The wind gusted in through the door as Cheerilee opened it, and she winced when the cold sting hit her eyes. It took a moment of batting her eyelids before she could clearly make out the figure in her doorway, but its hulking stature gave away who it was. “Oh! Mac! It’s so good to see you!”

The hoof she held on the doorknob hesitated a bit when she saw the look on his face. “Um... is everything okay?”

His eyes just stayed as they were, wide and pink. Rivulets of tears were frosting on his cheeks.

“I... uh...” She bit her lip and tilted her head backwards into the room. “I just put on a pot of mulled wine. Would you...?”

“She had the baby,” he rasped out, his mouth barely moving.

“What?!”

“She h-h-had the ba-ba-baby,” he repeated, and closed his eyes. “She... she’s so small...”

“Mac! Mac,” Cheerilee said in a low voice as she carefully guided her arm around his shoulders, pulling him into the warmth of her kitchen. “Please, come in.”

As the door closed behind him, he plunked his weight down on his haunches, a light shiver running up his spine. “She’s so small I could hold her in one hoof...” He lifted one to his face, and stared down at it as if in a trance. “She...”

The side of her face swept against his, and Cheerilee’s lips were at his ear. “Well, you do have big hooves.”

A little hot fleck trickled off his cheek and onto hers---a tear. “Wait.”

She pulled back, her hooves still on his shoulders, so she could look into his eyes. “It’s only January----wasn’t she due in early March?”

He pressed his lips together, and then parted them: “Yes.”

That made her shiver. ”Yes”? He’d said ”yes”? She’d known him since he was a gangly, near-mute pre-teen, and she had never, ever heard him say that word. Any assertion besides a nod or his usual “eeyup” was.... unheard of.

“Mac... is she... um... okay?”

“She... they...” He didn’t even move as she gently lifted his yoke off his neck. The bristles of his coat around the top edge had nearly frozen, and they made a little hiss as the lacquered wood slid against the grain. “She’s in the hospital. They got her in an incubator.”

Using the distraction of balancing his collar against the base of her coat rack, Cheerliee ducked her frightened look away from him. Of course she remembered the last time they’d both looked down into an incubator---she couldn’t forget, no matter how hard she tried. It was permanently etched into her brain... as was the tiny, heartbreaking snick sound the life support system made when she was forced, finally, to unplug it.

“AJ told me she was born dead.” When she turned back around, he was frantically wiping at his eyes. “She said... she said Flim breathed life back into her....”

“So she is alive?”

“....Eeyup.”

She brought her hoof up to his, and carefully wiped away a tear. “You mean you’re an uncle now, honey?”

She let out an ’oof’ when he threw his forelegs around her and slammed his lips onto hers. Even though his mouth was salty and full of hot breath, he tasted just the way she remembered.

Flim’s pulse was pounding in his throat as he jogged through the hospital halls. Her room was right at the end, and he couldn’t miss it---not only was Applejack’s name on the plaque just outside, but somepony (and he had a pretty good idea of who) had adorned the door with bright clutches of pink balloons. He swallowed, his face tight and cramped with excitement, when he saw the one with ’It’s A Filly!’ in big foil letters. He let his hooftip trace through the protection spell that was quietly crackling around the border to the room. He couldn’t believe it. He was a father. The past half-hour had happened, he was sure of it, and yet it still felt as loose and wobbly as a dream.

He hesitated at the door, but only for a moment. Sure, the room was already crowded, all of Applejack’s close friends clustering around the bed, but... he couldn’t take his eyes off the only pony that mattered right now. Little Hesperides was lying quietly on Mama’s belly, her tiny snout tucked up against the longer neck.

Rarity kept bobbing her head downwards as she bounced on her heels. “Oh, Applejack, darling! Let me hold her!”

“Not... not jes’ yet, Rares,” she murmured in a husky voice, gripping her baby closer. “She needs ta---“

The clop of his hoof again the floor made all their heads swivel up, and while some of them tightened their eyes, one pony in particular had a much more vocal reaction:

“YOU!!”

