Family Drama 3: New Arrivals

Rainbow Dash was a kind of tired she hadn’t been in a long time. Seven long days of pent up anger at tiny slights and a dozen other small things topped off by Twilight’s mass of crazier than usual freak-out had exploded in their first argument. It left her feeling…drained, the bad kind of drained. The kind without the muscle soreness that came from a good workout.

Part of her wanted to just forget the whole thing and move on, that was what they usually did after all. But…something about this time was different. It was the first time that Twilight’s…Twilight-ness had been turned towards another pony.

It was…kind of frightening really.

The door opened from Twilight’s magic, and Rainbow led her into the room and onto the bed, using her wing on Twilight’s back to guide the alicorn. The two of them sat there for a moment, eating in silence. The pie was good. Better than anything Rainbow had eaten in days. It was obviously Apple baked, and she took her time savoring it. But, the pie was not to last, and a few minutes after the food had been consumed, Rainbow found Twilight giving her a hesitant look out of the corner of her eye as they both simply sat on the bed.

“I’m sorry.”

The pain in the alicorn’s voice made Rainbow’s heart ache. She reached over and wrapped a foreleg around Twilight’s shoulder to pull her in close. “I know,” the pegasus mumbled.

Rainbow wanted to kick herself. Idiot! Is that all you're going to say to her? “I’m sorry too,” she mumbled. “I…” She paused, unsure of how to continue. She wanted to apologize for frightening Twilight right back with the whole abandonment threat. That wasn’t what Rainbow Dash did, she was the Element of Loyalty! She was always there for her friends when they needed her, and what had happened just ten minutes ago was proof that Twilight had needed her more than ever!

But…when she had said those words so casually… Rainbow’s whole body shook in fear at the possibility. “Twilight,” the pegasus mumbled. “Why would you even…how could you even think about something like that?”

She felt Twilight tremble at the question. “I…I just…I’m scared Rainbow,” she mumbled. “Every day you just take off, and you’re not around for hours…and I just…I keep thinking about all the bad things that could happen when I’m not around.”

What she heard made Rainbow’s stomach turn, if just a little. From the sound of things, Twilight… “Don’t you trust me?” she asked, putting what she had read between the lines into a question.

“Of course I do!” Twilight insisted, almost too strongly for a mare who had just been hit with an emotional sledgehammer. “It’s everything else I don’t trust! I don’t trust Derpy not to set off a thundercloud when you’re around! I don’t trust the Everfree weather not to act up! I don’t trust somepony else not to pull a stupid prank that ends up going wrong! I try to keep my mind off of it by developing my spell continuation matrix, or thinking about how wonderful out foal is going to be, but I just can’t stop worrying about you!”

Rainbow cut in. “Well it’s not like I haven’t taken care of myself before you know! You didn’t get all control freaky back then!” she snapped.

“Well I’ve never had to worry about a baby before then either!” Twilight argued back as she pushed herself away enough so they could stare at each other’s eyes.

They both frowned at each other for a second, then let out tired sighs. “Sorry.”

Twilight leaned back into Rainbow and sighed again. “I hate this,” she mumbled. “I hate feeling like this all the time, and no matter what I do it just keeps getting worse! No matter what I do it just…I just can’t stop!”

She let out a long breath into Rainbow’s coat, and went silent for a minute. For her part, Rainbow was left at a loss. Come on and say something you idiot, she told herself while she reached up to stroke the alicorn’s hair.

Why couldn’t she have just been a little smarter? If Rainbow had been a smarter pony, or into romance and junk like Rarity, then she would have known exactly what to say to calm Twilight down before things had gotten as bad as they did. She could have said something right now to pull Twilight out of her funk.

But all she could do was hold the alicorn.

“I wish I could be more like you.”

The words made Rainbow look down at the alicorn leaning into her. “What?”

Twilight looked up at her and put on a small smile. “I wish I could be more like you,” she repeated. “I mean…you’re not afraid of this at all. Since we found out about the baby, you haven’t even come close to panicking.”

“Are you kidding me? What in the hay gave you that idea?” Rainbow asked, her voice finally finding some strength to raise a few decibels. “Twilight…this whole mom thing terrifies me! I don’t know anything about being a mom! Buck, if I even start to think about how crappy my foalhood was, and that I’d never want any pony of mine to pick somepony like me as a role model, or how much this whole Harmony thing might take me away from her on some stupid mission to save Equestria… Twilight, I’m just as worried as you, I’m just better at ignoring it!”

