Twilight was sick again. Being young and reading books all night, even in the coldest days, meant she was quite susceptible to illness.
Night Light had made her an appointment at a nearby doctors office. “Shining, go get your sister ready for bed; she needs her rest since we’re going to the doctor early tomorrow,” he ordered.
Shining nodded and made his way to where Twilight was reading and sniffling away. “C'mon Twily - bed time. You need your rest for the doctor tomorrow."
Twilight instantly shot up straight from his slouched position, dropping her book. She started to shake. Shining got down next to her and held her close. “Twily, its okay, the doctor isn’t scary. He just wants to make you feel better.”
Twilight was still frozen, staring blankly at the wall. “C'mon Twily, I’ll be there with you, and so will dad," he coaxed. Shiny could see his father losing patience; he knew he’d been given an order, and that he had to get Twilight to bed now and let her get some rest.
“C'mon, Twily” Shining Armor said as he held out his hoof to the younger Pony. Twilight took his hoof and they both headed to the bathroom to get Twilight washed, dressed and ready for bed.
When Twilight was all ready, Shining walked out to tell his dad. Night Light was passed out, lieing on the table being totally tired from his workday, with a glass of Applecider still on the Table. Shining saw his moms medical bag laying by the door, which she didn't use anymore, since she quit her work as doctors assistant. Suddenly he had an idea; he grabbed the bag and took it towards the bedroom where he could hear Twilight sniffling and her cough gradually worsening.
"Twily?" Shining called, striding over to his sisters bed. He set the medical bag on the mattress with a light, muffled thud.
Twilight stopped coughing and looked up. "What are you doing with Mommys old bag, Shiny?"
"Dad's asleep; he won't notice." The older colt began pulling the medical instruments from the bag, one by one, and laid them on the bed between the two of them. His eyes caught his sisters when he looked up, and he paused, seeing anxiety cloud the younger fillys eyes. "What's the matter, Twily?"
Twilight sniffled, opened her mouth to speak, and broke into a deep, echoing cough that made her eyes water. "I don't feel good," she mumbled as a tear trickled down her cheek.
"I know, that's why Dad is taking you to the doctor, so they can make you better," Shining replied, reaching over to the table by the bed for a tissue and wiping his sisters damp face and runny nose.
"But I don't wanna go to the doctor," Twilight whimpered. A second tear dribbled from her eye. "It's cold and it smells funny and... and..." she trailed off into hiccuping sobs.
Her brothers arms were instantly wrapped around her. "It's okay to be scared, Twily, but I promise you the doctor will help you feel good again." Shining rubbed her back slowly up and down, shushing little Twily until the sobs quieted down. "Look, I brought Moms doctor things to show you how they work. Will you feel better if you try them on me?" he asked. His sister nodded slowly. "Good filly. What do you want to try first?"
Twilight shrugged her shoulders and made an unsure expression to her brother. Shining laughed before he began to explain. “Okay, so they will ask you or dad questions about how you are feeling, like what hurts and about your cough,” he began. Twilights eyes widened in fear. “Hey, shhh, it’s okay Twily. If you don’t want to speak, you can whisper to me and I can tell the doctor. Sound okay?" he asked. Twilight nodded in response.
“Okay, so first, because we’ve never been there before, they will need to weigh you and measure how tall you are,” Shining explained. Twilight was listening attentively, nodding. “So the doctor will put you on a box, and it will tell them how much you weigh. And then like dad does, they’ll put you by a big ruler and measure to see how tall you are." Twilight nodded again, showing she understood.
Shining poked her playfully. “You can see how much you have to grow before you are as tall as me!” he teased. Twilights eyes brightened up at this. She always looked up to her brother.
Shining picked up the thermometer with his Magic from the bed, and held it up in front of Twilight. “Okay, this is an easy one. You’ve let me and dad do it before, and you’ve seen it used on me – the doctor will just put it in your mouth and see how hot you are.” Twilight nodded, feeling slightly more relaxed.
