"Make way!" Cantor cried as he came into existence with a flash of teleportation sparks.

As luck would have it, the first pony he discovered amid the hospital corridors was Dr. Stable: almost a business partner to Cantor now and, as ever, pleased to see the young alicorn.

"What is it now, Cantor...?" He asked in a droll voice, not even turning to look as he paced through the adjoining wards. He halted, however, when he heard what Cantor said next.

"It's Twilight." He proclaimed urgently. "She's having the baby now."

Stable swivelled around and rooted his hooves before Cantor. "Now now," He said with an air of confidence in procedure. "Let's calm down, first of all: this happens every day..."

With a deep breath, "Okay..." Cantor replied agreeably, nodding more insistently than by any definition of 'relaxed.'

With a jerk of his head that spoke, "Follow me", the doctor led Cantor toward a nurse standing in the foyer, who until just recently had been chatting light-heartedly with the receptionist. "Where is she now, Cantor?" Dr. Stable asked, leaning over the receptionist's desk and giving the seated lavender mare a nod to the stack of dulled filing cabinets behind her with a short, "Twilight Sparkle."

The young mare nodded swiftly, and before making short work on finding the unicorn's record, met concerned eyes with Cantor. She retrieved the cardboard folder and offered it to Stable, who took it in a shroud of sky blue magic.

"Cantor!" Dr. Stable barked, startling the alicorn to attention.

"U- uh- Sh- she's at home. A- at the library." Came Cantor's flustered response. He sighed with aggravation. "Sorry, I'm just... I..." He blew out a shivering breath from his taut lungs.

Stable, after dispatching an ambulance crew with an expression of urgency, turned to a very restless Cantor, his voice mundane and, whilst just a little staged, did well to diffuse at least a little of the stress running through the white alicorn. "Calm down, Cantor..." He breathed. "We do this every day: there's very little risk of injury to either mare or foal."

Cantor swallowed nervously, breathing the doctor's words. "Ah- Y- yeah... Okay. I get it..." He replied, his affiliation with fear and panic leaving his mind increasingly quickly. "Alright." He added agreeably. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Cantor...?" Dr. Stable quietly said with a thin air of sarcasm. "You're not having a baby."

Cantor stared, lifting a foreleg to avert his body slightly. "That's right..." He replied questioningly.

Stable rolled his eyes. "Well go on, then: be there to support your mare who is." His voice was unsparing of the anxiety still present within Cantor, but the young alicorn was aware of the fact...

"This happens every day." He recalled Stable saying. Furthermore, the doctor's latter point hit the nail on the head. He was right. No doubt about it.

"Thanks, Stable." Cantor said firmly, shooting the caramel coated stallion a sturdy nod, disappearing into a flash of purple sparks, returning the hospital air to a greater hush than it had been before.

Doctor Stable chuckled and propped himself up against the tall wooden reception desk, magically passing Twilight's document to the receptionist, who appeared mostly un-fazed. She deposited the cardboard wallet back into the filing cabinet and shut the door with a sharp 'bang.'

Cantor re-appeared outside the library's broad front door. He could hear Rarity's hurried, muffled vocals bleeding through the walls from somewhere within. "Okay..." He thought, psyching himself up internally. "Stable's right: I've gotta be there with her, to reassure her. I... I can do this!"

With a second triumphant nod to his own psyche, Cantor swung open the doors, revealing a sweaty and panicking Twilight Sparkle, laid upon her back, a sizeable pink blanket draped over the lower half of her body.

"I can't do this!" Cantor cried out inside his head. Whatever calm he may have achieved previously flew, less than daintily out the window, and was replaced with an old, familiar dismay.

"Alright, okay..." Cantor uttered to himself as he stepped inside, closing the door loudly behind him.

Rarity was busying herself reassuring Twilight: not all too well given her own state of demeanour. She, too, appeared just as stressed as Cantor. Spike was making his claws busy -- watching from a distance, not helping beyond readying himself to jump at the first hint of an instruction. Cantor caught sight of this and made out he had any idea what he needed to do. "Spike!" He had to shout to be heard over Rarity's ceaseless, Pinkie Pie-style chattering. "Why don't you go fetch us a bowl of cold water and a flannel?" He wasn't sure the pint-sized dragon had even registered the order judging by his unbroken gaze toward Twilight, but he promptly rushed into the kitchen to loudly rummage through cupboards. Seconds later came the blast of a tap.

Cantor noticed himself nodding stiffly a third time, yet didn't think much of it as he leapt to Twilight's side, doing everything in his might to ignore the tiny spill of blood on the floor.

"Hey, Twi..." He said with thick apprehension, taking her hoof and feeling it grip tightly around his. "You doing okay...?"

Twilight gave a quiet bleat in response, screwing her eyes shut and pushing her head against Cantor's chest.