Flim squeezed his eyes shut, and Rainbow’s snarling face was yanked back just an inch away from his eyelids.

“You jackass!” she screamed, hovering on the spot. If she’d been three inches closer, she would have probably clocked him in the snout. “You think you can just saunter back in here like nothing ev---!”

“Simmer down, sugarcube,” Applejack mumbled, her teeth around Rainbow’s tail. Flim ducked his head and folded his ears back, but the teeth-gnashing pegasus didn’t make another attempt to throw herself against him. Once she was sure Rainbow had calmed down enough to keep her hooves to herself, Applejack let her tail flop from her mouth and added “He jes’ wants to spend some time with his daughter.”

She opened her mouth to say something else, but Twilight quickly stepped in: “She’s right, you know. He should be allowed to see her, too.”

He waited until Rainbow returned to her seat before taking the next few steps forward, and pretended he didn’t see her doing the ’I’m watching you’ gesture in his direction. The back of his throat was flooding with hot spit and his eyes were stinging as he stared at his daughter. So tiny. The swelling and puffiness from her traumatic birth had begun to leave her face, and her features were now clearer; her lips looked like little petals, the lower one softly blowing in and out as she breathed.

He cleared his throat. “May I... may I hold her?”

She glanced at Rarity, who nodded solemnly. Then she turned back to Flim, her face unreadable. “Sit yerself down.”

He grabbed the spare seat and scootched himself up to the side of the bed.

“Take it easy, now,” she said quietly as she scooped the baby up in her hooves. “This is what the nurse called ‘kangaroo care’.”

Before he could ask what that meant, she motioned to his chest. “Take yer shirt off. She needs ta feel yer heartbeat.”

Once his magical aura was done popping at his buttons, Applejack carefully flopped the foal down onto his barrel, her downy little chest flush with his. Flim let out a quiet gasp as his daughter twitched in his grasp, and began to squirm around.

“Y’gotta keep her against her body,” Applejack explained. “She needs t’feel the body heat...”

Almost instinctively, the baby moved her head on top of his heart. It started pounding. Flim pressed his snout against Hesperides’ freshly-washed mane and took a deep whiff; she smelled so sweet and milky, but there was still the faint rancid tang of birth on her. He wished he could bottle that scent and keep it with him forever. “Oh, my little baby girl...”

Rainbow let out a snort, staring at the door. “Huh. Looks like we got another beloved guest.”
“Flam! Brother! Come on in!” he cried. Still cradling the baby with one foreleg, he enthusiastically waved with the other. “Come see your new niece!”

Flam squinted; the room itself looked normal enough, but there was something about the doorway that seemed off. The edges were shimmering like sun-baked sidewalks in the summer heat. His step forward was uncertain, and he quickly yanked his hoof back when it made contact with a film of magic. “What---?”

“Don’t worry about that. It’s just a disinfection barrier to keep the room clean. Come on, come on in!”

After sucking in a breath, he forced himself through the barrier. Although he knew it was incorporeal, it felt almost viscous as it slid over his hide, prickling lightly as each last bit of infectious or dirty material was singed from his coat. When the last trace slid off his tail, he stared at his twin, who was beaming back at him with a smile so wide it almost made him look like he was glowing. One step forward. He ignored the four matching glares (and one adorably stern look) from the mares at Applejack’s bedside, and instead kept his eyes on the pink bundle Flim was holding. Another step. One last one. Why did he feel like he was walking up to the gallows?

Flim hoisted the foal up on his chest, and Flam took his hat off, holding it against his heart. One puffy little eye opened, and after a few gummy blinks, the other followed suit. The emotion that pinched his throat closed he couldn’t quite identify---it was just one big, huge, mixed-up ball of sensation.

“See him?” Flim purred to his daughter. “That’s your uncle Flam.”

For a moment, they were still, eyeing each other---and then her foreleg shot out, the tip of her hoof poking at his moustache. His mouth opened with a quiet “Oh!”

“Ha!” Flim said as he jostled her back up onto his chest. “Look, Flam! She likes you!”

