She had spent her life self-sufficiently, with barely any company and her mind seeking the small intricacies of the universe in lonely parts of the Swamp. But the day had finally come where she knew she couldn’t continue on her own. Or rather, she didn’t want to.
It would have been easy enough to feel her body swell and continue as normal, leaving the sacs that resulted to their own devices. After all, she’d been treated the same. A lonely sac, she had crawled out into the world, with nobody in sight.
She’d risen to her hooves as so many had before her and stumbled out into the world.
But she didn’t want that for her offspring, her children. Not if she could offer them more.
So she sought help in the form of The Mothers Club, whose reputation had spread even to the folds and creases of the Swamp where she often resided. A place for parents to go, to ease the burden of pregnancy and the care of young. It seemed ideal.
And so she traveled for many suns and moons, heavier with each step, hungrier, more tired.
And when she arrived, the mare was there, waiting for her. As if she’d known, and perhaps she had. She was Swamp Blessed after all, touched by the MotherFather and her smile was soft and kind and Fold suddenly knew what it felt like to have a mother’s love.
A mare with a nose that crinkled when she smiled and a gentle laugh that knew no derision, who led the way so easily through a field full of parents and foals, a land of warmth and delight. Such a balm for the soul. Fold could not have lived here but for the moment it was perfect for what she needed.
“Here we go,” said the mare, at a comfortable copse, a little further away from the main hub. Quiet. The ground was laden with comfortable ferns. “You’re of course welcome to choose your own spot later but I prepared this one for you to start with.”
And it was perfect, of course it was.
Fold sighed and settled, let her knees bend, folding down, finally, to rest.
She looked up at the mare. Peep. Her name was Peep. Everyone knew that name.
“Thank you,” she sighed. “I appreciate it. I didn’t want to do this on my own. I wanted to give them... more.” Now that she was here she realized that more was a mother’s love. How quaint. How new.
That sweet nose crinkled.
“Of course,” Peep said. “This is your home now for as long as you need.”
A home.
She’d never known one.
But Peep wasn’t finished, her voice wrapping around Fold like the warmest of hugs. “May your children be born healthy and know many days of happiness. May they bend to meet the world and so too will the world bend for them.”
Their noses touched.
So simple.
And more than anything she could have imagined.
Fold sighed in relief.
“Thank you.”