Unexpected

Hello,

I wanted to give a little bit of a warning for this story. Our sweet Triad will be going through a rather troubled period. As we know, life does not always go perfectly. This story is going to be describing how a family deals with a lot of different variables. Give it a chance and allow me to show how healing can begin.

For new readers, this is the fourth story in the "Crystal Dreams" universe. This is part of a series and really needs to be read after the first three stories to make any sense.

Yours truly,

rainbow-leaves

Please do not post my work on other sites. Plagiarizing is wrong.

I do not own any rights to any characters. Ever. Damn.

Prelude

Life can be a funny thing sometimes. Plenty of ponies can have every aspect of their everyday life set up in nice orderly little lines almost like perfect little dominoes. This orderly set up can make those ponies feel like the world is pretty darn good. Unfortunately, just like dominoes, a single, tiny moment can make the ponies' orderly set up topple down one by one by one. Then what? How does a pony rebuild when their perfect little world has popped and blown away into the wind? Some ponies pick themselves back up and rebuild, but some ponies are unable to get past what happened to them even with the support of their friends and family. These ponies who cannot move on remain stuck and trapped, but every cloud can have a silver lining. You just have to look really hard to see it sometimes.

Chapter 1

Rainbow Dash was beyond excited as she flew home. Mrs. Cake had finally given birth to not one, but two new foals today. Twins! Mr. and Mrs. Cake were now the proud new parents of a colt, Pound Cake, and a filly, Pumpkin Cake. The twins were so tiny and cute when the cyan Pegasus and her friends had seen them in the hospital nursery. Even a totally rad and cool athlete such as herself couldn't help cooing over the new, little foals.

"I can't wait to tell Soarin' and Spitfire!" Rainbow Dash thought to herself happily before realizing that maybe that wouldn't be such a great idea.

The Triad had been through a rather rough patch over the last three months. There had been an accident. A terrible, horrible accident. During one of The Wonderbolts' shows a Pegasus paparazzi had gotten too close taking pictures and had crashed into Spitfire during one of her signature moves when her back was turned. The two ponies were too far away for Soarin' or any of The Wonderbolts to reach before they crashed through the roof of the locker room. Both survived, but the paparazzi had landed on top of Spitfire and by the time help arrived she had started internally hemorrhaging. Rainbow Dash remembered that terrible day and the state she had found Soarin' in when she got to the hospital.

Flashback

Rainbow Dash galloped through the halls of Trottingham's hospital frantically searching for the emergency ward. In her panic she nearly missed the proper hall, but the yells of her life mate drew her attention and turned her hooves to the right direction.

"How long is this going to take?" a furious Soarin' demanded of a poor, nurse pony in the emergency ward's waiting room, "My life mate is being operated on and I want to know what is happening and I want to know now!"

"I'm sorry, but the procedure is still currently being done so there is no news yet," the nurse stated calmly having seen worried, family members of patients before during all her years as a caregiver, "I will let you know something once the operation is over."

"Calm down, Soarin'," Lightning Streak demanded as he physically pushed the agitated stallion away from the nurse, "This isn't helping anything."

"Soarin'!" Rainbow Dash cried as she raced to her life mate's side not really noticing the rest of the Wonderbolt team in the waiting room due to her state of panic, "What happened? Where is Spitfire? Is she okay?"

"Dear Celestia, Baby," Soarin' exclaimed as he caught his youngest life mate up in a great hug, "Spitfire got hurt bad in the accident. You heard that she is being operated on just now, right?"

"Yes," Rainbow Dash answered as tears leaked out of her rosy-hued eyes, "What happened?"

"A bucking paparazzi happened," Soarin' growled angrily as the cyan Pegasus snuggled closer to his side to seek comfort, "Beautiful didn't even see what hit her. That…that…near-murderer caused her to crash through a roof. By the time I arrived she was pure white beneath her coat. The doctors said Spitfire was hurt inside and they needed to operate to assess the damage."

"No," Rainbow Dash moaned as she noticed the tears leaking from her stallion's emerald eyes and began to fear the worst, "Is she going to die?"

"NO!" Soarin' denied as he hastily wiped the tears off his face with a hoof and turned to his youngest life mate, "Our Spitfire never gives up. She won't leave us! You just believe that, okay?"

