A Little Problem

Brawny Hooves saw Kid try to get off the bed, but having to be levitated off due to his new size. He had to admit, it was heartbreaking to see, but he was just so adorable! He almost d'aaww'd out loud. Then he helped Kid onto his back. He probably would have some trouble trotting out on his own. Everything much bigger than he is and all.

"You know, we might be having the same thing happen pretty soon." Brawny pointed towards Calla's swollen belly. "I can't wait for Nikki to be born. I don't know what it is, but this whole father thing seems a lot nicer than I thought. I can't wait!"

"I wonder if Nikki will like me...?" Kid asked aloud as he was assisted up onto his soon to be father's back, looking over at Lily's stomach. "...How long until she comes out of Lily anyways...?"

It was then that Kid realized another issue about his shrunken size. His mane and tail didn't shrink along with the rest of him. He was able to hide inside of his own hair, using it as though it were a blanket of some kind. Giggling at his new discovery, his now higher pitched voice making it sound sweeter than usual.

"This is going to be useful!" Kid smiled as he continued to giggle, hiding within his own mane. "Blankets and sleeping bags are now a thing of the past!"

Despite the crisis at hand, Calla giggled as Kid buried himself in his mane. 

"You're not going to be able to walk with the mess trailing behind you," she warned lightly. "You may want to think about your options, okay?"

Gently, she started walking at almost a waddle for the door. "She's got about a month, if you were wondering."

Brawny Hooves giggled a bit as he watched Calla start to waddle her way out of the hospital while he was carrying his future son on his back. Her belly must really be getting in the way of her movement. It would be worth it next month.

"Should we head on down to Town Hall so we can make Kid legally our kid?" That was weird to say, yet slightly humorous. "How old are you, Kid? I'm pretty sure they would need to know that sort of thing. And explaining all of this to them, they would find us insane."

"How old are you, Kid?"

"Uhm...I...." Kid started as he stopped to think, he had no idea how old he was. "...I'm...you know....that's a very good question....I have absolutely no idea..."

Kid's ears drooped lower than normal after he admitted that, embarrassed, ashamed and depressed about this fact. He retreated into his mane and began sobbing a bit, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Calla judges his appearance, crunching numbers and figuring out a suitable age for him.

"Now, I know this will seem slightly embarrassing, but I think it's better if we keep quiet about what happened until I can get in contact with my lawyers. I think if we say you're three, questions won't be raised, and we'll be okay for the moment."

She looked out the door. This was their last chance to get solid questions in.

"Do either of you want me to gif someone to help us understand what's going on? It's better if we kno more going into a lawsuit, so..."

Brawny looked out with Calla, then to Calla. How come all the odd stuff has to come to him?

"Well who would you get? And where would we start looking? It probably is much better if we understand what happened to our little colt here." Brawny looked at Kid sitting on his back. He was still so adorable that your heart would melt.

"So, what are we doing first? Adoption, or Lawsuit??"

Kid remained within his mane, enjoying the fact that now when he was sad. He could easily find solitude. Or whenever he wanted to eat in public without looking like a slob. Either way, his mane would be amazingly useful in the days of his...perhaps never ending life.

"I don't care as much about the lawsuit as I do about the adoption..." Kid piped up from within his mane. "Lets do the adoption first....please...?"

Kid's stomach then growled loudly.

"Then maybe we can get some food...?" Kid asked as he giggled a tad. "...Pancakes please?"

Calla looked strangely at Kid.

"You want... food?" she asked slowly. A huge grin spread on her face, and she skipped around in glee. "Yes! of course! We'll go get breakfast, and we'll be off to the adoption center as soon as possible!"

She pushed out of the doors, stopped, then winced again.

"Faust, not now..."

Brawny Hooves looked at Calla smiling at Kid when he said he was hungry. That was quite a rarity. Like finding a diamond in a haystack. It didn't stop him from smiling himself and carrying Kid out of the front door. Then Calla's pains came back. He held onto Calla and rubbed her belly, hoping he could calm her down.

