“Hey Bud,” Lazuli called out for her friend as soon as she barged yet again into the patient room. “Did ya miss me?” Somehow expecting her friend to welcome her in a fawning fashion, Lazuli was joyous until she paused, perplexed by Bud’s odd behavior.
Lazuli saw her friend examining the filly with observant yet baggy eyes, looking to all the features of the baby foal. Her friend soon about to lift the eyelids of the filly, but then halted her hoof and chose not to. Not able to make a lick of sense of what Bud was doing, Lazuli asked, “The heck you’re doing?”
“Hm?” Bud turned her sights to Lazuli. “Oh, you’re back…"
“C’mon,” Lazuli complained, a bit disappointed by her friend’s lackluster response. “Where’s your enthusiasm? I even brought our friends.”
“My goodness,” Bud heard a huff of a familiar voice. Her anticipation was answered swiftly when her associate, Passion Touch, entered the room with Leaf Clip, raggedly breathing from behind. “Would you learn some decency and not rush off in a hospital of all places? You will make it difficult for me to admit to all the staff that I’m associated with you.”
“Then why did you try so hard to keep up with her,” Leaf Clip commented as he tried to catch his breath as well.
“And let Lazuli be the first to hold the foals? Those poor babies would suffocate from her unhinged muscles.”
“Can it,” Lazuli sneered. “We’re here to support Bud. You know, our friend who wasn’t feeling too well this morning.”
“Well, of course, she’s not,” Passion matter-of-factly said as if Lazuli was stating the obvious. “She pushed out twins, did she not?” Passion peered past Lazuli and found the foals laying atop their mother. She then moved past Lazuli and made her way to Bud’s bed for closer inspection of them. Passion widened her eyes at the filly. “Why does she look like that?”
“Passion,” Lazuli glared at her as soon as she flew to the side of the bed as well.
“What? I know you thought the same.”
Leaf Clip joined the side of the two mares and found his sights on the filly. He was surprised just as Passion. “Incredible. I’ve never seen a creature quite like her.”
“Guys,” Lazuli growled. “Would it kill you to be more thoughtful?”
“I don’t hear Bud making any complaints,” Passion retorted. “I have to say though; it’s quite daring of you to partner yourself with a foreigner. You should have told us sooner you were already dating. Now I feel silly for ever teasing you on the matter.”
Dating? Bud had no recollection of partnering herself with any creature her whole life. Just as Passion has constantly made jokes of, Bud’s attempts to court a stallion are rather lacking. Every time she would get nervous and simply freeze to a handsome stallion , making the conversations she tries to have with them quiet and then awkward and then over with the littlest chance to second attempt.
“Don’t think too much on that, Bud,” Lazuli said. “That’s not important.”
“If it’s not an issue,” Passion said. “Can I hold her?”
Bud paused for a moment there, weighing her options on whether to give her oblivious friend her filly that is also the reincarnation of an infamous creature that clashed against their Princess. Well, she is still asleep. Bud wouldn’t expect her to do anything, hopefully. What could the filly do for that matter? She does have those small fangs, but they’re unlikely to be anything lethal anytime soon. “I guess it’s okay,” Bud decided.
Passion furrowed at Bud’s choice of words, but then tossed the thought aside when Bud hoofed the filly to her. “It’s been quite some time since I’ve held a foal,” Passion brushed the small streak of sapphire mane on the filly. The filly, in turn, opened her mouth, displaying her small pair of fangs. “By the sun, is she a vampony!?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lazuli said. “Those are just a foal’s tale to scare ponies.”
“Then how would you explain her fangs?”
“I can attest that she is no ordinary pony,” Leaf Clip agreed. “But a vampony would be a bit far-fetched, wouldn’t you agree? Besides, I would think Bud would never involve herself with a creature so dangerous if they were real.”
“Well, Bud?" Passion looked to Loving Bud. "Is that what the father is? ”
“No, no, no,” Lazuli raised her voice. “We’re not having that conversation right now. So just drop it.”
“And worry whether or not I’m holding an infantile vampony? I think not.”
“Will you just shut up about that already? I already told you those aren’t a real thing. You’re a grown mare for peat’s sake.”
“Oh, excuse me, have you ever mentioned yourself to be a scholar of sorts? I didn’t think one would partake herself as a simple coach of all things.”
“Make one more joke about my job and you’ll be in the hospital here with Bud.”
