Princess cadence is pregnant! Everyone wants to celebrate but her.
Cadence couldn't be more excited about having a foal until she get's confronted in public by a town grouch, now doubts have formed in her mind, will she be a "not so great parent." after all? She can't bring herself to tell her husband the great news, what will happen if he finds out elseware? Come along as you read on different perspectives of the story.
"I can't believe it!" she screamed in her imagination, "Our very own foal! How am I gonna tell Shining armor? ooh! a surprise a grand surprise!" Cadence trotted down the bright city of crystal ponies, many were staring she seemed more alighted than usual. "Will it be a little princess or prince? pink or blue?" she pondered the question for a moment, "pink blue? If I had the choice which would it be?.." she literally stopped in her tracks for a moment, "Oh doesn't matter, Shining armor will be so pleased!" she began to trot again in the warm rays of the afternoon sun until one pony stopped her.
"Pleased about what?" The curious pony asked but then he realized he forgot to bow, "Oh, my princess." he laid low.
"It's okay, you may be dismissed, I promise you'll find out soon enough." She shook her hooves in the air in glee then kept pace, going around the pony. She hadn't realized she even said that aloud for others to hear, if she's gonna make this a surprise she better keep quiet. She entered through the crystal doors to find Shining armor wasn't in their throne room, she was going to set out a search until she realized, "Oh I forgot he's working over time with the guards." her fill of excitement deflated a little but rose again, "Oh I'll just pay him a visit." The day ticked onward and the sun was setting low, Cadence had already checked out the shops where baby cradles and supplies may be, she couldn't decide and Shining armor would be home soon. She thought she could snuff out the required supplies needed on her way to see Shining armor, "Just one." she thought then two then three, soon enough the day slipped by. Ponies through out the shops stared her down with shiny white smiles as she looked through the pastel colored paints and baby toys, they whispered and rumors were already beginning to form.
"I've seen her visit the doctor several times over the past 6 months already." one crystal pony whispered to another.
"I've seen her walk around town with a big smile on her face and told another pony that we would know soon enough what she's been so happy about lately." the other answered, and a third replied,
"Looks like somebody's expecting." in a excited whisper
Cadence was all to aware of the assumptions forming, "Maybe I should have just waited this out and sent a guard pony to check the supplies for me, well.. No! This is my baby and we going to pick out what we want for our foal." The whispering audience kept getting bigger, the fear of Shining armor finding out before she could get the chance to tell him got the best of her and she turned around to the whispering audience that suddenly became quiet, the ponies then went about their business but she wasn't having it, "Listen, I know you're wondering why I'm looking at this supplies in all but please keep quiet about this. I don't want anypony to know." the group gasped, then giggles broke the silence.
"Oh, your going to be a great mother, princess!" A rose colored unicorn came up to her personally, "Don't worry we'll keep your secret! right guys!" she turned around and group nodded within the shop except one, he was known as the town grouch, he was well known with in the community and was known to have no children, not that he didn't have any. His name is Snicker doodle doo with a chocolate brown coat and black mane. He wasn't well kept and he was an older pony, he walked out of the audience and up to the alicorn with a stern frown, it was like he was scanning her as the princess felt a little uncomfortable with the awkward situation as no words were exchanged, he broke the silence.
"Princess huh? bagh, what princess could care for a child she is so busy already!"
"Excuse me?" she lifted a brow.
"You heard me, you heard me well! All that paper work and protecting the kingdom business, the poor child will probably have to have a baby sitter all of the time."
"Sir that is not your place to-"
"Miles well send it off to adoption, be glad to see that day commin' the world thinks it always revolves around them." he grumbled as he walked off, Cadence stomped her hoof to get his attention and it was so hard the whole building shook a little, even the princess' hoof stung a little but she ignored it she was so furious.
"That is not your place to decide!" she said sternly eyes pinned at the stallion who had not turned around, "Who are you to tell me what kind of a parent I would be or to raise my child and if you ever talk to me or my husband or anypony so rudely again, you're going to spend the rest of your life in a prison where no sunlight will pierce through again!" tears had swelled up and her face showed much anger.
The pony walked away mumbling, "Never see Celestia having children."
The rose colored unicorn was quite shaken up from the sudden outburst from both sides, "I am so sorry Princess Cadence, don't mind him he's just an old grouch that doesn't want to talk to anypony, I've never seen a situation he mustered up get so severe."
The alicorn turned toward the pony, "Do you know him?"
Nervous she began dwindling her hooves, "Uh.. Well of course many of the pony folk around here know him."
Seeing the nervous pony and the fear unfolding she realized what was happening, "Oh.. I'm sorry it's just.. maybe.. I'll just go home."
"Maybe that's best." the unicorn poked the air and left it as that.
"I can't believe, so rude, so so.. just ugh!" Cadence stared at the ground while on her way back to the castle, "He is not right about that information, I am a good parent! or will be anyway, I am not going to hire a baby sitter, I'll show that pony he's wrong!" her subconsciousness was telling her to slow down and push back the bitter thoughts but she wanted to ignore it but then the question inside her came out honestly, "Is he right? will I be so busy I won't have time for him or her? will I hire a baby sitter?" she shook off the question and kept trotting, "Maybe I could hire Twilight?" she gave a small smile as the memories of baby sitting her herself came back, "gosh, I guess I really am pregnant with these severe mood swings, hope it doesn't back fire."
"I can't understand it." Shining Armor shook his head at the thought, "She's up and ready to go one moment and then her self esteem seems to just crash."
He was talking to one of the higher unicorn guards on duty with him as he nodded his head in understanding, "Sure she isn't pregnant?"
"I asked how the doctor appointment went and she said it was.. fine, she didn't mention anything extra and went straight to bed, maybe the doctor was wrong or maybe she's starting to feel a little under the weather?" Shining Armor spoke in concern.
The brown built stallion thought for a moment, "When my wife was pregnant, she withdrew from conversation a lot and stayed home, almost in isolation, no friends, no parties, nothing. When she had our foal she was back to normal, kinda."
"Kinda?"
"Well, with the baby in all and the stress of the newborn everything didn't even out for awhile, She's completely fine now and our colt is old enough to go to school, he wants to try for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." he let out a proud smile.
"That's nice, my sister got into that school when she was a filly too." he also smiled, "Think the doctor could have been wrong? should we get a second opinion?"
"I would recommend it if you want my opinion, I suggest going to Canterlot, they have the best doctors there. My wife was seen by Dr. Caress Alot she does fantastic work."
"Thank you, I'll talk to my wife about it and see if we could get an appointment scheduled, I wonder if she's doing okay right now."
"Maybe you should take the day off to check on her and talk with her, remember, Family first."
"First lieutenant your in charge, thanks for the advice."
"Anytime."
Shining Armor walked off into the distance crossing the halls and heading toward the castle throne room, as he entered Cadence was nowhere to be found, he entered the bedroom, nothing, he finally found her snacking in the kitchen eating "Pickles and Icecream?"
In shock of the unexpected company Cadence jumped almost knocking over the bowl chuck full of icecream and pickles. "Honey! your home early, heh heh..."
"Is there something you should tell me?"
"Yeah it's just.." the alicorn looked at her afternoon snack, "Ice cream and oats and pickles taste really good, topped with hot fudge and salted whipped cream sprinkled with pickled hay." she gave him a sheepish smile.