"Deep breaths, Calla. Be calm. Breathe in, breathe out. It's okay. You can handle this. You're a string mare. Just keep your cool for another month."

Brawny was getting really worried for his wife. He prayed that she wouldn't give birth too early. He didn't want their filly to have delicate complications. They already have a malnourished foal. Brawny then led his soon to be family to a diner. He imagined they were all rather hungry. Kid said he was and he needed to eat, Brawny could always use some food, and Calla was eating for two

Kid was concerned for Lily, he didn't like seeing her in pain. He wished there was something he could do to help her. But what he could pick up from the dialogue he heard about the situation...he couldn't do anything other than wait a month. He didn't like that at all.

"Lily...if you're not feeling alright...we should go home..." Kid said from Brawny's back while they went to the diner. "The adoption and eating can wait...I don't like seeing you hurt..."

"It's fine," Calla said quickly. "False alarm. Come on; let's eat."

They say down at a table as the serving pony brought over menus. Calla lifted Kid into a chair and tied back his mane so he wouldn't get any food in it.

"I'd like to get you legally adopted as soon as possible so, first off, you get our healthcare benefits. I get them for the family from my job, so it'll be easier to pay the bills. Secondly, it's extremely important to all of us, and the sooner, the better. I think even little Nikki's anxious for it to happen, which is why she's so impatient."

Recently, the mare had a craving for daisies. They hasn't been one of her favorite things before her pregnancy, but now, she ate them a couple times a day. Because of this, she smiled when she saw fried daisies on the menu, and she looked over at her soon-to-be-son.

"What kind of pancakes do you want, Kid?"

Brawny Hooves followed Calla and carried Kid to the diner. It was so weird carrying a pony on his back. They all sat down in the diner and looked at their menus.

Brawny browsed the menu, almost drooling. Everything looked so tasty. If he could get everything there, he would. But there's the problem of not having that much money. And he would have to change his name to Fatty Hooves.

"I'll just get some strawberry and hay pie. Mmmm, strawberries." Brawny's stomach growled loudly at the thought of the food. Like I said, if he could have a a little of everything, he would. Everything looked and sounded so delicious.

Kid took in the not-so luxurious, but ever so yummy smells of the diner. Looking around he was amazed at how clean it was. Kid was still used to stealing snacks from the old ratty diners back in Manehatten. To be in a diner this nice and clean was something amazing to him.

"I think I will have some...blueberry pancakes." Kid smiled as he was set down into his chair, though that smile faded when his mane was pushed backwards into a ponytail. "Do I have to eat with my mane like this...?"

Calla nodded in response.

"I know you don't like it, but it keeps it clean, and then we don't have to brush and wash it as often. I know; I hate putting my hair up, but to make you feel better, I'll do it, too."

She did indeed twist her layered mane up into a bun, and though it pulled at her head, it was worth it.

They repeated their orders when the waiter came by, and almost too soon to believe, their food was on the table, steaming and ready to go.

Brawny Hooves looked down at the table and saw his pie had arrived. They had some quick service in this place. Brawny started eating it properly, fork and knife and all that. After his first bite, he was frozen.

The pie was absolutely amazing. His taste buds just discovered a hidden treasure that had started a festival of sweetness. After his short food coma, he shoved his face into the pie and started eating away. It was amazing. To think it just came from a diner. After he finished it, his face was covered in strawberry and hay, and his mane had chunks of pie in it.

"See Kid? That's why it's better to not eat with your mane in the way." Brawny laid back in his chair, rubbing his stomach. It was a good pie.

(I felt like being a little more silly)

Kid's eye twitched a tad when he saw Brawny pig out. He was also slightly repulsed when he saw pie fly and hit him in between the eyes. He then lost his already hard to gain appetite when a piece of the pie then landed in his mouth.

"BLECK!" Kid shouted in disgust, pushing his pancakes away. "I....I don't think i'm hungry any longer..."

Calla frowned at her husband.

"Brawny! What a mess!" she scolded, picking the pieces from his mane with her magic and wiping his face with loving care. "Now, Kid, it's not so- ew, what is this? That's foul!"

