//------------------------------// // Ladybugs // Story: We're...Twins...yes...twins... // by Questionable Brony //------------------------------// If anyone wants to know, Cadance had no idea either as to why Twilight had a book on how to help a pony to learn walking again. Neither did she know that Twilight had a filly sized lab-coat and a stethoscope. She found it adorable and heck with the seriousness Twilight was going through with this, I had to agree. I disagreed on the camera however. "Stop that." I complained as Cadance took another snapshot. "Oh, but you two look simple adorable." she squeaked, taking another picture of me and Shining Armor, doing the exercises from yesterday. The original plan of Cadance and Twilight was to hit a burger joint after passing the test. And as far as I knew babysitters, Cadance most likely would have gone there anyway. I used to be a babysitter myself after all. Twilight's father left for work. I think he was a guard or something? My memory wasn't the best to go on and I didn't hear him or Velvet talking about his job. Speaking of Velvet, after staying for the first half an hour, probably assuring Cadance and I got along, she went upstairs to her office to write on her latest novel. She had a deadline after all. Back to us, from the looks of things Shining was enjoying everything as much as I was, Twilight was carefully taking notes and Spike sat in his diapers between Twilight and Cadance , clapping with his tiny hands as he watched us. Cadance had absolutely fallen in love with him, the moment she saw him and cuddled him almost to death. Shining and me finished the exercise, which allowed me to stretch my limbs. "Oh, I needed that." I thought out loud. "Well, what do you say, Doctor Sparkle?" Cadance giggled at the comment I made, almost dropping the camera from her hooves. I really needed to find out about those "magnetic" hooves, just as a side note. Twilight pouted and looked up at her, our damn it, older brother. The future captain of the royal guard did his best to not burst out laughing, biting the inside of his cheek. "Doctor Sparkle." Cadance shook her head. "I have to remember this one." With a "humph", which was almost Rarity like, Twilight trotted away from the Princess of Love and brought the clip chart with her. "You're doing great Twivine." she said. "According to the book it's now time for you to try walking on your own, with somepony watching over you. And if it doesn't work, you should do the exercises a few more times. There's also written a song, which-" "I'm not going to sing." I was a horrible singer. Never hit the notes, always an octave too high at least. My classmates made jokes about how my voice could crack glass and whatnot. End of story. End. Of. Story. Twilight frowned at me interrupting her, but shrugged. "Okay, well, let's go! The faster you learn to walk, the faster we can go to Hay Burger!" Wow, she really loves her burgers. Wonder how hay tastes? "Alright, alright, give me a few seconds to stretch my legs." These workouts are harder than they look and doing them for an hour straight took it's toll on me. Surprisingly, I still felt pretty energized, like I could run all day long. Filing that away I took a deep breath and got ready. "Oh, this is going to get into the album. The first steps of a filly." Cadance whispered excited and leaned forwards with her camera. Shining chuckled and walked next to me. "Don't worry, I'll catch you if you fall." he assured. "Thanks." Okay, I just have to remember the pattern. Front left, hind right, front right, hind left. "Front left, hind right, front right, hind left. Front left, hind right, front right, hind left." I mumbled the pattern to myself, with each step I took, saying each word pair to the leg it belonged to. At first I was very slow both in talking and walking. However with each successful pattern, I increased my pace, a smile forming itself on my lips. The only mistake I did was to never look up from the ground. "Left, right, left, right, left, right..." "Uh, Twivine?" "Left, OW!" Cue on, I hit my horn on the wall. And let me tell you one thing, this thing sticking out of my forehead is sensitive. I fell back on my haunches, rubbing my tiny hooves around the horn. "Ow, ow, ow. Ow, it hurts. Ow, the pain. Ow, the tragedy." "Twivine!" I heard the other three exclaim, before in a matter of seconds all three ponies were around me. Cadance cradled me up in her forelegs and started blowing onto the tip of my horn. "There, there, everything will be fine." She blew again on my horn. "Better?" You know, how tempting it is to just outright tell an adult "It's fine" or "I'm not a kid"? Really hard to suppress these urges, because in their eyes I was a