Chapter 5
"Push, honey!" Steel Hoof said, hold Scarlet's hand in his own. "Push!"
Scarlet pushed with all her might as she laid on a small blanket that barely covered the shaking, metal floor beneath her, but to no avail. She stopped for a few seconds, taking quick, deep breaths before resuming. Her efforts brought tears to her eyes as pained grunts and groans filled the air around the salmon mare. She looked down to her bloated stomach, pushing harder than before.
An odd sound pulled Steel's attention from his wife. He heard footsteps moving rapidly from the top of the train cart. They moved to the side and dropped. Not even a second passed when the door was pulled open and a powerful wind rushed into their makeshift home. What came through the door was the near-hairless creature Steel had found in a lake over a year ago, his clothes covered in rust, with stack of blankets in one arm and a bucket in the other.
Ryan stepped into the cart, kicking the door closed before rushing over to Scarlet's side and setting the materials down beside him. "What's happening?" He asked in a worried tone, looking over the mare's sweaty, panting form. "Is she alright?"
"Scarlet's fine," Steel assured the human, but continued to wear a solemn look. "but the baby isn't coming..."
"What!?"
Thank...God...Now we don't have to deal with a crib midget stuck to our leg.
Ryan turned his attention back to Scarlet, just taking notice that it wasn't sweat covering her face, they were tears. She lay there before him, her legs up and her body trembling, silently sobbing to herself. A massive amount of dread started to fill his chest and he could see that the couple who took him in were reaching that point as well.
After everything these two have done for him, Ryan couldn't just sit there and watch this happen. A sudden surge of adrenaline rocketed through his body. "...Like hell it isn't!"
Ryan grabbed the bucket and poured some of the warm water within onto his arms, scrubbing all the rust on his body off as fast as he could. With his hands as clean as they could be, he crawled between Scarlet's exposed legs, pulling them apart so he could get a clear view.
"Ryan, what are you-"
"Not now, Steel!" Ryan snapped, causing the older stallion to flinch slightly. The human looks up at Scarlet, giving her an apologetic look. "...I uh...I know it's gonna be very hard to relax right now, but I'm gonna need you to for just a minute...Cause this is gonna hurt."
Without any further warning, Ryan slipped his whole hand into the mare, who immediately began screaming in response as her body started thrashing about. "Hold her, Steel!"
Not knowing what else to do, Steel grabbed onto Scarlet and held her in place while the human proceeded to reach deeper in her. "Almost there..." Ryan muttered to himself, his forearm now completely submerged. "Just a little bit-" His eyes went wide as his hand came into contact with something solid. "I got it!"
Scarlet continued to try and fight him against her will, managing to nearly shake free from her husband's grip. "Scar, look at me!" Her actions didn't cease. The mare still squirmed frantically. "Look at me!" By some miracle, the mare was able to calm down just enough to look down at the human who was literally elbow deep in her. Her tear-filled, green eyes stared into his determined blue eyes, not leaving each other for even a second. "I'm gonna help you, okay? I'm gonna help you get this baby out. But, I can't do it alone. I need you to start pushing. Okay?"
Through the pain and the sadness, she nodded and laid her head back down, resuming her previous actions. She pushed hard, wails of agony echoing throughout the cart as she did so. This time, something was actually happening. She could feel it coming out.
"That's it, honey!" Steel exclaimed, excitement taking over his features as he continued to hold her down, grabbing her hand in his own and giving it a supportive squeeze. "You're doing it! Keep pushing!"
Ryan's face tightened in concentration, carefully working his hand around the new life and pulling it toward him while Scarlet aided the way that only a mother-to-be could. "I can see the head!" He called out, watching the head turn into a full face, and soon enough, an entire foal. "I got it!"
Scarlet stopped pushing at his words, taking a deep breaths as the room suddenly became filled with a soft crying. Steel's grip on her hand loosened as he turned to face the furless being wrapping his newborn in a blanket, only to go completely still.
Concern rose in Scarlet's gut as the crying stopped. With what little energy she had, she lifted her head to see Ryan sitting at the end of her feet, staring intently into a bundle of blankets he was holding in his arms. At first, she wasn't sure what to think. Then, the creature spoke-
"Oh..." Ryan simply said, attempting to process what it was he was feeling. "This is what this is..." Holding the baby in one arm, he uses his free hand to rub the foal's soft cheek. His dead stare stayed locked onto its tiny form while he had this moment of realization of the most powerful emotion he has ever felt. "I love you...I love you unconditionally, and without prejudice. And you have done nothing to deserve this love...Nothing!" The foal hardly reacted to the human's words, it’s only response being to reach up and grab his thumb. "Steel..."
