Chapter 24: The adorable little homewrecker
*Sam’s POV, first-person*
“So...what do we do now?” Pinkie asked, rubbing the top of her head. “Should we go to the Crystal Castle?”
I rubbed my hands, staring toward the castle in the distance. “Would they let us in without Twilight with us? I thought the castle would be on tight guard with Princess Cadance in labor.”
Spike chuckled with a pride-filled smile, laying a claw on his chest. “Oh, we’ll be fine. I grew up with Twilight and Shining Armor and I’m a big hero here, plus you and Starlight saved Cadance from the changelings, remember?”
“In fact, we all have saved the day in heroic style at least once.” Rainbow looked sheepishly to Sunburst. “Well, almost all of us.”
“At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Rarity commented, her eyes toward the castle.
Sunburst rubbed his goatee. I don’t know about Starlight, but I’m not used to ponies with goatees. “Guess I’ll stay here. I haven’t done anything special as Rainbow...pointed out, so I doubt the guards would allow me inside. Starlight, can you stop by again before you leave the Crystal Empire, so I can see you off?”
Starlight nodded. “Sure.”
“Then let’s go, everybody! We got a baby to say ‘welcome to the world!’ to! Whoo-hoo!” With a big smile, Pinkie stood on her hind legs, flicked her forelegs in the air, and balloons and...confetti rained down. I may never know how she does things like that. As far as I know, she doesn’t have magic, yet she sometimes pulls stunts that you think would require magic.
Whatever the deal is with Pinkie’s powers, we all made our way to the Crystal Castle. It felt good, but odd, being called a “hero”, and Starlight said the same about her being considered one.
After a few minutes of walking along the roads through the city, we were nearing the Crystal Castle. With how it now seemed to reach toward the heavens and practically glowed white-blue, this palace was even more breathtaking up close! If not for how Applejack teased me about admiring the buildings earlier, I would have gawked more, but I forced myself to hide my amazement. Not that Twilight's castle wasn't impressive when I first saw it, but I had other things on my mind back then.
Nearby was a light-blue heart, seemingly made of crystal. It floated and spun between two vertical narrow strands of the same-color crystal that came a few inches from making contact. It should be the “Crystal Heart” the gang had told me stories of.
In front of the castle’s open front doors, two white pegasi covered in gold armor stood side by side. They must be two of the “Royal Guards” that I heard about.
Once we were close enough, Applejack asked the guards, “Howdy, did Twilight come in earlier?”
One of them answered, “Yes, she did.”
Pinkie leaned her head toward them with a big smile. “Do you mind if we come in too? Pleaseeeeee?”
Both guards shook their heads as one answered, “I’m sorry, but for the time being -- save for you, Spike, the Brave and Glorious -- only authorized personnel are allowed in the castle.”
I should have known we wouldn’t get in that easily, or not most of us. It was nice seeing Spike get that kind of respect, though.
Rainbow took a step forward. “Yeah, but we’re with Twilight and are former world-savers!”
“We know, but Princess Cadance is deep in labor, so we are on higher guard than normal. Princess Twilight is Princess Cadance’s sister-in-law and Captain Shining Armor sister, as well as one of Equestria’s princesses, so we could make an exception for her.”
Rarity strolled to the guards with a...seductive smile. That mare couldn’t be serious. “We hear you, but could you make a litttttle exception for us? We won’t tell!”
It took all my willpower to not laugh, but I did have to look away to let out a titter that wouldn’t stay down. That said, Rarity did look cute trying to flirt -- it wasn’t like she was bad at it.
“And we can help keep Twilight relaxed,” Fluttershy said. I don’t know why, but I almost expected her to try something like Rarity did. “When she worries too much, it...doesn’t end well.”
The two guards stared at each other with torn frowns. I didn’t expect them to even reconsider things at this point.
After a second, they faced us and one of them said, “Well, she is on pace to drive herself crazy with worry.
The other guard added, ”No kidding. She even keeps asking about something Princess Cadance might need, no matter how many times we say everything is under control.”
“See? So, if you let us in, we’ll promise to be good and we’ll make sure Twilight stays nice and calm,” Spike proposed with his lips curled into a sneaky grin. “I have years of experience in this.”
Rainbow asked with her own grin, “Or do you think you all can keep Twilight from stressing even further?”
