//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Protective Instincts // Story: Eternal Night // by Lucaro //------------------------------// Persei pressed the ice bag to Cepheus’ eye. He groaned, whining. “Mother and Sirius had to fight it out yesterday. Of all days, it had to be the one before my date.” “It’ll be all right,” she muttered, digging through her make up. “Candle seems to like the rough types.” That seemed to pacify him. She began to apply the white cover-up on the dark gray circle around his eye. He began to pout again. “What if she realizes I’m wearing make up? She’ll think I’m some….” Persei tuned him out. She didn’t have the patience to deal with this, not today. There were more urgent things on her mind. Like the fact that Mother was going into withdrawal. Persei glanced over Cepheus’ shoulder. Mother was lying in bed, her eyes glazed open, staring at the prescription bottle set right in front of her face. She twitched, the ticks racking her entire body. Mother had been taking the pills as long as Persei could remember. Of course the detox would be painful. Mother would just have to tough it out, Persei told herself. But she couldn’t help but worry. Mother hadn’t slept a bit all night, and she looked as if she would breakdown any moment. Persei also had some important questions for her. Mother had been keeping too many secrets. Persei finished applying the last of the powder, and handed Cepheus a mirror. While he surveyed her handiwork, she moved past him. She sat in front of Mother, and they both stared at the pill bottle. “Mother….” Persei whispered. She didn’t respond. Persei sighed, and used her magic to levitate the pill bottle to the roof. The response was immediate. Mother leapt up to get the drugs, but they were out of reach. Cepheus stared at Mother, startled. Thank goodness Mother was an earth pony. Persei couldn’t imagine playing keep away from a pegasus or another unicorn. Persei waited until Mother stopped jumping to state her demands. She eventually gave up, the bottle out of her reach. She collapsed before Persei, sobbing. Persei sighed. “Mother, before you can have the pills back, I need to know some things.” Mother stared at Persei, pain in her eyes. “I need to know how we got here. I need to know who my father was. I need to know who I am.” Cepheus drew closer, sitting next to her. “Mother, we need to know where we came from.” Mother shook her vehemently. “Leave the past in the past.” “Mother….” Persei chided. “I SAID LET IT BE!” She screamed. Cepheus’ nostrils flared. “Fine, don’t tell us.” Persei had never heard such a biting, sarcastic tone from her brother. A tear streaked down from Mother’s eye. “I don’t want you to think any less of me,” she hung her head. “Awful things happened. Tragedies that I would much rather forget.” Mother sighed, and looked up, replaying the memories in her head. “It began when I grew pregnant with you two. Your father and I worked at Canterlot Central Hospital, the biggest medical complex in all of Equestria. I was a pharmacist researching fertility drugs, your father was the head official of the OB/GYN department. We were so happy, especially when we learned that we were having twins.” Mother trailed off, cringing as if she had tasted something bitter. “Damn Church of Celestion. They ruined everything. They were some crazy cult that was present in all the main cities, and for some reason, Nightmare Moon was disturbed by their activities.” Cepheus and Persei exchanged glances. “They had prophesized the return of their fire goddess, their deity of worship that would destroy Nightmare Moon and her favored Nightborn race. They kept saying that she would be reborn any day now. Ponies began to ask questions. Where will she be reborn? How will she look like? Who will she be born to? How can we identify her?” Mother shook her head. “It was raising such a commotion in the cities. The Dayborn ponies were challenging Nightmare Moon’s government. There were even some riots, and things were getting worse and worse. The Dayponies were desperate to cling to any ray of hope in their dark world, and the amount of followers of the Church skyrocketed. Everyone was talking about the Church, and Nightmare Moon began to crack down on them. Things were getting bad for them, so they made a prediction to where she would be reborn to provide their tenants with hope. Their prediction was that the fire goddess would be reborn in Canterlot Central Hospital. Since it was the largest hospital in all of Equestria, with thousands of foals being born there every month, statistically it would be the most likely place.” “Everpony was looking to our hospital. The dayponies were waiting for their fire goddess. Her rebirth would signal the beginning of the war against their Nightborn oppressors. Nightmare Moon grew paranoid. It was a very tense situation. When nothing was happening, the believers in the Church of Celestion grew desperate. They began to see every anomaly during a foal’s birth as a mark of the fire goddess’ rebirth. There were panic sessions and bursts of violence every time some crackhead priest announced Celestion’s return.” “Nothing happened though. Every false alarm shook the faith of the believers, but Nightmare Moon began taking precautions. Thus began a period of time where the dayborn were increasingly oppressed. Your father and I were so scared, and soon I went into labor. The Church of Celestion was growing increasingly desperate, and sent in their agents to fake the rebirth of the fire goddess. That’s when it happened. I was heavily sedated from the drugs, and your father was at my bedside. The power went out. The hospital was plunged into darkness.” “Your father had to leave my bed to go restore power, or the hospital would lose many foals. I was in the room alone when it happened. In the total darkness, there was a beautiful light, a faint, warm glow from somewhere near me. It became brighter and brighter, filling the hospital with light. I passed out then. When I awoke, the power had been restored, and I heard the crying