Grounded

by KorenCZ11

The moment of truth in your lies

My birthday came and went, and we met our friends and their families for Hearth’s Warming and New Year’s in Ponyville Castle. Like we do every year, we all spend a week together to keep in touch, catch up, let the kids see each other. But above all else, especially in the past few years, it was to meet the new additions. Fluttershy with her month-old newborn thing, Applejack and Pinkie with their older ones, and a castle full of babies and foals and husbands and wives and music and food and family.

Leaving everypony and returning to our little household of three back up in the clouds felt like walking in from a sunny day into a dark room. It was just us now. All the noise, the fun, the merriment—gone. My son could be as loud as he wanted, but he had nopony his size to play with. Soarin would always be there for me, but this house was quiet compared to all that.

On the first night of the new year, I made a resolution to try again.

Winter eased into Spring, and I was pregnant again. I held my breath for a month or two waiting to feel that awful pain in my belly again, expecting to see red but it never happened. I measured my eating better and took care to do everything right. I even laid off the peppers, despite battling the craving being like attempting to conserve water in the desert.

However, something was off this time around. In the beginning, it was something of a vague idea. As time went on, I started to notice strange little details. Not paying attention and I’d find myself sinking into the clouds when we went for walks. Wake up and my belly was half inside the bed. I felt heavier than usual and flying got a little harder every day. No idea what was going on, but I never thought my new baby had anything to do with it.

I was entirely off base.

---

“Are you… slower than usual?” Soarin asked.

Through heavy breathing and sweating, I glared at my husband. “I don’t know… Wh-what do you think!? It’s not like I… haven’t gained a ton of weight in the… in the l-last five months or anything!”

I was exaggerating, sure, but not by much. There was something going on here, and neither of us knew what. I’d gained weight. A lot of weight. More weight than either of us expected. When I was this far along with Prism, I’d gained about eleven kilos. I packed away food like nopony’s business, but I measured servings like crazy this time around, so I hadn’t eaten as much. I’d gained eighteen kilos since I tested positive and I wasn’t halfway through. My belly wasn’t that much bigger than with Prism at this stage either. It didn’t make any sense.

Today, I was due for my hundred-fifty day checkup. At this point in pregnancy, the foal was mostly formed: wings, horns, legs, genitalia. We should be able to see everything in the shape of a tiny pony with a simple sonogram. Thanks to recent advances and borrowed technology, that could be done in Cloudsdale without a unicorn, and it’d gotten cheaper and easier to do.

When I was with Prism, Cloudsdale General Hospital wasn’t capable of a sonogram, so we had to go to Ponyville to figure out he was a boy. Flying all the way to there pregnant was difficult, but it didn’t leave me dead tired like trying to fly across town today did. It was as if I had a boulder strapped to my back. Every flap of my wings felt unwieldy like I was soaked from head to tail. Even at my best, it was nearly impossible to glide and almost as hard to keep altitude.

I stumbled before I steadied myself, landing next to Soarin like a bird on its last legs, and used him as a support to breathe. “F—” I stopped myself just short, looking everywhere to spot my little Prism. Then I remembered he was with Mom. “Fuck, I’m dying. Gimme some water, please.”

“Sure.” He passed me one of the bottles he’d prepared just in case of a long wait today. “Dash, are you sure there’s nothing wrong? A flight like that should’ve been nothing, even when you were way pregnant with Prism.”

I guzzled down the water and threw the empty plastic back at him. “For the thousandth time, yes! I’m fat and grumpy and kinda hungry and sweaty and tired, and I know damn well this is mostly normal!” Pulled myself up on him and nuzzled my head into his neck. “I don’t feel sick or in pain or anything; I just don’t know why this is so hard.” I tilted my head up and whispered in his ear, “Carry me, Mr. Wonderbolt.”

Soarin gently removed me from his person. “Horny too, apparently. Look, I’ll help you fly on the way home, but this isn’t exactly the time for that. Let’s go get this taken care of, okay? Breathe for me.”

Taking his words harder than I should’ve, I took a deep breath and let my head clear a little. They say it gets easier with every foal. I say they’re full of shit. My mood swings were way more extreme this time around, and I’d been ravenous. I was never full; there was always room for more. Why? Why was it all so weird this time around? I didn’t know. “Okay, okay. I’m… as normal as I’m gonna get, I think. I need to sit. Go register for us.”

Entering the hospital was like entering a different world. Outside, it looked like just another big Cloudsdale government building: columns, arched roof, and all. Inside, it was as if we were in Ponyville or something: tile floors, desks, plush chairs, fancy computers, super-long wires. This place had completely modernized. There was even a unicorn walking around in scrubs. Weren’t many safe places for non-pegasi in Cloudsdale, but I guess they’d updated the hospital to be that way.

I found an open seat close to the door and lugged myself over. After dropping all my weight into the chair, I finally relaxed. I looked down at my belly and rubbed it slowly. What’s going on in there, little guy? It was weird to think I could talk to him, but on occasion, I’d get an answer: a kick, a little movement. He was in there, rummaging around, moving, playing.