It was one of the few times that Rainbow knew her ability to not think about stuff, or at least put things off to the last minute came in handy.

At first it felt like Twilight was nuzzling her chest, but then Rainbow looked down to see she was shaking her head. “No…you’ll make an amazing mother Rainbow!” Twilight told her. “I’m the one who probably won't even get that far. We’ve only been at this a week and I’m…I can’t even keep it together, and I’m supposed to be the one supporting you!”

Rainbow held the alicorn tighter to shut her up. “Twilight, the reason I’m not freaking out every day is because of you!” she insisted. “I may make a crappy mom, but you’ll be around to show our girl what she’s really supposed to be like, how to act and study…and eat way too much healthy food.”

Despite the fact that the words were said with a snicker, Rainbow felt Twilight flinch and the pegasus felt like kicking herself again. “Sorry.”

“No. I shouldn’t have said anything about the food,” Rainbow admitted. Then she felt Twilight tense and knew that had been the wrong answer. “Or…told you about it sooner, that it was getting to me, I mean.” But then what type of fillyfriend would I have been, adding to Twilight’s worries?

Despite being a princess, Rainbow knew all too well Twilight was still a long way from perfect. She got overly stressed and…things tended to explode.

Twilight let out a sigh. “Why didn’t you?” she asked. “Tell me, I mean.”

Dash reached out to wrap a wing around the alicorn. “Twilight, you’re the one with all the smarts. I know if you say something’s good for me, then it usually is. And…well…I really owed it to you for fixing me,” she added at the end. Then she closed her eyes and just rotated her wings for a minute, enjoying the feeling and letting the lack of any discomfort send a relaxing pulse through her whole body.

Twilight fought against the hold Dash had on her, and a few seconds later, they were staring eye to eye again. “Fixing you? W-What do you mean fixing you?”

Confusion pushed Rainbow’s eyebrows down into a light frown. “The first morning we woke up together. You…fixed me. Twilight without you…without what you did, I probably wouldn’t be able to fly by the time I was fifty.” Not to mention the fact that the lifespan of the usual athletic pegasus, especially one that flew in combat like the Wonderbolts almost never even got to seventy. Going from the highest point of fame in Equestria to a pegasus that could barely fly…many pegasi just gave up and faded a hay of a lot faster to old age and sickness than most other ponies.

“When I healed you? Oh Rainbow, you don’t owe me anything for that!” Twilight assured the pegasus. “Even if we had never gotten together, I would have gladly done that for you without anything in return! I… Please don’t tell me that’s why you thought you had to just…go along with whatever I said.”

Rainbow let out a sigh, and let herself fall backwards onto the bed after letting her wings spread out. “No, it just…helped me get through it while I was waiting for you to…calm down,” she admitted. “I know how you are Twilight. I mean, I talked to Spike about it and…well, he said that’s how you help deal with stuff that makes you nervous.”

She looked back up to the alicorn, and kept going. “You just plan for everything and try and make sure you…get all the variables under control.” At least, Rainbow thought that was what Spike said. All Rainbow would have had to do was roll with it until Twilight got herself under control. She just hadn’t thought how out of control Twilight could get.

A second later, Twilight laid herself down next to Rainbow, and the pegasus pulled her into an embrace. “You’re a pony, not a variable,” she mumbled before Rainbow kissed her on the tip of her horn.

The little shudder that ran through Twilight’s body at the contact brought a smile to Rainbow Dash’s face, and she tried to clear her mind and think of something to say to cheer her fillyfriend up. When nothing came to mind, she moved her forelegs around to feel Twilight’s body and help the pegasus’s think.

“Are you still afraid?”

“…yes,” Twilight whispered.

Rainbow sighed. “Okay…what if I promise not to get hurt, and….if you really need me to be here for you Twi…I’ll stay off the weather team,” she said. It was a promise she had made earlier, but considering Twilight’s mood, Rainbow didn’t know if she had heard it or not.

“Rainbow…you can’t just make something like that happen with a promise,” the alicorn mumbled as she looked forward to Rainbow’s face.

