Family Drama Part 2: Issues

After Spike left, the couple settled into the morning routine that Twilight had worked out for them. Which was more like some crazy timetable where everything was measured to some perfect degree and the alicorn practically exploded every time Rainbow did anything. Not anything wrong, just anything period…

“Okay Rainbow, you’re five seconds overtime on your teeth, spit it out already!”

“Rainbow! You need to stay in the shower for exactly ten minutes, not eight! And the heat was set too low!”

“That’s too much deodorant, you’ll run out ahead of schedule if you put that much on every day.”

Then came the minty fresh morning kiss, which of course Rainbow found herself messing up thanks to the fact she wanted to enjoy being with Twilight for a few more seconds than a casual kiss allowed for.

“Rainbow! We’re going to be late for breakfast,” Twilight complained as she used her magic to pull the pegasus away from her lips and carried her through the doorway and halfway down the hallway to let half a dozen different members of the cleaning staff see her looking like a complete idiot before Twilight finally noticed her struggling and let Rainbow go.

With it being the third day in a row such a thing had happened, Rainbow decided that enough was enough. “Twilight, I got to talk to you about something!” Once or twice was bad enough, but if Twilight was going to be making her look stupid every morning in front of a bunch of other ponies, then Rainbow was putting an end to it now.

“Ummm, Rainbow. That reminds me…I need to talk to you about something too,” she said a little too quickly, cutting the pegasus off before she could really get started.

The nervousness in the alicorn’s words put Rainbow on edge, and she pushed the anger at being made a fool of down into her gut. She would deal with it later. Right now, Twilight needed her. “What’s wrong?”

Twilight took in a deep breath, then let out a long sigh. “Rainbow…I um…well…do you…will you…”

Seeing how nervous the other mare was, Rainbow stepped closer to her to wrap one of her wing across the alicorn’s back. The years had been able to teach Twilight how to deal with a lot of things, but…Rainbow knew this parent business was really messing with her. She had about one near-freakout a day over the past week.

If it wasn’t for that, Rainbow was pretty sure her own mind would be in a bit of a mess. But, Twilight needed a helping hoof, and so she had to keep it together. It was what she was there for after all: the Element of Loyalty, always supportive, always choosing her friends needs…over her own.

It was…her destiny.

“Come on Twi, you can ask me anything,” the pegasus assured the other mare a little too low before she could perk herself back up.

Twilight moved in closer until their sides were touching, the way she always did while needing the extra support Rainbow offered. “Rainbow…you never told me your big decision…about the Wonderbolts, I mean. If you wanted to stay here or…join them.”

The question made Rainbow Dash stumble as they made their way around the halls of the castle, but she managed to recover fast enough that Twilight didn’t seem to notice. She didn’t know if that was a good sign that her fillyfriend didn’t notice, or that she was too lost in her own worries to see it.

“Hey Twi, you know I could never just leave you hanging. I…the Wonderbolts,” she looked away and gulped down the feelings trying to claw their way up from her gut. The stupid doctor had said weird hormones and sick stomach weren’t supposed to start for another few weeks! “They’re in the past.”

Twilight perked up a bit at the news. “R-Really?” she asked in a tone that sounded a little too happy to a pony who was admitting the death of her dream. “Do you really mean that Rainbow? I mean, with all those ranks they’ll need to fill, we both know you’re going to be offered a position.”

Thanks to Twilight just not dropping the thing like she should have, Rainbow felt a twitch of anger escape where she had managed to push it and all the other stuff down for the past few days. “Well we already know what I’ll have to say, right?” she grumbled.

When she felt Twilight flinch at the words, Rainbow felt like kicking herself for speaking a little too harshly. “Look…just drop it, okay?”

“Rainbow,” Twilight said in that light, tiny voice that made the pegasus know she’s said something wrong again. It wasn’t the angry Twilight voice, Dash could deal with that. The alicorn used that like ten times a day! No, it was her hurt and unsure voice, the one that made her sound all small and alone. It tore at the pegasus’s whole body better than the harshest headwind. “What’s wrong?”

The pegasus quickened her pace. “Nothing…just hungry. Foal is making me hungry is all,” she lied. The truth was, she hadn’t had the stomach for breakfast since Twilight insisted on taking over her diet five days ago. If it wasn’t for the cupcakes she snagged while at work and the muffins Derpy had started bringing to the weather office, Rainbow was certain she would have gone insane.

While Rainbow Dash may have eaten some health food to help keep in shape, she had never bucking lived off the stuff before; or gone without anything tasty like Twilight s forcing her to do for the majority of the past week.

