Any mare could sense it. She had been in denial, of course, but had to be struck with the truth of reality eventually. Her body swayed with the frequent waving of the locomotive as her eyes gawked into her own reflection of the window to the side. It was one of her worst habits. Procrastinating. Was it that she was truly lazy? It didn't seem so in this situation; fear and confusion arrested her. Hearing muffled laughter from outside the door Rainbow pushed herself from the bed and stumbled to open the doorknob. The giggles grew louder as she steered down the hallway and spotted Big Macintosh in the corner looking in the other direction as he chuckled to himself. After making eye contact as a greeting, she followed his gaze to the adjacent walkway. Applebloom squealed merrily as her older sister pinned her fore hooves down to the ground.

"Now yer gonna get it!" she exclaimed, rubbing her head against the young filly's stomach. She pleaded for Applejack to stop due to her ticklish behavior. "Not 'til ya tell me where ya hid mah hat!"

"I've never seen them like this," Rainbow mustered, leaning closer to the robust stallion.

"A big brother couldn't ask for more," he replied casually, grinning slightly.

"It's…it's in… t-the…kitchen," Applebloom panted, gasping for air, "Underneath the table!"

"So I got it outta ya, huh?" the blonde teased, bringing her younger sibling to her hooves, "Alright, that's enough horseplay. Time fer ya tah get tah sleep!" Applebloom began to embark on her rebellious attitude on curfews but she glanced over to Big Macintosh and back to Applejack. Her ribbon bow tying her mane together drooped as she headed over to her room before she was ceased by a kiss on the cheek from the orange horse. "G'night sugarcube."

"Nighty night," she yawned, strolling over to her brother.

"Sweet dreams," he said, wrapping a leg around her.

"See ya, RD." Rainbow wished her a good night's sleep as she advanced toward Applejack who was now heading in the direction of the kitchen.

"Hey, I need to talk to you," she alerted quietly, catching up to her friend.

"Sure thing," the country filly replied, "What's up?"

"I've found something out this afternoon and I-I want to talk to you, alone. I-it's pretty heavy stuff." She took a second to recollect her thoughts and recall the events earlier in the day while she took a deep breath.

……………………………….....

Annoying little brat.

The winged pony listened to the screams of a young colt in irritation as she impatiently waited for her physician. The mother's attempts to console her offspring failed as his pitch grew louder and higher whenever the doctor presented a new syringe. Even offering the yelling patient lollipops didn't seem to quiet him down.

How many vaccines does that little guy even need? Rainbow Dash thought to herself, leaning over slightly to spy on the doorway across the hall. Snapping out of her thoughts, she turned to the door swinging open which revealed her doctor. The auburn pony looked through her folder as she sat down at her desk. She blew her graying strands from her eyes while glancing at the cyan Pegasus.

"Hello, Ms. Dash," she greeted, smiling, "How are you today?" Faint wrinkles formed by her eyes and around her mouth. They gave a warm, almost motherly appearance which made it effortless for Rainbow to draw near her and open up.

"Better than the colt down there," she joked half-heartedly, flinching at another one of his shrieks.

"So you were here last week for your check up," the doctor announced, flipping through her papers, "And you told me that you had experienced some irregular symptoms last time. Would you mind repeating those for me again, just for the record?"

"Well," Rainbow began, clearing her throat, "I'm a very active pony, as you know. I've been in the Wonderbolts for quite a while now and as being a major athlete and star, I have a very extensive workout routine." Humility was unknown to her. "But lately, I've been having heart problems. Not like heart problems like I'm gonna die or anything, but just out-of-the-ordinary things."

"Uh huh," she murmured, taking notes, "And what do you mean by that?"

"It was kinda beating funny. Like, all weird and stuff…"

"Heart palpitations," she clarified, writing her words down, "Anything else?"

"I've felt sick."

"Sick?"

"Yeah," Rainbow replied, glaring at the ceiling to figure out what to say. The colt was really getting under her skin but it was now the mother's obnoxious singing that frustrated Rainbow. Those lullabies were anything but soothing. "Like the usual stuff."

"Headaches, soreness, congestion, indigestion, nausea…?"

"All of that," Rainbow agreed, watching her scribble on her paper. "And they haven't gotten any better, doc."

"Alright, well, I have your results, dear," she responded, setting down her pen to look at her patient. Rainbow slanted foreword slightly, straining to pick up her words. She saw the doctor's mouth form words that were drained out by the fussing colt, the melodic screeches of the mother, and now the animated voices that came out of his doctor's sock puppets that only scared the young pony. Finally, Rainbow flew up and slammed the door harder than she intended to.

