Groggily, Rainbow Dash rose to a sitting position in her bed, woken by the sound of her alarm clock buzzing off. As of lately, she had gone through a routine of cursing the morning while measuring out the distance between the bathroom and her bedroom. Hauling herself over to the edge, she landed on her hooves and began sauntering over to the hallway. She entered the bathroom and squeezed a small amount of toothpaste onto her tooth brush and grunted. Luckily, she had become accustomed to her irregular headaches and closed her eyes until the lightheadedness simmered away. Putting the toothbrush in her mouth, she ran the bristles across her teeth quickly. To nopony in particular, she made a comment out loud.

"Shomepony told meh that preg-na-shee wash the mosht beautiful thing in Equeshtria," she murmured as her reflection in the mirror started to become covered in her saliva. Grabbing the cup next to her full of water, she gargled and rinsed her mouth only to look at herself again. "What a load of sh-" She heard a croak and turned to see that it was from Tank who stood by her ankles. "Stuff," she corrected. Heading over to the kitchen, she tossed an apple towards his direction which he had caught in his mouth.

"Nice catch buddy," she congratulated, closing the refrigerator to rest her body against. "Eight months down, three more to go." A rapid knock was heard at the door. She waddled over to open it to find a familiar orange filly standing on her porch with a beaming smile across her face.

"Are ya ready yet?" she spat out, flapping her wings.

"I didn't have breakfast yet," Rainbow informed, looking back at the food counter. She saw the young horse's face start to drop slightly causing Rainbow to blow out an impatient sigh. "But I suppose I can hold off till we get there. Hopefully this thing won't punish me by eating me alive."

"YAY!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down as she grabbed Rainbow's hoof, "C'mon, c'mon! We're gonna be late!"

"Woah, Scoots, easy now," Rainbow warned, giggling. Her hooves seemed to dig even deeper into the clouds than the prior months due to her weight gain. "We can take our sweet time. The game doesn't start for another half an hour or so."

"Yeah, but I want the best possible view!"

"Puh-lease! We're gonna be in the VIP's. We have the best views. And I have another surprise for you." Scootaloo's eyes grew big as she let out a high pitched scream.

"What is it? What is it? I'm just dying to know!"

"Since you're making me wait for my breakfast, I'm gonna make you wait for the surprise," she teased, nudging her counterpart after she stomped impatiently.

……………………………

Cheering in the stands, Rainbow waved her arms excitedly after watching one of her teammates do an impressive aerial performance. Scootaloo's head persistently jarred over to the timer. As the horn sounded, the small horse tapped Rainbow's shoulder to grab her attention.

"It's half-time!" she announced, transitioning from tapping to shaking. "You said if I wait till half-time, you'll show me the surprise!"

"OK, OK! Easy!" Rainbow spat out, steadying herself after Scootaloo pulled back, "Alright you didn't bother me once during the game so I guess you get your reward. C'mon." Nodding to the security guard a few feet away, Rainbow waited for his assistance as Scootaloo squirmed in anticipation. "Well," she began, starting to get up, "are you gonna follow me follow me to the backstage?" she asked, departing from her seat. The filly let out a loud gasp in excitement as she brushed past the expecting mare. A laugh slipped out as she trailed behind the sprinting equestrian into the hallway. Voices echoed throughout the atmosphere causing Rainbow's stomach to flutter slightly in expectation. Scootaloo turned back to her and raised her eyebrows while tapping her hoof.

"You're such a slowpoke!" she complained with a smirk.

"I missed the days when you thought I can do no wrong," Rainbow retorted when she approached her.

"You can never do anything wrong," Scootaloo guaranteed, "Especially when you do things like this!" Rainbow led her into the athlete's lounge and shook her gently as she stood by the doorway, stunned.

"OMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSH!" she squealed, jumping up and down, "The Wonderbolts! Here! In front of me! Now!" All the teammates energetically greeted Rainbow and trotted up to her, most of them reaching for her abdomen.

"You're a big one aren't ya?" a voice quipped. After responding gleefully to her colleagues, Rainbow twisted to find Spitfire beaming from ear to ear.

"Hey!" she shouted enthusiastically over the chattering ponies, "Oh, hey, I want you to meet the filly I've been telling you about." Reaching for Scootaloo, she averted the guest's attention to Spitfire. Her eyes were already wide open from the exhilaration of her surroundings and dropped her mouth when she was escorted by Rainbow to the team's captain.

"Y-y-you're S-Spit…Spitfire!" she stammered, trembling faintly.

"The one and only," she replied, tilting her head higher in pride, "Rainbow told me about you before. Scootaloo, right?"

"Y-you said my name!"

"Yeah, Rainbow said you're pretty rad at skateboarding and you're getting really good at flying." Scootaloo faced Rainbow and grinned.