“Calm down you two,” Leaf Clip stepped between the two. “Like you said Lazuli, we’re here to support our friend.”
Lazuli snapped her teeth and switched her sights back to Bud. She grimaced when she found her attention cautiously set on the filly. Was she worried that Lazuli would accidentally harm the filly?
“So,” Clip started as he neared Bud. “How do you feel? Did you get enough rest?”
“I’m not sure,” was all Bud said before picking the colt and nestling him beneath her chin. Leaf Clip, not certain how to respond, chose to observe the colt. The little colt sniffed on his mother and then proceeded to gnaw on the fur of her neck. Bud was rather nonchalant about it, already aware of her son’s tendency to chew.
“He’s adorable,” Clip commented.
“Hopefully that’s all that’s special to him,” Bud mumbled.
“What do you mean,” Clip asked, rather perplexed by Bud’s words.
“Hm? Oh no, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It’s just…”
“Please do not say the filly is actually a vampony while I’m holding her,” Passion warned Bud. Bud shifted a glance on her daughter. She was struck frozen when she saw the filly annoyingly glaring at her.
“What is with this fool’s constant blabber about vamponies,” the filly questioned Bud, but for some odd reason did not earn the response of any of her friends.
Bud looked at them incredulously. Why weren’t they reacting to the talking filly? There’s no way this is a common thing.
“What is it?” Lazuli asked as she lined her sights with Bud to the baby filly. “Oh, she’s awake.”
Passion immediately laid the filly on the bed and took cover behind Leaf Clip. “Don’t let her bite me.”
“She’s just a baby, Passion,” Clip sighed, now growing weary of Passion’s antics.
The little filly scanned the area around her and then back to Bud. Her eyes were not lit with ire as before. That’s good, maybe. Bud held a firmer grasp of the colt, burying his face onto her.
“Are you attempting to keep Luna from me?" The filly questioned. "You will find it to be in vain for she and I share a bond unlike any other.”
“What’s wrong Bud,” Lazuli said. “Aren’t you going to pick up your daughter?”
The filly’s ear flicked at Lazuli’s words. “Daughter? What does this brute speak of?”
Bud looked to her friends again to see if they noted the filly talking. No, their eyes were transfixed on her as if she was the odd one. Can they not hear her for some reason?
“I see the other one is awake,” Dr. Dime entered the room and approached Bud at the side of her friends. “And you have brought friends.”
“Tell us, doctor,” Passion announced. “Do you know what the filly is?”
“I’m afraid I can’t. Unless my patient is comfortable with sharing us that information, I will have to look to an anthropologist to get an answer.”
“For Celestia’s sake Bud, would you just tell us already.” Passion was unhappy with the doctor’s answer and pressed on Bud again for information.
“Uh…” Bud looked at her daughter.
“Do not expect aid from the creature you have wronged," the filly said. "Go on, make a mockery of yourself to your friends.”
“Ms. Bud,” said the doctor. “Why haven’t you alerted us that you needed another blood bag?” The doctor pointed to the IV bag that was now empty of blood. “One bag won’t be enough to replenish you. You must be dazed.”
“Is that why we’re here?” The filly questioned. “Did you perform a sort of blood ritual to summon us in this pitiful state?”
Bud was unsure how to respond to the filly's question. Hours ago, the little creature exploded in rage against. What if she says something again to set the filly off?
“I’ll call in a nurse to put in replacements,” the doctor said. “But in the meantime, I think now is the time we do a check-up on your foals. Just to ensure there aren’t any issues with them.”
Bud could already point out a major one, but by the looks of things, she doubts any of them would likely believe her.
She let out a yawn, now noting how tired she felt. She didn’t get a wink of sleep after her bout with her daughter that she was still reeling her mind from. A moment of rest would do her some good.
“You sure this is fine,” Lazuli felt uncomfortable as she held the stoic filly. “Cause I’m not really okay with this.”
“Don’t worry Ms. Lazuli,” Doctor Dime assured her as he wiped a swab cotton dampened with alcohol on the filly’s foreleg. “This won’t hurt her as much as you think.” After disposing of the cotton, the doctor held a syringe needle that he slowly inserted to the filly.
The filly flinched for only a moment but braved through irritable sensation. Doctor Dime slowly pulled back the plunger of the syringe, drawing only a small volume of her blood into the transparent casing. He stopped with only a tenth of the syringe filled and removed the needle from the filly.