"It's alright... it's alright." He reassured, mind vacant and wandering for something supportive to say. "You're gonna be fine. The doctors'll be here any minute."

The distressed unicorn's breathing was quick as panic and pain flushed through her body. With no warning, her muscles contracted and she let out a grievous wail as she buried her face into Cantor's fur, her tears wetting the alicorn's chest.

"...Oww..." Twilight whimpered, her voice trembling as the pain rapidly slunk away ready for another pass. "Cantor... I- it really hurts." She wept. "It's so much more painful than I thought it would be. Please... Make it stop."

The futile plea for help broke Cantor's heart. "I... I cant, Twilight..." He replied wistfully. "If I could go through this for you, I would: you know I would. But I... I just..." His voice trailed off. Twilight said nothing, but continued crying onto his chest, her sobbing resonating through her shattered breath. Cantor felt the pressure around his hoof amplify as another contraction sent Twilight wailing. She clenched her teeth and took raspy breaths, beating her hind hooves on the floor until the pain subsided once again.

There was a hasty knock on the front door, and Rarity sprung up to answer it. Cantor heard her usher an anxious, "Yes, she's in here." before leading three medically-dressed ponies inside: two earth pony mares and one young unicorn stallion, who closed the door behind him and began setting up a pain-numbing drip for Twilight.

"Hello, there!" The eldest of the two mares greeted, her confident tone doing more than anyone else could hope to to bring the situation to more of a calm. "Twilight Sparkle, is it?" She beamed, meeting the lavender mare's frightened eyes. "My name is Cherry Poesy, and don't worry." She continued boldly. "You're in very good hooves."

It was at this moment Spike came lumbering back into the scene carrying a large metal mixing bowl full of water for Twilight, a saturated flannel slowly twirling inside as he set it down beside the midwife, who was taken aback slightly by the sight of the creature.

"Oh..." She said with an air of uncertainty, staring at Spike with no particular emotion. "A... dragon..."

"Spike..." Twilight introduced breathlessly. "He helps me out..." She shot the young dragon a grin. "Thank you, Spike." She chirped weakly, sweat matting the front of her mane.

"It's very good timing." Cherry Poesy agreeably stated, motioning for the other mare to cool Twilight down. "Now." She began anew, folding back the blanket covering Twilight up. "Oh, wow!" She exclaimed. "That was quick: I can already see the head."

Twilight gasped in an excitement. "Really?" She asked, captivated.

"Yes." Replied the earth pony, making her hooves busy. "...That should be much easier for you now -- much less painful." She relayed, beginning to sound a great deal more formal as she settled in to her work. She did a quick check to make sure that the male nurse had set up the drip properly. "There's painkillers in you, and I've managed to move the horn out of the way: it seems it was caught on you."

Twilight and Cantor looked at each other. "Horn?" They both mouthed silently, before another contraction overwhelmed Twilight. She cried out, but the midwife was right: this time, the pain was substantially less.

"You're doing well, Twilight." The midwife assured with a fervent smile. "It shouldn't be too much longer, now."

Twilight thanked the mare beside her as she rung out the flannel and placed the cool, damp fabric back over her brow. It felt soothing against her horn as her head grew hot from her thumping heart.

"Okay, now sweetie," Cherry Poesy said soberingly, shooting Twilight an austere look with her raspberry-coloured eyes. "When the next contraction happens, you're going to need to push along with it, okay."

Twilight nodded slowly, fearfully agreeing, "Okay..."

Cherry Poesy was quietly assuring everything was proceeding as normal beneath the blanket as everypony waited for Twilight to push. After a short while, Cherry grinned warmly towards Cantor. "What's your name, dear?" She asked; Cantor told her. "Are you and Twilight together?" She asked openly, aware such a question might be taken as rude.

"Yeah." Cantor replied, re-affirming his grip on Twilight's hoof.

Following a short pause, Cherry openly asked, "And I suppose you're the father, as well?"

Cantor laughed, "I hope so." He said with a childish grin directed at Twilight, who wasn't in the frame of mind to even react.

The midwife chuckled along, if indeed, a little sarcastically. "Oh, Cantor..." She mused. "If I had a bit for every time I heard that..." She smiled and rolled her eyes, right before another contraction gripped Twilight.

Once again, Cantor felt the pressure around his hoof increase dramatically as Twilight sucked in a sharp breath and held it. Her agony persisted for what seemed like an age, yet she came out the other side of it mere seconds later.

"Are you fighting it, Twilight?" Cherry asked firmly, going on to assert, "You have to push, or this'll just last for hours."

Twilight started crying again; this time sobbing out of woe and helplessness. "I know..." She replied, her voice sounding as though she were speaking through a tangled rope. "But it really hurts..." She whined, her tone a shivering cry for mercy.

