Chapter Text
Twilight shifted under the covers, a small sigh escaping through her nose as she stirred. Her foreleg tried to reach in front of her; a small smile playing on her lips as she anticipated soft fur over a sleeping chest, or a golden mane that only she got to see undone. Her expression dropped as it didn’t come, though. Twilight groggily opened her eyes to find her bed empty.
Bits of mane stuck to her pillow as she got up, taking the lightest steps on the wood under her hooves to preserve the silence. Not that it did much good, Twilight’s in-laws had assured her that you could fly and the planks would find a way to groan over it. Something she was still getting used to.
Barely outside their room and Twilight could already see her wife, just a few steps down the hall from her. Applejack’s soft freckled face leaned into a door frame, her forest eyes fixed almost hypnotically into the room beyond. She stayed still as Twilight’s gentle steps got closer, as she sat down and wrapped a wing around her back.
“...She won’t go anywhere,” Twilight said in the tiniest whisper.
Applejack didn't move her gaze. “Well, I suppose I have to be sure.”
Twilight leaned into the crook of her wife’s neck, a soft chuckle escaping her. “If she wakes up, you’re calming her down.”
“She won’t.” Was her only reply. The house’s tired breaths was the only thing to break the stillness for a long while.
“Do you want to go back to bed?” Twilight hummed. She could feel Applejack shaking her head above her. “Go on then, I know you want to.” Her wife’s chest shifted under a deep breath, before she suddenly got up. One hoof stepped on plush carpet, a valiant guardian against creaks that may disturb the rare slumber. Another hoof glided forward, inching her further into the room. Applejack looked to the ground for a moment, poking the bare wood outside the safety of the rug; almost afraid of it. She grimaced as her weight shifted onto it, creating a regrettable whining from below. Applejack set her sights in front of her.
A cradle, draped in pinks.
She sucked in a breath, and moved forward once more. The floor gave her mercy and refrained from saying anything too egregious, but she still winced with every step that seemed to shoot through the room like lightening. Her muzzle brushed the blankets of the tiny resting place, and her eyes gazed into it.
The fillies mouth was just a touch ajar; and Applejack watched it take in each breath, watched as her chest rose and fell with every tiny snore. She lifted a hoof and placed it under her eyes, shielding the baby should they happen to well. "Sparkling Cider," She breathed. "My little Angel." The words landed on the foal, and her eyes fluttered open as they hit. They shone indigo, sleepily gazing at her Mother.
Applejack smiled and picked the child up. "I'm sorry, love." She whispered, planting a kiss on her snout. "I didn't mean to wake you." She blinked drowsily at her, before snuggling her tiny, tiny head into her mother's chest. Sparkling's tail flicked, mixing hair like the sun with Applejack's own golden mane, a ribbon of purple intertwining it. A small pink hoof that would forever be, in her mind, Twilight's reached out to her. Applejack smiled and let it brush her cheek, only a little bit wet.
She sat with her daughter, breathing, enjoying the still moment. The vague smells of milk, baby powder and apple wood. The pastel world she found herself it. The softest of weights that lay in her arms.
It was all perfect.
She felt Sparkling shift, giving squeaks of annoyance. Applejack chuckled, "Alright, I get it. Not everypony likes to be up half the night." Setting the child back in her cradle, She crept back through the doorway and to her own bed.
"...You can't do this forever, Applejack," came a sigh from her wife. But Applejack was already dreaming, a small smile tucked under her forelegs.