The Two Families.

“Sir, do you want to-”

“No.”

“Sir, you've not even-”

“I said no.”

Gigglebox wasn't going to look at his children. Not until his wife could look at them with him. Because that's what they needed to be introduced to first: the warmth of a mother.

The mare in question wasn't seeing anything right now. She was in a coma, the glimmer gone from her eyes, the smile gone from her lips, the life gone from her body. She wasn't Snowflake. Snowflake was somewhere else, most likely offended by this doppelganger.

Gigglebox smiled to himself for the first time that day. Knowing Snowflake, she probably would be. If she was even capable of opening her eyes.

“Sir,” The nurse spoke up. The ways she insisted on calling him ‘sir’ was really getting on his nerves. “You realize that the hospital is not capable of taking care of your children for anymore than three days.”

“Then I'll use those three days! How do you expect me to take care of my children without a mother?” He snapped.

He looked at his wife once again, once again wanting to burst into tears. He moved a lock of her mane, devoid of it's usual bounce and flow, out of her face, as even in lifelessness, it found a way to be everywhere at once.

"Sir, don't do that, please."

"What? Are you trying to tell me how to take care of my wife now?! You've known her for half a day. I've known her five years. It doesn't really compare, does it?" Said Gigglebox. His concern for his wife had made him unusually melancholic and moody. It wasn't like him, and he didn't want to yell at the nurse, but he couldn't help it. He looked back at Snowflake, it hurt him seeing her wired up like a generator. He began to whisper,

"Snow, please wake up. I, I don't want to do this alone. I want our kids to know who you were Snow... What am I saying? I know you're going to wake up Snow, my angel is just resting in heaven is all. Yeah, that's it." He held onto her hoof and whispered some more. "But please don't be gone for long Snow, without you I'm turning into somepony else. I, I need you back here, with me; and the kids!" He paused to let out some quiet whimpers but continued. "B-But, if you want to stay there, if it's better than being here with me... Then I forgive your choice Snow, I forgive you. But if it's something I did, I'm sorry, and I hope you could forgive me... Then again, I don't think I need to worry Snow, because you'll forgive me for whatever I did no matter what right?"

Silence.

"Yeah, I knew you would."

The nurses and doctors in the room all had tears of their own forming in their eyes. Some looked away, some plainly walked out the room, but some stayed to comfort this poor stallion, this poor husband, this poor father.

~*~

Meanwhile Techie was meeting with his wife and child.

"Hey Nin! How was it?" Techie asked trying to look excited and also trying to hide his nervousness.

"What do you think?" Ninroot replied playfully, getting a simple roll of the eyes from Techie. He approached her and laid a quick kiss on the forehead before the same nurse as before got his attention.

"Sir, would you like to see your foal?" Techie glanced at Ninroot looking more nervous now, but Ninroot assured him with a small warm smile and said,

"We'd love to" The nurse hurried out the door and faster than a flash she came back with a small bundle with a pink blanket wrapped around it.

"It's a filly!" She announced, but instead of looking confused and scared like Techie assumed she would, instead she looked joyful and happy. She carefully gave Ninroot the small child. Techie leaned over to get a better view. And from what he saw, all his theories, his fears, his worries, were put to rest. To him, she looked beautiful.

She had a lock of black mane but with one large stripe of orange splitting it down the middle, she had two little fangs poking out of her little muzzle, she was a mix or green and beige making a kinda dull shade to her coat. But what made the site even cuter was she had little bat wings sprouting out of little holes of the blanket. Techie wished he could see her eyes, wanting to see which eyes she would get.

He slowly grabbed the foal from Ninroot and held it close to him.

"What should we name her?" He asked, Ninroot gave another warm smile.

"I think you should name her Techie."

"But-"

"Listen, I'm on way too many pain killers to be thinking about names right now. So I think the father should name her." She said with the same warm smile.

"Okay...Hmm..." Techie thought and thought, until finally he thought of a name, it wasn't a clever one but it would do. "How about Digitail? Yeah, Digitail Hoof." He held her closer to his muzzle by both holding and levitating her with his horn. He then whispered, in a deep voice as he looked up to the ceiling.

"You guys are grandparents now."

~*~

It was now turning 7:00 PM, and Sweet Cotton and Melody were beginning to become tired and bored. So finally Sweet Cotton went to Gigglebox to try to get him to go home.

"Darling, Melody and I are getting tired, can you please come home with us?"

"I'm sorry Ma, but I can't do that. I have to be here when Snowflake wakes up. I want to be the first thing she sees when she wakes up." Only silence accompanied the two, they couldn't say a thing to each other but only stare at the peaceful sleeping body of Snowflake.

"Alright baby, you can stay here. I'll see you tomorrow." With a small and quick hug and kiss, Sweet left with Melody. As they exited the main doors, Sweet and Melody began their way down the road to the house.