The guards looked at each other again, then toward a few more that stood watch inside the castle. One of the interior guards shrugged their shoulders...or what shoulders they have, being ponies.
They again faced us as one said, “Uh, that would make things easier, and you folks are in the good graces of Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor. Okay, we’ll make an exception for all of you too. Just stay where Princess Twilight is and don’t wander through the rest of the castle without a guard’s permission.”
Pinkie hopped in place. “Thank you, and we’ll be good! Just leave aunty Twilight to us!”
The two guards stepped to the side. We walked between them -- glad the door was tall enough for me to not have to duck -- and we followed two different guards down its corridors; Pinkie bounced on her hooves as we did. I’ve been in Twilight’s castle plenty, yet it still felt like this was my first time in one. Maybe it’s partly because there are guards here, but Twilight doesn’t have any in hers?
For that matter, why doesn’t Twilight have guards for her castle?
After maybe fifteen, twenty seconds of walking, we were led into a large room, or mid-sized to me. The guards themselves didn’t go in, but stayed outside, perhaps to keep watch. Though my attention wasn’t on them, but on the aunt-to-be pacing in the center of the room, with her head down, mumbling to herself.
Spike teasingly said, “I expected Shining Armor to--”
“Eep!” Twilight jumped in the air and spun around to us, reminding me of how Starlight did a similar thing back when I yelled at her to wake up. I still feel a little bad about scaring her so bad that morning. “Oh, hi, guys. I’m glad the guards let you all come in too, but sorry I just left you back there.”
“With you, Twilight, I would have been worried if you didn’t leave us in the dust,” Rainbow joked with a playful wink, making us all laugh.
Fluttershy asked, “Do you know how long Princess Cadance has been in labor?”
“About three hours from what the guards told me. She should be delivering any time now.”
I’m no expert in this kind of thing, but I thought labor lasts longer than three hours. I asked, “Wait, ‘any time’? I thought this is Princess Cadance’s first foal?”
Twilight nodded. “It is.”
“So why should she be delivering ‘any time’ if she’s only been in labor three hours?”
The mares stared at me with puzzled frowns. Was it really such an odd question?
Rarity cocked her head to the side. “Why shouldn’t she? Mares typically deliver between two to four hours after they enter labor.”
“Oh.” I rubbed the back of my neck out of embarrassment. Why did I assume pony labor lasts the same length of time as human labor?
Fluttershy asked, “Did you think it would be longer?”
“Yeah. I was thinking about the length of human labor.”
“Really? How long does labor last for humans?” Twilight asked while striding closer to me with big, curious eyes. Who knew this would be how we keep her relaxed?
I rolled my eyes up in thought. I had heard some about how long women are in labor, but there was plenty I didn’t know. “I’m not 100% sure of the average time it lasts, but I think human labor lasts around ten hours* or so for first-time moms.”
“What?! That long?!” All but Spike shouted with huge eyes. Spike just looked indifferent. Figures he wouldn’t react much to THIS.
“And I’ve heard stories about it sometimes lasting over eighteen hours.”
“Over EIGHTEEN hours?!” They (except Spike) shouted again. This time, even the nearby guards joined in the shout. Okay, seeing the guards react like that was funny.
We spun our heads to the two visible in the hallway from our point of view; they coughed and looked away.
My friends’ eyes went back to me as Rarity asked, “How can you handle it?! I cannot even imagine it lasting over eight hours, but over eighteen...my Celestia! The poor mothers!”
I shrugged my hands in an ‘I don’t know’ motion. She asked the wrong gender this kind of question. “Beats me. It’s not like I can ever know.”
There were several seconds of silence. Maybe the gang was trying to process what I just told them.
Twilight eventually formed a frown of...guilt? “I’m ashamed to say it, but with how you acted during the changeling invasion and now this, I underestimated the toughness humans have, and I’m sorry I did. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“I did too, and I’m supposed to be your best friend! Sorry.” Starlight admitted with a facial expression that almost mirrored Twilight’s.
"I guess there's more to ya and humans than we thought," Applejack echoed in a proud voice -- proud for me.
It wasn't even my intention, but I just made humankind look better to ponykind. Or at least to the ponies currently in the room. More importantly, any tiny doubts I had that Starlight might move on from me, now that she had reunited with Sunburst, officially ended by her continuing to call herself my best friend.
