Trapped
“I should have come sooner,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner, Twi.”
Twilight grimaced as she attempted to shift a minute amount under the wreckage that trapped her. “It’s not your fault, Dashie. This hurricane took us all by surprise, and we needed every pegasus on hand to try and control it. You weren’t to kn-” She gasped in pain, and a tear trickled down her cheek.
“I should never have left you.” Rainbow stroked a hoof over Twilight’s brow, and threw a look over her shoulder to see if help had arrived as yet. Nothing stirred amongst the fallen beams and wreckage that had once been Twilight’s home.
The pegasus had been at the Weather Control Centre when one of her team had returned from scouting with the report of the damage to the library. Rainbow hadn’t thought twice - she’d just left. There were numerous experienced pegasi on hand for damage control, but she only had one marefriend. The only thing she’d stopped to do was yell an order to her team to get word to Applejack to meet her there. The earth pony and her family had been evacuated to the town hall but Rainbow had no idea if she’d still be there or already out helping with the rescue effort.
Twilight screamed, and Rainbow felt her breath hitch in her throat. She had never felt so useless. “It’s going to be okay, babe. I promise. AJ is on her way. We’ll get you out of here.” She could feel the Alicorn shaking and she inched as close to her as the fallen beam allowed. “Tell me what I can do to help, Twi.”
Twilight’s breaths came out in ragged gasps. “Just don’t leave me, okay?”
The pegasus leaned forward and kissed Twilight’s temple. “That I can do. I’m not going anywhere, babe.”
Twilight managed a small smile. “Thanks, Dashie.” The smile fell off Twilight’s face and she screamed again in pain. She caught her breath and then let out a sob. “I’m so scared, Dashie. I’m so scared. Why did this have to happen now? When I can’t do anything to help myself”
Rainbow didn’t know what to say. It had been ten months since Twilight’s magic had stopped working. One day she had gone to make breakfast and nothing had happened. It had disappeared overnight. None of the Alicorns had been able to determine why it had occurred. There was nothing in their histories that showed it had happened before. As far as they knew, Twilight was the first Alicorn for it to happen to.
Their first theory had been stress.So many changes had occurred in Twilight’s life and to Twilight, that perhaps her body had just needed some time to process everything. As the months passed and nothing had changed, the other three princesses began to dedicate more and more time to solving the mystery. If it could happen to Twilight then it could happen to them and if there was a threat to their power, they needed to be able to launch a defense.
“I feel so helpless!” Twilight gasped. “A year ago I’d have been out of here in under a second flat. Heck, a year ago I’d have been able to use my magic to find out why the weather has gone so crazy and to stop it!”
“Hey, you’re the one who figured out that it’s a magical disturbance in the atmosphere that’s been causing all this freak weather.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Without magic. Celestia and the others haven’t been able to put a stop to it, so I doubt you’d have been able to either.” She caught the hurt look that crossed Twilight’s face and scrambled to correct herself. “What I mean is, this thing seems bigger than what one pony, even an Alicorn, can handle by themselves. It’s thanks to you that the others even know where to start looking.”
“But I could have done so much more!”
“Yeah, maybe you could have. Or maybe not. But the point I’m trying to make is that you are more than your powers, Twi. You’re still the smartest, cleverest pony I know - that anyone knows!” She grinned. “Also, the cutest.”
Twilight’s grimace turned up at the corners to form a small smile. “You’re just saying that so you’ll get lucky later on.”
Rainbow shrugged. “What can I say? I like having sex with you.”
Twilight started to laugh but it turned into a gasp. “You’re incorrigible,” she managed to whisper.
“You have that effect on me.” The pegasus swept her lips across Twilight’s cheek. “Seriously though, I’ve had luck on my side ever since you agreed to have that coffee with me.”
Twilight broke their gaze when she threw back her head to scream again. Rainbow lifted a wing and draped it over the princess, unable to do anything else.
“Twilight? Rainbow? Are you two here?” Applejack’s voice came from the direction that the front door had once been.
“AJ! We’re through here. Hurry, Twi’s been hurt!”
Rainbow heard the earth pony pick her way through the rubble and soon her stetson appeared from behind a fallen bookcase. Applejack took the scene in with a glance. “Well shoot. This ain’t good.” She moved to brace her shoulder against the beam that trapped Twilight. “One the count of three, Rainbow, help me lift.”
Rainbow got to her feet, feeling buoyed. She had been trying to keep it together for Twilight’s sake, but she was so shaken that she was scared she’d unravel at the seams. In her usual steadfast manner, Applejack had assessed the situation and was now going to deal with it. Getting overly excited wasn’t going to help any pony. This was exactly the reason why Rainbow had sent for the farmer in the first place.
“Okay, Rainbow. One, two, three. Push!”
Rainbow braced her back legs and pushed against the beam as hard as she could. She could feel a slight movement of the beam but as hard as the two ponies tried, it remained across their fallen friend.
