Late in the subterranean autumn, when the flora glows especially bright, a soon to be mother cries out for her husband. The midwives rush to and fro in preparation for the foal’s arrival, and in the warm glow of the Sunburst flowers that grew about their room, Jack O’Lantern approached his pregnant wife. His green eyes glittered anxiously as he tenderly wiped the tears and sweat from his wife’s face, and nuzzled her reassuringly. She was a strong pony when it came to her mind and her beliefs, but she never had been able to handle pain very well, and Jack knew with certainty that she was well above her small level of tolerance for it.

The pregnancy was healthy and to term, but as the labor progressed there seemed to develop some complications. The foal appeared to be stuck, and none of the midwives or nurses had been really prepared for it. Not wanting to jump into drastic measures, they’d sent for the local doctor who had not yet arrived. Jack O’Lantern was beginning to feel a growing sense of dread creep over him and as the intensity of the moment constantly attempted to overwhelm his senses, his heart pounded with every cry and pain laden moan of his beloved wife.

The very idea of becoming a father threatened to push him over the edge… he didn’t even want children. They were too much work and he believed they took so much away from adult relationships. But when Moondrop became pregnant, what could he do? She had seemed so happy at the news…he could never have had the heart to tell her the truth of how he felt on the matter. A truth that had been slowly festering in the back of his mind as the months had passed, and now that the moment was here, the tension threatened to push him with a whole new force from panic and straight into terror. With a new wave of contractions seeping heavily in, Moondrop arched her back awkwardly and cried out in pain.

“We don’t have any more time to wait for the doctor!” shouted the midwife. “We have the tools to deliver surgically here, we need to act now.” She gathered the nurses to begin emergency cesarean procedures on Moondrop, while Jack was hurriedly pushed from the room. With heart pounding and head throbbing, Jack stepped away from the door to the bedroom just as it slammed in his face.

Being pushed from her in her time of need not only angered him, but was enough to push his already panicked mind into a new gear of hysterics. His stomach felt like he’d swallowed a large rock, and he felt his throat suddenly shrink. Rushing to the nearby restroom, Jack forcefully gagged and emptied the contents of his stomach. Tears streamed down his face and he shuddered with the painful heaves. In the other room, his wife's cries had grown loud, to the point where the sound of it ringing in his ears brought him to the floor, trembling.

Completely overwhelmed, Jack dry-heaved again before roughly resting himself against the wall, eyes closed and head in his hooves. The room was spinning around him horribly, tempting nausea to come again. Jack trembled with every muffled cry of his wife and openly wept in the dark room. Gradually, his breathing regulated and the beating of his heart slowed. What felt like an eternity had passed before he was no longer deafened by the painful throbbing in his ears.

With trepidation, he peeked his eyes open slightly. The dizziness had faded enough, and his vision managed to focus on his back legs lain out before him. His white fur was made somewhat green from the glow of the Ivy pots that hung on the wall. Everything in the room was tinted green by them, and for a brief moment, the cool glow lulled him into a sense of comfort. Jack quickly jerked away from the temporary lull of peace as the sour smell of his own breathe and the mess he’d made of the toilet reached his nose. Cringing, he flushed the mess away and proceeded to the sink to clean himself up. As he splashed cool water over his face, the sound of the expected doctor arriving at the door grabbed his attention.

Jack scrambled to the entry of the bathroom as the doctor, surely alarmed by the screaming from the bedroom, raced by. The austerity of the moment slammed back into Jack's brain, and he quickly followed the doctor through the door of the room. One of the nurses caught him before he could go very far and apologizes, explaining to him that the doctor should hopefully be able to help from there on out, but that it would probably be best if Jack remained waiting patiently outside the room. He reluctantly allows her to lead him out as he desperately tries to peer over the crowd of ponies surrounding his wife.

Tick… Tick… Tick…minutes slowly crept torturously into an hour, and the room eventually fell quieter. Sitting outside of the room where the nurse had left him, Jack realized that there really was something more terrifying to him than the idea of being a parent, more terrifying than the pained screams of his wife. He sat still, and horrified, listening intently for a sound, any sound other than the dreadful heartbeat of the wall clock. If they were talking within the room, they were doing so quietly enough that he couldn’t hear a thing. It was the silence of the moment, of the room, that scared him above all else.

A day that was once meant to be of laughter and new-found joy had fallen into silence… and an agonizing slowing of time. To his relief, after an excruciating hour, the silent eternity ended. There, very suddenly, was the muffled sound of small crying. The room became softly abuzz with indiscernible words. Shortly after, the doctor finally emerged from the room, looking pale and grim. He walked softly over to Jack, who sat with an unnatural reticence as the doctor knelt to sit beside him.