sounds of my two foals.” Mother gestured to them. “You two. The joys of my life. We had been expecting two colts, but Persei came first, and we realized we had a filly and a colt.” Mother sighed. “That’s when one of Nightmare Moon’s soldiers had come in. He told your father that something weird had happened and they would be checking all the foals that had been born in the past hour. They took you two away, and placed you inside the main room where all the other foals were.” She paused, and she wailed in anguish. Cepheus and Persei jumped. “It was horrible what they did! When all the foals were in the room, the order had been given to kill all the fillies. They were throwing newborn fillies on the ground and stomping on them until there was nothing but a red stain left. The screaming was the most ungodly sound I had ever heard. I knew my foals were in danger, but I could barely move. I crawled out of my hospital bed and I saw your father trying to stop them. They struck him down, and did the same thing to him what they had done to all the fillies. I watched him die….” Cepheus and Persei were holding each other, and Persei gulped. “If the order was given for all the fillies to be killed, how did I survive?” Mother sniffed. “I dragged myself to the main room, and the floors were slick with blood, so I could easily slide to where you two were. It was such a mess. It was then the guards started going after the mothers as well, and I knew they were coming for me. They were dragging mares who had just given birth and were killing them there too.” Mother scrunched up her eyes. “There was so much blood….” “I made it to your bed, and it was a moment that made me believe that there might actually be a god looking out for me. You two were unharmed, but were frightened and crying. You see, all the fillies wore pink onesies, while all the colts wore blue. They had put you both in blue onesies. We had been expecting two colts, so I guess the nurse accidentally gave you both the blue clothes. That’s what saved your life, Persei. A nurse’s mistake.” Persei and her brother sat beside their mother and nuzzled her. Mother beamed and put her hooves around their necks. “That discovery that you both were still alive fired up my mother’s protective instincts. They would eventually find out that Persei was a filly, and they would come for all three of us. I found the strength to stand. I bundled you two up, and in a nurse’s disguise, I smuggled you two out of the hospital. I knew I had to get out of the city. It was pandemonium outside. Carriages were on fire, there were explosions in the streets, and police were firing crossbows into a crowd of dayborn rioters. News had spread of the hospital massacre.” Persei shivered. Her Mother was the toughest mare she knew. To have gone through all that to protect her foals. Mother sobbed, continuing. “Nightmare Moon had given the order for the Church of Celestion to be disbanded, and all the followers to be killed. The police were breaking down the doors of homes all over Equestria, killing anyone who wore the eight-sided star on around their necks. I managed to find an abandoned carriage in the city, and I put you two inside. I began to pull on the carriage, and I felt something tear. That’s when I feared that I had become sterile. Blood was dripping down my thighs, my womb torn up from giving birth to two foals and the strenuous activity. I reached the city outskirts, but I was stopped by the Nightguard security. They noticed I was wearing a bloody nurse’s uniform, so they figured I had come from the hospital. They were asking me questions, and then you two began to cry in the carriage. The Nightguard found you two in the backseat.” Mother began to cry again. “I saw him. The same stallion that killed your father, he was there as well. He was the commander, the stallion who had been charged by Nightmare Moon to oversee and coordinate the hospital massacre. He knew that I was a refugee mother from the hospital. Then he had looked at me, and I realized what he would do to me.” Mother tightened her hooves around their necks. “He stripped off my outfit, and I could hear you two crying from the other room. They had found out that Persei was a filly. Even though he was hurting me, I was more afraid for you two.” She clenched her jaw, her hooves trembling. “He had pinned me down then…and I was in so much pain. He whispered in my ear as he ravished me, that he would kill my foals in front of me and leave me to bleed in the streets. After he was done, he put his armor back on, and ordered his soldiers to take me and the foals out back. They dragged me out, and as soon as they did, there was a commotion from inside. The two guards left us three outside, and there was an explosion. I lay there for hours, nursing you two, and no one came for us. I eventually found the strength to leave. I began travelling to the farthest reaches of civilization, and I grew pregnant.” Cepheus cocked his head. “Pregnant? With whom?” “Sirius,” Mother muttered. Cepheus and Persei looked at each other. So that’s why she hated him so much, Persei thought. Sirius was a constant reminder to her of what had happened, and the stallion who had taken everything from her. Persei shivered. She would not be able to look at Sirius the same again. Mother sighed, her ears drooped, and her eyes heavy with drowsiness. “So I gave birth to Sirius, and I eventually wound up here. And to this day, I remain here.” Mother swallowed some of her pills and dozed off, exhausted. Persei and Cepheus nuzzled mother for what felt like an hour. Cepheus eventually leaned over to her. “Where do you think Sirius has gone? I’m worried about him.” Persei shook her head. “I don’t know and I don’t care. I hope he never comes back.” She looked away from her brother, and she could still feel Cepheus looking at her. He got up and left a moment later. “I’m going to go see Candle. I’ll be back in a few hours.” He left the hovel then, and Persei was alone with Mother. She sighed. “Maybe she was right. Some things are better left in the past.”