Alternate Beginnings: Year Five

by Doug Graves

4 Risen Blood

February 14th, 997

"ICE CHIPS!! I SAID, ICE CHIPS!!"

"Okay, Fluttershy, they are on the way."

"THESE ARE ICE SLIVERS! I HATE YOU!! EEEE-"

The high pitched scream slowly tapers down, pausing only when Fluttershy takes a breath. Doug enjoys the short lived respite while he can. Soon enough and the wail comes back, tuned out a little as Rainbow Dash rushes back in the room, a bucket of what is hopefully ice chips in her hooves. Doug plunges his hand into the bucket, holding it there for a few seconds as the screaming and flailing from next to him continues unabated. He withdraws his cold empty hand, placing it on Fluttershy's forehead.

The mare instantly quiets down, the quiet disturbed only by the occasional beep of the two monitors. She breathes softly, holding onto Doug's arm with both hooves, looking to be peacefully asleep to any unaware observer.

Rainbow glances at the list on the table, wiping away a bit of sweat. She says loudly, "Okay, that was a new one. Sorry I misheard it, but I really don't think there should have been an issue, there's like no difference."

Doug shrugs. "There isn't, don't worry about it. Okay, I'm fairly certain she's going to repeat on the next one, do we have everything ready?"

Twenty Nine Hours Ago

Doug turns; the hesitant knock at his door is getting louder, just now able to be made out over the din of the fillies playing whatever game. He glances down at his reports; nothing immediate needs to be done, so he can take a break. He walks over, opening the door, revealing Fluttershy standing there and looking very reluctant.

"Hey 'Shy; it finally happen?"

Fluttershy glances back at her flank, nervously whispering, "Um, I mean, I don't want to be a bother, but I think so. I've started... leaking."

Doug smiles, getting up from his chair. "Excellent! I bet you're ready for her to be out of you, am I right?"

"I suppose so; whenever she is ready."

Present Time

Rainbow nods. "Yup, everything is ready, but Angel Bunny really isn't happy about what happened the last time. I had to promise him ten carrots and a free trip across Ponyville just to get him to come out the time before! And then she went and grabbed him too tightly. Again." Doug glances around the room; it's essentially bare except for the machines and furniture. If the object is in the room, Fluttershy doesn't want it. If it isn't in the room, it invariably becomes the object she fixates on, demanding it over and over and louder and louder until she gets it.

"Yup." Doug sighs, as he flexes his hand. The mare really has no clue how hard she is pulling or tugging or hitting, making it very frustrating to deal with her constant demands. He grabs one of the ice chips, popping it into his mouth. Next, one of his oat bars, closing his eyes as he strokes Fluttershy. She coos, slowly rubbing her muzzle up and down, trying to spread the cool sensation around her face before slowly letting her breath out and relaxing against the sheets. She also wouldn't let him out of the room, even to go to the bathroom. Well, she doesn't leave the room for that either, and sometimes can't control it when she is pushing, so it just gets more than a little embarrassing for everypony. At least they both have plenty of experience cleaning up dirty diapers.

Twenty Eight Hours Ago

Pinkie Pie pronks around the hospital room. "It's going to be so amazing once you have your foal and then your foal and my foal can play with each other and they're going to be bestest best friends, just like me and my sister Maud, and they're going to do so many things together and-"

Fluttershy, pacing back and forth, nervously whispers, "Pinkie."

Present Time

Nurse Redheart moves over to the foot of the bed, carefully spreading Fluttershy's legs, doing a quick check on her progress. She smiles at the two of them, "Well, thirteenth times the charm, right? I'm, let's say, eighty percent certain it will start this time."

"Yeah, well, the last time you said that, an hour ago, it was ninety percent." Rainbow Dash huffs. "I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that."

"Yes, well, after the last time I had to adjust my calculations." Nurse Redheart points to the chart on the wall; it originally had tracked the pegasus' progress, but after the tenth hour they had given up making neat, orderly lines and started scribbling in the margins. "If you re-"

Doug cuts off Nurse Redheart's retort, "Next one starting up, 'Shy. Remember, start breathing in on one, count to four, then breath out on one. Okay?"

Twenty Six Hours Ago

Pinkie Pie busily pronks around. "-and maybe she'll like counting leaves like I like counting balloons and there are so many leaves out in Ponyville I mean have you ever thought about how many leaves there are in one apple tree and there are soooo many apple trees and-"

Fluttershy, looking very exasperated with bits of sweat beading on her body, whispers, "Pinkie."

Present Time

A muffled snore is the only response from the yellow pegasus, Doug holding a hoof in one hand and making sure his earplugs are secure with the other. Fluttershy awakens, an anxious look around before she locks onto Doug and his unwavering eyes. She smiles before grunting; Doug begins counting, Fluttershy trying to keep her breathing in time as her body begins pushing. She says brightly, "Oh, it feels like she's moving!" before a loud scream rips through the room.

