//------------------------------//
// 7 Years - Swirl 
// Story: My Little Rainbows 
// by The PatioHeater 
//------------------------------//

“Shine’s not going to like this,” Rainbow said as she held the virtually empty jar of raspberry jam in her hoof.
“Maybe I could fool her. Strawberry tastes pretty much the same.”
She took the other jar from fridge and looked at it.
“What am I saying? Of course she’d notice. She’s like a jam connoisseur for crying out loud.”
She put the jar back solemnly.
“I’ll ask her when I go wake her up.”
She looked back to the worktop.
“Right, so that’s cheese sandwiches and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps for Swirl, salad-y thing and two oranges for Dash. At least they’re not so picky.”
“What else do I need to do?” she asked herself, tapping her chin with a hoof.
“Drinks. That’s it.”
She opened the dishwasher and took the three bottles out. She quickly filled two of the bottles with whatever squash she found first, but the third was always tricky.
“How does she like it?” she asked herself. “To be honest, it doesn’t really matter. She always moans that I do it wrong. I might as well let her do it. She knows how she likes it.”
Rainbow left the remaining bottle on the side and took the two full ones and placed it next to their lunches.
“And I think a little treat for them,” she chirped giddily, even though she always gave them a treat.
She trotted to the fridge.
“Let’s see. Err…”
She frowned.
“Damn. We’re out of chocolate bars. Not a penguin in sight.”
She looked up at the clock.
“And it’s too late to bake cookies. Oh well. They don’t need chocolaty, sweet things. Besides, Shine’s starting to get a little podgy.”
She heard the sounds of hooves coming down the stairs.
“They’re much earlier than usual. I usually have to wake them as well.”
She went to greet them.
“Morning, Mummy!” sang Swirl.
“Good morning, Swirl. Where are your sisters? I could have sworn I heard them coming down the stairs as well.”
“No. They’re just a bunch of lazy-flanks,” she said childishly.
Rainbow giggled. “I see. What are you doing up so early?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Oh dear,” Rainbow said concernedly. “Why not? Did you have a bad dream?”
“No. Just got bored of sleeping,” she said with a little dance in her hooves.
“I know that feeling. But seeing as you’re up, do you fancy some proper breakfast? We have plenty of time.”
“What kind of breakfast?”
“Pancakes?” Rainbow said with a raised eyebrow.
Swirl celebrated quietly with a little jump in the air.
Rainbow tittered. “I thought you’d like that. But don’t tell your sisters when they wake up.”
“I won’t,” Swirl sang.
“Go sit on the table and I’ll make us some, okay?”
Swirl nodded excitedly.

Rainbow went into the kitchen and started the preparations for pancakes.
Swirl hopped onto the chair and took a bit of material from under her wing. She stretched the white loop in her hooves, letting it return to it’s natural, elasticated state.
Rainbow looked over confusedly as she was breaking some eggs into a bowl.
“What you got there, Swirl?” she asked curiously.
Swirl shrugged as she continued to play with it. “Found it in the drawers.”
She pulled it onto her head and around her neck. She pulled it back up into her mane, propping it up in erratic manner.
“I thought it can keep my mane out of my eyes.”
It slowly fell down over her eyes, meaning she had to keep moving it again every minute or so.
Rainbow smiled at her. “If your mane keeps getting in your eyes we can go get it cut.”
“Nah.”
“Okay. I could give you a ponytail?” Rainbow asked hopefully. Swirl had the nicest hair of her daughters, and was so nice to brush.
Swirl’s face contorted with thought. She looked down to her flanks.
“But I already have one.”
Rainbow chuckled. “No it’s… never mind. You can wear that if you want. It looks cute.”

Rainbow poured some pancake batter in the pan.
“Did you have a good sleep?” she asked curiously.
“Yep,” Swirl replied simply as she started to rock in her chair.
“Don’t rock, Swirl,” Rainbow said firmly.
“Sorry,” Swirl said quickly and swiftly returned all four chair legs to the floor.
“Did you have any cool dreams?” Rainbow asked. She hoped Swirl did, she always had crazy dreams that never failed to entertain her.
“Yep. I was in space again, fighting aliens with my fire powers this time.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“Not really,” she said disappointedly. “I only got a couple before they ran away. But it did have awesome special effects. Especially when I was in hyperspace.”
“I see,” Rainbow said as she poured a little of the batter in the pan. She was disappointed in her daughter’s dream; it was nowhere near as entertaining as usual.
They were in silence as Rainbow watched the frying pan intently, timing when it would need to be flipped.
She decided it was time. She reached to the drawer and opened it. She took a spatula from its depths in her mouth.
She jiggled it under the pancake and was about to turn it over when her daughter interrupted her.
“Flip it!” Swirl asked eagerly.
Rainbow winced. “Do I have to?” she said exhaustedly.
Swirl pushed her headband back up and nodded.
Rainbow sighed. “Okay. But just this once.”
Swirl smiled excitedly, watching her mother take the panhandle in her mouth and step back for more room.
“You watching, Swirl?” she asked through the handle. She didn’t want her to miss it.
“Yep!” Swirl replied with anticipation.
“Okay, here we go!”
Rainbow flicked her head upwards and the pancake flew out of the pan. It did a few flips in the air before landing back in the pan perfectly.
“Whoo!” Swirl cheered loudly.
“Ssh!” Rainbow whispered harshly. “Keep your voice down or they’ll wake up. And that means less pancakes for us.”
Swirl’s eyes widened as she was told this. She wanted all the pancakes. She quickly zipped her mouth shut and pushed her headband up once again.
Rainbow chuckled. “Good girl. Here’s the first one,” she said as she placed the plate before her daughter. “I take it you want sugar and lemon juice?”
Swirl nodded.
“I thought so,” Rainbow said cockily as she went to retrieve said items. She placed them in the table and returned to the frying pan.
She quickly began frying a stack of pancakes for them to share.

