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Date Posted: 16:10:41 02/29/04 Sun
Author: Notorious Reputation
Subject: [ . Beginning of the end . ]

It was time.

No, the gilded matriarch wasn't being melodramatic -- it literally was her time. Her swollen sides writhed with waves of agonizing contractions, lather building in layers upon her golden coat. Sweat plastered tendrils of her silken mane to her chiseled face, matting the fine hairs into hopeless knots. But the normal course of nature had not set off Tori's labor. The undeniable truth of her life had sent warning bells clanging in her mind, the adrenaline produced from such inner turmoil sending the aging mare into the throes of labor. But what knowledge could have reached her in her secluded prison? What truth could have possibly upset the normally placid dove to such an extent? Put simply, the loss of her whole world.

Tori had been head over hooves in love with Shazaam from the day the dashing bay had bestowed her with the glittering jewel she wore about her neck and asked her to become his mate. From that fateful day, she had done everything in her power to be a good mate to him, even giving up leadership of her home to be free to join him in Paradise Isle. She had borne him two children, had raised them to the best of her abilities, and as her final gift, would bear him her last. And then all hell had broken loose. In the tumult of war, Tori and her love were separated once again -- Shazaam did what he could for the Light cause while Tori was left to help the casualties of war. Neither knew that the end of their long-lasting romance was lurking nearby. During the lull between the end of the war and the beginning of her current captivity, Tori had miraculously conceived again, growing round with the last generation to be sired by Shazaam. Tori survived her enforced captivity, secure in the belief that Shazaam would never let her waste away amidst creatures who cared nothing for her. Throughout all of the ordeals, the jewel given to her had sparkled as it had that first day, until one day when all light disappeared from the stone, leaving it looking like a drab shard of onyx. She knew then, irrevokably, that it was over. Shazaam had abandoned her in her direst hour. The palomino had seen too many harsh realities in life to harbor false hope. Her true love and only hope of rescue had utterly forsaken her. Driven to the her limits, panic had set in, which brings us to where we are now...

Lathered sides heaving and ears flattened to her skull, Tori searched frantically for a secluded area in which to bring her foals to life. Twins were the only explanation as to why she had gotten so large so quickly. With Elven and Hex, she had never ballooned out quite so much. Finding what she sought in a small copse of evergreens, the golden went to her knees clumsily, rolling to her side with none of the grace she usually enamated. Mere minutes, which seemed like an eternity to the pain-ridden mare, passed and the first life emerged to land artlessly on the ground. A cream colored coat, much lighter than Tori's, blanketed the infant, a shock of black and brown mane and tail decorating her. Yes, the first of the twins was a girl. Tori followed her instincts, breaking the bag and gently cleansing the filly. The momentary respite from the contractions came to an end as the filly took her first breaths. The palomino refocused her waning strength, struggling to free the second from her body. Agony racked the exhausted mare as she fought valiantly to birth the foal. With a final, desperate push, the baby slid free. He was a beautiful foal, richly bay and the carbon copy of his sire with only one flaw -- he wasn't breathing. Wrenching herself to her knees, Tori examined the colt, prodding his small chest with her muzzle and rubbing. Sorrow washed over the fatigued mare, resigning herself to the fact that the youngest was stillborn.

Rising unsteadily, Tori moved to administer to her sole surviving foal, nuzzling her baby-fine pelt and encouraging her to stand. The milky filly merely turned glittering green eyes on her dam, refusing to rise. Sighing heavily, Tori stood between the living and the dead, her daughter and son, Genesis and Oriden.

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