"Salted whipped cream? Pickled hay? Cadence." he put a hoof on her shoulder and she returned a concerned look, "You have been acting strange lately and I'm worried the doctor may have been wrong and we need a second opinion." the smell of the pickles and ice cream sickened him and churned his stomach.
"You think so? I could go see that other doctor within the city."
"I was thinking more like Dr. Caress Alot."
"Dr. Caress? She's in Canterlot, well I guess I can plan a trip there." check out the shopping too.
"Great! I'll be there right by your side this time." he gave a hearty smile
"By my side?" she thought, "Oh, there's no need for that." She waved a hoof, "I'll be fine by myself."
"No no, I've been given time off, we can go today! I'll make the appointment."
"Today?" Cadence thought aloud
"Is there something wrong with today?"
"I.. Uh.." the alicorn put a hoof to her cheek, "Think Cadence think!" she tried to come up with an excuse, "Will it really be that bad if I told him about my insecurities?"
"I've really been concerned, have you been stressed lately, I'm sorry I didn't notice, maybe I should slow down the overtime and have the lautenate take my place to spend more time with you."
The thought really did appeal to Cadence but she knew the royal guard needed him, She was tempted to outright lie to him but, her own husband? was it really worth it to get out of this tight space all because she was scared of not being a good parent and feeling vulnerable, this was the important bond between them but, it was hard knowing your exposing an open wound to another person, even if you trusted them. "It isn't that its just, I need some space right now." she looked at him almost desperate, she didn't want to give up her secret, not yet.
"Ok, if there is anything you need, anything! Tell me, alright?"
"Alright."
He wasn't sure if he was convinced of her answer, "Is she ok?" he wondered but he didn't want to push her uncomfortably. Something is going on and he's going to get to the bottom of this for her own safety and emotional health.
"So has Cadence talked to you lately or perhaps your last visit?" Shining Armor decided to meet with his sister in Ponyville early the next day before work, it was a long ride but it was worth it, besides, Cadence and Twilight are close sister-in-laws.
"Well of course, we talked about Star Swirl the bearded and his amazing achievements and, wait why do you want to know what our personal conversations were about?" she took a bite out of her daisy and dandelion sandwhich, they decided to stop at the nearest cafeteria for breakfast.
"I'm not trying to pry however, She's got me concerned, I think she may be in foal but don't tell anypony about this."
"What!? You think Mi Amore Cadenza is in-" Shining Armor stuck a hoof in her mouth.
"Don't tell anypony about this, remember we're in public, gotta keep the volume down." Twilight pulled her mouth away from his hoof and stuck her tongue out in disgust.
"Okay okay, but you didn't have to do that, but why would you think she would hide that from you?"
"That's why I came to ask if she may have talked to you about this, she hasn't been acting like herself lately."
"what do you mean?"
Shining Armor took a bite out of his french toast sprinkled with oats before he answered, "Well, one example, the other day we had a picnic near the crystal pond and we noticed two baby ducks playing together, she began to cry and when I asked what was wrong she replied they are 'being so nice to each other.' Strange? Don't get me started on the pickles and icecream."
"Pickles and icecream?" she gave a disgusted look.
"Yes, and she also has been having mood swings and random low self esteem moments."
"Has she been checked by the doctor?"
"She went a couple days ago and she said it went alright but she didn't say anything further than that, because of these symptoms these last few weeks, we were suspecting and we have been getting routine checks because, you already know we have been trying for awhile."
"Yeah, awhile now. I can talk to her if you like?" Twilight offered poking her hoof in the air.
"That would be appreciated thank you."
"I'll contact her as soon as I get the chance, ooh! I can give her a tour of my castle!" she clapped her hooves together, "Since we haven't seen each other since you know , Tirek." she said in a lower voice, the thought sent chills down her spine.
"I understand, thank you for this I'm sure it will help her unfold."
"So why can't I come again?" the little dragon had started to feel left out.
"Don't worry Spike, I'll be back with Cadence to take a tour of the place, besides, the castle could use a little shine up." Twilight was about ready to head to the train station, " I sent Cadence a letter already and she should be here any minute now if she left as soon as she got it." she trotted toward the door eager to meet her sister-in-law.
Spike slowly walked toward the broom and sighed, "'It's not like the place wasn't clean in the first place." he said in a low voice.
Twilight had just put her hoof on the dirt road when she heard a very loud *THUMP! chips of crystals fell to the ground and she looked up to see Derpy rubbing her head, it was a wonder how this pony isn't in the hospital all the time. "Uhh.. sorry about that Princess."
"It's ok it will just grow back, over time, It's crystal. Are you alright?" she offered a hoof to the embarrassed pegasus who fell on the ground afterword.
"I had no idea crystal grew back, here's a letter for you!" she grabbed her bag and dumped all its contents onto the ground and scattered the pile searching for the envelope, she picked one up from the middle of the pile.
With alicorn magic she quickly opened the letter, "Dear Twilight, I'm afraid I won't be able to make it for the trip, I would love to meet with you again soon just maybe not today. -your favorite sister, Cadence." she sighed and headed back into the castle but then realized Derpy was still there picking up the mail, she used her magic to put all the contents back in the proper more organized state in the mail bag, Hovering with the filled totes Derpy thanked the princess for her assistance.
Spike was humming as he was sweeping the entry hall floor, he had not made much progress when he noticed Twilight at the crystal doors, "She wasn't at the train station?" he stopped sweeping and lifted a brow.
"*Sigh, we'll have to go to the Crystal empire ourselves, Spike, pack for the trip because I'm not gonna let a letter get in the way of our time together. If she can't come meet me here then we will meet her there." she said almost authoritively with wings spread.
"Come again?" he scratched his head confused.
Twilight walked around the little dragon, "Spike, Cadence hasn't been herself lately and I'm afraid that whatever it is she's bottling up maybe serious, Shining Armor came all this way to tell me himself he was so worried. So I don't want travel, letters, or schedules be the reason we postpone our visit." she spoke in a more gentle tone.
"So this mean's I get to go too!?" his eyes lit up when he let the broom drop to the floor.
"We can't go if we don't pack our things, we'll be there for as long as she needs us."
"Consider it done!" he solute and in a flash was gone, Twilight giggled as she began toward her room.
The sound of evenly paced hoof steps echoed through the halls of the Crystal kingdom, as Twilight Sparkle and Spike approached the guards they cleared the way for the young princess to the next set of halls which holds the royal couple. She looked around the sudden dark lit rooms and hallways, "Shining Amor?" there was no reply however a familiar pink Alicorn made her appearance, she had dark bags under her eyes and slumped. She wasn't enthusiastic in her welcome.
"He's been working overtime, what brings you here? I thought you were back at your castle."
"Cadence." Twilight scanned her sister-in-law thoroughly "You look awful!"
"Excuse me?" She stared her down with an almost terrifying look on her face, even spike recoiled at the dark gaze.
"It wasn't meant to be offensive, you look so unrested and drained, it's a good thing I came."
Cadence took a deep breath as Twilight began to push her into her bedroom, she needed to calm herself before she went bezerk on her sister, the touching, the shoving, it made her feel more than uncomfortable in the moment. "Listen Twilight." she thrusted her hoof to stop Twilight from shoving her any longer and Twilight fell to the ground, " I know you're trying to be polite and helpful in all but, I will be fine here, by myself." Twilight got up and gave her the look, almost asking for an explanation for such behavior.