The taps of approaching hoofsteps from the hallway cut me out of thoughts about Starlight’s inadvertent reassurance, as well as this show of newfound respect. A couple of seconds later, a white unicorn stallion ran through the doorway. He was bearing a big smile, but his mane and fur were a little ragged.
“Twily, she’s here, you’re an...uh….” His smile vanished and a confused frown took its spot. Going by how he called Twilight “Twily” and his messed-up appearance, this must be Shining Armor, but this was the first time I met him face-to-face.
This was awkward. At least he wasn’t mad about us being in the castle, so this could have been much worse.
“Uh...hey there, Shining Armor,” Applejack greeted, nervously waving a hoof.
“Remember us?” Rainbow joked with a nervous grin.
“Surprise,” Pinkie said in a shockingly normal, but uneasy voice tone. She must have been feeling tense to do that, given how she usually seems barely able to control her excitement, if at all.
“B-But never mind that; you said the baby’s here?!” Twilight asked with a big cute grin. Was she trying to get Shining Armor’s attention off how the rest of us were in the castle, or if she was merely excited about the new baby? Or maybe both?
“Yep, you’re an aunt now and I’m a dad. Are you ready to see your new niece?”
Twilight spread out her wings, her grin growing even wider. ”Of course! I can’t wait to meet her!”
“Then follow me and, Spike, you can come too!” In a more serious voice, Shining asked, “But, can the rest of you stay here? It’s not that I don’t trust you, but we can’t have too many with the baby right now.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” Rarity said with an understanding smile. The others and I repeated that we were okay with staying. Not that we really had a choice anyhow.
“Thanks. Well, Twily, Spike, let’s go!”
Twilight and Spike followed Shining Armor out of the room; Twilight hopped as she went, looking like Pinkie. I had never seen her so excited.
The rest of us stared at each other. Now what?
To break the silence, I asked, “So...since Shining Armor is a unicorn and Princess Cadance is an alicorn, do you think their foal is a unicorn or alicorn? We didn’t ask.”
Fluttershy raised her head, laying a hoof on her cheek. “That’s something I didn’t think about. Alicorn wings are supposed to be earned if I’m correct, so most likely the baby is a unicorn.”
“Unless Twilight’s great-great-great-grandmother is an earth pony, or if her great-uncle’s second cousin thrice removed is a pegasus, or something.”
That -- what Fluttershy said, not Pinkie -- further explains why Twilight became an alicorn, not born one. There was even more to that form than I thought.
“That so? Does that mean that even Princess Cele--”
“The baby is an ALICORN?!” Twilight shouted from wherever she was in the castle. It made the whole room, and probably castle, shake.
“What?!” all but I shouted. Maybe if I was born in Equestria, that news would have been more...surprising to me.
“I take it that’s a big deal?” I asked.
Rarity’s eyes shrunk back to normal size. “Yes! I thought ponies have to perform a princess-worthy deed to become an alicorn!”
Applejack said, “I did too!”
“Ditto!” Rainbow echoed.
“Well, what happened the last time an alicorn had a foal?” I asked.
The gang all looked at each other with puzzled frowns. Some shrugged like how a guard did earlier.
Fluttershy turned her head to me. “Um...that’s a good question. Now that I think of it, Princess Cadance is the first alicorn I know of to have a foal.”
I didn’t want to say anything, but maybe that was why no pony had been born an alicorn until now. Maybe it’s not as obvious a fact to them than to me, but I would have no clue why it's not.
“Well, none of you know, and it didn’t sound like Twilight does, could Cadance, Celestia, or Luna have some ideas? Didn’t you all say Celestia and Luna are over a thousand years old?”
Applejack set a hoof below her jaw. “They might. I don't know for sure about Cadance, but Celestia and Luna do know a lot more about Equestrian history than any of us do, even more than Twilight.”
We got tired of standing, so we went and sat on the long red couches in the room. Its cushions were the softest I had ever felt, and it made me lie back even further. My friends and I kept talking about the "turn of events" and whatever else we thought about talking about. There wasn’t much else to do as we waited for Twilight and Spike to return.
Maybe ten or so minutes later, Twilight and Spike came back to our room; Twilight wasn’t bouncing along this time. Part of me expected the new aunt’s face to still have a look of shock, but she instead wore a smile.
Applejack hopped off the couch. “Hey, Twilight, Spike. How’s...the baby?”