But…Twilight was just trying to protect the foal, trying to keep Rainbow nice and healthy. So she went along with it and all the other crazy things while waiting for Twilight’s latest bout of crazy to pass. Even if she hadn’t had anything that came close to a real meal in forever, or been able to get some exercise outside of work with Twilight forbidding her from really working out with how she vaporized all of Rainbow’s gym equipment to make sure she complied.

And of course, whenever Rainbow complained, Twilight either glared at her until she fell back in line, or acted like Rainbow had just kicked her favorite puppy…or owl really.

Although, the pegasus couldn’t help but notice she was getting a few mixed signals from the alicorn’s action.

Eat healthy, but don’t work out.

Talk to Twilight, but never tell her what was really going on.

Sleep in the same bed, while missing her cloud house more than ever.

Be happy…at the cost of a lifelong dream.

To be loyal…at the cost of her happiness.

Celestia burn it all, stop it Rainbow, the pegasus told herself when she realized where her train of thought was going.

Rainbow knew she shouldn’t be having such thoughts. She couldn’t! Not after everything Twilight had done for her, not now that they were finally together!

She could be happy with that, just being with Twilight…just…working the weather…just…being a nopony.

For about the third time that morning, Rainbow forced such thoughts to the back of her mind, and smiled at Twilight when they got to the dining hall. She knew things would feel better once she had some food in her.

Or…after she got done with whatever Twilight made her eat and left for work early to get some real food in her. Then she could work out her aggravations on the local weather.

Twilight watched Rainbow sit down at the palace’s dining table and look at the plate of food in front of her, trying to decided if Pinkie had just gone crazy, or…well, Pinkie had always been crazy, but this was the first time that Twilight had seen her insanity affect her cooking in a way that could be seen with the naked eye.

Even Rainbow seemed a little put off by the display. “Pinkie,” she asked while pointing down at the round mass of sugar and dough mixed with green flakes of hay with her hoof. “What is this?”

The pink pony practically teleported next to Rainbow and got all kinds of up in her personal space. “Ohhh, do you like it? Twilight said you have to eat healthy, but eating happy is part of being healthy. So now you can eat happy and healthy with my special alfalfa donut and cupcake breakfast!”

After hearing what the party pony planned to put in Twilight’s pregnant little pony’s digestion tract, Twilight’s anger sparked and she looked over to glare at her friend. “PINKIE!” her voice reverberated throughout the room as the alicorn looked over to the food on Rainbow’s plate. “I specifically told you that Rainbow isn’t to have any sweets until the foal is born, and then we can switch her over to a special recovery diet to get over the pregnancy.”

And after that…well, Twilight would need to see if there were any special diets meant to increase the chances of procreation. But that could wait until after their daughter had aged a year or two. Three would be too long though, so it would probably be best to start making another one on the foal’s first birthday. Twilight wanted her family to be close enough in age to still connect no matter what other kinds of divides they were faced with.

She didn’t want her children to drift like she and Shining had once Celestia became her teacher.

“You heard Twilight Pinkie, just…get me some hay and fruit or something,” the pegasus mumbled before pushing the plate with the green and glazed donut away from her.

Before Dash’s comment could bring disaster to the alicorn’s dietary plan, the alicorn looked over to her pink friend. “Pinkie, please bring Rainbow some oats, broccoli, milk and cheese,” Twilight said before turning her attention to her fillyfriend. “You’re not supposed to get fruit until lunch Rainbow. Remember?”

Twilight had thought she had reminded the pegasus enough.

Minutes passed slowly, and like always, Rarity came in about ten minutes later than everypony else before eating a meal that made Twilight roll her eyes. How that mare could eat eggs every day in the morning and not pay for it later with a doubled waistline, Twilight would never know.

Then Rainbow tried to leave early, but Twilight held her down with magic until she had finished her breakfast. The princess still didn’t understand how it hadn’t gotten through the pegasus’s thick skull that her meals had been specially planned out and needed to be consumed in their totality.

Once Rainbow had gulped down the last of her food, she looked up at Twilight with an annoyed expression. “I’m done now, can I go Mom?”

The pegasus’s grumble brought a frown to Twilight’s face. “What your problem?”

“My problem?” Rainbow demanded indecorously. “You tie me down to the chair and you think I’m the one with a problem?”

Since she could see no explanation from Rainbow was coming, Twilight released her Dashie from the magical field and sighed. “There you go,” the alicorn said before waving off the overgrown filly. “Have fun playing with your clouds!” If Rainbow wasn’t going to be civil, then Twilight didn’t see a reason to act that way herself.