kid. They probably thought I was about to cry, when all in all I was simply annoyed. Getting a grip on my mouth just in time, I replied. "I'm fine, thank you. Really, I'm okay." I added, after seeing the princess frown. I got back up on my hooves and shook myself like a dog. "Mind if we try- OW! SPIKE!" I shouted at the dragon and immediately regretted it, as I was expecting him to start crying. He didn't. He just looked at me innocently and chewed on my tail, at the same time holding it with his tiny claws. Of course by now it was a running gag, one to which Cadance and Shining Armor rolled around on the floor, laughing. I just let out a sigh, waiting for one of them to recover, so they could get Spike away from my tail. In the end it was Twilight who helped me out. She cradled up Spike in her tiny forelegs, like Cadance did with me earlier, which somehow caused him to let go of my tail and just let himself being hold by my sister. "Silly dragon." she chided, ruffling his tiny green spines. The dragon in question looked up, a bit of drool running down his cheek. I rolled my eyes and wiped it away with my right hoof. "You're lucky, you're so cute, you know that?" I bumped the dragon's nose, causing him to giggle. In the background I heard a camera going of. I swear Cadance is worse than the highway police. The next instant Spike yawned, stretching his tiny limps, before cuddling more into Twilight's forelegs. "Aww." I couldn't help it. The same went for Shining Armor and Cadance . Shining walked up and took Spike into his magic grasp. "I'll get the little guy upstairs. And good idea Vi, Spike is a fitting name, don't you agree Twily?" "Definitely!" The filly clapped with her hooves. I titled my head a few seconds, until it hit me. Spike had yet to get his name! And I just gave it to him! "Oh...eh...it was...never mind." Better shut my mouth now. Shining took off without sparing me another glance. Cadance walked over to Twilight, slowly stroking the forehead of the little filly. "Aw, little Twily is a mother. They grow up so fast." she sighed in an over-dramatic way. "Cadance ." Twilight complained, only for the princess to nuzzle her head. "Aw, don't get all pouty on me Twily. You know what happens, when you get all pouty, don't you?" For some reason the alicorn of love stretched out her wings, causing Twilight to take a step back. Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks. What's going on? "Careful, here comes the tickle monster!" Oh. I watched in amusement as Twilight was tortured by her foalsitter. My sister was lying on the ground, while Cadance carefully aimed with the tip of her wings on Twilight's belly. That had to be the most adorable torture scene I have ever witnessed in my entire two lives. I could only laugh at Twilight's misfortune, her screams of agony and laughter being music in my ears. Okay, that was creepy. My laughter died down, once I noticed the ominous dark shadow hovering above my tiny figure. Very slowly I raised my head and found a mad grinning Cadance , looking down at me. "Don't think I have forgotten about you." was what she said. "The tickle monster gets all the fillies." "Meep." I spun around and tried to use my new-found ability to run away from my foalsitter, but to my dismay Twilight betrayed me by catching me with her magic. Wouldn't have gotten far anyway. I was on my way to the ground, when Twilight caught me and levitated me over to the pink monster. "What the- Twilight?!" I shouted. The filly just gave me a grin and let me down right in front of my demise. "NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAHAhAHAHHAHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! By the time it stopped, Twilight was lying on top of my stomach, meaning I was lying on my back. That traitor had helped Cadance throughout the entire torture session. Oh I was so going to get back at them. Still, despite everything I had fun. The princess nuzzled the two of us, causing Twilight to fall of from me. She giggled, slowly getting up from the ground, while I let out a groan and turned around. Shining Armor finally came downstairs again, looking a little exhausted himself. "I swear that little dragon. As soon as I lied him down, he woke up and wouldn't stop complaining until he had three bottles of milk." the stallion shook his head. "Is that healthy? I mean he is a dragon, but I still I wonder..." Cadance trailed off. "I watched over him for ten more minutes, before I came down. Sounded like you all had a lot of fun." he grinned. "Tag, you're it." I was brought out of the conversation by Twilight, who quickly ran behind our brother. I totally forgot how random children can be with their games. And here I thought Twilight isn't into these kind of games. Go figure. All right, bring it on Twilight! *thump* "Ow~" There are times, when I am just stupid. Being the good foalsitter she was, Cadance immediately helped me getting back on my hooves. "Are you okay?" she asked worried. "I'm fi-...oh man..." I sighed. I had a nosebleed from the impact. "Oh dear." Cadence frantically looked around for some tissues or something similar, but in the end Shining Armor ran into the kitchen and came back with an entire box flying behind him. He took some out with his magic and pressed them against my snout. "Does it hurt?" he asked. "No, just annoying." I pointed at my nose. "Aw, you're so brave." Cadance cooed. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Instead I just kept sitting on my haunches, while Shining switched every now and then the tissues. I was leaking pretty good, gotta admit. At least my blood wasn't some black goo stuff. With everything that's been happening so far, it wouldn't have surprised me if I was the pony version of Poison Ivy. "Sorry Twilight. Looks like we need to play another time." I told her. "No, I'm sorry." was her surprising reply. I titled my head to the side. "What are you sorry for?" I asked pretty much the question everypony had on their mind. "If I wouldn't have suggested playing tag, you wouldn't have hurt yourself." "And if I had reminded myself that I can barely walk, I wouldn't have hit my nose." I retorted. "But I'm your older sister! I need to look out for you!" "..." Must. Resist. Laughing. It didn't help that the two adults in the room were chuckling to themselves. Or teenagers? I wasn't sure, especially with Cadance . Do alicorns ever stop growing? Maybe when they're horse size they stop. Shaking the distracting thoughts off, I slowly trotted over to Twilight (Shining still holding the tissues against my nose). I wrapped my right foreleg around her neck, which caused me to lose my balance and drag Twilight with me to the ground. "Urrgh, love hurts." Twilight giggled, wiggling on her back. I almost got a heart attack by the sheer adorableness. Do you know how hard it is to resist the urge to hug her the entire day? This is hell! Nothing was broken with my nose, luckily. Shining Armor and Cadence made double sure of it. The entire time I managed to walk on my own, even if I was really slow. The entire time my big sister took notes of how I was doing and let me tell you, that filly is thorough with her "research". At first I thought there was not much you could write about the improvement of my movements, but Twilight? Heh, if she had a timer she would have written down exactly how much off time my left hind leg was. Or the exact angle my main body was turned to the right, while walking. Don't ask how I managed this. I tried to avoid it after I read it. "So" Cadance exclaimed, after she got rid of the rest of the tissues "now that Twivine knows can walk (somewhat) I'd say it's high time we go to Hay Burger!" she exclaimed. "Yay!" Twilight exclaimed, running around Cadance like an excited dog. I hit my grin behind my hoof. My sister then ran up to Shiny and put her front legs on his. "Do you come with us, BBBFF?" she asked. Shining laughed and ruffled her mane. "I'd love to Twily, really, but I have to go and fill out some forms for the academy." "Aww..." Twilight pouted. Academy? I wondered. I was about to ask, but Shining gave me and Twilight a big brother hug. "Remember, don't talk to strangers." he advised. He let go of us and walked out of the house. Twilight managed to yell a "Bye Shiny!" before he was out. We both then turned to Cadence, who smiled down at us. "Okay you two. Does any of you need to use the bathroom?" Now that she mentioned it... 15 minutes of figuring out the waterworks of my body later, we were outside in Canterlot. Boy, it was a complete other thing seeing the city from down below. All those legs! That's all I saw for the first five minutes. "Stay close to me girls." Cadance told us. "Sheesh, it's really crowded today." No kidding. It wasn't that bad the other day. Twilight and I walked in front of the alicorn princess, so she could keep a close eye on us. Of course it went really slow, since I was tripping over my own legs every now and then. I didn't get to see much of Canterlot this time, because there were just so many ponies. So many colors! I loved it! "This way." The princess pointed down another street. There weren't many ponies taking that road. "It'll take us a little longer, but it's less crowded." "Okay Cadance ." Twilight complied. I just nodded. Of course, a princess walking through the streets of Canterlot may be a common sight, but the ponies still looked after her, especially the young colts. One of them even whistled