The trip back took a little while. The raiders had slowed us down more than anticipated, but seeing those gates to town and Silver waiting for us was reassuring.

Silver trotted out to meet us. “It looks like everything went well. Any problems with the last of the raiders?”

I shook my head and hoofed over a nice set of saddlebags. “No, but we did manage to find this for you.”

He took it with a nod of thanks. “Rose would like to see all of you.”

“Is she in the hospital?” I trotted along following Silver.

“No she’s still sitting in her office watching through that window.” Silver looked slightly concerned and it was obvious no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

None of us spoke another word about this. After a few short minutes we reached the door to town hall.

More guards than usual were stationed around. “Is this many guards necessary? I get that it’s not just Rose they’re protecting, but this seems like overkill.”

Silver shook his head as he trotted up the stairs. “I wouldn’t allow there to be less guards than this on sight. Not just for Rose’s sake but for the sake of some valuable information and machinery. Rose can handle herself, she can probably match any one of these guards even if she’s pregnant.”

The door to the office opened and Rose was staring at us with hooves on her desk, a small puddle of water at her back hooves. “Silver, I think my water broke.”

Silver sat in stunned silence for a second. “I…”

In a blur of motion Rose no longer was standing behind her desk. She was instead about halfway down the stairs in Silver’s telekinetic grasp. “Here we go, I guess.”

“I didn’t think he could move that fast. That’s incredible speed, even for an alicorn.” Harmony jumped down the stairs after Rose and the unseen Silver.

“Maybe he used teleportation magic.” I suggested as I leapt down the stairs myself. “Nopony can move that fast on their own.”

“Either way we need to get to the hospital quick. No telling what Silver’s going to be like in there.” Harmony broke into a gallop as soon as she hit the door to outside.

Rose was already inside the hospital when we got outside. We galloped as fast as we could.

Inside the hospital was a bit of a mess. A telekinetic fit had gathered up almost all of the supplies and torn doors of there hinges as Silver bolted into the nearest room.

“Now calm down there son. What seems to be the issue?” The old stallion was putting on gloves.

Rose was trying to talk through her breathing. “Contractions…. Baby.. It’s coming…”

The stallion shoved Rose into a room that Silver had already prepared. “Come along you two. No doubt we’ll need some help controlling the eager father.”

We did as we were told. To my surprise Silver actually seemed relatively calm for what was going on around him. It looked like he had set up the room in the few seconds he had been in it. “Yes. Now hurry. She’s gonna need something for the pain.”

The doctor gave him a look before nodding. “Son I’ve delivered more than my fair share of foals. I can’t move as quick as you though. Good thing we’ve got good help here.” He waved me towards a cabinet. “In there should be some painkillers. Get those ready for me.”

I opened the cabinet and looked at the instructions. I had never done this before, but it seemed like a simple enough recipe. After a minute or so the fluid was being given to Rose.

“Remind me to kick Silver’s aSs!!! For doing this to mE!!!” Rose yelled out still in pain.

The doctor calmly nodded, his years of experience showing in the way he worked. “Get over here and hold her hooves. Be prepared though, she might grasp a little hard. Don’t blame her either, this is never pleasant.”

Silver stayed on Rose’s left always reassuring her. “You’ve got this honey. Just focus on your breathing and we’ll get you through this.”

She seemed a little bit better off with this, but it didn’t help much to calm the pain she was in. Her breathing continued to be ragged.

“One last push Dear. You’re almost through it.” Silver said as he kissed Rose on the forehead.

With that two high pitch screams sounded. Two new foals had entered the world. Happy and healthy.

The doctor took a few minutes to clean up the new foals before returning them to Rose. “Congratulations, a beautiful colt and filly.” The doctor let Rose hold her children.

“They’re perfect.” Rose lifted them so Silver could get a better look.

Tears welled in his eyes, but they were tears of joy. He kept his mouth open as he looked for the right words to say. “They’re the best thing that’s happened to me. I love you Rose.”

“I love you too Silver.” Rose kissed him.

The colt was a unicorn sporting a coat a few shades lighter than his father’s with a two tone mane of silver and black. I couldn’t see what the filly was, but I guessed pegasus due to the small bumps at her sides. She was a topaz in color, with a multitone mane of light purple and blue with a single patch of platinum. Which was odd considering neither Rose or Silver had any hint of a green to their coats.

The doctor brought out a few slips of paper. “Not that you need to sign these, It’s a pre war formality. Nopony’s going to ask to see birth certificates for them, but I figured you two might like to fill them out.”

Silver set them down next to the corresponding foal. “Well Honey. It’s time to make those names final.”

“Well I think our daughter will be named Platinum Topaz and our little boy will be Morning Glory.” Rose nuzzled her new foals.

Silver wrote down the names while nuzzling Rose’s neck. “They’re perfect honey.”

I didn’t want to ask what happened next. I knew that the wasteland wasn’t safe for the foals, and I didn’t want them to get hurt, but I also didn’t want to see my friends leave. We still needed them here.

But Silver took a notice to my concern and gave me a calming look. One that told me he wasn’t leaving and neither was Rose. He had a plan in mind that would keep us safe.

Harmony tugged lightly on my tail. “Let’s give them some alone time with the foals.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I gave the family one last look before trotting out the door. I shut it quietly behind me as we went on our way. “That was an ordeal, but I’m glad we could help them out.”

Harmony didn’t return the smalltalk. Something was on her mind and she wasn’t going to talk about it until we got home. She just gave me that look when I tried to coax it out of her while we walked.

When the door to our house finally shut behind us she sighed in relief. “I’m happy we could help too, but this made me think.”

I trotted up the stairs dragging Harmony along with me. “Is it about foals? I said we’d figure something out, and I don’t plan on breaking that promise.”

Harmony stopped me at the door to our room. “I know. I just don’t think I’m ready yet. I still have places I want to see, things I want to do before we try to raise some foals.” She let a tear or two escape. “I thought you might be upset if I told you this.”

I cupped her face in my hooves. “I’m not upset with you. In fact, I completely understand. I’m not ready either. After witnessing that, I don’t think I’ll be ready for a while.”

Harmony smiled slightly. “I was hoping you’d understand.”

“We still have to make the wasteland safe after all. Maybe then we can be comfortable with raising foals of our own, until then” I kissed her. “We’ve got each other, and that’s what matters.”

Author's Notes:

Work is swamping me, so this is going to be the last upload for a while. Don't worry, I'll be back with more once I get some time to actually write and not just sleep as soon as I get home.