"Alright my little ponies, that's all for tonight. Bedtime!" Twilight said in her most motherly tone. After an audible groan was heard from every foal, and Pinkie Pie, the princess continued, "Don't worry, we'll have more to tell tomorrow!" Twilight turned towards her partner in parenthood, and asked, "How's our little purple fuzzball doing?"

"Fast asleep, and still sucking on her marshmallow. I want to give her a bottle to drink for the night, but I don't want to wake her, or disturb her incredible cuteness!" Rarity squeezed Amethyst and kissed her on the forehead before putting their tiny bundle of joy in her foal basket, and the basket on the white mare's back. "Let's hope she's not too hyper in the morning, dear. This is supposed to be a vacation, after all. Motherhood is such work!"

And how diligent the white unicorn was. Twilight may not have known where their daughter had come from, and she may never know, but she was grateful every day that her lover was given the opportunity to be a mother. Rarity was so very great at it. No, she was meant for it. She was delicate, precise, and always willing to give her time, but also wasn't afraid to lecture or discipline, as Twilight had seen many times with their friend's foals, and especially the marshmallow mare's sister, Sweetie Belle. The whole gang was very proud of those three fillies, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders had become an Equestra-wide anti-bullying and self acceptance driven organization in a very short time, all thanks to them. If anypony was a perfect example of how great Rarity was with foals, it was Sweetie Belle.

Twilight had a sudden thought that she needed to express. "I don't think I'll ever be able to tell you, 'I love you' as much as you deserve to hear it, Rarity."

"And I know I'll never be able to tell you as much as you deserve, darling." Rarity looked around, saw that they were alone in the camp, and kissed her lover as sensually as she could.

Twilight blushed a flaming crimson. "I hope you know I'm going to cuddle you so hard tonight."

Rarity smiled with a devious look in her eye."Well I have to put Amethyst in her crib first, dear."

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day may have been filled with swimming, a collaborative picnic that put Rarity and Applejack's friendship to the test yet again, a crude tire swing that ended up turning into a runaway journey down the hill, which Zap insisted her father let her do again, and the longest game of hide and seek anypony had ever played, what everypony in the camp looked forward to most was the next part of Rarity and Twilight's story.

"I guess the only place to go next would be when we told all of our friends over lunch!" Rarity exclaimed. "I believe it's your turn to tell the story, Twilight."

"OOO! OOO! I'm in this one!" Pinkie started jumping up and down upon remembering this little fact.

Applejack gave the pink mare a blank stare, and then rolled her eyes. "We all are, sugarcube."

"I know our little ponies may not have been there for this part, but could we just skip it anyway? I mean, we all saw it coming, didn't we?" Rainbow Dash proclaimed smugly.

"Rainbow Dash!" This wouldn't be the first time Fluttershy had wiped that look off of her fellow pegasus' face. "Not only is that incredibly rude to say, but I think it should be up to the foals as to whether or not they want to hear it." Upon turning to the purple couple, Fluttershy's cheery nature returned, and she smiled brightly in the dark, heavily forested night. "I know I wouldn't mind one single bit."

Pudding Pie had a terrible habit of saying things he'd find himself later regretting. He was about to add something else to that list. "How did Spike react?"

The only sounds that followed were the dropping of a milk bottle and a newborn foal's cries. Zap Apple darted out of her seat to pick up the bottle and hold it to Amethyst's mouth. The foal seemed initially confused at the filly's swiftness, but returned to her content suckling once again. "What's wrong, Rarity? I haven't heard very many stories about Spike, but he seems mighty nice!" The blue filly had a way with bringing the new mother back to reality.

"Thank you dear, I'll take it from here." Wiping the shock and tears from her eyes, Rarity took back the bottle with her magic, motioned to the filly that it was fine to sit back down, and began to stare upward, recalling the dragon fondly. "Nice doesn't even begin to cover it, dear. He was a diligent assistant to Twilight, and would never say no to a pony in need. I'll never forget what he said to us that day."

"I thought something was different. I'm really glad you guys actually told me. I think if I were you two, I'd have tried to hide it, but you didn't need to. I just want you two to be happy. That's all I've ever wanted, and if its together, that's even better. I'll always try to be the best friend the two of you will ever have, and I won't ever let something as silly as my feelings get in the way of that. If anything, they'll motivate me to be an even better friend. I want you both to know I'll never stop being your friend. No matter how mad or sad or anything. I will always be your friend."