And the Dams did Break
"UuuooooWWWAAAAGGHHH!"
Shining Armor's ears pinned against his head as he bit his lip, glancing down the hallway as he hunched over to make himself as small as possible.
"Come on now, 't ain't nothing to be scared of, just her labor pains."
Looking down the other way, Shining made eye contact with Applejack. He looked away, and scratched his mane with a hoof. "I'm not scared. I'm kinda excited actually!"
"Then I'm sure your coat being more slick with sweat than a hog in July is just excitement, right?" offered Applejack.
"Eheheh, I guess maybe I'm a little nervous?" Looking, out of the corner of his eye, Shining once again looked at the mare who had helped him carry his laboring wife to the hospital. "Sorry about Cadence's water breaking that the dinner table. Guess the little tike really wanted to try it for themselves?" Shining chuckled alongside Applejack, before she ribbed him with an elbow.
"Don't you worry none about that. It'll come out with a good scrubbing, and Apple Bloom already knows where foals come from." Applejack leaned back, and let out another laugh. "Goodness, that was certainly one way to say thanks for the meal."
"OOOowwwowowoww!"
Shining Armor once again winced, looking at the door. "I wish I could be in there," he said. "Even if it's just so she can bludgeon me with a bedpan."
"Don't worry, she'll be out of their quick as you please with a bouncing foal eager to see the world." Applejack leaned over, smiling. Her brows raised as somepony two sizes too big galloped down the hallway. She turned around. "Macintosh!" she exclaimed. "You tell the others?"
"Eeyup," answered Big Mac, skidding to a halt. "How's Mrs. Cadence doing."
"Why didn't I just pass the Crystal Tower instea-ea-ead!?"
Big Mac looked to the door, adjusted the piece of grass in his mouth, then looked back to Shining Armor. "She's doing mighty fine."
"That's mighty fine?" Shining threw his hooves out to the two farmer ponies. "I know from school and the doctor there'd be pain, but... this is even worse than the Empire!" Hopping from his seat, Shining paced the hallway. "At least there I knew if things really went badly, I could go out and just rage against an enemy! But this!?"
Applejack leaned over to Big Mac. "I'm beginning to really see the family connection to Twi."
"Eeyup."
"What was that?" asked Shining.
"Nothin'," replied Applejack, shaking her head. "We were just saying that as awful as it sounds in there, it's perfectly normal for a mare to be this... vocal."
"I know how to push, that's what I'm doing! It's what I've been doing since this staaarted!"
Shining Armor pointed a hoof to the door and nodded. "That's normal?"
"Eeyup."
Applejack nodded. "Was for my sis and I when we were born. Big Mac too, if'n Granny Smith is to be believed."
"Really?" asked Shining, an ear perking up.
"Yep, I can tell ya about what happened for Apple Bloom's birth if it will set you at ease." Applejack lifted up a hoof and drew a circle in the air.
Glancing at the delivery room door, Shining bit his lip, then looked to Applejack and nodded. "Okay."
"Alrighty then," said Applejack. "Well, me and Big Mac were out in the field with our momma, bucking apples for the July harvest. She was in her eleventh month, and Apple Bloom had descended, making it hard for Mom to work. So we were there, gathering the apples, when she stood up.
"'That ain't how you do it, Mac,' she said, then walked over to a tree, turned on her front hooves, and bucked the tree. Now just as she was lowering her legs, she looked right at Big Mac, smile on her face. 'That's how you do it,' she said. Then, right as her knee hit her belly, her water broke, flowed right out and onto the tree.
"Now Apple Bloom isn't the patient sort, as you might've guessed, so the first contraction hit her by the time she looked behind her to see what had happened. She yelled at us. "Mac! Go get your pa, your next sibling wants things done naturally. Applejack! Get some hot water and towels."
Big Mac smiled, prompting Shining to hold up a hoof. "What's so amusing?"
"Oh, I'm just getting to his favorite part. Now when Dad got around, he'd set Big Mac to let Mom bite down on his hoof if she needed to, while he had me set up the towels for when Apple Bloom came. Now, it's kind of a blur, but Big Macintosh here claims that when Apple Bloom's head first appeared, I backed up, eyes wide as saucers, my mouth hanging open. All I said was, 'Oh. Sweet. Celestia.'"
At the conclusion of the statement, Big Mac's expression actually deigned to show his teeth.
"So your sister was born in the orchard?" asked Shining Armor, mouth agape and pointed at Applejack and Big Mac.
"Eeyup."