"Cadence, what has gotten into you?" Twilight didn't bother to pick up the dropped saddle backs that fell on the floor also.
"Nothing really." she gave a blank stare.
"You're not acting like yourself Cadence, your pushy, your moody, and you look worse than Celestia on her worst day!"
"Oh boy, hope that doesn't go into a friendship letter." Spike said in a low voice.
"Okay okay, it's just." Mi Amore Cadenza looked down and gave up the argument, she knew she wasn't getting anywhere other than deeper in the rabbit hole, "Come with me." she led her younger sister-in-law into her room that she fought earlier not to go into, they both sat on the crystal framed bed as Spike dragged both his carrier and dropped saddle bags, Twilight then quickly levitated the baggage to the other side of the room upon notice of his struggle. "There was something that happened on the day I was checked out by the doctor." she began rubbing her leg.
"Yeah?"
"I'm in foal." Cadence shut her eyes tight as Twilight's face lit up.
"Holy guacamole!" Spike jumped into the air, the dark gloomy crystal room made it feel even more dramatic.
"Please don't tell anyone, not even Shining Armor, I don't want him to know."
"I can't believe it! Your in foal?" Twilight was now standing on the bed with four legs staring at her sister, but then her words came back to her almost in a lag, then her excitement fell to the floor in realization of what kind of situation she got herself into, "But.. Why wouldn't you want him to know your in foal? You have been trying for months."
"Yeah, I mean this is great!" Spike began imagining what it would be like, "Just think of it, I can teach him how to blow fire or play hoof ball and we can go to the theaters together and have sleep overs all the time!" his claws were into fists over the excitement.
"Spike!" Twilight gave him an intense gaze over his inconsideration.
Cadence felt very uncomfortable in the moment, "Its okay, its just I don't want Shining Armor to get excited over something that may not happen."
Twilight felt her heart sink into her stomach which turned sour afterword, "Wha- what do you mean?" she stuttered almost in fear.
"I know we have been trying for months but I'm afraid I won't be the greatest parent I always thought I might be one day." Twilight then felt a little relieved, she might be able to turn this around if she is thinking what she thinks she's thinking.
"Who put that in your head? You're going to be a great mom, One of the best!" Twilight put her hoof around her.
"Yeah, but." she began to shrug her shoulders she felt pressured.
"But?"
"But what if he is right?" Cadence felt the tears swell up.
"Who, Shining Armor? of course he's right, your going to be a great-"
"No not Shining Armor." Twilight knocked her head back slightly, she didn't expect that answer. "It was a stallion in the shop."
"What did he say?"
"He said that, I wouldn't be able to care for the foal properly because I wouldn't have the time to spend mommy child bonding time, I would need a baby sitter to care for it most of the time and he wants me to put it up for adoption." the warm drops of tears washed her face and there was no stopping them.
"What! that's ridiculous! Who is this Stallion? I should smack the side of his head." the young alicorn fumed.
Spike threw his claws into the air, "Who does this guy think he is? Your the Princess, what right does he think he has to talk to you in such way?" he paced upset and ready to bat the wall with his fists.
"I thought *sniff* that way too." Cadence hiccuped in tears but tried to speak her mind, "What if he's right? with all this kingdom business and running a city?" she wiped her cheek as the tears kept flooding in, "I don't want to put it up for adoption! *Hiccup* but what if it's the best thing for our child? *hiccup* he'll need a loving home, parents who can give him the loving attention he needs. *sniff*"
"No, don't you see this already proves your going to be a great parent? You want what's best for your child and you're afraid you won't be able to provide it, I know you can provide the loving attention he needs and you should believe in yourself, you foal sat me plenty of times and in a sense you took on a parent role, I remember always wanting to be around you, except for maybe those occasions you disciplined me nevertheless it made me who I am today and I thank you for making me a better person by showing me your love in that way." Twilight had put a hoof onto her chest and looked at her with authenticity and tears swelling up also hoping that Cadence see's it the way she does.
"Thank you Twilight." in return she gave a deep hug, "I should just stop doubting myself and ignore what he said." The tears kept coming but began to slow down, Spike tried to be manly but couldn't hold it in anymore, he was pouring out a waterfall by this time.
"It's just so beautiful!" he cried and the other two gave a barely audible chuckle.
"Anyway." Twilight returned to her sister, "It's a boy?"
"No, I just got tired of calling it, it."
"Me too and why is it so dark in here?"
"I don't know, it makes me feel less stressful for some reason." Twilight magically opened the curtains and the light came pouring in and they both squinted.
"There, better now?" the reflection of the light went off every direction because of the colorful crystal.
"Uh, kinda." she still squinted in disdain.
"You're going to need your rest before you'll present the news to Shining Armor, so we'll leave you alone for now." she and Spike slowly walked toward the door.
"Uh Twilight, Spike?"
They looked over their shoulders, "yes?" the young alicorn answered.
"Don't tell Shining Armor any of this, okay?"
"Your secret is safe with us." she walked off in hopes that the princess herself will tell Shining Armor what was going on and Spike followed, as soon as the door quietly closed behind them Cadence magically shut the curtain once more and the darkness filled the room.
"I couldn't care less if you throw me to jail!" Snicker Doodle, the town grouch stood behind the steel bars while Princess Cadence watched, "You can leave me here until my last breathe and I couldn't care less." Shining Armor locked the gate with his enormous keys.
"Serves you right! You don't talk to my wife like that!" as the couple walked away Snicker growled.
"I'll get to you someday just you wait and see!" as Cadence followed her husband up the stairs from the deepest of darkest cells she turned around for one last look at the stallion that told her off, it was almost as if his eyes turned from green to red, it felt like he was trying to be more intimidating than he really was by stomping the cold cement with his hoofs and growling, making all the noise he could, it didn't matter though he got what he deserved. As they reached the top and the essence of sunlight could be seen the guard that had been waiting for them watched as they came out from the dark pit.
"What shall his treatment be?" the guard bowed.
Shining Armor glanced at his wife and Cadence looked at him in confusion, he looked back at the guard "feed him only bread and water unless my wife says otherwise."
"Understood captain!" they both gave a solute and the couple began to head back to the castle.
"Don't you think that's a little, um, harsh" Cadence said as Shining Armor continued on their way, "Okay, so I actually have something to tell you." She felt a little scared, after all she did attempt to hide her pregnancy. "I'm in foal."
"What!? your in foal again?" Shining Armor raised his voice in surprise and Cadence was now truly confused.
"Again, what do you mean again?" he returned the look and frowned at her then suddenly he disappeared and the voice of Discord could be heard from behind, she turned around to find the chaotic beast holding a baby unicorn and they were in what looked like the crystal castle and what would be the baby's room.
"What? don't you remember, you had the baby!" Discord taunted.
"What!? No!" Cadence actually ran through her thoughts and she couldn't remember foaling, never the less she charged at him to get the colt back, if this was really her baby she didn't want discord anywhere near him, they suddenly disappeared as her horn ran through his body and she then found herself in a child's room with an older Twilight and a young Pink alicorn conversing.