Rainbow sat at the table with a plate of pancakes and a plate for herself.
Swirl took another with a greedy glint in her eye.
“Not too fast, Swirl. You’ll get a tummy ache,” Rainbow warned.
Swirl nodded as she poured on some sugar and lemon juice on the pancake before rolling it up.
“So, Mummy,” Swirl started. “What are you doing today?”
Rainbow looked up from the spoon of sugar she was taking from the pot and gave her daughter a puzzled look.
“Did you, Rainbow Swirl, just ask me, Mummy, what I'm doing today?” Rainbow asked her daughter with the utmost puzzlement.
“Yep,” Swirl said with a mouthful of pancake.
“Where’d the real Swirl go? Ay?” Rainbow jested.
Swirl looked to her mother with a look of pure contempt, which was ruined by her cheeks full of pancake. She gulped it down quickly.
“That’s a terrible and overused cliché, Mummy,” she said in a calm tone that oozed mild irritation.
“Ooh, look at you, getting all French on me,” Rainbow teased and quivered in her seat exaggeratedly.
“You’re just saying that because I'm more cultured than you,” Swirl said moodily, looking away to exaggerate her pompousness. All of which was ruined by her breaking out into a giggle.
Rainbow laughed slightly. “Oh, you funny little filly.”
She continued to put sugar on her pancake.
“So what are you doing today?” Swirl reiterated.
“Well, if you must know,” Rainbow said as she rolled her pancake up. “I am going to the post office to get a job,” she said proudly.
“I thought you already had a job,” Swirl said confusedly.
“What? No, I don’t. I sold a couple of paintings, if that’s what you mean.”
Swirl nodded.
“Ah, well that isn’t my job, more of a hobby. But anyway, I'm bored of living off benefits and staying at home all day every day, so I'm going to go for an interview with the post office. I should get it easily. I mean, just look at me,” she ended with a sarcastic swish of her mane.
Swirl giggled. She liked how her mother always joked about her looks.
“I'm sure you’ll ace it,” Swirl said confidently. “And what about you coltfriend?” she asked with a childish grin.
Rainbow gave her another confused look. “Coltfriend? I don’t have a coltfriend.”
“What about the colt I heard you talking to on the phone last night?” she said deviously.
Rainbow gave her an angry look. “Swirl, what have I told you about eavesdropping?”
“I didn’t mean to. You were gone for ages and I was getting worried, but then I heard you were in your room and I listened for a minute.”
“I see,” Rainbow said disappointedly. “But don’t eavesdrop again, alright?”
“I won’t,” Swirl skilfully lied with shifty eyes. “But are you going out with him?” she asked hopefully.
“Eat your breakfast, Swirl,” Rainbow said to avoid the topic. She was already blushing.
“Is he handsome?” Swirl asked hopefully.
Rainbow blushed harder. She knew the answer to that as soon as she saw him.
“What’s his name?” Swirl demanded. “Tell me!”
“No. You have to guess,” Rainbow challenged, knowing she would have to go to school before she could guess.
“Is it Jet Stream?” Swirl asked.
Rainbow was taken aback by this. “How did you know?”
“Yes,” Swirl celebrated. “I like him. He could really fly at the air show. Are you going with out with him?”
“No!” Rainbow defended herself. “No. Sass just gave him my number and we started talking.”
“Oh,” Swirl said in a pondering voice. “Will you go out with him?”
Rainbow’s silence spoke volumes. Fortunately Swirl wasn’t one for picking that sort of thing up, given her age.
“I don’t know, Swirl,” Rainbow said after a moment of blushing. “Maybe,” she accidentally let slip.
Swirl smiled giddily.
“Eat your pancakes before the others wake up and want some too.”
Swirl nodded and eagerly resumed a quick pace of eating.
Rainbow sighed with relief now that she distracted her daughter from that awkward topic.
A hoof tapped quietly on the tile floor behind Rainbow. She spun around to see who it belong to.
Her brow furrowed with confusion.
“Morning, Shine,” she said sceptically. Shine was never up early.
Swirl gasped dramatically. “Quick! Hide the pancakes!” she shouted before lunging over the plate and shielding the pancakes with a wing.
Rainbow tittered. “Get off the pancakes, Swirl,” she instructed before going over to Shine, who had frozen in the doorway.
She saw that her middle daughter looked more worried than ever before. She knelt down beside her.
“What’s wrong, Shiny?” she asked worriedly.
Shine gestured her to move closer.
Rainbow did so. “What?” she asked, but now with a sense of childlike curiosity.
Shine looked around quickly, to make sure nopony else was in earshot, before pulling herself up to her mother’s ear.
“I wet the bed,” she whimpered, sounding on the brink of tears.
Rainbow smiled with relief. “That’s okay, Shiny,” she whispered back. “Go put the sheets in the dirty basket and I’ll sort it out later.”
Shine nodded, dried her eyes, and turned to head back up stairs.
“And when you come back you can have some pancakes,” Rainbow said cheerfully.
Shine smiled back.
“Aww!” Swirl moaned.
Rainbow ignored her. “And wake Dash up too. It’d be mean if she got left out.”
“WHAT?!” Swirl moaned louder, staring at her mother in a way that practically called her an idiot for giving pancakes away.
Rainbow shook her head. “Don’t be greedy, Swirl.”



Rainbow had made herself as presentable as possible; she had actually combed her mane to some degree of standard for once. She had also found a rather fetching, chequered bowtie which seemed to suit her. She was ready for her interview.
She walked into the post office. There was a total of five Pegasi there, all of whom were talking amongst themselves.
“Excuse me?” Rainbow called out sheepishly.
A head popped up from behind a Pegasus wearing a puzzled expression. “Hi,” it said before trotting around to behind the counter. “What can I do you for?”
“Err…” Rainbow said, lost of all other responses. She decided to reach under her wing and produced a CV in her mouth, which she showed to the cashier.
The cashier took it and inspected it. “You here for the job?” she asked.
Rainbow gulped and nodded.
The cashier looked over the CV again. She then looked back to Rainbow and looked her up and down.
“You free tomorrow?” she asked.
Rainbow nodded. “After I take my kids to school, yes.”
“Alright, come back here tomorrow at nine and we’ll give you a trial day. Is that okay?”
Rainbow was taken aback by this; it seemed too easy. “Yeah, sure! That sounds great!”
“Good. Is there anything else?”
Rainbow shook her head.
“Okay. Have a nice day! And I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Oh, okay. Bye!” Rainbow said before turning and leaving the post office.
Once the door shut behind her, she stood still for a second and removed her bowtie.
“That was easy.”



The school bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Swirl quickly grabbed her books and forced them into her saddle bags. She tried to get into the hustle and bustle of the leaving school kids but was stopped by the teacher.
“Rainbow Swirl,” the teacher called out, making the filly freeze in her tracks.
“Ticker,” the teacher called out again, making another, tea coloured filly stop beside Swirl.
The two fillies gulped and turned slowly, wearing sheepish smiles.
“Yes, Miss Doltish?” Swirl replied worriedly.
“You two come over here, please.”
The two small Pegasi walked over to her with their heads hanging low. Once by her desk, they looked up with hopeful, glistening eyes; a look the mischievous pair had a lot practice with.
“Now then,” she started authoritatively. “Your homework was not only abysmal, but you also copied-.”
“No we didn’t!” Swirl shouted in defence.
“Do not interrupt me, young filly. You also copied each other, which is a silly thing to do.”
“We didn’t copy, we were helping each other. Isn’t that right, Ticker?”
The other filly looked to Swirl before turning back to Miss Doltish and nodded frantically.
“Okay, fair enough. That’s good to know. But it’s still appalling. I know Maths isn’t either of your strong points, but six out of forty is shocking to say the least.”
“We’re sorry,” Swirl said sincerely. “We just found that homework really hard. We couldn’t do any of it!”
“If you two need help with the subject you can always ask. I could set up an afterschool session to go over the points you’re struggling with. How does that sound?”
“That sounds good, Miss.”
“Good. Now you can go, you two. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Miss Doltish!” Swirl sang childishly.
Ticker smiled politely.
They both ran off as fast as they could.
“That was a close one,” Swirl said loudly as they reached the classroom door.
“What did you say?” Miss Doltish asked quickly as she heard them.
Swirl panicked slightly and put on a little extra speed. Ticker easily kept up with her.

They made it to the playground, where all the parents gathered to pick up their children, and slowed their pace.
“Can you believe she fell for that?” Swirl said with a little laugh.
Ticker shook her head, smiling gleefully for managing to get out of trouble.
“Like we struggle at Maths. It’s easy-peasy!”
Ticker nodded in agreement. She paused to tap Swirl’s shoulder.
“Yeah?” Swirl said as she turned to face her friend.
Ticker moved her wings in a complex fashion, moving individual feathers and bending the limb occasionally.
“Yeah, you can come round still. I just have to ask Mummy.”
Ticker giggled and moved her wings again.
“Of course I still call her Mummy! What else should I call her?”
Ticker shrugged.
“At least I can call her things, you silly mute!” Swirl jested.
Ticker nudged her playfully and smiled.
Swirl giggled. “C’mon,” she said loudly and started running off. “Mummy’s waiting,” she said, adding emphasis on “Mummy”.