“I---I---!” He pulled back, blinking furiously. He sniffed. He blinked again, and a tear streaked down his face---then he grabbed at his hat, and went staggering out the door. “I---please excuse me!”

Flim chuckled, not turning to watch as Flam ran off. His eyes were still on the foal. “He likes you, too.”

She let out a little gurgle and a hiccup, and turned her head back to nuzzle against his chest, already drifting off to sleep. Even though Flim was staring down at her, he caught a shadow darting away from the doorframe. “Trixie!”

Although all Applejack could do was blink wearily, the rest of her friends were far more vocal when the snub-nosed outline appeared, illuminated in the hallway lights; despite their squawks of protest---and a few blurted expletives---he kept excitedly waving his free foreleg until she took a tentative step into the room. A few strands of her mane crackled up with static electricity as she passed the disinfection barrier, and with as much dignity as she could muster, she raised a shaking forehoof and brushed them back in place. “Yes?”

He waited until the rest of the mares in the room were done their grumbling, and then nodded towards the bundle in his arms. “Come on. You’re needed in here, too... Aunt Trixie.”

Applejack tried to sit bolt upright, but had to settle back to the mattress when her tender abdomen cramped up again. “Aunt Trixie?!”

“Yes, of course!” he said, and held a hoof out to her---the only welcoming gesture in the entire room. “She’s engaged to my brother---that makes her an auntie, now!”

“Oh, how nice.”

Trying to hide her gulp, Trixie demurely trotted forward, never looking anywhere but at the baby’s face. It didn’t matter---even without deigning them eye contact, she could feel six hostile ponies following her every movement. Who cares what you lot think? I cert.... Trixie certainly doesn’t.

She ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth. She’d been expecting to see a plump, giggling, rosy-cheeked foal like in the movies... not this delicate, elfin little thing. It looked like she’d dissolve at the slightest touch.

Flim slowly extended his arms, and Hesperides’ cheek parted from his barrel with a warm ’pop’. “Would you like to hold her?”

Her little “Mm-hm” wasn’t audible, but he still extended his arms, passing the foal towards her. Gingerly, she took her in her embrace, one hoof protectively on the back of her head. Sweet Celestia, she could feel the baby’s fluttering pulse through her frog.

“Look at you,” she murmured. “Look at you, precious.”

Her tiny forelegs reached out, trying to find some warmth. Trixie pulled her up against her chest, still smiling. With just the tip of her hoof, she touched the apex of the nubby horn, which made the baby coo in delight. “You’re a unicorn, just like your favourite auntie.”

If she noticed Applejack bristle, she didn’t let on. “And just like your aunt Trixie, you... you’re doubly blessed. Do you know that, little one?”

Hesperides gasped, lolled her head to the side, and smushed her mouth against Trixie’s barrel. “That’s right, baby. You’ve got a horn, but you’re still half-Earth...”

At that, Applejack jolted, almost knocking herself over the side of the bed. Her nostrils were flaring, ready to snort in indignation. “Trixie, if you dare---!”

“Let me tell you something my mother always told me: you have the blood of two tribes flowing through your veins."

With the rounded end of her snout, she nestled against her charge. “You have the fierce, Nature-bound strength of the Earth ponies, as well as the celestial magic of the unicorns. And with every beat of your heart, that dual magic flows through you.”

The rustling of bedsheets was the only indication of Applejack’s surprise.

After carefully licking her lips, she placed a kiss just below the baby’s horn. “Half-breed. Clay-brain. Bogus-horn.” Still looking down at the dozing child, she added “They’ll say such foul things about you, baby. But none of them are true... having parents of two different tribes isn’t a curse, little one. It’s a blessing.”

Had she been paying attention, she might have noticed how her words made Fluttershy shrink down in her seat. She just pressed on:
“There are bullies out there---just terrible, terrible ponies. They’ll say mean things, and call you a... a mud pony. But nothing anypony can say will take your gift away from you, no matter how many horrid names they call you.” That’s when she kissed her niece’s lips. “And your Aunt Trixie will be here for you, no matter what.”

Flim brushed a hooftip through his mane. “I... Trixie...”