The piece she had slipped in her mouth was scraped off with frantic hooves as she incinerated it with a bit of magic. "Good Faust, that's way too much hay. It's supposed to be a dessert!"

She downed a glass of water before looking into the bewildered eyes of her family. She blushed for a second.

"Sorry," she apologized. "It was a bit of an overreaction."

Blushing again, she delicately took a bite of her food.

Brawny Hooves chuckled a bit at his wife's reactions to him pigging out. How cute that she was treating him like a foal. It felt nice, at least. How lovingly she cleaned him. He expected something like that to never happen again. Then a piece that cam from his mane hit her tongue and she freaked out. This made him laugh even more.

"Sorry about that Calla. I was just hungry. And you're not gonna eat your food, Kid? You really should. Remember what we said at the hospital?"

Kid dry heaved a tad at the thought of eating after what had just transpired. Though Brawny was correct and he reluctantly took a bit of his pancakes. Loving the flavor, he continued to eat it slowly, taking time to savor each delicious bite.

Finishing her meal, Calla wiped her muzzle and folded her napkin, laying it next to her plate.

"I found out that Cloud's single again," she told Brawny. "You remember her, right? The blue pegasus who used to board at my house, and now owns it? Spirit Hop left her to join the army. I don't know how she's dealing with it, but I hope she's taking the heartbreak better than Rose."

She winced at the memory of Rosella, which hit her at odd times in life, but she couldn't help worrying for her. She had been living under Calla's roof, anyhoof, and it still bothered Calla to not know anything of her fate.

Brawny Hooves was caught shocked when Kid starting eating again, and hearing that Calla's friend was single again. Her friends seemed to not have luck in romance, but she had all of it. Pray to Faust that nothing bad happens to them. He'd probably get his flank beat by Calla and his future daughter.

"That sucks. I hope she handles it well. And I hope Spirit does well in the army. He'll be doing us all a great service, protecting Equestria. I met one mare who's obsessed with doing that. Shame that he got drafted and she didn't. Heh, now I'm remembering you freaking out about me wanting to join the royal guard. I probably wouldn't too well anyhow."

Kid had absolutely no idea of what either of his soon to be parents were talking about. Kid hadn't really met anypony other than them. Occasionally he had seen some of their friends come and go, though he usually tried to keep to himself to avoid offending any of them...or being recognized, the whole apple theft was pretty big for some reason. That FBI agent's appearance in looking for him didn't help either.

Keeping to himself, Kid continued to slowly enjoy his food. Making sure not to get any food upon his coat. This meal to anypony else would have been two bites then done. Too bad Kid isn't anypony else, as it would take him while. Blushing as both Lily and Brawny had already finished while he had barely made a dent in the first pancake.

Calla let Kid take his time, sipping at her refilled glass of water and pulling her mane down. It was starting to give her a headache. 

She rubbed her stomach gently, feeling the small movements of the foal inside. It was a beautiful feeling, knowing that she was holding the little one's life in herself, and she knew she would never be alone again with her two children and her Brawny. She would ensure, though, that her children never had to go through what she did as a filly.

She winced as the memory returned; the knock upon her door as she had been studying. The grim guardpony who had brought the horrid news to a filly of barely ten: "Your parents are dead." The scream of pain, fear, and angst that had left her tiny mouth.

She shook the memory away before realizing a tear had escaped her eyes. She wiped it away quickly and looked down at her plate.

Brawny Hooves noticed that Kid was stuffed. What else could he expect? His stomach probably couldn't hold much food. It was a start, at least. Brawny probably would have breathed the food in if he were in Kid's position. Instead, Brawny pulled the plate closer to himself and started eating the pancakes himself. He didn't want to waste the food, and pancakes are delicious.

While munching on pancakes, Brawny looked across him and saw Calla quickly wipe a tear away and look down. Something bad must have hit her. Must have been the thought of being alone. She was worried that Brawny would run out on their wedding day. Not that he ever would, of course. Even with a family. Brawny stopped eating and reached his hoof across the table to hold hers. Wasn't much, but what else could you do in a public diner and with a foal sitting right next to you?