It was four-thirty in the morning and Flurry Heart was crying. Her incessant cries awoke her parents Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Groggily turning towards an exhausted Cadence, Shining Armor mumbled,
"Honey, i-it's your turn with Flurry… g'night."
Having finished with his near unintelligible grown Shining rolled away from his loving wife and promptly fell back to sleep. Cadence’s baggy eyes struggled to stay open as her sleep addled mind attempted to wrap itself around the situation. After a few moments Cadence understood what her husband had grumbled. She wouldn't take it anymore.
Who had been kept awake all night by her husbands Yak-like snores?
Cadence.
Who made Flurry Heart go back to sleep not once, not twice, but four times in the last 10 hours!
Cadence.
Whose husband hogged all the-
Cadences internal rant froze as a snore louder than any snore that was ever snored ripped it's way out of Shining's throat.
'Okay, that's it!'
Cadence rolled onto her right side and used her magic to brace herself then she aimed and then she bucked. Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire, former Captain of the Royal Guard, was propelled off of the eight-inch pillow top mattress by Cadence’s buck. He hit the wall with a soft 'thump' as he was protected by the comforter and bed sheet. Shining's impromptu armor left Cadence exposed to the cold night air.
"Just my luck!" She groused in annoyance.
As if on cue Shining Armor let loose a Yak-like yawn. Exasperated, Cadence threw all the pillows on the bed at his wrapped up form. The insulating pile of sheets and pillows jiggled as Shining snuggled deeper into his cocoon completely oblivious to the struggles that Cadence was going through. His cocoon protected him from his wife’s burning gaze.
'It would be so easy, he wouldn't even notice.'
Thankfully for Shining, Cadences thoughts came to a crashing halt as the hiccups and cries of Flurry Heart swiftly cooled her angered state. With a defeated sigh Cadence plopped out of bed and clopped over to Flurry Hearts' little side room. Before she opened the door Cadence wrestled on a pair of Royal Canterlot Voice Proofed Earmuffs (Luna approved). Properly prepared, Cadence opened the door and was assaulted by the sound waves coming out of her baby's mouth. She was pretty much immune to Flurry's liberal use of the Royal Baby voice; the earmuffs were Luna rated. Sighing in exhaustion Cadence made her way over to Flurry and examined her.
Leaning over her baby, Cadence gave Flurry's rear a quick sniff; Nothing. No smelly smells that smelled smelly, that was good. Lifting Flurry up in her magic Cadence softly rocked her filly side to side as she began to softly sing; Flurry’s cries lessened just a bit but she was still sniveling. Placing ‘Sombrero’, the stuffed pony, into Flurry’s hooves distracted her for a bit but she still didn’t stop squirming. Cadence sighed as Flurry tossed her stuffed pony doll to the floor then teared up. With the potential for a flood of salty tears and goupy snot Cadence laid down to offer Flurry Heart one of her teats to suckle. After a few moments of indecision Flurry Heart latched on and everything was quiet as the filly was fed.
After a few minutes of feeding Cadence removed Flurry’s Heart with a ‘pop’ and both ponies sighed in contentment. Suddenly, just beyond Flurry Hearts’ door something started shuffling and moaning. Looking up, Cadence beheld a shadowy figure with a flowing black cape and beady eyes. She panicked and levitated the nearest thing in front of her; it was a crystalline baby carriage. The mysterious figure took a step into Flurry’s room and Cadence threw the carriage at it. The creature was quickly pinned under the baby carriage and Cadences heart soared.
"Ha!" Cadence shouted as she pointed at the mysterious figure. "You got another thing coming mister if-"
'Gurgle'
Cadence was silenced by an earthshaking rumble from Flurry Hearts' stomach.
'Gurgle-gurge.'
Looking to her baby, Cadence could see that Flurry Hearts’ face was pale and sweaty. As Cadence saw the pallid face of her baby her eyes widened in alarm.
"Shining!" She called out in sheer panic. "Flurry Heart is-"
She never finished the sentence because at that moment Flurry Heart violently ejected all sorts of bodily fluids and they went everywhere. The next few seconds were silent. Then a clean white hoof rose above the stained blankets that were pinned under the baby carriage.