"So was Big Mac and I, we were all pretty set on not letting Mom get to her hooves once things started." Appejack smiled and inclined her head. "Easy for her, of course Big Mac and I learned a few words that we weren't ever supposed to repeat, and most certainly never direct at anypony, no matter how much we might've disliked them."
Applejack tilted her head and squinted. "Weren't you there for Twilight's birth?"
"Buh!" Shining Armor recoiled. "I was at school, when I got home, dad was there to pick me up and take me to the hospital to see her. My heart was kind of racing. When we got there, Twilight was swaddled up in the observation room, Mom staring at her."
"Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh!"
Interrupted from his distanced experience of new life, Shining Armor looked behind him to observe a fluorescent pink blur materialize into Pinkie Pie. "Another birth! I'm soooo nervous-cited!"
"Pinkie Pie!" Applejack exclaimed. "Where are the others?"
Gasping for air, Pinkie Pie opened her mouth wide, and granting Shining Armor an immaculate viewing of her uvula. Big Macintosh, for his part, reached a pair of hooves to his head and clamped them over his ears.
"Twilight's looking for her collection of books on foaling, Rarity is throwing together her supplies for measurements for clothing, and Rainbow Dash is trying to convince Fluttershy that being in the delivery room wouldn't be imposing!" Pinkie Pie looked around. "So how's Cadence doing?"
"Get this thing out of me!"
"Oh! Neat!" said Pinkie Pie, pressing her ears to the door, she shouted through it. "Remember to breathe!"
"Who said that? You try breathing when Cerberus is clawing its way out of your stomach!"
Pinkie pulled her head back. "Sheesh! She could give Chrysalis a run for her bits in being a big meanie pants."
Applejack scoffed. "Pinkie, I can't believe you'd say that. Don't you know what a mother goes through?"
"Nope!" Pinkie Pie shook her head. "It's painful, they've told me that, but you've got to cheer up, because it means that your foal is coming!"
"So you've never been to a birth? I know you stayed at Sugarcube Corner to look after things when Mr. and Mrs. Cake went to hospital, but nothing before that?" Applejack leaned towards Pinkie Pie.
"Well..." Pinkie Pie reached a hoof up to her chin. "I was at one before that."
"Oh?" Shining Armor straightened his posture. "What was that like?"
"Hmmm... it was dark, warm, and quiet, and then suddenly it was bright, cold, and noisy..." Pinkie looked over to the others. "What?"
Applejack smacked a hoof to her face. "Just, nevermind Pinkie, I don't want to go down that road."
A cacophony of hooves broke down the hall, and soon Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were skidding to a halt in front of Shining, Pinkie, Applejack, and Big Mac.
Rarity began untangling a knot of measuring tape and yarn. "We came as soon as we could!" she declared, pushing up her pair of red-rimmed sewing glasses as she pulled out a pincushion and sorted her needles.
Twilight walked to Shining, breathing heavily. "Is it.. really... happening?" she asked, draping a hoof over Shining's withers. Shining nodded, and Twilight smiled, extending her wings around him. "Oh! This is wonderful! You're going to be a dad! My brother, with a foal!" She backed away from Shining. "Ahem, congratulations, BBBFF."
"Thanks, Twily, but this isn't over yet," said Shining Armor.
The sound of something heavy bashing against a wall emanated from the delivery room, drawing the attention of everypony. Fluttershy backstepped from the crowd, only for Rainbow Dash to clamp her teeth down on Fluttershy's pink tail.
"Fluttershy," growled Rainbow Dash. "What is with you? You must see animals give birth all the time, probably more!"
"Oh! But this is so much different, this is a special moment, for family, and the doctors are here, so I'm not really needed. So if I could--Aye!"
Rainbow Dash tugged at Fluttershy's tail again, sending her back into the crowd of ponies spinning on her haunches, and hurtling into the mass in a combined flurry of wings, tails, and legs, with Big Mac poking out of the top. The group pulled itself apart, leaving Fluttershy cradled between Rarity and Big Mac's chests.
Big Mac looked down on Fluttershy. "Miss Fluttershy, nopony is expecting you to actually be present for the birth. We was just going over our own experiences with birth."
"Oh thank goodness!" Fluttershy sighed, then shuffled away from Big Mac. She looked around, the others stared at her. "Wait? Oh, I'm sure none of you are interested in what I have to say!"
Twilight's ears perked, then looked to the others. "Actually, I'm kinda curious. What about you guys?" There was some nodding and Rarity bit her lip. "So what's it like for most of your animals, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight.
