> Adoption: Spot
>  by Bluetree650
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Opening Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Chapter 1: Opening Up


The day outside was cool with a light breeze to the north, but inside the crystal palace, everything was on fire.

A pegasus colt, about seven years old with white fur and red spots on his wings, ran around the now illuminated basement, fire burning through his red mane. 

“Help! I’m on flipping fire! Mom!!” He screamed

“Spot, hold still,” a sharp voice shouted. 

Spot did as he was told, body shaking and heart quaking, he waited for his mother to do… something. Eventually there was an oomph sound and he found himself covered in flour. 

“At least the fire’s out?” Twilight said. 

Twilight Sparkle, purple alicorn mare and Princess Celestia’s golden girl, did everything to advance her knowledge of magic, science, botany, cooking (failing that one) and a number of other topics.

Spot blew a puff of air, spitting out a cloud of flour. His white coat turned, well white, and the other, smaller burns sung a chorus of pain all around his body. “Are we done with experiments, mom? I think my body’s taken enough of a beating.” 

“Oh come on Spot, I thought you were having fun with that one, and I almost turned the tomato into a butternut squash. That’s cool, right?” 

“Mom! Everytime I am a part of your crazy experiments, I get hurt somehow. I mean, I had black fur at one point, remember?” 

Twilight flew down to her son’s level, “Yeah, but think of the memories,” she breathed heavily and had a nervous twitch in one of her eyes. That was typically a sign things were about to go from hectic to dangerous. “I mean, we’ll look back on this in a few years and laugh our pants off.” 

“Mom, we don’t wear pants outside of formal occasions,” Celestia knows Rarity tried to get us to wear them every waking moment.

“But,” as if to show she knew how bad she had messed up, Twilight put a hoof to her mouth and started nervously biting her fetlock, “I’m trying my best to make your time with me fun. My books all say that the best way to bond with your child is to do fun things. What’s more fun than blowing things up?” her eyes went wide and she added, “in the name of science, of coarse.” 

Okay, Spot had to admit that blowing things up was pretty fun, “but only when I’m not being blown up, or getting my coat color changed. It was so much easier to sneak out and see Chrysanthemum with a black coat.”

“You still haven’t tied the knot with her?” Twilight’s eyes went half lidded and she gave a kissy face, being certain to make smooching sounds. 

Spot looked up to the top of the stairs and saw Spike, the local baby dragon, holding a piece of parchment, using it to cover his snickers. He blushed. “Mom, please. Don’t change the subject. I do enjoy spending time with you, but,” he couldn’t finish his sentence. Twilight was actually starting to tear up. 

“You don’t want to be my son anymore?” 

“What– No– Mom, stop being so dramatic! I’ve lived with you for two months now and if I wanted to go back to the orphanage I’d have done it already,” Spot decided a little affection was needed. He walked up and hugged Twilight’s left front leg, “Mom, I love you, truly. Sure, you’re a pony that sometimes sets my head on fire, but you have good intentions. That and a giant heart.”

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Spike shouted, jumping up and down with a camera in his sticky claws, “I want proof that Spot can deal with Twilight at her worst, now kiss!” 

“How about a nuzzle,” Twilight said. She wiped her tears with a forehoof.

“That works,” Spike shouted from above

Twilight nuzzled the top of her son’s head, getting a slight groan from the colt, while Spike took the picture of a lifetime, rolled it up in his parchment and blew green magical fire. The resulting flames were whisked through an open window. 

“Celestia’s going to love that piece of art, I swear!” 

“You know Spike,” Twilight said, letting Spot get back on all four hooves, “I don’t think Celestia is actually paying you to document Spot’s life story.” 

“Do you think she would? Maybe I could buy a few gems of my own, oh and I could – wait, Rarity doesn’t eat gems.”

Twilight sighed, “No that’s not what I–”

“Hey! I told you to stop going after Rarity, Spike,” Spot shouted rushing up the spiral stairs. He glared at the baby dragon, one that could easily set him ablaze once more, “she’s a mother and Chrysanthemum doesn’t need that kind of influence. She’s frail!” 

There was a pop and Twilight appeared behind him, pulling his tail with a bit of magic, “are you sure you don’t want me to set up a play date for the two of you? The way you care about Chrysanthemum is a bit much for ‘just friends’”   

“No mom, I–” Spot went silent, getting a worried look from Twilight. He shoved Spike aside and went up the rest of the stairs. 