Steel Hoof released his wife's hand completely, shuffling over to the human's side. "Yes, Ryan?"
"He's too cute. Get him away from me."
Steel happily obeyed, reaching out to grab his baby and hold it for himself. "Him, huh?" He peeked under the blankets, confirming that their foal was indeed a colt. "Hey there, little guy." He said with a great big smile as he looked his son in the eye. "How are you doing? I'm your daddy." The stallion could barely contain his joy as he held his child for the first time. "Oh, honey! Look at him!"
Scarlet turned her head to look at her husband as he held their colt in his arms. A warm smile spread across her face as she reached out and grabbed her baby, pulling him into her chest and holding him lovingly while the two men looked at each other with smiles of their own.
Snap out of it!
Rusty blinked a few times, his head pounding as he looked around to find himself laying on the floor with both Rarity and that filly from earlier standing on either side of him. He lifts a hand and places it to his temple, trying to massage the headache away with his fingertips. "W-wha?"
"Thank goodness!" Rarity sighed in relief, grabbing one of his arms and pulling him back to his feet. She immediately began patting him down to remove anything that might have gotten stuck to his clothes before going to look him over. "Are you alright, darling?"
"I uh...I think so?" Rusty replied, his eyes wandering from Rarity to the small blue pegasus standing just a few feet away from him. His face was glowing with disbelief, not willing to accept that he had a daughter, or could even get a pony pregnant for that matter. It just seemed impossible to him.
He's looking at us! Act natural!
Azure squeaked, her entire body paralyzed with fear that something bad would happen. Her eyes were staring into his very soul, unable to close no matter how hard she tried. It was actually becoming quite uncomfortable for her. As she looked on at her not-so-late father, thoughts of all the good times they could have that previously warmed her heart were being flooded with daydreams of him rejecting her; Sending her away, or leaving on his own, never to be seen again.
Sweetie, you need to calm down. Nothing bad is gonna happen. I mean, look at him! He's not freaking out.
Azure focused on her father, trying to find any source of panic, resentment, anything. However, she found nothing. Just his eyes staring back at her, blankly.
See? Everything is fine!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
While it appeared true that the creature in front of her didn't appear to be at all phased, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. The terror that now coursed through her veins brought tears to her eyes. For years, all she wanted was the chance to see him. Now that the opportunity was presented to her, her heart ached with dread and fear that he wouldn't want a daughter. Just hearing her call him 'daddy' was enough to make him collapse. Celestia forbid how he would react if she tried to stick around.
Unable to take these thoughts anymore, Azure was all too ready to run out of that store and go as far away as she needed to in order to clear her head. However, just as she went to turn for the door, a hand grabbed onto her arm. It's grip was gentle, yet firm enough to keep her in place. She looked back, her eyes wet with unshed tears that threatened to escape her.
Rarity, now holding Azure in place, offered her a reassuring smile. "It's alright, darling." She said in a calming tone, loosening her hold on the filly's arm. This didn't erase the fears the filly was feeling, but it helped to settle them down a touch. "Come on..." With no fight in her, the young pony followed Rarity's lead, walking toward the human, whose eyes proved to be just as stuck to her as hers were to him.
Rarity stopped when both she and Azure were within arms reach of Rusty. The unicorn faced the confused human, snapping her fingers to gain his attention. "Rusty, I am deeply sorry for not telling you about her." She began, her torn-up expression showing just how genuine her apology was. "I didn't think you were ready. And I don't want to see you leave us again..."
Taking a breath, Rarity stepped aside, letting the two resume their dumbstruck staring contest. "Rusty, this is your daughter, Azure Breeze. Azure, this is your father."
The two were locked in silence as they sized the other up, one scared of the possible outcomes, the other still trying to wrap their brain around how all of this was even possible. Both minds were at a complete loss. the ability to think properly being lost in the clouds.
I feel like I already know the answer to this and that's the scariest part of this whole ordeal.
Rusty was actually dreading asking this as he looked over at Rarity. "Who's the mother?"
Rarity was hesitant to respond, but something about the look he gave her said that she didn't have a choice. "Dash..."
Fuck!
Rusty paused for a few seconds, a small smile working it way across his face as he thought back on a time he had nearly forgotten. "Hearts and Hooves Day...What was that; ten...eleven years ago?" He asked no on in particular, turning his attention back to Azure. "I've had daughter...for over a decade...and I didn't even know." His smile would rise and fall rapidly at random, his eyes glistening in a mix of sadness and anger. "Christ, I'm turning into my father."