After putting on her usual level of bravado, Rainbow Dash smiled at her fillyfriend. “Maybe for ponies who aren’t as cool as me.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight called out in a scolding manner. “That’s not the way the world works!”

The look her fillyfriend was giving her got a sigh out of the pegasus, and she laid her head back down to look up at the ceiling. “Twilight…I love you,” Rainbow said, and stopped before she could get to the ‘but’ of what she had been trying to say when Twilight cut in.

“You still love me?”

Twilight’s question brought Rainbow Dash’s mind to a complete stop, and she looked ‘down’ at the alicorn that was resting her face on Rainbow’s stomach. “Of course I still love you!” she exclaimed. “What the hay would make you think I would ever stop?!”

“I almost took-”

“You. Stopped.” Rainbow cut her off before telling the anger that memory brought with it to shut the buck up before it did something stupid like get out and made Twilight start crying again.

Then, before Twilight could start back up, she tugged at the alicorn so Twilight would crawl up to meet each other’s eyes, and then rolled to the side. “Look Twilight, we stop the stupid bathroom stuff…and I’ll eat some of that health junk, but…I still want Pinkie’s food too…and, I’ll call it quits on the weather team until our girl is ready to come out. Okay?”

“Okay,” Twilight agreed softly.

Rainbow moved her neck forward, and kissed Twilight on the nose, and finally got a faint smile from the alicorn. “And I do love you Twilight,” she repeated to make sure the alicorn understood that.

“I love you too Rainbow.”

Half an hour passed, and Twilight found herself simply staring at the sleeping face of the pegasus as the mystical bubble around Rainbow‘s head kept her snored from being head. Despite the desire to sleep and the emotional exhaustion she was feeling. Her thoughts were a storm of turmoil.

So, as she had found herself doing the past few days whenever Rainbow fell asleep before her, Twilight talked with the other member of their family. She reached down to lightly stroke the pegasus’s belly, and sighed. “Hey, it’s me again.”

“I really messed up this time,” she told her unborn foal. “Rainbow says it’s okay, but…after the fight we just had…I’m not so sure.”

Twilight sighed and drew her foreleg back. “Yes, me and your mommy had a fight. Our first big fight…well, as a couple anyway. I think the last fight we had was…oh! When I was trying to help Mommy join the…Wonderbolts.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the memory of their fight flashed through her mind, and the alicorn choked back a sob. She remembered how devastated Rainbow had been back then, and how torn she had been in the council chamber. “Why couldn’t I see how much that was hurting her?”

Had it been because of her own problems at the time? Things hadn’t exactly been normal after her brief transformation into a stallion. But still…Rainbow had had been shouting for help…or at least about her problems and Twilight had just blown her off. At least, that was what it felt like to the alicorn now that the pegasus’s thoughts on the subject had been made painfully clear.

Rainbow’s dreams and her obligations had met an impasse, and it was tearing her up inside. She had told Twilight the opposite a dozen times, maybe even so much Rainbow believed it on some level herself, but Twilight could see the truth of things now.

“She doesn’t blame you of course,” she assured the foal. “I don’t either. It’s not your fault, and… I know when we finally get to meet you, Rainbow will probably just throw the Wonderbolts to the side forever.”

Twilight frowned at her own words, and sighed. Don’t hide truths from your filly Twilight. The truth was, she didn’t know what Rainbow would do after the foal was born. The motivation to stay away from the Wonderbolts would definitely be there, but…now she wasn’t sure if Rainbow could actually live with the choice Twilight would know she’d make.

On top of which, without some form of gratification in the now…well, Twilight had seen how the pain of losing her dreams on top of Twilight’s recent…everything had caused Rainbow to explode. The alicorn knew it was her job to provide that positive presence, and now that she knew about everything, she more than intended to do so, only…Twilight had no idea how to do that.

How was a pony supposed to replace a dream that had existed since the time a mare had been a foal? And even if the time came when she no longer needed to…distract the mare by herself and their foal had arrived, was it still right to try and keep Rainbow from trying to do what she loved?

Twilight reminded herself that with their magic, it was possible for Rainbow Dash to travel great distances in the blink of an eye. But then, the life of a Wonderbolt wasn’t exactly the safest profession. Aside from the military aspect of their jobs, the stunt mares performed dangerous acrobatics in dangerously close quarters.