Swirl tumbled to a halt by her mother and impatient sisters. She looked up at them and giggled sheepishly.
“Hi.”
“Are you okay, Swirl?” Rainbow asked as she helped her daughter up.
Swirl brushed herself down and looked to her leg. There was a little blood on it.
“I'm fine. Just a scratch.”
“We better put a plaster on it when we get home,” Rainbow said sternly.
“Nah!” Swirl said, dismissing her mother with a wave. “It’s fine. Let it breathe. Can Ticker come round tonight?” she asked hopefully.
“Ticker? Who-?”
She was interrupted by a hoof tapping her shoulder. She looked down and saw a small filly smiling up at her. The filly was tea coloured with a brown, straggly mane that looked a little like strands of wool.
“Oh yes. Ticker. The infamous Ticker. I’ve been wondering when I’d meet you. Swirl’s always talking about the shenanigans you two get up to.”
Ticker blushed slightly.
“And since we’ve never been properly introduced. I'm Rainbow Swirl, but you can call me Rainbow,” she said with a smile, offering a hoof for the filly to shake.
Ticker shook it, although slightly confused by the idea of shaking a parent’s hoof.
“Actually, she can’t call you that,” Swirl stated simply.
“Oh? Why ever not?”
“She can’t talk!” Swirl said loudly. She broke out into a small fit of laughter at her “clever” joke.
“Oh…” Rainbow felt rather awkward now. “How do you talk to her then, Swirl?”
“She can do Wing Language!”
Ticker held her head up arrogantly.
Rainbow gave her daughter a contemptuous look. “But you can’t do Wing Language.”
“Yes I can,” Swirl stated, slightly insulted.
“Since when?”
“Ticker taught me.”
Ticker fluttered her wings proudly.
“When?”
“Ages ago.”
“Oh… why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t have to tell you everything.”
“I know but… I’d like to know,” Rainbow said sadly, swinging her hoof in the air slightly.
“Don’t look so glum, Mummy,” Swirl ordered.
“Oh alright then,” Rainbow said happily. “So, can you speak, or do rather, any Wing language?” she asked enthusiastically.
“Err… a little bit.” Swirl began moving her wings about with amateurish motions.
Ticker brought a hoof to her mouth to try and hold back the laughter.
Rainbow noticed the mute Pegasus trying not to laugh and grew slightly irritated. “What did you just say?”
“Nothing,” Swirl sang back childishly.
“Swirl!”
“I said you smell!” Swirl shouted excitedly and began to laugh.
“Oh…” Rainbow frowned. “That’s not very nice,” she said in moody, childlike voice.
“Just kidding, Mummy. You smell beautiful!” Swirl said as she nuzzled against her mother’s shoulder.
Rainbow let out a flattered giggle. “You little sweet talker, you. C’mon, let’s go home.”
Dash cheered quietly and they all began heading for the gate.
Ticker tapped Swirl’s shoulder and gave her an angry look.
Swirl jumped slightly. “Oh yeah!” She turned to her mother. “Can Ticker come round?”
Rainbow paused and turned round. “Didn’t I already say yes? Of course you can come round, Ticker.”
Ticker smiled and signed her wings.
“She says thanks,” Swirl translated.
Rainbow tittered. “Tell her she’s welcome.”
“She can hear you, she’s not deaf,” Swirl stated.
Rainbow shook her head and smiled.


The four fillies were sat around the table, all waiting for their dinner.
“Alright, girls, it’s ready!” Rainbow sang. She opened the oven and removed the hot dish, placing it on the worktop, where she began serving the food onto the plates.
“Okay, I’ve never made this before, and if I knew we were having company I probably wouldn’t have dared making it, but it looked nice in the recipe book, so I hope it tastes nice.”
“What is it?” Shine asked eagerly.
“Moussaka. It seems to be a bit like lasagne, but with courgettes and stuff. But it looks scrumptious so… let’s just hope.”
Rainbow placed a plate in front of each of the hungry fillies, each of whom eyed it up curiously.
Shine was the first to try it, as was expected. She nodded and began shovelling it in.
The other three, now with Shine’s approval, and therefore it must be delicious, began eating at a good pace.
“Slow down, Shine,” Rainbow ordered strictly, yet it had little effect.
Rainbow shook her head and went to sit between Dash and Swirl with her own plate.
“Is it nice then?” she asked hopefully.
The three fillies all nodded.
Rainbow sighed with relief. “Good.”
They were in silence for a couple of minutes, save for the numerous sounds of approval coming from the fillies. Swirl was the first to speak.
“Did you get the job, Mummy?” Swirl asked through a mouthful of food.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Rainbow said sternly.
Swirl gulped her food down. “Did you get the job?” she repeated.
“Kind of. I have to go do a trial day tomorrow, but that can’t be too hard. Right?”
“You’ll be brilliant at it!” Swirl said confidently.
“I'm sure I will. Besides, who could turn down a mare like me?” she said with a little shake of her mane and a raised eyebrow.
Swirl and Dash giggled, whereas Ticker was looking awkward and Shine was too busy eating to notice.


Rainbow trotted into the post office the next morning. Her stomach was full of butterflies and her heart pounded in her ears. She hadn’t been so nervous in years.
As she walked in, she was met by a short, strange looking Pegasus stallion.
“Good morning, Miss Swirl,” he called out as he saw her.
“G-good morning,” Rainbow spoke back nervously. “But please, call me Rainbow. It gets confusing as I have a daughter who I call Swirl.”
“I see. Well, Miss Rainbow, I'm the boss around here, Mr Parcel, but you don’t have say the Mr.”
“Oh, r-right.” 
“Are you excited,” Parcel said enthusiastically.
Rainbow nodded. “I think so. I'm a little bit nervous, if I'm honest.”
“Don’t be,” he reassured her, with mild success. “Your interview yesterday went very well, or so I was told, so today is to only make sure you can do the job. I highly doubt I won’t accept you. Just having this trial day pretty much assures that.”
“Interview? What interview?” Rainbow started panicking, thinking she had missed the interview. She couldn’t remember being told about any interview, which worried her so.
“What? Cheque told me she interviewed you. What did she do exactly?”
“I handed the cashier my CV, she looked at it, then told me to come back today for a trial.”
“I see. Oh well, I'm sure you’ll do fine. It’s not too hard to get a grasp of.”
Rainbow sighed mentally. “That’s good. So, where do I start?”
“At a girl. I like your eagerness. Follow me.” He turned on the spot and walked behind the counter.
Rainbow followed nervously. It felt so strange going behind there.
He came to a stop by a chair and a cash register.
“Okay, it’s pretty self explanatory, really,” he said as he gestured for her to take a seat.
Rainbow sat down on the chair. “Comfy chair,” she remarked.
“Well, I wouldn’t let my employees suffer in discomfort now, would I?” he said with a raise of an eyebrow. “Now, let me explain how this works. Basically, if the letter is small enough and stamped, just put it in the big sack behind you. If it isn’t stamped, charge for a stamp, put it on and then throw it in the sack behind you.”
“How do I charge them?” Rainbow asked sheepishly.
“The button on the register that says stamp.”
“Right,” she said to herself.
“If it’s a parcel then place it on the scales and the register will do the rest of the work. Put the sticker it prints off on the side of the box, charge them, and then place it on the table behind you. You got all that?”
“I think so.”
“Like I said, it’s all pretty obvious.” He turned and left her, heading round to the front of the checkout. “It shouldn’t be too hard today. It’s a Wednesday, so most Ponies will be at work. If you need help, I’ll be in my office.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“No problem. And the mail mare should come in a bit later to get some more to deliver. She’ll help you as well if need be.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Good luck. It should all be fine.”
Rainbow smiled at him.
He smiled back and left for his office, closing the door behind him with a loud click.