"No that's not true and you know that." Twilight spoke with a hoof around the young alicorn's shoulder she then force fully shoved off her hoof and jumped of the bed they sat on, the filly seemed very upset. "May Weather, she loves you."
"If that's true how come she always has you taking care of me and I almost never see her? She never spends time with me, I want a family that loves me!" she covered her eyes and wept then Twilight came to comfort her, it seemed as if they couldn't see Cadence standing in front of them but then Twilight made eye contact.
"I hope your proud of yourself."
"But I-" the filly wept louder and louder, "I'm sorry!" suddenly the whole scene shattered like glass before her and she was in a black obis nothing could be seen, she looked around, "H-Hello? Anybody there?" her voice was low and unsure over the startling images she had just witnessed.
"I see there is obviously something you fear." she turned around and Princess Luna could be seen walking toward her.
"Princess Luna?"
"Yes, I am thee, for I am the Princess of the Night but you already knew that, I haven't known you to have nightmares since I've come back, what is it that troubles you?"
"But you already know what has happened in my dream."
"True however, that isn't what I was asking you."
It was a no brainer when Cadence realized what she was asking, she knew what she was afraid of, "what if they are all right? I can't take care of a foal all my own I won't be able to spend time with him or her for that matter."
"Aren't you forgetting someone?"
"who?"
"Shining Armor? You won't be alone in this even if your both busy, you're both are in this together and are you really going to let Snicker Doodle get you down?"
"Who is that?"
"He's the stallion that told you off in the shop and the one you put to jail in your dreams. One pony or many ponies may say something untrue about you and when you ponder on this lie or hear it for so long you begin to believe it yourself."
"Oh, I never got his name. What do you think I should do? You seem to have a clearer perspective on this than I."
"You should surround yourself with friends that are going to encourage you and help you see the truth, friends that are going to be honest with you even if it is something you don't want to hear so then when they give you encouragement, you know it is the truth. Concerning Snicker Doodle he isn't all that he seems to be, talk with him because revenge isn't the answer, your anger will only boil over to hatred and then you will be no better then he."
"Wait, what do you mean?"
"In due time my niece, I must leave now for the moon must be risen in thy beautiful night." Luna flew upward into the dark obis, "Till night comes you will relive your fears once more until you learn the love of forgiveness for both yourself and Snicker Doodle."
Cadence's ears began to wring but then it suddenly stopped and she found herself in her warm bed again, she opened up the certain and the sun was setting in the horizon, the warm glow made the passing crystal ponies sparkle rainbows. One of the doors creaked open and Spike slowly came into the room unexpectedly.
"Cadence? are you awake?" she stood by the window with the gleaming warm hues shining upon her face, "Oh there you are, there's soup and sandwiches in the kitchen if you like, it's just you haven't ate since you fell asleep so we thought you might be hungry."
"Thank you Spike I'll be there in a minute." Spike kept staring, "Is there something wrong?"
"Well, no, it's just you might want to check yourself in the mirror."
When Spike left she went into the restroom nearby, the mirror depicted her mane in a hot mess and her coat wasn't shimmery like it always is. "Woah, Spike wasn't kidding." she grabbed the brush and began combing stroke by stroke, "He isn't all that he seems." she pondered, everything what Luna told her she wondered about, she didn't understand everything she said but she did know one thing, some of her fears were relieved, maybe she was wrong about reliving them and she also knew she needed to surround herself with friends who will be truthful to her like she said. She also knew another thing, she needed to tell her husband, she wanted too, she put the brush down and did a quick check in the mirror. She felt confident, "I can do this." determination had been declared but then that stallion's face came to mind which made her recoil a little but she pushed the thoughts away, she'll take care of him later but first she must talk to Shining armor.
The smell of vegetable soup filled the halls as Cadence made her way to the kitchen, the rising moon pierced through the windows with it's welcoming glow, "Am I interrupting?" she poked her head in the room filled with the delicious aroma, Twilight sat in a chair next to the table eating a flower filled sandwich while Shining Armor stood by the stove stirring the soup, they expected Cadence's arrival and he put down the wooden spoon.
"Honey, oh am I so glad to see you." he ran and gave her a hug, "Are you feeling better? Twilight told me you didn't look so good and you went to bed, I didn't want to startle you."
"She did?" she glanced at Twilight Sparkle as she used her hoof indicating to tell him, "Well, I did want to talk to you."
"Really!" He smiled in glee, "What is it?" his eyes lit up in excitement.
"It's just, I.. I.. really like the soup!" she faked a smile and the two siblings leaned back because of the unexpected answer.
"But you haven't even tried it yet." Shining stared.
"Oh, yes but what I really meant was." she took a moment to think, "Come on Cadenza, stop stalling and just tell him!" "What I really mean to say is that, I kinda am in.."
"Yes?'
"I kinda of in... Ugh! What I mean to say is I wanna see Dr. Caress, with you, I don't wanna go alone."
"Is that it?" She nodded with an exaggerated smile "Oh, ok" he returned to the soup disheartened. Twilight slipped behind her and pulled her back to the hall.
"What are you doing?" Twilight opened up her hooves whispering, "it was perfect timing."
Cadence recoiled rubbing her leg, "I know, I just got cold feet, he'll find out when we get to the doctor."
"Cadence, he's really worried about you, don't let that worry burn for to long."
"Right, we can go tomorrow."
"No you'll tell him tonight."
"But I don't know if I can tell him."
Twilight stared, "your pregnant, it's something to be celebrated not to hide."
"Your right, I am going to walk in there and tell him." She started toward the entrance, "or I could wait till later." She turned around and started walking the other way, "I mean there's no rush." Twilight blocked her path and picked her up with her magic, "Twilight, stop it, put me down."
"You're going in there and your going to tell him."
"I'll do it on my own time."
Twilight stopped in her tracks with a melting stare, "which will be when Cadence?"
"I thought I could trust you with my secret."
"The only reason why I said I would was because I thought you would tell him yourself." She continued to the door with Cadence in the air surrounded by magenta colored magic, she did a fail safe spell and escaped the trap. "Oh no you don't!" The two mares were galloping down the hall, "Cadence you will tell him! Its wrong of you to hide this from him!"
"Like I said I would do it on my own time!" A flash of blue magic came out of nowhere then Cadence was gone, Twilight stomped in frustration.
"I cant believe this. Why is this such a big deal?" Twilight was talking to herself as she slowly made her way back to the kitchen, "I mean, babysitting isn't a big deal, even if she had too it, just doesn't make sense. Why would she be so afraid of.." She was trying to understand her thinking" You have a baby sitter, she doesn't want a baby sitter, why, she's a ruler and how much time she has, she would need a baby sitter and where did the adoption thing come from? Did that jerk put it in her head?" She put the two together and then realized the big picture, "babysitter, ruler, not much if any time, hold on.. she's afraid of neglecting her child?" she paused reflecting in the moment, "That's why she thought about adoption, cause she wants a better home for the foal? Twilight why didn't you think of this sooner?" She galloped to the kitchen, "Shining Armor!"
She was cut short and fell to the ground because of the enormous hoof in the doorway that belonged to Shining Armor, "I already know Twilight, I figured it out myself, just let her be and she'll come on her own."
"But-" the tip of his hoof was put to her mouth.
"It's ok, really. I'll take care of this."