“What’s got him in a tissy?” Spike said, hiding his fear well, “I thought he loved hanging out with Chrysanthemum. The two are closer than the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” 

“Blazing Spotlight,” Twilight yelled, “you come back her and apologize to Spike!” 

There was no response, only more loud yelling followed by hooves slamming against the stairs.

Spike gave Twilight a nervous look, only to have it replicated. Spot never ignored his mother. No matter how mad he got, Twilight could always rein him in by using his full name.

“Spot?” Twilight set Spike down on solid ground and headed after him. “If it’s about the coat color, I can buy you some dye!”

Through the three blast doors, (She never took any chances with her experiments), and up the second flight of wood stairs, Twilight made her way to the ground floor of her castle. That was where all the books lay in wait, a maze of mysteries, science fiction, horror and romance stories ripe for the picking. She checked the kitchen, got an aerial view of the library, even looked outside for a full minute before heading upstairs. She wouldn’t notice the mess of books that Spot had thrown to the ground until later. 

Pressing her ear to the opaque glass door that held Spot’s room, Twilight listened. 

She heard crying.

“Spot?” Worry crept through her voice like rain through a cracked wall. Opening the door was easier than she thought. He tended to lock it whenever he got mad. “Spot, what’s wrong? If it’s the teasing, I’ll stop.” 

Spot sat on his twin sized bed. Twilight had offered to get him a king of his own, but he wanted the twin, more comfortable that way as he says.  His room was sparkling clean, as usual, but it felt dirty, like Twilight caught him, experimenting with his special parts. 

That isn’t for another few years, Twilight thought as she moved through the doorway, past his desk and sat next to him on the bed. She used her hoof to wipe away the few tears that made their way down his cheeks. 

“Spot,” her words were soft and caring. Spot leaned against her chest, “what’s the matter?” 

“Did you adopt me so I could be your test subject?” The colts words shook, but he’d stopped crying. “Day in and day out I see you watching me. You say I can explore as much as I want, talk to whoever I want, but you’re always there, with a clipboard.” 

“What, no, of course not,” Twilight was frantic. Why would her son think such a thing? He had asked to stop the experiments, that he didn’t like getting hurt, but Twilight pushed him, giving her usual speech on the memories they’d make together. Maybe she had pushed a little too hard? Maybe she should have stopped a while ago? “Spot, you’re my son, I adopted you because I saw something special in you. Something I wanted to nurture, so you can grow into the leader I know you can be.” 

“Then why do you watch my every move? Mom, you treat me like a two year old.” 

Twilight smiled, “That just comes with the territory, my son. I’m a mare of science, and you’re the son of a mare of science. Everything you do will be recorded for future reference. Every fight you get into, every kiss you have. All to further my understanding of children!” Twilight noticed how Spot tensed up. Her previous logs and books said that a child only tensed when he or she felt threatened. “How about this. I’ll make your room a safe haven. I will never record your actions here, and I’ll even drop the number of experiments per week. Let’s say, two instead of five. That sound fair?”

Spot relaxed, which was a good sign. He even chuckled, which was better. “There’s the heart I knew you had Mom,” he said with no sarcasm in his voice. Twilight silently patted herself on the back as another bomb was defused. “You know,” he pulled himself off Twilight’s chest and looked her in the eye, “I don’t think I’ve told you about my other mother.” 

Twilight’s ears twitched. Give your colt some leeway and he’ll trust you more. When he trusts you more he will tell you more about himself. She internally jumped for joy. “Your other mom? You never told me about another mom?” 

Spot sat up and pushed away from his mother’s grasp. He moved over to his pillow, wrapped in a plain blue case, and stuck his hoof underneath. “I guess that means I can take your word on keeping my room a safe haven then,” pulling his hoof back, he revealed a picture, “her name was Cloudy Melody. This is her holding me when I was a few months old.”

Twilight scooted over, the sun just strong enough to reveal a blue pegasus mare brightly smiling as she held a sleeping colt with black fur. “Wow, your other mother was beautiful.” 

Spot sniffed.

“I know, she was kind and loving, and taught me to understand everything,” he looked up at Twilight, who once again wiped his tears away, this time getting a laugh in return, “she told me that there’s always more than one side to every story. That I need to try my best to look at things from other perspectives. That’s why I didn’t scream at you about the experiments, mom, because I knew you’d be hurt by that. I don’t want to hurt you, just let you know how I feel.” 

