Storm Strike woke up with a start to a knocking at the door.

She looked over at the clock on her nightstand. Just before midnight. Who could be up at this hour? The knocking clearly hadn’t woken up Jewel, or even the cats. I’m probably just imagining things, she reasoned with herself as she rolled over in bed.

Knock, knock, knock!

There it was again, louder this time. Definitely not a trick of the mind. But the house was apparently filled with heavy sleepers, so Storm was the only one awake to answer it. Grabbing Jewel’s bat just in case, she quietly flew over the cats and made her way to answer the door.

She held the bat up defensively. “Who’s there?”

“Luna’s tits, are you really gonna whack me with that?”

The voice may have been unusually feminine, but the crass language and the colorful mane of the pony before her could be recognized anywhere.

“Firework?” Storm tossed the bat aside. “What are you doing here?”

“This sucks…” He whimpered almost too quietly to hear.

“Excuse me?”

“This!” He rubbed a hoof over his swollen belly. “This sucks!”

“Yeah, no kidding,” She muttered under her breath. “Look, it’s late and I was trying to sleep. Can’t Dusk comfort you?”

“He went to go look at the stars or something with his mom,” Firework rolled his eyes. “Knowing him and that dumb nerd stuff, he ain’t gonna be back till tomorrow. Can you just help me out here?”

Storm rubbed her temples and softly groaned. “Fine. But we’re going for a walk. Stay here and you’ll wake up the whole neighborhood.”

*****

“So what’s this all about?”

Storm could tell something was up when the normally-noisy Firework had barely said a word through the whole walk, instead lumbering silently with his gaze glued to the ground.

“Like I said, this sucks,” he grumbled.

“This is what it’s all about? You woke me up in the middle of the night so you could complain about being pregnant?”

“YES!” He whined. “This is bucking hell! My hooves hurt like a bitch, I constantly have to piss, this baby is half jumping bean, and I miss my dick. Hell, my kid calls me Mom now!”

Storm couldn’t help but smirk. “You’re upset because Moonbow called you Mom? How many times did she do it?”

“Only once, but STILL!”

“Come on. Sky called me Dad when I got Jewel pregnant. He was joking, and she is joking. Kids are like that.”

Firework pouted. “A-and Dusk won’t even bang me like he used to! He says we have to be ‘gentle with the baby’ so now he only agrees to that vanilla sh-“

“Okay, I get the point!” Storm blurted out. “Seriously. I didn’t need to hear that.”

“This is hell!” He continued wailing pathetically. “How the buck did I agree to this?”

“Because, Firework, you wanted this kid. You and Dusk both. You made the choice to go through with this, so you gotta suck it up.” She gritted her teeth. “I didn’t get that choice…”

This seemed to be the breaking point as Firework collapsed on the ground and started bawling, whether from hormones or from genuine emotion Storm didn’t know.

“I’m sorry!”

“Hey, Firework, it’s okay,” Storm awkwardly tried to comfort him as he latched onto her leg and dragged her to a stop. “What’s REALLY wrong?”

“I made you go through this hell!” Firework sobbed. “I made you deal with all of this, but worse! And I didn’t help at all! I’m such a dumbass!”

Storm watched Firework carry on and realized what his angst was all about: he finally understood what she had been through. It took a sex change spell to do it, but he finally knew the pain and discomfort she had experienced because of their recklessness. Yes, it was worse with unplanned twins, but he got it now. He had opened his eyes to a newfound empathy of a mare’s struggles.

“Look,” Storm drew a breath and stopped to look Firework in the eye. “Yes, it did suck carrying the twins. My body hurt like hell the entire time. I wouldn’t do it again. But you know what?” She lifted his chin, “All of that was worth it. I love Sky and Star more than anything. And I know you love Moonbow too, no matter how many times you came to me whining that Dusk wouldn’t ‘bang’ you.”

“Hey, it’s a real problem-“

“Point is, we mares go through a lot of bull to bring our kiddos into this world, but it’s always worth it. And this kid isn’t gonna be any different. It sucks now, but one look at him and you’ll forget all of that. Trust me.”

Firework chuckled bitterly. “I don’t think I’m gonna forget how much this sucks.”

“Yeah, but your love for your kid will be stronger than all of that. You’ll get it when he’s born,” She smirked. “Just gotta get through foalbirth first.”

“Oh SHIT.”

Storm laughed and pulled him up to his hooves. “You won’t have to worry about that for awhile, though. Just get an epidural and you’ll be fine. Now we should get you home; it’s late.”

“But…” Firework looked down in shame. “I don’t wanna be alone. Dusk’s at his mom’s and Moonbow’s with her cousins. I got nopony else at home.”

Storm furrowed her eyebrows suspiciously. “If you’re looking for somepony to bang tonight, you’re not getting it.”

“It’s not that!” Firework held his hooves up defensively. “I just don’t like the quiet. And the darkness. It doesn’t feel right.”

“Oh, so you’re afraid of the dark now,” She nudged him teasingly.

“Shut up!”

“I’m just teasing ya,” Storm laughed and started in the direction of her home. “You can stay in the guest bed tonight. You can’t miss it; it’s the one with sparkly pink frills. Perfect for a sissy like you.”

“Hey, I ain’t a sissy!” Despite the foal inside of him, Firework took off after Storm. Soon, both were laughing as they raced through the night. One wouldn’t have expected two ex-lovers to become friends that night, but they did. All it took was for one of them to walk in the other’s horseshoes.