One Year
Dragoon Family
Spike stared at himself in the mirror, the time had come to make one of the most important decisions in his life. He had only two options: He could leave now and retain his pride as a man, or, he could do as his wife said and shave off the scruffy beard he had managed to grow over the last year. With a sigh of despair, he opened the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and grabbed both a razor and the shaving cream.
He was a weak man.
Elsewhere in this household was the ever radiant Rarity, face covered in green, pasty, disgusting baby food. Had this been a younger Rarity, in the early months of motherhood, she would have gone absolutely ballistic. But this wasn’t that same girl, she was a full blown mother who balanced child care, running a business and pleasing her husband as if it were second nature. She simply cleaned some of the paste from her face with a napkin, and continued to feed her daughter.
“Now Amber, dear, it’s not nice to throw your food.” she said to her daughter, who was placed in a booster seat at the dinner table, spoon and bowl both in hand. Her green eyes flashed with mischief, and Rarity caught the look just in time for her instincts to tell her to duck.
The bowl of green mush went sailing across the dining room, leaving globs of mashed peas all over the floor. Young Amber let out a string of giggles as she saw her mother's frantic look.
“Amber Jade Dragoon!” Rarity said, only slightly hiring the volume of her voice.
The toddler in question adopted a look that seemed inherent in all children. A look that said ‘Oh crap, she used my full name. Things are serious now.’
“I warned you young lady!” Rarity began scolding. “Now you’ve made a mess. As punishment, you won’t be having a birthday party this year.”
Tears began to form around the girls eyes before she broke out in a tantrum. She was too young to understand the meaning of the words her mother said, but the tone in which she said them set something off within her. It didn’t take much longer after that for Spike to be seen racing down the steps, face smooth as a babys bottom.
“Aww what happened to my pwincess?” Spike said, adopting a tone that adults commonly use with babies.
“She made a mess with her food, so I told her she couldn’t have a birthday party.” Rarity said, matter of factly.
Spike smiled at his daughter. “Don’t listen to mommy, she’s just being a meanie.”
Rarity crossed her arms and looked Spike dead in the eyes. “I would appreciate if you wouldn’t undermine me in front of our daughter. She needs to see that I also have authority here.” she said, anger evident in her voice.
“I know babe, I’m sorry, but you said you were gonna cancel her birthday party! It’s her first one!” Spike said, bouncing his daughter in his arms. “Just think about how Pinkie would feel!”
Rarity tried to hold her glare, but she just couldn’t stay mad at him. She gave a sigh and smiled. “Oh you know I wasn’t really going to cancel it. Why, that’d be a major social faux pas! Especially after I’ve already designed her dress and the invitations have been sent out. It was a, oh what’s the word..” she trailed off, tapping a manicured finger to her chin “a scare tactic!”
Spike nodded. “Ok, fine, I get it. I won’t interfere next time.” he said as he noticed the bouncing had sent the baby into a slumber.
The two parents made their way upstairs to the nursery, situated adjacent to their room, and laid Amber down in her crib. They left the door open and silently made their way to their own room where they promptly sat on the soft bed together.
“So you finished designing her dress then?” Spike asked his wife, who had grabbed a mirror to make sure her face was completely clean.
“Yes, I also finished sewing my own dress as well. Would you like to see?” she asked, getting up.
Spike was quick to get up as well, grabbing Rarity by the wrist and turning her around to face him. “Actually, I’d much rather see you out of the dress. And out of this too.” he said, lightly pulling at the blouse she wore.
Her ivory cheeks turned a deep red as her heart skipped a beat. “Oh Spike, you’re so naughty!” she said with a giggle. “What would Twilight think?” she said jokingly.
“Probably something along the lines of ‘Damn, I let that go? I fucked up.’ or she would just turn into a pile of blushing goo.” he said, lifting his shirt up above his head and removing it from his body. “Now c’mon, before the baby wakes up!
It had been nine months since their daughter was born, but that was an eternity in sex years.
The Apples
The early evening sun felt great this time of year. Applejack, Applebloom and Scootaloo all agreed on that. It wasn’t too hot, but it wasn’t so cold that you needed a jacket. It was perfect weather for what they needed to do.
“Everyone ready?” Applejack asked as she placed her stetson on her head, her boots thumping against the hardwood floor of her family homes front porch.
“Yea!” came the excited voices of her two sisters.
“Ok then!” she said as she held up three fingers. “Three! Two! One! GO!!” She yelled, jumping down from the porch and diving for the cooler full of water balloons that she had ready.
