Bound by Scales

by FrostTheWolf

33- Joy

Bound by Scales- Joy

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Out of all the things that I’ve had to handle before as a Displaced all the way up until now, I never felt as if I was not prepared for anything that I had to handle. That is… all the way up until this morning. Applejack and I were startled awake early in the morning by Pinkis shortly after we heard her in pain and distress. But it was in asking her if she was okay that she had dropped a bombshell on us… which lead to where we were at right now in this present moment.

Pinkis’ water had just broke… The baby was coming… And I had no idea what we were suppose to do right now. Luckily though… Applejack was quick to respond as she looked to me first before looking at Pinkis. “Ken, go find Dr. Cross and Subaru. We need all hooves on deck right now and I need you to go get them quickly!” Around now, I would normally ask her why… but given the current state of events right now and Applejack immediately yanking the sheets off the bed to tend to Pinkis, I decided it would be better for all of us if I just do what she told me to do and go get the doctor.

Just as I burst out the door though, I found myself sidetracked when I heard Shayne and Aurox outside speak up. “Ken, what the hell is going on? We heard Pinkis scream and-.”

“Shayne, I’m sorry for interrupting you, but we need all hands on deck here right now and I need you to go find Dr. Cross,” I told her as I was looking around for a moment before looking back at her. “Tell him that Pinkis just went into labor and that we need him over here now!” The rogue teen immediately nodded her head in response, saluting me before running off to go find the doctor while I had to still go find Subaru. Hell, maybe Pinkis’ friends could help her… but right now, finding Subaru was my top priority. Or at least… someway to bring her here.

Only a few moments later though did I find Brutalight as I paused in order to catch my breath for a moment.

“What are you doing, Ken?” I heard her ask, around the same time I was able to finally breath properly.

“B-brutalight… have you seen S-subaru anywhere? We n-need her help right now…” I said, before taking a deep breath and saying the reason why we needed her. “Pinkis’ water broke and she’s going into labor. Applejack sent me to find Subaru while she’s helping Pinkis right now.”

“Why do you need Subaru…?” Brutalight asked, a little confused.

I deadpanned a little as I looked back at her. “Well, from when we met her, she was helping take care of Pinkis during the last stages of her pregnancy… With the baby coming, Applejack is needing all hooves on deck and she specifically asked me to go find Subaru since she was Pinkis’ caretaker last time we saw her-.” As I was finishing my sentence was when we heard a painful scream that belonged to Pinkis wail out from her room as I looked back at Brutalight. Maybe that might explain it to her better than words can.

“I’ll summon her and help however I can.” Brutalight told me in response.

“Thanks. We really appreciate it.” I told her before racing back to where AJ and Pinkis were. Along the way, I found Shayne running back with Dr. Cross. The stallion went in first and I went in afterwards while Shayne stayed outside since Aurox couldn’t exactly fit in that small of a space. “Alright, Brutalight told me that she’s summoning Subaru and going to pitch in however she can. What can we do to help in the meantime?”

“You can help get what we need to deliver this foal.” AJ told me… which, left me with many different questions inside my head. “Ken, Ah need you to go get as many clean towels as you can. Dr. Cross, find some alcohol to serve as a disinfectant. We’re going to deliver this foal together and everypony needs to help!”

Based on the tone alone, she didn’t need to tell me twice before I had to bolt out of there to get the towels. Because this was sure as hell going to get messy by the time everything was all said and done. However, in the back of my mind, I was curious as to why she was so confident in being able to do all of this… It’s almost like she had done this… before somehow. But she wasn’t a doctor… so how would all of this make sense?

Yet, right now, I can just ask her that later and focus on what she wanted me to get before I get yelled at for getting distracted. It took a few moments for me to run on back to the temple to get the towels she needed before racing back over with what AJ needed before she asked me for one last favor.

“Sugarcube, ah need you to place two of the towels on the floor and then have you stay outside for when Brutal comes with Subaru… the next part’s going to be very hard and ah got enough help because of you two…” She said before turning to Pinkis now. “Are you ready, Pinkis?”