“Wow,” Lazuli was enamored of the filly’s bravado. “You’re a tough one.”
“Know that I do this to comprehend my condition,” the filly said. “So, don’t patronize me with your irrelevant compliments.” When she did not hear a response or reaction from the mare, the filly sighed, “Right, that oaf you assumed as my so-called-mother is the only one who can hear me.”
“She took it rather nicely,” Passion commented on a seat leaned the wall. The newborn colt was still fast asleep as Passion snug him close to keep him warm.
“Infants have yet to fully develop their nervous systems,” Doctor Dime said as he squirted the filly’s blood into a small test tube on his desk and disposed of the syringe in a trash.
After receiving approval from Bud, Passion and Lazuli volunteered to take her foals to the doctor’s office where Doctor Dime would perform a round of check-ups on them. The first he wanted to do was draw blood samples of the foals to test for any abnormalities.
Passion was cautious of the woke filly, so Lazuli was left to carry her. Lazuli honestly wanted to keep her friend company at Bud’s room, but Bud was oddly explicit about keeping an eye to the filly. Lazuli was confused about the warning, but if her friend wanted her chaperone the strange filly, then that’s all that matters.
“Now for the colt,” Doctor Dime said as he pulled out another syringe.
The small filly tapped on Lazuli’s pectoral for her attention. The filly swayed her head left and right to indicate to Lazuli to stop the doctor. But instead, Lazuli glanced confused at the filly’s action. “What is it?”
“Stop him you brute,” the filly shouted. “Mine will suffice for now.” Her words came deaf as Passion brought the colt to the exam table alongside her.
The doctor took out another swab of cotton from a container and dipped it in a small bottle of alcohol. “I said stop!” The filly attempted to flap her wings to the colt to protect him but was restrained by Lazuli with her hooves around the filly.
“Why are you making a fuss?" Lazuli asked. "Chill out.”
The filly saw the doctor with another syringe as he wiped alcohol on the colt’s forehoof. The filly’s wings flapped more wildly as she tried harder to loosen herself from the mare. But her efforts proved to be in vain. The filly gritted her teeth in rage and within her rage, she bit her fangs into Lazuli’s hoof.
Lazuli yelped and pulled her hooves from the filly. Seeking her opportunity, the filly snatched the syringe from the doctor and rose herself to a corner at the ceiling of the room.
“She bit me!” Lazuli shouted.
“Some pony get her!” Passion yelled as she ducked beneath the exam table and covered her head with her hooves.
Lazuli approached the filly that was glaring at her with intense animosity. “That’s not a toy, idiot.” Unfazed by the filly, Lazuli flew to her and extended her hooves to grab her. The filly however expected this and evaded beneath the mare and flew to another corner at the ceiling.
“Heh, you’re smarter than you look,” Lazuli was impressed by the filly’s movement. A grin came upon her as she said, “But don’t think you can outmaneuver me again.”
To her Lazuli’s surprise, the filly managed to evade her again. Multiple times in fact. The two were flying about across the room in a game of tag, knocking down the doctor’s tools and belongings to the floor. Doctor Dime loudly urged Lazuli to stop, but she was far too caught in competition with the filly that began to display ragged breath.
“Getting tuckered out, aren’t ya,” Lazuli proudly said. She made one last swoop towards the filly, but this time she managed to grab the filly’s tail with her teeth.
“Unhand me you brute!” the small filly shouted, dropping hold of the syringe. Before it could shatter on the floor, Doctor Dime caught it within a blue aura.
Doctor Dime took a deep breath and exhaled. “Ms. Lazuli, if you mind, could you please get down from the ceiling.”
Lazuli was already on her way back to the floor as Passion shouted, “Did you get it yet!?”
Lazuli rolled her eyes at the scarred mare as she flipped filly to grab her with hooves. She made sure to hold her head back from the filly’s chin. She wasn’t going let the filly sink her fangs unto her again.
The triumphant mare made her way back to the exam table, but then paused when she noticed the colt wide awake flailing his sights about. Lazuli could see the colt’s eyes getting watery and starting a deep breath that irked her of a terrible premonition. “Oh not this,” Lazuli groaned.
Her worry immediately came to fruition when the colt began to cry loudly, taking a deep breath to repeat another.
“Luna please stop this,” the filly cried with her eyes shut vigorously from her ears being rung loudly by the crying colt.