The two younger girls had done the same, sharing a cooler with one another as they readied for war against Applejack.
“You can’t beat us sis!” Applebloom yelled, a balloon in each hand ready to be launched at a moments notice.
“Ah can beat ya’ll blindfolded!” Applejack yelled back, now leaning against a tree hoping to stay out of sight of the two rivals she now had.
“Dude, Applebloom, look!” Scootaloo said, pointing to the tree near the porch where she could see Applejacks stetson poking out from.
Applebloom gave a sinister smile and thumbs up to Scootaloo. “Good job Scoots, her greatest pride will be her downfall.” she said.
“Dude, it’s just a game.” Scootaloo said, shaking her head side to side as she followed Applebloom.
“Pincer formation.” Applebloom whispered, motioning for Scootaloo to go around the left side of the tree while she went around the right. This way, they could trap Applejack and get her good.
The two girl slowly crept up on the tree, using all their made up training from watching bad ninja movies, they did their best to silence their footsteps and avoid detection. Once they were both at the side of the tree they needed to be at, Applebloom gave a nod and the two of them lunged around the trunk and launched their balloons, only to be met with a patch of wet dirt.
“What the fu-” Scootaloo began before she and Applebloom were overcome by a huge wave of water.
Scootaloo lost her balance and fell to the floor sputtering, while Applebloom stood in place, eyes covered by her wet hair and her bow sagging downwards.
A loud laugh echoed down from the top of the tree, where Applejack was sitting comfortably with an empty cooler.
“What in tarnation...you cheated!” Applebloom said as she pointed at her sister with an accusatory finger. “You must have set that up hours ago!” she said, referring to the cooler that was, until a moment ago, filled with ice-cold water in the tree.
Applejack shrugged. “Ain’t no rules when it comes to war.” she said, as she made her way down the tree.
“Why you…” Applebloom said, before she tackled her older sister once she was on ground level, making sure to get her as wet as possible with the water that soaked her clothes.
Scootaloo wasn’t far behind, jumping into the pile and trying her best to help wrestle Applejack down so they could get their revenge. But this was Applejack we’re talking about. They might as well have tried wrestling the barn itself.
She had to give them credit for trying though. The two young girls did put up their best fight, but Applejack eventually pinned each of them down with the huge pythons she called her arms.
"Now, Ah reckon this is where you admit Ah win?" she said with a smirk.
"Alright, alright, we give!" the girls said in unison as they struggled to get out from under her tyrannical oppression.
"Maybe the two of you will beat me when Ah'm granny Smiths age. 'Til then, Ah'll proudly hold the championship." Aj said with a grin.
Applebloom crossed her arms and huffed, but Scootaloo was much better at being a good sport and offered a thumbs up.
"Nah, you won't have it for that long. Once we finish Twilight's class in school, we're both signing up for martial arts. We're gonna whip some apple butt!" she said with her usual level of excitement.
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly will martial arts help you beat me in a water balloon war?" she asked.
Scootaloo grinned like a maniac. "Because we'll train our senses to be so friggin' good that everything will move in slow motion and we'll be super fast and can pop your balloons in mid air without ever getting wet. We'll be ninjas!"
Applejack nodded her head and made a mental note to not let the girls watch those bad kung-fu movies. She'd have to limit them to the stuff her dad used to show her, the real stuff with those guys that actually trained all their lives.
"Alright, we'll see how that turns out for ya'll." she said as she grabbed her hat from the tree and placed it back on her head where it belonged. "Now c'mon, it's getting late and granny should have dinner ready soon."
The three all dusted themselves and walked into the Apple family home, ready for some great home-made food by one of the best cooks alive.
Fluttershy
One thing about Ponyville was that nearly everyone had pets. Birds, cats, dogs and even some lizards, it didn’t matter. This was great news for Fluttershy, both for business and personal reasons. She absolutely loved seeing all the animals walking around town with their owners, and would often take her lunch at the park where she could watch them run in the fields.
Being the only vet in town had its perks as well. She didn’t have any competition, not that she would treat them as such even if they did exist. She was able to make her own rates, keeping them fair of course. Most importantly though, she was able to give people information and advice that they would actually listen too. She finally had some authority and it felt great to do good with it.
Her office was set on the edge of town, near the trees and wildlife that would make animals most comfortable. It also allowed her to care for any wandering animals as well. Just a few yards west of her were the horse stables where she first began working a year ago. It still amazed her that in just a year she was able to afford her own space to practice, and she didn’t even have to travel far from the animals she already knew and cared for. All in all, she came out on top.