Dreaming.

That was another thing that put me at ease after the second month: I had my dreams again. The colt came back. I’m certain it had to be him this time around. He’d probably come out cyan just like that little block Prism found. Who are you? What will you be? I want so desperately to meet you. Just six more months. Six more months, and I will.

“Looks like we won’t have to wait long. Doc’s just finishing up with another patient,” Soarin said. I hadn’t even noticed he was already back.

He was about to sit down when we heard, “Mr. and Mrs. Soarin? The doctor will see you now.”

Soarin huffed and got back up. “I don’t even know why I sat down.”

He helped me out of my chair and I kissed his cheek. “Oh, don’t be like that! We get to know now. This is a happy thing, so be happy.”

Soarin rolled his eyes and kissed me back. “Yeah, yeah…”

---

“Where the fuck are his wings!?”

The doctor reared back.

Soarin restrained me by the shoulders. “Dash.”

My eyes narrowed in at my husband. “Don’t you ‘Dash’ me! Whose kid is this?” I turned on the doctor. “This isn’t mine! How did you fuck up a sonogram? All you had to do was run the thing over my gut, right? It’s not that hard!”

The doctor cleared his throat and straightened his tie. “I’m sorry ma’am, but there is no mistake. This is you, and that would be your son. He does not have wings or a horn, and he’s beyond that stage of development, so he is an earth pony.”

My eye twitched. “Bullshit! We’re both pegasi! My whole family is pegasi! I literally cannot pass that on! How—”

Soarin shook my shoulder. “Dash, stop!”

I went to yell at him. My tune changed when I saw his face.

“I apologize on my wife’s behalf. Thank you.” Soarin grabbed the folder with all our pictures, stuffed it in his bag, then grabbed my shoulders and shoved me out of the doctor’s office. Once the door was shut, he stood in front and stared me down. “Dude.”

I bit my lip and turned away. Getting mad at me was something Soarin never did. He fought back on occasion but only in a playful way. This was uncomfortable. “What?” I finally said.

He pointed an angry hoof at the door. “What in the hell was that?”

“That guy’s a quack! There’s no way—”

“My mother is an earth pony!”

I felt my breathing speed up. My pulse increased. He didn’t just say that, did he? There’s no way. He didn’t! “Are… are you for real?”

Soarin ran a hoof through his mane. “You wanted me to talk about my mom? There you go. She’s an earth pony, and a pure one at that. All things considered, I really shouldn’t have come out a pegasus, but here we are.”

“Buh… No! That can’t be right!”

“Dude! We have pictures! Whether or not you want to believe it, the sonogram was right, and you blew up on that doctor for no good reason! He shaved you, he put the lotion on, he performed the scan, and he only left to get the pictures from the printer! For the Goddess’s sake, did you not see the screen right in front of your face? No wings, no horn. This isn’t a mistake; he will be an earth pony!”

My hind legs slid out from under me. Was the room spinning? Why do I feel so dizzy? None of this is right. I need to wake up now. Luna, if this is some kind of sick fucking joke, I’m ready for it to end now! Please? Please tell me this is all a dream. I had to be, didn’t it? “No, no, no, this doesn’t make any sense!”

Soarin took in a sharp breath through his teeth. I don’t think I’d ever seen him do that either. I don’t understand. Today was supposed to be happy, right?

“Holy shit, Dash, will you open your eyes for second? Think, damn it! Why have you been eating so much? Because the baby’s heavier this time around. Why’s it so much harder to fly this time? He’s got solid bones, and I’m sure the magic in him is fucking with your system. Sinking into clouds? Not all of you is cloud-proof anymore.”

He looked like he was about to grab me, but then he stopped and brought his hooves together. Air in, air out, he gently brought me in and wrapped his wings around me. “Dash, I don’t mean to yell, but you’re stubborn, and you cannot do this right now, okay?” Liquid pooled in my eyes. Stop it. He ran a hoof through my mane. “Everything that’s been so weird this time around is all explained if the new one is an earth pony, don’t you see?”

I planted my forehooves on my head. Slowly, the horror crept in. How can this make sense? Why should it make sense? If… if he’s an earth pony, is that why we never fly in my dreams? Because… because he can’t? Even if he were an unfortunate half-breed and ended up a solid-boned pegasus like Scootaloo, he’d still have wings, and if he was a hollow-boned earth pony, it wouldn’t be this hard to fly. It… it only makes sense if… if…

“Oh, Goddess…”

Soarin hugged me tighter. “I know.”

I shook my head. This area was made of solid material, how could it still feel like I was sinking? Deeper, deeper, darker, darker. Did somepony turn the lights off? “Wha… what are we gonna do?”

My light, my rock, the only thing stable in this drowning world. I pleaded, begged for him to give me hope, but instead he mouthed a few words until finally, “Move, probably,” came out.

“Move!?” I broke away from him. I’d rather drown! “We can’t move!”

“Well, we’re gonna have to.” Solid, stable, unwavering. This was my husband, and his mind was… made up.