"Alright, but as soon as you talk to her let me know."
----
Cadence flew threw the air and hit the ground hard due to the unplanned teleportation, she got up and found herself at the entrance of the crystal empire with crystal columns reaching high into the dark starry sky, "Oh dear, why can't I just tell him? Ugh, this is so frustrating." just then a bright light appeared with the royal sister's appearing out of no where. "Aunt Luna, Aunt Celestia? What are you doing here?"
"Congratulations my niece! This is exciting." Celestia gave her a hug.
"You told her?"
Luna didn't change face, "I had too, I was worried for you, I thought Celestia could ease your mind."
"And good thing she did." Celestia walked around Cadence, "You see, having such a long lifespan you meet many different ponies, passing and going through the circle of life. Some will like you, some won't, I remember when one of those groups came about in my first years of ruling. They called themselves conspiracy ponies and they believed that I had evil intentions, like a wolf in sheep's clothing kinda thing. After so many hate letters and crazy beliefs I had started to wonder about that myself. Was I an evil ruler like they say? Starswirl the Bierded noticed my behavior was off more than usual, oh how I miss him." Celestia looked up to the stars as Luna used her magic to pull the moon to a midnight stance. "He was the one who told me to believe in myself and not live to everybody elses favor, If I did then I wouldn't be me living by everybody elses standard."
Cadence looked to her side then Celestia put a hoof to her shoulder, "It's kinda like what you told me." Cadence looked to Luna, "I attempted to tell him tonight."
"And?" Luna looked on intently.
"Well, I... didn't my stomach was in a churn, I didn't want to have to tell him I attempted to hide this wonderful thing that happened from him and, I didn't want to remember what that stallion told me."
"Snickerdoodle." Luna slipped in.
"Right."
"We could go with you as moral support." The Princess of The Night tried to help
"Actually.. I would like that."
"Then it's settled." Celestia said looking upon her smiling niece as the stars sparkled in their eyes.
The following morning the sun rose high in the sky, Twilight was frantically galloping up and down the halls, "Shining Armor I'll start a search, I will begin looking in the east side of the city you do the west!"
Spike poked Twilight from behind, "what about me?"
"Oh, Spike.. you stay here in case Cadence returns."
"What a surprise." The little dragon crossed his arms.
"Twilight, Thank you for at least trying but we must find her, she's the mother of my child, and my wife." They exchanged a meaningful look.
"Don't worry, we will find her." Twilight galloped to the door and then all of a sudden the doors flew open causing her to almost crash into Cadence and Luna and Celestia.
"Ca- Cadence! Your alright!" The Pink Princess walked passed like she didn't even hear her, the other two followed close by, Luna acknowledged Twilight,
"Thank you for your concern my little pony but now she must do something to her concern." The Princess of Friendship followed them until Luna and Celestia came to a stop, Cadence turned around.
"Thank you for your support but I must go on my own."
"We understand my niece, now go and tell your stallion the great news." Luna said excitedly
Cadence then left them alone beyond the hall.
Celestia and Luna turned to Twilight, "Looks like this is it." Celestia smiled "And we have an idea."
Twilight looked at them with a suspicious face, "What is it?"
--------
"Shining, I have to talk to you." Cadence walked into their room.
"Honey! I was just about to go out to find you, what is it?" Although Shining Armor knew he asked anyway.
" I .. I.." she shut her eyes tight and took a deep breath, "I'm in foal." She wasn't sure what to expect next but what did was something she wasn't expecting, a warm hug embraced her as she felt the tears and guilt swell up, "I'm sorry, I hid this from you." His arms squeezed a little tighter.
"It's okay, I'm just glad you told me and I didn't have to hear it from someone else but know where going to have a little colt or filly running around!" Cadence made a choked out giggle, "tell me why were you afraid to tell me."
"Its kinda a long story."
They sat the rest of the day talking after Cadence explained what happened in the meantime their is mischievous activity going on in the city as Twilight and the other princesses spoke to the citizens of the crystal empire organizing a surprise baby shower for the next day, they had planned a lot in such little time.
Twilight with nifty list and secret weapon at hand started naming off what was needed for the party. "Pinkie I'm gonna need you to bring, a three tier cake decorated with bottles preferably blue frosting a stroller for a cake topper, a big card everyone can sign, 2,000 tables 2,300 chairs 2,300 plates with silver ware set, they have to be authentic saddle arabian china, 50 pinatas with a set that look exactly like my brother and sister in law and-." She glanced at pinkie pie, " are you getting all this?"
"Sure am! You asked for a three tier cake decorated with bottles and blue frosting with a stroller Cake topper, 2,000-"
"Okay, I just wanted to make sure you were catching everything, actually why don't I just make you a copy of the list."
"No thanks, I have it all in here." Pinkie Pie pointed to her head.
"Well, okay. I want you to tell the others to come over they have to be a distraction for the my siblings so they wont ruin the surprise!"
"No problem! They wont even need a distraction, my party canon can whip up a block baby shower party in seconds!" She threw a hoof in the air as random confetti flew in the air.
"Okay, i trust you pinkie, look over the list before you leave."
"I'm on it." Pinkie skimmed through the entire list in ten seconds, "cool, ill be back with the supplies!" She hopped away at a steady pace.
----
"Cadence and Shining Armor are having a baby!?" Apple Jack, had her jaw on the floor in surprise, "why ah' never thought id see the day coming."
"I know right, I need you and everyone elses help to make the party that much awesomer!" Pinkie put her hoof in the air.
"Right on it! What did you have in mind."
"Just be there ill take care of the rest."
The young mare hopped along the road stopping by Fluttershy's cottage, Rainbowdash happened to be there with tank, "hey Rainbowdash, is Fluttershy home?"
"Hey, don't know lets see." She knocked at the door, and Fluttershy opened it, "why, hello. I wasn't expecting guests."
"Yeah, I was hoping to get more of that special brew you made for tank, he's been doing so much better tanking it but still a little under the weather."
"Why of course."
" And I was hopping you would invite those baby blue colored birds to cadence's baby shower, it would make it so much more colorful!" Pinkie said excitedly.
Flutters and Rainbow looked at each other and Rainbow tried to make things more clear, "did you say baby shower?"
"Yeah, you two have to be there, okay thanks bye!" She hopped away gleefully, she then knocked at Rarity's door, and she answered,
"Pinkie, what brings you here."
"Okay I'm gonna need over 4,000 yards of blue and pink fabric."
"8,000 yards of fabric, i don't have that much in store, what do you need it for darling?"
"For Cadence and Shining Armor's baby shower of course, but thats okay ill use my super secret stash of fabrics." She paused for a moment and went up real close with a suspicious looking face whispering the words "it's a secret." Into Rarity's ear, "don't forget to be there!" She hopped away once more.
"Cadence, Shining Armor, having a baby? Did I hear that right?" Rarity asked Opal.
-----
24 hours seemed to have just slipped away and no one has seen Cadence or shining armor in sight since the couple had talked to each other, everyone was gathered outside and Twilight was ready for the day, "Okay Pinkie Pie you said your party canon could handle this, now lets see what it can do."