The mental image of Rainbow flying like that with a team of what would be inexperienced fliers sent a shiver down her spine and… NO, Twilight shouted at herself. You do not get to worry about that anymore! YOU LOST THAT RIGHT JUST TEN MINUTES AGO!

If Rainbow wanted to put her life in danger…that was her decision, not the alicorn’s. Twilight could only chose to support Dash, or not.

Twilight let out another long sigh, and looked up to Rainbow’s beautiful face. She laughed through her nose at the assessment, and what the pegasus would probably think about it. Although, even Rainbow’s current beauty paled to what she had looked like after Twilight had ‘fixed’ her the morning they woke up together.

“I don’t know how yet…but I promise I’ll find a way to help you again Dash,” she told the love of her life. “I promise. You will be a Wonderbolt one day.”

Cadence sighed in relief as the crystal train pulled into Ponyville station just as the sun was starting to go down. While Shining keeping her up for a good amount of the night before had meant she had thankfully slept through a good amount of the day, the ride had been far from smooth on the personal front. Without the alicorn to help keep things in perspective, her husband’s mood had gone from unable to sleep to angry big brother that had been kept in the dark about his little sister’s pregnancy for far too long.

Not that he was angry at Twilight over it. Oh no, Shining had a much better target in mind for his wrath.

“I swear Cadence, I don’t care who this guy thinks he is,” the unicorn said as he paced back and forth in their private car. "I don’t care how connected his is, I don’t even care if he’s Celestia’s little brother! Soon as I see him, BAM!”

The crack Shining left in the train car’s wall made Cadence sigh. “Shiny, we discussed this. We’re going to take a look around, give Rainbow Dash her promotion into the Wonderbolts and casually find out just whom Twilight is dating.”

Shining nodded. “Right! Identify the target, and then attack!” he said before smiling at her. “And I thought you were sleeping through the mandatory battle simulations that I run the palace guard through every week.”

“Forcing the ponies under your command to play your table top RPG does not count as battle training Shining!” Cadence complained to her husband while she grabbed her bags in her magic and headed towards the door.

Ponyville had nearly shut down for the night, so there wasn’t much of a crowd to come and see the princess’s train. Cadence was thankful none of the townspeople that were still out and about bowed as she passed by. Apparently Twilight’s constant presence and Luna’s habit of making Ponyville her go to town for any kind of celebration had gotten them used to the royalty enough so that they felt no need to prostrate themselves outside of official functions.

The Alicorn of Love envied her little sister to no end for that accomplishment.

A few minutes and a short walk later, and Shining led the way into Twilight’s palace. Although she had seen it a few times after its construction, or…growth, the place still made her wonder if why in the hay did the Tree of Harmony create a dormitory offspring of itself in a place like Ponyville.

It wasn’t that Cadence disliked crystal décor, she lived in the place that was defined by it after all. It just seemed out of place for the quaint setting that was her sister’s kingdom. If a tiny town of a few hundred ponies that pretty much ran itself without any intervention from Twilight could even be called that.

In truth, Twilight had become what Cadence had been before her promotion to Crystal Princess. She helped solve relationship problems between ponies, with the focus being on friendship instead of love like the pink alicorn.

Oh how I miss those days, the alicorn told herself as she greeted the servants and made some small talk to find out where Twilight was. Back in the day she had been able to go all around Equestria to help ponies find love or council those ponies with rocky relationships, using her magic to let couples see what was in the other’s heart. These days, the best Cadence could manage was finding ponies who were having relationship difficulties thanks to public records. Even then, they were usually too stubborn to accept help without a good deal of corrosion,…or too far gone for it to matter.

She gave orders not to be announced on the pretense of making a surprise entrance for Twilight. In reality, she and Shining had to talk to someone after dropping off their luggage in the room they had used the last time they visited. They had the maid who was assigned to them go get the head of the palace staff. Then they took up positions beside the door and waited for a few minutes.

“So what kind of cleaning emergency is there that you need fire for guys? Um…hello?”

As soon as the dragon entered the room, Cadence and Shining shut the door behind Spike loud enough to make the dragon jump at the noise. When he turned around, Cadence took the lead on the interrogation introduction.

“Hello Spike, it’s been awhile, how’ve you been?” As much as she tried to hide it, there was a bit of an edge in her voice. Cadence had to admit to herself that now that she was so close to finding out what was going on, the Princess of Love was a bit out of sorts.