“And if anypony---and I mean anypony---tries to touch you...” she went on, “Your Aunt Trixie will fucking slaughter them.”

That’s when she swivelled on the spot and plunked the baby back onto Flim’s belly. “Now if you’ll excuse Trixie, she has to go console her fiancé.”

They all watched as she slammed the door behind her, rattling the balloons.

“Okaaaaay,” Pinkie finally said. “So... that was weird.”

Pressing her skull against the stone wall, Trixie let out a deep breath and slumped down onto her haunches. She magicked out the pack of smokes that Flim had offered to Flam (the closest thing to cigars he could find), and shook one loose. The cool air of the alleyway warmed with her sigh as she slid the filter between her lips.

“I can’t believe it,” she hissed out through her teeth. “I just... I just told them all I’m a mud-foot.”

You spent your whole life keeping it a secret, and now they all know!

She touched her tongue-tip against the butt. “Well... to Tartarus what those ponies think! I don’t care!”

You should.

“Trixie doesn’t care!”

But the thought was still throbbing in her mind like a pustule. “’Aunt Trixie’.” Her mouth bobbed the cig up and down as she mumbled the words to herself, as if trying them on for size. “‘Aunt Trixie’. Heh.” She lit the tip and pulled back, making the cherry glow. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

Her ears perked up a bit at the sound of fluttering wings. She didn’t bother to look up, and when she heard a gentle, chuckling voice, she felt her throat seize. Of all the times for some pegasus to scold her---!

“That’s a filthy habit.”

“And why should the great and powerful Trixie listen to you?!” she muttered down into her folded hooves.

“Well... Every cigarette you smoke takes seven minutes off your life.”

“FUCK YOU!” She whipped around, her wet eyes blazing, and bared her teeth. “And fuck everything you stand for, bitch! Trixie might die early, but she will ALWAYS be greater than YOU will EVER b---”

Now, Trixie was not the tallest of ponies, but she had fully expected to be staring into another pony’s eyes when she turned around. She absolutely did not expect to be staring at somepony’s neck. She certainly did not expect to be staring at a long, slender, regal white neck, adorned with a golden necklace.

“Oh, fuck me.”

“...And when you have your monthaversary, and when you say your first word, and when you achieve recognition of object permanence! I’ll throw you a party for each and every one of those things! Ooh! And we can have a potty-training party! I know you’re not ready for that yet---” Pinkie pulled her muzzle away from the baby with a little grimace. “Phew! Certainly not ready for that yet. But I can wait! I’ll plan a super-duper-iffic party for you! I’ll even make a giant marshmallow cake in the shape of a potty, and we’ll---”

The crackle of the magic barrier caught her attention, and she let out a squeak of shock. “Ohmigosh! Princess Celestia!”

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she said as she shook the last traces of magic loose from her flowing mane. “I came as soon as I could. Twilight, thank you so much for alerting me.”

“Well, I assumed you’d want to know!”

“Oh, my.” She turned her head towards Flim, who now had visible beads of sweat streaming down his face. “Is this the little angel?”

“Y-your Hi-highness,” he stammered, his arms shaking around the baby. “W-would you like to h-hold her, Y-your M-aj---”

Mercifully, she cut him off. “You must be Flim,” she said with a surprising gentleness. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh yeah? Didja hear about the time he tried to swindle AJ out of the land you yourself granted her family?”

A little wink was the only indication she gave that she’d heard Rainbow’s snarky comment. “Twilight, I think you should know that your letter, while very much appreciated, wasn’t the only reason I chose to come here today.”

“Really?” she said as she perked up. “Did the Elements of Harmony alert you or something?”

“Not exactly.” She put one jewelled hoof up to the baby’s head, and soothingly petted over her curls. She kept her eyes focused somewhere else---perhaps to avoid watching Flim bobbing his head over and over in a pathetic attempt to bow. “Some time ago, Luna informed that that she’d felt a disturbance in the dreamscape.”

Twilight’s ears twitched. “Really?”

