The River and the Rain

by AzhureMist

Chapter 3: Discouragement

When the three sisters arrived, with supper on the table and their parents impatiently waiting, Song was happy to report
that the cool water relieved her legs of any pain within a few seconds.

She didn't expect the silence that descended on the table after that.

"Rain Song, why were your legs hurting in the first place?" her father asked in a flat tone of voice.

"Oh- it was kind of a long walk to the river, so they were getting kind of sore, and then I fell, but then it was okay
because-"

"You fell? And you kept GOING?! Rain Song, you CAN'T DO THAT!" Rain Cloud pounded his hoof on the table, making everyone jump. Song's face fell, and she turned to her mother for support, but Rain Sparkle continued in the same vein as her husband.

"You can't just walk and run normally, Rain Song! You are fragile and weak, and you haven't even recovered fully from
your accident. If you keep going, you could be permanently disabled!"

Rain Song's ears drooped, and her sisters slid toward the other side of the table, munching their food as quietly as
possible. Rain Sparkle turned to the auburn unicorn by her side.

"Do we have to hire a full-time nurse to take care of her?" she asked.

"I think we should strap her down so she can't hurt herself," he responded with what Song hoped was sarcasm.

"Well, she certainly isn't leaving the house again for a long time," Sparkle finished.

Tears began to fill Song's eyes. She pushed her plate away and ran up the stairs to her room as quickly as she could
manage.

The next few weeks were dreary ones. Despite a lack of any problem with her legs, Rain Song had to take her lessons at home. To make matters worse, whenever Rain Style or Spirit asked her to play outside with them, their mother butted in and sharply reminded them of Song's inability. It didn't help that they asked at least once every day.

One late summer night, Rain Spirit crept into her sister's bedroom, where Song was reading with a flashlight under the
covers.

"Song!" she whispered. "Let's sneak out into the forest! It'll be so creepy!"

A sigh came from under the sheets, and then a beige head poked out. "I don't think that's a good idea. We're pretty much guaranteed to get hurt out there."

The orange filly tossed her head. "I knew you'd say that, but listen: it'd be really fun! There's this old tree that
looks just like a bear, and there are fireflies, and-"

"No." Song nestled back under the sheets.

"Why not?" her sister whined.

Song thought about it, and then decided she could use her injury for her own purposes this time. "Because it's dark, and the ground's uneven and covered with roots and rocks and sticks, and I don't think my legs can handle it."

"Ugh!" Spirit blew up, heedless of her sleeping parents downstairs. "You're so useless! You can't do magic, and you can't fly- all you can do is walk, and you can barely do that!!"

Rain Song paled, then gritted her teeth and snapped, "Get out of my room!"

"Gladly!" her sister huffed, and slammed the door.

Ignoring the shouts from downstairs, Song held her head in her hooves and tried not to cry. Surely she was good for
something, right? At least she could swim. And there was her writing.

She turned her flashlight's beam onto her flank, smiling when she saw the scroll and quill pen. What did a couple of
fillies without their cutie marks know about it, anyway?

With a shaky smile, she switched off the flashlight, and replaced it and the book on the table. Useless?, she thought as she nestled into her pillow. I'll show them useless. I'm going to write a book that'll be on everypony's bookshelf. And it'll have more running, and flying, and magic-using than they can take!

She yawned into the darkness. Nopony was ever truly useless. Not even her.

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the woods, over the bear-like tree and the hidden, sleeping fireflies, and through the windows of the Rain family's house. Rain Style sat on the couch, peacefully brushing the mane of her older sister, who sat on the floor in front of her.

"So I told Pink Filly that since her mane was black, she'd have to bleach it in streaks and then dye it, in order to get
any discernible shade of purple in there, but she just rolled her eyes and said she knew what she was doing."

Style dipped a hoof into a jar of some sort of mane cream, then rubbed her hooves together and began spreading it through her sister's deep red-orange mane. Slowly it began to shine, and the honey-colored highlights showed through more brilliantly.

"So of course she comes to school the next day, and what happened to her mane? ... That's right, absolutely nothing. The only signs that she tried dyeing anything at all were the purple smudge marks by her scalp."

She picked up the wide ribbon laying on the couch next to her, and began tying it into her sister's hair. The soft green
color provided a charming accent to the orange and red tones, and brought out Song's green eyes.

