No... No! I can't be late! Not now and not for this, anything but this!

My thoughts were filled with images of not making it there in time, or if something went wrong while I'm still on my way and I’m not there to comfort her. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that happened to them.

I can't believe this happening right now... this is all your fault, why’d you have to visit me last night?! You couldn’t have waited till tonight, maybe tomorrow night, or even never? Geez, I just hope I make it in time.

I galloped at full speed down the street towards the hospital, the entire time hoping that she was alright. I noticed that as I ran by ponies in Ponyville, they gave friendly waves and flashed smiles at me. I wish I could stay and tell them about what was going on, but for all I knew I'd already missed it. She needs me.

As I was running down the street towards my destination I saw a particular brown stallion stepping outside of a shop.

“Well, hello, stranger. Long time no see.” He said in a joking tone, but if only it was one.

“Sorry, but I just don’t have time to talk to you.” I said quickly without pausing for him.

“You mean she’s…” He called out as he ran to catch up to me. When he got alongside me I simply glanced at him and gave a nod. He caught up to me so easily, I never liked how he was in better shape than I was, although he never rubbed it in my face, I still took it like an insult to my pride.

“Can I come with you?” He asked without a single sign of accepting no for an answer.

“I don’t know if the doctors will let you in, but you can follow me there.” I said between gasps as my lungs burned and fought to suck in more air.

“Thanks.” It was the last spoken word between us as we focus on our marathon.

The stallion beside me was a slight distraction from my mission at hoof... I hate distractions... I've always hated them, ever since that day... When I was a bit younger I was trying to kill a stallion. Now, you may be wondering why I was trying to kill somepony, but trust me when I say I didn’t want to... though if I didn’t he would have killed my entire family, and there was no way in Tartarus that was going to happen if I could help it.

Now, here I was aiming for him, my target being center mass of his chest, but when I was going through the motion of throwing my knife a fucking black bird came out of nowhere and cawed in my face causing the knife to veer off course as it left my hoof. It flew through the air with a silent swish, until I heard the thunk of the knife impacting a body. I looked to see that it hadn’t hit my intended target, but to my horror, it had instead landed hilt deep in a beautiful young mare standing nearby him.

You can only imagine how I felt staring at the mare who had just been fatality struck with my weapon... I had just murdered a pony who probably had a full life ahead of them... maybe parents that actually loved and care about her or even her kids... who had just been orphaned by me. This mare’s life and dreams had been destroyed by me, but the worst thing is that my target lived on... his next move was probably going to kill my wife and kids, but I shouldn’t think about that now... I had to act to either get him or get out… Anyway, I ended up running away and that’s why I absolutely hate distractions.

Now here I am running again, not away from the love of my life, but towards her. She resided only a few blocks away in the hospital, and I was almost there.

Oh, No... Not her... anything but her... why now? She’ll probably waste a half hour just talking and rambling on continuously about things that I don't care about right now…

I abruptly grabbed the stallion that I had been running with by the shoulder and quickly said “Detour!” As I turned, pulling him into an alleyway that lead around the block.

Now we were running down a thin break between the houses dodging trash cans, dumpsters, and jumping over boxes along with other obstructions in our way.

Suddenly one of the boxes we were about to dodge burst open right in front of us. It was her... The Pink Menace... The Physics Nightmare... the one, and thank Celestia only... Pinkie Pie.

“Hello!” yelled the one pony I was certainly trying to avoid at this point in time.

“Not now Pinky.” I growled, a little frustrated as I made my way around the box she was standing in.

“What’s not now, a party? Yeah I know... This would be a silly place for a party, and I don't have my party cannon with me. I left it with Gummy and he says that I haven’t thrown party yet! And if there was a party being planned by Gummy or somepony else then I would know about it, unless it was a surprise party for me, then of course, I wouldn't know about it until they came to get me, and if that were the case somepony would be coming to get me any moment now! Do you see anypony trying to find me?” She babbled on while bouncing next to me and looking in every direction for the supposed pony party planner.

“No, I haven’t Pinky, but I’m kinda in a hurry at the moment so if we could continue this talk later that would be great.” I told her as I ran a little faster towards the hospital in hopes of her taking the hint.

“Oh, okie dokie lokie.” She said simply as she continued to follow me. Well I guess I should have known... It's Pinkie after all.

There were about five minutes of silent running through thin passageways and dirty back alleys, which could be an Equestrian record for Pinkie being silent, before we burst out onto the streets again and Pinky broke the silence once more.

“Where ya going?” She asked while continuing her effortless bouncing.

“Pinky!” I cried out in frustration and started to tell her to leave me alone, but was cut off by her response.

“I know you said we'd talk later, but now it’s later and I want to talk!” She cheerfully replied.

