FIMCE = Family is Magic Contest Entry

This is my entry for kindheart525’s contest

[…]

It was a painful scene to be witnessed.

After hours of intense and painful labor, Royal Splendor could barely look at the suffering face of his wife as she struggled, using all of her strength to push. Her face was wrinkled in a tense expression, sweat and tears streaming down her face and her once silky and smooth long mane was tangled in a mess of blues, red and yellows. And though she was physically exhausted and her fragile body could hardly take it anymore, her will was strong, and Paint wasn’t going to give up untill she knew both her children had been delivered safely and successfully.

In the middle of the heavy and irregular rythm of her lungs, Paint took one deep breath, and gathered all the strength she could and gave one last push.

It was over.

She was way beyond exausted. She could barely keep her eyes open, all she could do was stare at the ceiling of the hospital room, almost emotionless, struggling to keep breathing. But she couldn’t rest yet, she still hadn’t heard her children cry.

The doctors seemed to be having trouble to get the babies to cry. Weren’t they breathing right? We-Were they… Okay? They were going to be fine… right?

Her eyesight was a bit blurry, and the sounds, the voices, seemed to be echoing from far away. She tried to focus on her husband’s face, who though he was by her side, holding her hoof as tight as he could, his mind seemed to be somewhere else.

Roy seemed to be divided between trying to pay attention to the doctors handling their babies and assuring paint everything was going to be fine.

“They… They’re going to… Be okay… R-Right?” Said Paint Swirl, panting, in a hoarse, low and tired voice.

“What?! YES! They’re going to be a-okay h-honey!! Of course they will! Why wouldn’t they? E-Everyone’s going to be o-okay” said Roy, desperately trying to cheer up his wife and trying not to let out how obviously panicking he was on the inside.

Paint directed her eyes back to the ceiling. A million thoughts rushed through her mind, so many she couldn’t even process them right. Worry, despair, fear… What if her children didn’t make it? She didn’t mind having to go if it meant to save them, but she didn’t want to take her newborns with her.

Paint started to feel drowsy, and the thought of loosing her babies was consuming her. She was almost losing consciousness when suddenly-

She heard a crying.

Not one, two of them.

The sound of the weeping voices of her two children comforted her mind. Paint slowly smiled as she let out a sigh of relief that turned into a weak and soft giggle. Though her eyes were tired and already swollen, they were gleaming with tears of joy and happiness.

That sound had given her one last load of strength, and she happily witnessed as the doctors placed both her little bundles of joy in her arms. She held them so tightly, yet so carefully. Seeing their faces, their little muzzles, feeling their soft velvet coat… For a second, she forgot about the exhaustion, and all she could think of was those two fuzzy little things. All the suffering, the pain, the hardships she endured through all those months during her pregnancy and the labor felt… worth it.

She leaned her head closed and rested her muzzle on their heads, smelling the scent of her newborns. Roy also approached, kissing his wife on the forehead, melting down in tears. “You did a great job, love”.

Paint started to feel drowsy again.

The joy of being able to look at her twins’ faces and having her husband beside her brought warmth and relief to Paint’s heart. She gathered for one last time what was left of her strenght and wrapped her wing around Roy, for one last hug. She wanted to feel her husband’s warmth for one last time.

“I love you… And I always will” Paint whispered.

She could feel the weight on her eyelids and her strenght was slowly fading.

“Honey?! Are you okay??!!” Roy asked, a bit worried.

“I-I am… I’m just… Tired…”

She could feel her heartbeat slowing down, and her heavy breathing became soft, deep and so weak it could barely be heard.

She hugged her children for one last time, memorizing their scent with all of her mind.

Her eyelids slowly slid through her eyes untill they were shut, and with a brief and relieved smile, Paint let out one last sigh.

Roy suddenly realized what was going one and went into a state of denial, “N-No… No!!Honey? Honey?!! Paint?! No no no no, you can’t go like this! Not yet! A-Amy and Airbrush, you m-mom and dad, Firework and L-Lightning… They’re all w-waiting for you! Everyone is…” Roy blubbered those words, in tears, holding Paint’s hoof so tightly he could feel her warmth vanish from her body, like a flame that flickers out too soon.

She died.

She was gone.