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.
..............
n-no
no.....
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i-im going to a corner now...
A sad twist. Though, it can't all be happy. Great chapter. Well they can always adopt if they want to.
Hm.
You're right in saying it can't all be happy, and I certainly am not against souring this sweet story, but with every new chapter being a giant timeskip, having Poppy (who we don't know anything about except she is Northern's wife) develop cancer and lose the ability to have children in such a traumatic way is a little...random?
Maybe you could go back a bit and add more exposition of how North and Poppy met, their courtship, maybe even the news that they were expecting?
I dunno, let us see where this goes.
Me going into this: media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz77qpApXz1qi30uk.gif
Me after this: static03.mediaite.com/themarysue/uploads/2012/04/tumblr_lu9z43Swr51qh9u2g.gif
Well, I guess seven happy chapters isn't so bad before one gut-wrenching awful one.
I'ma go cry in the corner now
I was all oh yay a baby now I am all oh sh**.
dude wtf my body just went cold and i meant it literally i was like how can you be so heartless and now i wanna beat the crap out of you
You don't know what you have until it's gone, a rather sad truth.
I will be the biggest dick right now but, I kinda liked the ending. Very forthcoming and logistical. I am growing up and am constantly told "Your kids resemble you in your childhood." To me it's like "Your kids will be just as horrible as you if not worse so they might have deserved this. But thats just me.
Why? Why?? WHY??!! WWWHHHYYYY????!!!!!
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YOU FUCKER YOU KNOW WHAT THIS CALLS FOR img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1381/96/1381964217255.jpg
Suitable scenario, truly makes this a slice of life fic. Shows that in life, not everything is happy. There will be tragic turns here and there, and this chapter's ending tells us just that. You and your story have both earned my full respect.
Wow... well, that ruined my day...
Well... shit.
This has so much meaning to me. I had to go through a similar situation just last week. Definitely one of the hardest things in my life.
This immediately came to my mind after watching Game of Thrones.
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Still, pretty damn sad.
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Similar amount of feels for me
Too many feels!!!!! feel over load....
4270827 BREATHE MAN
JUST BREATHE
STAY WITH ME MAN
STAY WITH ME
Seriosly.... I'm on a bus.... it'sreally hard not to suddenly freak out over this....
Nearly cried... thanks for making this story realistic. Not everything is going to be ok just because iit's a story. Hope they all cope well.
4284224 Yes, I'm aware. But that was said because it really added to the point of the messed up family.
And I hope you enjoy the rest!
4274084 Yeah. Probably a bad idea to read this in a public place. I'll try my best not to write anything this bad again, but no promises. I do know how they'll cope already, so prepare yourself. Something that traumatic can be hard to recover from. You never know how they'll recover, if at all.
4299078
As i said, or at least implied, i prefer the rerealisticness of each story. Not every story can be happy sunny days, etc. I prefer some downsides. I don't look for them, of course.
4299163 Yeah. But like I said, even I don't know where this is gonna go, so I'll have to see what happens. As will you.
Even so, I have a few ideas in place. I just don't know how everyone's gonna feel.
4301481
As long as it continues the quality level, i can't wait.
4324168 Good. That's just the opening chapter. Just kind of an introduction. It gets better, trust me.
4324658 They were the Elements of Harmony. Next to Celestia, that's the highest of the high in Equestria. They saved Equestria more than a handful of times. That's a big reason. Plus, they were the few ponies that everypony knew Twilight would be safe with if anything went wrong. That makes sense, right?
And about that, I thought about that, too. But I haven't seen any spells in the series involving that. Plus, I just feel like that'd be too easy. What would be more d'awwsy? His "uncle" feeding him berries with that d'awwsy name, or a quick spell and bam, it's magically gone?
Not to sound smart. Just thought it worked better.
They lost their foals and she won't be able to have anymore it as well it would seem......... Lights now you'll be introduced to the wonders of liquor. The throat burning drink that dissolves your horrid memories away but also your own body.
4351460 Don't worry, Northy isn't becoming an alcoholic. >.>
4441274 Thanks bro. Hope this goes over better for you than The Letter That Was Never Sent....
-_-
You know what this reminds me of?
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4470483 NO
NO
DON'T DO THAT
BAD
VERY BAD
You evil bastard...
4488246
4497565
How could you...
4498823 FORGIVE ME, SENPAI
4499093
Notice me senpai!
4499244 *Notices*
Kouhai-san!
4499264
*Gasp*
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4499337 Indeed.
4499343 i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/467/325/068.png
4499367
When do you think the next update will be i really love this story
MIsspelled 'spread'.
Even though it's a sad chapter, IT WAS STILL REALLY GOOD NOE EXCUSE ME I'M GONNA CRY
4620607 Thanks for the heads up. I'll correct it. And THANK YOU, BUT PLS NO TEARS
This chapter left me speechless and heartbroken. However, very powerful and emotional chapter.
Wow, what a twist! I'm impressed!
Oh no!