As Rainbow left without a word, Twilight looked up at her other two friends that were left at the table. Rarity was still eating and trying to hide the way she glanced at Twilight every two bites. Pinkie openly stared.

The alicorn looked up at the two of them and sighed. “What?”

“Umm…Twilight-darling, not to be a Nosey Nelly,” Rarity said hesitantly. “But I’ve been sitting here keeping out of it for a week, and it hasn’t tapered off so…well…don’t you think you’re being a little…constrictive?”

Twilight stared at the unicorn, wondering if Rarity had suddenly forgotten just who had been trying to skip out of her proper breakfast just ten minutes ago. “Rarity, this is Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed. “She’s like…spontaneousness incarnate! She doesn’t even keep a timer for her shower or count the number of strokes she uses with her toothbrush!” And even after Twilight told her the proper way to do it, she still had to go an compromise with a teeth timer! That didn’t even come close to accurate when it came to proper hygiene!

“How chaotic,” the unicorn deadpanned before her face darkened a little. “But I was talking more about your dietary selections for her. I always thought Rainbow ate more than a little too healthy before. But these days…well…you’ve forced her to take it to the extreme.”

Twilight just stared at the unicorn with the high-calorie breakfast that made the alicorn’s arteries feel like they were clogging just from being in the same room for a good thirty seconds.

Then, Pinkie chirped in. “Oh Don’t worry Rarity, I see Dashie get cupcakes all the time at the bakery, so she still gets plenty of stuff to eat on the side.”

“WHAT?”

Twilight saw Pinkie flinch at her shout, but she ignored in in lieu of the crisis she had just learned about. Rainbow Dash was sneaking snacks being her back! It was…it was like the ultimate betrayal!

She had spent a whole day researching the proper dietary requirements for a pregnant pegasus of average size and weight, and Rainbow was just going around ruining everything!

Didn’t she know how much effort Twilight had put into her diet?

Didn’t she know that an expectant mother needed to watch what she ate?

Didn’t she care?

Oh of course she doesn’t, the alicorn told herself. And to top it off, the food wasn’t even the worst of it! After all, she was still working as a weather mare! Rainbow Dash wouldn’t even talk to her long enough to let Twilight tell her to quit!

She just flies around bucking clouds all day without a care in the world! Twilight thought. There aren’t any storms this week, but what about next week, or the week after that? What if she gets hit by lightning while setting thing up, or a strong headwind knocks her to the ground? Those happen all the time!

But, even if Rainbow gave her notice right there and then, she would have to wait a week for the proper procedures to be followed! So either way, she was still stuck there for another two weeks.

Unless…I did something about it, Twilight told herself.

She was a princess. Although she had never really looked into just how much authority a princess like her possessed, Twilight knew she had to have some kind of special dictatorial powers over a small town weather office!

Research…I need to do research, Twilight told herself as she stood up and excused herself while formulating a plan in her head.

First, she would take Rainbow out of the weather office with whatever princess authority she could find on the spur of the moment, then when her fillyfriend came home for lunch, Twilight would confront her about her reckless snacking and then explain what else needed to be done until the foal was born!

And if she didn’t want to follow the rules, well…Twilight would just have to make her! She had found plenty of spells that wouldn’t touch Rainbow’s internal structure and bring risk to the foal…and there was always the Magic of Friendship that seemed to completely ignore everything Twilight knew about magical contamination. So if it came down to it, she’d just have to use that!

After all, if Twilight couldn’t trust the mother of her child not to eat a few stupid cupcakes so their foal could develop properly, then there was no way she could be trusted with something as important as the safety of their progeny!

Rainbow landed back in the Ponyville weather office. Two hours of work, and every farm north of town had a nice bit of shade. She had beaten her previous record by a whole ten minutes; and it was all thanks to Twilight Sparkle.

A smile appeared on the pegasus’s face as she let her wings flutter a bit to lift her into the air. As much as the mare got on her nerves in the mornings with her schedules, and her nagging, and her bucking diets, Rainbow would never stop appreciating what the alicorn had done for her. Thanks to Twilight, she would never have to stop flying thanks to the wear and tear every athlete had to go through.

For that, she was more than willing to put up with her fillyfriend’s eccentricities. Even not being in the Wonderbolts didn’t seem so bad when Rainbow realized that such a life would have left her with only a good fifteen years of flying before all the damaged added up and made her about a poor a flier as Fluttershy…if not worse.

