"Twily!" Shining called out in joy, his eyes opening as wide as they could. Another cough reached his ears and he began frantically searching around the room. "Don't try to talk just yet, you've been out of it for a few days." His eyes settled on a pitcher of water and some cups laying on a nearby tray and quickly filled one up.
Holding the cup to Twilight's mouth, she greedily drank it all; the cool water soothing her sore throat. Now empty, Shining pulled the cup back and set it back down to the pitcher and refocused his attention on Twilight.
She looked around her surroundings, confusion evident in her eyes. After a few sweeps of the room, she settled back on Shining and spoke, her voice scratchy and timid. "Shiny, did I have another magic surge?" She began to examine herself, noting the copious amounts of bandages all over her and moved her hooves to her forehead, feeling her horn.
"Twily, wait right here, I'm going to go get the doctor, okay?" Shining did his best to keep his shock from showing as he removed his hooves from the bedside and left the room. The moment the door shut, he took off for the reception area. Does Twily not remember what happened?! A stallion exited from a room a few doors down, and Shining skidded to a halt, stopping mere inches from collision.
"Whoa there, young stallion. You're the brother of... Twilight, was it? What's the rush?" The doctor asked as he began to quickly walk towards her room, fearing the worst.
Shining caught a glimpse of the stallion's name on the coat he wore and began to speak in a rush. "Doctor Stable, Twilight just woke up," at this the doctor slowed his pace, "but she thinks she had another magic surge!"
"Amnesia, huh?" Stable muttered to himself, stopping in front of Twilight's closed door. "I need you to calm down, son. If your sister really doesn't recall what happened, she doesn't need to see you panicking. Now, unless you're going to relax, I'm going to have to ask you to stay out here or go to the lobby and wait." Stable waited a few moments for his words to sink in. "Now, are you going to calm down?" Shining took a deep breath, slowly nodding his head. "Good. Let's see how your sister is doing then."
Stable opened the door and entered, Shining trailing behind him. In the few minutes left alone, Twilight had located the controls for the bed and was now sitting up. When she saw them, she waved one bandaged-covered hoof and Stable let out a chuckle.
Shining took a seat in the corner of the room as Stable walked up the the bedside, claiming the chair there. "Hello, Twilight. I'm Doctor Stable, and I'm very glad to see that you're awake. You gave us quite the scare, can you tell me how you're feeling?"
"I'm a bit sore and I feel kinda dizzy. Did I have another magic surge? Shiny ran out before answering me." Twilight replied, tracing circles on the bed with her hoof.
"That's good, it means the medicine is dulling the majority of your pain then. The dizziness is either from just waking up or a side effect, little one." The doctor put on his most disarming smile as he began to jot notes down on a form with a quill; both objects grasped by his magic. "Now, another magic surge? Do you have them often?"
Twilight shook her head back and forth. "Not anymore. Mommy and Daddy told me I had them all the time as a filly though." she paused, an odd look entering her eyes. "Where are Mommy and Daddy? All the other times I surged, they were there when I woke up." Her voice began to race near the end, confusion set in her tone.
Shining went to get up, but Stable glared at him for a moment, causing him to stop moving. "Twilight, can you tell me what you last remember, first?" The doctor's tone was very friendly, and Twilight raised a hoof to her chin and scrunched her eyes.
"Well... Shiny left for a camp in the morning. He finally got accepted into a summer guard prep one that he wouldn't stop talking about." Twilight hummed a bit, working on connecting events together. "Then Mommy and Daddy got a visitor, something about... oh, a visit to some gryphons!" her eyes lit up as she continued on, "They're really cool, their culture is so much different from Equestria's! I also got to play with this chick one time I went with my parents, her name was Gilda..." Twilight trailed off, her face flushing red with embarrassment as Stable and Shining both laughed a little.
"I'm so sorry, Twilight, I didn't mean to interrupt you," Stable began, adjusting his glasses, "please continued with what you remember."
"Well, after that, Mommy and Daddy mentioned something about finding a foal-sitter since Shiny was off at camp, but nopony they knew was home, so... I made them take me!" Twilight said triumphantly, pumping a hoof up and down in the air, earning yet more chuckles from the two stallions. "After that, though, I don't really remember..."
Stable finished jotting down some more notes on his paper, letting out an inaudible sigh. "So, where's Mommy and Daddy? Did they go to the gryphons without me?" Shining got up and went to the bedside; this time Stable didn't stop him.
