Celestia and Eclipse sat together in the lobby of the old fashioned hospital, signing paperwork. The new sister, Celestia, who was barely more than a foal herself, kept getting up and running in hyperactive circles around the large fish tank that sat in the middle of the room, traumatizing a small swarm of minnows were were swimming in equally wild circles to try and escape her.
"Celly, honey, leave the fish alone," Eclipse said, while filling out a scroll with a quill dipped in black ink. It was only a quick visitor sign in sheet. "Are you ready to go meet your new sister?"
"Yeah!" Celestia exclaimed, and rushed over to him. The nurse behind the counter gave him a patient, fixed smile, and gestured them both to follow her.
"Come with me," she said cheerfully. "Mother and foal are both doing perfectly fine." Eclipse gave a sigh of relief at this, he had left his mate alone only at her insistence, she'd told him to take Celestia and get some sleep, since all three of them had been up all night. Eclipse had been up with her during the labor, and back at the castle, Celestia had stayed up all night only because the foalsitter she was with told her not to. Had that all really only been twelve hours ago? It felt like five minutes.
The two were led down a primitive, quiet stone hallway, and the mare who'd been behind the desk gestured to the far room. Eclipse gave her a thankful smile, and entered. Aurora was sitting up in bed, and gave them both a welcome smile as they entered.
"Where's my sister?!" Celestia demanded.
Eclipse frowned. "Celly, be patient. Your sister was born a few days early, she's being watched."
"You want to see her?" the receptionist asked.
"Yeah!"
"I'll take her," she said. Aurora frowned, not entirely sold on the idea of having their daughter running around with a stranger, but it was the early days, and ponies tended to be more trusting. "We'll be right back," the receptionist said, and handed over a few scrolls. "In the meantime, I'm going to need you two to fill these out for our records."
"Oh, joy, my favorite," Eclipse deadpanned.
---
Celestia followed the receptionist down a few doors, and was led inside while the door was propped open. The little one ran to the window, propping herself up on her hind legs to get a better look at the amazing sight on the other side. Rows of three foals were lined up, at least a dozen in all.
"Which one's mine? Which one's mine?" Celestia demanded.
The mare, unphased, pointed to a light blue form sleeping in a crib at the end of the rows. She lay on top of a blanket, eyes closed, peacefully asleep.
"That's my new sister?" Celestia asked, awed. "She's so small..."
"She'll get bigger," the mare promised.
"Whoaaaaaa...." Celestia couldn't stop staring at the small foal. Barely a day old, light blue, and completely unaware of the world that awaited her just on the other side of the glass.
"Come on, let's get you back to your parents."
"But I wanna stay here!"
"She'll still be here when you come back. She'll be coming home with you next week."
Celestia pouted. "Next week?! But that's like, forever!"
The receptionist smiled, and nudged her back down the hallway.
---
"Eclipse, be careful," Aurora was warning. "That ink is permanent." His face was scrunched up in concentration, to be sure all the information was filled out correctly. It was mostly completed already.
NAME OF NEWBORN: Luna
SIBLINGS: Celestia
"Careful," Aurora said.
"I know."
"Careful, Eclipse!"
"I know!" Eclipse gave an exasperated cry, and very nearly knocked the bottle onto the floor. Aurora just gazed at him patiently. "I told you to be careful."
Celestia entered, and ran to them, hugging her mother who hugged back.
---
Back in the room of foals, the dim light, suitable for napping newborns, had been penetrated by a bright blue light only moments before. The mare who snuck into the restricted room was quite literally the bubbly sort, who gazed down at the newborn Luna with ever-widening crossed eyes. "Whoaaaaa," she giggled. "It's a little Luna!"
Bending over, the cross-eyed mare tried to get a better look, but was startled out of her reverence by a sharp, angry voice.
"Miss Hooves! I TOLD you to stay where you were! We're in a fixed time stream! Come on now! Allon-sy!"
The Miss Hooves in question backed up suddenly, having been startled, and backed right into the rack of equipment against the wall. Bottles and instruments jangled together violently, sending a large bottle of that permanent ink straight towards the sleeping foals. She made a desperate dive for it, but missed, and the ink splattered itself all over the foal's flank.
"Come on!" The voice called again. "We're in a very delicate period here, let's go before we cause irreparable damage!" It was clear by his tone that by 'we' he meant 'her', but wasn't about to come right out and say it.
"Uh... uh... uh..." the mare stammered. "Coming!" She made a run for it, skittering around the corner and out of sight, her presence followed by a bright blue flash of light. The commotion was discovered only moments later as the receptionist burst through the locked door, and shrieked with terror as she discovered the mess and no sign of what had caused it.
Luna was cleaned up immediately, of course, but the ink never did come off.