Rainbow looked around. The post office was deserted at the moment. She could tell that boredom might become a serious problem.
She perked up as she heard the door open with a little ring of a bell.
She looked up, feeling incredibly excited to serve her first customer.
“Good morning,” she said in a painfully cheery voice, the likes of which made her cringe. “How may I help you,” she asked with a friendly smile.
“Err… yes,” the terrified looking colt replied as he shuffled through the pile of letters in his hooves. “I have… I have some-some letters to post.” He held them out sheepishly.
Rainbow tittered as she saw him stand in the entrance way, as far away from her as possible.
“Come here and let me have a look,” she said as she raised a hoof to beckon him over.
He approached nervously and placed the letters on the desk. His head barely came over the edge.
Rainbow took them and looked at them. “Do they all have stamps on?” she asked.
He nodded in reply.
“Good.” Rainbow turned and dropped them into the sack behind her. “Is there anything else?” she asked, but he had already run off.
Rainbow celebrated quietly to herself. “First customer was a success!”
Then she waited patiently for her second customer.


The bell rang at school, signalling the start of morning break time.
Swirl trotted out with Ticker by her side. Art had taken its toll on them and they were mentally drained from the boredom.
“I hate Art,” Ticker signed lazily.
“Same here.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. Tiggy?”
Ticker shook her head. “Not enough Ponies to play,” she signed disappointedly.
“Good point. And there’s not enough time to nap,” Swirl said moodily, taking her frustration out on a stone and kicking it at a colt, unintentionally of course.
“HEY!” the colt shouted as he stomped over to the pair of fillies.
“Sorry, Hoops.”
“You will be,” he said threateningly. He looked over his shoulder and tilted his head at his friends. Within seconds he was joined by two more colts.
Swirl and Ticker looked at each other.
Swirl cocked her eyebrow a couple of times and pushed her headband up.
Ticker couldn’t agree more.
They looked to the three colts before them, wearing malicious smiles. They scraped their front hooves over the ground, ready to charge, and flared their wings menacingly.
Swirl and Ticker could be quite vicious when the situation called for it, especially so when it concerned these three colts.
As usual, everything escalated out of hoof amazingly quickly.


The morning was drawing on in the Post Office, and Rainbow was growing impatient. It was now half eleven, and it had been two hours since her first and only customer had run away.
She had drained a pen of its ink by drawing a magnificent doodle on a sheet of paper by the time somepony else had walked in.
The small bell rang out, making Rainbow jump.
Rainbow looked up and saw a grey mare with simple, purple mane stand in the doorway.
“Hey,” she said confidently as she stepped further in the post office. “You must be the new mare.”
Rainbow gulped. “Yeah. I'm Rainbow Swirl, but you can call me Rainbow.”
“Alright. Hello, Rainbow. I'm Doo. Dizzy Doo. The mail mare.”
“Oh, hello.”
“So, how are you finding it so far?”
“Err…” Rainbow’s mind froze completely.
“Boring?” Dizzy hazarded a guess.
Rainbow nodded. “I’ve only had one customer.”
“That’s probably the most you’ll get for a while,” Dizzy informed. “It’ll pick up around lunch a bit. And much more so after work is out.”
“I see.”
“Is there any post, by any chance?” she asked, although felt rather uninterested.
“Err…” Rainbow thought. She hadn’t been prepared for this, so she improvised and took the letters that the colt had given her.
“I have these?” she said nervously as she held them out in front of her.
Dizzy came up to her and took them. She looked at the addresses of the three letters and smiled, as if about to laugh.
She turned her head and looked at her back. “I think you’ve got mail,” she whispered excitedly.
Rainbow stared at her, puzzled as to why she was talking to her back, but then she saw a small, grey hoof reach out and take them.
She heard the ripping of paper and a small giggle coming from the mail mare’s back.
“Who’s that?” Rainbow asked curiously.
“It’s my daughter. She got another letter from her secret admirer, by the sounds of it.”
“Aw, that’s cute!”
“It is, really.” Dizzy turned to her back. “Go on! Say hello!” she requested.
Her daughter shook her head.
“Oh go on. Don’t be shy. She’s nice.”
Rainbow watched as she saw a single, yellow eye slowly emerge from behind its mother’s mane before quickly hiding away again.
“Hello?” Rainbow asked. “Anypony there?”
“C’mon, Ditzy. Don’t be shy!” the mother pleaded. “She won’t bite!”
The filly giggled.
“Ditzy?” Rainbow questioned.
“Yeah, that’s her name. I would introduce you properly, but she’s being a little shy. She’s not very good around strangers.”
Rainbow smirked. “Who is?”
Dizzy turned to her back again. “C’mon, Ditzy. Do it for me?” she asked hopefully.
The filly couldn’t disobey now. She didn’t want to disappoint her mother. She leant round her mother’s neck.
“Helloo,” she called out sheepishly, yet waved enthusiastically.
Rainbow smiled childishly. “Aww! She’s adorable! Hello Ditzy. I'm Rainbow Swirl, but you can call me Rainbow.”
Ditzy smiled at her goofily, revealing some teeth that were in the process of being replaced.
“Good girl, Ditzy,” her mother praised.
Ditzy flew down onto the floor thanks to her confidence boost.
Rainbow looked at the filly on the floor and took in the details of her, making Ditzy feel a little uncomfortable since she didn’t like Ponies staring at her.
“You look a lot like your mother, Ditzy. Same grey coat. If only your mane was purple as well.”
Ditzy started to blush. She considered looking like her mother to be one of the best compliments possible.
“Yeah, she gets that a lot.” Dizzy ruffled her daughter’s yellow mane.
“And your eyes,” Rainbow noticed.
Dizzy look at Rainbow sternly, preparing herself to defend her daughter.
Ditzy looked away embarrassedly, trying to hide her eyes away.
“Oh don’t hide them. They’re beautiful. Such a wonderful gold colour.”
Ditzy looked back at Rainbow again, but smiled broadly at her at her.
“Thanks, Rainbow,” Dizzy said sincerely. “That means a lot. To both of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… she sometimes gets bullied about her eyes, don’t you?” she directed at the filly, who nodded slowly in response.
“That’s horrible.” Rainbow was saddened by this. “I don’t see why you would. They make you look even cuter than you already do.”
“Thank you, Rainbow!” Ditzy sang happily.
“It’s no problem at all, Ditzy. Say, how old are you?”
“Err…” Ditzy scowled as she tried to remember. “Nine!” she beamed with pride once it came to her.
“Nine, ay?” Rainbow looked away with confusion. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”
Ditzy looked away sheepishly, allowing her mother to step in.
“Yeah, she should be really. But she was finding it a bit hard today, weren’t you?”
Ditzy nodded as if ashamed with herself.
“And you threw a bit of a wobbly, didn’t you?”
Ditzy looked away from everypony.
“Oh… I see…” Rainbow felt suddenly awkward. “I think I understand. Is she a bit… you know… a few sandwiches short of a picnic?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that. She is a smart filly. Really smart. I dare say smarter than me sometimes. She just has a hard time getting to grasp with things. So you have to take it slow with her and have a lot of patience, but eventually she will understand perfectly. But if you don’t take your time and help her to the fullest she can get easily annoyed with herself for not being able to do it. And if you’re not careful she can get angry and a little violent.”
“Oh, I see…” Rainbow wasn’t quite sure what to say.
“That’s why I had to pick her up today. She was being rushed by her classmates and she got a little angry. She even knocked a few desks over. So the school rang me and asked me to pick her up before she hurt anypony. I'm so glad the school is so understanding.”
“Oh… and you’re not mad at her, are you?” Rainbow asked hopefully.
“Of course not!” Dizzy sounded slightly insulted by the idea. “Besides, you can’t be really, can you? It’s not like she can help it.”
“I suppose not.”
“And hay, that means I get to spend the day with her.” She beamed happily.
“Aw, that’ll be nice.”
“It sure will!”
Dizzy walked over to her daughter, who still looked a little upset, and picked her up. “I know others don’t think she’s perfect. In fact, I think quite a few think she’s far from it. But to me.” She brought her daughter into a hug, and she hugged back. “To me, she is perfect. And I wouldn’t change my little Derpy Hooves for the world.”