“Oh, she’s great and she’s…” Twilight rubbed her neck and giggled. “A little unusual.”
Rainbow half-guessed, “In how she’s an alicorn?”
Twilight gasped. “How did you already know?”
“Because you told us,” I answered with a laugh.
She rubbed her head. “I did? When...oh, so you heard me scream earlier?”
With a smirk, Applejack answered, “I think the whole Crystal Empire heard ya scream ‘The baby is an alicorn?!’ a while ago.”
Twilight fidgeted the ends of her wings with a little embarrassed smile. Far from the first time I’ve seen them. “Hehe, oops. I didn’t mean to yell that loud.” She stopped rubbing her wings and folded them back to their normal positions. “But, since you already know, I don’t have to warn you all to prepare yourself when you see her. Shining wanted to see my face to it, so he didn’t tell me she was an alicorn.”
Rarity asked, “When will we get to see her?”
“The doctors want to look her over some more, but after they do, Cadance and Shining said they’ll let the rest of you see her. They said it won't take too long.”
About an hour later, the guards got the okay and finally took us to the room where the baby was. Her mane was a tad ruffled, but Princess Cadance was -- to my shock -- standing, like it was just another day. Did that mare really give birth two hours ago? Shining, still with a ruffled mane himself, stood beside her. Both wore proud smiles.
As for the baby, she was lying on a small bed made of crystal, but its top was fluffy, almost like clouds. Her wings were spread out, and they were huge! They were big enough to fully cocoon her if she folded them the right way. The wings were so eye-catching, I nearly missed the fact that her head was lying against a pillow.
My friends were talking about how tough humans must be to withstand being in labor for much longer than ponies do. What about how tough Cadance must be to...pass a foal with such huge wings?!
Though, huge wings or not, the baby’s coos were just precious. She was a cute little thing.
“Aw, she’s adorable!” Rarity said with a smile.
Pinkie hopped to the baby and gave some baby talk and coos of her own.
“Did y’all pick out a name for her?” Applejack asked.
Shining shook his head. “Not yet. Cadance and I are still trying to decide.”
Fluttershy walked to the baby and I thought she was going to do some baby talk too but didn’t, though she did smile warmly at her. Fluttershy then turned her head toward the new parents and asked, “I still can’t believe the baby is an alicorn! I thought you had to earn them first?”
“Maybe alicorns just run in our family?” Shining said with a wink toward Twilight.
Twilight giggled. “If so, our family’s the first to have...alicorns run in it. Well, you can count me in to help with her magic.”
“And I can give her flying lessons. I’m an experienced trainer for teaching flight to alicorns, after all.” Rainbow gave a sly look at Twilight. That was something they never told me about.
“I can’t teach her magic or how to fly, but I can teach her the magic of laughter!” Pinkie made silly faces, making the baby giggle.
“All that would be wonderful, but try not to teach her too much, or Shining and I won’t have anything to teach her,” Cadance said with a titter.
Seeing Cadance like this, she didn’t have that “royalty” vibe about her, but she felt like just another pony. Maybe royalty in general, behind closed doors, is more like regular folks than I thought, not just Twilight. Who knows? Maybe Celestia’s secretly a prankster and Luna’s a game nut.
Or, this surprising normality might be something that's unique to pony royalty.
“Now that we all met the baby, what’s next?” Applejack asked.
“We still have the ‘Crystalling’ to plan for,” Twilight answered.
“Since you came out here on your own, we can scratch ‘Give Twily a Crystalling invitation’ off the to-do list,” Shining pointed out.
“Wait, ‘Crystalling’?” I rubbed the back of my neck. That Crystalling thing was another thing I didn’t know about since Twilight didn’t mention it, but just talked about how the baby was due soon. What else was I out of the loop of?
Starlight rubbed the back of her back, almost matching how I did. At least I wasn't the only one in the dark. “What’s that?”
Cadance answered, “It is a Crystal Empire custom. Whenever a baby is born here, along with the purest shard of crystal they can find, their parents bring it before the Crystal Heart. Then a ‘crystaller’, chosen by the parents, presents the baby to everypony who comes. As this happens, they all share the light and joy they feel which enters the shard of crystal. Lastly, that shard is merged with the Crystal Heart and it increases the Heart’s power.”