Shining picked up the blood pressure cuff next. “You know what this is, Twily?” he asked.
Twilight shook her head in response. “No, but it looks really scary,” she replied. Her eyes started to tear up.
“Hey, it’s okay! I’m not sure what it does, but it doesn’t hurt – just squeezes a bit. I don’t think we should mess with this. It looks too big for you, anyway," his brother said. Twilight released a deep breath, sighing in relief.
“Now the next thing mom doesn’t have, but…” Shining started talking as he made his way to his bed, reaching under the bed for his small flashlight that Night Light had given him. “This will do." Shining climbed back onto Twilights bed and sat in front of her once again. “They have a special light and thing that they will use to look in your ears – to make sure they are okay, and to check if you have a brain in there!”
Twilights eyebrows furrowed and she gave a slight frown. “I do have a brain!” Twilight raised her voice, but all that came out were croaked words before she started coughing again.
Shining rubbed her back patting it slightly to help Shining out. “Okay, I believe you, don’t hurt yourself!” Twilight smiled.
“What’s that?” Twilight pointed towards the stethoscope on the bed.
Shining picked it up and started to explain. “This is a stethoscope; the doctor will use it to listen to what’s going on inside of you."
Twilight climbed further under her duvet. Her muffled voice came from under the covers, “I don’t want them to listen to my insides, it’s scary! What if they say something mean?"
Shining chuckled, causing Twilight to poke her head out from her hiding place. “What’s so funny?” she asked defensively.
Shining continued laughing. “Would you feel better if you used it on me, and then we tried it on you - or you could even try listening?”
Twilight came further out of the covers and sat in front of Shining and nodded her head. "Okay sister, put this on," Shining instructed. He slipped the earpieces of the stethoscope into his Sisters ears. Then he put the other end of it to his own chest. "Can you hear anything?"
Twilight made a funny face at her brother. "Your voice sounds really super loud with this!" she yelled, forgetting she didn't need to raise her voice, which made the older colt grin back. Then Twilight began to focus on what she could hear and she noticed a steady drum beat coming from inside her brother. She put her hoof over Shinings and pushed down to make the sound louder and clearer. Lub-Dub. Lub-Dub. Lub-Dub. It was a nice sound.
"What's that drum sound, Shiny?" she asked.
"That's my heart beating; it keeps me alive and makes me strong and brave so I can protect you," her brother explained.
"Wow," breathed Twilight. "Your heart is super duper strong!"
Shining beamed proudly. "I bet yours is really strong too, wanna find out?" He took the stethoscope off his chest and pressed it to the younger fillys chest. A different drum beat echoed in Twilights ears, one that was much faster. She didn't like that it was faster; she wanted it to sound just like her big brothers.
"Shiny..." she whimpered, "something's wrong!" She pulled the stethoscope out of her ears.
"It's okay Twily, do you want me to check?" her brother asked reassuringly. The little filly nodded, holding back tears.
Shining put the stethoscope in his own ears and held up the end. "Do you want me to hold it, or do you want to do it yourself?" he inquired.
"You do it," Twilight sniffled.
Soon she found herself pulled into her big brothers lap. The older colts hoof reached around and gently touched the stethoscope to his sisters chest. A rapid thudding reached Shinings ears. Thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud. "What's wrong with my drum, Shiny?"
"Shh, Twily, your heart sounds good, it's just beating fast," he comforted his sister. "Are you still scared?"
"Uh-huh, a little," the little filly whispered.
Shinings arms squeezed her tighter as he continued to listen. "You never have to be scared with me, okay? I will always keep you safe, no matter what. Try breathing in really slow like this," he demonstrated, "and then blow it out nice and slow like this."
The stethoscope remained on Twilights chest while she mimicked her brothers breathing, and soon she felt less afraid. "There you go Twily, feel better now?" She nodded. "That's really good, your heartbeat is slower now."