They spent a small, uninterrupted moment hugging before Rainbow broke the silence.
“Derpy Hooves?” she was a little puzzled.
“Yeah, that’s just my little pet name for her.” She put Ditzy back on the floor. “She’s really clumsy sometimes. Well… most of the time, actually. So I thought the name suited her really well.”
Rainbow chuckled. “It’s cute, really. I wish I could give my kids cute pet names like that. I just had to resort to modifying their real names.”
“You have kids?”
“Yep,” she said, proud as ever.
Dizzy nodded at her. “I’d thought you would. You have a certain… way about you that makes me think that.”
“Really? Like what?” Rainbow asked, clearly intrigued.
“I don’t know. Just the way you were when talking to Ditzy. It was very motherly.”
“Thanks, I guess. But anyway, I have kids.”
“What are they?”
“Well, I have three fillies. They’re triplets!”
“Oh really? That’s interesting. Must be hard work though.”
“Surprisingly no,” Rainbow said as if amazed by this. “They’re really well behaved, and they always listen to me.”
“That’s good. As long as they’re respectful to you early on they should turn out wonderfully!”
Rainbow smiled at her. “Thank you. That’s very kind.”
“How old are they?”
“They turned seven a couple of months ago. But it seems like they were born yesterday yet were always here.”
“I know that feeling. It’s the same with Ditzy.”
“What are their names?” Ditzy interjected loudly as she jumped up on the desk. She was clearly very interested.
“Well, there’s Rainbow Swirl, named after myself,” she said smugly. “Then there’s Rainbow Shine. And finally, Rainbow Dash.”
“Rainbow Dash?” Ditzy asked.
“Yep, that’s her name.”
“I like that name. Rainbow Dash,” she repeated with a giggle.
“Just wait here a second,” Rainbow instructed.
She ducked her head under the desk and found her handbag. She brought it to the top and removed her purse. She removed the few, small photos and placed them in front of Ditzy.
“Here are some pictures of them.”
Ditzy looked at them and smiled broadly. “Aww. They’re so cute! Which one is Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow tapped a photo, instinctively knowing it do be the correct daughter.
Ditzy picked it up and giggled at it. “She’s my favourite.”
“Hey,” Rainbow whispered. “You want to hear something funny about her?”
Ditzy nodded excitedly.
Rainbow gestured for her to come closer, and she did.
“Now don’t tell anypony, but when she was younger, she was completely bald,” Rainbow said childishly.
“Huh?” Ditzy replied confusedly.
“She had no mane or tail!”
Ditzy’s mouth fell open. “Really?
Rainbow nodded.
Ditzy looked back to the photo and looked at it for a second. She started sniggering.
“You can keep that picture if you want. I have a couple of them.”
“Thank you, Rainbow!” Ditzy said loudly.

A panicked Pegasus flew through the door, knocking the bell from onto the floor with a loud clatter, attracting the attention of the three Pegasi already there.
The new Pegasus ran to the desk and to Rainbow, panting heavily.
“Miss Rainbow Swirl,” he panted.
“Yes,” Rainbow replied both confusedly and worriedly.
The stallion took a short moment to catch his breath. “I'm…” he paused again.
“Just calm down and catch your breath,” Rainbow instructed.
The stallion did as ordered and quickly regained his composure. “I'm the deputy head of Cirrus Primary School. I'm afraid your daughter has had to be taken to hospital.”
Rainbow’s heart instantly started to race and a panic flooded her system. “What happened?”
“Your daughter, Swirl, got into a fight and broke her leg.”
“WHAT?!” she shouted. She could feel a panic attack come on and she almost started hyperventilating. Her mind was, naturally, presuming the worst.
“Rainbow,” Dizzy started firmly, bringing Rainbow back to her senses. “Go. I will cover you here. Just go.”
Rainbow nodded to her and vaulted over the counter.
“Which hospital?” she asked frantically.
“Cloudsdale General. The only one in Cloudsdale.”
Rainbow nodded and sped to the door.
Dizzy took a position behind the counter.
“Derpy, you guard the door,” she instructed.
Ditzy nodded and quickly trotted over to the door, where she took position, standing tall against those that came in and emitting a low growl with bared teeth.
“Thank you,” Rainbow quickly said before she rocketed out of the door and into the sky.

Rainbow arrived at the hospital as quickly as she could. It only took her a few minutes, which would amaze her later, but right now she was just too worried for her daughter.
She galloped into the lobby and over to the counter.
The nurse looked in time to see the Pegasus charging towards her.
“Ah, you must be the mother of that little, rainbow maned filly,” she said moodily.
Rainbow nodded frantically as she reached the desk.
“Good. I was wondering when a parent would get here.” She gave her a judgemental look, but Rainbow wasn’t paying attention. “Go up the stairs over there. Fifth floor, ward three. There are signs everywhere.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow said as she bolted down the corridors and followed the nurse’s directions. It wasn’t very hard to find.