“Oh. I see.” To be honest, I wasn't confident if I did. I got that a foal being “presented” and the joy nearby ponies feel makes the Crystal Heart stronger. But how all that powers up the thing, Cadance lost me. She didn’t say anything about magic playing a role, so was it more of a religious type of thing? Either way, I chose to leave the matter alone; maybe seeing the Crystalling done would clear things up.
“Applejack asked, “When is it going to be?”
Cadance started, "In about six--"
The baby grimaced, then let out a quick sneeze. As she sneezed, a blast of pink and yellow magic fired from her horn and blasted a hole in the ceiling, and made the rest of us jump back from sheer shock. Whoa, did that give me a scare. That little foal was strong! I’m never going to offer to babysit, or foalsit, her, no matter how much Cadance or Twilight offers to pay me.
I almost started feeling scared of this baby, but her little innocent gurgling blocked the fear. I couldn’t be afraid of something so cute.
Pinkie leaned her head to the hole above us. “Wow! That baby almost blew the roof off this castle!”
I stared at the hole in the ceiling and asked, “Uh, given that she...hasn’t learned to control her magic, should we wait to have this ‘Crystalling’ thing?”
Cadance looked at the baby, then up to the ceiling. “That might not be a bad idea.”
Rainbow said, “Nah, we’ll be fine. We’ve mopped the floor with super-powered villains, so we can handle one baby alicorn.”
“I can’t imagine having to call off something as grand as this Crystalling over something so adorable!” Rarity commented while smiling toward the baby.
“The Crystalling is gonna be like a big party, right? I can handle any party, even one with baby alicorns that could blow up the castle!”
Twilight chuckled while facing Pinkie, but after a moment, she turned her head to Shining and Cadance with a more serious frown. “We have been through worse, but we can still postpone the Crystalling if you two think we should. What do you think?”
Cadance and Shining stared at each other. I wouldn’t have minded them delaying it.
But the new parents smiled and Cadance said, “Well, if you put it like that, this isn’t so bad. We’ll do the Crystalling as planned.”
So much for that. Then again, Starlight, Twilight, Cadance, or (likely) Shining Armor could form barriers if the baby had more “outbursts.”
At any rate, Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie remained with the adorable little homewrecker (literally) while the rest of us helped prepare for the Crystalling. One of the tasks was raising huge pink curtains to cover the immediate area outside of the castle with the Crystal Heart. It essentially turned the spot into a makeshift “room.”
Around four hours later, inside the temporary “room”, it was becoming more and more apparent that this Crystalling -- and being a dad for that matter -- is a bigger deal to Shining Armor than I thought. He was beginning to stress over it and even did a lot of pacing.
He’s Twilight’s brother alright.
At least we were nearly done with setting up the Crystalling itself. Rarity had picked out several shards of crystal to choose to be the "purity crystal"...though Shining was too stressed to choose one. A stage was set outside of the pink curtains, and a small crowd was beginning to gather in front of it, despite the Crystalling still being two hours away. I guess they really didn’t want to miss this!
Cadance had said she was going to check on how Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie were faring with the baby, so she was currently inside the castle. I was beginning to wonder if we should get Cadance or Twilight out here: maybe they would have better luck with calming down Shining. The rest of us were having very limited success with it.
The castle’s front door opened and what came out...was an interesting sight. Spike, Twilight, and Cadance were walking, but Pinkie and the baby were inside a spherical magenta barrier. That’s one way to keep that baby from making more holes in the castle! She looked cute doing forward rolls with a giggling Pinkie holding on to her. Looks like Rainbow won't need to teach her flying lessons after all.
"How are the preparations going?" Cadance asked.
"So far, we're ahead of schedule!" Rainbow flew to and took a peek out one of the curtains. "Just about everything is set."
"That's great," Twilight commented with a peaceful smile. Was her extra-peaceful mood from her being an aunt, or because everything was going as planned, save for the stressed dad? "Celestia, Luna, and my parents should be here soon." Twilight's smile waned as she looked over to Shining. "How are you holding out, BBBFF?"
"Oh, me? Just a bit tense, but I-I'll be okay. Just gotta tell myself that nothing will go wrong and things will be just fine. After all, what could possibly go wrong?" Shining's pupils shifted and his eyelid twitched, his "grin" twisting to almost a crazed one. I've never seen even Twilight do that! "Everything will be fine, right, guys?"
