Prompt/Idea For Any ShadowVanilla Variant (probably ProphetFount).
Fount and Pure Vanilla are scared Pure Milkcrown might feel like they're trying to replace her when Zenith Milk and Vanilla Nebula are born, (the classic "Mommy, do you still love me" fears) but she practically forgets about them the moment she gets introduced to the twins! They aren't her little siblings, they're her babies, and she's their mama, no debate. She lets her parents handle taking care of them, but she insists on hovering around them no matter what.
She luckily starts to stop doing this after she becomes a teenager, but she still sometimes act like a mother hen towards them...
ProphetFount would probably work best, story-wise
It started when they announced that The Prophet was pregnant again. After three years of no babies, everyone assumed they were done.
"Again?" Pure Starberry asked, setting her spoon down.
"I thought you two were gonna stop at," Starlight Vanilla did a quick head count, then gestured to his twin, "Two!"
"I thought three..." Blueberry Orchid agreed.
"I was hoping four," Vanilla Nebula snickered.
But Pure Milkcrown looked at her parents, deep in thought.
"And what do you think, sweetheart?" The Fount asked their youngest.
Pure Milkcrown blinked a few times, then went back to her soup.
"Looks like you're not gonna be the baby anymore~," Vanilla Nebula teased.
"Nebby, leave her alone," Pure Starberry scolded her younger sibling.
"Yeah, just because you were bitter about being replaced, doesn't mean all of are." Starlight Vanilla giggled.
"No one is being replaced." The Prophet spoke up, "We love all of you dearly. Just as we will love the new baby. Right, Milky?" She tried to gauge how her baby felt, but Pure Milkcrown just kept eating.
"Face it, mom," Pure Starberry sighed, "You and daddy pop out more kids than most know what to do with."
"You are not going to mother hen then," The Fount warned.
"I don't mother hen them!" His eldest argued.
"You did it with Vanilla Nebula, and look at the mouth on them."
"Uhh yeah, I HAD to step up because mom and Milky got kidnapped. Remember??"
"And that is not their fault!"
The Prophet sighed. It seemed like the older her oldest got, the more she butted heads with her father. They were both so much alike — knowledgeable, curious, a strong sense of self, and an unwillingness to admit defeat.
Having lost her appetite, The Prophet pushed her bowl away and stood up, "I'm going to bed."
"A-Already??" The Fount asked, shocked out of his debate.
"Mom, wait —," Pure Starberry stood up.
The Prophet just shook her head and walked out of the dining room.
"Nilly, wait!" The Fount stood and followed his wife.
Pure Starberry slinked back into her seat.
"Way to go, Star." Starlight Vanilla sighed.
"Yeah, way to go." Vanilla Nebula mocked him.
"Would you shut it??" Pure Starberry snapped. She pushed her bowl back and left before any of her siblings could stop her.
Blueberry Orchid sniffled. A few tears fell into her soup and blossomed into sleeping milkcrowns. She gasped when she saw them in her soup and ran from the table.
Vanilla Nebula sighed dramatically, "Great! Now I'm the meanie." They crossed their arms.
"Come on," Starlight Vanilla sighed, "Let's at least clean up." He helped both his younger siblings down from their booster chairs, "Nebby, push the chairs in, I'll handle everything else."
Vanilla Nebula did as he was told.
Pure Milkcrown, not allowed to help due to being only three and "too fragile" to help, simply waited until Starlight Vanilla waved her off to leave and go looking for her mommy.
She found her in her parents bedroom.
"They're just...comfortable right now, love." The Fount kissed his wife's temple, "And pregnancies have always been so hard on you. Remember the story of what happened at Blue's birth? You passed out from jam loss?" He hugged his wife and rubbed her back, "It was the scariest four hours of our lives."
Then he pulled back and dried her tears, "And with Nebby? How the cord was wrapped around their neck? The two of you were bed bound for six months."
The Prophet sniffled, "I - I know...but....I really wanted this baby..."
The Fount sighed and hugged her close again, "You still want this baby." The Prophet let out a shaky sob, and he held her through it, "But...we're all just worried for you. Worried about the family."
The Prophet whimpered and nodded. Then, she noticed Pure Milkcrown.
"M-Milky! What — what are you doing here?? Who walked up the stairs with you??"
She held her hands up and made grabby hands.
"Let me," The Fount stopped his wife from scooping her up. He picked Pure Milkcrown up and held her carefully, "What is it you need, dear?"