I tried to find the words, but they’d been cast about by the waves. Wasn’t there another option? There had to be! If we move, then… then Mom and Dad couldn’t help out, and Prism would have to grow up on the ground, and Soarin would have to find a new job, and we’d have to buy a new house, and I couldn’t just make the furniture, and we’ll have to spend money on getting solid stuff he can use, and… and… Oh, Goddess, there had to be a way.

This couldn’t be real.

---

Oh, but it was very real. So real that it hurt.

Last time we gave everypony the news, it was a happy thing, like it should be. They all smiled, told us how wonderful it was, wished us the best. This time, it was like they wore a mask that smiled, but their eyes underneath told a different story. Five stages of, ‘That’s great,’ ‘wait a minute,’ ‘oh no,’ ‘doesn’t that mean…?’ ‘what will you do?’ They never said anything out loud, but I knew. I still had no answer. Soarin’s parents offered to hook us up with a Ponyville realtor: the opposite of what I wanted to hear.

Mom cried. That was fun. She immediately started looking for houses in Ponyville too and thought Dad could work as a weather pony there. I informed her those jobs would go away since the vote passed for the automated weather system. What would we do if we moved? Who knew?

Twilight congratulated me at first but then realized what pegasi having an earth pony entailed. She shifted her tone real quick. I suppose if I was really desperate, she could get us jobs in Ponyville, but again, that wasn’t something I wanted to hear.

Everypony else was mostly congratulatory. After it set in, they asked if we might move nearby. It’s not a question in anypony’s mind: the deal was already done. My baby was coming, and before he does, we couldn’t be living here, so I might as well be living there.

We wouldn’t even entertain the idea of giving him away, so that was that. Game over. So much for potentially returning to the Wonderbolts. So much for Soarin staying in the Cloudsdale Pro Flying Circuit. So much for any more dreams of glory. Life as I knew it had officially ended. For a while, even I’d given in and started thinking about what to do. The Ponyville Districts were many and varied so we had a lot of options to choose from, but there were none I wanted.

For instance, if we shot for the inner circle of Districts 3 through 9, we’d be within walking distance of Sweet Apple Acres and the Castle. We’d also be throwing ourselves into irreparable debt. Meanwhile, Rarity, the wealthiest of us all, lived in District 22, northeast of the castle on the rare occasion she was home for more than a few days. That was part of the second ring, Districts 10 through 25. They weren’t anywhere near that expensive, and were close enough to everything important that we could get away with it.

If we moved any further out, we’d have to pick somewhere well-policed and preferably away from the airports. Stories of pegasi getting caught up in airplane traffic gave me nightmares; steel blenders with wings. Crime rates in the third ring, Districts 26 through 49, got scary especially closer to the airports; there simply wasn’t enough police in the force yet to keep the exploding city population under control. The place had grown by the millions in the last decade and everypony was welcome. From the business tycoons like Epic Stain, who may or may not have been part of a pedophile ring in Applewood, to the recently arrested Gaut the Griffon, charged with thirteen counts of homicide, six murders, and… carnivore trafficking.

No thanks.

On top of all that, Twilight expected another population surge soon, so she’d already set plans for infrastructure to add a fourth and fifth district ring. By the time she’s done with the place, there’d be millions upon millions of ponies and whatever other creatures from around the world she can invite in.

When I think about the Ponyville I spent my teens in, it seems like a memory of another world. ‘Districts 1 and 2’ were all that made up the little village, and District 2 is still just Sweet Apple Acres thanks to all the protections Applejack was granted. That’s what we call nepotism… even if I’m tempted to get in on that myself. Twilight’s my friend. She’s a Princess. She’s controls of one of the largest cities in Equestria and what will eventually be its largest economy. If Celestia and Luna weren’t still ‘over’ her, she’d be the most powerful pony in the world right now. And Ponyville’s only gonna get bigger in the coming years.

Pinkie was in 18, Shy in 20. Ideally, the place to be would be District 6 or 7, relatively close to all of them and with access to their help and support if I needed it. Could we afford that? No. Was there enough free airspace to train Prism? Also no. Some of the largest and most expensive skyscrapers in Equestria resided in District 6, and District 7 was such a packed residential area that owning a house there was like buying one in central Manehattan: it wasn’t a thing.

The city’s pegasi mostly live in the southern districts because that was where Twilight designated land for parks before she sold it off to moguls. Even she’d been unprepared for Ponyville’s absurd growth, so parks and free air were few and far between the inner two rings. She overcompensated for that by making much of District 10 one massive city park, so that might not be a bad place to look into.

But the question still remained as to what we’d do for money. There was also school choice and what flight teams would end up good, and, oh Goddess, I’d have to learn how to drive. Gah, it’s a mess, and we had to figure everything out in six months, and that wasn’t enough time!

When I lamented all my problems to Twilight a month after finding out about the new baby, she said she’d think about it. A month later, she called me.

Comments

[05RainbowDash]

well, that was unexpected-