//------------------------------// // Like Mother, Like Daughter // Story: The Golden Armor Part II: Lost chapters // by Comet Burst //------------------------------// “Ha ha ha ha! Look at you, so weak you can’t even keep his interest!” a mass of black shouted, its sickly green eyes gleaming. “No! Give him back!” Angel shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks. She tried to move, but the chains wrapped around her hooves kept her in place. From above, she could see Comet’s back as he walked away. “Welcome back, my sweet,” cooed the phantom voice as tendrils of black wrapped around him. “No! Stop it, stop it!” Angel cried before collapsing to the floor, wailing like a filly. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to stop the tears, but a maniacal laughing echoed around her. “Aww, is the little baby crying?” it asked. From behind Angel, the sound of a foal’s crying became audible, causing Angel to jump to her hooves. Spinning around, she saw the same green eyes looking down into a bassinet. “Shush, little one. Mommy’s here.” From the darkness, a black and hole-ridden leg stretched into the bassinet, causing the crying to stop. A wicked looking smile revealed itself from underneath the eyes, and a hushed laughing could be heard. “Leave her alone!” Angel screamed at the top of her lungs, fighting with the chains again, but it was futile. Scabrous green magic oozed around the pink bundle, lifting it up from the wicker bassinet and dangling it almost negligently in front of the darkness while a long tongue licked the fangs below the eyes. “You look just like your mommy,” it said. “We’ll have to fix that.” The mouth and eyes lunged at the pink bundle, fangs gleaming against the black. Angel screamed and shut her eyes again, wishing it was all over. “Angel, wake up!” a voice shouted as she felt her body shake. Angel twitched a bit before her eyes shot open and she flailed around, screaming in terror. As she tried to push back the darkness, a hoof touched her legs and tried to force her legs back. “Calm down, Angel! It was all a dream!” the voice said, sounding suspiciously like her father’s. “No! No! Get it away from them!” Angel cried, pushing the legs away and scrambling around with her blanket. “Get what away? Angel, calm down!” As she desperately tried to push herself away, Angel forgot that her bed had an edge. It didn’t really make much of a difference, though, as she fell off it and the blanket followed, wrapping around her. She squealed and tried to pry it off, but her method meant rolling away from it, meaning all she did was get tangled in it more. The sounds of hooves moving around in the empty room caused the crystals embedded in the walls to glow, outlining Harvest as he tried to pull the blanket off of her. “Dang it, Angel! Are you okay?” he asked as the blanket finally started letting go. “Y-Yes, sir,” Angel stammered. “You didn’t land on your belly, did you?” “No.” “Oh, thank Luna! Are you hurt?” Angel moved her hooves around, making sure she didn’t twist or land on them awkwardly and shook her head. A huge sigh came from Harvest as he set the blanket down. “Don’t do that to me, Angel. I thought the guards had tried to foalnap you.” “I’m sorry, Dad,” Angel said, lowering her head. “Just had a bad dream.” “I can tell that. Was it something to do with your fiance?” Harvest asked. “How did you know?” Angel askeded, looking up at him. “I can only assume you shouting the name ‘Comet’ means he is either your fiance or somepony else you really care about,” Harvest said, staring into her eyes. “But I would hope that you’re not the kind of mare to have multiple colts under your hoof.” Angel started chuckling at that. “No, most of them are just silly sweethearts I couldn’t do that to. Comet was the only sourpuss that I could annoy into liking me,” she said, covering her nose with a hoof. “You know, the more I hear about him, the more I think you’re making him up,” Harvest said, turning around and trotting away. “Who’s ‘the bug’?” Angel snapped her head over to him, a worried look replacing her grin. “The bug?” “Yeah, you were shouting about some bug along with Comet. Care to explain?” “Well, uh, it’s not really a bug, Dad. It was a changeling,” Angel said, looking away. “Wait, what? A changeling? Aren’t those just some tall tale from the Badlands?” Harvest asked. “No, they’re real. They’re also mean, gross and evil. One of them tried to seduce Comet before she tried to rip my limbs off.” A tense silence followed, Angel