So, Rainbow Dash could trade quantity for quality, as long as there was a lavender alicorn to share it with her. Even working the weather was fun now that she didn’t have to deal with the aches and pains of her rear hooves. And it wasn’t like she wouldn’t be sitting around her whole life. With as many problems as Equestria had faced in the past few years, the pegasus knew that her friends would be getting a few more windows added to Canterlot Castle. Maybe there would be one for her alone too.

With all of that and a foal coming, Twilight’s foal, she couldn’t help but smile.

Then, as Rainbow came into the weather office to finish her paperwork for the day before it was time to go meet Twilight at the castle for lunch, she noticed something wrong. Something extremely, horribly, just way uncool wrong.

“Cloudchaser…what’re you doing in my chair?” Rainbow asked as she frowned at the pegasus sitting at the head weather pony’s desk aka Rainbow’s Seat.

The younger pegasus looked from her magazine and blinked in obvious surprise. “Oh uh…hey Dash. What’re you doing here?”

“I’m looking at a pony sitting in my seat!”

Cloudchaser’s confusion went from the adorable kind of curious to the concerned kind. “Uh…you didn’t get the memo?” she asked before rummaging around in Dash’s desk and pulling out a sheet of paper to hand to the rainbow pegasus.

After looking down at the overly immaculate script for a total of two seconds before she shot her head back up at the other pegasus. “What the hay is this?” she demanded before throwing it back at Cloudchaser.

“Uh Rainbow,” Cloudchaser said as she looked up from the oddly colored letter. “This is a blacklist notification. Ummm, I’m afraid that you’re…well…you’re fired.”

The leader of the Ponyville weather team flew away from her desk, or former desk, in surprise. “I’M WHAT?” Rainbow shouted before she reached to snatch the letter out of the other pegasus’s hooves and read it over. “What the buck is a blacklist? What the hay does all this even mean?”

“It’s an official order from the crown saying you’re…not to be given any kind of work…and some other stuff, but…right now that means you’re fired. I’m sorry,” she said as she raised her hooves to try and stop any protest, or defend herself from a punch Rainbow wasn‘t going to throw. “Um…technically, since this is a government building, you’re not even supposed to be allowed in here. I should be calling the royal guards to have you thrown in prison.”

Rainbow Dash just gaped at the pegasus sitting in what had been her desk up until five minutes ago. “This is…this…” She let out a sigh and frowned at the pegasus sitting in her chair. “This is some kind of stupid joke, right?”

The anger in her tone got a flinch from the other pegasus, but Cloudchaser didn’t give in. “Rainbow, you’re my friend but…I…I’ll have to call the town guard if you don’t trot out of here in the next minute. I don’t like it but…I don’t want to be charged with violating a direct order from the princess for letting you stay in here.”

“Newsflash Cloudchaser! I’m Princess Twilight’s…best friend,” she grumbled at the end. Twilight had said she wanted to keep their relationship a secret, at least until the foal started showing.

“Well then…go talk to her about it,” the pegasus replied uneasily as she sunk in on herself. “Just, please leave Rainbow. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Rainbow took a second to glare at the pegasus before letting out a long breath to get rid of her anger. It wasn’t Cloudchaser’s fault. Buck, it wasn’t anyone’s. “It’s fine. Somepony probably just put a stupid Ex when she should have crossed a Te or something. I'll get this all worked out. Sorry for…blowing up at you.”

Cloudchaser smiled in a cool way. “It’s okay, I’d be mad too if I found out Princess Twilight ruined my chances of ever getting a job,” she said. “Um…I guess this means you’ve been dishonorably discharged from the military too, huh? What you do to get the princess on you so badly anyway?”

“…what?”

"Princess Twilight. The order has her personal seal right here, see?"

Like the weather schedule had said, it was a nice cool day with a few minor clouds that gave everypony some shade from the sun that had been shining down on them since dawn. The weather was perfect for a lunch on the palace balcony, just like their first date.

Just remembering that time made Twilight groan. She had no intention of repeating that gut wrenching experience again. This time would be different. This time they would talk about what was going on, and confront Rainbow’s problem directly. It would be easy. The things couples always did.

Twilight sucked in a deep breath to help calm her nerves. She could do this. She had faced down dozens of monsters, rescued Equestria half a dozen times, solved the most puzzling of ancient riddles…she could certainly tell Rainbow about the problems that she could see would soon be cropping up and show her the solutions.

Then, together, they could work them out.

Unless of course Rainbow disagreed with her…

Then, Twilight would need to take more drastic measures...