“And I’m sorry about forcing too much upon you,” Twilight rubbed her son’s shoulders, “here, this isn’t something you should hide away,” she levitated the tape from Spot’s desk, “this is something to be put on display and admired,” with two small strips of tape, Twilight stuck the picture just above Spot’s bed, “now every night before you go to bed you can say goodnight to her.” 

Spot sniffed again. He waited for Twilight to finish taping the picture before getting up and looking at the final product.

Silence filled the room as he just looked at Cloudy Melody’s face. He pressed his forehead against the wall, “she killed herself.”

Twilight gasped, “what?” 

Spot started to tremble, “she jumped off a cliff in the middle of the night. I never learned why. I went to the orphanage the very next day!” he moved back and fell into Twilight’s lap, shuddering as arms enfolded around him. “You aren’t going to jump off a cliff too, right?” 

Twilight wanted to crack a joke, say it wasn’t in her plans, but that felt deathly wrong. Rubbing his back, she said in her most serious tone, “never, I would never hurt you like that,”
> Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2: Memories 


        Off in the distance, Twilight could see the cloud home of Rainbow Dash. 

        She had spoken to her son about something that would make him feel more at home in her palace, and he mentioned how, when Cloudy Melody was alive, he lived in a cloud home. Not an extravagant one like Rainbow’s, equipped with three different rainbow falls, but a simple box that was easy to pull and was made of cumulus clouds.

        Twilight had noticed during her take off, that Spot clung a bit too tightly to her neck, and whenever he looked down, he’d whimper. She didn’t want to make a big deal about it. He’d told her about his mother but two hours ago, and she couldn’t bring herself to deal him another blow over being scared of heights.

“That much Cumulus isn’t going to come cheap, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash leaned against the cloud window just about her cloud front door, her rainbow mane lightly sticking to one side of her cyan face. “Cumulus are used all over Equestria, number one water holder. Small beds of the stuff can go for fifty bits.” 

Twilight pushed Spot away from one of the pools of rainbow. If one taste could send Pinkie Pie into a near catatonic state, she didn’t want to know what it’d do to a young colt. “And I’m sure you can get me a discount,”  

Twilight wasn’t the kind of pony to pull strings. Sure, she was Celestia’s right hand mare, but she never, ever, abused that position. The worst she’d done was ask for help with the rent, and that was after spending three days in a panic trying to come up with the bits. 

To Rainbow, hearing her ask, without hesitation, for a discount, was more out of the blue than Fluttershy smacking someone in the face. 

Rainbow took off, doing a few flips before floating down to her porch. She eyed the colt, those red spots eyeing her, and smiled when he didn’t shy away. “Something special about him?”  

“He’s my son, Rainbow,” Twilight’s words came with a flash of anger, “I just want to do something special for him, okay.”

“No need to get mad, Twilight,” Rainbow put her hooves up, “It’s just not everyday my friend asks me for a discount on clouds.” 

Twilight looked down at Spot. He didn’t seem afraid, or overwhelmed by Rainbow Dash’s “awesomeness” as she puts it, but he was weary. “You know how I adopted Spot, right?”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t shut up about it.” Rainbow said,  sitting down on the cloud, sending tiny puffs of the stuff out in either direction. “What about it?” 

Twilight sighed and took a step forward, “well Spot is my son, so I feel it necessary to do something for him every now and again.” 

“Look Twilight,” Rainbow got up and puffed her chest out before looking the other mare in the eye, “I get it. You want to get a good bit of cumulus for your new son, and you think that because I'm the weather manager here in Ponyville, that I can get you a hookup or two.” 

Suddenly Twilight went wide eyed, “I didn’t mean to assume, Rainbow, I– if you can’t do it then I’ll just pony up and pay the full price. I was just trying to–” 

“Calm down, Egghead, I have the connections,” Rainbow said with a thin smile, “who do you take me for, an air head that can’t back herself up?” 

Spot tugged on Twilight’s wing, “Mom,” he motioned for her to move closer. She did and he whispered into her ear, “I thought she was full of hot air. Am I wrong?”

Twilight looked at her son before bursting out into rough laughter. 

“Hey! What did he say?” Rainbow shot Spot a glare, surprised when he didn’t back down. “I’ll have you know, squirt, that I am the only pony in equestria that can pull of a sonic rainboom!” 

“I’m sure he’s just messing with you, Rainbow,” Twilight said, pulling herself together. 

