In Which SPark Attempts to be Slightly Less Verbose.

by SPark

Bad News

Shining was in the den, reading, when Cadance slipped in through the door. She stood for a moment, watching him. The lamp beside him lent a warm cast to his normally cool white fur. She smiled to see him, but it was a slightly nervous smile. She wasn’t sure exactly how he’d take the news.

Admittedly, they’d planned on having foals since even before they’d been married. Still, this had not exactly been part of their plans...

Eventually she realized that she couldn’t just stand there, watching him, like some kind of lovesick idiot. She cleared her throat. "Shining?"

He lifted his head and smiled at her. "Cadie!" He was always so excited to see her. Her nervousness deepened. This was going to change everything. It wouldn’t be just the two of them anymore. They would have responsibilities, greater ones even than their current royal duties. Greater than she had ever anticipated. She swallowed. "Hello, dear."

He knew immediately that something was up. "Cadance? What’s wrong?"

She took a deep breath. "Shining... I just got back from the doctor."

He froze. She could tell he was picturing a thousand different kinds of bad news. Some of them perhaps even worse than the news she actually had. She couldn’t leave him worrying, so she blurted out, "I’m having twins!"

A series of expressions crossed Shining’s face. Confusion, worry, and then suddenly a broad smile of delight. "But that’s wonderful news!"

Cadance blinked at him. He wasn’t worried? He wasn’t concerned for this huge responsibility that was about to be dumped on his head? He wasn’t terrified to find out that not only were they having a foal, they were having two?

"We’ll be able to play the best games, with three of us! Or four," he added, glancing at her. "Why, we’ll almost be able to fill out our own hoofball team, once they get old enough!"

Cadance laughed, unable to help it. This was why she loved her goofy stallion. It didn’t matter what happened, he always found a way to look on the bright side of anything.

Shining beamed at her. "And I’ll read all the best books with them, just like I used to do with Twily, and we’ll build pillow forts, and go visit museums, and..."

Cadance cleared her throat again. "You do know that babies are a lot of work, dear, don’t you? There will be diaper changing, and feeding, and we’re probably not going to sleep for months after they’re born, especially with two of them."

"I know," said Shining simply, smiling at her. "Still, once they’re walking, there are so many awesome things we’ll get to do together! I wonder if I still have my old catcher’s mitt somewhere..."

She let him ramble on, smiling at the way he had turned her own fears around. He was right, this wasn’t something to be afraid of, this was a wonderful adventure to anticipate, and they would both embark on that adventure together. "You can teach them magic," she murmurred, beginning to feel a little bit excited about the prospect, "and I can teach them to fly."

Shining’s ramble stopped and he started at her with suddenly shocked eyes. "To... fly?"

"Well, yes. Given our backgrounds, they could both be unicorns, but it’s equally likely that they’ll both be pegasi. Or one of each, or one or both might be winged unicorns. It’s very rare, but it does tend to run in families."

"Sweet Celestia, no," said Shining. If he hadn’t already been pure white, he would have blanched. "My neighbor growing up had just one baby pegasus. I babysat once. Never again. Never, never again."

Cadance cleared her throat a third time. "Well, honey, if they’re pegasi, they’re pegasi, we can’t change that."

"Hold me," said Shining, and holding him was all that Cadance could do.

Author's Note:

Another PPPE short, from this last week's event. Prompt was "Cadance is having twins. Shining, at the news, starts enthusiastically planning out all the stuff dads can do with their kids." By Nyerguds.

Comments

[CCC]

Wonderful little scene.

[Nyerguds]

Heehee. In the end, SPark still managed to reverse it to make Shining panic after all

[Nyerguds]

I have to admit, this suggestion was slightly based on a scene from my own story, The Daily Unlife:

"Oh, stop fidgeting, dear!" the pink-maned mare said, nudging her husband with her muzzle.

"What? You can hardly blame me for being excited!" Lemon Frisk said. "Imagine the possibilities! It's a return to youth! The toys, the games... ooh, I'll get the chance to reread Daring Do!"

Blossom Tree sighed and shook her head. She couldn't help but smile, though. "It sounds like you're more excited about the toys and stories than you are about the baby itself."

Lemon Frisk gave her a sad look. "Am not!" His smile reappeared way too fast. "But I'm totally goin' to read her Daring Do!"

...a scene which, in turn, was inspired by my own brother-in-law's reaction to the prospect of getting an excuse to play with LEGO again
(The remark about him seemingly caring more about the toys than about the actual prospect of fatherhood is pretty much exactly what my sister said to him )

[BenRG]

I'm thinking of Cady and Shiny trying to deal with their very own versions of Pound and Pumpkin. The phrase 'comedy gold' pretty much covers it. Naturally, they and the Baby Cakes will be the next generation of the CMCs.

[SPark]

4946901 The only reason I don't feel that way about my future children is that I never stopped playing with Lego in the first place.

4947321 I kind of want to write a story that has them dealing with an alicorn baby. Just one, even. (I have way too many story ideas already, though!)

[Nyerguds]

4947373 Neither did he. But he felt that made it 'socially acceptable' again
(Also, they didn't have LEGO in their own new house, so the kid was indeed an excuse to remedy that )

[Themaskedferret]

Pfft, you just can't let your characters be happy can you?

[SPark]

5581398 What fun would that be?