“C-Cadence?” the young dragon stuttered as the alicorn approached him. “What’re you and Shining Armor doing here?”

The alicorn barely got a single syllable out before the unicorn cut her off by taking a strong step forward. “We know what’s going on Spike! About the pregnancy, the stallion, everything!” he said while Cadence groaned.

So much for subtle.

“W-WHAT?” the dragon exclaimed in surprise as he took a step back before getting himself under control. “Well, um…okay. That’s good I guess. Twilight’s really been stressing over how she was supposed to tell you...and everypony else I guess. I mean...after the girls freaked out about it, and they’re used to some pretty strange stuff, all Twilight can think about is how badly the normal ponies are going to take it.”

Cadence let out a sigh and stepped up beside Shiny with a look that told him to let her handle this. “Well…we don’t know everything,” she said. “Like…how did it happen?”

The question got a hesitant moan from Spike, but he answered. “Well, it was just kind of an accident.”

That was something that Cadence had figured on. With the way Twilight planned out every little thing, premarital pregnancy was not something she would ever willingly get into. “Go on.”

“Well…ummm…Twilight…she…or…uh, he…oh boy,” the dragon mumbled before trying so hard to restrain his emotions he physically gulped. Then, he took a deep breath before going off. “Okay, so he slept with her while she was in heat and they didn’t think she could get pregnant because it had been so soon, but it happened anyway and…now it’s back to just being normal Twilight so…yeah. Sorry, it’s just, easier not to use name when I think of…that.”

Cadence frowned as Spike’s whole body shook for a moment. “So…about the stallion Twilight-”

Spike waved his hands in a stop gesture. “Oh no! Stallion…Twilight…not happening again. One day only…I hope,” he added in a mumble. “Man that was just so weird having…him…like that! No, definitely gone forever!”

The words reverberated in Cadence’s head, and she frowned at the dragon’s response. From the sound of things, Twilight had a one-night stand with some stallion, found out she was pregnant and… “But…she did…tell the other pony about the pregnancy…right?”

“Same day she found out about it, yeah. Mare that was a weird day.”

As Spike shook his head at some awful memory that made him shudder, Shiny stepped in with an even darker look than before. This time, Cadence was in full agreement with his anger over the situation “And…he’s not coming back?”

“No way in Tartarus is that ever happening,” Spike assured them with an uneasy look. Obviously, he didn’t like talking about it.

Cadence didn’t blame him. For Twilight to find out she was pregnant and then…have the stallion who impregnated her refuse to come back and take responsibility, or at least try to form some kind of relationship with her. She must be devastated.

The image of her baby sister, the filly she had known and loved more than any other pony she sat for being just…left to face what was coming without anypony to truly depend on… The alicorn’s teeth grinded as she saw Twilight crying herself to sleep every night with a swollen belly and the father of the foal nowhere to be found.

The couple shared a look, and Cadence nodded at the white stallion before she thanked Spike. Then they found out where Twilight was at from the dragon before heading down the hall with her husband.

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Oh no you’re not Shiny,” Cadence warned him. They were partnership of the highest order. Everything they did, they did together. “We’re gonna kill him!”

“You know, you reading all those books is probably what helped speed up your freak-out.”

Twilight winced at the comment, and looked up from her place on the couch they were sharing as she put down her book ‘A Stallion’s Guide to Fatherhood I: What to Expect From Your Pregnant Pony’ and leaned into Rainbow Dash. “Sorry,” she said as she closed the book.

“W-Whoa I didn’t say stop!” Rainbow Dash told her in a voice that was growing closer to panic. “If you want to read books on that kind of stuff, go and read it.”

The expression on Rainbow’s face made Twilight’s mood droop even more than it had been five minutes ago. “It’s okay Rainbow…I wasn’t really concentrating on the words anyway. I was just thinking.”

As the pegasus calmed down and drew Twilight closer to her into their twelfth hug since waking up from their nap, the alicorn leaned in to kiss her fillyfriend on the cheek and rest her head on Rainbow’s shoulder. “So um…what were you thinking about?”