"I'm on it." The pink one span the dial on the canon from cool party- to great- to awesome- to spectacular- all the way to ultra spectacular impress everyone party then hit thE red button, party streamers and supply was thrown into perfect place shooing against houses that were decorated in result and tables magically set all over and so forth all from three blocks away, finally the supply stopped and the cannon made a small squeak and smoke started to fume out. "Oopsies, a little to much for the canon. Hehe."
"Wow this looks great Pinkie." Twilight looked all around her and everyone else was in awe. "Time to get the expecting couple."
Shining Armor stroked the hair of his slowly waking up wife, "how's my sweetie feeling today?"
She stretched, "Better, now that you know. Listen, I cant tell you how sorry I-" he put a hoof to her mouth.
"It's okay, I forgive you, I'm just glad you told me, you don't have to feel guilty about it anymore." She smiled as Shining armor finished. Suddenly there was a loud noise from outside, "What is that?" He sat up, he waited a minute more before he decided to investigate, then it stopped.
"Honey, it was probably nothing, come back to bed." Then there was knock and Shining answered it, a guard stood on the other side.
"Sir." He soluted, "there are guests outside waiting to see you and the princess"
"Thank you, we will be there in a moment." The door squeaked upon being left open, the couple looked at each other, they made their way to the door just that led outside he slowly opened it, Twilight was the first one insight as everypony screamed, "surprise!" There was confetti all over the ground, blue and pink balloons and table as far as the eye could see, streamers and decor on the nearby buildings, and all the citizens of the crystal empire was there.
"What is this?" Shining Armor asked, Pinkie Pie super excited hovered in the air with balloons tied to her waist.
"It's your super awesome double amazing spectacular baby block shower party of course and everyone was invited!" She smiled brightly as Shining just stared.
They looked around a little bit and Cadence spoke up, "this.. this is.. Amazing!" She broke down crying in tears of joy and hormones.
Everybody enjoyed the sun kissed morning, Celestia enjoyed the desert table as Luna was worrying about the white bow on the gift she brought, she wanted it to be most presentable and Rarity assisted her, Twilight mingled with new crystal friends telling about her adventures, as for the other four they hung out excitedly with Cadence and Shining Armor, "Do you know the gender?" Fluttershy was said softly,
"No not yet." Cadence replied
"What about the species, is it a pegasus? unicorn? or perhaps an alicorn!" Rainbow zipped through the air, "That would be totally AWESOME!"
"I doubt it's an alicorn. It would probable be a unicorn since we both have horns." Shining Armor said.
"How far long are you?"
"Six weeks."
"Ya'll surprised us with the pregnancy, how'de ya tell Shining Armor?" Apple asked.
"It's a long story I would rather not get into." Cadence replied, she looked up and saw him, the one who caused all this trouble, Snickerdoodle in the distance, a shadow came upon her with the most chilling and dark look on her face, the ponies awkwardly were silent upon the sudden change of atmosphere.
"What's wrong honey?" Shining looked at her in concern.
"Him that's what?" she nodded forward.
Luna sensed the anger nearby and turned to see Cadence staring at the criminal at a distance and she ran over to her, "Cadence, Don't, revenge will get you no where but deeper water especially for him." she ignored her like she never heard a thing.
Twilight noticed the commotion and also came over, "What's going on?" Shining Armor shrugged not being able to locate the perpetrator in the hinted direction.
"That one, in the distance, the earth pony dark brown see him?" they both caught him standing in front of the gift tables with a gift wrapped in blue on his back. "I want him arrested, put in the deepest darkest cell we have and then, I want to talk to him alone."
"So he's the one who caused all this trouble? He has no business being here." Shining Armor stared with a fire in his eye's
Luna squeezed in with concern, "No Guys don't! I am serious do you not see?"
"Luna, this is no longer any of your business, this is where it get's personal." the princess of the night withdrew from her cold stinging words.
-----------
In the cold dark cells where it smelled like dust and dirt The Pink Princess stood in front of Snickerdoodle on the other side of the bars, "No wait you don't understand." Snickerdoodle pleaded.
"You don't understand? What I don't understand is how you could just walk up to someone and practically punch them and walk away, sticks stones may break my bones but words most certainly hurt the worst!" she had her back to him, "So.. Why did you do it? I want an explanation now!" she stomped her hoof on the hard cold cement as Snickerdoodle recoiled.
"I came to the party to say I'm sorry for what I said." Cadence raised an eyebrow suspicious of his words, and he sighed, "When I was a colt my father was one of the richest ponies in Fillidelphia, he was more in love with money then anything else, my father as a mayor and my mom by his side spent their time working more hours then they could handle and so my private tutor was my baby sitter and she wasn't very nice, every once in awhile they would spend large sums of money to keep me entertained and happy but I had no friends and we rarely if ever visited family, I grew up with such a miserable lonely life and when I became of age they kicked me out thinking I would follow in their footsteps by then, working and building wealth. Back then I wished had a different set of parents, because of what I went through I thought the same of every rich family but I met someone not long ago who grew up happy in such an atmosphere, not because he had everything but his parents gave every ounce of their love and did everything they could to get together as a family, this made me realize that I was wrong, as I observed you guys as a royal couple, loving and not caring how rich you are but making sure everyone is safe and cared for that's when I realized you could very well be a very good family and parents to your children, I didn't have the greatest life on the planet that doesn't mean your children, I was angry when I told you to give up your child and now I've come to say I'm wrong and apologize for it." by this point tears were rolling down his face, and Cadence felt guilty for the way she treated him, so she opened up the cell and he stood there confused.
"Go, your free now, I am sorry for the way I treated you also, this made me realize I shouldn't just make assumptions about just anypony even if they hurt me."
"But I deserve this punishment."
"Maybe so, but where would it get you if you already learned your lesson, I see your feelings are authentic and humble, I except your apology." they stared at each other for a minute that seemed like centuries but it was meaningful, a moment they would never forget. "Ugh!" Cadence put a hoof to her abdomen.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah I think I'm- Aaaah." she fell to the floor crying in pain, Snickerdoodle took a moment to observe and it was already obvious it was to early for labor, there had to be something wrong, so he did the only thing he could think of, he ran up the stairs yelling for help.
The two hospital doors slammed open with a loud thud as three nurses and a unicorn doctor ran through the halls and corridoors dragging the reeling bed with his magic, Twilight and Shining Armor who were falling apart while following close behind Cadence as she no longer responded, the heart monitor beeped rapidly with red lights flashing on and off while another doctor, a pegasus, flew above the patient, she called for tools and medication trying to slow down her frantic paced heart, "I need 40cc's of vial 1" A pony gave her the vial.
"40cc's of vial 1" she injected the dose into Cadence while flying and keeping pace with the rest of the nurses, another set of doors flew open with a loud thud, Her heart started to slow down a little bit.
"2cc's of vial 5" The earth pony gave the pegasus the requested drugs and repeated it once more. They went through another set of doors and one of the nurses stopped the two siblings following behind.
"No disrespect your majesties, we must take care of it from here."
"Please don't let anything happen to my wife or child, I cant live without them." Shining Armor who was in shambles and tears said in a desperately choked voice.
"We will do our best your highness." She ran off leaving the two behind the doors, the view of them getting smaller and smaller with Cadence could be seen in the small window until they could not be seen any longer. Twilight who was hyperventilating was on the floor freaking out.