"As slow as yours?" She asked.
"Well, yours is a little faster since you're littler than me," Shining explained, "but when we grow up they will be the same. Do you want to hear it again?"
Twilight nodded, and Shining placed the ear tips back in her ears. Once again, Shining placed the end of the stethoscope on Twilights small chest. Twilight gasped, “Shining, it’s still faster than yours!”
Shining nodded sympathetically. “Well, you're sick - and when you're sick, your heart has to work harder, but it's okay.”
Twilight nodded again and listened for a little longer. After a while, she looked up at Shining and asked if he could listen to her heart once again.
Shining smiled and nodded. “Just let me put all this away first; it’s late.” Shining packed away all of the medical things, leaving the stethoscope with Twilight who was making funny noises into the chest piece while he returned the bag to its original place.
When he returned, he and Twilight lay down on the bed while Twilight listened to his brothers heart once again. Shining didn’t mind what was happening; he may have been a bit uncomfortable, but if this is what he needed to do to make sure his sister was calm and prepared for what would happen, then this was what he needed to do.
After a while, Shining felt Twilights hoof slip off his chest, and looked down to see the little Pony fast asleep. He removed the ear pieces from her ears and slipped out of bed, putting the stethoscope away back in the bag like this never even happened. He looked back over at his bed - contemplating sleeping in there - but instead decided to join his sister (who was shivering). He climbed into bed with his sister and held her close, so she would be there if she needed him.
The next morning, Night Light came in, woke both ponies up, and told them to get ready to go.
Twilight was sent into a state of panic and Shining immediately threw himself in front of his sister. “Hey Twily, look at me, it’s going to be okay, you hear me? Remember what we did last night? Deep breaths, it’s going to be okay.”
When Twilight had calmed down, Shining Armor helped Twilight to comb her mane, brush her teeth and sent her out to Night Light who had made her breakfast before getting himself ready.
It was a twenty minute walk from the house to the nearest foal hospital. Night Light and Shining where about to head in while Twilight remained motionless beside the nearest street lamp.
"Let's go get you checked out, Twily," Night Light sighed, trying to pull his younger daughter away from the street lamp. Twilight held on as tight as she could, but her father was stronger.
"Daddy, no!" the little filly wailed, "I don't wanna!" She kicked her little hoofsies furiously, but Night Light held her firmly and carried her inside. He plopped Twilight into a chair in the waiting room, and Shining climbed into the seat next to her. "Look after your Sister for a minute," he instructed, going to the receptionist's desk to sign in.
The small fillys cries broke off into a painful-sounding cough; her older brother rubbed her back until the fit was over. "Shhh, Twily, I know you don't feel good, but this will make you all better again soon, okay?"
"Sh- Shiny, I don't like it here," she stammered, sniffling as her nose began to run.
"It's okay," the older colt leaned to hug her. "You're okay, I'm here," he whispered into the embrace.
Twilight climbed over the arm of the chair and into her brother's lap. Shining hugged her close while the younger filly snuggled her head into his chest.
"Do you hear that, Twily? That's my heart helping you be a brave filly." He ran his hooves through Twilights baby-soft hair and felt her nod encouragingly. "Remember what we practiced? You know everything that is gonna happen so you don't have to be afraid, okay?" Shinings words and the gently thumping heartbeat against her cheek helped soothe the little filly, and she slowed her breaths to match the ones her brother puffed against the top of his head. Night Light looked back at his children, feeling quietly proud of how good his oldest was, and thought his youngest was going to be okay.
Soon the trio were called back into an exam room. nurse redheart opened the door for them, but Twilight balked and buried her face in Night Lights hip, a death grip around his Hooves. "C'mon Twily, you're getting a little too big for this now," he urged, trying to be kind but beginning to lose his patience.
"No, Daddy, look! No!" Twilight screamed, pointing into the room.