"Really?" she asked, gaining eye contact with Spitfire again.

"Oh yeah," Spitfire answered.

"T-that's so awesome!" Rainbow placed her hoof on her shoulder to grab her interest and pointed to the crowd of athletes again.

"Guys, this is my good friend, Scootaloo," Rainbow began only to watch the orange horse to quickly blend herself into the group. "Well, it looks like she's made herself comfortable."

"She's a cutie," Spitfire commented, "So how's the pregnancy treating you?" Rainbow stuck out her tongue in faux disgust and Spitfire returned a guffaw. Suddenly, a voice boomed from the hallways as Rainbow realized that it was Top Boss.

"Dashie, baby!" he yelled, strutting over to her, "It's great to see ya! It's really great to see ya!"

"Hey Top! I-"

"You havin' this baby was the best thing you coulda done for us! We're bigger than ever now! Everypony is tryin' to get the scoop on you, dollface!" He paused to fix his hairpiece. "You shoulda thought of this earlier. Brilliant! You should be your own manager!"

"Oh, but then I wouldn't have you," she commented lightly.

"Dashie, you always know how to flatter a pony," he gushed, heading to his teammates, "I'll call ya later! It was great seein' ya!"

"Too tell you the truth, I kinda missed him for a while there," Rainbow admitted.

"He's right you know. You're the biggest thing," Spitfire explained, "Everypony's talking about you. Just as we thought that you couldn't get any bigger, you explode everywhere. Heck, you're even knocking off the politicians and appearing on the front cover of the newspaper as world news." Sharing a laugh, Spitfire quieted down and peered downward. "Enjoy your time in the limelight, kid." There was a certain tone of melancholy in her voice which caused her to clear her throat ad change the subject. "Anyway, since you're here, maybe you should give a little shout out to the audience. You know, make a cameo."

"Yeah, that sounds great!" she agreed.

"Radical!" she called out as she exited the room with her associates, "Meet ya at the field!" A flashback appeared in her mind. It was the afternoon of the Young Flyer's Competition and Rainbow had just completed her now world famous sonic rainboom. Her nerves overwhelmed her as she stood in front of her idols in their Wonderbolt costumes. Her words had difficultly flowing out of her mouth as her eyes flickered from each team member. Abruptly, her face tightened as the most notable affiliate stepped out to reveal herself to the young contest winner. Magazines had always raved about the colors of her coat, mane and eyes, saying that even the most colorblind ponies would be held in captivation of her brilliant shades. Rainbow felt the word 'brilliant' was an understatement. The setting sun of Cloudsdale that day after the competition celebration brought out the exquisiteness of the mare. She really was beautiful. Her splendor was astonishing and to Rainbow, more so than even Princess Celestia's.

"Hey, I'm Spitfire," she announced with her amber eyes sparkling. The blue pegasus could only squeak as a reaction. "You OK, kid?"

"You are, like, perfection!" she screamed, "I can't believe that you're here. Right here! In front of me! ME!"

"You're-"

"You are, like, the most famous Pegasus in all of Equestria!"

"You're funny," she said, smiling, "What's your name?"

"Rainbow Dash and I hope to be part of your team someday I've always dreamed of becoming a Wonderbolt and I'm so happy that I won this competition and I'm so psyched that I'm meeting you guys and you're like my idol andIcan'tbelievethisisallhappeningrightI'mSOEXCITEDICANBARELYEVENSTANDSTILLRIGHTNOW!"

Spitfire halted for a moment. "Wow."

"Sorry, I'm just so excited."

"I can tell," Spitfire jested, "Rainbow Dash. That's quite a name. I can see that being in the press." Rainbow gasped loudly and bit her lip from shrieking in delight. "That some amazing stuff you did out there today. I never saw anything like it, you really have potential. Work hard and who knows, maybe you'll be flying with us sooner than you think."

Snapping out of her thoughts, Rainbow found her leg being jerked by Scootaloo.

"Jeez Scoots," she griped, "All you've been doing today is pull me."

"I overheard you guys after the team left. So are you going do a shout out?"

"You heard that, huh?" she questioned, turning to the security guard by the door that stalled for her, "Yeah, I guess I am. I better go now since half-time is almost ending. Maybe you should stay here and wait for me to come back so that we can go to our seats." Quickly, Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs around her neck. The two ponies held their embraced position with Rainbow eventually rubbing her back tenderly.

"No matter what, you're always my favorite," she whispered into the Wonderbolt's ear. Rainbow blinked away the stinging in her eyes rapidly before retracting back.