“Yes. She said there was an... intrusion of sorts. Something had ripped the dreamscape open, and left a scar behind.” Her eyes finally drifted back to Flim, and they landed on his bare shoulder. It was subtle, but her lips thinned a bit when she noticed the pink claw-like welts that were left there. “Scars are quite interesting things, you know. They can... tell stories.”

He glanced to Applejack, and she bit her lip.

“Come.” Tracing her feathers over the bed, she motioned for Applejack’s friends to follow her as she headed back out of the room. “We have a lot to discuss... and so do they.”

Twilight was instantly at her side, already chattering about the prospect of the next generation of Elements; while Rarity and Fluttershy trailed behind, quietly giggling to each other, Pinkie went bounding up ahead, once again babbling about the potty-cake (as well as several unfortunate suggestions about the placement of brownies). Only Rainbow hesitated before leaving, and to Flim’s surprise, she actually flashed them both a wide grin before giving a salute.

The door closed, and the quiet tap-tap-tap of hooves making their way down the hall was the only sound for several minutes.

“Applejack?”

“Yeah?”

He looked down at the baby. “Am I going to be banished to the moon?”

She squashed a hoof on her belly so that it didn’t jiggle too much with her laughter. “Nah, probably not. I’d say you got a sixty, maybe seventy-five percent change a’stayin’ here. With us.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “I swear my heart stopped working for a minute there when she walked into the room!”

“Hey, if anypony’s gotta be worried right now, it’s Discord.” Turning to him, she narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together. “Didja see the face she made when she was talkin’ about it? I’d be surprised if he survives with his balls intact!”

“Speaking of, er, genital injury...” He patted a burp out of the baby, and finally met Applejack’s gaze for longer than a second. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?”

She shifted uncomfortably. “Have y’ever been kicked real hard in the balls?”

“Yes.”

“Have y’ever been so constipated that you became religious fer a moment?”

“I’ve been on painkillers more times than I can count, so, sadly, yes.”

“Think you can multiply both a’those feelin’s by a trillion?”

“I think so.”

She chuckled. “Then you still have no idea what I jes’ been through.”

He smiled, despite the sudden flashback of her stretched, bleeding labia. Ugh! “Well... It was worth it, wasn’t it?”

“Oh yeah,” she whispered, and her bleary eyes misted as she looked down at their child. “Oh yeah.”

“Look at her,” Flim said under his breath. His daughter let a little bubble of snot flare out of her nostril, and then squished her face against his chest, smearing her spit into his coat. “Her eyelashes just go on for miles. And look at these big, pouty lips---She’s gonna be a heartbreaker!”

He traced his hooftip over her floppy ear. “I’ll have to beat the colts away from you with a stick!”

“Or the fillies.”

His head jerked up in surprise.

“Eh-heh.” Applejack tried to shift her position, and grimaced when her still-tender midsection spasmed up. She uncurled her forearm, gazing down at the I.V. that was firmly nestled in the crook of her elbow.

“W-what did you---“

“Who knows?” Applejack said as she patted her daughter’s head. “L’il baby girl might be the kinda filly who brings home a buncha butches.... heh.”

The tickling feeling made Flim glance down, and he saw his foal licking and pawing at his barrel. “Er... She’s doing this thing with her mouth---”

“Give’r here.”

Her smile tugged at the corner of her mouth when she saw him clutch the foal tighter. “I don’t ...” His lower lip was actually trembling. “I don’t want to let her go.”

She tried to laugh, even though every muscle in her belly was still sore, and lowered a hoof to her teats. “Well, unless you think y’can grow a pair, y’ain’t gonna be able t’feed her, Flim.”

“Oh.” He leaned down and smelled her mane again, and then, very reluctantly, pulled her off the warmth of his body. “Here you go.”

The love and care she took when picking Hesperides up was clumsy, unpracticed, and yet it seemed so natural. Knowing her daughter wasn’t yet strong enough to stand, Applejack rolled on her side and presented her teats. As soon as the baby felt the soft flesh against her cheek, she instinctively turned her head and opened her mouth, sealing her lips around the nipple. “Ah!”

“Does it feel different than when I...”