Throwing the pegasus in the palace dungeon was an option, if the least viable. Rainbow Dash might very well hurt herself trying to escape. While the foal with Twilight’s number one priority, she didn’t want Rainbow Dash getting hurt, especially when any injury to the abdomen might transfer to their child.

Putting her into a magically induced coma was also option, and seemed to be the least harmful to their relationship. Although, the damage to her muscles from inactivity would probably cause some major problems when she noticed a decrease in athletic ability. There was also Rainbow’s diet to consider when it came to that solution to their problem. The foal wouldn’t get the proper nutrition she needed if Rainbow didn’t have the correct calorie intake, something Twilight didn’t know if she could get with an IV.

Encasing the palace in a force field to keep her inside the place would need to be handled carefully if Rainbow tried anything to break out. Which Twilight knew she would. She wouldn’t be Rainbow Dash otherwise. And any restraints would have to be taken off and reapplied daily if she wanted to keep her fillyfriend clean, creating too much of a headache for Twilight to deal with.

And then there was the option that would allow Rainbow the most freedom and safety: simply disconnecting her wings and storing them until the foal was ready to be born. After that, they could just spend their days and nights together in the palace.

Oh! I might even be able to show her my research, Twilight thought as a bit of happiness crept into her mind with that thought. Rainbow was going to be so surprised when she found out the good news!

There was no way the alicorn would be letting her pregnant pegasus into the lab in case of an accident. But Twilight knew that Rainbow would just love what she had finally figured out after a week of theorizing and self-experimentation.

Twilight’s visions of their future family were cut short when she noticed a blur coming towards the palace out of the corner of her eye, and frowned. Rainbow Dash was coming in much too fast, almost two-thirds of her top speed. I thought I told her to keep it under half power!

Focusing her magic, Twilight let out a burst of energy that snagged her fillyfriend in a telekinetic field. After letting her struggle for a moment to see that it was useless to resist, Twilight guided Rainbow down, readjusted her position, and set the pegasus in her seat as she frowned at the foalish behavior.

Rainbow glared right back at her for some stupid reason. Although, Twilight supposed it probably had to do with being horn-handled, but if she didn’t want to be treated like a baby then she needed to learn to follow the rules!

Twilight had explicitly told her not to go faster than fifty-percent of her top speed!

“Twilight-”

“After talking to Rarity and Pinkie, I thought we’d have something a little different for lunch,” Twilight told her evenly before lifting the cover off the tray in front of the pegasus.

She raised an eyebrow when Rainbow just looked down at the food in front of her, and frowned before asking a question in a gruff tone. “What’s this?”

“Seaweed,” Twilight explained evenly. She tried to sound happy, but after seeing Rainbow flying as fast as she had been, the alicorn just couldn’t bring herself to smile the right way. “I had Spike send one of the maids to the market for something high in salt and fiber so you didn’t have to eat the same lunch as yesterday.”

After calming down from Rainbow’s temper tantrum earlier in the morning, Twilight had to admit that the diminishing returns caused by the repetitiveness of the meals she assigned Rainbow might have caused a bit of a flare up.

But it’s not like she had to get angry about it, Twilight told herself as she lifted the cover of her own tray and was overtaken by the wonderful smell of apples and cinnamon.

Twilight took a long whiff, letting the intoxicating aroma of the fresh pie in front of her calm her nerves better than any breathing exercise. Then, as her blood pressure turned to its normal levels, Twilight cleared her mind and prepared to enjoy a nice meal with her fillyfriend before they could get down to sorting out Rainbow’s behavior.

She opened her eyes, and tilted her head in confusion at the angry scowl Rainbow Dash was giving her seaweed.

“What’s wrong Rainbow?”

The pegasus’s eyes twitched as she looked down at the green food that Twilight had given her before letting out a growl. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong is that I HATE THIS!” she shouted before picking up the plate of seaweed and tossing it at the wall as hard as she could.

Twilight’s eye’s widened at the explosive response and she looked to the crystal wall that some of the underwater vegetation stuck to it. The terrible manners brought out her usual response, and the alicorn frowned at her friend. “Rainbow! What in the name of Tartarus is wrong with you? Rarity gave me that plate as a palacewarming present!”

The glare that come up from the pegasus made Twilight flinch. “Oh, well I’m soooooo sorry about your bucking plates,” she spat before continuing in a condescending tone. “Here, let me pay to replace them with my next paycheck. Oh that’s right…

“I CAN’T!” she kept going. “Because I can’t have a job anymore! I’m supposed to stop being a weatherpony! You…it’s like you just want me to be a bucking housemare and sit in a stupid little box for the rest of my bucking life! And…and…GAAAAAAAH!”