Cherry tilted her head with a look of compassion. "Oh, I know, dear." She cooed. "Just breathe deeply: try and calm down." She took several deep, rhythmic breaths, urging Twilight to follow suit, which the frightened young unicorn did, finding that in fact, it did help...

Cherry Poesy turned to Spike, who was once again clasping at his own claws: eager, yet in situation like this, almost clueless upon how to help. "Could you get Twilight a drink of water?" She sweetly but firmly asked. Spike stared steadfast at Twilight for a moment: his eyes taught and his mouth slightly open in a worried fascination. Repeating Cantor's earlier assumption, Cherry wasn't sure he had heeded her instruction, but just a second before she went to ask again, the little dragon hurried away, dashing away into the kitchen to make use of the taps once more.

What felt like hours dragged by; poor Twilight felt it even more so, but as the clock on the wall made its unwavering round, Cherry Poesy assured her that the next push or two would be 'it.'

"You're doing so well, sweetie." Rarity chimed, adding to her growing list of brief encouragements. For her, too, this was a startling experience, and the odd positive remark was all she could muster. Though it seemed to be helping the cause.

"Thanks, Rarity." Twilight replied breathlessly, adopting an 'it's the thought that counts' mentality in her helpless mind.

Regardless of how fundamental Rarity's comments seemed, they were a more welcome gesture than Cantor's occasional jabs of small-talk humour. Again, 'it's the thought that counts' was balanced in twilight's mind, but her patience for his sickly sweet apathy to this very stressful, and frankly dangerous, situation, was wearing thin. She knew what he was trying to do: attempting to ease the mental burden, but she knew he could tell it wasn't working, yet he persisted - almost as if he wasn't as prepared as she was for what was about to happen.

"Story of our lives..." Was a thought which mused through Twilight's fuzzy head before yet another gruelling contraction thrashed her body. Even if he did indeed lack the verbal proficiency at this time, Twilight was still glad Cantor was the one holding her hoof right now.

Cherry upturned her head to face Twilight. "You're still holding back? Even when you're this close?" She asked compellingly, her raspberry-pink eyes, despite boasting slight dark patches beneath them, contained the same fervent emotion. "Believe me, Twilight, you're so close: just one more big push, come on..."

Twilight was getting tired. Pretty soon, even if she did start trying, she wouldn't have the strength to exert herself. Even breathing was wearing her spirit down. This thought worried her: made her aware of the dire circumstances, yet she still felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Thankfully, a voice speaking softly into her ear reminded her there was somepony who would move mountains for her sitting right beside her, holding her hoof.

"Twilight?" Cantor called gently, meeting the unicorn's weary eyes. "For all we've been through -- and everything that's happened to you before we met, this is what's gonna beat you?" He shook his head. "I don't believe it. I just can't accept that." His attention was undivided: he knew what he was doing, but what's more, he meant it. With all his heart. "You've squared up to Manticores, Hydras, hell, even the God of Chaos himself! What kind of pony would you be to throw in the towel now?" Twilight became aware of her breathing for just a moment, feeling the ache in her chest for a short while before Cantor continued. "Think of what we'll face after this... It's going to be fighting monsters, just like before, and every other evil in this world. But not for Equestria... Not even for our friends -- or ourselves..." He wore a sincere brow and locked minds with his little pony. "You know who we need to protect this world for, Twi..." He spoke quietly into her ear, his tone indistinguishable from a private threat to any malice out there. "Without a shadow of a doubt..."

"Now come on," He continued, now focusing his own grip on Twilight's wavering hoof. "Let's get this over with!" He exacted with a rich grin.

As if the alicorn had some kind of divine intervention, one last contraction squeezed Twilight, and in one crucial moment, she pushed with everything that was left of her, and as the overwhelming pain caused her screams to crack like a vice was squeezing her throat, all her senses flushed out, and her conciousness was met with an eerie calm.

...

...She lay there on the library floor in a daze for a moment. Her sight was the first faculty to return, but even when the coloured walls, decorations and many, many books came back into focus, she couldn't really take anything in. A heavy, unpleasant throbbing in her loins made its presence known, followed by the slight smell and taste of blood. However, all this was forgotten in an instant when a tiny, fragile crying grew out from the silence.

Her eyes focused downwards to Cherry Poesy hurriedly cleaning a tiny pony with a wet cloth before wrapping it snugly in a soft magnolia blanket.

Twilight's eyes - in fact, one hundred percent of her attention was focused onto the little life pawing at the material it was wrapped in. She felt a feeling of inseparability, love and care like nothing she had ever imagined in her life whilst staring at the delicate little foal. She was so fixated on it, that she was deaf to anything other than it's weak voice crying out in its strange new world. Regardless, at some point in time, she heard a joyful voice exclaim gently, "Congratulations, Twilight: it's a perfectly healthy unicorn filly." Before she found herself cradling the tiny bundle in her forelegs.