Doug continues his count for about a minute, Fluttershy wailing the entire time. Nurse Redheart, the earth pony patiently watching for any sign of movement, gives Doug a nod. Fluttershy stops wailing, now shouting, "ORANGE!! I NEED ORANGE GEL!!"

Twenty Four Hours Ago

Pinkie Pie takes a large breath.

Fluttershy whispers, "Pinkie."

Pinkie Pie turns upside down, "Yes?"

"Um, oh, never mind." Fluttershy paws at the ground, looking uncomfortable.

"Oh my gosh Fluttershy, you're right! I need to go make sure the parties are ready!" The pink mare pronks out of the room.

Doug looks over, popping one of his ear plugs out. "Something happen?"

Fluttershy shakes her head. "No, but it was starting to get frustrating." She looks down her flanks, "And I thought I felt something."

Present Time

Rainbow looks at her list, dashing outside the hospital room. Fluttershy takes a deep breath, "YOU DID THIS TO ME!! I NEVER WANT! TO SEE YOU! AGAIN!! WHERE'S MY ORANGE GEL!!"

Rainbow returns a few seconds later, an orange in one hoof and a plate of orange gelatin with little chunks of orange inside. Fluttershy tries to lunge for the gelatin, restrained by Doug as Rainbow quickly brings the gelatin in range. The yellow pegasus pushes half of the dessert into her mouth, quickly followed by the other half before slumping back down, falling asleep again.

Nurse Redheart says in a loud voice, "Okay, she is nearly there. Just one or two more, and I think she'll be done! Hopefully."

Fifteen Hours Ago

Fluttershy paces around the room, Doug's hand in tow, the human trying to keep a smile on his face. Nurse Redheart walks in, raising an eyebrow and asking, "Still nothing?" The nurse shakes her head, "She should have been done hours ago, she showed all the right signs." Nurse Redheart moves over to the chart, double checking, "Well, just give it a little longer, and we'll see how she is."

Fluttershy looks down her body, smiling softly. "But she's so comfortable in there! I don't think she wants to leave."

Present Time

Doug nods, "Rainbow, double check with the Shy's, make sure we have more gelatin. I'd hate for her to repeat and have us be out." Rainbow nods, exiting the room as Doug sighs, petting Fluttershy's disheveled mane. "Thirty hours and counting, huh? Wonder if that's a record."

Nurse Redheart grumbles, "I don't know about Equestria, but it is at this hospital." She sighs, looking back at the chart; it had been a hospital record four hours ago. Stupid weird human. She sighs; at least the foal hasn't gone into distress. But, with Fluttershy getting more and more ornery as time has gone on? It sure doesn't make it any easier to deal with. "I don't mean that, it's just been rough, having to constantly monitor her. She is so close, it could happen at any second. Anyway, wake me when it gets close again." She slumps over in her chair, eyes closed as Rainbow enters the room.

"Alright, everything's set." The pegasus gives a sleepy yawn, "How are you still awake, dude?" She glances over at the chart; Doug hasn't left the room, and Applejack said he had been awake the whole time. Whereas Rainbow was around for the first ten hours, then realized that the foaling wasn't progressing quickly and went for a nap, which turned into a long rest while Applejack took over. She barely suppresses her glare at the pregnant mare sitting asleep in front of her; she just has to take everything painfully slow.

Ten Hours Ago

"Oh, um, Doug, I think it's starting."

Doug looks over; Fluttershy is lying on her side, legs extended. "Then what happened before?"

"I think she wants to stay, and I don't want to be a bother."

Doug rolls his eyes as the mare next to him grips his hand with both forelegs, straining and breathing heavily. He calls out, "Nurse Redheart?"

Present Time

Doug shrugs. "I'll go with biology. How's Applejack?"

"Still asleep. Figured I can tough it out, especially if it's just the one or two more. I'll get her if it doesn't happen. Pinkie's busy with the party, I think, probably crashed already." Rainbow smirks; Pinkie Pie had been great for the first five hours or so. Then, Fluttershy started getting progressively worse and worse, and the party pony couldn't handle the frustration and had to keep her spirits up with one party chained into another, just in case the foal happened to pop out and they needed an immediate party. Well, whatever keeps her wings aloft.

"And Rarity?" Doug smirks, knowing the unicorn's reaction to anything this irritating and potentially disgusting or disruptive.

"Pff!" Rainbow Dash laughs uproariously. "You could barely drag Rarity in to her own hospital room for her foaling, there's no way you're getting her in here." She yawns again, snuggling up to Doug, "I'm just going to rest my eyes a little, too. Totally not asleep."

Doug pats her on the head as she rests next to him, watching the monitor.

