It just kept moving. As Sonorae stared on in horrified fascination, the disoriented newborn shook her dainty little head and bleated in disgruntlement. A strange material sheathed the babe still, stretching taut over her shoulders. Her own blood mingled with the mess of childbirth and left her stomach churning. It was disgusting in a way that Rae could not even begin to describe and yet she had a strange urge to rip it from the newborn's body.

The fleabitten maiden is so fixated on the child that she does not immediately notice Monster's presence. It is only when she speaks that Rae's body jumps, sending her halfway into the untrampled brush with a soft, desperate sort of whine. You can do this, she says but Rae doesn't feel the slightest bit equipped to deal with any of this. "Do what?" She asks tightly, her eyes wide with panic.

Still, the tobiano's words buoy her in a way that she cannot even begin to explain and she steps forward tentatively, her limbs shaky with exhaustion and fear. Each inch that she moves closer feels endless, and with every step she begs her brain to supply her with what to do. The filly remained prone; she had managed to shimmy the birth sack from around her shoulders to around her hips, but it held her hindlegs tightly against her body and making upward progress difficult.

The girl was now cold, hungry, and vastly uncomfortable, and didn't hesitate to share her concerns with her mother. Soft little squeals accentuated paddles of her tiny forehooves - the bottoms of which, Rae noticed, were padded with alien growths that made them look soft rather than hard. Each time the filly moved, she jumped, her flanks quaking in fear and apprehension but eventually she got close enough to extend her pale muzzle to brush the newborn's delicately before jerking away from her again.

Finally, Rae broke her terrified gaze away from daughter to stare pleadingly at Monster. "What do I do now?" She pleaded, her voice low with panic. "What do I do with her?"