My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Starlight, Starbright

Chapter 27

Meanwhile, back in Ponyville IV

‘I wish I could give you guys good news. I really wish I could. But… I’m afraid that’s not the case here.

‘My name is Bass. Bass Clef. If you haven’t heard about me, I’ll be surprised. I helped Starlight back in Baltimare and I joined up with her. Funny how things can change in a few weeks.

‘something horrible happened to us just a few days ago and… and everyone’s feeling the pressure. First, we were trapped in a cabin thanks to a blizzard, then Sweet Song ran out in heartbreak when she saw her crush with another mare, then we went looking for her and ran into Windigoes. Then… something bad happened.

‘That Alicorn Amulet of Marian’s…. it took her over. Turns out that thing was a hide-away for a part of Nightmare Moon that lay dormant for 1000 years but awoke when Trixie bought and put on that amulet… before giving it to Marian. It took her over completely and attacked us. A number of us got injured. Goldie… Goldie took the worst of it. But if it wasn’t for Chaos Gun’s arrival, we’d all be dead.

‘I… I wish I could give you good news but… everyone’s feeling down, myself included. I’m just worried what Starlight’s going to do, or Marian when she wakes up. And… and I’m sorry about Goldie. I wish the best for that kid.

‘From,

Bass Clef.’

A emotionally stunned Twilight fell beck in her chair and let the letter drop. Tears fell down her face. She broke down and cried into her hooves.

A shocked Cadence fell back into her seat, not believing what she had read. “This is… this is a joke, right?” she asked Twilight.

“I wish it was.” a choked up Twi said. She and Halo came to Canterlot not long after they got the letter to show it to Luna, Trixie, Cadence, Armor, and Celestia.

Celestia took the letter and read it over. “Nightmare Moon… I thought the humans destroyed her for good.”

“Apparently, she planned for that.” Halo said.

Trixie didn’t want to believe she’s the one who caused this, but the evidence points to her. “This is all my fault…”

“Trixie…”

“If I didn’t buy that stupid amulet in Manehatten, I wouldn’t have put my daughter and her friends in danger.”

Luna walked over and comforted her wife by wrapping a wing around her. “you had no way of knowing. We had no idea that Nightmare Moon was inside that thing. I didn’t. Celestia didn’t. there was no way you could’ve know.”

“But I still bought it. It was all my fault.”

Armor sighed with a defeated whim. “Let’s hope Marian doesn’t get that from her mother.”

“I’m just worried about what happened to Goldie.” Twilight tearfully said. “I don’t want both my daughters to be dead…” she broke down and cried. Halo nuzzled to comfort her.

“now now now. Bass didn’t say that Goldie was dead.” Armor said. “Although it… is implied.”

Celestia stayed silent during all this. She was the princess of the sun, the ruler of Equestria. How could she not have sensed this coming? Her thoughts switched to her daughter Erys, who went with them. “(Erys… please be safe… )”

Dinky couldn’t sleep. All she could do was stare up at the ceiling of her old room. When she read the letter sent by Bass, she was so worried for her sister, she couldn’t sleep. That, and the twins were having a kicking war inside her, with her bladder being the unfortunate victim. She just can’t stop thinking about her sister. She just had to write to her, see if she’s all right.

She tried to get up by herself but her fat pregnant belly got in the way. She used her dragon wings to help her up. She landed on the floor and wobbled a bit. She walked over to her desk and pulled out the chair with her magic. She also grabbed a piece of paper and quill.

“What do I write to her?”

The scraping sound of the chair being pulled, and the sudden weightloss on the other side of the best, woke Pip up. He looked to see Dinky sitting at her desk, thinking about what to write. “Dinky? What are you doing? Are the twins coming?”

“oh, hey Pip. I didn’t mean to wake you up. No, they aren’t coming.”

Pip crawled out of bed and over to her. “So… what are you doing?”

Dinky put the quill down and sighed. “I’m worried about my little sister.”

“Windancer?”

“Yeah. I wonder… is she one of the ones injured? Is she still alive?” she touched her belly. “I don’t want the twins to grow up without knowing who their aunt was.”

“And they won’t. if Windancer is anything like her sister, she’s as stubborn as a mule.”

“Pip!”

“just saying. Seems to me that you get your stubbornness from your dad.”

