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// 02 - The Pegasus 
// Story: If Twilight Was a Pegasus 
// by Cxcd 
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In the course of a week, Shining’s life had been turned upside down.
He always had the inkling of an idea that a baby sister would be a lot of work. His parents had always told him that it would be. But, due to the two protrusions poking out of her back, designating her as a Pegasus, he wasn’t prepared for how much work caring for her actually was.
Of course, they had prepared for a foal. His parents had foal-proofed nearly every inch of the house, turned an old guest bedroom into a nursery, and had dragged out Shining’s old toys he hadn’t even realized his parents had kept from when he was a foal, along with a whole suite of new toys for little Twilight.
It was the second day after Twilight’s birth(day?) in which Velvet and the foal herself came home. Night Light and Shining had been working overtime to switch out the places of Night Light’s study and Twilight’s nursery. Night Light kept repeat the same old mantra about having direct sky access keeping away the Claustrophobia. Shining wasn’t even sure what Claustrophobia was, and he sure as hay couldn’t pronounce it, but he knew it wasn’t something good.
“Clause-trah-phobia.” He tried forming the word with his lips idly as he laid on the floor, bouncing a ball back and forth between little Twilight and himself, and she seemed to be playing along with it, surprisingly. “Clos-trah-phobia.”
“Claustrophobia.” Velvet corrected him with a yawn. For a mare that was always up and active, and as far as Shining could remember, was never, ever sick, even during pregnancy, she did seem to be quite down in the dumps after Twilight was born. It was like she was on the verge of being sick almost constantly, but not quite. She was lounging around the house quite a bit, currently lazing on the couch being Shining, keeping a careful eye as they both played.
“Chalk-tro-” Shining patted the ball one last time to Twilight, sitting up and turning to Velvet. “Mom, what is chalk-o-phobia?”
“Mm.” Velvet blinked tiredly, pushing her head out of her hooves and looking at Shining. “I don’t think we’ve explained that to you, have we?” Shining shook his head. “I’m sorry about that, dear. Claustrophobia is…” She paused, her tired brain wracking for a comparison that a six year old would understand. “Do you ever get antsy, Shiny?”
Shining shook his head. Velvet smirked, leveling her eyes with the colt.
“What about when you don’t do your homework? And the teacher is coming around to pick it up?”
Shining thought for a moment, and then vigorously nodded his head.
“It’s like that feeling. It only happens in small spaces, like a room, and it makes Pegasi feel very dizzy. Pegasi are born for the skies, and they aren’t born being used to indoors.”
“Oh.” Shining turned back to Twilight, laying down and watching her chew the toy ball they had been playing with earlier. The ball was now covered in drool, possibly twice Twilight’s body weight in nothing but saliva. It made Shining’s nose turn up in disgust. “Does that mean Twilight feels dizzy right now?” He asked.
“Most Pegasi only feel dizzy like that when they’re going to sleep. Even if they don’t know why they’re feeling like that. While the nursery is being moved, she will be sleeping with mommy and daddy. So that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Huh.” Shining nodded along, still watching Twilight try and wrap her jaw around a ball the size of her head. “I thought she would… be doing more stuff. Like crying. But she’s just kind of… sitting there?”
“Be grateful, Shiny. I know that you were a crier. You cried… a lot.” Velvet shivered at the old memories. Dreamless nights, being awakened by a screaming foal every eight minutes on the dot. That was not something she wanted to deal with again. And although it was too early to tell, Twilight seemed to be the polar opposite of Shining. A non-crier, a Pegasus, and a filly. It was going to be an interesting few years, to be sure.
Twilight had lost interest in the ball, instead resorting to crawling towards the massive and towering pony, which happened to be Shining. She stopped in front of him, staring up at the colt, and although he was laying down, from her perspective, he was still absolutely towering. She raised her stubby little hoof up, and with a flick…
Bap!
“Ow!” Shining stood up quickly, backing away from the giggling filly and rubbing his muzzle. “Mom, she just punched me!”
“Oh, good.” Velvet sighed, rolling her eyes. “I can see the signature Pegasus fearlessness is coming through. Little rebel, taking on a pony thrice her size.” Velvet slowly climbed down from her spot on the sofa, her joints creaking audibly and muscles complaining. She stopped, wobbling for a moment on the spot.