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly, lowering back onto her bench. "C-could you repeat that again?"

"I said the test came back positive. You're in-foal." The senior pony was unaware of Rainbow's distressed reaction. "Looking at my data, your progesterone levels increased drastically which explains the heart palpitations. The nausea and indigestion are usual signs of pregnancy. After the doctors in the labs noticed your levels, they ran your urine and blood tests and came back as positive. The nurse who check your heartbeat earlier this appointment verified with me that she did in fact hear another pulse in you. Tell me, sweetie, how far along do you think you are?"

"I-I'm not sure." That was a lie. About four months and seventeen days. Exactly.

In-foal. With the word ringing in her ears, the Wonderbolt could only blink as she watched the doctor hand her pamphlets. "Here are some booklets for starters to inform you what to expect during your pregnancy. This one includes the growth of your foal and how you might feel during certain stages. And this one is about recommended exercises that you should do in order to make the birthing process easier for you and your foal. Now this one here is the first months of parenthood and what you should expect as a new mother…" She opened them to reveal the information and pictures inside for Rainbow to see. Her words weren't registering with the cyan Pegasus and her voice grew muffled with Rainbow's own disbelief.

"This isn't happening," she muttered, her eyes shifting from the doctor to the pile of papers, "Can't be. Not now." She reburied her face into her hooves and drew them to her hairline, pushing back her bangs. The older mare furrowed her eyebrows as she observed the apprehensive pony. A small 'oh' escaped the medical pony's mouth. Pulling out something from her drawer, she held it out from Rainbow to grab. A picture of two pegasi were on the cover page, one of each gender. The couple held a baby unicorn whose eyes seemed to bore into Rainbow's magenta ones. Over their heads read yellow text that spelled out "Adoption". The physician's cool, quiet voice caused her to jerk her head up.

"If you have any further questions about agencies or the process…"

"What are you getting at?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"I'm not getting at anything. I've dealt with many young mare's in your position before, Ms. Dash. If you aren't ready for the foal, I'm sure there's somepony who is. It's always an option." Hesitating to say something, Rainbow blew her mane out of her eyes.

"I needa get outta here," she stammered, grabbing all the pamphlets and tucking them under her foreleg absently.

"R-rainbow," she called out, "Where are you going? This appointment isn't finished yet." The panicking pony struggled with the doorknob until she finally twisted it and sped out. "Ms. Dash!" the doctor called out, galloping towards the hallway, "Ms. Dash!" Her rainbow winds traveled from the room through the hallways and out the door, causing the drowsy secretary to awaken. Outside the building, Rainbow paused quickly to survey her surroundings. Nobody she knew was nearby and come to think of it, not many pegasi were out in the usually busy Cloudsdale. Beginning to hover, she held her arms even tighter to her sides to prevent the brochures from slipping.

How could she have let this happen? There were stories that she had always heard about young mares in the same position as her. She knew what her friends and society would think of her. Celestia knows that she had made the same judgments. However, she was now in the hot seat. But she wasn't careless or naïve or irresponsible…

Or was she?

She remembered looking into his emerald orbs as the warmth of the sun seeped through her fur. A smile brushed across her face as he spoke to her, his words drenched charmingly with his drawl. There were green fields everywhere that were dappled by small groups of flowers. Even when living in Cloudsdale, their air couldn't compare to the freshness of the meadows in his hometown. She couldn't exactly remember what they were talking about or whether she even conversed. He led her to his barn, she remembered, to get…something. The large amounts of hay excited her. She never saw so many stacks of hay in her life! Rolling in the fodder, the young stallion joined her, challenging her to a race to the top. What sounded like a simple enough challenge turned into a series of slipping with failed clutches to pull themselves to the peak. Eventually with extra motivation, resulted in the female pony to touch the crest of the haystack. As she glided down the pile, she pulled on her counterpart's blonde tail with him rolling down with her. Their guffaws continued after she landed on her back with his hooves by each side of her neck. After a long glimpse, he leaned down to peck her on the lips and slowly drew back. It seemed as if they were the only two ponies on that land.

No matter how many times she played the scene in her head, there seemed to be a new element added to the story that she must've forgotten. Whether it was something in the setting or a certain emotion she felt or-

"Ow!" she cursed, rubbing her forehead that she smacked against the front door of her home. She had forgotten how close her house was from the doctor's office. Grabbing the pamphlets from her arms while landing, she placed them under her wing and squeezed it tightly to her side. Breathing a sigh, she opened the door anticipating for a good rest. To her shock four familiar ponies greeted her at the threshold.