“and can you blame me? Dragons are known to be stubborn.” Pip rolled his eyes, causing Dinky to chuckle. He went back to the bed to go to sleep, and Dinky back to her letter, when she suddenly groaned in pain, grabbing her stomach in the process. “Dinky!?”

Then came the sound of splashing water. The both of the froze. Pip smiled nervously as Dinky slowly looked down. “Is it…?”

“It is!” Dinky squealed in happiness. “they’re coming.”

At first, Pip was calm. The twins were coming. No need to panic. A baby is born every 30 seconds. Their’s decided to come now. Then he started to freak out. “The twins are coming. The twins are coming!”

“here we go.” Dinky sighed, fearing this from Pip. She slowly and carefully got out of the chair as Pip ran out the door and to his parents-in-laws.

He pounded on the door, waking the sleeping couple up. “DERPY! ETU’NES! The Twins are coming!”

He quickly ran back to Dinky just seconds before Derpy burst out of her room in a nightgown. “The babies are coming now?!?”

“And in the middle of the night. What a cliché.” a sleepy eTu`nes said as he rubbed his eyes. Pip came out of the room with a calm Dinky, who‘s being the sane one during this. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just had one contraction, so--” she was interrupted by a pain in her stomach. “Make that 2 contractions.”

Pip came back out with the bags. “Okay. Okay. Just breath. Breath. In… out… in… out… remember your Lamaze training. We’ll be at the hospital before long.”

Dinky lightly chuckled at her husband’s nervousness. “I’m fine, Pip. The contractions are 6 minutes apart. I got plenty of time before they come.”

All Pip did was laugh like a maniac. “Plenty of time? Hahahaha! I doubt we’ll get to the hospital in time before the babies come. No, we need to go now and--”

Dinky rolled her eyes as Pip rambled on. “was dad like this when you had Windancer, mom?”

“worse.”

Twilight couldn’t eat, or sleep, or even move. She couldn’t do anything, knowing that Goldie is horribly injured. Or worse. And Starlight- Faust knows what happened to her.

“Come on, Twilight. Go to sleep.” Halo asked. “worrying about Goldie from all the way here isn’t going to help anything.”

“Sorry, but I just can’t stand the fact that our daughters are suffering while we’re back here, hoping for the best.” she closed her eyes and turned her head to the window. “why do I feel so powerless?”

Halo had no answer. If it was someone else’s child, he could think of a explanation lickaty-split. But when it’s his own daughters… he’s lucky to eat something with flavor.

A rapid knock came from downstairs, from the main door. Who would be here at this hour? “we’re closed!” Twilight called below.

“Twilight! Let me in!” a male voice replied.

Didn’t expect to hear him at this time of night. “eTu`nes?” Twilight muttered. She got up and headed downstairs. Halo followed not far behind.

Twilight opened the door and saw the dragon on the other side. “What’s wrong, eTu`nes. You look flushed.”

“It’s Dinky. She’s having the twins.”

“Now?” Both Twilight and Halo asked in surprise.

“Yeah. I came here to get some books about childbirth. I didn’t have time to do so when Derpy had Windancer. And Dinky didn‘t have time, what with her being with Daring, who‘s always on the go.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Twilight used her magic to pull the two best books on the subject too her. Helped her a lot when she had Goldie. Should‘ve read ’em before Starlight. “how is she?”

“feeling good, for the most part. It’s Pip and Derpy you should worry about. The both of them are flipping out.”

Twi lightly chuckled. She remembered how Zilver acted when Applejack gave birth to Peppy.

“okay, okay, okay. My turn.” Scootaloo said, popping some popcorn in her mouth.

The ex-CMC and their special someone’s decided to use this opportunity while in Ponyville to catch up on old times and, in Rumble’s terms, have a sleep-over. The location: their old clubhouse.

Time was not kind to it. it quickly turned back to the state the CMC first found it when they were fillies; run down, ragged, and beaten by the elements. Thanks to the magic from the Unicorns of their old group, they were able to repair it long enough for their reunion sleep-over.

“Truth or Dare?” Scoots asked Sweetie Belle.

“mmm… dare. No no, truth.”

“Okay. Have you had sex dreams about anyone other then Rumble?” both the guys and girls went ‘OOH!’ at that question. Rumble looked at his wife with a look that could be translated into ‘answer wisely’.

“un… yes.”

The girls laughed as Feather-Weight elbowed Rumble. “Guess you’re not the only thing on her mind, lover-boy.” he chuckled.

“Who?” Applebloom and Babs asked.

