Chapter 1: The Vomit Comet
“I’d love to take a trip to Ponyville!” Said Shining
“Good, you leave in the morning, a carriage will be waiting for you at 9:00 AM sharp, you will be flying accompanied by your sister, Princess Twilight.” Said Princess Celestia enthusiastically with a smile.
Shining gulped, oh no, it was all coming back to him, the reason he hadn’t flown to Ponyville with Twilight to make sure she was safe, the reason he didn’t go to the carnival or theme parks, and all the times that Shining Armor’s little secret had been revealed in the ugliest and messiest ways possible.
“Uhh, okay princess…” Shining said with an audible tremble in his voice, something which didn’t go unnoticed by the larger Alicorn who raised an eyebrow and gave Shining a suspicious look.
Shining simply put on a large (fake) smile, to which Princess Celestia nodded, and walked down the hallway, leaving shining to contemplate his impending doom.
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Shining woke up the next morning an hour early, and after kissing a sleeping cadence goodbye, making himself a cup of coffee, and having a very small breakfast, he decided to pack his saddlebag for his trip to Ponyville.
He was nervous throughout, knowing that he was getting closer and closer to starting the journey there, and he was hoping with every bit of him that they'd have to cancel, or that they'd be travelling there in some other mode of transport, no such luck however, as when the clock showed --:-- with the carriage only 10 minutes away, he started pacing the floor awaiting his impending doom.
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Shining decided to go out into the courtyard and wait for the carriage. When he got there, however, he found the carriage already waiting for him, his sister on one of the seats, reading a book as usual.
He didn't call out to Twilight like he would normally do, instead, he took a few deep breaths, puffed out his chest, put on a very convincing fake smile and approached the carriage to join her, his hooves trembling a little underneath him.
"Hey Twily" said shining putting on a genuine smile for a brief minute at the sight of the sister who he loved so much.
"Shining!" She said enthusiastically "Right on time, c'mon, let's get going."
"Y-yeah, l-let's go..." said shining in a noticeably shaky voice, closing the door of the open-topped carriage.
he looked for a seat belt... There was none...
This really didn't help.
The whole time Twilight eyed him just like Princess Celestia had; you see, despite being his sister, all of the times Shining had "revealed his little secret" in the past, twilight had either not been there, or too busy to notice, and their parents had promised that they wouldn't tell twilight about it as it embarrassed Shining so much.
Shining now looked at her with a fake smile, which, while fairly convincing and obviously well rehearsed, didn't fool twilight who could tell there was a problem.
"Okayyyy..." She said, still looking at shining who was finding it difficult not to crack under the pressure of twilight's piercing stare.
"To Ponyville!" She said, and with a 'Yes your Highness' from both of the guards pulling the carriage, they were off, speeding at about 30 MPH over the streets of Canterlot, Shining tensed and his eyes locked on in front of him from the moment they left the ground.
"So," said Twilight in a casual tone' "Sleep well?"
Shining gulped, and with a struggle, replied with a weak "F-fine..."
The two didn't speak to each other after this.
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About 10 minutes later, Shining really wasn't feeling good at this point, he was shaking, he was sweating, the normally pale skin on his face was now as white as his fur, his saliva was thick and very sticky.
He swallowed a few times trying to get rid of the sour taste in his mouth.
His stomach churned and he felt something coming up in his throat.
"Shining?" Said Twilight In a slightly concerned voice, "Are you okay? You look like you are about to-"
She was cut off when shining made a loud retching sound and proceeded to lean over the edge and vomit up all he had eaten and drank that morning.
"That would explain a lot..." Said Twilight.
It hadn't been easy keeping Shining's secret safe for all those years, both when they were young, and even more recently too, and Twilight had always been very good at figuring these things out since she was quite young.
Twilight still sympathized with Shining though, and gently put a hoof on Shining's back and held his mane out of the way with her magic.
Shining coughed and spluttered a few times before violently throwing up again, his stomach straining painfully each time from the effort of being emptied so quickly.
He let out another dry heave and some coughs, before falling back on his seat with his eyes closed, facing upward, mouth slightly agape, with one hoof on his stomach, the other now holding one of Twilight's hooves.
Twilight moved her hoof up and down Shining's foreleg in an effort to soothe him, she then floated a couple of tissues out of her saddlebag and wiped the vomit from Shining's chin and mouth.
"Are you okay Shiny?" Asked Twilight, her book long forgotten about.
Shining didn't answer, but weakly shook his head, his eyes still closed.
Shining was still trembling and sweating, and he looked paler than a ghost.
