He was awoken by the familiar sounds of grunting and an exclaim from his mate.
“Biggesh poopies.”
Immediately He was up and prepared, in the little cave they had made their home, the green stallion and the blue mare prepared themselves for their next litter, their only litter.
Maybe this time, things would be better.
“It ok speciaw-fwiend, Fwuffy hewe.” He nuzzled against Her neck as She strained, trying to push out their first foal.
“Hhhh, babbeh pwease, nu gib mummah huwties.”
He ran round to Her special-place, ready to help deliver their foals. Amongst the blood and fluids he could see a small pair of green legs dangling from Her.
“Keep guin speciaw-fwiend, can see babbeh.”
“Ba… Babbeh… HNNGGHHH!”
She braced herself and pushed, He watched as their first child was delivered onto the soft grass and leaves of their bedding… completely silent.
The silence pierced the couple in their hearts, She wailed at the all too familiar sound of nothing.
“Nuu, huu huu. Wai babbeh nu make chiwpies gain? Jus wan be mummah…AAHHHH!”
Another push, another foal, He watched with hopeful eyes as He saw the beginnings of a blue snout appear, then a beautiful blue head, then the shoulders, then…
His heart sunk once more when He saw the mangled legs, this time the silence didn’t hurt Him but the sight broke Him just the same.
Unable to see their never-born foal, She kept crying at the soundless cave, wishing and hoping to hear something, anything from Her babbehs.
As She delivered two more foals, a yellow babbeh and a brown babbeh, She would hear nothing but Her own tears, as two more never-borns fell from Her before She was finally able to turn and look at Her young.
Four foals, all stillborn, all twisted and broken before they even arrived. The stink of bad baby filled the cave as She could only stare in pain and horror at Her babbehs, wordlessly she stroked them, her tear-filled eyes blurring their true monstrosity from Her.
“Speciaw-fwiend.” He said as he placed a hoof over Her back. “Maybe Fwuffies jus unwucky, maybe dey jus bad…”
“DEY NU BAD BABBEHS!” She screamed at Him, Her voice echoing through the cave. “Dey am ouw babbehs, jus wike da wast wuns, and the wuns befowe, and da wuns befowe. Fwuffies wiww be mummah an daddeh, jus need knyo wai babbehs awways hab foweba sweepies.”
He solemnly nodded, as much as He admired Her perseverance, the constant pain was starting to drain on Him, He didn’t know if he had it in him to face another dead foal.
“Ok, speciaw-fwiend had wawa an nummies, den Fwuffies twy hab babbehs gain.”
She smiled at Him, She understood His pain, they were her foals too, but She loved Him and would do anything to have His family. She turned and left the cave, heading for the nearby lake where they first met many forevers ago.
He waited until the sound of Her flippers against the stone floor vanished before looking at their foals.
He didn’t understand why their foals were never born breathing, or why their bodies were always twisted wrecks of silent screams, of leggies and flippers together instead of one or the other, sometimes too many, often not enough of either. Everytime He thought He was used to the bad babbeh smell, their next failed litter would choke him once again.
With a heavy heart, He leaned in and softly chewed on two of his young, saving the other two for His mate when she returned, food was getting harder to find as the cold-times were creeping in, and they couldn’t risk munstahs smelling the dead foals.
He looked back towards Her, watching Her swimming, as graceful and as beautiful as the day she swam up to greet him. He reckoned they could try one more time before the cold-times froze the lake over, maybe they could try birthing the foals underwater where their mother was more comfortable.
Maybe next time, things would be better.