Twilight sighed at the question and leaned back to take a look at her palace’s library. The books she had ordered had come in the week since she had Rainbow began their relationship, making Twilight’s new home at least a bit like her old one in one respect…or two if she counted the miniature observatory she had set up, and the semi-familiar sight helped calm her down. But even the inviting sight of books couldn’t help Twilight from not thinking about Rainbow’s question, which brought her back to the ruminations that had her in as deep a funk as she had been upon falling asleep, despite dinner with the other two palace residents cheering her up a bit.

“Rainbow…am I a good friend?” Twilight asked softly after a moment’s hesitation. “To you I mean.”

The pained confusion written on Rainbow’s face made the alicorn wish she hadn’t said anything before the pegasus opened her mouth. “Twilight, you’re my best friend. More than a friend, I love you!” she exclaimed before frowning at her. “Why the hay would you even think anything else?!”

A bought of nervousness made Twilight look away from Rainbow and down at the floor. “Since we woke up…I’ve been re-examining our relationship, all the way back since we met and…I can’t really concur with what you say.”

“Huh?”

Of course she doesn’t see it that way, Twilight thought to herself. After all, Rainbow was incapable of seeing a pony she classified as a friend in a bad light. “Think about it, every time we’ve done something together, I’ve been horrible to you! Remember the Best Fliers Competition?” she asked while looking at the pegasus.

Rainbow raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “Oh yeah, bringing all my friends to help cheer for me and see me be awesome. Only a real jerk would do that Twilight.”

“I gave Rarity wings and didn’t stop her when she entered the competition!” the alicorn clarified. “I could have just taken her wings away and replaced them with…a…” She felt Rainbow tense, and Twilight trailed off. “Sorry, I probably should have put that better.”

After a few more seconds of silence, Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “What is it with unicorn’s and holding onto this stuff. Buck, even Rarity still winces when ponies bring that contest up. It happened, she apologized, end of story. And that was forever ago, and it was only one stupid-”

“Mare Do Well.”

“…can we not talk about that?” Rainbow mumbled as she looked away from the alicorn.

Twilight nodded and went on. “I laughed at you when you said you didn’t like to read.”

Rainbow held up the Daring Do book that depicted a picture of the pegasus on the cover of the publication. “Turning me onto my favorite hobby, I can’t believe you were such a jerk,” she deadpanned.

“I nearly ruined your life when I gave you Fluttershy’s cutie mark!”

“Accident.”

Twilight shook her head furiously at Rainbow’s attempt to calm her down. She should have known Starswirl’s book was a magical tome that actually cast magic instead of a magic text that only taught it! But, she wouldn’t argue with the pegasus over it. The alicorn didn’t want Rainbow getting angry at her again.

“And then there was the team I practically put you on for the Equestria games,” Twilight mumbled before changing her tone to a mocking impersonation of her own voice. “Oh Rainbow, I know you could get a gold medal in any single pony contest and all, but Fluttershy’s team could really use some help.”

Now that she knew Rainbow had a thing for her as far back as then…it was so obvious to Twilight the pegasus had done it to impress the alicorn. Using Rainbow’s emotions to manipulate her like that…another fine example of my use of friendship.

“Twilight-”

“And when you started having second thoughts,” Twilight said before Rainbow could come to the purple pony’s defense once again, “What do I do? Do I take you aside and try and show you how much it will probably hurt you when you realize what you were doing was wrong? Noooo, I use the most dirty, under-hoofed, vile way to get a pony to do something! I guilt trip you into it!”

Rainbow groaned and rubbed her head. “Twilight…”

“And then there was the time I helped you study for your Wonderbolt’s Exam!”

The pegasus sighed and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Okay Twilight, please tell me how you helping me achieve my hopes and dreams, and letting me figure out that I’m actually halfway intelligent with my whole…learning without trying…thing is bad!” she said before looking back at the alicorn with a frown. “Because I really am wondering how in the hay you could manage to twist that around into something terrible.”

“Are you kidding?” Twilight pleaded in a panic as the last of her absolute proof that she was the worst friend in the history of Equestria entered her head and began to make her thoughts race while her words kept moving top try and keep up. “First, I drag you into a study session when you're too hungry to think, completely ignoring all your food answers as the cry for help that they were! Then I try and teach to in a way that is so bucking obviously not indicative to your style of learning that even an owl could see it. And after that, what do I do? I purposely get you all worked up and concentrated on the fact you’re going to fail the test like it would try to motivate you! And then I got mad because, because you got angry at me for being such a terrible teacher! And then, and then I got mad right back at you and said I could be a Wonderbolt!”

Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes. “Then we all calmed down and-”

“No!” Twilight exclaimed as she fought her way out of Rainbow’s grip and jumped into the air to turn and face her lover. She would not allow Rainbow to lie to the two of them about how awful a pony the alicorn was!

Her heart continued to race as she thought about her actions and what would have come about if not for the intervention of her friend. “Fluttershy calmed me down! I probably would have just kept going about how I could have become a Wonderbolt! And-and put on a stupid purple cape and gone and taken the test and passed and-and-and not helped you at all because I wanted to be right and show you that my way was the best, and…I probably WOULDN’T HAVE EVEN CARED THAT I ABANDONED YOU TO FAIL AT ACHIEVING YOUR DREAM!” Even worse, she probably would have rubbed her victory in Rainbow’s face and told her to write a journal entry about the lesson she had learned!

The downward spiral Twilight’s vocalization of her past mistakes had put her in finally made her hit rock bottom, and the alicorn dropped from the sky to land on her plot. The tiny jolt of pain from impacting the library’s carpeted floor was the spark that she needed to move onto the next step of the depression process, and Twilight let out a heart wrenching wail of anguish that filled the large room.

“Oh for crying out loud,” Rainbow mumbled just barely loud enough for Twilight to hear. “Not another one.”

However, before Rainbow could fly to Twilight’s rescue…even though the abusive alicorn knew she hardly deserved it…the library’s door flew open with a bang, and Twilight looked back to see her older sister and brother standing there.

A very tiny, almost miniscule part of Twilight’s mind wondered just what the hay they were doing in the palace. The Princess of Friendship had received no announcements from the Princess of Love about another visit so soon after their last. The much larger part of her brain saw her older brother and the alicorn that had become her sister appear right when she needed them.

Shining could protect Equestria from Twilight going crazy and ruining the lives of every single pony in existence with her friendship solutions. And Cadence might… The Princess of Love could… Twilight’s big sister would…

“Oh Twilight!” the larger pink alicorn cried out as she rushed to embrace the smaller purple one.

…save her relationship with Rainbow Dash.

“CAAAAAAAAAADENCE!” the purple alicorn shouted in a mixture of newfound hope and the despair that was still clinging to her as Twilight’s rushed to embrace her sister.

As the larger alicorn wrapped her forearms around her, Twilight buried her face in Cadence’s coat and mane and nuzzled her big sister as hard as she could. She didn’t care how or why, all Twilight understood was that Cadence had come when she needed her most. The Alicorn of Love would save Twilight and Rainbow Dash’s relationship.

“Oh Twilight, it’s okay. Spike told us everything.”

Twilight flinched at the words. Spike had heard their fight? The thought that the dragon, her little brother had seen the alicorn at her worst made her feel even worse about what happened. He must think I’m a monster. “It’s horrible Cadence, I…I messed everything up!”

She heard a sigh come from the pegasus sitting on the couch behind her. “No you didn’t Twilight.”

Twilight completely disregarded Rainbow’s opinion as she was clearly much too biased to give a fair and balanced opinion of their relationship. Instead, she turned all of her attention on the alicorn in front of her and pushed back enough to look up at Cadence’s face. “What’ll I do Cadence?”

As her big sister began to speak, Twilight put everything else out of her mind and focused on the first step in saving her relationship. She just knew the Alicorn of Love would provide a solution in an orderly manner, giving Twilight a list of actions to complete that would end with her and Rainbow living together happily for the rest of their lives!

“Everything will be okay, we’re all going to get through this together,” Cadence said in a tone that soothed Twilight’s racing heart a little before her expression soured a tiny bit. “Although, I would like to see that stallion Twilight.”

Reacting to the command, Twilight nodded. “Okay just give me a second.” She didn’t quite follow Cadence’s logic, but she would do anything if it meant being able to stay with Rainbow Dash and bring her the happiness she desired!

Calling up the spell she had perfected just the other day, Twilight formed the continuation matrix in her mind and cast the spell she had learned from Luna that would transform her body. She combining the two in her mind, and let loose the magic.

