored, so she decided to sneak out to go see Carson. She quietly rolled out of bed; she hadn't stood in a while so she stretched a little. She crept out into the hallway and looked both ways to make sure it was clear. She snuck down the hall, narrowly avoiding the sight of an inattentive night nurse. She found her way down to the nursery: it was mostly empty but she spotted her little boy. She opened up the door to the nursery; the lack of security kind of concerning. Ditzy stepped as quietly as she could up to where Carson was sleeping. She looked down at him. His small sleeping form warmed her heart; she felt the same connection to him as she felt to Dinky. She knew she wouldn't be able to stay long. So she told him how she felt: "Welcome to the world, Carson. I will try my best to make your life the best it can be, every day I will try to raise you up to your potential. I love you muffin, good night." It was the same promise she had made to Dinky when she was born. She kissed his forehead then snuck back to her room. A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope I didn't disappoint. I thank thewaffler for his idea to name the foal after Carrot Top. Also I would have had the foal been an earth-pony but bloodwolf432's comment changed my mind on that. So I thank him and any others who gave me ideas. I also thank my beta reader. Also I am going to take some of the assumptions I get from watching the Baby cakes episode, like how fast foals seem to be able to crawl around at 1 month.