the best is over and the worst is yet to come ; vul

[Cress]

cRess

like a house on fire we're up in flames; i'd burn here if that's what it takes
She wakes in the night to blood and pain.

Groaning, she rolls from her side to her hooves, trying to gather trembling limbs beneath her body to force herself to her feet. She makes it halfway before another contraction washes over her, sending her back down to her knees as she bites through a scream. Throwing out a wing for balance, she tries again, realizing partway through that it is futile – the labor has come on too quickly for her to try and relocate to a quieter part of the kingdom to give birth in.

She is certain that her family is nearby as she labors throughout the darkest hours of the night, but no one approaches as she groans through contraction after contraction. The bleeding intensifies as the foal positions itself for birth, and a steady stream of smoke furls from her mouth as she pants. She had predicted some weeks ago that this was going to be rough, but she hadn’t a clue then exactly how hard this labor was going to be. For a spell, she even contemplates if this is going to be what finally kills her, after over a decade and a half of life. A child.

Dawn is starting to break as the foal slides from her womb at last, and she looks upon the colt as well she can in the gathering light, smiling at his small form as she licks him clean. Exhaustion wells behind her eyes and she is tempted to put her head down and drift away, but she fights the urge and nudges his barrel, indicating that it is time for him to try and stand. She doesn’t yet notice how gaunt he is or his sunken eyes, just that he is a perfect son, her first since fiery Flamebrand. Pride swells in her and she goes to push to her hooves,

– and falls.

The weakness hits her hard, and suddenly she is so dizzy that she can’t see straight. Groaning once more, she tries to heal herself, but her mind and body are so exhausted that the energy just isn’t there. Eyes falling once more on her son, she reaches across and lays her head against his small body, shivering with a cold that isn’t really there. “We will rest for now, son,” she tells him, voice faint, but the boy whickers softly in response. “The world will still be here in a few hours.”

With that, her eyes fall shut, and she finds herself beginning to drift.

@[vulgaris] :|