"Mommy?" Pure Milkcrown's voice was as soft as a whisper.
"Yes, baby?" The Prophet wiped her tears.
"Will you and daddy still love me when the baby is born?" She asked.
"Of course we will!" The Fount kissed her forehead, "Just like how we still love Pure Starberry, and Starlight Vanilla, and Blueberry Orchid, and Vanilla Nebula. We will still and forever love you."
The Prophet nodded in agreement.
Just then, the door to their room opened again and Blueberry Orchid ran in crying. She hugged The Prophet tightly and whimpered, "Hurt."
"O-Oh, hun, she's growing milkcrowns again." The Prophet brushed Blueberry Orchid's curls back from her face.
"Sit here, Milky." The Fount sat his youngest down on their bed and turned to Blueberry Orchid, "Come on, sweetie, let's get you to the garden."
The Prophet sighed and sat next to Pure Milkcrown on the bed.
Pure Milkcrown crawled over and cuddled into her mommy's arms.
The next nine months were much the same.
The two oldest walked on eggshells. Pure Starberry wrote letters to her pen pal on Crispia. And Starlight Vanilla used scrying spells to talk to his friends in the faerie kingdom. Blueberry Orchid kept to herself, she still received lessons from their father. Vanilla Nebula begged to learn their mommy's healing magic ("No, sweetie, you're still too little").
And Pure Milkcrown was still treated as a fragile, little doll.
Around month seven, The Prophet stayed home. Officially, she was supposed to be on bed rest and stop working as The Prophet of Knowledge. But Pure Vanilla spent the last two months of her pregnancy with Pure Milkcrown on her hip as she arranged and rearranged the nursery for the new baby.
"Where will I sleep?" Pure Milkcrown asked.
"You're going to be moving into a big girl room, right next to mommy and daddy's room so we can keep an eye on you." Pure Vanilla paused, "Hmm...perhaps I should ask daddy to connect your room to ours as well."
The nursery was the only room connected to their room, but Pure Vanilla wasn't ready to let Pure Milkcrown out of her sights.
Because she was constantly on her mommy's hip, she got to feel her baby sibling kicking. And when her mommy laid them both down for a nap, she rested her forehead on her mommy's belly and felt her baby sibling wriggle and squirm.
However, just like with Pure Starberry and Starlight Vanilla, labor came a month early.
The children were excited because it meant Grandma Milk was coming sooner than expected, and it meant their new baby sibling was coming!
After hours of screaming and waiting. The Fount opened the door and invited the children in by age.
By the time he picked up Pure Milkcrown, she was shivering from nerves. What if mommy actually didn't love her anymore? What if the new baby took all her attention away and she ended up alone and forgotten?
Pure Starberry and Starlight Vanilla were seated on either side of their mommy. And Vanilla Nebula and Blueberry Orchid sat at the end of the bed.
The Fount plopped Pure Milkgrown down right next to Pure Vanilla.
She was nursing two tiny babies.
Pure Milkcrown's eyes widened.
Pure Vanilla smiled, "Milky, meet your baby brothers. Zenith Milk," she looked down at the little vanilla-doughed baby, "And Frosted Eclipse." She smiled at the blueberry-doughed baby.
Pure Milkcrown's chest felt warm and tingly.
From then on, Pure Milkcrown was by their side for everything. Even in the middle of the night, she was the first one to make it to the twins when they cried. And she insisted on doing everything for them.
The Fount and The Prophet didn't let her feed or change them, but they did allow her to help with dressing and playing with them.
To their parents, she was the best big sister ever.
To Pure Milkcrown, they were her little baby dolls.
She helped with their first steps, their first words, she was right beside them when they fell and she helped them stand right back up. She even moved a blanket and pillow into their nursery so she could be with them when Frosted Eclipse got sick (The Prophet was too scared she'd get sick, so The Fount moved her back to her room once she fell asleep).
And this continued for years.
Pure Milkcrown referred to her baby siblings as her babies, even as they got older.
By the time she was starting to write her own novels and plays, she'd mostly grown out of it.
But they hadn't grown out of it.
Zenith Milk sometimes still crawls into his big sister's bed when they have nightmares. And Frosted Eclipse always crawls onto her lap when he's overwhelmed by everything.
Pure Milkcrown doesn't mind. She just smiles and hugs them until they're ready to leave.