"Here, take a look!" Style grabbed a mirror, and held it up in front of her sister, who gasped.

"That's me?! I look fantastic!"

"I knew you would. You just needed a little color variety. You're too monochromatic otherwise." She shuffled her beauty
products over to one side. "Now let's hear this story of yours."

Song picked up her notebook, and regaled Style with her latest project, the tale of a mad scientist and Bobo, his monkey assistant. Soon they were rolling on the floor, clutching their sides with laughter, and Style was calling out suggestions.

"Oh, Style, you got something on your flank," Song pointed out after a little while.

"Probably just mane cream. Can you get me a tissue?" Style suggested, then turned to look at herself.

"Celestia's hooves! That's not mane cream at all! It's..." she paused for a second, then grinned. "It's my new tattoo!"

"A tattoo?" Song stood up and looked at it. "You mean, you waited so long for a cutie mark that you had to draw one on? But why would you draw that?"

"That, my older but not wiser sister, is the perfect cutie mark. I will use it to beautify all of Equestria. It's
something I should have started long ago."

Pictured on her pristine white flank was a blue mirror, with a comb and brush fanned out behind it. Song opened her
mouth, and was about to admire it, but she was interrupted:

"I knew I'd have a higher calling than you. No offense, Song. It's just that you're an earth pony, and you can't be
expected to do something as sophisticated as a pegasus."

Song's mouth snapped shut. It was a while before she could speak, but then her voice was low and serious.

"That's not true. Pegasi aren't better than earth ponies."

"I didn't say we were!" Style turned her wide blue eyes on her sister. "We're just more complicated, that's all. You
earth ponies are better suited to more earthly things. Simpler things. More basic things- just as important," she added, seeing her sister's shock. "...in their own way."

"I can't believe you'd think that!" Song was clearly hurt. "Writing a story is way more complex than just doing
somepony's mane! There are endless elements at work in writing, but you only use the hair and the products in front of you!"

Style rolled her eyes. "I didn't expect you to understand. Just... never mind. We'll talk about it sometime when you can
be reasonable." She shook herself and glided down the stairs- just to show off her wings again, Song thought. And she left her brush and hair cream on the couch, too, for somepony like me to clean up.

She picked up the brush in her mouth, and then paused. What if she really was being unreasonable? Wasn't it possible that her sister was right, and earth ponies were just playing in the mud while pegasi and unicorns built up a shining civilization around them?

Rain Song sighed. Was there really any way to know?

Sparkle Rain trotted quietly up the stairs while Song gathered up her sister's belongings. She cleared her throat.

"I don't want you to take what Style said to heart," she began. Song looked up at her and smiled.

"Pegasi and unicorns are no better than earth ponies. They're just different, that's all."

Song felt her heart rise again. Her mother knew better than Style did, anyway.

"Earth ponies are known to be better at jobs that don't require much education, like farming, and their sturdy bodies
make them better suited for it. I would know- both of my parents were earth ponies."

Rain Song sat down. She'd heard this before.

"The Spots kept a cattle farm, which wasn't the biggest, or the best, but I'll always remember the taste of the milk and
cheese they produced. This was back when I was a filly named Sparkle Spot, you know.

"I'll also remember how dirty that farm was..." she gave a little shudder, "which is why I was so glad to leave."

Song sighed. This didn't make her feel better at all!

"Were they surprised to have a pegasus for a daughter?"

"Not really- my grandfather was a pegasus. It was more surprising when my brother got into law school and proved as
diligent a student as any unicorn. So, there you go- Uncle Inky is a very successful lawpony in Canterlot, and he's an earth
pony! If you try hard, you can be just like him someday!"

A little smile lifted the corners of Song's mouth.

"Thanks, Mom," she said. Her mother nuzzled the top of her head.

"Now stop wasting time on this silly tripe, and go study. You're not going to have this much spare time in law school."

Song followed her mother's gaze, and quickly swept up her writing notebook. She balanced it on her back along with her sister's supplies, and ran to put them away. She felt oddly reluctant as she slid the notebook in between the books on her shelf, but told herself this was for the best. No one cared about an earth pony's silly stories. If she ever wanted to make something of herself, she had a lot of work to do.