She trotted quickly into the room. Her eyes darted around to find her daughter, but the school nurse saw her first.
“Rainbow,” the nurse called out from across the ward. “Over here.”
Rainbow walked over to her with great urgency.
“What happened? Is she alright?” Rainbow said panic-stricken. She was shaking, about to cry almost.
The nurse stepped over to her and placed her hooves on her shoulders.
“She’s fine, Rainbow,” she said in her comforting, soft voice. “We got her to the hospital as fast as we could. They gave her some painkillers and X-rayed her leg. Yes, it’s quite a severe break, I'm not gonna lie, but it’s easily fixed. We’re just waiting for surgery now.”
Rainbow managed to calm herself down a little with a few deep, harsh breaths, yet her heart was still pounding against her chest.
“Is she alright?” she asked with a catch in her throat.
“I'm fine!” Swirl said happily.
Rainbow looked past the nurse and at her daughter, who was lying in bed, wearing a huge smile and a leg guard.
“Swirl!” Rainbow exclaimed. She quickly trotted to her side and sat on the nearby chair. She rested her head on the bed next to her daughter’s and began stroking her mane, comforting herself more than Swirl.
“Are you okay?” she asked yet again.
“I'm fine, Mummy. Those painkillers are amazing. Tasted disgusting but just… wonderful!” She laughed giddily.
Rainbow turned to the nurse. “Is she alright?” she asked, but this time concerned for a new reason as well.
“Yes, she’s fine. Just taking the painkillers rather well.”
Rainbow nodded slowly before turning back to the broken filly in bed. “What happened, Swirl?”
“Me and Ticker got into a fight with those colts who call Rainbow Dash Rainbow Crash!” she paused to laugh. “That’s brilliant!” She laughed some more.
“Carry on, please,” Rainbow pleaded.
“Okay. We got into a fight and beat them up. And if you think this is bad you should see Hoops! I dislocated his wing,” she said smugly. “And Ticker nearly bit off another one’s ear!”
Rainbow’s face fell serious. She looked to the nurse again for confirmation.
The nurse nodded.
Rainbow turned back to Swirl with a hint of anger in her worry. “Swirl, that’s not good.”
“He started it.”
“I don’t care who started it, I just don’t want you getting into a fight again. I would have thought you learnt your lesson last time when you lost that bit of ear.” Rainbow tapped her daughter’s ear, where a semicircle was missing from it.
“I’ll try, Mummy. But fighting is fun.”
“If you like fighting so much, I’ll let you join a boxing club, or something, where it’s all controlled. I do not wanting you fighting like this again.”
“Boxing sounds good. But how about masked wrestling? That looks hilarious!”
“We’ll have to see, Swirl. But no more playground fights.”
“It was on the school field,” Swirl corrected.
“Same thing. But do you understand me?”
Swirl nodded. “I promise, Mummy. No more fighting at school.”
“Or outside of school,” Rainbow added as she saw that glint in her daughter’s eye.
“Aww,” Swirl moaned. “Okay, no fighting whatsoever. I swear.”
Rainbow smiled. She leant forward and kissed Swirl’s forehead. “Good.”

“Rainbow Swirl?” a doctor said as he approached the three Pegasi.
“Yes?” both Rainbow and Swirl replied, although Swirl was giggling.
The doctor raised an eyebrow at them.
“I'm her mother and we have the same name. Call her Swirl and me Rainbow. Y’know that’s the fifth time I said that today.”
“Right. Anyway,” The doctor said loudly to get everything moving along. “We’re ready to take her into surgery now.”
Rainbow suddenly felt panicked again. “O-okay.”
She kissed her daughter again. “I’ll be here when you wake up,” she said tenderly.
Rainbow moved back to allow a team of doctors and nurses to move her daughter onto a different bed.
They started wheeling the filly away.
“I love you,” Rainbow called out before her daughter left.

The doors to the ward swung closed. Rainbow felt like crying now. She had the worst knot in her stomach she had ever had and thought she was going to throw up.
The school nurse walked over to Rainbow and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“I know my words are probably going to do nothing, but she’ll be fine. She’s seven, and children are practically indestructible with the rate at which they heal. I dare say she’ll be running around again in weeks.”
“I know she’ll be fine, I just… oh Celestia!” Rainbow broke down into tears.
The nurse moved round and hugged her. “Ssh ssh ssh. Don’t cry. Please. I'm not good with crying adults. Children yes, but not adults.”
Rainbow managed to chuckle.
The nurse fumbled about her wing and removed a coin, passing it to Rainbow. “Here, buy a cup of tea on me, and make it hot and sweet. Go to the waiting room and read a nine year old magazine about outdated fashion and try to relax. They’ll be done in a jiffy.”
Rainbow sniffed and nodded.
“Listen, I have to go back to school, I'm afraid. I said I’d wait until you got here, so I'm kinda running late.”
“That’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
“Good.” The nurse tried to pull away from the hug, but Rainbow kept her there a moment longer.
“Could you tell my daughters something?”
“Sure. What?”
“Tell them to go home with Fluttershy, please. I don’t know how long this will take. Tell Airheart as well.”
“Okay, I will.”
Rainbow let go of the nurse and they left the ward together in silence. The nurse decided to help Rainbow to the waiting room before heading back to school, which Rainbow was thankful for as she thought she’d get lost.