refusing to look at her dad. She was sure he was going to say something along the lines of her making up stories again, but the silence made her wonder what he was really thinking. She risked a glance over to him to see his mouth hanging open as if he was trying to say something. “One of them… tried to rip your limbs out after it couldn’t seduce your fiance?” he asked. “Angel, is there something you want to tell me?” “I did, Dad,” she replied. “Angel, are you... taking medication?" Harvest asked, his tone indicating the drugs in question were most probably obtained in some dark alley “What? No, Dad!” Angel shouted, rising to her hooves. “I am not a druggie!” “Angel, you show up at my home unannounced and unaware you’re pregnant. You claim that you somehow joined the Royal Guard and became Princess Luna’s personal guard leader before being dismissed for attacking a hulking gryphon and then tell me your fiance is the leader of Princess Celestia’s personal guard. From all of that, I can come to one of two conclusions: you are either on drugs that are affecting your memory, or you are making all of this up to cover up something.” “Dad, I’m not making this up! Once we go to Canterlot, you’ll see everything happened!” “And that’s another thing. We are not going.” “What? Why?” “I’m not going on some wild goose chase simply because you and Autumn want to go see the palace. I have duties here.” “But, Dad! How else can I prove I’m not lying?” Angel shrieked. “By acting like an adult. This was all cute and everything when you were a filly, but now you’re a mare and soon to have a foal that may or may not be the child of the second highest ranking pony in the Royal Guard. If it is his, he will come find you,” Harvest said in an icy tone. “That’s not fair!” “Enough, Angel. When you’re ready to tell me what really happened and who the foal’s father is, I’ll listen. For now, though, get some rest. I need to go make sure your mother is alright.” “But, Dad!” “Shush. I’ll be back later,” Harvest said with finality. As he walked away, Angel sat next to her bed, staring at him in bewilderment. As the door shut, she shouted, “What did I ever do to make you not believe me?” The door stopped shutting, but it made no attempt to open again. “You told me you would be back in a week and didn’t contact me for three years,” Harvest said before he pulled the door shut. On the other side, Harvest scowled and whispered, “Your mother told me something similar and she never came home.” “Just a little more, Ms. Moon. Keep pushing!” the doctor said, his ears poking up from the shawl. Moondrop let out a groan as she rolled her head over to a spot on the pillow not covered in sweat. No matter how many foals she had, the act of giving birth one of the most excruciating things she ever experienced. “Come on, Moondrop, you can do it,” said a nurse as she squeezed her left hoof gently. She watched her with pale blue eyes, filled to the brim with worry, and Moondrop stifled a scoff. “Sweetie, I know I can do it. It’s whether I want to do it or not,” she said sarcastically. “Focus, Ms. Moon! The foal’s already crowning! I need one more solid push from you!” the doctor shouted as the nurses behind him scrambled about. Taking a deep breath, Moondrop closed her eyes and tried to work up what little strength she had left. Capturing the fleeting moment, Moondrop shouted as she worked muscles that burned with an intense pain. Banishing the need to stop, she ground her teeth together as something moved about in her at an agonizing rate. Just as her strength and will faltered, the sound of crying began to echo in the cave. “There! Perfect, Ms. Moon! Quick, get me the scissors!” the doctor shouted, pulling what was left of the foal out. Moondrop threw her head back and panted, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Foal number twenty-two took its first breath and had just been brought into the world at great expense and, rather than ignoring it like numbers nineteen and twenty-one, she peeked up above the shawl to catch a glimpse of it. While the doctor and nurses were crowding it, she could see a little mass of dark gray fur wiggling about on the table not too far away. A smile worked its way onto her muzzle, and the nurse beside her gasped. “It’s so beautiful,” she murmured, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. “I.. I can’t thank you enough, Moondrop.” “Thank me by taking good care of it,” she said, tossing her head back onto the pillow. “I told you it