I really hate this part of my job... Stable thought to himself before clearing his throat. "Yes, Twilight, they went on to the Highmount Aerie to handle diplomatic things. You know what diplomats do, right?"
Twilight recited the definition as if she were reading from a book. "A diplomat is an envoy of one group to another who tries to improve relations between both groups."
"Very good, you seem to be a very smart pony, Twilight." Stable spoke, admiration shining through his tone for a moment. "However, you weren't injured in a magical surge. You went with your parents, and three days ago you were all attacked on your return home."
Shining hugged Twilight as best as he could, trying to steel her for what was coming next as Stable continued. "I'm afraid that there's no easy way to say this, little one. Both of your parents were killed on your trip home, and that's also when you were hurt."
"No... you're wrong! They're not dead, they can't–" Twilight was cut off by Shining's hoof on her shoulder as her head was moved by his other to meet his gaze. She saw the nothing but pain in his eyes, and tears began streaming down her face. "They can't be, Shiny, they can't..." she weakly said, her volume trailing off to nothing.
Shining simply hugged his sister tightly as she began to cry into his shoulder. "There there, Twily... I'm here and not going anywhere, I promise."
Stable got Shining's attention with a gently placed hoof on his shoulder. He spoke very quietly so as to not disturb Twilight. "Come and find me once she's asleep, and I'll give you some information for later." Shining replied with a subtle nod of his head, and Stable made his way out of the room.
"They can't be telling the truth, can they, Shiny?" Twilight said between sobs, still not believing that her parents were gone. Shining carefully tightened his hug and pulled the covers up around them both, moving his head to plant a soft kiss at the base of her horn. He didn't let go until her cries had long since died, replaced with the gentle snores of a young filly, asleep.
"It's amnesia induced by trauma. There's not a lot of... ponies who've gone through traumatic events, luckily, but from the ones that have, one thing is apparent. The younger a pony is, the more likely they are to develop this or something similar as a defense mechanism. Your sister knows what happens, but her mind has decided to lock it away and throw away the key." Stable was sitting down with Shining in the cafeteria, both ponies eating a late lunch together.
"So, will she ever remember what happened then?" Shining curiously asked, a glum expression on his face. His mood was through the ground after having spent the last few hours with Twilight; she had occasionally shuddered and cried out in her sleep. Shining felt absolutely useless, not even his comforting brotherly touch had kept her nightmares at bay.
"Honestly, it's unknown. Some patients have, some haven't. For those who have, sometimes it was days later, other times it was years later." He let out a long sigh and played with his salad. "All I can say is that you should be with her as much as you can these next few days, although something tells me that you were already planning to be so."
"Yeah, I don't plan to leave her side; not until I have to go off to school anyways. But that's still a month or so out." Shining was the one who sighed this time, the weight of the situation finally settling heavily on his shoulders. "So, what happens next, then?"
"She'll be kept for a few more days, the worst of her injuries should be mostly mended by then. I've heard a little of your situation, and that Celestia has taken an interest in you two. It's nice to see our princess get involved with such a tragedy personally. It sounds like your fillyfriend will be around Twilight a lot in the future, it would be a good idea to get them acquainted as soon as you can. Plus, you need to be the one to tell her what's going to happen.
"Also, and this goes for you too, I'll be contacting a psychiatrist who specializes in trauma and loss to add you and your sister to his patient list. Don't look at me with an eyebrow raised, young stallion. It may sound silly, but it will help in the long run. I ask that you keep an open mind when you go for your first meeting; you're not fooling me with the tough big brother routine. I see how much you're hurting from this too." The doctor swept up his dishes within his magic and stood up.
"I see... Thank you, Doctor Stable." Shining remained seated, hooves swirling in circles on the tabletop.
"No problem at all, Shining Armor. It's what I'm here for after all. I suggest you go ahead and spend as much time as possible with those you care about though. Words can only do so much. Good luck, and hopefully in a few days we won't be seeing much of each other." Stable left with a smile, slightly bringing up Shining's mood. Giving up on his meal, he tossed the container and what remained into the nearest bin and walked back to Twilight's room.
Opening the door, Shining saw that Twilight was still shifting about in her sleep every so often, as the sheets were strewn about rather impressively for a five year old filly. Feeling emotionally drained, he carefully climbed back into the bed and hugged his sister once more. Replacing the covers, he closed his eyes and let sleep claim him; hoping to dream of happy things.