“oh, no no no no no no. you said ‘did I have dreams?’. You didn’t say who.”

“Okay, then I’ll ask. Who?” Silver Spoon asked.

Sweetie blushed, really not wanting to say. “I don’t wanna.”

“Spill, Belle! Who was the shlub you boinked in your dreams?” Tiara said with a wicked smile.

“Okay, okay. Fine. *Sigh*… just a few years ago, I had a sex dream about…” both mares and stallions leaned in. Rumble really didn’t want to hear this. “Spike.”

“SPIKE!?!” they yelled. Rumble’s ears perked up when he heard that. A dragon, really? “Why Spike?”

“well… remember, I had a crush on him when he turned into a teenager, right?”

Applebloom’s groaning head fell and hit the floor. “Faust, I remember. It wasn’t a crush, you were obsessed. You tried to make him and Rarity too emotionally distant from each other.”

“yeeeeah…” Sweetie Belle nervously chuckled. “hehe… and we all know how that went…”

“Badly.” The CMC all said in unison. The 3 of them laughed like they were fillies again.

The door to the clubhouse knocked, surprising them. It was supposed to be private. Only Applejack and Zilver knew because they’re babysitting Silver Crown. “so who could this be?” Scootaloo asked. She got up and opened the door to see a frantic Pip on the other side.

“Oh, thank Faust, there you are! A.J. said you were here.”

“Pip? What’s going on?”

“it’s Dinky. She’s having the twins right now!”

“RIGHT NOW!?!” all of those in the clubhouse exclaimed.

“Just breath, Dinky, just breath. You’re gonna be just fine.” a freaking out Derpy said, trying to calm her daughter down. She didn’t really need it.

“I’m fine mom. I’m not having contraction’s hit 24/7, not like Tiara.” Dinky replied.

Derpy and Dinky got to the hospital a half-hour ago and quickly checked her in into a private room. Her contractions are still far apart, though now 5 minutes. The twins are slowly but surely getting there.

eTu’nes walked in with the books given to him by Twilight. “Got the books.”

“Dad, I read every one Twi had. I don’t need those.”

The dragon hit himself in the head with the books. “now you tell me. Wish you told me that sooner before I went.”

“hehe. Sorry.”

Pip walked in, still freaking out. “Okay. Okay. Things are going smooth, things are going great. It’s going great. Doctor‘s on the way, your friends are on the way. Things are going good, things are going great.”

Dinky sighed. “Can you please do something about him? I was fearing this from him the moment I got pregnant.”

“you’re asking me to talk to your husband, who’s freaking out? I couldn’t do that with Derpy before she had Windancer- what luck do I have with Pip?”

“just a question. Geez.”

Before long, Dinky’s friends came to give her their support. “Hey, Dinks.” Applebloom said. “We came as soon as Pip told us.”

“How are you feeling?” Babs asked. “is it painful?” Tiara almost instantly slapped her upside the head.

“of course it’s painful. I’m gonna be pushing 2 new lives out of me. How would it not be painful?” Babs just shrugged.

“so, how are you doing?”

“I’m surviving. Contractions are 3 minutes apart and I’m 30% dilated.”

“it seems like torture, you going though all that pain by yourself.” Scootaloo said.

“I’m making do. Pip is being no help.”

“We noticed.” they all said in unison.

“He’s been freaking out, going all over the place, trying make sure everything goes right.”

“That sounds familiar.” Tiara said as she looked to Applebloom. A.B. scratched the back of her neck and nervously chuckled.

“And my mom is no help, adding more hysteria to it. Seems dad is the most stable one. At least he tried to help.”

eTu`nes paced back and forth in the waiting area with Derpy, Pip, and the Mane 6 and their husbands. “I hope she’s okay.” he said. “I hate doing nothing.”

“All we can do is wait.” Fluttershy said. “This thing takes a lot of time.” she felt her new foal kick inside her. Just 7 more months for her. “a very long time.”

“I just hate seeing her like this. I mean, I missed 8 years of her life because of a horrible misunderstanding and I feel like I should help her.”

Derpy smiled at the dragon’s hopefulness and got up and nuzzled up next to him. “you made up for it by coming back. And Dinky is strong enough to get though this. Just like at her dad.”

Edge groaned. “Now, the author is bringing in the sappy stuff?”

Pinkie stuck up her hoof to quiet him and walked to the screen. She hopped out, grabbed my remote, and went back in. “This’ll help.”