Fluttershy's ears wilted. "Well, to be honest, most of the animals are surprisingly quiet, they tend to go to some little corner of the house while I'm not looking, and later, when I'm cleaning around the cottage, I find a little mouse or bunny rabbit curled up in a corner." She smiled. "That's how I found Angel Bunny." Reaching her forehooves around herself, Fluttershy twisted in place, hugging an imaginary animal. "Ooooh! They're always just so cute, looking up at you with their beady little eyes! Though their mommy tends to get angry if you spend too much time holding them. Watching everything going through their entire lives, it's just wonderful to witness!"
"Wow, Fluttershy." Twilight raised a hoof in the air. "That really sounds wonderful, so they don't normally make much noise?"
"Ah-ah-aaaahahahh! Please! I promise never to sleep with a stallion again! Just make it stop!"
The group looked at Shining, who simply backstepped until his rump hit the wall.
"Uhm... they certainly don't make any noises like that," said Fluttershy. She crossed her hooves and looked to the side. "So um... if it's okay I'd just want to drop this like right now..."
Twilight shrugged. "What about you Rarity? Do you have any insights?"
"Well..." Rarity fanned herself with a hoof. "As a lady, one must know certain things about the role, though I've never witnessed the event itself, I have heard several descriptions."
"Ooh!" Pinkie Pie pushed her way towards Rarity. "What do other ponies say about it? Come on, I'm curious!"
"Eheheh..." Rarity grinned, discomfort plain in her eyes as she looked about. "They mostly end up talking about the pain, what it's like. One mare, a Carrot Burnit, described labor pain like this: 'Imagine taking your bottom lip, and stretching it to the back of your head."
Something in Shining's gut dropped at the description.
"Hmm, wouldn't that be worse if you were a unicorn?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"Well, you must understand, Carrot Burnit was a unicorn." Rarity looked about.
The something in Shining's gut bottomed out, and the rest of his organs worked eagerly to pull it back up from wherever it had come to rest. Most likely Tartarus. He sat down and clutched his head in his hooves. "What have I done?" he shook his head. "We wanted foals, but to put her through this..."
"Your Highness! Let go of Doctor Stable's bottom lip right now!"
Shining Armor sagged in his seat. "Ohhhh..."
Rarity walked over to Shining and put a hoof on his withers. "Now now, don't act like this isn't the most joyous occasion in a mare's life. The moment she sets eyes on that little bundle, if she ever--and I sincerely doubt the thought crossed her mind--ever felt any ill will to you for the pains, she's going to forget them in that instant..." Rarity pulled her hoof away and glanced to the floor. "Ahem, that's also from what I've read."
Shining Armor looked up, taking in the faces of those surrounding him. "Thanks, but even if she doesn't hold it against me, I still have to remember the pain I put her through."
"Waah! Waah! Waaaaaaggh!"
Looking to the door, Shining Armor blinked. "Is that?" He scrambled to his hooves. Horn glowing, he threw the door open.
Doctor Stable stood in the doorway, and Shining attempted to pass through. "Just one minute, Mr. Armor, Sir."
Shining backed up a few steps, and stared at the doctor. "Do you have foals, Doctor?"
Doctor Stable nodded.
"Then you know you're not going to stop me now," said Shining.
Rolling his eyes, Doctor Stable stood to the side, and Shining Armor entered the delivery room. Laying on the bed, strewn across the soaking, bloody sheets only a foot off the ground, Cadence had her head bent towards her belly, bobbing up and down slightly.
"Honey?" asked Shining. She kept bobbing her head up and down, though her ears twitched in his direction.
He walked around the bed, and saw a little pink foal with its head tucked next to Cadence's teats, suckling its first meal. Cadence was alternately licking its mane, or using a hoof to stroke down its side or back. She pulled her head away from the foal and smiled. "Filly," she said.
The foal pulled her head away from its mother, and turned around. She looked up at Shining, and some gurgling noise escaped her throat. It stomped its hooves, and Shining tilted his head. Filly, no wings, no horn. An earth filly.
"It would appear that your daughter has taken from your wife's earth-pony third." Shining glanced away to see Doctor Stable adjusting his glasses. "Alicorn after all... Regardless." He looked up from the foal to Shining's eyes. "Your daughter is perfectly healthy."
Shining looked down at the pink filly as it huddled against her mother's belly, three inches of umbilical cord flopping on the raised platform.
Filly, earth pony, it didn't matter, she was their daughter. The pain had been worth it, and he would keep working to make sure it was always worth every pain and discomfort in life.