As the pegasus finished with her primal scream of rage, Twilight watched as the strength seemed to just flow out of the mare before she dropped back down onto her seat and slumped over while the alicorn simply watched with baited breath.

Twilight drew her head back, stunned at the outburst. She had expected Rainbow to be confused about her newly gained unemployment, or maybe a little sore, but not outright…angry. In the week they had been together, Rainbow had never been angry with her.

It was even one of the promises she had made to Twilight back in Cloudsdale!

As Rainbow simply sat in her chair, held up by her hooves on the edge of the table, panting heavily, the unexpected situation and sudden deterioration of Rainbow’s mood had Twilight’s mind raced as she tried to figure out what was wrong. What…what happened? Was it the seaweed? I thought she wanted something different. What…what did I do wrong?

“The Wonderbolts…my food…and now my job!” she grumbled before she looked up to glare at the alicorn. “What’s next Twilight? Are you going to make me give up my wings too?”

“Just until you have the foal,” Twilight explained in a weak voice while she looked down at the empty table, replying to Rainbow’s question on auto-pilot. She didn’t have time for some meaningless conversation, she…she needed to figure out what was wrong! She needed to think back and try to understand why Rainbow was so upset with her.

Had she really been that upset about the food? Why hadn’t she just said something then? Rainbow knew that Twilight would have taken her thoughts under consideration.

At least…if they were sensible ones…

“…w-what?” the pegasus breathed as Twilight heard a chair being knocked over, causing the alicorn to look up and see the pegasus’s looking at her with a hesitant expression on her face. “You…you can’t be serious.”

Twilight’s head swam with a million confusing thoughts as she looked at Rainbow’s reaction to her… What? What were we talking about? Twilight asked herself. “I…Dash? What’s…what’s wrong?”

“You can’t,” Rainbow mumbled in disbelief. “You can’t seriously be talking about…cutting off my wings!”

Did I… But no, she just doesn’t understand, Twilight assured herself before she could let panic overtake her and took a deep breath to help calm herself down. Once she explained it to Rainbow, she would see the right of it.

“It’s just to keep you safe! It won’t hurt! It’ll be like Discord did that one time,” she assured Rainbow as she raised her hooves in a calming gesture. “I’ll put them back when you have the foal and-”

Twilight wasn’t able to say another word before Rainbow cut her off as she zoomed right in front of Twilight‘s face so quickly that the alicorn fell backwards out of her chair. “DON’T YOU DARE!” the pegasus shrieked at the top of her lungs. “HAVE YOU LOST YOUR BUCKING MIND?”

“What?” Twilight squeaked out as the pegasus‘s anger filled her vision. Once again, worry started to fill her mind. The alicorn had never seen Rainbow as angry as she was right then. “I don’t…what…Dash…what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG?” she shouted in the alicorn’s face. “What’s wrong is that you’ve gone bucking nuts! What’s wrong is you and you’ve taken my dreams, my job, my future! And now you want to BUCKING CRIPPLE ME!

“And you’re actually asking me what’s WRONG?”

Twilight felt her eyes begin to water as she looked into Rainbow Dash’s face and saw nothing but fury directed right at the alicorn. “N-No I don’t,” she protested weakly. All it would be was a pair of wings. Twilight had gone without them her whole life. Rainbow could take being flightless for a few months, if it was for the safety of their foal. “Your wings…I just…I need to make everything safe…for the foal. If you crash…I…we…if something happens to the foal…please Dash…I…I’m just so afraid something will happen to the foal.”

The pegasus’s hooves touched down, and Twilight tried to suck in air through her wet nose, only to slurp in something else as she looked up at Rainbow with teary eyes. Even with the blurry vision, Twilight could see her fillyfriend looked worn out. “You…you…FINE! It’s not like I can stop you if you really put your mind to it,” she said before the feathered appendages extended fully as her face darkened. “But…if you do this…if you…cripple me because of some stupid egghead logic of yours…we’re done. Do you hear me?”

Twilight stopped the preparations for her spell and froze as Rainbow‘s words hit her like a kick in the gut. “What?” she managed to get out in a whisper. “ I don’t…why are you acting like this?”

She had to know it was for the best. Rainbow…she couldn’t even keep to a diet that didn’t include cupcakes! If she couldn’t do that, then Twilight knew that someday, somehow, some way, she would hurt herself while flying with the baby still growing inside of her. She would do some reckless trick and then…Twilight didn’t know if she would be able to take it!