Of course, without the power of Harmony flowing through her, the maximum amount of time Twilight could have her transformation last without needing to concentrate to hold the form (something she knew from personal experience was impossible when in the throes of passion) was thirty minutes. But that was still long enough to give Rainbow the pleasure she deserved.

The light of the magic enveloped Twilight and cut off her view of the world. As when she had been practicing in her lab all week, the familiar stretching sensation overtook her body as she felt herself becoming taller, stronger…and growing a new sexual appendage. When it was done, Twilight’s vision returned, and he looked down at his now shorter brother and sister. “Okay, now what?”

Cadence mouth opened and she just went, “Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”

Confused at the reaction the now smaller alicorn had to her own instruction’s follow-through, Twilight looked over to his brother. “Cadence? What’s wrong with Cadence Shiny?”

Shining Armor’s body twitched. His head tilted ever so slightly to the side, but…no response was given.

“Wait, you can still do that?” Rainbow asked as she flew over to Twilight’s side and stayed airborne to meet him eye to eye. “How can you still do…stallion you?”

Twilight blushed a little at his actions, even if they were part of Cadence’s instructions. He had meant the spell to be a surprise to Rainbow once their foal was born. He was even working on a way to change Rainbow’s gender in case she wanted to father the next one. If there was a next one. “Ummm, well…I looked at the spell that changed me into a stallion a week ago when I wasn’t umm…stressed, and figured out a way to keep the transformation going using a time-based lock of the spell. I can only do it for half an hour, without a booster I mean.”

“Huh?” Shining squeaked.

“Bwa?” Cadence added.

Twilight ignored the odd noises in favor of giving Rainbow his apologetic look. His hoof scraped the capered floor. “In was in case you wanted to have another foal,” he mumbled in a Fluttershy-esque manner. “After our first one is born.”

“But…it…you…FOAL?” Shining shrieked.

A light weight on Twilight’s back made the male alicorn look back to see Rainbow had landed on him, and as much as he hated to admit it…the touch of his lover as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck to lean forward and rest her head past his shoulders brought a familiar feeling to Twilight’s body.

So he was thankful for Shining’s confusion question that let him stop thinking about mounting Rainbow from behind and banging her senseless. “Our foal…you know, the one inside Dash?”

Cadence’s mouth tried to make a noise, but all that came out was a squeak.

All of a sudden, the metaphorical ground underneath Twilight’s hooves felt a little shaky. “The one you said Spike…told you about?” Twilight asked in an uneasy tone with a hopeful grin on his face.

“Ohhhhhhhh! Twilight hyphen, and then stallion,” Cadence said as she looked over to the unicorn “That’s what he meant, and why he was so weirded out by it. I get it now. Uh…you okay Shiny?”

Shining Armor let out a squeak. Then his eyes rolled back up into his head, and he collapsed onto the floor.

“Guess it’s a family thing,” Rainbow mused as she looked over at Twilight’s little older brother, then nuzzled the alicorn she was riding for a moment before she looked over to Cadence. “But uh…yeah. I was in heat and…we banged. So…yeah. Now we’re together with a baby on the way.”

Cadence looked back to Twilight, and the purple alicorn could practically see Cadence putting the mental image that Rainbow Dash had constructed for her together. A second later, the pink alicorn let out a single laugh, then joined her husband on the floor.

Twilight blinked at the sight of his number one hope for the stability of her relationship on the floor, and sighed. As his shoulders began to slump, Rainbow slid forward and kissed him on the cheek. The touch of her lips only increased the stallion’s growing arousal.

“So…thirty minutes, huh?”

“Yeah,” Twilight confirmed.

“Awesome. Let’s go do it while we‘re waiting for them to wake up,” she told her stallion. “Uh…we can still do it and not hurt the baby, right?”

Twilight replied to the question on autopilot and nodded his head. “Yes. Your amniotic sac will protect the foal, and your mucus plug will keep out infections.” Although Twilight knew he needed to be a lot more gentle with her this time.

Another kiss to the cheek got Twilight moving with his beloved on his back. Although his logical mind said that this really wasn’t the time for it, Twilight had made Rainbow the boss of their relationship…and just dangling a stallion in front of her without giving any satisfaction would make him an even more terrible pony than he already was.

And…it would be a lie to say that he didn’t want to bang Rainbow too.

Stallions were always in the mood.