“Well, I never saw Rainbow do anything really cool, just heard her praise herself again and again. How am I supposed to know? Where’s the proof?”

“Stop pushing her buttons, Spot,” Twilight smacked her son in the back of his head with her wing, “I’m sure she’ll show you just how awesome she is soon enough.” 

“Yeah,” Rainbow spat, “then we’ll see who’s full of hot air.” 

Twilight, Spot and Rainbow slowly migrated inside of Rainbow’s house. Rainbow gave Spot permission to look around and the colt was quick to agree. The remaining two made their way into the cloud kitchen, after Twilight told Spot not to touch anything.

“Twilight,” Rainbow said, leaning against the table, “who is that colt?” 

The kitchen itself had a lot of things other cloud homes wished they had. A stove instead of a thundercloud, a refrigerator instead of a snow cloud, a microwave, a sink. Every single piece of technology would fall straight through the cloud if it hadn’t been for Twilight’s gravity proof spell. 

Most unicorns couldn’t gravity proof anything bigger than a poster, some of the more expensive gravity proofers couldn’t handle anything Rainbow had, but Twilight was Princess Celestia’s student, and one of Rainbow’s closest friends.

“He’s my son.” Twilight’s words held a deadpanned tone. 

“Not by blood, Twilight,” Rainbow’s eyes gained a hardness Twilight only saw when the mare was truly passionate about something. She never thought that something could be her son. “He reminds me of my psychiatrist's son.” Just as quick as it came, the hate in Rainbow’s words died out and she gave a longing look up her stairs where Spot had gone. “My Psychiatrist killed herself almost a year and a half ago.” 

The last two hours had been hell for Twilight. She couldn’t see her son the same way after she learned what he’d been through. He seemed so frail, so pale and hurt now. She’d taken him out to lunch at the Sun Shack, but even with a full stomach and a smile on his face– 

He looked so broken

To make matters worse, she couldn’t tell anybody. The amount of pity he’d get from the townsponies. The gifts, the unneeded attention, he wouldn’t survive! 

But to tell the secret to someone that pretty much knows it already, someone that apparently cares about Spot and could easily be convinced to keep the secret… secret.

To tell the element of loyalty something that’s eating you inside like a parasitic worm...  

“Do you know his mother’s name?” 

“Cloudy Melody!” Twilight all but chirped. 

        Rainbow blinked. She blinked again, and suddenly her eyes went wide. “Oh… my… Celestia!” 

        “Rainbow, I need you to keep it a secret until I can figure out what’s best to help–”

        “Twilight!” Rainbow shouted, “I’m his godmother!”

        “What…” It was Twilight’s turn to blink. And blink. “What are you saying, Rainbow?” Her words were a warning. Why she made it that way, she couldn’t rightly guess.

        “I didn’t want to do it. I’m not good at the whole taking care of a child thing,” Rainbow nervously floated in place, scratching the back of her neck. “Cloudy, you know, helped me out a lot. I – well, I see the world in a new light thanks to her. So, when she asked, I kinda couldn’t say no.” 

        “I don’t care about the story, Rainbow! You’re not taking my son away from me!” 

        Suddenly Rainbow turned aggressive, “I made a promise, Twilight, one I signed a stupid document over. As of five years ago, if Cloudy Melody were to die, I would take Blazing Spotlight in. He’s my godson.” 

        “Mom” 

        Both Rainbow and Twilight shot menacing glares at the voice daring enough to interrupt them. 

        Spot flinched, “I just want to ask, Rainbow if I can borrow this book. You don’t have it in the library, and I kind of wanted to read it.” 

        The interruption did give Twilight enough time to think. She of all ponies shouldn’t be arguing in front of a child that’s been through what Spot went through. “Are you kidding me Spot, I saw that book on the shelf yesterday.” 

“No!” Spot all but spat, “I checked yesterday and the book wasn’t there.” 

Rainbow seemed to break free from the anger at that. “Twilight, don’t tell me you don’t have Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone! That’s the one that started it all!” 

Twilight thought for a moment. Rainbow was the element of loyalty, and she was Spot’s godmother. She couldn’t say no to anything that’ll help Spot! “I think it’s a good idea, Rainbow! He could read it on his new cloud bed”  

Rainbow might be dense enough not to notice the ponies swooning over her affection,  but she wasn’t blind to the way Twilight articulated cloud bed. “I guess he can borrow the book, but I’d like it back in a week, alright?” Spot smiled and said his thanks before heading outside to get a better light. When he was gone, Rainbow spoke, but in a darker tone, “but I can’t give you a discount on that cloud bed Twilight. I'm suddenly not in the most generous of moods.” She narrowed her eyes, “maybe go see Rarity?”    