I knew now the only way to get her to stop talking and questioning me was to just tell her something, anything, just some excuse to satisfy her curiosity. “We’re going to the hospital.” I said hastily.

“Oh no, is somepony hurt?” She asked worried now about the reason for this trip of mine and my friends.

“No, but…” I trailed off, thinking about how to avoid telling Pinkie Pie the truth about the visit, since she had been temporarily banned from the hospital before for her previous overzealous celebration. The one my love warned me about this exact thing, and more of a reason I wanted to avoid her.

I looked to the stallion I had been running with for some kind of help, but he simply shrugged his shoulders, obviously as stumped as I was.

“Um… we got a letter to go in for a checkup that we missed and we’re running little late for the new one. Now if you could please go off and do whatever Pinkies do when not talking me to death... I would really appreciate it.” I said along with a silent prayer to Celestia.

“Oh, there’s only one of me silly willy, but I can go and plan your 'Sorry I Missed My Checkup and Made My New Checkup Party' if you want.” She said cheerfully while continuing to bounce along with us.

Seriously how can she keep up with us just by bouncing...? Ugh... forgot it's Pinkie. “We don’t need a party for my checkup... we just need to get there before we miss it.” I told her.

“Well why didn’t you say so?” She grabbed hold of me and my friend with one quick motion, and tossed us into a box sitting in front a building that we were running by, then proceeded to jumped in herself.

There was a second of stunned silence, before I snapped to my senses and asked the question on me and my friends mind at that moment.

“Why are we in a box?” I asked a little confused why she had done this.

“Because you wanted to get to the hospital fast, silly filly!” She booped me on the nose.

“Yeah, but we're in a box and nowhere near the hospital.” I pointed out... trying not scream at her for doing this to me.

“Duh, I know that.” She calmly replied while rolling her eyes.

“Then why are we in this box?” I growled as I was losing my patience with this mare.

“The potted plant wasn’t on the window sill today.” She said acting like it was a minor problem, and nothing to worry about.

“Potted plant?” I asked slowly as my confusion and headache overpowered my anger towards her.

“Woo hoo!!” She yelled as she jumped out of the box and landed on a tile floor to my increased confusion.

“What? How are we in the hospital?” I asked as I looked around to see doctors in white coats and nurses in green scrubs going about their duties.

“Bye guys! And congratulations!” Pinky said as she bounced down the hall and out of sight.

I shook my head and I walked up to the closest counter that sat a nurse behind it, then asked her “Where is she?”

“Room forty two, Mr.-” I was already running down the hall, looking for a room labeled 42 without waiting for her to finish her sentence.

When I found the room I was searching for, I burst through the door only to see the mare I love lying in bed with a bundled blanket in her hooves.

“Is… that…” I whispered while staring at her and the bundle.

“Yes.” She said as tears of happiness fell from her emerald green eyes.

I quietly ran to the side of the bed and gently hugged her along with tenderly kissing her head over and over.

“Are you ok?” I asked with a hint of concern for her.

“Perfectly fine, are you ok?” She asked noticing the sweat on me and my body shaking as I held her.

“I'm alright... and everything is perfect.” I said as I looked down to the little bundle of joy she was holding in her hooves.

The foal's eyes were still closed, but even with them closed our foal was beautiful. I stared down at our new foal and just waited, while I dared anything to try and screw up this moment for us.

“Tell me everything.” I said wanting to know about every little detail about what happened.

“This is our new daughter... Apple Dew, she’s eleven pounds three ounces, she’s fourteen inches tall, and…” She explained before getting choked up a little.

“What, what is it?” I pleaded with a sense of dread rising that was quickly removed when she looked up to me with pure joy.

“She’s a Pegasus!" She cheered as if our foal wasn't sleeping soundly in her mother’s embrace.

Now that my crisis is over -- my wife and foal are sleeping without a care in the world -- I can tell a little about myself... My name is Silver Rain; I am a gray Pegasus. My mane and tail are a darker gray with sapphire blue streaks through them. My eyes are green eyes. The beautiful mare and daughter sleeping in the medical bed are Applejack and Apple Dew, respectively. My wife is an orange earth pony with a blonde mane and tail along with the same green eyes... My new daughter is an orange Pegasus with silver tipped wings, and her mane and tail are sky blue with streaks of blonde running through them with the same green eyes as us.

I have lived in Ponyville for just a few days past a year. I met Applejack here in Ponyville after traveling from my former home town. I had to leave there for personal reasons and I do not want to go into that right now with them by my side. My life here in Ponyville has been... interesting to say the least, but with Applejack, it could not have been better until now. Our daughter has made us a perfect and happy family, but I have been wondering if this will last... my past isn't all happiness and rainbows, that’s for sure.

Next Chapter: 2. Mountain Dew Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 2 Minutes