Twilight stared down at her foal with complete fascination. She was overjoyed with every part of her: from the cotton-candy colour of her coat to the thin streaks of violet in her crystal white mane parting either side of the tiny nub of a horn. Even now, Twilight knew this filly was perfect, and even now, she loved it more than anything else in the world. The fact that she felt this way, yet knew her hormones held a great deal of responsibility, made her chuckle.

"Oh, Cantor..." Twilight sighed, beaming, her cheeks becoming wet once again; this time with tears of joy, "Isn't she wonderful...?" After a long silence, she managed to turn her head towards the alicorn, and noted his look of utter speechlessness with a smile.

"That's..." Cantor began after a pregnant pause, "That's our little girl..." Twilight gave an affirmative nod of the head. "...Twilight... I don't know what to say..."

Twilight chuckled and cast a glance around the room. The medical ponies were looking on with glowing eyes: apparently this part of the job never lost its shine. Spike was wearing his previous look of bewildered amazement, and was as equally speechless as Rarity, who was welling up herself.

"Cantor," Twilight started, turning back to her stallion, "Want to hold her?"

Cantor's ears perked up, but he met the suggestion with ardent dismissal, "No, no, no, no, absolutely not." He quickly dismissed.

Twilight looked disheartened. "Why not?" She asked dejectedly.

Cantor shook his head. "Wh- what if I do it wrong? I've never held a foal before -- what if I hurt her?"

Twilight sighed a smile, gratified that her concerns were unjust. "So you're never going to pick her up her whole life because of that? What is she, a seedling?"

Cantor stared at an emotional crossroads. "I..." He stammered.

"Here, just... put your forelegs like this-" Twilight began, passing the foal across to Cantor. Its cries were becoming less sporadic, and were beginning to sound almost like a choir's harmonics.

Cantor stuttered his protests, but found himself complying. "Twilight, I just... I- I just don't trust myself, I.... think you should be more the... sort of..." He trailed off as he felt the slight weight of the filly move to him. He discovered he was holding his breath whilst her cries of stress faded to soft, rhythmic breathing.

Cantor stared down at the child, his mouth slightly agape in awe. "H- Hey, there..." He spoke softly. "I'm..." He paused, realising spaciously what he was about to say. "...I'm your daddy..." He took a sharp breath as tears ran across his cheeks. "Don't worry... I won't let anything hurt you, okay?" He touched his hoof ever so gently to his daughters as she felt around outside her fluffy new womb, and the contact made her eyes flutter open and stare out at the world for the first time.

She caught Cantor off-guard, and he gasped when he saw the curious, frightened eyes of the richest gold staring up at him questioningly.

He found himself biting his trembling lower lip before he spoke again. "You hear that?" He continued, his voice feeble, but full of heart. "Whatever you do in life, I'll be there for you: you can count on me." He said proudly. "Just think, a couple years from now, you'll be running around the library: making a mess." He chuckled, the world swirling in front of his watery eyes. "You'll go to school, make lots of friends... You'll get your cutie mark, and Pinkie'll do you a party." He sniffled and cleared his throat before another thought sprung to his mind. He turned to the little pony with a foreboding tone. "Don't you even think about boyfriends until I've long been buried..."

Twilight laughed weakly, catching Cantor's gaze with a half-lidded stare. "One step at a time, Cantor..." She mused. The alicorn retorted with a soft snort before turning to face his little filly again.

"Speaking of which," Cherry Poesy chimed in, a fountain pen held firmly in the corner of her mouth, a clipboard resting on the floor in front of her. Both Twilight and Cantor turned to face the earth pony mare. "Have you two decided on a name for her?"

Both parents turned to each other with a playful expression of guilt. They returned to Cherry, and Twilight was the first to speak. "Well... We've thought about it before, but... we sort of thought we needed to see her to know what to name her..." She caught Cantor's gaze once again. "Cantor, all I care about is her safety, health and happiness. Unless you name her after yourself because you think it'd be funny," She shot a smirk. "I think you should decide."

Cantor laughed gently. "You're giving me too much power, Twi..." He replied with a soft smile. Once again, his eyes met the little filly's, and with just one glance of that deep golden hue, Cantor's mind was set. "You know..." He began, his voice as close to a whisper as it could be, "I wasn't really sure until I saw her for the first time like Twilight said... But..." He paused, and the atmosphere around him grew evermore sincere. "But... with this name I've got in my head now, I can't think of anything more appropriate... I don't think I'd have even been here without this name I'm thinking of..."

Twilight met Cantor's reverence for a fleeting moment before softly asking, "What do you want to call her?"

Cantor produced a tender smile, and felt his eyes well up again. "...I kinda like 'Faith.'"