Twilight backpedaled, lifting a hoof as if to defend from a blow. She wanted to say something, but she knew when she’d been beaten. “Okay, Rainbow,” there were no malice in her words. While she may be Spot’s mother, Rainbow was his godmother, and to fight with her wouldn’t look too good in his eyes. “Do you know where I can buy cumulus for cheap? I’m just talking the best you can think of off the top of your head, no insider’s deal or anything.” 

“Gray Skies up in Cloudsdale. He’ll give my godson a bed big enough for two. Me and him.” 

Twilight flinched. She said nothing and left. 


	


	
I woke up in the middle of the night. It was thursday night and I had a belly full of pizza. My head felt heavy and I fell back, only to realize that I was alone on the floor. 

My home was but a box of cumulus clouds, but to me it was the safest place in the world. I didn’t care that every other cloud house in Cloudsdale had a thunderhead stove, or cloud furniture, or even a bed. As long as I had my mother, the world was right. 

Picking my head off the soft cloud, I wrapped the blanket tight around my back. Mom left the floor door open and it was letting the cold night air wander inside. 

Bleary, I looked at the pizza box next to me. Not having a stove meant a lot of take out. The kids at school were torn between that; some say it’s bad and home cooked meals should be mandatory, while others are extremely jealous. Mom didn’t seem to mind, so why should I? 

Stretching my wings, I smiled. I tried my best to be a role model child, for my mom. I loved my mom. Yet, here in my box home, I felt the need to be a kid. Here I could whine, invade Mom’s personal space, beg for little things like a flying lesson or a candy bar. Outside, while I spend most of the sunny days there, is a place filled with rules. I have to be respectful all the time, watch what I say, and never, ever, push a filly around. I want to just be a kid, make mistakes, not think about the repercussions of my actions.

Inside I could, outside I couldn’t. 

“Mom,” I whined, hoping she hadn’t gone too far, “Mom, I'm cold.” 

That gets but a chuckle from her inside, followed by a quick hug, or one of the way too many blankets she keeps in the corner, but if I had done that outside, she would have given me a quick slap to the back of the head. I don't like being slapped, who does? 

There was no response. “Mom? Mom where are you?” 

I looked to my left, debated grabbing the last slice of pizza. Cold pizza was always better than warm, but I promised Mom I’d save it for breakfast. I turned to the right and saw a piece of paper. Grabbing it, I read the word WILL before throwing it down. 

I could do that here and not get a slap to the back of the head.

Stretching felt good in the mornings. I felt my bones creak and crack with euphoric results. I wobbled a little when I finished, giggling as I fell to the floor. 

“Mom, come on, I'm tired. Please come back.” Again, no response. I shuffled over to the floor door and poked my head through.

There were times when Mom would drag the cloud home to random locations. It was light, and with the gravity proof harness, even I could tug the place a few feet before giving out. 

It normally happened on the days Mom had off. She’d taken me to Fillydelphia, Trottinghoof, Manehattan, and my favorite, Ponyville. Today, when I poked my head out, I saw none of those, but a giant chasm. 

Ghastly Gorge.

“Mom!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. 

There was no response, but even with my blurry eyes I could see a pegasus flying off in the distance. 

Quietly, I took flight. While I wasn’t the best, I could go in a straight line and keep myself from falling to the ground in a great big splat. “Mom, please come back, I’m tired and you’re the only thing warm enough to get me to sleep!” I shouted, shaking at the bitter winds being dredged up from the seemingly bottomless gorge, “I won’t hog the blanket this time!” 

No response. I was getting worried.

I did something I probably shouldn’t have. I’d seen in WONDERBOLTS the magazine dedicated to the stunt flyers themselves, Spitfire closed her wings to gain speed. Mom didn’t like me going too fast. She feared I might really hurt myself. 

        I didn’t want to, but without a response, what choice did I have? I couldn’t catch up to her using the technique she taught me. 

Slowly I tightened my wings – feeling the seemingly arctic air cut into my red mane and black fur. I shivered and felt the pull of gravity truly take hold. The dry stony ground of the gorge came closer, faster. My heart pumped adrenaline through my system and I felt it pulsing through my veins. 

