//------------------------------// // The News // Story: Welcome, My Little One // by Delta 727 //------------------------------// Welcome, My Little One: The News A few months after the marriage of Northern Lights and Poppy... A hospital waiting room. Northern Lights, now just past his full growth, pacing back and forth across the tile floor. Twilight sitting in a waiting room chair, watching her son with growing uneasiness. "Northy, could you please sit down?" Twilight asked. "You're making me nervous." Northern Lights didn't respond, and kept pacing. "Northy?" Twilight asked. Again, no response. She raised her voice. "Northern Lights!" Northern Lights stopped dead. "I know you're nervous," Twilight said, "But pacing is just gonna make it much worse." "I can't help it, okay?" Northern Lights replied. "I just don't like the idea of Poppy being in there alone." He was about to start pacing again, but instead heeded his mother's warning and took a seat next to Twilight, who put a hoof on his shoulder. "Just take it easy, okay?" Twilight said, gently. "I was just as worried as you when I found out I was pregnant. I bet Poppy's just as nervous too, but you need to let her find out on her own." "But what if it's," Northern Lights paused. " 'Bad news'?" "Don't think like that, Northy. I guarantee that when you go in there, you two are going to be hugging each other so hard, you'll be laughing through your tears. And it might not just be one foal. It might be two, or three. You never know." Northern Lights smiled a little, but his ears fell. "That's only part of what I'm nervous about. I'm just uneasy without Dad being here, y'know?" "He said he'd try to make it, Northy. He could be here any minute." Twilight shifted a sideways glance toward the door to the room that held Poppy. "But you know how demanding his job is. The only reason I'm here is because Princess Celestia insisted, since I'm your mother." Northern Lights paused, then changed the subject. "What do you think it's gonna be?" "I don't know," Twilight replied. "It's like I said, you never know until it's time. Poppy might not have even asked. If she didn't, then don't you ask either. She might want it to be a surprise, and it's always up to the mother to know. But what I can tell you is that no matter what it is, you'll just be happy to know that it's alive and growing as we speak." She waved her hoof to one side. "It could be a colt." She waved her hoof to the other side. "It could be a filly." She raised her hoof straight up. "It could be one of each, or two of one." She put her hoof back down, looking at Northern Lights. "But I know that no matter what it is, you'll be so excited to finally see it, that you won't be sleeping for a while." Twilight giggled. "In fact, you might not be sleeping for a while after you see it either." Northern Lights let on a bigger smile at that. "Lemme guess, 'cause they're gonna be crying for hours on end for a while?" Twilight didn't giggle at that. "Not quite. That's only a small part of it. It's a mix of happiness, determination, and worry. You'll be happy that you finally are a father, determined to make sure the foal, or foals, stay healthy and happy, and worried because of all the things you think will go wrong. It's not always likely, but it's good to make sure, just in case." Northern Lights shuddered. "You're making me nervous, Mom." "That's a good thing," Twilight said. "This should be one of the most nerve-wracking things to happen to you in your entire life. You're going to want to use up every ounce of your energy to make sure they're healthy and happy. And Poppy, too. She's gonna be exhausted from the birth, and is gonna have to stay a couple nights in the hospital. They probably won't let you stay in the room with her overnight, but you'll be happy knowing that she'll be warm and cozy, curled up with a little blanket holding the love of her life, and yours. And when you finally see them the next morning, it doesn't matter that you're a pegasus, you'll feel like you could soar higher than you ever have. There will be tears, and if you start bawling, just try not to cry on the foal, okay?" Northern Lights finally laughed, quietly, at that, giving his mother's shoulder a gentle shove. "Well I'm telling you, I'll be sure to be the tough ol' stallion that Poppy expects me to be." Twilight smiled. "And I'm telling YOU," she gave him a shove of her own, only a little harder, "That if it somehow comes down to that, your wife won't mind at all. Being tough doesn't mean you never cry. Being tough means you're not afraid to cry in front of other ponies. Trust me, the happiness of having a foal is overwhelming. So just remember: I'll be right in the hall if you need your momma to come cradle you until everything's okay." Northern Lights' cheeks brightened, but he couldn't help but smile. The door to Poppy's room opened. "Mister... erm," the bright red nurse stammered, looking down at her clipboard. She looked up, and adjusted her glasses. "Northern Lights?" "That's me!" Northern Lights said, flying from his chair and rushing up to the nurse. "Is she okay? Did we find out how many there are? Tell me everything! Please! I'm so nervous it's killing me!" The nurse didn't even flinch at his outburst. In a flat tone, she said, "Please come in so you can see your wife." With that, she trotted back into the room, her clipboard in hoof. Northern Lights cast a nervous glance back at his mother, who smiled and waved him on with an encouraging flick of her hoof. Northern Lights put on a small, nervous smile and trotted in, shutting the door behind him. Twilight shot out of her chair and ran up to the door, standing up on her back legs to get a look inside the room. She saw Northern Lights standing at the side of a hospital bed, with Poppy sleeping soundly in it. Northern Lights had a confused expression on his face. Twilight was confused, too. Why would Poppy be sleeping at such a big moment? Only, it turns out, she wasn't sleeping. She was laying there, silent, her side slowly rising and falling. Northern Lights cast a confused glance at the nurse, and it looked like he asked her a question. The nurse didn't respond, just bowed her head and left through a side door without another word. Northern Lights, now in a full state of confusion, gently shook Poppy's shoulder. She didn't respond. He shook her again. She tensed. Northern Lights asked a question. Her head bowed, then shook. Northern Lights froze, then laid his head down on his wife's shoulder. Then, silently, he began to cry. Twilight's hoof instinctively found her muzzle, holding back a gasp. She turned away from the door, afraid to enter, and ran to the end of the hall, collapsing under a painting hung on the wall of fillies playing in a garden. And she, herself, began to weep. She didn't need to ask questions. Her motherly instinct told her everything she needed to know. She heard a dinging noise from down the hall. The elevator. She heard hoofsteps approach her, as well as a voice that sounded like it was miles away. Her weeping drowned out his questions. Flash was intercepted by a nurse. He began asking questions, and the nurse began to speak. Twilight's cries, as well as the blood pumping in her ears, blocked out everything but a few of the nurse's words. And the words tore her heart to shreds. Just before she heard Flash's own cries, she heard the words: Bad signs... Strange symptoms... Test results... Uterus cancer... Spread to placenta... Tissue removed... Nothing we could do... So sorry... From that day forward, Twilight's heart, and the hearts of her family, would forever bear the scars that would stay with them forever. But worst of all, Twilight was right. Northern Lights wouldn't be sleeping for a while.