“Mom has claustrophobia!” Shining pointed in concern. Velvet tittered with a light laugh.
“No, I’m just… tired.” She blinked heavily, trotting towards Twilight and picking her up with a free hoof. “No hitting your brother. Got that, missy?” Velvet asked the foal in her hooves. Twilight blinked dully, not saying nor understanding a single word. “Good.” She sighed. “I just… wish I knew a Pegasus I could talk to. Unicorns cry when they’re hungry, or need a diaper change. Pegasus cry because… I don’t know, because a feather is out of place, or there isn’t enough room, or there isn’t enough fresh air…” Velvet yawned, sitting down and using the hoof that was once supporting her to rub her eye.
“So… you need help?” Shining asked. “I could get help!”
“Yeah?” Velvet laughed, this time less lightly and more heartily, like it was a joke instead of an actual extension of help. “Honestly, I would love you to. It can’t be a tourist, it has to be somepony we can talk to regularly.” She stood back up, shaking her head. “As much as I hate to say it, books can only go so far. Especially when raising a foal.” She trotted out of the room and into the kitchen, a foal in her hooves and a slight limp to her step. “Why’d you punch your brother? Are you hungry? Sleepy? Do you punch instead of cry?” Shining heard as her voice faded.
“Huh.” He tapped his hoof on the ground, the other still rubbing his muzzle. “Who do I know who’s a Pegasus?” He asked himself.
Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if he knew a single Pegasus. Of course, he had seen them. Not only his little sister, but like his mom had said, tourists who visit Canterlot. There was a reason why Canterlot was called the Unicorn capital of Equestria. For every Pegasus, there were at least one-hundred more Unicorns. And how would he even figure out which Pegasus lived here and which Pegasus was just visiting? It would be nearly impossible.
The day turned to night, and before he knew it, he was awoken early the next morning for school.
As he would have it, his answer to his problem was practically delivered to him on a silver platter.
History was always his favorite subject. Equestria had quite a long and lengthy history, going all the way back to the uniting of the three tribes. There had been a surprising number of wars through history, and surprisingly, most of them weren’t started by Equestria. But if Equestria was pulled into a skirmish, there was a good chance they would be the ones to finish it.
His favorite part was always whenever he flipped to a new page in a textbook, and saw an artist’s illustration of a battle, long before cameras had been invented. They might be exaggerated… just a little bit… but the descriptions had always made Shining a teeny bit antsy.Warriors of all tribes brandished the Equestrian flag, running out the enemy from their land. Earth-ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi, and even a few other tribes he didn’t even know existed. Bat-ponies? Kirin? He was sure he had never seen any of those before.
He was listening intently to the history lesson on the board. That was, of course, until he let out a wild yawn, looking up from his textbook, and around the glass casually. The teacher was rambling on about something involving ‘socio-economic pressure’ or the what-nots of the non-battles.
His yawn ceased suddenly when he spotted something, or rather somepony out of the corner of his eye. He turned towards the pony with a sudden wide smile, and in half a second, he had already laid out an entire plan in his head.





“Could you get the door, Velvet?” Night Light shouted from the former study. “I’m kinda busy!” There was light tapping on the door that broke his concentration of reassembling the crib that he had to take apart to get through the door. Unfortunately, still no cloud-bed, and he was still uncertain of where to get one from.
“Velvet, are you sleeping?” He asked. Yet still, there wasn’t a response. He sighed, letting his magic aura falter, the pegs and pieces of wood in his aura falling to the ground. He left the study, trotting out into the hall, and down the staircase towards the front door.
Shining was supposed to be home any moment now, and if it was Shining at the door, he would’ve simply just opened it. Perhaps he got into trouble at the school, and now a teacher was here to talk to him?
He cleared his throat, slicked his mane back, and opened the door.
There, in front of him, was Shining Armor. He smiled brightly, a proud expression on his muzzle as he puffed his chest out in pride.
“I found somepony to help us!” Shining said, tilting his head towards the other pony in the doorway. She was a pink filly Pegasus, a darker pink mane with stripes of cream, bound into a bun. “Just like Mom asked me!”
“Hello, Shining’s Dad.” The filly greeted kindly, bowing her head slightly in respect. “My name is Mi Amore Cadenza. But you could just call me Cadence.”