“GRAAAHHHH!!!” Was her only response. Which prompted me to step out the door where Shayne was waiting outside.

“So… is she going to be alright?” Shayne then asked me, which only lead to me being unsure about how to answer her in that moment.

Subaru came up to them, a blank expression on her face. Prompting me to respond to her as soon as I saw her. “Oh thank god you made it… AJ needs your help. Did Brutalight explain what’s going on?” I asked her, trying to see how much she knew about the situation right now.

“Yes. Tell me Applejack hasn’t used an anesthetic.” Subaru asked.

“I don’t believe so… they just began the procedure now.” I told them, opening the door for her. “AJ! Subaru’s here!!”

“Good timing!! Have her come in here quickly!!” I heard AJ shout out before trying to calm Pinkis. “Okay Sugarcube… breath… we’re here to help, just stay calm…” Turning to Subaru, I kept the door open and allowing her to go on inside before closing the door behind her. It was then that I closed my eyes for a moment, praying for the best and that they were going to pull through with this.

It was the only thing I could do in that moment… and it just made me feel rather helpless that I couldn’t do anything else to help somehow. I continued to think this as more time passed and it wasn’t for another few hours that we heard anything other than Pinkis’ cries. It didn’t help any that Brutalight decided not to stick around shortly after bringing Subaru over to have her help Dr. Cross and AJ with the delivery process.

Time began to pass by rather quickly as we waited for the procedure to be over… which was much longer than I thought. Neither Shayne, nor I for that matter, knew that it would take almost eight full hours on average for a mare to give birth… and Pinkis’ water broke a few minutes after five o’clock. So we didn’t really hear any word from them until around three in the afternoon… and by the time that the door to Pinkis’ room opened up once again and AJ stumbled out… the first thing that we saw was the blood that was all over her hooves.

“Whoa… Are you okay?” Shayne asked as I approached her and got down to her level before noticing something. Applejack… was crying… but they weren’t tears of sadness at all.

Instead, as she pointed towards Pinkis’ bed inside the room… and to the newborn foal that was just delivered… I began to see that these tears… were tears of joy. “W-we did it…” AJ said, before almost collapsing on me from exhaustion. “We all did it… She’s born.”

Wait a minute… she? I looked back over to where Pinkis was… and where Dr. Cross and Subaru were helping clean up the newborn as the stallion looked back at the earth pony on the bed and had some good news for her. “Congratulations, Ms. Cupcake… It’s a filly.”

“She’s asleep…” Subaru stated dryly.

“S-still… it’s a good thing that s-she’s okay…” Applejack panted for a moment and breathing out a sigh of relief… only to catch me off guard with the second statement. “Ken, can ya please carry me? I’m tired as hay right now and I think I lost the feeling in my legs.” Sighing a little bit, I did so and helped set her down on a nearby chair before I helped in participation with the cleanup. All while the doctor asked Applejack a simple question.

“Did you think of a name for the newborn?” Doctor Cross’ question was met by Applejack nodding her head as she looked back at him.

“Yes… and we thought of one that seemed rather… appropriate. Her name will be Candy Apple.”

---

After everything that Pinkis had been through, she had been asleep for several hours while the doctors attended to her to make sure everything was cleaned up and that she was still breathing and stable. Personally, Applejack and I just waited for when she would be awake again while Shayne and Brutalight left us alone. Subaru stayed though, just in case anything happened after Pinkis woke up or while she was sleeping.

“Ugh… Is it over…?” Pinkis croaked.

“S-sugar, you’re awake!” Applejack said happily, striding to her side as she kissed her. “How are you feeling?”

“Water…” Immediately after hearing that, I got up and went to the kitchen, getting a cup of water for her and bringing it back over for her to drink.

“Here you go,” I told her, setting it down on the nightstand for her so that way I don’t spill it on her accidently. “We had Subaru and a few others help us during the whole process and everything went by smoothly. Candy right now is sound asleep.”

“Is she… Healthy?” Pinkis groaned, before taking the water and gulping it down to march her throat.

“Dr. Cross and Subaru evaluated her themselves,” Applejack then replied back to her as she sat next to her. “She’s got a clean bill of health. No irregularities of any kind.”