Rainbow was pacing around the waiting room, nervous and worried as she thought she should be. The cup of tea had no effect on her, and that magazine detailing some old model-whom-she’d-never-heard-of-‘s diet plan had lost what little interest it had.
She finally managed to sit down, after much asking from the nurse, but she was still fidgeting. She brought a large chunk of her mane down and began chewing on it nervously.
“I know you,” a stallion’s voice spoke in a pondering tone.
Rainbow quickly moved her mane out of her face and looked at who the voice belonged to.
Her heart skipped a beat.
“Hello, Jet Stream,” she said, feeling giddy like a filly with a crush.
“Hi, err… Rainbow Swirl, was it?”
Rainbow nodded. “It’s good to see you again. Come sit next to me. I could use a distraction.”
Jet snorted. “Same here.”
He went and sat on the chair next to her.
“What are you in here for?” Rainbow asked curiously, glad to finally have a friendly, and handsome, she thought, Pony to talk to.
“My niece needs a check up. She has diabetes, y’see. Fortunately it’s the good kind, if that makes sense. She doesn’t need the injections, is what I mean.”
“Oh alright. Makes sense. Injections just make me…” She shuddered at the thought and made a scared noise. “But riddle me this, why are you taking your niece to the hospital? Why not her parents?”
“She feels more comfortable around me when it comes to things like this,” he said smugly. “We’re kinda close, really. Almost like father and daughter.”
“That’s nice,” Rainbow said. She placed a hoof on his quickly, but swiftly removed it, feeling it inappropriate at that moment.
“What about you?” Jet asked before Rainbow could follow up on the relationship he has with his niece. “What are you doing here? You look just… distraught!”
Rainbow tutted and rolled her eyes. “I am. My daughter got into a fight and broke her leg.”
“Whoa. Is she alright? Besides the broken leg, of course?”
“Yeah. She apparently dislocated the colt’s wing, so it’s all good.”
“Nice,” Jet said in awe. “That’s pretty impressive. You’re daughter’s Rainbow Dash, right?”
“One of them, yes, but this one’s Rainbow Swirl. Named after myself, of course.”
“Ah. Must get quite confusing at home then, I imagine. What with all the Rainbows and all.”
“Not really. We call each other by their second name, y’know Swirl, Dash and Shine. People just call me Rainbow. And that’s the sixth time today.”
“Sixth time?”
“Sixth time I’ve explained that today. All to different Ponies as well.”
“Fair enough. And shine?”
“Rainbow Shine, my other daughter. Triplets, you see.”
“Oh, right. Interesting.”
A blue filly with a white mane, entirely braided, jumped in front of them, making them both jump. She laughed slightly.
Jet stream breathed a sigh of relief. “Hey, Fleetfoot. How’d it go?”
Fleetfoot shrugged. “Fine, as usual. Go in, talk a bit about stuff, blood test, leave. Same thing as always.”
“That’s good. When do you get the results back?”
“About a week. I don’t see how it could change at all. I watch what I eat, I exercise a lot. It’s all good in there!” she said arrogantly as she patted her stomach.
She looked up to the unfamiliar mare in the chair next to her uncle. A devious smile curled to her lips.
“Who’s this then?” she asked girlishly, tilting and swaying her body.
“I'm Rainbow Swirl. Call me Rainbow.” She turned to Jet Stream and whispered, “Seventh time.”
“Oh,” Fleetfoot said in a long voice of realisation, slowly turning to face Jet. “So you’re the mare he talked about ages ago.”
Rainbow turned quickly to face him and broke into a smile.
Jet Stream blushed wildly and tried to hide his face away.
“So is she going to be your new wife, then?” she asked mischievously.
Jet Stream’s face went solemn and pale.
Rainbow furrowed her brow. “New wife?” She asked confusedly.
“Yeah, I was married before. I don’t wanna talk about it.” He took a deep breath to clear his head. “So, Fleetfoot, ready to go?” he asked, glad to get off the topic.
“Not quite. I need the toilet, then I'm good.”
“Okay, you go then.”
Fleetfoot nodded and walked off.
Jet shook his head smiled. “Funny filly, she is. Turns thirteen in a few months. I can’t wait! I'm planning a trip to the Everfree. She loved it last time.”
“You used to be married?” Rainbow asked, feeling a little concerned by his response the first time she asked.
Jet stream waved a hoof at her. “I don’t want to talk about it. Too painful.”
“Oh, okay then.” Rainbow now felt guilty about keeping the topic going.
There was a small amount of awkward silence. A minute later, Jet Stream spoke.
“Listen,” he started nervously. “Do you wanna… I don’t know…” He started rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly.
Rainbow started blushing. “Lunch some time?” she suggested.
Jet sat back heavily in the chair. “Yeah, lunch,” he said to himself in order to understand the idea of lunch. “Wanna get lunch sometime?”
“Sure.”
“Cool.”
They sat for a moment in silence, trying to think of more to say.
“When?” Jet asked, not being able to think himself.
“I don’t know. I have work and now a broken filly to look after, so…”
“I have your number, don’t I?”
Rainbow nodded.
“I’ll call you later then.”
They heard a giggling come from behind. They both turned to see Fleetfoot nearly doubled over with restrained laughter.
“You heard that, I guess?” Jet asked, hoping the answer was no.
“Of course I did!” Fleetfoot replied through a small amount of laughter. “And I must say, very smooth.”
Jet facehoofed and was flooded with embarrassment. “You’re going to tease me about this for ages, aren’t you?”
“What do you think?” Fleetfoot replied with a childish smile.
Jet sighed. “Fair enough. C’mon then, let’s go.” He stood up to leave.
“I’ll see you later, Jet Stream.”
“Yeah, see ya, Rainbow. And I hope Swirl’s okay.”
“She’ll be fine. It’s only a broken leg,” she told him, and now she actually believed it, more or less.
Jet smiled sweetly before turning to leave.
Fleetfoot looked between the two Pegasi. “What? No kiss goodbye?”
Jet looked to her. “What?”
She tutted at him. “Have you never heard of romance before?”
He stared at her for a second. “Oh fine!” he said loudly.
He turned back around and quickly kissed Rainbow’s cheek.
Rainbow giggled girlishly.
Fleetfoot laughed harder. “I can’t believe you actually kissed her!”
“What?!” he shouted back.
“You barely know her and you kissed her! You idiot! Now she’s gonna think you’re all weird and stuff.”
Jet shook his head at her. “Damn you, Fleetfoot,” he said moodily as he started to walk off.
Fleetfoot followed and wrapped her forelegs around his neck and hugged him.
“C’mon, you can’t stay mad at me,” she said confidently. “So why try?”
Jet sighed in defeat. “You’re right, as usual.” He kissed her forehead. “I never can.”
They left the waiting room, and Rainbow’s fields of vision and hearing.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the hospital, Swirl was being wheeled out of the operating theatre.
The nurse by her side forced her awake.
Swirl woke up, feeling more groggy and tired than she would ever think possible.
“What’s your name?” the nurse asked mildly urgently.
Swirl, with less speed than a snail, turned her head in the direction of the nurse. She so badly wanted to say “go away” to her, but was far too tired.
“What’s your name?” the nurse insisted.
“Rainbow… Swirl,” the filly said with great effort, yet it was still barely a whisper.
The nurse nodded.
Swirl fell back asleep again.

Back in the waiting room, a nurse approached Rainbow.
“Excuse me,” she said politely. “I take it you’re Rainbow Swirl?”
“Yes I am,” Rainbow said. All the worry and panic she had lost rushed back to her in one go.
“Okay. You’re daughter is out of surgery an-.”
“Is she alright?” Rainbow asked quickly, jumping out of her seat.
“Yes, she’s fine.”
Rainbow sighed with relief. “Oh thank Celestia!”
“The operation was a success and the break was fixed easily.”
“Where is she?”
“If you’d like to follow me I’ll take you to her.”
Rainbow nodded. She hadn’t felt so relieved and happy in years.
They began walking down the corridors and towards the damaged Rainbow.
“Now, Rainbow Swirl,” the nurse started. “She’s just come out of surgery, so she will be asleep for some time.”
“I can still sit by her side, right?” Rainbow asked hopefully.
“Of course, but you have to let her sleep. Once she wakes up, a doctor will look at her and decide when to discharge her, then you can take her home.”
“That’s good.”
“Take it easy with her, though; try to make her fly more than walk. It will make the healing process faster.”
“Okay,” Rainbow said absentmindedly. She jumped in the air slightly, too happy to listen properly or behave maturely.