"I taught you well," she quipped, drawing away, "See ya in a bit." As she was escorted to the field, she heard the applause growing louder which made her blood rush faster. Audiences brought a form of energy that Rainbow could never explain to the other ponies. Her eyelids rose up while her posture straightened due to the shooting adrenaline shooting down her back. After her name was broadcasted, she was handed a microphone and watched the sports fans cheer for a moment.

"What's up Cloudsdale?" she hailed, waving her arm, "It feels good to be back. I hope all of you are having an awesome time!" She stopped for the crowd to quiet down. "Are you guys ready to see our Wonderbolts again?" She motioned for them to join her as the audience screamed again in approval. With Spitfire standing next to her, Rainbow remembered what she had told her back at the lounge.

"Give it up for them," she pronounced, bringing the microphone to her lips, "And give it up for our team captain, Spitfire." She twisted to face her. "She's the reason why I'm a part of this amazing team, she's my ultimate inspiration. So let's give her-- all of these ponies—some love." The audience roared optimistically as she turned off the microphone.

"You're too much, RD," Spitfire joked, holding out her hoof, "Thanks."

"It's the least I can do," Rainbow admitted, shaking it, "Now let's not make this too mushy-gushy. You gotta kick some flank out there."

…………………………..

Because Ponyville was known for having a great amount of fertility in their soil, the busiest part of the village happened to be the market place. At the market, not only was food up for purchase but so were knick knacks along with souvenirs and even clothing stores had been built to attract more citizens. Now, parks and landmarks occupied the town which made Ponyville alluring for both tourists and its civilians. Currently, especially on the weekends like today, the large masses collected together at the market to socialize.

"We tried to experiment with different flavors as well," Braeburn narrated, glancing around the stands, "We tried cherry, blueberry, boysenberry, peach, almond, pecan, and mud and anything ya can think of. But mah family decided that it would be best to just make apple pies. Makes sense if ya think about it. We were known for our apple trees. And that's what our cuties marks are, right? A buncha apples. Funny how cutie marks work, huh? I mean have ya really thought about it?" A chuckle escaped his mouth. "Ah mean, what if ya change yer mind on what ya wanted tah do or be? Now don't get me wrong, Ah love apples, but it's interesting tah think about. Am I borin' ya?"

"Kinda," Rainbow droned, pushing up her sunglasses as she shifted her trench coat.

"Oh did AJ tell ya?" he cut in, "Applebloom got her cutie mark last mornin'! She's so excited about it. But don't tell her I told you. I want her to show it to ya. She was showerin' and scrubbin' to make sure that it was legitimate and not some prank that was pulled by her friends. She also saw her zebra friend from some reason tah see if she ran through some joke plant or if it was a spell or somethin'. Anyways, she can't believe it that it's real. Ah'm so happy for my baby cousin. Well she's not a baby anymore. She's growin' up so fast. Well, she's still young but pretty soon she's gonna be a full grown mare."

"Yeah yeah," she replied emptily.

"Don't forget that we have parentin' classes tomorrow night," he reminded, ignoring her groans, "We've both been sayin' how we aren't ready to be parents and well, we should do somethin' about that." He grimaced at the dirty look he was receiving from her. "Hey, it was Applejack's idea."

"Mmm-hmm," she answered sardonically, "Sure it was. Hey why don't you get some lettuce from that stand, huh? I'm starving."

"Can do," he assured, "Are ya gonna come with me?"

"Nah, I'll be over here. I wanna lay low and avoid being recognized."

"No problem," he declared, giving an understanding nod. Watching him approach the cashier, she noticed a mare catching glimpses of him. The stranger blushed and turned away quickly to finish her task at her own stand. Rainbow felt the corner of her mouth turn upward as he moved towards the rainbow-maned pegasus with a head of lettuce.

"Hey, see that yellow filly over there? By the deli stand?" she quietly probed, yanking him slightly behind the bushes, "She has her back turned right now. She was checking you out when you were buying this."

"Really?" he countered doubtfully, "It doesn't seem as if Ah would be her type."

"Well I guess you stand corrected 'cause she totally digs you. She's kinda cute, too. You should go talk to her."

"Nah," he denied, stopping for a moment, "If I did, what would I say?"

"Uh, 'howdy'?" she advised as she handed him a bit, "And while you're at it, maybe you can buy me a pickle?" She headed over to a bench to observe the scene ahead of her. Smiling to herself, she tried to listen to their conversation which, much to her displeasure, was drowned out by the other talking ponies. What she did notice, nevertheless, was the mutual playfulness between the two. Of course, it helped that he had an outgoing personality. Fixating her attention to the booth next to her, she saw the amount of newspapers on its shelves and focused on reading on the headline. Moaning, she saw the bold letters across the front page and rolled her eyes.

Uproar over Athlete Rainbow Dash's Pregnancy