"SURPRISE!" they all shouted. Her wings flickered out slightly in fright and pulled themselves back in to prevent the leaflets from falling out.

"Happy second year anniversary of joining THE WONDERBOLTS!" the pink mare squealed, throwing confetti in her face. "Did we surprise ya? Huhuhhuh?"

"Wait, how, what, uh," Rainbow spat out, her thoughts clouding her mind.

"I told you guys she would be surprised! I knew that today, this day, was your second anniversary of joining the Wonderbolts by this," Pinkie Pie explained, digging though her bag to pull out a book, "The day that you joined the Wonderbolts, I wrote it down because I knew that I would have to celebrate the anniversary parties and I wanted to know when to celebrate them. I mean, who ever heard of somebody celebrating something when it's not the right day?"

"Pinkie that…actually makes a lot of sense," Rainbow admitted, not even thinking about how they got into her place or truthfully even caring how they got into her place.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't make it last year," Twilight began, bringing her friend into her own home, "but I've finally come up with the perfect walking-on-clouds spell that will last for the rest of the day!" She turned to the sports pony and lowered her voice. "We know how busy you are in Cloudsdale, so we understand why it may not be the most lenient of times for you to come all the way down Ponyville."

"Wow, that's very sweet of you guys," she cooed, snapping back into her previous alarmed state, "But I-I can't have you guys over. Not right now, maybe we can-"

"I can't wait for you to open my present, darling,” Rarity declared obliviously, "I think you'll just love it." The pallid unicorn slinked to Rainbow and whispered, "There are two spa tickets in this envelope. One for you and one for a dear friend, if you get my idea."

"Guys, really, I'd love for you to stay but-" Hold up. One, two, three, four ponies. "Where's Applejack?"

"She has a family reunion that she's packing up for," Fluttershy updated while playing with Tank, "The train will be leaving this afternoon, b-but she wishes you a happy anniversary and wishes that she could be here. She also left you this." Fluttershy handed her a small box with apple-printed wrapping paper.

"Oh another family reunion?" Rarity interjected, drinking from the punch bowl that she carefully inspected (with no Gummy in sight), "Didn't she have one of those a few weeks back?"

"Yes, but t-this is for her other side of the family," Fluttershy clarified ducking her head somewhat.

"Back on topic," Twilight cut in, holding up a cup of juice, "Here's to Rainbow Dash! For two great years and many more to cherish!"

"Heh heh, yeah…" The lavender unicorn dropped her face lightly but returned to a smirk.

"Hey, where's that classic Rainbow confidence?"

"Oh it's here, somewhere," she nervously assured, compressing her wings firmer against her sides.

"Alright, enough chit-chat!" Pinkie exclaimed, popping out of the couch cushions, "Lets PAAAAAAR-TAY!" As the girls grouped around the record player and swayed to the music, Rainbow awkwardly stood in the middle. "C'mon, you call that dancing? Geesh my own grandmother can go better than that!"

"Actually, I'm kinda hungry," she blurted, racing to the party table. Anything to avoid moving too much. Although, the pastries looked very appetizing. Extremely appetizing. Boy, the Cakes have certainly outdone themselves this time.

"But Dashie, you always have the best moves!" complained Pinkie.

"You certainly aren't acting like yourself today," Twilight pointed out with concern.

"I'm fine, really!"

"I got it!" Pinkie proclaimed, holding up a scarf, "Pin the tail on the pony! You love that game, doncha Rainbow?" Covering her eyes and ignoring her protests, Pinkie began to tie the scarf as she reminisced. "You're the best at this game. Hey, remember when Twilight pinned the tail on the wrong wall? Or when Spike gave it a try and actually fell down the stairs? Poor little guy!" She broke into giggles as she braced her arms on Rainbow's shoulders. "Alright! Now that your blindfold is nice and secure, time to do my super-duper-trooper-loopty-doopty-Pinkie-style-spinner-winner!"

"Wait, Pinkie, n-" Wind filled her ears as she whirled. She heard the other ponies chant her name as she caught balance from the self-tornado she had trapped herself in. Stumbling over her legs from the lack of balance, she let out a yelp as she tripped on a piece of furniture. Her back crashed against the wall as she felt her wings pop open in alertness. There was an unmistakable sound of papers plummeting to the ground.