“Good… She didn’t…” Pinkis trailed off. “How long do I have to recover?”

Now was when I was confused. “Do you mean how long you were recovering for right now? Cause Dr. Cross said to take it easy for a couple of days at most. As of now though, you’ve been out for a while.” Shortly after that though, I then thought of an idea as I looked back at Applejack before looking back at Pinkis. “Would you like to see her?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Pinkis asked, gesturing for me to hurry up. I nodded, going over to where we had the cradle for the newborn as I brought it over to where Pinkie was and set it down. Allowing for her to be able to see her newborn daughter for the first time. We made sure to bundle her up in a warm blanket and kept an eye on her so she would sleep. Even going as far as Applejack helping her whenever she cried.

“Damn it… You better not eat me.” Pinkis said to the foal, before kissing her head. Only for the young newborn to yawn cutely. “Don’t steal my thunder, maggot.”

“Easy, sugarcube… No need to go hard on her. She’s just a foal.” Applejack teased.

“I know she’ll bite off my nipples if I feed her…” Pinkis said with narrowing eyes.

“Uh… aren’t you assuming a little too much?” I asked her shortly after hearing that.

“She’s the daughter of a cannibalistic embodiment of gluttony.” Pinkis replied with a deadpan glare aimed straight at me.

“True, but it’s still too early to tell if she would do that or not.” Applejack then said. “But for right now, let’s just enjoy the moment sugarcube.”

“Yeah, yeah, who said I wasn’t...?” Pinkis sighed. Causing Applejack to giggle as she nuzzled up right next to her.

“Aww… You three look so cute together like that.” I chuckled. “Maybe I can ask Subaru if she can take a family photo or something just for the occasion.”

“I don’t really care…” Pinkis groaned.

“Ah think we should just spend some time together as a family… Which reminds me… when do you think would be the right time to tell Ruby and Magma they have a sister now?” Oh… crap, I did not think of that. Dammit, why didn’t I think of that sooner?! Okay, just… calm down. Just breathe… you can do this… as long as she doesn’t throw any curveballs, I think I’ll be okay.

“Once Pinkis gets situated after a bit and Candy has had time to mature a bit.” I replied back to her. Only to not expect the quick follow up response from her in return.

“And… when do you think that would be?” F*ck!! What do I say now!? Please, just think of something before-.

“GAHH!” Pinkis yelped. “My nipple!”

…… Not exactly how I thought of an awkward conversation breaker, but I’ll take it. After all, it may have been only a few hours, but I’m dead tired right now. Hopefully Shayne and Aurox are keeping an eye on Tina in the meantime.

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“3 2 1 BLAST-O!!” The tiny little troublemaker shouted outside of the hollow as she was trying her hand as rocket based explosives… all while Shayne and Aurox were trying to accompany her in the process. Yet, it was then that she realized something as the rocket as flying towards the ground. “Oh maaaaan, it’s going for that abandoned house I stayed in.”

“...... You don’t know how to actually use a rocket, do you-?” BOOOM!!!

“YEAH, WE DID IT!! SCREW MY HOUSE!!!!!”

---

Just as we got Candy calmed down and under control, we heard the explosion from outside as it lightly shook the hollow… and caused Candy to cry. Which, in my mind, lead me to thinking four words off the top of my head.

“God…… damn it…… Tina.”

---

End Chapter 33

Author's Note:

Just when you think things seem to calm down... leave it to Tina to snap you back to reality. Sorry I had to make you wait on this, but now with more time on my hands, I was able to keep this brief and simple. In addition, one video I happened to find based off some audio from Borderlands The Pre Sequel lead to the ending with Tina.

Hope you guys enjoy! Thanks BP for helping me out with this one too. Also, if you like this story, please check out some of the other ones I got. Including my newest one based on Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. But for now, It’s time to kick back and catch up on E3.
-Frost.

Comments

[InfernoRage008]

Well, that explains a lot. We can all blame Sci-Twi for that one.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Well that was an explosive ending! 😆

[FrostTheWolf]

8243135
You think? Anything with Tina would lead to explosions eventually