"Rock-a-bye Twilight, in the treetops. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock." Twilight Velvet tenderly cradled her infant in her hooves, singing her to sleep.
Twilight Sparkle, however, was not in the mood.
"Waaaaaaah!" Twilight Sparkle wailed.
"When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. And down will come Twilight, cradle and all."
"Waaaaaaah!" Twilight Sparkle wailed. She struggled against her mother's grasp.
"Ahh, all right," Twilight Velvet sighed. "No naptime today." Her hair was a shambles.
She set the baby down on the living room floor, and the whining immediately stopped. "Whew..."
Twilight Velvet was sore all over. Worse, she was stressed out of her mind. Night Light was on his way home from work, and she was dreading his return. She would have to tell him then...
Or would she? Couldn't she just delay the talk, and gain a few more days of peace?
As soon as the thought occurred to her, Twilight Velvet felt a surge of relief. Yes! She would delay the talk. It was an important talk, but it could wait.
After all, it wasn't like it was going to go anywhere.
Twilight Velvet perked up, and began humming to herself as she strolled into the kitchen, while the baby ambled around on the floor.
"POW! POW!"
Twilight Velvet nearly tripped over herself at the sudden realization that her son had awakened from his nap.
Shining Armor was pointing his horn at her, in the threshold of the kitchen, making believe that he was shooting her dead with powerful magical lasers. He was clearly having a grand old time. "POW, POW, POW!"
Twilight Velvet considered for a second, looked at her son, and made a decision.
Then she grasped her chest dramatically. "Oh! Oww! Ahh, you got me!" She slunk down to the kitchen floor. "Oh, why, whyyy?" She reached out pathetically with one leg. "Why would you shoot your own mother, Shiny? Haven't I always been a good mother?" She gave a few pathetic dying coughs.
Shining Armor's eyes widened, and his expression softened. He ran over to his momma, who was now crumpled on the floor.
"Oh! Ow, it hurts..." she continued.
"Are you okay?" Shining Armor asked, sincerely. His eyes were trembling. "I didn't mean it... Did I hurt you? I'm sorry!"
Twilight Velvet hid her smile beneath a foreleg. She suppressed a giggle, then summoned up some strength to croak forth dramatically: "Come closer, Shiny..."
Shining Armor inched closer, afraid to touch her for fear of causing more damage.
"Closer..."
He came right up to her face. Then—
"Gotcha!" Twilight Velvet sprang upon her son. She pinned him onto his back, and started blowing raspberries on his stomach.
"Ah! Hahahaha no! Nooo! Stop, stop!" protested Shining Armor, who could not stop laughing.
After subjecting him to a satisfying amount of tickle torture, Twilight Velvet released her son, who skipped away, looking for the baby.
Twilight Velvet sighed and smiled. Moments like those were what made all the soreness and stress worthwhile. She pulled some spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms out of her refrigerator and began to prepare dinner.
"Waaaaaaah!" Twilight Sparkle wailed.
The mushrooms were beautifully sautéed, the spinach was perfectly wilted, and the tomatoes and all were combined into a scrumptious topping for the pasta that Twilight Velvet was just now draining. She returned the noodles to the pan and turned all the burners off, suddenly discouraged upon calculating the number of dirty dishes tonight's dinner would produce.
Setting the noodles down, she peeked her head around into the living room. She saw that Shining Armor was pulling the baby Twilight Sparkle around by the tail.
"Shining Armor!" She stormed into the living room. Shining Armor suddenly stopped what he was doing, frozen in attention.
"You know better than to pull your sister's tail! Shame on you!" Shining Armor was crestfallen. "How would you like it if I pulled you around by your tail, hmm?" Twilight Velvet made as if to grab Shining Armor's tail.
"No, NOOO!" yelled Shining Armor, hiding his tail under his legs and covering his backside with his forehooves.
Twilight Velvet glared at him. "Play nice," she said, very slowly, "or I'll tell Daddy on you."
"NO!" cried Shining Armor. "Don't tell Daddy! Please! I'll play nice!" He ran to his mother and gripped her leg. He was crying.
"Play nice," she muttered.
At that moment, the latch of the front door clicked, and Shining Armor froze as Night Light entered.
Twilight Velvet trotted up to meet her dearly beloved. She had grown adept at smiling sincerely even while she was in a bad mood.
"Daddy's home!" she said, in a pleasant tone of voice. "Hey, sweet buns. Love you." She gave him a kiss as he entered.
Night Light kissed Twilight Velvet back. "I love you too, sugar plum... Ahhhh, what a day," he said. He kicked off his horseshoes and collapsed onto the living room couch. He lifted the baby up into his hooves, and started bouncing her around playfully. Shining Armor sat beside him.
"Hard day at work?" asked Twilight Velvet, as she went to the kitchen and plated up dinner.
"Oh, ridiculous day today," he said. "What's for dinner?" He grinned and laughed as he bounced Twilight Sparkle on his knee.
"You'll see in just a second," Twilight Velvet said, as she spooned out a huge portion for her husband. Meanwhile, Shining Armor began telling Daddy about the make-believe adventures of the day.
Twilight Velvet was relieved, and encouraged. Things were going so smoothly. Perhaps it was time after all.
The baby Twilight Sparkle had been suckled to sleep, Shining Armor had been read his bedtime story, and the parents were alone in their bedroom.
Twilight Velvet nuzzled Night Light. He had never wanted children to begin with, but in the moment, she felt convinced that he was finally coming around to seeing them as a blessing.
She decided to break the news.
"Nighty," she said, as she made a strong effort to look wide-eyed, cute and innocent. "I've got some good news to talk to you about." She smiled, hoping to influence her husband's reaction for the better.
"Hmm?" he said. He was beside her in bed, reading a business book.
She slid closer to him, embracing him around the neck and waist. She was putting all her charm to work. "I'm pregnant again."
"Oh, Celestia," sighed Night Light. With a sudden exasperated look, he set down his book and began rubbing his face and head with his hooves.
"I-It's a good thing, right? Aren't you excited?" Twilight Velvet's charm was failing her.
"No, I'm not," said Night Light, with a deadening finality. "You'll have to get it taken care of. We can't afford another baby."
"W-w-what?" Twilight Velvet's voice was quavering. She lowered her speech to a whimper. "No..."
"What did I say?" said Night Light. "It's happening. You're getting it taken care of. You've done this to me twice already. Manipulating, lying, telling me lies about your cycles. Now I can't afford to raise the kids we've already got! You can't keep doing this to me. No more," he said, with a clearly restrained fire in his voice.
"You're calling the hospital tomorrow and making an appointment to get rid of this problem, and that's final."
Twilight Velvet sunk away from her husband. She felt as if her heart had been delivered a mortal wound. But she didn't know of any way to get around a direct order from her husband, the love of her life.
She turned around, her back to Night Light. Then, hiding her head under the covers, and biting her tongue to stay quiet, she cried herself to sleep.
Author's Note
Hey there, readers! Feel free to share your own stories of abortion in the comments!