“Passion,” Lazuli shouted. “Would it kill ya to make yourself useful for once!?” Passion peaked out from the exam table with her ears blocked with the hooves. Noting the filly in Lazuli’s hooves, she got herself out from under the table. The colt looked towards Passion but then cried even louder with a spark forming from his horn.
Before Passion could make any attempt to console the colt, a blue light blew out like a shockwave from the colt’s horn as it phased through everything and every pony in the room.
Every pony in the room dropped to the ground and their eyes closed shut. The filly, on the other hoof, fought with all her might to resist the colt’s magic as she stumbled away from Lazuli to the table. “L…Luna,” she uttered.
When the filly trudged her body beneath the edge of the table, she found colt falling down towards her. The filly braced herself the best she could as she caught the falling colt that sprawled on her backside. Lacking any energy to do anything else, the filly lost consciousness as the colt continued crying atop her sister.
Bud was confused when just seconds ago as a nurse finished installing a pack of blood to her IV. Bud was feeling a bit leveled headed without the filly making her anxious and was finding the courage to share her concerns with Leaf Clip. He’s been a kind stallion towards her and often appears as a mentor in adjusting her position at Manehattan Academy.
But then a blue flash enveloped her entire vision and when they disbursed from her sight, there laid the nurse and Leaf Clip on the ground, sleeping on the floor.
"Leaf Clip," Bud called to him, but he gave no response. "Hey, can you hear me?" Bud called to him again, hoping for something to happen, but when nothing did, she groaned, knowing that she'll have to move out of her bed.
She was surprised how easily she moved her body out the bed, but she held the stand holding the IV with a hoof as she approached Leaf Clip. She wasn't going to make any rash decisions because she was suddenly feeling better.
Bud shook Leaf Clip with a hoof as she called to him again to wake up. Clip looked so peaceful in his sleep despite Bud's attempts to undo it. Did that strange light do this to them? Was it some kind of magic?
Waaaah
Bud's ears perked. "The foals," Bud immediately recognized the sound. Bud tossed the pole away and ran out of the room. Across the halls, Bud witnessed ponies fast asleep atop desks, on the floor, and even leaning forward against the wall. Definitely not something you would see at a hospital.
Bud focused on hearing the sound of her foals as they echoed through the halls. Following where the cry grew louder, Bud was led to a closed exam room. She wasted no time opening it when she heard her foals' cry. "What the..." was all Bud could say when she found Passion, Lazuli, and the doctor fast asleep on the floor as well.
Waaaah
Bud finally noticed her baby colt crying atop his sister. His face was bawling in tears and snot. When the colt noticed Bud's presence, he crawled his way to her, but Bud quickly shortened the distance and grabbed him. That was when she noticed her filly sleeping in front of her. She picked her up as well and held them close.
"It's okay," Bud whispered to the crying colt. The colt started to munch its small teeth on his mother's chest as his cry finally started to die down. Bud sighed in relief as she leaned on the exam table. Bud placed the filly between her hind legs so can start brushing the colt with a free hoof.
Bud gazed in the colt’s eyes, awed at how dazzling they were. No, they weren't dazzling, it was glowing. Faintly, but yes it was definitely glowing. She could make out a sigil from the light, shaped like a crescent moon.
Bud grimaced at the foal, now realizing that this colt was most likely as unnatural as his sister. "D-doctor," Bud called out to Doctor Dime, but of course he was fast asleep as well. Then something dawned on her.
Everyone was asleep except her and her colt. A unicorn colt. Was it possible that the strange blue light that blinded her for only a moment and did this to every pony was the result of her son? A baby unicorn discharging magic is nothing to be surprised about, but casting a widespread sleeping spell across a hospital floor would really be pushing the narrative.
But then again, her daughter is the literal reincarnation of a monster that tried to cast eternal night to her homeland. What would that make her son then? Is he a reincarnation of another monster?
Bud's lungs began to hasten as her anxious thoughts began to overtake her all at once. All these unanswered questions and revelation that she is now the mother of perhaps the most dangerous creatures that once harmed all of Equestria. There is no way she could do this. She didn't even ask for something like this. All she wanted was a foal, not twins of mass destruction.
The colt was still staring at her. His face looked worried as if he may be aware of her anxieties. Bud quietly brushed the colt's mane and rocked him as a pair of tears fell from her eyes.