Chapter 1
“SURPRISE!”
The sudden echoing blast of noise, accompanied by a field grade confetti cannon rocked Prince Dusk Shine backward onto his haunches. His wings flared out instinctively in an effort to catch himself, but it was too little effort applied too late. Landing, he felt the cold, crystal floor against his flank, even through his thick, wool, winter kilt. The dozen or so books he’d been carrying went flying to the four winds, along with all the inserts, tabs and miscellaneous parchments tucked inside. The small bottle of ink that had been perched atop the books somehow lost its cap and landed, upside down, on the prince’s horn. Its contents quickly leaked down its spiral grooves before dripping into his face even as small pieces of confetti began dotting his muzzle.
“HAPPY THIRD ANNIVERSARY......” The chorus of cheerful voices faded into awkward silence as the unintended results became more than a little obvious to everypony present. The two Kieran guards who had opened the double doors into the Hall of Friendship for their prince looked at the disaster, exchanged a glance with each other, shrugged, and closed the doors. They were confident the six mares inside would quickly restore order to the chaotic scene they’d witnessed.
Without thinking, Dusk casually reached up with his hand and removed the bottle of ink from his horn. The resulting gush of black liquid quickly covered the remainder of his face and dyed his short-cropped mane as he gave off a blow of air through his nostrils that quivered his lips. The awkward silence was finally broken by Pinkie’s voice as she giggled. “Oopsie!” which everypony silently decided had to be the understatement of the year.
********
A quick shower, a change of clothes and a careful preening of any loose feathers not only refreshed Dusk Shine, but softened his initial ire down to a humorous chuckle, especially once he saw the picture that his assistant Spike had taken. The post-adolescent drake was getting quite good with a camera and relished capturing the abnormal ‘slice of life’ moments that seemed to befall Dusk and his extended herd/family.
Applejack, his alpha-mare, greeted him upon his return from the bathroom and quickly seated him at the head of the table. Once seated, everypony but Pinkie and Spike joined him.
They began bringing in a variety of prepared dishes from the kitchen, each lavishly presented to one and all with a smile, or in the case of the Pink Party Pony, a quick peck on the muzzle for all around. Thanks to Pinkie’s twitch-craft, no one ever worried about their food being poisoned by disgruntled anarchists, scheming nobles or politically motivated bureaucrats. If a particular dish happened to have turned out poorly, her nostrils would itch and her left ear droop, signaling it was not fit for pony consumption. Besides, who could possibly want to harm the Prince of Friendship. (Aside from Tirek, Chrysalis, Sombra. the E.E.A. and an assortment of minor villains.)
Rarity busied herself telekinetically passing around a bottle of Sweet Apple Acres Sparkling Apple Cider, filling one glass after another with the excellent, Equestrian beverage. Starlight Glimmer had been the last pony to be seated, having spent the previous half hour resorting and collecting all of Dusk’s books and papers. It was all part of being the alicorn’s apprentice.
There was a sharp, crystalline ringing as Rainbow Dash energetically tapped her spoon against a half-empty water glass. “Alright everypony. Listen up! I’d like to start this surprise anniversary party with a toast.”
Pinkie and Spike placed the last dishes on the table and quickly took their seats.
“It’s been three years since we all finally managed to convince our beloved egghead...”
“Do you have to call him that?” Applejack whispered.
“Why not... We all pretty much fell in love with his brains long before anything else he had to offer,” Rainbow continued. The other mares around the table quickly nodded in agreement.
“Which of course made our herd twenty-percent cooler than any other herd in Equestria.”
“Considerin’ what we all went through ta-gether, what with Tirek, Discord, Flim and Flam, Trixie and her alicorn amulet, bug-bears, plunder seeds... It just seemed natural ta get behind Dusk Shine and let him lead the way,” added Applejack.
“Hey... this is my toast!” the cyan pegasus complained.
“Sorry sugarcube... just tryin’ ta make the toast an extra 1% cooler.”
“Well... okay, this time. Anyway, it was on this date that we all but forcibly tackled Dusk and coaxed him down to city hall where Mayor Mare signed the license, officially making us a herd.”
