This Is Why, Shining Armor!

by contodaslasganas

A Normal Morning, Plus One

Celestia’s sun was shining brightly and soothingly through the windows of Wood Trim’s old house. Chrysanthemum’s first night with her new mother had been, well … suffice it to say that Trim did not get much sleep that night: the filly would squirm every couple of minutes, as if she were suffering from chronic nightmares. Trim would then pick her up and rock her in her arms softly, humming an old lullaby that her parents used to sing whenever she couldn’t sleep. Trim then drifted back off to sleep, though the process repeated itself every hour or so. It finally died down in the wee hours of the morning, finally giving Trim a chance to get some shut-eye before facing the new day.

For this day was the first day she would spend with her filly, and little did she know that she was going to need all the energy she could gather to take care of her.

“…”

“…”

“… Huh … What … What time is it?”

Trim slowly rose up from the bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping filly from her quiet dreams. The practicality of that action was soon negated when she unintentionally let out a huge yawn, loud enough to challenge even a manticore’s roar. Trim quickly glanced back to check if she had accidentally woken up Chrysanthemum, but the filly only squirmed slightly before continuing to suck on one of her hooves, still in dreamland.

“Wow, she must be a really heavy sleeper.” Her eyes surveyed the room quickly as she spoke to herself, her gaze stopping at the grandfather clock that, quite aptly, her grandfather had made for her after she got her cutie mark. It took her a couple seconds to read the time, her vision not quite restored completely after the long night.

“SWEET CELESTIA, IT’S ALMOST NOON! HALF THE DAY IS ALREADY GONE!”

Trim didn’t mean to shout: she was merely surprised since she was always a morning person, waking up almost daily five minutes before the dawn to see the sun rise up from the horizon. Still, her loud voice finally broke through to the filly, who woke up with a start and instantaneously started crying. After scolding herself for her rash action, Trim trotted over to the disheveled bed and picked up her filly, slowly rocking her back and forth. Chrysanthemum, however, would not stop crying, and after a couple minutes of bawling, a low grumble escaped from Trim’s stomach.

Oh, right, she must be hungry. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Now, where did I put that baby bottle …

Trim slowly put Chrysanthemum back down on the bed and covered her in some of the sheets, which seemed to calm her for a while. She then opened the door to her closet, later pulling out a large wooden chest, easily twice if not three times as large as the average pony. She opened the lid too quickly, though, sending years-old dust in front of her face as she fought desperately to not cough. After dispersing the dust, she used her magic to pull out the contents of the chest item by item, taking out half of the objects before finding exactly what she needed: a box marked Baby Items.

“Well, now, let’s see what we have here … There we go!” Trim pulled out a small baby bottle, the same one she had used oh so long ago. Unfortunately, the box had not done an adequate job at keeping its contents dust-free. After another small coughing fit, Trim carefully placed all the items except for the marked box back into the trunk and into the closet. Noticing that Chrysanthemum was once again starting to fidget, she decided to quicken her pace, hurrying to the kitchen to wash the bottle while simultaneously taking out some milk from her fridge and heating it up. In Equestria-record time, her filly was at the table drinking the warm liquid eagerly while Trim prepared some pancakes for herself.

As the new mother sat down next to Chrysanthemum, she began to eat and ponder about the future.

What am I going to do? I have never been a mother before. Sure, I may have foalsitted for my brother back when I was younger, but will I be able to take care of her? What if Chrysanthemum doesn’t like me? What if she –

No, stop thinking like that. You made a promise that night you took her in: you will take care of her, and you will be the best mother to her that you can possibly be.

Now, what’s next on the to-do list for today?

Her mind started making a mental checklist, most of the items related to taking care of her filly. After remembering that her memory was not as perfect as it was ages ago, she hopped up from the table, rummaged through a pile of papers and tools until she found a notepad and pencil, and started writing down all the tasks she would have to finish.

Hmm, okay, I have to buy some more milk as I just used up the last carton. I’m also going to have to make a crib for her, so I’ll need to buy some more wood. Oh, and –

Her thoughts were cut short as a bottle sailed through the air and hit her horn, causing it to release an unintended – yet quite powerful – ball of magic that pierced through the roof and sailed off into the distance.

Trim quickly regained her wits and spotted the filly squirming in her chair, when suddenly Chrysanthemum tilted a bit too much to the right and started to fall off.

Mere centimeters away from the floor, the filly was held up by Trim’s telekinesis. The unicorn (still disoriented a bit by the blow to her horn) slowly brought Chrysanthemum to her bed and plopped down next to her. Trim’s magic had been completely drained in a matter of seconds, and one final thought floated through her mind as she rested:

Today’s going to be a long day.

Author's Note:

The next part! So, due to finals and the winter break, I may not be posting updates frequently, but I will try to work on the story when I have time or when I want to procrastinate

Comments

[contodaslasganas]

Again, feedback is appreciated!

[Tachyon Xenophile]

This is going to be interesting.