“I could take the stupid food, and all the scheduling that tells me how long I need to brush my teeth, and…and even losing the Wonderbolts! But if you do this…if you bucking cripple me because…because of your bucking…whatever THIS IS…we’re DONE! I will pack my bags and go live with Fluttershy, or run home to Cloudsdale, or even move back in with my bucking parents if I have to in order to get away from you!” Rainbow said as her words became more of a growl. “And even if you finally find your bucking marbles and give them back, even if it’s as soon as tomorrow, I will never forgive you for taking away my wings.”

Every word spoken from between the pegasus’s teeth made Twilight’s whole body flinch. No…this isn’t… This wasn‘t how this were supposed to go! Rainbow shouldn’t have been acting like this over going a few months without flying. She shouldn’t have been angry! “Why? Why are you being like this?” Twilight squeaked out. “I just want to keep you safe.”

“And I will be, FROM YOU!” Rainbow shouted, which made Twilight recoil. “I’ll be safe from the pony who won’t let me eat anything that tastes remotely like food! I’ll be safe from the princess who made sure I’ll never be able to find work in Equestria again! And I’ll be safe from my best friend, who won’t be satisfied till I’m trapped in a little box until she wants to take me out and play with me like I’m some kind of bucking doll!”

Twilight shook her head at Dash’s words, and the situation. “N-No Rainbow, you…you’re wrong. I just…I’m just…” She paused, unsure of what to say. Why couldn’t Rainbow just agree with her? Couldn’t she see all the dangers? Being such an experienced flier, she had to know what would happen if something went wrong.

And if Twilight waited, the more dangerous things would be! As soon as Rainbow started to show, the extra weight and mass would ruin her aerodynamic profile! The longer Twilight waited, the greater the danger to the foal! She needed her to see that!

However, Rainbow didn’t wait for the alicorn to gather her thoughts before she kept going. “Twilight,” the pegasus said as the strength and anger behind her words started to fade. “Ever since I’ve met you, I’ve been proud to be your friend, jealous that you got all of this when I have to keep putting what I want to the side, angry at you for when you get all stupid and bossy…but this is the first time I’ve ever been afraid of any of my friends.”

Rainbow’s word’s stuck a cord with the alicorn, and Twilight froze. She looked up at the pegasus, and saw her just…deflating as her wings fell back down and her head just sagged. “So if you’re going to do something, then hurry it up. Because I’m just too tired to fight you anymore.”

The alicorn slowly lifted her head back up, and stared at the blue pony.

Rainbow was…afraid of her?

And why wouldn’t she be? Twilight asked herself as she examined her past actions. If there had been no foal…

No, even if she had been pregnant and another pony had done this to Rainbow Dash at any other time of the pegasus’s life…taken away her job, her choices…her…wings…and placed such a look of fear in Rainbow’s eyes…there was no doubt in Twilight’s mind what the alicorn would have done to that pony.

She would have made Rainbow Dash a single parent.

The realization hit Twilight like a hammer, and then her conscience continued the beating. Was she really feeling this way this whole time? Why didn’t she say something? Why…why didn’t I notice anything? I thought she was a little upset at the changes in her life, but…but I made concessions.

But what about the foal?

What if she leaves me?

The second thought paralyzed Twilight’s mind. A future where something happened to the foal, the alicorn could picture. She and Rainbow Dash would be heartbroken, and perhaps a little angry at each other, but…she knew that they would still be together to help the other get by.

The idea of a future without Rainbow…Twilight couldn’t picture it. Just the possibility of such a thing happening left a hole in her heart and made her vision blur.

“I…” Twilight said as she looked up at her fillyfriend…if they still were fillyfriends after today. That realization made her want to curl up into a little ball and die. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…I didn’t mean to scare you. Please don’t hate me. Please don’t be afraid of me! I…didn‘t…mean…to.” Please don’t…please don’t leave me, she cried out inside her head.

When a minute passed and no words reached her ears, the alicorn hung her head and closed her eyes while she held back a sob. What…what was I thinking? How could I have… “I was just…so afraid,” she mumbled to herself. “The baby…I don’t…I can’t be with you all the time when you're out there and…and if something happened…you would be so sad. You’d blame yourself…and I couldn’t…I couldn’t bear to see you like that!”

As if fear was enough of a justification to excuse what she had been planning.

Twilight wasn’t aware that she had curled in on herself until a pair of forlegs wrapped around her neck, and a pegasus’s wings wrapped themselves around the purple alicorn. “Hey...hey, come on now. It’s okay. It’s okay Twilight, Rainbow whispered into her ear. “Uh…no harm, no foul, right?”

