Sometimes reality hits you hard.

For me, it was my birth. Not only did I have to share my room with my twin, which had been getting pretty cramped lately, but suddenly the darkness of the womb became darker somehow. And I began to die.

Here's what I remember: there was cramping, then pushing. I think I felt my brother kick me, but perhaps that was Mother's rib cage. Either way, my lungs that had never before experience air, suddenly felt like they had been switched in the reverse direction - instead of pulling air into my lungs, all of it was being forced out. Which, given that there wasn't any to begin with, was particularly painful. Next came a thud, and then the burning sensation of sand. Everything felt different, but I unfortunately didn't have much time to take it all in.

I was dying.

I felt something shove my shoulder roughly. If I could, I might have asked just what that was meant to accomplish. My shoulder wasn't the problem, my lungs were. At my sides, my wings, small and gray, beat feebly. As if to visually reinforce what was happening within my body, the skin beneath my feathers began to burn and glisten, as if my core was on fire, slowly bleeding through. Only it wasn't, for no heat was being given off. I was simply burning dramatically. Thanks Dad.

"urrrhhhhh-".

I just want to breathe. Mom, Dad? Ivezho?

I try to open my eyes but...nah. It's too much work. I don't think I can move anything now. I can feel all the energy draining out of my body. Have my hooves always felt this heavy? Was the world always so cold? At first the sands felt blisteringly hot against my coat, but now....Now things feel like water. Am I floating? Or am I dissolving? I can't really tell. I don't have any other experiences to compare this to. All I have known is creation - being slowly formed within the womb of my mother. Now, that I am alive, all I know is death.

I am dying.

I can feel mother. She's cleaning me. Why? What's the point? I can her speaking - them speaking, Mother and Father. About what I wonder. How I shall be buried?

I wish I could tell Mother thank you.

Thank you mother...goodbye Ivezho. Sorry I've disappointed you Father..

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From foal stats: Born with a partially obstructed lung and nearly dies at birth - the lung will heal and return to normal on its own over two years.