“Mommy!” I shouted, my voice cracking. I saw the figure stop at the edge of the gorge. She had on the bright yellow jacket that Mom always wore when she took me to school. “Mom I'm scared!” 

Faster and faster, I felt my control slowly slip when Mom jumped. 

I couldn’t stop myself and started doing flips in the air. The world was spinning and I screamed. 

I’d lost control before. Everything looks scary. The ground, once safe, now loomed like a dagger glinting in the moonlight. The walls of the gorge swallowed me like it had Mom. I screamed again. 

In the fleeting moment in my flip I saw Mom’s bright green eyes. They were half closed, and suddenly opened so wide I thought her lids would rip. “Open your wings!” She shouted. 

Her words were like a soothing balm, and I followed them immediately. Opening my wings, I slowed down drastically, and was only able to regain control of myself with the help of the heavy winds being dredged through the gorge itself. 

“Mom!” 

I watched her fall. She was dive bombing just like Spitfire did, but instead of fluffy cloud, she’d hit hard earth. “Mom!,” I started hiccuping as fear pulsed through my veins, “Open your wings Mom!!!” 

I had never thought about losing my mother. It was inconceivable. In a flash I saw all the times I’d been bad. That tiring day where I whined about my food outside, the time I failed my math test. I got smacked on the back of the head, but I thought that was all. I didn’t think… 

“MOM!!” I screamed, tears streaming down my cheeks. I didn’t know how to react. Should I close my wings and try to save her? Could I even save her? “Open your wings mom! PLEASE!” I couldn’t save her. She was too big, too heavy for me to carry. 

I froze, my body went rigid as the sound of cracking bone and mushing brain echoed throughout the canyon, like biting into a crisp apple. 
I thought of dropping as well. Following in her footsteps and ending it all for no damn reason came through like a lightning bolt. I was too scared to go through with it though. 

Slowly, that crunch still ringing inside my head, I descended. I thought about what I was going to do next! Mom was dead.

“Mommy!” I landed and ran to her side. 

She lay limp, head crushed like a watermelon. Blood, brain, and bone shards littered the ground like candy wrappers. Her body was still intact, from the first glance, but I knew when I touched her, things would jiggle. 

“Mommy?” I spoke like I expected her to answer, “Mommy… let’s go home, Mom.” I shook and put my hooves against her chest and pushed. “Mom, you need to fly me to school tomorrow. Tommy said he had an extra thunder cloud. You could make me lunches instead of giving me money… mommy?” 

My legs collapsed and I couldn’t feel the wet patch of my mother’s blood beneath my rump. 

I cried. 

“Spot?” 

A voice from above. Mom was already cold. She was dead. 

“Mom,” I whimpered, “why Mom. I…” I couldn't speak as a warmth wrapped around my stomach. 

“Spot, wake up.” 

Twilight. I looked up to see the gorge falling apart. The walls disintegrated into little particles that simply floated down. The ground and sky did the same, leaving a blackness that I knew were my eyelids. 

   




	
Twilight had planned to make a stop in Canterlot after seeing that Cloudsdale was nowhere near.

Spot had cowered before Celestia. While she couldn’t blame him, Celestia was five times his size, it hammered in the fact that he looked so damn helpless. She had kept herself together, which in turn kept Spot from running around and screaming his head off. 

Celestia had told her that Cloudsdale was close by: just off the horizon about three miles north of Canterlot, and that it was coming closer by the hour. She also told her that by the time she’d reach the city and found her cloud shop, it’d be night. 

Twilight wanted to blame Rainbow for her lack of preparation. She had every right. It was her fault the overpowering thought of losing her child took hold. How in Celestia’s name was she supposed to know, Rainbow was Spot’s godmother? 

Celestia made a few jabs to her student’s pride. Twilight wanted to smack her. Making fun of her was alright, but not when there could be a possible lawsuit looming over her head.  She took the bits for one night at an inn. 

With shame, Twilight left the castle. 

The return trip was harrowing enough with pulling what felt like fifty pounds of cloud and carrying a twenty pound colt on her back, but apparently Cloudsdale wasn’t moving towards Canterlot, but away. Celestia had a way of messing those she cared for, either that or she didn’t know to begin with. 

To top it all off, Spot was afraid of heights. A pegasi afraid of heights: even so, she didn’t say anything about it. If she was lucky he’d tell her, but during the fly there and back he just clung to her neck with his eyes closed tightly. 