“Your wife isn’t doing well, Jack, but your baby is alive and will be fine. We’re taking care of the foal for now, getting her cleaned up and everything, but I’d recommend you go in and be with your wife now while you can…” the doctor said, pleading understanding towards Jack’s calculating look. “We are doing all we can for her, but even with the help of magic, she just doesn’t seem to be healing. I don’t think she’ll be with us for much longer….” The doctor put a hoof on Jack’s shoulder, and smiled sadly before letting his face drop, “I’m so sorry…” Jack’s already punished stomach dropped again. He stared blankly for a moment before snapping to his feet and running into the room to his wife, the doctor left behind him.

“Moondrop! I-“ he began, but her condition silenced him. She lay flat, her usually lustrous coat was no longer the beautiful shade of soft pink he remembered. It was matted, faded whiter and she looked up sullenly at him through dark circled eyes. He brushed her lilac mane from her face and nuzzled her snout, feeling her smile weakly. Looking tenderly up at him she spoke.

“She’s beautiful, Jack. She’s simply beautiful.” He looked briefly towards the cramped group of nurses fussing over a small bundle he could barely see. “Jack…” Moondrop whispered, reclaiming his attention. “Please… Love her every day… for both of us… I…” she wheezed with no small amount of strain in her voice, “I love…” Before she could finish her final thoughts, the light of her eyes faded and her body gently fell limp.

“M-moondrop?” Jack stammered. “Moon? …pl-pease don’t leave me. I can’t do this by myself…” tears rolled freely down his face and the room went quiet again. The doctor and the nurses who had waited observantly came over and covered her gently with the blankets from the bed and consoled Jack as best they could. Not a word of it reached him though; Jack just stared hollowly at the outline of his wife beneath the sheet.

He couldn’t help but feel that somehow she must still be alive. That at any minute she’d move, she’d roll over, merely asleep. She’d look to him and smile as she did every morning. She’d kiss him softly and remind him of how much she loved him. She’d curl up closer beside him and hum quietly. And he’d remember just how lucky he was, just how much he didn’t deserve her. How much he wanted to make her proud and happy. But she didn’t move, she didn’t smile, nor kiss or hum. She was gone.

His thoughts were broken when the midwife gently cleared her throat. He turned his puffy, bloodshot eyes to her and onto what she held. There in her arms was a tiny, soft bundle of pink blankets. The midwife carefully handed the tiny foal to Jack O’Lantern, who stared in amazement at the tiny unicorn beneath him. She had soft grey fur and a fluffy black mane.

A slow, sad smile crept across Jack’s face as the little pony carefully opened her fresh, blue eyes and squinted hazily up at him. For the past how many months he’d been terrified of being a father. He had utterly dreaded the coming moment of even holding this foal. But now, with her in his arms, he wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world. Looking down at this newborn child, knowing that she was his very own, and was the joy of the mare he loved, he would never give her up.

“She’s got her mother’s eyes.” He teared up. The midwife smiled a bit, but then said cautiously, “But, there is something you should know… she is… abnormal.” Jack’s indignant expression brought her to explain more clearly, “What I mean to say is that… we’ve never seen anything like this before. She’s unlike any foal known to exist since the time of… well, since the time of the Old Kingdom.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jack growled defensively. The midwife, taken aback, carefully unfolded the foal’s blanket and exposed two tiny wings at her sides, as well as the beginning growth of the horn atop her forehead. She spoke softly, “She’s completely healthy, but… we’re not really sure what to make of this.” Jack stared, astounded at the little foal.

“But, w-what does this mean? What do I do?” he stammered. The midwife shook her head, she was visibly shaken by it as well. She assured him that they could only assume she would likely be like any other child, but as for what her birth portended, it was likely that there was nopony left alive who could possibly know. It could mean absolutely nothing, or perhaps be a sign of great things to come. With that, she left him to his thoughts, and the ponies went about cleaning and clearing the room. Jack, still holding his foal, looked to his wife’s body. He would be strong from now on, that he swore. He swore it if not for to honor his wife’s memory, but for his child…his last real connection to her.

As had become custom for efficiency, her body would be taken to the local morgue and burned that very night. The following morn they would go to the edge of the forest and plant a new tree of the family’s choice in her ashes. Leaning over, Jack kissed Moondrop’s forehead one last time and claimed pointedly, “I will take care of her, Moondrop. I promise you that for as long as I am still living, I will protect her.”

The next morning, Jack, with friends and close family in tow, walked to the forest. Deep in the special cemetery grove, as the others watched mournfully, he carefully buried Moondrop’s ashes, which bore in them the seed of a Moonglow Pear. In the years to come, her remains would be the fuel to grow a beautiful and fruitful tree that her family may come and find respite in. Tears welling up, the only thing Jack could find comfort in was in knowing that there would at least be a beautiful memorial he could bring their daughter to. That in some way, their little girl could still come visit her mother…

Author's Note

I've never written anything that really made an attempt to be sad or so quickly try to develope character connections, so please be gentle in critiquing this. But please,please, please don't be afraid to comment and offer up ideas of improvment, I'm always looking to become better.