Shining tugged on his father's coat. "Dad, that's a clown, Twily can't go in there!" He gestured to the cartoonish figure painted on the wall. It was not having the desired effect of making the room foal-friendly.
Night Light sighed and picked up the frightened filly. "Can we have a different room?" he asked the nurse.
"There's one more open down the hall," she replied, smiling. She waved to her right and they followed her into another room of the same size and shape, but this one was painted with friendly looking fish. "Wait here just a minute for the doctor please," she said and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Twilight had her eyes squeezed tightly closed, and all that could be heard in the silent room was her small sniffles.
“Twily you can open your eyes now - no clowns. It’s all fish; you like fish, right?” Shining encouraged. Twilight slowly opened her eyes and peered around the room before heaving a sigh of relief. “See, nothing to be afraid of Twily!” Shining smiled brightly to his little Sister.
Not long after, nurse Redheart came back with an empty file which was meant for Twilight. “Okay, which one of you is Twilight Sparkle?” she asked.
Shining gently nudged Twilight, and she raised her hoof. The nurse bent down to her level and smiled. “It’s okay sweetheart, we just need to measure your height and weight because you are new to us. We need some records." Twilight looked back to Shining for confirmation and the eldest boy nodded.
Twilight walked forward to where the Mare was standing and was brave enough to have both her height and weight measured. “Okay, that’s good! Well done Twilight, I’ll just go get the doctor,” she said as she walked Twilight back over to where her family was.
Twilight started to tense up again, so Shining gave her a reassuring smile. Twilight slowly nodded her head, trying to be brave. nurse Redheart left the room, and five minutes later the doctor arrived. He was a Lamia Pony which Twilight heard about. He was about 20 feet long and had pony hooves and a pony face. He looked friendly, but Twilight was still very unsure.
“SSSSSSo Twilight, what seems to be the problem with you today?” the doctor hissed, approaching the young filly. Twilight slowly stepped back closer to her father, seeking comfort.
Night Light picked her up and sat her on the examining table. “Nothing to be sssssscared of,” the doctor said as he approached, smiling to ease Twilights fear. The doctor turned to Night Light and asked him for Twilights symptoms. He missed a lot of them, so Shining interrupted where he could, telling him how Twilight was feeling.
Doctor Mesme grabbed two test kits from one of the many drawers in the room. “Okay, first things first, I need to put thissssss cotton swab in your mouth and just rub it around; is that okay, Twilight?”
Twilight leaned as far back as she could, trying to get away from the doctor. Night Light tried to hold her in place but Twilight turned her head.
“Okay, I have to do one on SSSSShining too," Doctor Mesme informed them. "Since you have been in clossssse contact with each other, it's possible you caught what she has."
Shining walked forward and jumped up next to Twilight, holding her tiny hooves in his larger one. “How about I go first, Twily, and show you everything is going to be okay. And then it is your turn, and if you get scared, you can hold my hoof,” he suggested.
Twilight nodded, tears streaming down his cheeks. She watched the doctor carefully, and searched her brother's face for any signs of pain. When it was her turn, she sat as still as possible. She was coughing and getting agitated, but Shining held her hoof tighter, and it was over before she knew it.
nurse Redheart came back shortly after to take away the tests. “We should get the results of those in a few minutes; our clinic does rapid testing as we know a lot of people move through town quickly or on business and don’t have time to come back for results," she explained.
Doctor Mesme returned to the younger filly with Shining remaining next to her. He checked Twilights temperature, which was quite high; Twilight was covered in a light sweat. Next was blood pressure. Twilight didn’t like that, and once again Shining offered to go first, but Twilight wanted to be brave and try it for herself. doctor Mesme slipped on the small cuff and began squeezing the pump.
Twilight started to squirm. “Shinyyyyyyyy, it’s too tight,” she whined, beginning to sniff again.