“I remember that day,” giggled Fluttershy. “Dusk was more nervous than I was.”
“Nervous?” laughed Applejack. “He was so far gone Ah had ta bring ma lasso, just in case he got cold hooves... even after he’d agreed ta everything.”
“I was not nervous,” Dusk Shine said. “Just a little... overwhelmed... by all of your proposals.”
“Is that why your eye didn’t stop twitching until after the ceremony?” asked Spike.
“Actually, I don’t remember it stopping until about a week after our honeymoon at Neighagra Falls,” observed Starlight. “Come to think of it, it felt more like a really intense two-week crash course on comparative anatomy.”
“It was like a non-stop party,” insisted Pinkie.
“I thought it was a really beautiful dream,” observed Fluttershy.
“A party,” Pinkie repeated.
“Okay,” Applejack said... “A party that turned inta a real apple-bucking Rodeo.”
“I remember the wine, the soft music, the scented candles, the satin sheets... it was glorious,” Rarity added.
“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “We all discovered there was a lot more sausage to this egghead than any of us thought.
“Tee Em Eye!” said Spike, covering his frilled ears.
Rarity looked over at Rainbow. “Darling, could you tone down your toast a bit, you’ve got both Spike and Dusk turning a lovely shade of mauve.”
“Right... Right... Anyway, here we are, three very happy years later. The Friendship school is prospering. We’re closer than friends could ever be. In fact, we’re more than friends. We’re family!”
Everypony raised their glasses high and took a large sip of the cider. Spike smacked his lips then looked over at Rarity. “You know I’m old enough to drink, right?”
“Oh yes,” the fashionista replied.
“So why cider and not something fancy like merlot or chianti?”
“Well, as to that, I suppose I should make a toast of my own. After all, that was the reason for this whole Anniversary party.”
Dusk smiled, finally relaxing some. “You mean you’ve got something to say?”
“Why of course darling, and I can’t think of a better venue than this,” Rarity said. “I visited the doctor a few days ago and found out I was... expecting!”
“Expecting? Expecting what?” Dusk asked naively.
“Why a foal darling, of course.”
Dusk’s expression froze somewhere halfway between joy and terror.
“Y’all are having a little one?” asked AJ. Rarity nodded.
“Well don’t that beat all? Ah was savin’ this shindig ta make the same kind o’ announcement,” grinned Applejack.
“You’re pregnant?” exploded Rainbow Dash.
The farm pony nodded.
“You can’t be pregnant!”
“Why in tarnation not?”
“Because I’m pregnant!” the pegasus replied.
Dusk Shine’s right eye began to twitch ever so slightly.
“Oh my!” whispered Fluttershy. “Then I guess I should save my toast for later?”
“What toast?” asked Starlight.
“Well... uh... you see, I’m... uh, I’m having a foal of my own,” she squeaked.
“You’re pregnant?” Starlight laughed joyously. Fluttershy nodded. “This is wonderful! We can plan a joint baby shower together; you, AJ, Rainbow, Rarity... and ME!”
“You?” Dusk asked, His voice quavering slightly. "You’re pregnant too?”
Starlight grinned happily back at him and the alicorn stallion started breathing hard.
“Wait just one second!” yelled Pinkie Pie. “You can’t have a baby shower without me!”
“Why not?” Dusk asked nervously. You’re not expecting a foal as well, are you?”
Pinkie laughed insanely. “No, Silly Billy. They can’t have a shower without me because I’m the party planner. And no, I am not expecting a foal.”
“Thank Celestia,” Dusk replied. “I don’t think I could take any more good news.”
“I’m expecting triplets!”
The stallion’s brain reached maximum overload at that point and he simply keeled over as the mares reached out and hugged each other back and forth for several minutes. Spike crossed over to where Dusk lay on the floor, twitching slightly.
“All at the same time... Huh?
“Gaack!”
“Looks like you forgot to renew your contraception spell last month,” the drake quietly observed. Further conversation would obviously have to wait for a greater level of consciousness on the part of the Alicorn Prince.