Rainbow landed outside of her home, with Swirl resting on her back, still feeling groggy from the anaesthetic.
“Now, Swirl,” Rainbow started firmly. “You need to go careful on that leg, ya hear me?”
“It’s fine, Mummy,” Swirl moaned wearily. “It’s encased in armour,” she said proudly.
“Well… still… err…” Rainbow couldn’t argue with that.
Rainbow pushed the door and was greeted by Shine, to her surprise.
“Mummy!” the little, wide eyed filly said urgently. “What happened? Is Swirl alright? Is she-?”
“Shine, stop worrying,” Rainbow said calmly. “She’s fine. She only broke her leg.”
Shine’s eyes couldn’t go any wider. 
“What?!” she said panicked stricken.
Swirl jumped off her mother’s back and landed by her sister, stumbling to the ground as her cast caught her off guard.
“Hey, Shiny!” she chirped as she stood up. She turned so her protected leg faced her sister. “Go on. Hit it! Hit it really hard,” she challenged.
“Why?”
“Because it feels funny!”
“Shine, don’t-.” Rainbow’s warning came too late.
Shine swung her leg as hard as she could into the cast. She jumped back and began jumping on the spot, shaking her pained hoof. Tears had already started streaming down her cheeks.
Swirl fell back, laughing her head off.
Rainbow shook her head.
“Don’t do that again, Swirl,” she said with a little disappointment. Any other day and she would have laughed at Swirl’s antics, but she was feeling a little delicate at that moment and rather stressed, needing a good sleep.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Rainbow asked Shine curiously.
Shine had stopped bouncing and was calm enough to speak, although there were still tears in her eyes.
“Fluttershy’s mother brought us back.”
“Is she still here?”
“Yes I am,” Airheart spoke as she walked into the hallway.
“Oh thank Celestia,” Rainbow exclaimed with relief. She stepped forward and wrapped a foreleg around her neck.
Airheart returned the gesture. “How are you feeling, then?”
“A little stressed, tired, worried, all of those words.”
Airheart sighed. “I know how you feel. Fluttershy had her appendix out when she was four and I was distraught, so… yeah. Tea?”
“Please.”
Airheart nodded and let go of Rainbow and headed to the kitchen.
Rainbow trotted into the living room, with Shine walking around her legs.
Swirl raced past them, already a master of running with a cast, something her mother would never be able to replicate.
Swirl jumped onto the sofa and moved into a comfortable position, which took a while as her leg proved uncooperative.
Rainbow joined her on the sofa, being careful to avoid sitting on Dash, who was asleep under a blanket. Fluttershy was sat by her head, swaying as if she was almost going to sleep.
“Is she okay?” Rainbow asked the yellow filly.
Fluttershy yawned. “Yes, she’s okay. She said she was feeling a little bit poorly so she decided to have a nap.”
“Fair enough.”
Shine gave Swirl a cold look before jumping on the sofa and sitting beside her.
“How did work go today?” Swirl asked eagerly.
Rainbow gave her a puzzled look. “Really? You wanna know about that?”
Swirl nodded.
“If you must know, it was going fine, really boring, actually. But at least I got to get off early.”
“Why?”
“Because your deputy head flew in and told me you were in hospital.”
“And you got a day off because of that?” Swirl asked in amazement.
“Of course I did. I'm going back tomorrow to talk to the boss and see what’s happening.”
“I'm sure you got the job.”
“I hope so.”
Swirl’s stomach rumbled, which could be felt by those next to her.
“I'm really hungry,” she moaned.
Rainbow looked to a clock. “Half eight? Wow, we were there for ages. Have you girls eaten yet?” she asked Shine and Fluttershy.
“Mother made us some spaghetti,” Fluttershy said.
“Oh, did she now?” Rainbow replied contemptuously.
Fluttershy nodded.
“And with my ingredients?”
She nodded again.
Airheart walked in from the kitchen, carrying two mugs of tea. She handed one to Rainbow and sat on another chair with hers.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” she said sheepishly. “We were all getting rather hungry so I made us some spaghetti. I made enough for you two for when you came back. Shall I warm some up for you?”
“Yes please. Want some, Swirl?”
Swirl stared blankly into the distance. “I feel funny.”
“It’s probably just the anaesthetic. Do you want some food?”
Swirl nodded.
Airheart nodded and went to warm some spaghetti.

Rainbow sniffed the food that had been placed in front of her. Her mouth started watering instantly.
“This smells delicious!” she praised. She took a forkful and placed it in her mouth.
She made a noise of approval as she began chewing the pasta. “This is just… scrumptious!”
Airheart smiled at her choice of words. “Thanks.”
“What even is it?”
“Just spaghetti cooked in the oven. Nothing special.”
“Could I have the recipe?”
Airheart snorted derisively. “Recipe? There is no recipe, really. Just get a knob of butter in a tin with tomato puree, put it on the hob, boil the kettle and fill with water, bring to the boil, add salt, pepper, herbs, spices and what have you to taste; put spaghetti in the tin and then put the tin in the oven until it’s cooked. Simple. I know Fluttershy likes it with parmesan cheese, but I personally can’t stand the stuff.
Rainbow nodded. “I’ll try making it one day.”
“There’s really nothing to it, just don’t overcook the spaghetti.”
Rainbow looked down to Swirl beside her. She was still staring into nothing, not even registering the food in front of her.
Rainbow nudged the damaged Pegasus gently. “Swirl?”
“Yeah?” the filly replied absently.
“Why don’t you go to bed?”
“Okay.” Swirl flew off the sofa and upstairs.
Shine looked up to her mother with hopeful eyes. “Mu-?”
Rainbow sighed. “You can finish her spaghetti if you want.”
Shine celebrated quietly and pulled the bowl in front of her.
“I better go check on her,” Rainbow said as she stood up. “And Shine, don’t eat my dinner,” she jested before trotting upstairs.

Rainbow found her daughter in her bedroom, looking incredibly confused.
“Swirl?” she asked concernedly.
“Which bed is mine?”
Rainbow shook her head and stepped over to the filly. She picked her up and placed her in her bed.
“Get some sleep, Swirl,” she said, although her daughter had already fallen asleep.
Rainbow kissed her forehead and left her to sleep.

Rainbow returned downstairs and continued her to eat her dinner.
Rain started to patter against the window, growing steadily heavier. Rainbow looked at it for a while.
“You okay, Rainbow?” Airheart asked kindly.
Rainbow nodded.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Fluttershy suddenly came back from the brink of sleep and stared out the window. She started trembling.
“Come Here, Fluttershy,” Airheart said lovingly.
Fluttershy quickly darted to her mother’s side and shielded her face from the window.
Airheart draped a wing over her. “She’s scared of lightning,” she informed.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Of course she is.”
“Would you mind if we stay here tonight?” Airheart asked hopefully. “What with this sudden storm at all.”
“Sure. You can stay.”
Shine rolled lazily off the sofa. “I'm going to bed, Mummy, she said wearily. “Nighty night.”
“Pyjama pyjama,” Rainbow replied instinctively as she watched Shine trot upstairs.
Airheart gave her a puzzled look. “What?”
“I don’t know. She started saying it and now I do.”
“That’s a strange one, I must admit.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Rainbow yawned. “Wow, I'm tired.”
“Go to bed then.”
“I think I might have to.” Rainbow stood up to take her bowl into the kitchen before heading up to bed.
“Before you go,” Airheart started. “Where can we sleep?”
Rainbow thought hard for a second. “Err… well, Fluttershy can sleep with Dash, I guess. As for you, I don’t know. Either the sofa or with me in my double bed.”
Airheart winced. “That would be a little strange wouldn’t it?”
“Not really. If Dash and Fluttershy can share a bed, why can’t we? We’re basically them just, like, twenty-seven years older.”
“Twenty-four,” Airheart replied, feeling a little insulted.
“Oh, sorry. I just assumed we’re the same age. But anyway, my point still stands. And we don’t have to spoon or anything.”
“That just makes it sound weirder.”
“You can sleep on the sofa. That was my first idea anyway. It’s just that this room get freezing in the night.”
“That settles it, then. If you don’t mind, that is,” she added sheepishly.
“Not at all. C’mon then, let’s get these to bed,” Rainbow said as she picked the sleeping Dash up.
Airheart picked Fluttershy up and they all went upstairs.

They placed their respective daughter’s in the bed, wishing them goodnight, before heading to Rainbow’s room.
Rainbow got into bed first and fell asleep near instantly thanks to her stressful day. She didn’t even notice when Airheart got in beside her.


The next morning, Rainbow woke up in her bed. She yawned quietly and began to rub her eyes. Once awake and open, they saw a confusing sight.
Rainbow’s heart started pounding and she couldn’t avert her gaze.
Airheart was lying next to her, with her nose mere inches from Rainbow’s.
Rainbow couldn’t remember for the life of her why Airheart was lying in bed with her.