"Ooh. This cannot be happening." She kept breathing harder and harder and then she held her breath putting a hoof to her chest then slowly released and did this a couple more times. She observed at her broken brother, weeping on the floor, she thought to herself how good she is with solving problems but this is simply out of her control.
"This is my fault!" He wept, "If only I went down with her maybe I would have caught this in time."
Twilight naturally wanting to help responded "This isn't your fault." She felt the tears swell up again herself, "Its a good thing that Cadence opened that cell, that stallion may have very well saved her life, even if your were there with her this would have happened anyway." She patted her brother's head. They sat there for hours waiting for a nurse to give the okay, but she didn't and it felt like centuries, emotionally drained and dull by the trauma they said nothing to each other, just sitting alone with their own minds to company them. A nurse came out, with a report.
"The princess is stable for now, she is resting and will be keeping an eye on her condition as we search for a diagnoses. I assure you we have our top doctors in Equestria working on the case." Then the earth pony left. The adrenaline settled down as the news of her stability calmed them, the air felt dry and the lighting was murky.
Twilight stood up, "Well, looks like there's no point in just standing here." she had realized there was a clock in front of them she didn't notice before and they had skipped lunch and time for supper was approaching, with all this commotion they had forgotten to eat. "I have an idea." she said softly, "How about we grab some dinner?"
Shining nudged at his broccoli with his fork in his magical aura, his potatoes grew cold and hay burger felt lonely, Twilight hadn't ate very much either, "I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was." The lavender pony watched her peas role around in the small space on her plate between the potatoes and burger.
"I'm not very hungry either." Shining Armor put his fork down.
"I wonder how the party went, since this happened. Maybe they cancelled, or perhaps they didn't let it go to waste." Twilight stared.
Dull, Shining Armor stared at his plate slowly contemplating what Twilight had said, "Doesn't matter now." she looked up at her brother now speaking, "All that matters is that Cadence gets better and hope for the best." it was quiet for a moment, "We appreciate you and your friends hard work, I'm sorry we didn't get to enjoy it to the fullest."
"I'm sorry too." Twilight said in a low voice.
They had decided to skip supper and made their way to the waiting room, it had been another couple hours until a white pegasus with medium dark brown hair came in, it was the same one rushing with the other doctors administering drugs to Cadence in the halls. Shining and Twilight stood up when she entered the room with a clip board in her hooves, she called their names and made way to a private room, "Hello I am Doctor Caress Alot, I am one of many doctors working on your wife's medical case. We have looked at this every way we could and came to one solution, the good news is, your going to have unicorn Twins." the news stood standing in the moment with silence in the air.
Shining Armor broke this silence, "I'm going to have, two children?"
"Congrats to you and your wife your highness." Caress said unenthusiastically, "but there's more. The condition she has is called, Geminus Magica, extremely rare only 1 set out of every 10,000 twins will have this condition, normally a mother will not feel the bursts of magic of unicorns or twins in the womb but with this condition the twins have a type of Identical magic, mothers often feel this kind of magic in discomfort or pain but not as strong like your wife has it, we have no ideas on why mothers feel it or why it causes discomfort and I fear she may not make it through all the trimesters of the pregnancy and will need a disabling spell machine near by at all time, our other doctors are working on it right now as we speak and should no longer have any more problems with the pregnancy if this works out. "
"Will she not be able to use her magic any longer until the pregnancy is over?" Twilight questioned.
"No, she'll still use magic, it's the twins we are disabling, it wont harm them. in fact, Twins with identical magic grow up to have very normal lives, they often are able to use spells most unicorns can't attempt. The disabling machine maybe just an inconvenience till then."
Shining stared at the floor trying to soak it all in, "So, will she be okay? why is this happening?"
"We don't know why this is happening, I'm sorry I can't provide any further information on this diagnoses, perhaps it's so strong because she's an alicorn and you two together create one of the most powerful magics in the world. She's is in room 41, I'm sure they're done by now." The pegasus left the two alone, free to go about their way. Cadence was weak from the magic which drained her energy, her back was to them so she did not see them right away when they came into the room.
"Honey? how you feeling?" Shining Armor came into Cadence's view with a smirk on his face.
"I will be okay." she replied.
"We sure will be." Shining Armor said as Twilight also came into view.
Cadence's expression suddenly changed "What about Snickerdoodle? where is he?"
"He saved your life."
"He should be rewarded when we get back home, I was worried you may have threw him back in jail." she paused for a moment, "Have they said anything to you about the babies?"
"Yes, we are going to be parents of two great children." he rubbed his horn against hers. "Where is that machine she was talking about anyway?" he looked about the room. Cadence pointed to the corner at a mechanical tower that glowed green along it's side.
"How are you going to get around with that thing?" Twilight questioned, strangely looking at the technical thing.
"Caress is going to give me a disabling spell charm before we leave, we will keep the tower in the castle and when I need to leave I will bring my gadget charm thing I suppose."
"No matter, we'll make it work, we have too. I don't want to lose you or the babies." Shining said.
"Of course not." the couple rubbed their horns once more.
Shining Armor stayed with his wife as Twilight went to the Crystal Castle to straighten things out, the couple was left with piles of unopened baby shower gifts with varying colors, that many of the ponies that attended the party left for the expecting couple, Snickerdoodle, a generous pony, and the main six stayed behind to move the gifts from outside and into the crystal castle. As Twilight made her entrance the ponies looked to her in concern wondering about Cadence.
"Is the princess alright?" Apple jack had her hat to her chest.
"Yes, she's going to be alright." Twilight replied and the ponies sighed in relief.
"So then what happened to her darling?" Rarity pressed.
"Well, I think I shouldn't talk for Cadence, she may want to spill the news herself."
"Spill the news!?" Pinkie gasped, "News can't be spilled only drinks can hehe."
"Oh please Miss Pie this is no time for jokes." Rarity stared at the pink pony.
"It's okay, at least it's over now and she and umm.. her baby is safe." Twilight smiled to cover her hesitation of a white lie, Pinkie quickly became suspicious.
"Twilight, I know that smile is fake and-" she suddenly gasped, "My intuition is telling me something amazing!" Pinkie hopped all over the place and twilight flew stopping her in her tracks pressing a hoof against her chest.
"No pinkie, you must keep this quiet a tleast until Cadence can spread the news."
the others looked amongst each other as pinkie made a pinkie promise. "What is it?" Apple jack asked.
"I bet she knows the gender all ready." Rarity squealed.
"I bet she knows the species and it's a super awsome pegasus!" Rainbow added in excitement.
"More like a unicorn." Fluttershy said quietly.
"I don't mean to break the excitement but could we get a move on, we still have some more gifts to transport." Snickerdoodle said in frustration, the other unkown pony nodded.
The sun set in an orange hue and many gifts were given to the couple from the city ponies, They ended the day by setting them in a large empty room and the pile was higher then the Cake's bakery.
Cadence just stared at the 4 foot tower, white and the line of greenish blue light asked for the attention of the room, "How could this have happened?" Cadence continued to observe the technical thing, "What is going on?" she moaned, she turned to the other side of the bed. "What are you guys doing in there?" she stared at her abdomen pondering all the possibilities, girls, boys, girl and boy, pegasus, is an alicorn actually possible? two babies? how could she take care of two foals at the same time? ideas just kept running through her head. Shining Armor slept in the nearby chair as the excitement of the day died down, the dead adrenaline knocked him out. "I have a feeling this is going to be a long 10 months."