They finally arrived, tired and sleepy. Melody slumped down on the couch and Sweet went up stairs, it didn't take long until Melody could hear snoring from upstairs. It didn't take long for her to fall into slumber.

Sadly, the bliss of sleep didn't stay for long, Melody woke up to the sound of knocking. Slowly she got up from the couch and opened the door. It was Gigglebox, looking tired and depressed as ever. He practically fell on Melody. He was practically sleeping, but there still was a hint of life in his eyes. She dragged him to the couch and laid him on the cushions.

"Poor thing." She whispered to herself, she could hear small whimpers come from the poor stallion. Almost knowing what he was thinking she said, "I know, I'm worried for her too." She sat next to him, she felt as if she had a younger brother since he was about a month younger than herself.

She gently patted his head and whispered, "Don't worry, she'll be fine. She'll...Be...Fine..." And like that, Melody fell asleep.

~*~

The next morning was very fuzzy for Gigglebox, he woke up with Melody's hoof on his face. He did find it quite awkward however, him and Melody never really socialized. He slowly and carefully moved her hoof away from his head, and slipped out the front door. There he found a small envelope on the ground. He picked it up from the ground and opened it.

It read,

Dear Gigglebox, when you read this you must report to the hospital as soon as possible.

Sincerely Dr. Whole heart

He put the letter back in the envelope and through it back on the ground. He then quickly took off flying towards the hospital.

~*~

Gigglebox sighed as he swung open the door to his wife's room. He was unshaven and tired, after yet another cold, sleepless night, accompanied only by the lack of a warm, loving pony next to him.

He was greeted by the still, lifeless body of Snowflake once again, and funnily enough, a midwife. The midwife would normally be at her desk, doing paperwork, or doing other sorts of work, but this time, she was actually sat at her desk, her eyes locked on the door, waiting for his arrival.

"Ah, I've been waiting for you, sir." She said, her voice oddly grim.

whatever was going to come next was not going to be good.

She pulled out a chair of him to sit on, and looked directly at him. She had what Snowflake would call, her 'news-baring face' on, and it was the most grim thing Gigglebox had ever seen in his life.

"Sir, I'm not sure if you're aware, but the hospital does have to follow a policy with twin births, especially when things such as comas unfortunately befall the mother."

She sounded as though she were reading aloud, like she'd compulsively thrown herself into learning it word for word.

"I'm very sorry, Sir, but your wife... she... we can't keep her in this world much longer."

Gigglebox felt as though the entire world had come crashing down on him, debris tumbling around him, crushing him and everything around him.

"B-but she's still alive?" He choked, suppressing tears that threatened to break the invisible barrier holding them back.

"Yes, but the chances of her are so slim to nonexistent that..."

The rest of the words were drowned out. Gigglebox couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"So you gave up on her?" He said hoarsely, tears beginning to spill.

"Not exactly like that, sir-"

"Yes you did. You gave up on her. You think she's a lost cause. Well, I've got news for you, lady. She's not." A tear splashed onto the floor, "Anypony who's spent even a minute with her will know that she won't ever give up. She's fighting, even if you can't see it. She's survived bombs with barely even a scratch. The birth of two ponies isn't going to weaken her in any way."

He was openly sobbing now.

"She's all that's kept me alive these past five years. Her, and nothing more."

he stopped crying, anger taking over his mind.

"And do you want to know the sick thing about this? That one day, those kids will ask me where their mom is. And I won't be able to lie to them. I'll have to tell them that the very mare that helped bring them into the world killed their mother. And it gets worse. Much worse. After that, they won't believe in happy endings. Do you want to know how I know? Because that's how I feel right now."

"Sir, I don't really have a say in the matter-"

"So, thanks for the offer, but no. She's still fighting, and she won't ever stop."

He raised from his chair, and walked over to his usual place by the hospital bed, by his wife. He put a hoof to her cheek, gently stroking it in his usual, loving manner.

"You're still there, Snow, aren't you? Why don't you show me? Please, Snow... just anything. I'm not asking for any grand gestures, just a little reassurance."

"Well, that's a good job, because I really don't think I have the energy to do anything too grand."

It was tired, it was hoarse, but it was still hers. It still had every ounce of familiarity to it, and it still stood out against the conflicting accents in the room.

"Oh, thank God.. Snow, just.. Thank God..." He muttered, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"My sentiments exactly." Replied Snowflake. It was such a Snowflake thing to say that he couldn't help giggle a little.

"Now, look, I didn't spend days in a frigging coma to not even see my kids when I woke up." She said. It was almost as though she'd never been gone.

"I haven't even seen them myself yet." Said Gigglebox, moving a lock of Snowflakes mane out of her tired eyes.

They suddenly widened with a jolt.