"Okay," Rainbow Dash sniffled as Soarin' led her over to a chair and sat down beside her, "How much longer do you think this is going to take?"

"I don't know, Baby," Soarin' whispered miserably as he tried to remain calm before bursting out of his seat to start pacing, "I want to wrap my hooves around that bucking paparazzi and wring his neck until he can't cry for mercy!"

The bonded stallion in Soarin' was awake and kicking angrily. For once, this was a situation that Soarin' couldn't do anything about. The stallion couldn't help his golden life mate and that was frustrating him to no end. How could this have happened? Why to Spitfire? Soarin' roared and kicked a chair across the room causing the rest of his teammates to jump up to try and calm the angry stallion.

Rainbow Dash watched her stallion work off his frustrations, but she couldn't hold her emotions in check anymore. She hadn't even been a part of her Triad a full year yet and the rainbow-maned filly might already lose one of her life mates? Rainbow Dash burst into tears. Brave and loyal or not, the filly was young and scared.

"Oh, Baby," Soarin' gasped realizing that he was frightening his youngest life mate more than she probably already was before arriving.

The stallion gathered the sobbing mare up in his forelegs, "Its okay. Don't you worry! Spitfire is going to be okay because she is as tough as nails. Calm down now. She needs us to be strong."

"Strong," Rainbow Dash echoed as she got herself back under control while Soarin' stroked her back gently, "Yeah. We'll be strong for Spitfire."

"That's right. The both of us," Soarin' urged as his teammates nodded their heads to his words to try and show that they were there for the two grieving ponies.

"Excuse me?" a Unicorn with a doctor coat said from the doorway, "I need to speak with the family of Ms. Spitfire."

"That is us," Soarin' immediately answered as he and Rainbow Dash hurried over, "How is she, Doctor?"

End Flashback

Spitfire had come out of surgery with flying colors and had eventually healed as good as new with the right amount of time and good care from her life mates. The golden Pegasus had been lucky that her wings had been spared any real damage so her career as a Wonderbolt could continue just fine. Unfortunately, there was one irreversible repercussion to happen to Spitfire. Rainbow Dash's and Soarin's life mate would never be able to have a foal ever again. The damage to her internal organs had been so significant that she could never get pregnant.

The news that she would never be a mother had been a terrible blow to the golden Pegasus and she was very quiet and withdrawn. Spitfire hadn't wanted any foals immediately, but she had always wanted to be a mother someday. Life could most assuredly be unfair sometimes. Soarin' and Spitfire had taken a medical leave from The Wonderbolts since the team was really in its off season anyway. Currently Lightning Streak and Ice Wind were the temporary co-captains of the team until Soarin' and Spitfire returned. Rainbow Dash had also taken a leave from her weather work so as to aid in her life mate's healing process.

Rainbow Dash landed at the doorway of her cloud home and quietly opened the door. This was about the time that Spitfire liked to take a nap. The cyan Pegasus tiptoed into the living room and was surprised to find Soarin' sitting on the coach.

"What are you doing in here?" Rainbow Dash whispered to her life mate, "Why aren't you taking a nap with Spitfire like you always do?"

"Spitfire wanted to be alone," Soarin' sadly explained as the filly sat down beside him and snuggled up to his side, "Did the Cakes have their foal? Did everything go alright during the birth?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Cake are the proud parents of two foals and everything went splendidly," Rainbow Dash stated as her stallion's eyes widened in surprise, "There is a filly named Pumpkin Cake and a colt named Pound Cake. They are so cute."

"Did you just say 'cute,' Baby?" Soarin' teased his youngest life mate making Rainbow Dash roll her eyes.

"Yes," the cyan Pegasus giggled, "Plus, you are not going to believe it, but the filly is a Unicorn and the colt is a Pegasus."

"What?" the stallion gasped looking dumbfounded, "How in the world? Aren't Mr. and Mrs. Cake a couple of Earth ponies?"

"Uh-huh," Rainbow Dash said, "Mr. Cake said that his great, great, great, great grandfather was a Unicorn and that Mrs. Cake's great aunt, second cousin twice removed was a Pegasus. I guess the bloodlines traveled down and came out with these twins."

"Well, I'll be," Soarin chortled, "We'll have to go and visit to congratulate them soon."

"Congratulate who and for what?" a voice said from the doorway.