Seeing the look on her face, he quickly dissolved the question. “Never mind, that was inappropriate. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, sugarcube,” she said softly.

He stared at the foal, at the teat that was tugging in and out of her mouth, and at the velvety coat, just over her jaw, that was undulating up and down as she suckled. In the quiet of the room, and over the dripping of Applejack’s I.V., he could hear little slurping noises.

Her earlier comment still seemed to be ringing in his ears. “Did you, er... did you really mean what you said about...?”

“About fillies?” She patted her frog against the diapered rump. “Eeyup.”

Flim wetted his lips. He was trying to speak, but the words weren’t coming out right: “But... you told me that... I mean...”

“Flim.” She put her hoof on his, and after a moment, gave it a squeeze. “This may jes’ be the painkillers talkin’, but... I got a lotta sense knocked inta me some time ago.”

“Do you mean...”

“Don’t get me wrong,” she added before he could finish, her brow creasing a bit, “I ain’t gonna lie an’ tell ya I understand yer... well, the way you swing. Y’stil don’t make sense to me, but... I...”

The sentence petered off, and she closed her eyes. It took quite awhile before she could speak again, but he was more than willing to wait.

“I’m-a be honest with ya,” she said in a quiet breath, and looked him square in the eye. “And with myself. I-I-I’d---I only have so much time on this Earth, Flim, and if given the choice between spendin’ alla my tomorrows gettin’ to understand ya better or bein’ stuck with some straight stallion I don’t care about, well---I’d rather spend it with you.”

He blinked. “Sweetheart, I...”

“Are we interrupting something?”

“F-Flam!” He jostled himself out of the seat and shook his head, trying to dislodge the tears from his eyes. “You came back!”

“Once the coast was clear, yes,” he said warily. Standing a few paces behind him was a very sheepish-looking Trixie. “We saw, er, the royal procession going down the hall, and...”

He didn’t have time to finish his sentence; Flim already had him in a bearhug. “Oh, brother, isn’t it wonderful?! Isn’t she just the most amazing little filly you’ve ever seen in your life?”

“Y-es,” he coughed, placing a hoof on his twin’s forehead. As he pushed him off, he gave a perfunctory nod towards Applejack, and then went back to addressing his brother: “I’ve made some arrangements, since I know you’ll be wanting to stay for a few days. There’s a nice hotel we can---”

“No, Flam.”

He had been adjusting his bowtie, but that made him pause. “What?”

“No, Flam, I’m...” With a glance back at the bed, at his daughter, and at his lover, Flim sucked away the spit in his mouth and finished with “I’m...staying here.”

“For what? A week?”

“For awhile.”

Sitting back, he folded his forelegs and narrowed his eyes. “What’s ‘awhile’?”

“Awhile,” he repeated. After mustering his courage for a moment, he leaned in and pressed his frogs against Flam’s shoulders, only slightly surprised to find them shaking. “I’m a father now, Flam. I have... I have responsibilities.”

“But---”

“Applejack’s lost a lot of blood,” he added, even though he didn’t look back at her. “She won’t be able to work on her farm for at least a few weeks. Maybe more. Her family will need help.”

“Flim, I need you!”

“Not as much as my daughter needs me.”

“But---!”

Applejack lifted her child from her teats and watched, new emotion pinging in her chest, as the twins carefully touched horns, a little green spark running along the tips like a Jacob’s Ladder.

When he pulled back, Flam’s eyes were shimmering. “But... but if you stay here, even if it’s just for a month---who can I sell things with? Who will I travel around with? I’ll be alone!”

“Brother,” he said gently, and nodded towards the mare who was quivering behind him. “You’re never alone anymore.”

Author's Notes:

Hee hee. I wanted to include the dialogue between The Great and Hoof-in-Mouth Trixie and Celestia in the alleyway, but I thought it would be funnier if I left it to your imaginations. (Wink wink)

And this isn't necessarily the end of the FlimFlam brothers, but Flim is going to be spending some time away from his twin for the first time in years. Hopefully they'll both survive!

One more chapter (the epilogue) to go---and it'll be illustrated with at least one comic! Yay!