Did I tell you that I'm sorry?
"Ugh," Rainbow grunted indignantly, the bathroom scale revealing to her that she weighed roughly ten pounds more since she last had the courage to check.
Stepping off the scale, Rainbow's thoughts skimmed the reasons as to why that was; her lack of exercise, her body's hormones, her growing food cravings that were getting more eccentric by the day (ice cream with pickles being a common combination for her), and the doctor's orders to stay in bed all came instantly to mind. Stupid doctor, what did he know? She was a pegasus--she was born to fly, to be active, not stay cooped up at home all day!
With another grunt, Rainbow trudged to the mirror, plopped her haunches before it, then pouted at her reflection. Staring back at her was the same mare she'd always known, only her mane had grown longer and disheveled in places (a byproduct of her having stayed in bed sleeping for the last month or so), and she had gotten a bit...well, thicker.
Rainbow raised her hoof, then gently traced the flat of it up and down over her swollen, even bulbous belly. No, as much as Rainbow would like to think that she'd simply gotten a bit pudgy due to laziness, the truth was far from obvious. She was pregnant, about ten months in, and oh did it show. The deed has long been done, and she had learned to accept that when she first learned.
"Stupid Soarin' not pulling out in time..."
Rainbow then scowled, silently berating herself for her silent little outburst. She didn't hate Soarin' for what happened--in fact, it was as much her fault as it was his--she just wished that they were a bit more careful. Though, in both their defenses, it was a passionate night that was well worth the memories. They even held onto the straps and gags that were partially responsible, which were frequently used whenever Rainbow's pregnancy mood swings landed on frisky.
Not to say that the experience was all rainbows and sunshine, of course, but Rainbow Dash both loved yet hated being pregnant. Due to hormones, she'd be happy-go lucky one minute, then an emotional wreck the next. It surely didn't help that she had the occasional lapse of morning sickness, frequent bathroom trips, and the constant feeling of bloating. Why, if it weren't for Soarin' waiting on her hoof and muzzle at every hour of the day whenever work allowed, she would have been driven crazy long ago.
Soarin', bless his little heart, he'd been her rock from the get-go. Being the honest stallion that he was, she expected him to support her when she broke the news to him, but never would she have fathomed that he'd suddenly propose to her on the spot. She accepted, of course; she loved that goofball, and no unexpected pregnancy was gonna change that. However, seeing as the ordeal of planning a wedding would put them both through several octaves of stress (which Rainbow could do without while she was still carrying the foal), they decided to postpone the event until a later date after the foal's birth.
Until then, Soarin' did just about everything for Rainbow. He'd make sure to wake up before her to prepare her breakfast in bed, buy her everything she had written on a list whenever he went on a grocery run, entertain her whenever the need for it arose, he'd even taken a side-job at the Wonderbolts academy training recruits so they've have extra bits saved up for the foal. As much as she loved him for all that, though, Rainbow couldn't help but worry if all his efforts were starting to take their toll on the stallion. To her, it seemed as if the bags under his eyes seemed to have doubled since...
"I'm sorry..."
Speaking of her husband-to-be, Rainbow could see him reflected in the mirror. He was in the corner, huddled on the bathroom floor, an apologetic look on his face. Again, much to her chagrin, he had just apologized, something he's been doing time and time again ever since she gave him the news. To say that it annoyed her would be an understatement.
"Can you stop with the 'sorry's already!?" she snapped, turning back to him. Soarin' flinched, getting even lower to the ground.
"I'm sorry..."
Irked, Rainbow grit her teeth. "What did I just say!?"
His eyes wide and face sullen, Soarin' replied with a near-quiet, "Sorry..."
"Ugh!" Rainbow relented, huffing as she turned back to the mirror.
She whipped her mane out of her face, then gave herself one hard look in the mirror as she tried to calm down. She knew that really wasn't her, that gargoyle that just flew off the handle at Soarin', and she hoped Soarin' understood that as well. He was just feeling guilty for being one of the factors that put her in her current situation, and he was just trying to express his atonement in any and all ways he could.
Darn her hormones, she didn't deserve such a stallion in her life.