after her. She ignored it. Looking around, we came across a small flower shop and a cafe on the other side of the street. An earth pony was pulling a cart full of various stuff with him. Three pegasi were flying above us, each pushing a cloud to another section of the city. A unicorn was crossing our path, looking like he really could need a hug. Faust, this city was alive! I mean alive, alive! It's hard to describe, but when you watch the show it's all just a stage. But when you're here...let me put it this way, you all have seen plenty of pictures of L.A. Yet it is a completely different experience actually being in L.A. and meeting the people for yourself, even if half of them are arrogant asshats. From above me I suddenly heard our foalsitter giggle to herself. Me and Twilight looked up, but the alicorn was dismissive. "Just lost in my own thoughts." Shining Armor. I thought to myself. The episode didn't make it clear, when they started dating, hell, from what I have seen Twilight didn't even know they were together until she arrived in Canterlot, yet it wouldn't surprise me if she had some naughty thoughts about him. A few twists and turns later, we finally arrived at Hay Burger! Unlike Burger King or Mc Donalds, this one had a green overall design with white letters and yellow-green upholstery. We walked inside the building, getting in line. It was then that I finally noticed the stares I was receiving. Right now they mostly came from the other queues. The fillies and colts looked pretty scared, some curious, but most of the time the little ones were afraid. The adults, which includes teenagers were...well disgusted isn't really the word. Some were curious, a small part of the bunch, but most looked...a mixture of slightly frightened and something else. "Don't fall asleep now Ladybug." Cadance chided me softly, breaking me out of my thoughts. She and Twilight were a little ahead now. And did she really call me ladybug? Whatever. About the stares, I did the only reasonable thing, namely ignoring them and reading what they have on the menu. Basically everything you can get in a normal burger joint. Just switch the meet with hay, as well as the fries. Wait a minute, potatoes are vegetables and there are still only hay fries? This has to change! When we finally got to the counter, Cadance spoke for all of us. "We'll have a normal hayburger and two kids menus. Are a small hayburger and hay fries all right with you two?" "Yup!" Twilight exclaimed. "Aw, I wanted a triple burger." I pouted, knowing it was the only method I would have my way. It didn't work. Cadance giggled. "Silly, you're too small to eat something that huge." The pony behind the counter chuckled as well, probably already used to these kind of scenarios. He probably didn't notice my eyes as of yet. "And three orange juices." Cadance finished. "Right away princess." She must be a regular, if the guy is so casual with her. I concluded. Being a fast food chain, our order was there in a matter 2 minutes. Cadance somehow produced a couple of bits, though where she stored them was anyones guess. She was only wearing her headband, so she couldn't have hidden them. Or did she? Or perhaps she carried the coins with her magic? Whatever, if I continue this train of thought, I'll get a Pinkie Pie level headache. We went outside again and placed ourselves on one of the long stretched wooden tables. Our foalsitter levitated each one kids menu to us. It even had one of those stupid plastic toys, in my case a doll of Sapphire Shores. A version where she is still a teenager. Huh, her career started very early. Twilight got somepony I didn't recognize, but dismissed the thing just as much as I did. Instead she immediately started devouring her burger and if you remember the episode we see her in a burger joint, you know how messy it was. After watching her for a few seconds, I unwrapped my own burger (which took me a whole minute) and took a bite. "This is AWESOME!" I exclaimed, before becoming a carbon copy of Twilight's eating habits. I could see Cadance rolling her eyes, but ignored her. I was always in for burgers, but this: hay is the best thing ever! Haha, this coming from a former human. As soon as I was finished I got onto the fries and last but not least, I sucked out all of the juice out of the small package. "You two are really sisters." the alicorn commented dryly, wiping the ketchup away from our faces. Twily and I just grinned sheepishly, rubbing our stomachs. Eventually Cadance broke under our sheer adorableness and burst out into a fit of giggles. Well, can't complain about the day so far. "Is that Princess Cadance eating at this joke of a restaurant?" I just had to tempt fate, huh? Shut up brain.