“How did you…”

2 hours later…

“… do that?”

Edge felt something off and looked around. He was in the same place and everyone was still here but… something was off. For example, when did the princess’ get here? Why’d they even come? Derpy may be a Element of Harmony, but they didn’t come when Pinkie or Rarity gave birth. Pinkie tossed the remote away and sat back down as comfy as she could.

Silence fell on them. Pip had gone to be with Dinky, leaving Derpy to be the worry-wart. Rarity lightly tapped her hooves together. She closed her eyes and lightly chuckled.

“What?” Luna asked.

“I was remembering when Sweetie Belle and her friends were little foals. Remember that organization they had: the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“remember? I have the song commented to memory.” Applejack said, hitting her head to try and get the heavy-metal song they did out.

“Remember all the trouble they got into just to find their Cutie Marks?” Dash chuckled. “skydiving? Float-building? Those are fun but you can’t base your life off it.”

“Says the speedster.” Shadow joked. Cadence and Twilight chuckled at that comment.

“ha ha. Make your jokes. But seriously. They got into some pretty nasty scrapes.”

“I remember the cockatrice we encountered.” Fluttershy said. “If it wasn’t for me, they’d all be statues. And me. And Twilight. And Eleizabeack.”

That part, Halo hadn’t heard before. “you were frozen by a Cockatrice?”

Twilight lightly chuckled. “It’s a long story.”

“hmm… I remember Sweetie Belle using my silk to make their capes. And I remember her and her friends writing those articles in the Foal Free Press.”

“ugh, those were horrible.” Dash said.

Rarity nodded. “and now look at them; out in the world. Married. Having kids of their own. It seems like just yesterday they were smaller then a wagon.”

“yeah. Smaller then a wagon.” Applejack and Dash said as well.

“I remember when Dinky was born.” Derpy said. “it feels like yesterday, I held her in my arms. She seemed so tiny. Now my baby is having babies.”

Suddenly the CMC burst though and ran to them. Applebloom and Scootaloo skidded to a halt, while everyone else couldn’t stop and crashed out the door. “ow…”

“ey.” Scootaloo winced, looking at the deadly dog-pile.

“Dinky just went into delivery. She’s having the babies!”

Derpy squealed in excitement. “tell me you’re not kidding.”

“One of the kids winked at me.”

“ew.”

“and one of them… a Unicorn, for sure.”

Derpy didn’t care about that. A grandmother. She’s becoming a grandma. “I… I gotta sit down.” she fell back. eTu`nes caught her.

“She okay?” Trixie asked.

“I think knowing she’s becoming a grandma is a bit much.” eTu`nes guessed.

“Faust, I’m old.”

“… and there’s that.”

45 minutes passed before Pip came out to them. He had a clear stunned expression on his face. “I’m a dad.” The somber moment was ruined when Pinkie’s Party Cannon’s went off in his face.

“How’s Dinky?” Derpy asked.

“Sleeping like a baby. No pun intended.”

“And the babies?”

“a boy and a girl. Both Unicorns. With… some draconian elements from their grandpa. Nothing major, just slit eyes. The two of them are resting in the… the… I don‘t know what that big glass room is called. What‘s it called?”

Derpy ignored that last question. “you have names for them?”

“yep. Oscurita for the boy, and Ditzy for the girl.”

Both Derpy and eTu`nes were surprised to hear those names again, and from Pip’s mouth. Oscurita was the name of eTu`nes… eh, violent alter ego that was under control by that sadistic madman. And Ditzy was the moniker Derpy used when she met Zecora and went to the Gryphon Kingdom capital when she was a foal.

“Why those names?”

Pip shrugged. “they fit. Plus, It was Dinky’s suggestion.”

Nurse Redheart came out and headed towards them. “you can all go in to see Dinky now. Just… don’t go in all at once. She just did have twins.”

Pip nodded and lead the new grandparents to the new mother.

All this talk about babies had Twilight worried about hers. She still so worried about Goldie and hopes she’s okay. She was so worried, she said something the other dragon didn’t expect to hear again: “Spike. Take a letter.”

“that’s something I haven’t heard in a long while.” he commented. He looked around and took a legal pad to write on. “un… what do you want me to write?”

Twilight thought about what to say. Within seconds, she had it. “Dear Bass Clef…”

Author's Notes:

from sad and depressing to happy and cheerful