"Cadence." Shining Armor hoarsely called. "I think Flurry Heart is sick."
She was sick! Little baby princess Flurry Heart was sick! The news spread quickly throughout the Crystal Empire and with it came a wave of gifts for her and a flood of advice for Cadence and Shining Armor.
Opening the nursery door Shining Armor stepped through the portal and waded through a sea of get well cards and balloons with two mugs of fresh coffee suspended in his magical grasp.
"Honey." He called out to Cadence. "I'm back!"
A harried and worried Cadence latched onto him and quickly down the two mugs of coffee. Her entire body shivered as the caffeine jolted her awake. Pulling away from Shining she fixed him with a frantic look.
"Shining, what if Sunburst doesn't know what is wrong with our baby! "
Shining hugged Cadences shaking form and nuzzled her neck.
"Hey Cady, everything is going to be fine, alright? I've sent a letter to Twilight and if I know her, she'll just teleport in and demand to know where Flurry Heart is. She'll come with all of her friends and all of her medical textbooks. Hey maybe if Starlight comes along she and Sunburst will cure Flurry Heart!"
Cadence returned the hug and nuzzle with a smile tugging on the corners of her mouth.
"You're right, if anypony can help Flurry it's Twilight Sparkle."
The couple stayed connected, drawing strength from each other. That was the scene Sunburst walked into on his way to give them the news. He stayed by the nursery door and waited to be noticed, it didn't take long. Shining was the first one to notice him and his ears perked up as soon as he caught sight of Sunbursts orange mane. Separating himself from Cadence he nervously trotted over to Sunburst.
“Well? How is she? Is she going to be okay!”
Sunburst nervously chuckled.
“W-Well, you see… I have some news for you a-and you might not like what you hear so I suggest you... sit down.”
He returned the couples aghast looks with a very nervous smile and pushed his glasses back up his muzzle.
“Young Flurry Heart has Pneumonia.”
“Pneumonia.” Shining Armor deadpanned as Sunburst nervously cleaned his glasses.
“Mmm… yes. Pneumonia. And quite a bad case too I'm afraid. Thankfully Flurry’s little ‘accident’ in her nursery helped to expose that particular issue. Now, we can’t try magical cures on her because of the Fledglings Forbearance charm you put on her during the Crystalling. In light of that, I have some suggestions for you two.”
Both Shining and Cadence leaned in wanting to hear exactly what Sunburst was going to say. With his superiors being so close to him Sunburst grew nervous and stammered,
“N-Now, the best solution to this particular problem would be to give Flurry Heart plenty of bed rest, liquids; mainly water, and some food; if she can hold it down.”
Cadence and Shining looked up at Sunburst as he finished his diagnosis and cure. They looked at each other then at Sunburst.
“So… we can go see her now right?” They both said in concern.
“Oh-um yes! Yes! Definitely. How-”
He suddenly felt air rush by him on either side as two colored blurs passed him by.
“-ever…” He teetered off as he saw the empty room around him. Looking around his eyes spied the recently made master bed with its luscious looking pillow top mattress.
“Well,” he drawled. “I am pretty much family.”
Drawing closer to the bed he poked at it with one hoof.
“An eight-inch pillow top mattress! Wow, that’s- that’s…” Sunburst looked around. “I did just help Flurry Heart. So…”
Sunburst jumped onto the bed and promptly sunk into the pillow top mattress. Within seconds he was asleep and dreaming of wizardly things.
A week and a half had gone by after the initial diagnosis and things were looking up for Flurry Heart. She had recovered the majority of her strength and was once again acting like the baby she was supposed to be. While there were a couple of bumps along the way everything was sorted out in the end. And everypony lived happily ever after.
--THE END--
Author's Note
Shoddily done in mine opinion. But I had to get it out because my muse was beating me over the head with one of my journalism books again. So instead of reading up on current events and analyzing them like I'm supposed to I wrote ponies. Yay!
Have good time. G'night.