"What?" She gasped, her eyes filling with tears, "No...no, no, no... God, no... Why did you do that? Those poor kids have been all on their own for days, not knowing love. That's the first thing they need to know. As soon as you can, you hold them in your hooves, and you don't ever want to let go. They don't know love."

The midwife came in then, carrying two tiny bundles, one wrapped in a pale rose, the other one in sky blue. Their eyes were still shut, unwilling to open two months before deemed necessary by tiny minds.

Gigglebox was handed the rose bundle, a strange feeling swelling up in his chest. Snowflake was right, he didn't ever want to remove himself from this tiny foal that he could finally call his own. She was a very pale blue, almost gray, with an equally light blonde mane, tiny wings sprouting from her back. This was the first time Gigglebox had ever felt love for something that was truly his own.

“She’s so small.” Giggle said with a whisper. Snowflake didn't notice the size until Giggle mentioned it. She inspected the small bundle she had. It was also very small, or smaller than a usual foal should be. This foal that she held was a colt, with the same fur color as the filly Gigglebox held. He too had little wings sprouting from his back, his mane was pale blue, with little blonde streaks running through it.

"What do you think we should name them?" Snowflake said gently. Gigglebox looked at his new daughter and thought for a second. Until he thought of a bright idea.

"Bright Idea."

"What?" Snowflake asked curiously.

"I don't have an idea what to call her, so I'll call her Bright Idea!" He held her closer to his chest. Snowflake only chuckled at the name Gigglebox gave the little foal.

"HM, I believe that's your best joke yet Giggle." She said with little chuckles mixed in with her words.

"Well, that's one down. It would be only fair if you named the colt." Giggle replied.

"Okay..." Snowflake looked down at her son, and said with confidence, "Sunny Dayz" Giggle looked at Snowflake confused.

"Why the Z at the end? Isn't days spelled D, A, Y, S? And don't say that's how Brits spell it because I've seen you write down the word Days spelled like D, A, Y, S."

"Believe me I've met many Sunny Days before, it's a very common name. I want this one to be more, unique." Snowflake replied. Getting a slight nod of agreement from Gigglebox, surely he's met a Sunny Day or two in his time.

~*~

Meanwhile Melody was sat on the hard, uncomfortable plastic chairs, silently cursing at Gigglebox for clogging up her sister’s visitor allowance. She knew he was a father and all, but he’d been doing practically nothing but watching Snowflake sleep for the past day. He could live with tearing himself away from her for five minutes so that she could drop in, say hi, give her a coffee and leave. But no.

Another pony, a beige colored Pegasus, flopped into the chair next to her. He looked familiar, but she couldn't think where she could possibly know him from.

‘Maybe he’s some sort of actor?’ She thought, glancing up to get a proper look at him.

‘Or a model...’

“Told ‘ya I’d see you soon, didn't I, toots?”

‘Oh, shit.’

She knew she’d seen him somewhere. He was the exact same, beanie-sporting stallion that’d helped them haul their furniture to Snowflake’s and Giggle’s new house.

“Shut up.” She said, barely even thinking before the words left her lips.

“I've got to be honest, though, I didn't think you’d be this eager to see me again, Beautiful.” He said, stretching his hooves.

“Look, you could at least have the decorum to introduce yourself before you start chatting up a mare.” She said, rolling her eyes, “And I don’t think I got your name.”

“You got a point, love.” He answered, extending a hoof, “Wacky, sweetheart. Wacky Tabacky.”

Melody gingerly shook the hoof.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Tabacky.” She said, putting particular emphasis on her new title for him.

“Aw, C’mon…” He said, a slight whine to his voice.

“Oh, so you want to hear some of the other things I could call you? Well, let’s get a move on. We've got b-”

“Yeah, I’ll stop you there.” He said, putting a hoof to her mouth, “I didn't quite catch your name.”

“Melody.” She grunted.

“Huh, nice name.” He complimented her.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, before Wacky broke it once again.

“You owe me, y’know.”

Melody almost fell off her chair.

“No, I don’t! That’s my sister, and if you’d tried even half of the things on her you have on me, you’d be a dead stallion, on her husband’s account only.” She rushed, tripping over her words.

"Nope, no getting out of it, gorgeous." He said a cocky grin on his face, "I know for a fact that you were going to end up lugging all that shit to wherever it is that you wanted it, so, I'd be very grateful if you'd come and grab a coffee with me tomorrow."

Melody scowled at the ground for a while, before muttering,

"What time?"

"There, ya see? That wasn't so hard." He said, making Melody want to shove her hoof into his face. He got up to leave, but as he got to the doorway, he said,

"How's quarter to three for you, at Starbucks?"

"Fine, thanks."

He finally left, leaving Melody to herself again. She flopped back into her chair, breathing a long sigh.

'You, Melody, are a very lucky pony.'