The Shattered Remnants of My Mind

by Chivalry

Our Pillar of Strength pt 2

Part 2: Our Last Night Together:

It was late in the afternoon, and Windbreaker had just finished her training session.
“Great job today, WB. Keep this up, and you might even be able to out fly the Wonderbolts!” her personal trainer said. He was a lean, green pegasus with a blue mane and yellow eyes.

She collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted.
“Do you really think so?” she asked between breaths. Her training had been getting more and more rigorous, and she really pushed herself today. She found that she had been doing that a lot more lately.

He held his hoof out to help her up, “Of course. Have I ever lied to you before?”
“No -pant*- No, I guess -pant*- you haven’t.”

He dug through one of his saddlebags, “Here, you need to drink more water. Also, get a good night’s sleep tonight. Your body will need time to recover.”

She took the water gratefully and finished the large bottle in a matter of seconds.
“Ten seconds flat! Wow, you must have been thirsty,” he said with a smile.
“You have no idea!” she said, looking at the sun.
“I need to get going. I’ll see you next week, Storm!” She waved goodbye and walked towards the hospital.

The path from the training field to the hospital was not longer than half a mile, but right now, it felt like she was heading all the way to Stalliongrad.
‘My legs hurt, my wings hurt, everything hurts,’ she thought as she dragged herself along.

Along with the aching in he muscles, she felt hungry yet extremely nauseous from over-exerting herself. The two thoughts mixed together like toxic sludge in her stomach. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. So she looked for things to distract herself with, however she saw something that sent her heart a flutter.

“Leon! Mom! What are you guys doing out here?” she asked with newfound hope.
‘Maybe she’s better. Maybe she’s coming home. Oh Celestia, I am so excited!’
However, the look on her brother’s face told her otherwise. He had that one smile on his face. That smile that said something was wrong.
“What’s wrong, guys?”
Leon was about to speak up when Moondancer put her hoof on his, then turned to her daughter.
“We’ll tell you when we get home, ok honey?”

Later at the house…

“WHAT!?” Windbreaker was crying hysterically, her voice filled with anguish and frustration. To Leon, hearing her like this felt like being cut by a blizzard of razors.
“Mom asked to leave the hospital and is allowed to stay here with us,” he said, fighting back his own pain.
“Not that! The -sniff*- the part where you said mom is d-dying!” Her beautiful mane was disheveled, her eyes were bloodshot, and tears flowed like a river down her face.
Leon swallowed hard, “Yes… She’s dying. Which is why she thought it was important that we spend as much time together as we can. We need to be strong for her. Show her how much we love her, and show her the best time we can.”

“It’s not fair…” she whispered, collapsing on the floor. “It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s just not.”
“Celestia, why does this keep happening to us?” she pleaded.
Leon walked over to her and embraced her tightly. He finally let his own pain out as he held her. “I don’t know why these things have been happening to us, but we can’t pity ourselves. We have to move on, stay strong, and show no fear.” He held her tightly as they wept. They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, just crying, and while crying never got rid of the pain, it did help. After Windbreaker had caught her breath, Leon picked her head up and looked into her eyes. “Now, wash up. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
She smiled up at him, “Okay.”

Dinner went by very quickly. The family told each other stories and shared many laughs, but they couldn’t fully enjoy the evening. Moondancer’s ill health caused her to cough and convulse when she laughed. After dinner, they played some of the old board games that were lying around the house. Eventually, Moondancer passed out and her children carried her to the bedroom. As Leon tucked her into bed, Windbreaker spoke up.

“Leon, I want to stay with her tonight,” she said. Leon could tell that she was in a great deal of pain, perhaps even more so than himself. Seeing their proud and beautiful mother in such a state of what can only be described as decay.
“I… I understand, and I’m going to stay too,” he said as he walked out of the room.

‘If this is her last night, I want to be here for her.’

He went to WB’s room to grab some of her things: a pillow, her doll, and her favorite blanket. Next was his room, which he duly noted as a complete mess. The workbench was covered in papers, pencils, and paints, the wastebasket was overflowing with his rejected artwork, and his clothes were thrown about. He chuckled a bit as he noticed his smock hanging from the ceiling fan. He hadn’t been able to spend much time at home recently, and when he was, it was just to sleep.

Almost instinctively, he reached into the disheveled mess, and found his own blanket and pillow. While he didn’t have a doll like his sister, he did have something that helped him sleep. He went the drawer at his workbench and pulled out the dream catcher one of his friends made for him when they lived in Ponyville. Due to how well Leon took care of the precious item, its true age didn’t show. It looked as new as the day she gave it to him.

Tucking it into his shirt pocket, Leon walked back down the hall to his mother’s room to find his sister fast asleep in their mother’s rocking chair.

He smiled a bit, ‘I’m glad she’s getting some rest. It’s been a rough day.’

He put her blanket over her, and then propped her head up with the pillow. Turning back to his mother, he placed the doll by her side. Now that the two of them were taken care of, Leon felt just how tired he was. Kneeling by Moondancer’s bedside, he put his hoof atop of hers, and rested his head on the bedding, not even bothering to cover himself up.
Slowly, he drifted off to sleep, and prayed Celestia for a peaceful memory of the time with his family to play in his mind.

When Leon opened his eyes, a warm, bright light greeted him. As he looked at the bright light, he felt the same ecstasy that washed over him after he had cleared his mind of Michael. However, he could feel another’s presence in this world…

“Well, well, I’m glad you could join us,” a stallion said, his voice warm and strangely familiar to him.”

“D-dad?”

Comments

[SergeantShenanigans]

I bet you weren't expecting me to comment on this site now were you!
Anyway I have to say that yet again you have my mind buzzing in anticipation!
I can't wait till the next chapter and I will also be reviewing on the other FF.net too :)