"Of course everything will go smoothly, darling!" Rarity assured with a comforting smile. "The only thing left is for you to finally choose the purity crystal and to pick a crystaller. But, you and Cadance...uh, still have two hours to decide."
"Whee! Maybe you won't need to give the baby flying lessons, Rainbow. She looks like she could fly me around allllll day long!"
Cadance used her magic to pull the foal and Pinkie apart and set the mare to the ground. Maybe she thought Pinkie might get dizzy if she didn't do anything.
Unfortunately, the baby whined while staring at Pinkie. How sad she looked even tugged on my heart a little, and I was close to asking Cadance to just let the cute little homewrecker stay with Pinkie.
The baby took a deep inhale, then wailed in a deafening tone. It felt like the whole room was spinning and that my eardrums were about to explode, twice. We all covered our ears, but that voice was still ravaging them, even with my hands over them. It even made me seal shut my eyes; not that it helped.
Maybe this is why ponies aren’t born alicorns: Equestria might not survive too much of a baby alicorn’s cries!
The racket suddenly stopped to my great relief, allowing me to open my eyes. Everyone's mouths were widened and their eyes were huge. The baby, now whimpering, was wrapped in one of Cadance’s forelegs.
“What’s wr--” I managed to get out before I noticed what they were staring at, making my own mouth drop.
The Crystal Heart was lying on the ground and in pieces! That foal’s crying was even louder than I thought! I’ve seen kids sometimes break things back in my world, but never anything like this.
Not only that, it suddenly felt colder.
“Uh-oh. Ah’m guessin’ that’s gonna make doin’ the Crystallin’ a mite tougher.”
With a frown, Twilight trotted to one of the curtains acting as one of the “walls”, and sighed. “I wish that was the worst of it. Without the Crystal Heart’s protection, a powerful blizzard will cover and freeze over the Crystal Empire!" She pushed part of the curtain open. “Outside", dark clouds were rolling in, bringing snow and some wind with them! It didn’t look that bad, but this must have been the beginning!
If we get out of this, I'm definitely never gonna watch that baby!
Uh-oh! The baby broke the Crystal Heart, but this time, there's no Sunbutt and Moonbutt to buy the gang time! Will the Crystal Empire survive without their help? Will I finally get my act together for good and stop having unexpected delays with harder-than-I-expected chapters such as this one?
I planned for this chapter to end at a later point, but its word count was growing high and it felt like it was going on too long. So, after thinking hard about it, I chose to cut it to end with the newest alicorn braking the Crystal Heart, again. However, chapter 25 will be out in just 3 days. I needed a bit more time to finish the tweaks and proofreading what was going to be the second half of chapter 24 anyway.
*From what I can find out, the real average labor length of a first-time mother is between 6-12 hours. Some sources have said different times, though, so I can't say for sure. I'm a MLP:FIM fanfiction writer, not an Obstetrician
However, since the 6-12 hour (or any estimate) isn't something that every person would be aware of, Sam guessed around 10 hours to reflect that. He has an idea of how long (human) labor lasts, but it's just that: an idea.
Stats
Page generated in 0.022 seconds
Total duration
958 users online
1,970,295 hits today, 2,073,628 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.®
Well, you didn’t have to make the story that long in the first place. God knows I wouldn’t have
I don’t know how long my mom’s first labor lasted, but her last one with my little brother lasted for over SIXTY HOURS. I wish I was kidding.
Nice one XD
Keep up the work!
10419614
If I knew it would have ended up being this long, I might have adjusted the plan for the story when I still had the chance. By the time I realized what I got myself into, I was too deep in the story to do a big enough readjustment and not have the story feel really rushed to me, so I had to just keep letting the story play out.
If I were to ever re-do my 'A Giant Adventure to Equestria" and not think of a chapter limit for the story like I did back when I was writing it, it would be somewhere in the range of 130,000-200,00 words and 30-45 chapters.
10420386
Wow! I think I heard about labor sometimes lasting for days, especially for a first-time mom, but didn't know much about the details.
10420762
Thanks, and would you believe that line was a last-second add-on?
My mother was in labor with me for 56 hours and she was in labor with my brother for 72 hours.
10524950
Along with what Eroraf86 said, I can hear Rarity fainting somewhere. Maybe even all the mares passed out.