Finally, after shutting her eyes and counting her slow breaths, Rainbow spoke.
"Soarin', I'm so--" she bit her lip, then tried again. "I apologize. I didn't mean to yell at you like that. You can, uh...you can unbatten the hatches now."
His expression easing somewhat, Soarin' rose, then slowly approached her.
"It's fine, Rainbow. It really is. And again, I really am--" he didn't really know what else to say other than: "--sor--"
"Stop it, alright! Just stop," Rainbow interrupted, her hoof over the mouth of Soarin's reflection. "Please...enough of that." With him opting to stay silent, Rainbow sighed in relief. She pressed her forehead against the mirror's cool glass, then took a breath before continuing. "Listen: it's not your fault. Ok, well maybe not all your fault, but...eh. What happened, happened, and no amount of 'sorry's is gonna change that. Besides," she turned to him, then gave his side a friendly punch, "we're way past the halfway mark, right? Won't be long now before we've got a little tike running around, and you can say all the 'sorry's you gosh darn please."
Soarin' rubbed his side, a low, light hearted chuckle escaping past his lips. However, mere seconds later, his smile faltered, and he gave Rainbow that same, irritating look before: the kind she just wanted to punch preemptively before it even had a chance to mutter that accursed five lettered word.
"Hey," she said, a hoof on her belly as she sat on her flanks. "Give it a feel. Come on."
After looking into her patient, rose-colored irises, then her round belly, Soarin' did just that. Slowly he raised his hoof, tentatively reaching it towards her stomach. Once it was near, he pulled his hoof back, hesitating for a fraction of a second before stallion-ing up and finally placing the flat of it against her firm yet soft blue fur. He couldn't help but crack a smile when her belly gave a bit of a squish to his touch.
"You feel that?" Rainbow said as she placed her hoof atop Soarin's. "Does that feel like something you should be constantly apologizing for?"
Soarin' stayed silent, feeling the comforting warmth radiating from her belly. To think, new life was growing within her, and in about a month's time, the two would finally get to meet their foal, be it a colt or filly. They didn't know what the foal's gender was, and they wanted to keep it that way until its birth. They saw it as a nice surprise to look forward to; a surprise they even convinced their doctor to refrain from spoiling whenever Dash and Soarin' went to his office for a checkup on the foal via ultrasound.
Moments later, Soarin felt a subtle 'thump' against his hoof, one which elicited an excited, childlike giggle from him.
"Oh my gosh, did you feel that!?"
Smiling, Rainbow nodded.
"Mhmm, sure did."
Soarin' felt a second thump, then a third. Quickly, he placed his ear against her stomach, listening to the sounds their foal was making. His lip curled upwards and quivered, a tear starting to form in his eye.
"They're gonna be great at hoofball, I just know it..."
"There you go," Rainbow cooed, her hoof stroking lovingly through his mane. "Feel better? No more apologies?"
Shutting his eyes with a sniffle, Soarin' nodded.
"Good...good," Rainbow uttered. "Hey, uh...you went to the store earlier, right?"
Again, Soarin' nodded.
"Mhmm."
"You remembered to get the ice cream?"
Another nod.
"Chocolate flavored?"
A second.
"The spicy potato chips?"
A third.
"Pickles?"
Right as he was about to make a fourth nod, he paused.
"Aw, shoot!" Separating himself from her belly, Soarin' facehoofed. "The pickles! How could I forget the pickles!? Rainbow, I'm so--"
"Uhp, uhp, uhp," Rainbow silenced, her hoof held over his lips. Suddenly, she grinned. "I guess I can let it slide this one time, but uh...I know one way you can make it up to me right now~"
"Oh?" Soarin' responded curiously as Rainbow removed her hoof from his mouth.
Her smile turning salacious, Rainbow turned, then sauntered her way towards the door with a purposeful sway in her hips, but not before raising her tail and running it under the stunned stallion's chin, beckoning him to follow.
Soarin just stood there, a dumbfounded look on his face as he watched her tail disappear in the direction of their bedroom, his wings slowly extending, and his mouth growing into a large, goofy grin.
"I'm sorry I don't forget the pickles more often," he uttered before following.