//------------------------------// // Chapter 2, Welcome Home Rainbow! // Story: Spinning Gears, Painted Letters and Onyx Gems // by Ebony Runwick //------------------------------// Ey, we're not actually dead. Sorry about the long wait and all, I got a new job and it was kinda hecktic, especially since it's the end of the year. Fandoms and I both promise to update more often and have been working on something special. An AU thing that we had the idea for awhile now and have been writing. It's a high school AU where Ebs isn't over a thousand years old and they're at a rich preppy school. If you want us to post it then just say so in the comments below. Anyway, enjoy the chapter! A few days later Rainbow Brushstroke had been cleared from the hospital to be taken home, even if Ebony complained that she didn’t want him to leave. Something about him being too adorable, Adhesive had commented that she should just have her own children, to which the mare had blushed profusely. Strange really, we’ll have to dive into that side of a certain mare’s life later. Either way, onto the story! “Is that everything? Bottles, diapers, clothes for us, toiletries…” The white mail stallion muttered, checking a mental checklist off. “For the last time Adhesive, we have everything, relax.” Circuit let out a soft snort, glancing up from Rainbow to shoot a look at his husband. “And, if it turns out we need something, we can just run to the store. It’s not that far away you know. Now come here, your son wants your attention.” He held the fussy baby out to him. The mail stallion smiled brightly and took the baby out of his husband’s hooves and cradled him close to his chest. “Hey buddy, how’s daddy’s big boy?” The foal continued to fuss, squirming a bit in his grasp. “He’s been like that every since we left Ebony’s place, I don’t know what’s wrong.” “Maybe he liked her, and misses his, Auntie Ebony.” The stallion smiled at the new name for their friend. Rainbow cooed at the name, smiling and gurgling in an adorable baby laugh. “Hmph, well sorry little one, but Ebony needs time to spend with her little coltfriend she thinks I don’t know about.” The gray stallion light ruffled the foal’s mane, smiling softly as he continued to giggle. “They’ve been together for awhile now, and she did catch the bouquet at our wedding…” He smiled brightly, a humorous grin and snickered. “I don’t know why she hasn’t ‘officially’ told us yet. Maybe because I threatened him…” Circuit muttered the last part as he picked up one of the toys, dangling it in front of Rainbow. “Maybe because I told her about the sulphuric acid….” He smiled at the brown coated foal, leaning down so he could rub their noses together. “Your daddy and I are gonna burn Auntie Ebony’s colt friend with acid if he hurts her, isn’t that nice~?” He cooed softly to the happy colt. His husband let out a laugh before opening the truck door and handing Circuit their son. “Get in and I’ll drive super, duper slow, like, five miles an hour.” “You can’t drive that slow, then we’ll get arrested.” The stallion let out a huff as he took the foal from him. “And are you sure it’ll be safe having him out of his car seat?” “Babe, he’s less than a month old, it’s a lot safer for you to hold him, and I ripped out the air bag just in case. No way am I taking any chances with our son.” _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The entirety of the car ride from Ebony’s home to the Laboratory should’ve taken only twenty minutes. It had taken almost an hour. With Adhesive driving super slow and Circuit cradling their son, freaking out at every single bump as well as yelling at his husband to slow down it took quite awhile. “We’re home!” The mail stallion said exasperatedly, turning the truck off. Circuit let out a relieved sigh as he finally clambered out of the truck, cradling the now wailing foal against his chest. “Took you long enough….Poor thing is probably starving, aren’t you little guy? Can you get one of the bottles out of the bag so I can whip up some formula for him?” “Yeah yeah, no problem.” The stallion reached behind them and grabbed the bag from before, then hopped out of the truck. He circled around and opened the passenger door to help Circuit and his son out. “Here, I’ll take him, you go fix up the formula alright?” Adhesive smiled brightly, happy to be a family. “Alright….I certainly hope you handle him better then you handle this thing.” He teased as he handed over the crying colt, tapping his hoof on the side of the truck. “I don’t even know why Ebony left us this thing, it’s just an accident waiting to happen…” “Oh come on now, I’ve seen you fix it up plenty of times. You love the thing!” The mail stallion chuckled, bouncing the baby colt on his hip lovingly. The stallion then took the foal into the house and sat down on the couch with him, making cooing noises to calm his son down. Circuit let out a snort as he followed after him, slipping past him so he could head into the kitchen. “Just because I like fixing up that hunk of junk doesn’t mean I like riding in it! Especially now that we have a baby in the house, I don’t like him riding in that thing.” He spoke as he began whipping up a bottle, sticking it in the microwave so it’d heat up. Meanwhile the brown foal in Adhesive’s arms quieted slightly, though he continued to let out soft snuffles. “Alright, we’ll look into getting a new car, one that’s family friendly, sound good?” He continued to play with Rainbow Brushstroke to help him calm down enough for the bottle to get ready. “Who’s a good boy, who’s my buddy?” “I suppose that’s acceptable, though a carriage is just as good as a car you know! Call me old fashioned, but I’ve always prefered them.” The gray maned stallion popped back out of the kitchen once the bottle was ready, smiling as he watched them for a moment. After a few moments Rainbow began to get fussy again, so Circuit handed the bottle over to his husband. “Here, you feed him. You’re already holding him after all.” “Yeah yeah okay, but who would pull it? Who’d pull a carriage for us hmm?” Adhesive asked, giving the bottle to his son while debating with his husband. “You, obviously.” The ‘pegasus’ let out a snort, returning to the kitchen so he could put the bottle stuff away. The foal finally stopped fussing as he quietly suckled, his eyes drooping a bit. “Who else would pull it? Our non-existent servant? Or we could always get a servant…” The stallion muttered the last part to himself, tapping his chin in thought. “That’s not a bad idea, like a maid or something? I’m sure Ebony would know how to get one, maybe one of the changelings she works with? I think it would be a good idea to expose Rainbow to as much diversity as possible as young as possible.” Adhesive bounced his son gently as he suckled, smiling down at the colt lovingly. “Hm….Maybe….I don’t know how much I like the idea of some random stranger in our house though, especially around our son. Maybe when he’s older and defend himself if it turns out our maid is a big creep?” He trotted back out to join them, flopping down next to his husband. He peered into his arms, reaching out to brush his son’s mane back from his eyes. The foal cooed at his father and reached out his little hooves wanting a hug and pushing the finished bottle away from himself. Rainbow laughed and kicked his back hooves in an adorable infant way. “Well maybe we’d get a spell or something? Like a phantom pony or whatever, I heard Ebs talking about that once to Chichina. Apparently it was how she ran the manor before changelings joining up with her.” The mail stallion shrugged before smiling goofily at his husband. “Yeah no…” Circuit replied, reaching out to pull the infant into his arms. He carefully held him against his shoulder, patting his back to get him to burp. “I don’t want ghosts in my house. I don’t care how nice they are or if they literally can’t harm us because magic or something, I’m not letting one in here. Especially not around our newborn son.” He held him away so he could rub their noses together. “Isn’t that right Rainbow? Yes it is, I won’t let any ghosty whosty n-Gah!” He yelped and jerked back as the foal spit up all over his face. “Aw horsefeathers, here, lemme get that…” The green maned stallion got up and quickly got a rag and began helping his husband get cleaned up. “...Dang, how much did this kid eat?!” He took Rainbow into his hooves after Circuit was cleaned up and pressed his lips together. “Well, that was a first.” Circuit just shuddered with disgust, shooting a glare at Rainbow. Rainbow didn’t seem to notice, busying himself with chewing on his own hoof. “Yeah...Next time, I’ll feed him and you’ll burp him. Evil child….” He grumbled, though as usually his voice lacked any real venom to it. “I bet you planned that.” The foal just giggled, flailing his now spit covered hoof at him. “Yeah, such a little devil, I wonder where he gets it?” Adhesive gave his husband a sultry and accusing look. “Definitely not anypony I know.” “Oh I wouldn’t have the faintest idea. Whoever he got it from, they’re probably amazingly handsome and like, the smartest inventor to ever walk the face of Equestria.” He dramatically flicked his dark gray mane from his eyes. His husband let out a loud laugh and smacked his knee with one hoof. “So humble this pony must be, and interesting, do you think he’s single?” The mail stallion teased, resting his chin on one hoof. “Oh definitely not. A pony that magnificent surely must be taken. Probably by somepony equally, if not more amazing.” He chuckled softly, his dark green eyes twinkling with mirth. “This pony must be one lucky son of a gun to be even remotely worthy of this amazing stallion. I bet he’s the happiest stallion in the world to even know this pony.” “I’m sure he is, though I bet they’re just happy to have found someone who can match their amazing talent and sheer awesomeness.” The mail pony leaned forward, cupping his husband’s cheek gently with one hoof and kissed him lovingly. Circuit giggled at the gesture, leaning into his touch. Of course the tender moment was ruined as Rainbow began to sob, upset that he wasn’t getting any attention. “Oh baby, it’s okay, daddy’s here.” Adhesive bounced Rainbow on his knee and smiled as the baby cooed. “Way to ruin the moment kid…..And here I thought I was going to actually get something tonight...Oh well, a stallion can dream.” He chuckled as he lightly ruffled the little colt’s gray mane. The white stallion smiled and chuckled slightly at this, nuzzling his son in affection. Just then, the little colt yawned and began showing signs of drowsiness. “I think our little buddy is getting sleepy!” “Ah yes, and the perfect thing to do is scream at him.” The ‘pegasus’ hissed, lightly smacking the other stallion. Luckily Rainbow hadn’t even notice, continuing to nod off. “Hurry up and put him to bed before he wakes up again, he’ll probably be awake in a few hours screaming his little head off.” “I wasn’t yelling, you’re just paranoid.” He carried their son towards the room next to their own that they’d transformed from a storage room into a fully fledged nursery. There were painted walls of changelings, landscapes, zebras, unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, heck there was even a small painted figure of what must’ve been Ebony. The golden body and crimson mane was obvious enough. The floor was soft carpet of green to look more like grass, and the crib in the center along with the other furniture were made to look like branches coming together to form the shapes needed. There were even little faux painted leaves carved onto the surface of some areas. “Oh yeah you try getting that kid back to sleep once he starts screaming then. I love him to bits but he’s a little nightmare sometimes.” There was obvious affection in his voice as he looked down at their son, despite the fact that he’d just called their son a nightmare. His husband chuckled softly at this before placing the little boy into the crib and gently covering him with a blanket. “Goodnight little buddy.” “C’mon you, I think it’s time for us to go to bed as well if you know what I mean~” Circuit lightly bumped their hips together, winking at him as he trotted out of the room. “Yes sir.” Adhesive said happily, trotting out of the room, this was going to be an interesting night indeed.