The simplistic logic that Rainbow followed didn’t put Twilight at ease. If anything, it made her feel worse for how Rainbow just went and brushed it off. But I did hurt her, the alicorn told herself.

For one terrible instant, Rainbow Dash…the mare Twilight loved with all her heart, that she would do anything for, she…had been afraid of the alicorn. That realization made Twilight feel as bad as she had a year ago, when a few careless words read from a spellbook had almost ruined the lives of her friends.

With her mind in a haze, Twilight’s body put itself on autopilot when she felt something lift her up onto her hooves. Her mind registered Rainbow’s presence, but no conscious thoughts came as the pegasus dried the alicorn’s tears with a napkin.

“Sorry…for yelling like that,” Rainbow mumbled.

The apology coming from the pegasus shocked Twilight back into conscious thought. No…Rainbow no. Don’t apologize to me! I was the one who was wrong! Something draped itself across her back and she looked over to see it was Rainbow’s wing. The sight of it nearly made her collapse. And I…I was going to take them away, Twilight thought to herself in a moment of horrid realization before she stumbled into its owner for the added support and warmth Rainbow could give her.

Finally, she managed to find her voice. “Rainbow?”

“…yeah Twilight?” the pegasus replied in an equally soft tone that was caused by exhaustion.

Twilight gulped down her nervousness, and opened the door in front of them with her magic. The tiny flinch Rainbow underwent was like a dagger in the heart of the alicorn. And it only had what she had to say next easier. “I think…you need to be the one making the decisions when it comes to us for awhile. I don’t…I think I need to…take some time and figure out a few things before I call any more shots.”

“Okay.”

The fact that Rainbow’s reply came so quickly and without protest had Twilight hiding her eyes from the other mare. There had been no false assurances, no attempts to turn her away, just a single word given out a second after Twilight’s declaration. I…I really have messed things up.

“I’ll get you your job back tomorrow,” she went on. “It shouldn’t take that much-”

“It’s okay,” Rainbow said softly, her words cutting Twilight off before she could finish. “You need me here. So…I’ll be here for you. It’s not like I have…I’ll be here for you.”

For the second time in less than ten minutes, Twilight found herself choking back a sob to hide it from the pegasus. She found herself thinking back to earlier, when they had been on the balcony for the first time, and in the council room before that, and back before they were together, when Rainbow had thought she was going to fail her Wonderbolt’s entrance exam. The feeling of despair she was getting from the pegasus wasn’t quite the same as back then, but…it still made Twilight want to break down and cry.

She gave up her dream for you, the alicorn told herself. Could she have done such a thing back before they had even been together? Could I have resigned as Celestia’s student if she had needed me to?

The resounding no that all the facts told Twilight made the alicorn shudder, which of course got her a gentle caress from Rainbow’s wing to remind Twilight that the pegasus was there to support her…again.

Rainbow Dash, the pregnant mare, the one who should have been freaking out, the one who had every right to be upset…she was the one supporting the princess who had a nervous breakdown, again!

It’s not fair…to her, Twilight told herself as she tried to think of something…anything to help the mare she loved.

“Rainbow,” Twilight said as she finally noticed the pegasus was leading her back into the palace. “Where’re we going?”

A nuzzle to the alicorn’s cheek made her hold back another sob. Rainbow shouldn’t be the one comforting her…not after what she had been about to do! “I think we need to go lay down Twilight. I’m…tired,” she heard the pegasus mumble.

Despite the fact it was the middle of the day, Twilight found herself agreeing with the pegasus. Although she hadn’t done any major activities, the alicorn was feeling drained.

As they made their way through the door, Rainbow’s stomach growled in protest, and Twilight’s head shot up to scold her for getting so hungry her stomach was rumbling. Then, reality set in and the alicorn sighed before she could put the final nail in her relationship’s coffin. “Rainbow…do you want to share my apple pie?”

The tentative question got a snicker from the pegasus. “Okay Twilight.”

Glad there was something she could do to at least start to make up for what had almost happened, Twilight looked back and snatched the delicious food up in her magic before hauling it back to where they were waiting. Then they continued on towards Twilight’s room.

“Rainbow…I’m sorry.”

“I know,” a tired voice replied.

“I love you.”

…

…

…

“…I know.”

The soft, delayed response that did not mimic the mare’s own words had Twilight pressing her lips together to hold in the whine that threatened to escape on the point of a full flood of tears.

Author's Notes:

Now that my imaginary friends have started talking to me again, here's your damn feels!

Next chapter...Cadence!