would be worth it.” “Still, my own foal…” the nurse whispered, squeezing Moondrop’s hoof harder. “I’m actually a mother now.” “Just feed it every day and give it lots of love,” Moondrop said with her trademark sarcasm. She heaved a few breaths, feeling her heartbeat start to slow down. The pain was mostly gone by now, but it left her feeling numb from the waist down. She glanced over to the bags of chemicals hanging on a pole next to her bed and followed the tubes running down from it to her other foreleg. She often joked that they should leave the needle in her leg since she visited them so often, but she rolled her eyes and looked back at the ceiling. “Congratulations, Ms. Moondrop. The foal is a colt in good health and strongly developed,” the doctor said, returning with a bundle of pale blue blankets. “I would imagine you’d like to see him?” Moondrop lifted her head and glanced at him with derision before shrugging. “Sure, I guess.” The doctor threw her a sideways look before handing over the foal. “I know you’ve had a lot of foals, ma’am, but they can still hear you. It would be wise to not be so insensitive around them.” Moondrop held out her hooves and the doctor reluctantly allowed her to take the foal. Pulling him close, Moondrop looked down at the little colt and felt her heart stop. Despite having over twenty foals, each one was still adorable. This one had a small tousle of a snow white mane hanging down right between his closed eyes. She could feel the small, shallow breaths he was taking and she hugged him a little bit closer to her. The bit of mane rubbed against his nose and the foal sneezed, causing him to make a couple hiccups before a frown crossed his muzzle. “Shh, shh,” Moondrop cooed. “Momma’s here. No need to cry.” The foal calmed at her voice, the frown becoming a yawn. He made a small inhaling noise before it snuggled back into the blankets, wiggling his legs. From beside her, Moondrop could hear the nurse sniffling. Casting an angry sideways glance, Moondrop said, “Can I please have a moment alone with him? You’ll have him for the rest of his life in an hour.” “Oh, I-I’m sorry,” the nurse said, wiping away the trail of tears. “I know you want to be with h-him for a bit.” Backing away from the bed, she turned and began talking to the doctor, making more noise than before. Moondrop growled under her breath, knowing all the background noise would only upset the foal. “Can you all please go? Like, right now?” she hissed, glaring at everypony in the room. The doctor shot her a venomous look as well and nodded to everypony else, causing them all to file out of the room silently. Once only the doctor remained, he trotted by the bed, his wings fluttering. “Remember, you only have one hour with him. No naming, no telling him not to trust his parents, and you are not allowed to leave. You’ll be put on bedrest for the next week before meeting with the next foal’s parents. This time, keep your mouth shut, got it?” “Only when you go to hell,” Moondrop said, not looking away from the foal. “I’m not just some breeding tank.” “Yes, you are. Don’t forget that either,” the doctor sneered as he left. Moondrop glared daggers at the door, wishing she could buck the doctor in his teeth. In her forelegs, though, her newest son began to squirm. “Easy there,” she whispered. “He’s gone now. No need to be upse--” Moondrop’s eyes widened as a massive stab of pain pierced her chest, causing her to pull the foal closer. She tried to breathe, but each gulp of air felt like hundreds of tiny needles were shifting in her lungs and heart. “Wh-What the?” she wheezed out as she tried to gasp for a single breath, but nothing would help. The pain in her chest exploded outward, making her limbs weak and shaky. The colt seemed to gain three hundred pounds as her forelegs gave, the blankets and body pressing down on her chest. Moondrop threw her head back, still trying to breathe as her head began to go numb, feeling like it was floating. “H-Help…” she whispered, her forelegs turning ice cold. While she struggled, she could faintly hear the colt starting to cry. Forcing her head up, her vision went dark around the edges as she looked down at him. Finding some reserve of energy, she forced her hooves back around him and lifted him into her grasp. The pain seemed to lessen as her vision faded even more, but she could still see his little face frowning. “Sh-sh-shh, little… guy,” she forced out. “Every...thing is… al…” Her vision went black as he start to cry.