Applejack fell back, panting. “Well, that ain’t gonna work.” She smiled at Twilight and looked around the room. “Don’t you worry, sugarcube. We’ll have you out in a jiffy. I just gotta find some leverage.” She disappeared into the wreckage, her eyes scanning the rubble as she went.
Rainbow sat back down next to her marefriend. “Just relax, Twi. Won’t be long now.”
Twilight moaned. “It hurts so much, Dashie.”
“I know, babe. I’m sorry. We’ll have you out soon.”
Twilight gasped and then let out another scream. Applejack came hurrying in, one of Twilight’s bed legs in her mouth. She dropped it next to the Alicorn and worked one end under the beam. “Okay, come on, Rainbow, again. Push.”
Rainbow strained against the beam, sweat trickling down her temple. Twilight screamed again, and then again. A late surge of adrenaline raced through the pegasus and she heaved again, pushing her wings against the beam as well. The beam slowly began to move. Next to her, Rainbow felt Applejack push forward even more. Rainbow’s muscles began to burn but she ignored the pain and continued to push as hard as she could.
“Almost there,” Applejack panted.
Slower than seemed possible, the beam began to topple away from the trapped princess. It hit the ground with a thud and the two ponies crouched next to the sobbing Twilight. Applejack began to run her hooves over Twilight, checking for injuries.
“Hey, Twi. It’s okay now. You’re gonna be okay.” Rainbow lifted Twilight’s head into her lap and stroked her face. “We’ll have you at the hospital real soon.” Twilight buried her face against Rainbow’s side, and screamed again.
“Um, Rainbow?” Applejack’s face was flooded with worry. “I don’t think it’s her injuries causing this pain.”
Rainbow’s head snapped up. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m pretty sure she’s gone into labour.”
Rainbows hooves moved to Twilight’s extended belly and cupped it gently. “What do you mean? She’s only ten months along, AJ. It’s too soon!”
“It’s early, yeah, but not overly. But too soon or not, she’s in labour. You can’t put a stop to these things once they’ve started.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened. “We gotta get her to the hospital.”
“There’s no time, Rainbow. This foal is coming. Now.”
Twilight moaned, and Rainbow stroked her face. “What do we do? AJ, what do we do?”
Applejack removed her stetson, placing it to one side, and brushed her mane back from her face. “We deliver your baby, Rainbow. That’s what we do.”
The pegasus gulped. “Right. How hard can it be?”
Applejack laughed. “For you and me? Not that hard at all. For Twilight? Well, she’s doing great already.” The earth pony placed her hooves on the Alicorn’s shoulders. “Okay, Twilight, on the count of three, push!”
************************************
Rainbow stood at the nursery door, mesmerised by the scene inside. Her daughter lay in her crib, cooing quietly at the Elements of Harmony mobile that hung above the bed. It had been a gift from Rarity, and it was the foal’s favourite toy.
“You’re doing it again.” Twilight’s voice came from behind the pegasus.
Rainbow turned and grinned at her marefriend. “I can’t help it. I could look at her for hours.”
Twilight stepped into the nursery, a bundle of fresh linens held aloft in a glow of magic. She lowered them to the table and stepped across to look down at their daughter, who was now brushing her wingtips against the pink butterfly jewel. “Same here. She’s just so cute!”
Rainbow joined Twilight at the cot and wrapped a wing around her. She grinned down at the foal.“Hear that, Eventide? Mummy thinks you’re cute. Shall I remind her of that when you’re being a little monster?”
“Excuse me! Our daughter could never be a little monster.”
They watched as a light pink glow enveloped both Eventide’s horn and the mobile and the jewels bounced off each other, causing a tinkling sound to occur. Eventide giggled, and reached out a hoof to grasp the bottle that was floating towards her.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “She’s two months old and is already using magic to get everything her own way. Yeah, I reckon she’s going to be a handful.”
Twilight pursed her lips. “Maybe. She’s the first Alicorn that has been born in over a thousand years though. We don’t really know what to expect.”
“I still can’t believe we managed to make an Alicorn. I totally did not see that coming.”
Twilight smiled. “Celestia still isn’t quite sure how we managed it either. She says it must have something to do with mixing our DNA by magic. It would have been nice to have had some warning though. I was scared I’d never get my magic back when it disappeared.”
“Yeah, that was a side effect that wasn’t in any of the birthing manuals you made me read.”
“It makes sense now. Eventide’s magic had to develop along with the rest of her. My magic may have been a danger to her so my hormones suppressed it.”
“Still don’t get it.” Rainbow looked over at Twilight and slipped a hoof over hers. “So, what do you say we let the monster sleep and we go and see if my luck is still holding up?”
Twilight laughed. “Have I ever told you you’re incorrigible?” She leaned forward and kissed Rainbow gently. “But that sounds like a great plan.”
They left the room, closing the door gently behind them. In the cot, Eventide’s hoof slipped from her bottle and her eyes closed. Above her, the pink glow around the mobile faded and the tinkling noise stopped. The only sound to be heard were the muffled laughs of her parent’s and the soft, milky snores of the infant Alicorn.