Sister

Tick… tick… tick…

The waiting room was deathly quiet, save that familiar and ominous ticking. From his seated position, Shining said nothing as he stared at the white ceramic floor tiles below him, almost able to make out his own troubled reflection in it. At his side sat his father, but unlike Shining, Night was sitting upward and starting quietly ahead, eyeballing the rest of the hospital lobby, while he focused on the hallway where Twilight had been led off into. Shining didn't dare look up at him, thanks to the tense situation they were in. Two weeks had passed and it was finally time to truly confirm if Twilight was pregnant.

Ever since that day where his father had read his memories, Shining found both parents distracted and very distant from him. While his mother was always upfront about how she felt with him, his father kept his thoughts to himself. Shining feared speaking with him, wishing not to incur his father's wrath in the manner. He could never read his father's expressions or emotions well, a trait that only a hardened military captain possessed. One wrong question, he feared, would set off his father.

"So."

Shining nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard his father speak.

"Mhm?" Shining replied meekly.

"So here we are," Night said with a deep sigh as he leaned back in the chair. "I sure hope you are ready for the outcome of the test, son."

His words were cold, but Shining detected no ill will or seething anger in them as he gingerly swung his hanging hooves back and forth.

"I'm sorry I caused this mess," Shining spoke, a very familiar phrase he had been conveying to his parents over the past weeks.

"Stop apologizing. I've heard enough apologies to last a lifetime from you already," Night replied scornfully. "Not enough magic at my disposal to change the past anyway. All that remains is the fallout and consequences of your actions you've got to live with."

Shining said nothing and continued to stare at the floor.

"I'm done being disappointed at you anyway," Night sighed deeply as Shining felt a hoof touch his shoulder. "Now I'm just mad at myself."

Shining cocked his brow and looked to his father's lap.

"Why?"

"I spent a lot of time looking at you and your sister's memories and even more time thinking about what I saw," Night replied as Shining started to slowly pull his body up. "Lots of things stuck out to me, most of it was things you could have done differently. You could have ignored your sister like I always told you too. You could have continued to search for the spell, but instead you didn't."

"I-I stopped bec-"

"You stopped because you made your sister cry," Night cut in. "Your mother always told you to never make your sister cry, and if you did, you fix the issues before they become animosity and hatred."

Night sighed again and pulled Shining's body close to his.

"You're a good stallion, Shining," Night told him as Shining looked up to his father's face and saw a look of sorrow and regret. "I just wish your heart wasn't bigger than your brain."

"I'm sorry," Shining replied.

"I told you to stop apologizing." Night turned his head and looked down at Shining. "Another thing stuck out to me was that you tried to look for a certain spell that suppressed a heat cycle. Sadly it wouldn't have mattered anyway if you found it."

"Really? Why?"

"That spell you were looking for was in a book detailing expert level alteration spells. We actually don't have the book in the house so your search would have turned up empty. Sadly it didn't matter if we had it or not. You're only apprentice level, so you wouldn't be able to tackle a spell two grades above your range."

"Oh." Shining sulked back down, feeling low and defeated for his lacking ability.

"Don't sulk," Night ordered as he placed a hoof against Shining's chin and started to guide his head up. "Even Twilight wouldn't have been able to perform the spell, so in the end it wouldn't have mattered."

"Twi couldn't do it?" Shining asked as he looked back to his father's face.

"Yeah. Twilight's got talent. Celestia said so herself; yet it's raw talent that needs to be refined and polished. She's only recently started tackling adept level spells with Celestia, and that alteration spell was more intricate than most expert spells were."

Shining quietly processed the information and stayed silent.

"That being said, that's the reason I'm mad at myself." Night moved his hoof away and stared forward. "I should have foresaw this kind of thing happening, and yet it never clicked in my mind that Twilight would be a mare that would ever experience an early cycle. I was careless and I could have prepared emergency scrolls for you to use… but dwelling on it won't change it now. Now… we just got to be ready to raise another foal."

"We?" Shining asked, curiously.

"Of course." Night looked to Shining with a skeptical look on his face. "You two aren't raising that foal alone, not while you're still going to school; however you better be ready for big life changes and lots of sleepless nights. Trust me, I went through it twice. At least I can prep you for what's coming."

"What's coming?" Shining asked.

Night stayed quiet for a moment before a smirk and a small laugh followed.

"Pickles, donuts, ice cream, and pineapple pizza," Night chuckled before he recovered his stern demeanor. "Lots of late night cravings… especially after the five month mark."

Shining stayed quiet.

"There's also going to be lots of mood swings and unstable hormones, even more so considering how young Twilight is," Night continued. "Your patience is going to be tested, but even with that being said, Twilight will be looking to you for comfort and reassurance, so you're going to have to be a supportive pillar for her. It's a lot of trial and error, and no amount of books will give you all the answers to being a parent… but you'll figure it out. Parenting comes naturally; you just gotta be willing to adapt. Me and your mother will guide you along as well, so you don't have to ever worry you'll be doing this alone."

Shining quietly let the words sink in.

"One more thing; now that you're go…" Night's voice trailed off as he looked up. "Ahh, here comes Twilight and your mother."

Shining tensed and starred in the same direction and quickly noticed the both of them walking towards them. Their expressions were somber and Twilight looked like she was distorted and lost in her own thoughts, while their mother wasn't looking too impressed at all. Her expression was neutral for the most part but as they're eyes met, Shining felt resentment targeted at him.

It didn't surprise him. After learning Twilight was pregnant, his mother was very vocal with her displeasure. Within the first week, she would constantly berate him for his actions. Shining never protested when she started to go off on a tangent, and he just sat in place to take it all in, knowing he deserved all of it. She stopped eventually, thanks to his father talking to her, but she still distanced herself from him, and focused more on comforting Twilight.

"Sooo… what's the verdict?" Night directed his question to their mother, Twilight Velvet.

"Hmph," Velvet groaned with disdain as she looked to Shining and shook her head at him with disbelief. "Well… she's pregnant. She's very pregnant."

Shining sank more into his seat.

"What do you mean by very?" Night cocked his brow.

"Let's just say our work will be cut out for us," Velvet told Night before she looked back to Shining and took a deep breath. "The doctor noticed there was more than one foal developing."

"What?" both father and son said in unison.

"She's expecting twins," Velvet replied, almost like she didn't believe the words herself. "You got your fourteen year old sister pregnant with twins, Shining Armor."