Is it too much to ask about grandpa?
Azure didn't have a chance to dwell on that thought. She flinched as her father suddenly dropped forward, landing on his knees. His next move came as quickly as the last, not giving her any time to register what he was doing until he already had his hands on her. In the blink of an eye, she found herself trapped in his arms, being held tightly against his chest. "I'm sorry, Azure...I'm so sorry..." The human whispered to her between his silent sobbing and heavy breathing. "I didn't know..."
All of the fear Azure felt moments ago vanished into thin air as her estranged father held her, whispering apologies into her ear. She could feel his pain in his words, his regret pouring into her shirt in the form of small, salty drops of water that fell from his eyes.
The human's crying became contagious as Azure wrapped her arms around him in return, her small arms desperately trying to pull him closer to her as she joined him in their tear-filled union. "It's okay, daddy!" She called out into his chest, both happy to see him and hurt to see him so torn apart by a mistake he didn't even know he made. "It's okay now...please, don't be sad!"
Hours flew by in minutes, the trio eventually moving into Rarity's bedroom so they could have some privacy. They all sat on the bed with Rarity at the head and Rusty on the edge with Azure in his lap. The father and his daughter were clinging to each other as if their very lives depended on it. There we no more tears to be shed. Now all that surrounded them was a blissful silence as the pair seemed to be trying to make up for all the lost time by refusing to let the other go.
Even as Azure fell asleep in his arms, her grip didn't slacken in the slightest. Even if it had, Rusty's arms refused to let her go. He continued to hold her as close as possible, his head resting atop of hers while his eyes stared off into nothingness.
The silence was starting to get to Rarity and her mind was going haywire wondering what would happen next. She slid down the bed, finding a spot and adjusting herself to she was sitting beside Rusty. "How are you feeling?"
Like I need about thirty drinks. Just enough to forget everything that happened today.
Rusty let out a deep breath, shakily nodding his head. "Not too good." He replied, still shaken from everything that had happened earlier. "Ten years...For over ten years I left a daughter I didn't even know I had fatherless."
Why do you even care!?
Seeing just how fragile he was right now, Rarity wrapped an arm around him, laying her head on his shoulder. "Darling, you can't blame yourself for that." She argued softly, wanting to remind him that this wasn't entirely his doing. "Dash didn't tell any of us until after the incident."
"You didn't know, you couldn't have. None of us did!" She continued, hoping to ease his heavy conscience. "It really isn't all your fault that things played out the way they did."
Rusty sniffed hard, taking a few breaths to keep himself together. "I know...But, it still hurts..." He said, squeezing his daughter's sleeping form in his arms. "I left everything behind...I just wanted to die...And I missed out on so much..." He looks down at Azure, barely able to keep himself from falling apart. "I have this beautiful filly in my arms...I didn't get to see her grow up, take her first steps, say her first word...I wasn't there..."
Rarity gently shushed her alien friend, rubbing his back in an effort to help him relax. "I know it hurts, but you have to stay strong for her sake." She added that last part due to knowing just how fragile Azure could be when she gets emotional. She really is too much like her father. "You may not have been there at first, but you're here now. All she has ever wanted was to have you in her life. She is going to look up to you from now on and you must show her that, despite all that's happened in the past, you can still strive to be better."
I've heard that before...
Rusty slowly cocked his head, looking at unicorn with his brow raised. "You stole that from a book, didn't you?" Rarity went wide eyed for a second, mentally panicking at the fact he was able to point that out. The human couldn't help but to smile a little at her reaction. "Don't worry about it. I used to do that all the time back home. Hell, I've made a bunch of references here, from things in my world, that none of you will ever understand."
There's a difference between making a BUNCH of references and making them RELIGIOUSLY. Not that I'm complaining. They seemed funny at the time.
Rarity returned the smile, happy he was showing a hint of some other emotion aside from self-loathing. "I guess that makes us even then."
"Not even...I've got you all beat by the hundreds, if not thousands."
Rarity giggled at this, not even doubting it in her head. He always was a creative type. But, it's no surprise that some of his creativity wasn't entirely his own. "That's fair." Her smile fell a bit as she pondered where the events of today would take him. "Are we still planning to see Twilight?"
Do that now and you might actually lose your fucking mind.
Rusty nodded, "Not today...I'm a little messed up right now." He confessed, feeling a little ashamed of himself for being so weak mentally. He was determined to start straightening things out with his old friends, but after everything that's happened, some peace and quiet was all he wanted. "We'll go tomorrow. Right now, I'm content where I am."