------------------------
"Now honey be careful now, steady." Cadence rolled her eye's over Shining Armor's over concern.
"Shining, I'm fine really."
"Nope, even though you think your fine your not. I'm going to make sure we baby proof this castle too, I'll order the guards to help and we can call it project Baby Bottle, what do you think?"
"I think your over reacting, besides it's a little early to be baby proofing, let alone the whole castle don't you think?"
"Those hormones are still just kicking in." Shining Armor said delightfully still excited over the twins. Suddenly it felt like a stallion kicked her in the gut and she withdrew from the pain, looking in the direction the pain came from strange enough no one was there.
"Are you all right?" Shining Armor asked in concern.
"Uh, yeah.. Strange as it is it felt like-" She withdrew in pain again, it was sharp this time and she found herself in the dark room of her bed sleeping next to shining Armor, she shoved her hoof into his side.
"Ow!" he woke up as Cadence sat up, he observed. "What's wrong?"
"I think it's time." she looked at her large baby bump her side was caving in like it should.
"IT'S TIME!" He fell out of the bed, he got up frantically off the floor with a blanket over his head, "It's time, it's time. We have to go, Honey stay calm! I got this." he pulled the blanket off, his mane in a mess.
"Shining Armor I think you need to calm down a bit." she almost giggled before another sharp pain hit her and withdrew.
"It's just the hormones honey just keep calm I'll get help!" he carried her in his raspberry magic in a frantic gallop.
"Good thing I grabbed this before we took off." Cadence thought putting on the anti magic charm on, leaving the machine behind. another labor pain hit like a stabbed her in the gut, It hurt a lot worse than she imagined it would be like, she prepared the last 11 months for this day and it was worse than she figured it would be, how would she ever get through this she pondered.
"It's TIME!" Shining Armor yelled, they had been preparing for this day for awhile now, they even got Doctor Caress who would live in the castle for the preparation "Its time." He kept her in his magic as the labor pains and contractions increased.
"Oh my, come come, put her on here." she pointed at a nearby bed.
Tears began to shed as the pain increased, and Shining released her from his magic gently putting her down onto the bed. "Will she be okay?" He asked anxiously.
"I'm sure things will go smoothly, close the door we're going to need some privacy."
Twilight poked out the door from her room, "It's time?" she said in a groggy dazed out voice, she shook her head, "Oh my gosh! IT'S TIME!" she jumped out from the room, she galloped to the located Doctor's room, a sign in the window blocked any view inside of it, it read "Stay out!" "What? I'm her sister she won't mind." she tried opening the door but the knob would not turn, the door was locked. "Hey... they locked me out." she said disheartened, she would miss the birth of her nieces or nephews. So she pulled out a chair and sat in front of the door, she could hear the labored breathing of Cadence and the voices of Caress and her brother telling her what such a good job she was doing. Her ears pinned back disappointed and sighed, "At least I'm the lucky Aunt of these two lucky Foals. Birth doesn't matter, watching them grow does." she tried to cheer herself up by looking to the bright side, "But watching this miracle take place would still have been amazing." she looked down again. She began to reflect back 10 months ago when she came home from the hospital, Everypony was so worried but when they broke the news excitement filled the air with cheers. With all the gifts collected from the baby shower they were well beyond prepared for the childrens coming. She remembered when she blew up on them when they decided to keep the babies genders and species secret till birthing, Twilight wanted it spoiled for herself, who were they, would she have a sassy niece and a gentle nephew, a roudy boy and a soft spoken girl? The air filled with the screams of Cadence broke Twilight's train of thought.
"I can't do it, I can't do it." Cadence sobbed.
"Yes you can." Twilight heard her brother say from the other side of the door.
"Your doing fine, your almost there."
another scream pierced Twilight's ears and she shrugged back into her chair, hearing Cadence in so much agony made her feel uneasy, she wished she could do something for her. Again feeling disheartened Twilight got up from the chair, "Well nothing I can do here I suppose.. Waiting here is just making me even more impatient." she walked down the crystal hall hearing Cadence's voice echo through it all, she entered the babies room, plentiful in toys and posters of cute animals. Cadence always wanted her baby's room a pastel color and that's exactly what she did, it must have been the only room in the castle another color than a clear crystal blue and purple like the rest of it was. Twilight walked through the room and slid her hoof against the special requested crib for the foals, each had it's own both painted white, the delicate carved wood called for attention. "I've been waiting for you two for a long time." Twilight whispered, "And I can't wait to meet you both." she sighed trying to calm her anxious mind. Soon she realized Cadence had stopped screaming, Twilight turned around curious if they had arrived but she began again the ear stinging volume echoing the halls. she sat down onto the lion face shaped rug then suddenly Cadence stopped screaming again, trying not to get her hopes up she waited a minute before she hit the ground running again.
"NO HOW CAN THIS BE?!" the Doctor yelled, her voice echoing against the walls. Twilight had both front hoofs against the door.
"What's wrong! Let me in!" she banged against it, then her hoofs stung from falling to the hard cold floor after the door opened unexpectedly.
"Twilight calm down." Shining Armor answered, two young voices cried out and shivered. "I want to introduce you to my daughter Skyla and my son Skyler." he moved out of the way and there, two young alicorns laid. Skyla a hot pink coat with a two toned main of yellow and purple, Skyler a White coated colt with a triple colored main of three different shades of blue, like Shining Armor's but darker, His wings tips was a very dark grey, almost black.
"He's a boy." Twilight said in awe and jaw to the floor, "He's an alicorn."
Shining Armor picked them up in his raspberry magic, "then that would make him the first."Shining Armor looked at Twilight, "Tradition calls for the first boy to have title to the crown, which makes Skyler the heir to the thrown." He allowed Twilight to take Skyla in her magic.
"What about her?" Skyla was calm compared to her brother floating around in Twilight's magic as the other squirmed uncomfortably in Shining Armor's.
"She will be the next heir if, Equestria forbids, something happened to Skyler. Other than that we will have her in our company until she gets married." Shining Armor was proud of his children and his now resting wife.
Dr. Caress stepped forward, "Now we must disable the disabling spell." as soon as she released the spell the twin's horns made a spark which joined together, Twilight and Shining Armor looked puzzled at the sight. "This is what your wife was experiencing ten months ago when she was first admitted to the hospital, it's a powerful magic, now I understand why it was so strong with this pair. They're alicorns!" she took a bow, "And I am honored to have delivered your children, now lets let your wife rest in piece and quiet."
"Wait.." Cadence said quietly and exhausted, the ponies looked at her, "I want to see them." Shining Armor claimed Skyla from Twilight and placed the foals in front of Cadence, she touched them and stroked her hoof against their cheeks one at a time. Skyla's dark pink coat shone by the light of the room and Skyler's sparkled as each of them looked at their mother for the first time their eye's locked in each others presence. "My beautiful babys" Cadence thought, "Of all the possibilities, Skyla a daughter of mine with beautiful blue eye's like her father's and color's like me. Skyler a son of mine, with the color scale of his father's and an alicorn with eye's like mine. Who could have known?" Yet the mystery of her childrens character increased. "What would you look like when you grow up? who would you be?" tears rolled down her cheeks. "Either way your beautiful to me."