One thing did bother her though. With all the changes recently, she had less time to spend with her friends than she would have liked. They all knew that as they got older and became adults with responsibilities, they would eventually drift apart in the sense that they wont have time to hang out like they did before. But that was the thing about having a friendship as strong as theirs, even if they didn't interact on a daily, or sometimes even weekly basis, they could still pick up a conversation as if it had only happened a few minutes ago.
The idea of being around her friends always brought a smile to the shy woman's face. Memory lane was beginning to feel like home to her, as she recalled the various occurrences that transpired in such a short amount of time. She had regained a friend that was gone for a long time, said friend was able to bring another friend back from the depths of depression and sadness. They were her family, and she loved to see them all happy.
Her thoughts rested on the idea of a family. Spike and Rarity had gotten together and had the most beautiful baby girl she had ever seen. The first time she held the baby was like heaven to her, and she didn't want to ever put her down. Sadly, she didn't have a choice in the matter. Since then, thoughts of having a child have plagued her mind, but she would never be brave enough to do *that* with a man.
Luckily, there were many options for artificial insemination.
Pinkie Pie
Pinkamena Diane Pie had spent much of this past year doing what she did best, planning parties and making people smile. When Spike and Rarity had their babyshower, she was the one they asked to plan everything. It had been her highest honor to date. She couldn’t imagine doing anything other than bringing joy to the people she cared about.
As her mother and father got older, they were no longer able to work on the rock farm that they had raised her on. There was the slight fear that she would have to give up on her current lifestyle in order to take over. Luckily for her, her sister Maud was more than happy to drop everything and return to the farm. In fact,after her return, rock processing and output had increased ten-fold. It was amazing really.
So Pinkie was able to continue working at Sugar Cube Corner, she still occasionally babysat the cake twins and, usually on weekends, she could be spotted in Ponyvilles night life side by side with a popular DJ named Vinyl Scratch.
Out of all of her friends, she was the only one who hadn't experienced too much change. It wasn't a bad thing of course, but someone like Pinkie Pie needed change to bring excitement into her life. She couldn't provide excitement forever after all. That was how she got the brilliant idea to work extra hours at the bakery so she could save up and eventually rent a building where she would teach her "patented" Pinkie brand style of comedy and fun.
With this in place, she hoped to inspire a new generation of wacky party people, with which she could eventually use to overthrow the government of her small town and then extend outward, allowing their power to grow. In a few years, she's have total control of the land and would make parties and fun mandatory. Any who disobey will be executed!
Or it could just be a fun class that helps the time go by, who knows?
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle sat in her room, grading tests and essays in her bed. This year had been a great one. All of her friends were happy, and their lives were all developing for the better. She had a niece from both her real brother and adopted brother, and friends that she could always count on.
No, that was wrong. She didn’t have friends, in truth. They were family. She knew them her whole life and, even after an extended absence of eight years, she was still able to connect with them on such a deep level. It was a better life than she could have ever wished for.
Her phone vibrated and knocked her out of her thought cycle. She reached over and grabbed the device, unlocking it and reading the name of the person who had text her.
‘It’s him!’ she thought excitedly as she opened the message.
‘Hey, we still on for tonight?’ the message read.
She let a grin form on her blushing face as she quickly typed up a response and sent it. Not wasting a moment, she opened her contact lists and tapped the name of the person who could help her in this situation. The phone rang a few times before she got an answer.
‘Hello?’ came the voice of Rarity. She sounded off, out of breath.
“Rarity! I need your advice on something! It’s an emergency!” Twilight nervously stammered out.
‘Darling, what is it? Is everything ok? Do we need to come over?’ Rarity asked, concern in her voice. Twilight could hear some shuffling of cloth but paid no mind. It was probably just Rarity sewing something.
“N-no! Nothing like that! I just need some advice on, uh, how to...please a man...in bed.” Twilight managed to say, her face turning a dark maroon as she stood up and began clearing the papers off of her bed.
‘Oh! Oh my!’ Rarity responded. ‘How long do you have?’ she asked.
Twilight checked the clock on her desk. “About four hours.” she said.
‘Stay there, I’m on my way.’ Rarity said. Twilight could hear a groan of frustration, one that belonged to a male and it was then that she realized what Rarity had just been doing. She blushed even harder imagining it. Being an adult was weird, especially when it came to adult stuff.
But it was her life, and she didn’t want it to be any other way.