"Very well..."
Rusty gently set his head back down atop of Azure's, being careful not to wake her. He resumed his earlier act of staring into a nonexistent void that would open in his vision and allow him a brief escape from where he was now. His eyes drooped slightly as his mind began to wander, letting it take him to a more relaxing time where could unwind and relax if only for a few minutes.
He thought back on his new life a lot, which proved useful in relieving some of the tension in his mind. The family he had, the friends he made, the adventures he went on, all the traveling. It was nice, peaceful even. Occasionally his thoughts would pull him to a time before that. Times where he would wake up on a floor in a dirty bar, or in the dirt outside. The constant hangovers, the arguments, all the unnecessary conflicts that could have been avoided.
Rusty's thought went a little deeper, kicking him pretty hard when he looked back on his love life. The sleeping around he could ignore, for the most part, but the actual relationship he had, the one he screwed up beyond belief; That was the one that bothered him. He couldn't even begin to imagine what Dash has gone through having to raise his child without him. If that wasn't bad enough, it wasn't like he just walked out. As far as anyone else knew, he was dead. So she had to go through life for the last decade, raising Azure, with the belief that her coltfriend killed himself before she could even tell him about it.
The guilt of all of this was overwhelming and only proved to worsen by the endless stream of questions that surfaced; How did she take the news? Did she move on? Did her pregnancy interfere with her Wonderbolt training? Does his memory haunt her? Is it constantly chewing away at her sanity? How messed up could she still be from all of that? Has she gotten better? Worse? What's she doing right now?
Dash tossed and turned on the couch resting in the center of her cloud home, knocking a small number of bottles onto the floor as a result. Her face was tightened into a scowl, her legs kicking slightly while she slept. There was a pillow held against her chest, being practically strangled in her tightening grip. Her rough expression would soon fall to a frown as tears began to bleed through her clenched eyelids, each rolling off of her cheeks and sinking into the cushioned surface that supported her trembling body.
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This was brilliant, no other word could describe it and I've got nothing else to say about it.
Hooo, boy. This chapter hit pretty hard.
A few typos, but aside from that THANK GOD I THOUGHT YOU DIED OR SOMETHING!!!
9280327
No such luck. You're not getting rid of me that easily.
yay a new chapter with Ryan.... errr... i mean Rusty
i wonder how Dashie will react..
mostly likely give Rusty a beating of a life time, then grapple hug him whilst crying her eyes out finding out he is alive and back, then beat him some more for not being there for Azure all this time and probably will cry some more afterwards.
i wonder if Azure will let Rusty know about the voice in her head and Rusty let her know about the voice in his head.
Hits like a hammer
9280662
With a loud crack. leaving you with a lump and a headache (usually bleeding)?
9280665
Well I do have three broken ribs atm from tripping over a five year old at work...
9280666
I pulled a few of mine out of their cartilage doing concrete work like two years ago and they still haven't healed back into place. They pop back out every time I stretch. So, I kinda understand?
9280670
Shit son...
I thought my knees were bad
I sound like someone’s rolling dice when I’m walking XD
How loud is it?
Little pops like mine or room fillers?
9280677
It's enough for anyone close by to hear it, but I wouldn't consider it a room filler.
9280702
I tend to get funny looks in quiet rooms tbh.
Gtg work
-gone-
She's gonna try to fuckin kill him.
Heh, that’s Funny, normally that’s my best conscience giving me advice. Amazing chapter as always my dude.
Yeah from the end there, it's gonna be one bumpy ride
Huh. It’s been a while since I found something new like this. You made a bad day better (despite the fact that the previous story sent me into a spiraling depression but eh?) good on you
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At least I made you feel. Welcome to the horrible world of being human.
9293650
Hooman?
huh could have sworn I was some strange looking artichoke
Alright let’s go with this “hugh-man”
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Yessssssss
9294179
You know. From one stranger on the internet to another I got a feeling we’ll get along just fine :3
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If you can tolerate my stories, you can tolerate me.
9294619
Same with me and my story I guess
I’m not gonna link it though cause I don’t wanna be some asshat who went to some other person’s story just to promote my own
9294725
*his own*
9294857
*our own*
(USSR anthem begins playing)
Oh damm. This was actually featured on my birthday. Huh.
LIFE uh...
FINDS A WAY
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Happy belated birthday.
That reunion between father and daughter.... few things get me to tear up on this site, and that was one of them. I swear I could hear the pain in his voice....
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Welp, here I am once again, tearing up over this. I could literally feel the sheer anguish in his voice.