Shining soothed Twilight the best he could without getting in the way, trying to keep her still. “Twily, it’s okay, it will be over soon - but you gotta stay still, otherwise the doctor will have to do it again. Can you be really still, like when we play musical statues?” Twilight sat as still and quiet as possible and the doctor was able to get a measurement. She smiled at Shining, admiring how such a young colt was so wise and so good for his younger sister.
Doctor Mesme continued on with his exam reaching for the stethoscope hanging over his shoulder. Shining could hear Twilights breath hitch. Her hooves squeezed her older brother's tightly as the doctor approached the exam table, stethoscope in his snake tail.
"Do you know what this is, Twilight?" the doctor asked. The little filly nodded. "It'ssssss my stethoscope, and it helps me hear your heart and lungs. The sounds tell me if everything is working inside you." The doctor put the ear pieces in his ears. "May I ussssse it on you, Twilight?"
The young filly shook her head vigorously and sniffled again. "Make him go away, Shiny," she whined quietly to her brother.
"Twily..." Night Light said from across the room. "You gotta cooperate!"
"It's okay Twily, you know it doesn't hurt, and it will be over quickly," Shining encouraged.
"May I?" Doctor Mesme asked again. The little filly didn't respond, so he carefully brought the stethoscope to her chest.
Twilight jumped. "It's coooold!" she yelled.
Doctor Mesme withdrew his hoof apologetically. "Let'ssssss warm it up for you, alright? Can you hold out your hoof for me?"
Twilight refused. "I'll make it warm for you, Twily," Shining volunteered, holding out his free hoof for the chest piece. He rubbed around the cool metal for a minute until it felt less like an ice cube. "Okay, it's better now," he assured his younger sister.
"Very good, let'sssss try again," doctor Mesme suggested. He put the stethoscope back on Twilights chest and listened to her heart, moving the device around to hear all the different sounds. The little fillys heart beat quickly, but was otherwise normal. He glanced at the watch for a minute to count the pulse.
"Great job, Twilight," the doctor praised. "Now I would like to check your lungssss. Can you take a deep breath in for me?" he asked. Twilight inhaled sharply and began coughing. "Doesssss that hurt?"
"A little," she admitted.
The stethoscope slid to the other side of her chest. "Deep breath again," doctor Mesme instructed, "and out. Good! Again," he continued listening in several different spots. He removed the stethoscope and slithered to Twilights side. "I'm going to lisssssten on your back now, is that okay?" he asked. His patient seemed calmer now. "When you feel the stethoscope, I want you to take a deep breath each time, like we did before. Can you do that for me, Twilight?" doctor Mesme moved the stethoscope over Twilights back and Twilight took in a deep breath each time, occasionally coughing, causing Shining to wince.
Doctor Mesme finished. He gave her a reassuring pat on the back and returned to his desk to write in Twilights file.
Nurse Redheart returned with two pieces of paper, handing them to the doctor before leaving. The doctor glanced over the test results and began to speak. “Okay, ssssso the good news is Twilight and Shining are both clear of strep; but the bad news is that Twilight hassssss quite a nasty chest infection."
Shinings eyes widened in shock; the doctor noticed before replying, “It’ssssss okay, she just needs lots of rest and to take all of the medicine I am going to give her."
This time doctor Mesme turned to Night Light. “She’ll also need to drink plenty of fluidsssss - you can try her on food if she feels up to it."
He turned to Shining again. “As long as Shining doesn't have any ssssssymptoms, I’ll write the prescription and you can be on your way. Just make sure Twilight takes all of the medicine and keep an eye on her. If anything changessssss, bring him straight back or straight to a hospital."
Shining nodded and hopped down from the exam table before lifting Twilight off and putting her down next to him. Night Light exchanged a few more words with the doctor as the boys looked at the fish painted on the walls. Twilight was pointing out all the fish he knew, impressing Shining. She made up a few names on the spot when she didn’t know what type they were. As soon as Night Light was done, the doctor called Twilight over and put a sticker on her head for being so brave.
