"Great picture every pony!" Twilight congratulated as she looked at the picture take form. But no pony was paying attention as they began chit chat amongst themselves. Twilight only smiled and set the picture down before moving towards the exit. She almost made it when she heard ponies crying. It caught her off guard on what had been a joyous day thus far. She knew she should get back to Canterlot but she was sure Celestia would understand then followed the sounds.
"Why did this happen?" A mare cried out.
"I don't know." A colt answered in reply.
Twilight turned the corner and stood at the door and saw a most depressing scene indeed. A sheet covered a motionless pony as an older mare and younger colt mourned it. Nearby, in a little plastic bed, alone and forgotten, laid a baby unicorn. Twilight didn't realize what she was doing as she neared the plastic enclosure while the two mourned the body lying in the bed.
"She was so young, and now…" The mare went on but then couldn't and stuff her face into the younger colt's mane. The colt then noticed Twilight edging closer towards the foal's bed.
"Excuse me, who are you?" He questioned harshly. Twilight jumped which spread out her wings and made her horn glow briefly. "Princess!" He gasped then bent causing the mare to fall over with his lack of support at that moment. "I had no idea it was you; please forgive me!" The mare rose then fell at seeing Twilight in her entire princess glory.
"Your highness." She gulped as she curtsied lowly.
"Its fine, I shouldn't have entered without announcing my presence. It was very rude of me. Please rise." Twilight requested and the two rose quickly. "If you don't mind my asking, what happened here?" The two looked at each other before telling their tale.
"My sister got pregnant about eight to nine months ago." The colt began before looking at the body on the bed and stopped speaking.
"My daughter said she hadn't been with any pony, she didn't have a special some pony, and she was just as shocked as I was. But I didn't believe her and thought she had lied to me. So, I stopped believing her and talking to her. But she needed me and I didn't realize it until it was too late! My baby needed me and what did I do? Leave her to fend for herself when she needed me most!" The mother was now sobbing and had to leave the room.
"I'm so sorry." Twilight stumbled over her words as she was now all alone with the colt.
"It wasn't your fault." The colt mumbled back, trying not to cry or feel anything as he heard his mother trying to calm herself in the hospital hallway.
"But it might have been." Twilight whispered. She thought back to that night her casted her spell to turn Rainbow into a stallion. She hadn't remembered any spells bouncing out of control but had they? Had this mare been telling the truth when she was alive or had she been too scared to admit the truth of the real father's whereabouts? The newborn cooed in the corner which brought Twilight back to reality. It didn't matter what had happened; now, she had to make sure that one of her littlest, newest subjects had a proper home with a proper caregiver. "Who do we have here?" She asked turning the attention towards the baby she was walking towards.
"That is the last thing my sister left behind." The brother noted but never turning away from his sister's lifeless body. Twilight pecked her face over the rim of the bed, saw the newborn and gasped.
The little pony had a blue and purple speckled coat, a star yellow mane and tail and a horn. She was the tiniest filly Twilight had ever seen. But she had been born early, a month early; that is never good for any foal.
"Is any pony going to take care of her?" Twilight asked, reaching in unsure if it was okay or not to touch the barely moving form.
"What's the point? She'll die soon anyways." The colt huffed now looking out the window as Celestia's sunlight fell over the valley. Twilight looked at him aghast.
"How can you say such things?" She interrogated him.
"Sorry Princess, but I have just had my eyes opened to the fact that death is inevitable. So what's the point in caring about anything at all? Caring for others when they're about to die? Life a live that is just going to end? It's all pointless." The colt's heart was now consumed by hopeless despair, Twilight understood with a heavy heart. She looked at the baby who's breathe was shallow then made a life altering decision. She bent down and whispered in the baby's itty bitty ear:
"I'm not giving up on you." With that, she wheeled the cart out with the baby in tow, and left the brother mourning his sister. Their mother was still in the hall now causing a gathering of hospital employees as she ranted about how she'd never be a mother again. "This is not the life I want for you." Twilight informed the tiny babe as they left the mourning room of the hospital and towards the children's ward. "Hello, I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle and I'd like to adopt this filly." Twilight smiled to the gawking aid behind the desk.