Five Hours Ago

Fluttershy raises her voice for the first time, "Doug? I feel like my body isn't cooperating. My head is really hot. Do you have something to cool it off?"

Doug looks around the room, slightly frowning. "Um, not at the moment. Hold on, I can-"

"What?" Fluttershy exclaims. "I Want Ice! ICE! ICE!!"

Rainbow sticks her head in the door, "What is going on?" as Fluttershy, gripping Doug's arm, screams for ice.

Present Time

After two minutes Doug sees the needle start to wobble more. He nudges Fluttershy and snaps his fingers. The three mares wake up, Nurse Redheart moving to position while Rainbow heads to the door.

Fluttershy looks over, "Okay, I think I'm ready for her to come out now."

Doug looks over at her, taken aback. "What?"

Fluttershy nods, "I want her to come out, and I don't think letting her stay is an option any more." She looks down her legs, shyly saying, "I think my body was trying to tell me that the whole time."

Doug grumbles to himself, 'I don't think that was ever an option' before he says, louder, "Okay, love, one more try. In, two, three, four, out, two, three, four." Doug counts, Fluttershy breathing along. She closes her eyes as she bears down, Doug glancing at the hint of white that pokes its way out from between her legs. He squeezes her hoof, keeping his count going as Fluttershy opens her eyes, locking with his own.

A slimy squelch later and Nurse Redheart breaks into a flurry of motion. Fluttershy looks around, terrified, and screams, "I WANT ANGEL BUNNY!! I WANT HIM NOW!!"

Rainbow darts out the door, Fluttershy continuing to wail, "ANGEL BUNNEEEEEEE-"

Nurse Redheart moves to Doug, placing the light tan foal in his arms, barely cleaned off and still wrapped in the dirty towel. Doug holds the foal out to Fluttershy, saying, "Aww, isn't she just precious? She's got your mane, she looks just like you!"

"EEEEEEE-" Fluttershy cuts off her screaming immediately, holding her hooves out. Doug lets her stroke the pegasus foal, her bouncy brown mane a very similar curl to Fluttershy's. The mare slowly runs her hoof along the head, a seemingly enormous size compared to the rest of her body. But, Doug reminds himself, all the foals are like that, at least initially. And then they grow to have merely large heads compared to their bodies, at least compared to most animals.

The door opens, Rainbow poking her head in. "So, Angel was really asking for a lot, and I wasn't sure if I should give in when I heard the screaming stop. So, still need him?" Doug shakes his head, Rainbow giving a heavy sigh of relief. "Okay, good. Well, I'm going to make good on that flight around Ponyville, then I'm going to bed. Good, um, day, great job, 'Shy." A rainbow blur remains as Rainbow disappears outside the door and Doug lays back, Fluttershy giving a slightly disgusted grunt as she finishes the foaling process.

Doug swaddles the foal while Nurse Redheart cleans the mare up, a confused Fluttershy looking around the room before finding her foal again. She holds her hooves out; this time Doug places the tiny foal in her forelegs, a smile breaking out on both of their faces.

"Hello, Hedge. It's very nice to meet you." Fluttershy moves her muzzle down, tickling the foal's tiny belly. Hedge laughs, waving her tiny hooves back and forth. Fluttershy looks over at Doug, asking, "What was Rainbow talking about?" Fluttershy bats her eyes, innocent as an angel as she coos at the foal, "I wasn't that bad, was I? Oh dear, I'm sorry if I was a bother."

Comments

[Viper Pit]

fluttershy don't worry you will be laughing about this in no time at all

[badninja]

Thank you for covering (again) the after birth. That gets missed in tons of media.

[Heidao]

The ultimate display of Shy's timid nature and a test on her herd's mental fortitude.

Too meek, won't push out the foal, that would be rude, waits for her decision to leave.
Foal wants to leave, doesn't want her to leave, resulting in hours of pain induced delirium and rage

Fluttershy takes a deep breath, "YOU DID THIS TO ME!! I NEVER WANT! TO SEE YOU! AGAIN!! WHERE'S MY ORANGE GEL!!"

[DarkPhoenixx]

"ICE CHIPS!! I SAID, ICE CHIPS!!"
"Okay, Fluttershy, they are on the way."
"THESE ARE ICE SLIVERS! I HATE YOU!! EEEE-"

Omg THAT sounds familiar lol.....well not Dougs line.....ive been on the receiving end of yelling like Fluttershy is doing lol

[DarkPhoenixx]

Its like i always say.....Birthing is the most beautiful and ugliest and most terrifying and most glorious thing in the world
Humans are born a contradiction lol

[PirateLord93]

It's always the quiet ones

[f0st3r21]

RRRrrrrrEEEEEeeee! Lol

[MurderP0n7]

10131754
born in a contradiction? the last time I review, humans are THE contradiction