A few minutes passed, and twilight was just about to float her book in front of her eyes (still keeping a hoof on her brother, though), when Shining gagged and leaned over the edge of the carriage again.
This time, however, Twilight reacted faster, dropped her book on the floor of the carriage and held Shining's mane back just before he vomited again onto the world below them.
This time there was less vomit than before, but more coughing and gagging.
When he was done with that round of throwing up, he pulled his head back in the carriage, where Twilight wiped off his mouth again, and moved Shining into position, so he was now lying down, his head on her lap.
Twilight stroked his mane and occasionally kissed him on the cheek, to which Shining's mouth would twitch in an attempt of a smile.
"How much longer until we get to Ponyville?" Twilight asked the guards.
"About 30 minutes your highness" replied one of the guards.
A reply that Twilight wasn't ungrateful of, but she still wished it wasn't as long. Not for her sake by any means, but because she hated seeing her brother like this.
In fact, the last time she had seen Shining this sick (apart from all the times their parents must've covered for him of course. She had no idea if he was this bad normally) was when they were younger;
Shining had gotten food poisoning after eating something dodgy, and Cadence did the same as what Twilight was doing to Shining now, she held his mane and put a hoof on his back, all the while, he was clinging to the toilet bowl for dear life, and when he had that usual pause in between spells of vomiting, she let him rest in her forearms, all the while stroking his mane and giving the occasional kiss, but the one thing that cadence did with shining which Twilight hadn't done, was sing to him, softly.
You see, despite his tough appearance and being captain of the royal guard and all, Shining was actually very sensitive, and being sick was no exception.
For Shining, his sister being there for the ride made him worry, to begin with, but now, he felt he wouldn't be able to do without her as, while she could not take away how he was feeling right now, she could at least soothe him enough to make him feel safe.
The rest of the flight was no better than before, shining vomited another 4 times, but by the fourth, he had nothing left to throw up, he just dry heaved and gagged.
"Shining, have some water, you'll be dehydrated by now and it'll give you something to vomit up, it'll feel better for you."
Shining Armor, unable to say no accepted the bottle of water Twilight was now holding in front of his face, his hooves shaking, he took a small gulp of water and went back to lying on Twilight's lap, taking occasional sips of water.
"Not too much longer Shining" Said Twilight, knowing full well there was another 15 minutes to go.
Twilight's tip seemed to work for Shining; when he had gone to throw up again, he just puked up all if the water, which did feel better than just gagging and heaving.
The last 15 minutes of the journey were pretty much the same, Shining vomited another 3 times so by the time that they are approaching Ponyville, Shining had bad more than enough; His mane was all messy, the fur on his face was matted and crusty from the dried vomit, his stomach was aching from the force of Shining's evacuation, his throat felt painful, his mouth tasted awful, and some vomit still remained in his nose. He looked as bad as he felt.
A few minutes later, they landed in a field a few yards away from Twilight's castle. Once they had come to a complete stop, Shining shakily opened the door of the carriage, stepped out with his legs feeling like jelly, threw up on the grass once, and collapsed on the floor, motionless.
Twilight, who was just about to get out herself, saw that Shining was lying on the grass and sighed sympathetically. She walked over to him, being careful not to step in the pile of sick that Shining had just thrown up, and sat down next to the weak and trembling stallion.
Twilight placed a hoof on Shining’s foreleg, this initially made him jump but was soon soothed again by the feeling of his sister's soft lips on his forehead.
After a few minutes, Twilight made the decision to take Shining inside herself, as it didn’t look like he’d be doing it under his own steam for a bit, so using her magic, she lifted Shining off the grass, prompting a groan from him.
Then, after waving goodbye to the guards pulling the carriage, she carried him to the castle and took him to one of the guest rooms.
After laying him in bed, Twilight retrieved a towel from the en-suite which she dampened with warm water and another towel which she left dry.
She cleaned shining’s face, neck, and mane, and there dried him off with the other towel.
She then left the room to get a box of tissues and a glass of water.
As she walked back in, Shining still hadn’t moved from the position Twilight had left him in. She set the water and tissues on the bedside table and offered a tissue to Shining to get the dried puke out.
With a shaky hoof, shining accepted, and (with great effort) blew his nose on the tissue which was now covered in mucus and vomit, which t
Twilight floated into the toilet with her magic when he was done.
After making sure Shining was okay, Twilight tucked the sheets in around him, but after she turned the lights off, she stopped and turned back to look at her brother;
‘I love you Shining’ She thought to herself
And at the same time, Shining thought to himself; ‘I love you Twily’
Twilight then closed the door, and left shining to sleep.
The End