Rainbow Dash and Soarin' turned to see Spitfire standing in the doorway with her mane limply hanging around her head. The golden Pegasus was a little underweight, but was beginning to look like her old self again. Spitfire's coat had grown back and was thick enough to hide any scars left over from her operation. Only the bags beneath her eyes and her look of despondency allowed others to know that things were not completely well again.

"What are you doing awake, Beautiful?" Soarin gently asked as his golden life mate settled on a chair beside the couch.

"Just didn't feel tired anymore," Spitfire stated looking away.

Soarin' and Rainbow Dash exchanged looks of concern. Their life mate was lying to them. Spitfire was haunted by nightmares that she wouldn't tell anypony about. Rainbow Dash had a good hunch that the dreams alternated between reliving the accident and dreaming of the foals that Spitfire would never have now.

"Are you two going to answer my question?" Spitfire asked again, "Congratulate who and for what?"

"Well…" Rainbow Dash hedged not knowing what to say, "You remember that Mr. and Mrs. Cake were about to…"

"Have a foal? Yes, I remember," Spitfire interrupted sitting up a little straighter, "Mrs. Cake had the baby?"

"Yes," Rainbow Dash answered as she reluctantly began to explain everything that she had already told Soarin' to the golden Pegasus.

"Two, healthy foals," Spitfire mused softly as her amber eyes drifted off to look into the distance, "That's wonderful. You two will absolutely have to go visit and offer the Cakes our congratulations."

"You don't want to go?" Rainbow Dash innocently asked and then grew silent when Soarin' looked at her quickly and shook his head in the negative without Spitfire seeing.

"I don't really feel like seeing a hospital anytime soon, Little One," Spitfire confirmed as she stood again, "I think I might be a little more tired than I thought. I'll try to get some more sleep."

"I'll make dinner tonight for us," Rainbow Dash helpfully offered as she tried to make up for her faux pas earlier, "Applejack taught me how to make spa-hay-ghetti and she says that I make a great version. How does that sound?"

"My favorite," Spitfire agreed as she left the room, "Wake me up when dinners ready, okay?"

Soarin' and Rainbow Dash watched as their life mate entered their bedroom and closed the door behind her. Seeing Spitfire not act like herself hurt the two Pegasi very badly.

"Don't worry, Baby," Soarin' assured when he saw the look on Rainbow Dash's face, "Spitfire is just grieving for her loss. It will take her time to get back to her old self."

"Are you sure?" the cyan Pegasus inquired eagerly, "I want her back to normal so much. I've never seen her look so sad before and she won't talk to you or me. It hurts to see her like this."

"Pony's can't get over something as monumental as what happened to Spitfire overnight," Soarin' explained to his youngest life mate, "Beautiful will need time to adjust to everything. I just wish she would agree to at least talk to The Wonderbolts' therapist. I really think that being able to share her pain with somepony would help."

"So what do we do?" Rainbow Dash begged anxiously, "I want to do something to help her."

"The best help the two of us could be is to simply be there for Spitfire and support her," Soarin' encouraged the rainbow-maned pony, "Spitfire will need the two of us to be her foundation until she is ready to deal with this whole situation and can talk with us again. You and I are going to stay strong for her."

"You bet!" Rainbow Dash pledged, "I need to run back to town. I forgot that we are out of tomatoes so I'll just run to the market and get some more for dinner tonight."

"Be safe," Soarin' softly called to his youngest life mate as she left to do her shopping.

Soarin' moodily sat on the couch once Rainbow Dash left. When he was alone was the only time he allowed himself to feel depressed. The stallion still hated that there was little he could do for his golden life mate.

"I just wish she would talk to me," Soarin' thought to himself with frustration, "If Spitfire could open up then maybe I could assist her in finding a way for her to deal with this loss, but she is shutting Rainbow Dash and I out."

Soarin' stood and shook his mane out and then trotted quietly to the Triad's bedroom door to check on Spitfire. The mare was curled up in the middle of the bed. She looked troubled and was obviously having a bad dream. The stallion crawled onto the side of the bed and gently rubbed his life mate's mane to hopefully ease her into better dreams.

"I'm here, Beautiful," Soarin' whispered down to his bonded, "I'll always be here. Please remember that Rainbow Dash and I love you very much."

To be continued…