Stats
Page generated in 0.023 seconds
Total duration
1,054 users online
1,422,309 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Avast, thine peasant. Thou hast piked thine Olde Equestrian-Speaking self's interests. Thou hath one more watcher, both upon thy story and thine account. Celestia Speed, young peasant.
3483899 Hark! I hear thee with a merry ear, and thine words doth bring joyous tear to mine eye.
Would be interesting to see a fic where Shining and Cadance's son/daughter are Earth Pony Prince (lots of discrimination in Royalty for being a 'lowly Earth Pony')
D'aaaaaw, that was sweet
Funny how Pinkie Pie remembers her own birth.
3483907
Before Great Aunt Tia steps in and tells the idiots where they put their discrimination? Preferably in a place where she doesn't shine
... while somewhat unneeded I do have to ask... who's bright idea was it to invite the Mane6 (excluding Twilight) to the birth? Still pretty well done, and a earth pony foal is an interesting twist
3483994 Largely by stint that Big Mac was in a bit of a rush to have told Twilight and the others what was happening, the invitation was more implied than explicit for the rest of the mane six.
That's my view of the events leading up to the exchange, but I think the how in this case isn't overly important.
3484004
So Big Mac's fault for Pinkie being there, surprised that they even let her into the building... but yeah it ain't the point.
Well done, on the story and the Family Guy reference.
Cadences lines were brilliant
3484020 Oh, the bottom lip thing is even older than Family Guy. Look up "Bill Cosby, Natural Childbirth" for some truly golden comedy on the miracle of life.
When I read the part where Rarity describes what childbirth felt like, I thought of that one joke Bill Cosby told about natural childbirth and started laughing my head off.
3484048 That makes sense of so much in your story. Apologies to you, Carol Burnett, and The Sweater.
3483994
Well, it all depends on who told who (and knowing Cadence and Shining, most likely the 5/6 are godparents)
I guess Shining might have wanted all of them to be there.
3484004 But what is important is why Spike was not present for the birth of his first niece.
Ah. this was brilliant. Short, sweet, and right to the point. :)
I liked that the title is a metaphor.
Sweet story.
3484360
Because birth is messy.
I dunno. Sounds like a suspiciously specific denial to me, Rarity.
I was surprised that she didn't throw a doctor through the wall with magic.
D'aww! This was sweet. Hope we can see more in the future.
Dammit Pinkie
3484697 3488320 Better safe than sorry on matters of rating, brief as the mention was, I imagine the graphical interpretation of a visual medium of this would have warranted something approximating a warning for mild-blood.
3484332 The same reason the CMC weren't there: A maternity ward while a mother is in labor is no place for a child to be...they'll get images and sometimes hear the mother shouting words that are not meant for young ears.
Rarity knows her stuff. Maybe Sweetie Belle's her daughter instead of her younger sister like in canon... or something.
3485574 3499979 One of you guys should totally try to make that into a story. If you want consulting on it, I'd be glad to offer advice.
I can definitely do that... the problem is that Rarity and I don't mix. And what I mean by don't mix, I actually mean that her elegant and sophisticated nature conflicts with my simple and random one. But you're right: it has potential.
That, and the chances of Cadence having an earth pony foal is slim... considering how she's more likely to give birth to a unicorn foal. Whatever. I'm happy that she has a foal and everything. At least the nobles and Bluetwit can shut up and be less critical of their non-unicorn brethren. *coughSpikecough* But... y'know.
Now that Cadence is a mother, is Spike her adoptive? brother-in-law... or her nephew?
3500025 I just might, if that's all right with you.
Earth pony? Very strange, but such a beautiful fic
3483907 That would actually make a good story, showing the cracks in the ivory tower and how not even the capital is perfect, especially if the racism is done on a more subtle level.
3483975 Well, just because you can make them change their actions, doesn't mean you've changed their beliefs; and subtle forms of discrimination could still occur.
Very accurate and...erm...graphic.
TWILY IS AN AUNTY!
Well that was surprisingly descriptive of Pinkie.... and Rarity....
Also small grammar error here, "Uhm... they certainly don't make any noises like that said Fluttershy.", second " should be before the word said not after Fluttershy.
3642052
Well, at least it wasn't completely bland!
Sweet.
How does pinkie remember these things?
5002573
It's Pinkie, do I need to explain furthermore?
Wait... Pinkie Junior?
3500025
You know, I was against this... then I read the next chapter. Kudos on having morals.
EDIT: Oops! It appears you were not the actual author of that chapter. Kudos anyway!
On a sidenote I never ever liked the whole rarity is sweeties daughter thing