When they got home, Twilight set the cloud up in the guest room on the highest floor. She admired Spot’s diligence in that he was able to set up all the pictures he had on the wall in such a way that you felt watched by Cloudy Melody. 

With the cloud setup, Twilight collapsed, dreadfully exhausted. 

She woke up as Spot was having a nightmare.

“Spot wake up!” Twilight shouted. What little sleep she got had done wonders for her sanity. She could see straight and focus on a single thought again.

The white pegasus opened his eyes and let out an ear splitting scream. He rolled off the bed and clutched his tail, curling up into a ball on the hard crystal floor. 

What sleep in Twilight’s eyes left instantaneously, leaving a dull thudding in the back of her head and what felt like bleeding in her ears. She climbed over, wishing that the cloud was like the ones in the inn, lumpy, but it felt amazing and she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep again.

“Spot, it was just a nightmare,” her words felt slurred and her vision blurred, but she could see well enough to levitate the colt closer. 

“Open your wings – open your wings – Mom, open your wings.”

The ramblings of a lunatic washed over her like an ever growing scream. Spot’s eyes were but pinpricks and he shook like a leaf in fall. 

“Blood. Bone, Celestia she’s like some cheap Nightmare Night decoration!” He took in a breath, tears falling down his cheeks, “MOM!!!” 

Twilight winced, a migraine quickly turning the left side of her vision fuzzy. “Spot, it’s alright, I’m right here.” Her words meant nothing to him. She might as well have been a stranger. Even with five months of preparation under her belt, the hard lesson that somethings just can’t be prepared for sunk in like a ship in the cold, merciless ocean.  

 Wracking her frail brain, Twilight could only think of one thing she could do. Quickly, she pulled Spot into a hug, wings working better as soundproofing material than she’d once thought, and stroked his head. 

“She’s dead – She’s dead – my mommy is dead and there’s–” he went silent, no more screams or words of death, he just silently shook against Twilight’s chest.

With her first moment of reprieve, Twilight looked out to see the moon hovering over the horizon. She must have slept for a good four hours. Wondering if Spot had slept besides her or joined later, she looked down at the ball of fur in her arms. 

Spot looked up, as if sensing his her movement. 

“Everything’s alright, Spot.” It might have been the wings or something else, but this time her words registered and he finally began to relax. “Just take a few deep breaths, here, I’ll do them with you.” Celestia knows she needed them.

Twilight took a lungful of air and held it for four seconds before slowly letting it out. She repeated this until Spot could make enough sense to join her. The two took at least twenty deep breaths before he spoke. 

“I just want to be normal, Twilight,” his words didn’t shake, but they were heavy with dread. “I don’t want anyone fighting over me, or dying because of me. I just want a normal childhood, one where I can make risky choices, run into the everfree, steal a pie, and know someone is there to set me straight.” He looked up at Twilight again, whom was still getting over how Spot didn’t call him mom, and rested his head against her chest. “Cloudy set a lot of rules, but she let me be me.” He paused, “I dreamed of her death. I saw her fall head first into Ghastly Gorge.”

Twilight figured it was the cloud that brought these nightmares. Demons repressed, now set free to torment their victim. “You’ve been through so much, Spot.”

“Why did you have to fight with my godmother?”

Twilight blinked, “What? You heard that?” 

“I think the ponies on the ground heard you.” Spot went silent. “I just want a stable life, Twilight. No drama or death, just somewhere I can feel safe, and parents I feel loved by. Is that too much to ask!!”

 Words failed to form in Twilight’s brain. She stayed silent until the sound of quiet sobs came from her son. She tightened her hug, “If all you want is somewhere to call home, then you already have it.” 

“W–Wha?” Spot sniffed and rubbed his eyes.

Twilight kept her words calm the best she could with a migraine. She opened her wing, letting him see the room bathed in darkness, “this house is one where you can feel safe, and I,” she pointed to herself, “am someone that loves you for you.” 

There were a few grunts and whispers as he tried and failed to speak. After a moment, Spot fainted. 


> A Choice To Be Made
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
Chapter three: A Choice to be Made 


Three days had passed since Mom got me a cloud bed. It’s so soft, so warm, yet I only use it when she’s around. I have terrible nightmares when I sleep on it alone.

 I told Mom that I didn’t want the whole room to be plastered with clouds anymore. It’s fine as it is, and Mom agreed to stop fighting with Rainbow Dash in return! 

“Mom,” I said, “what does allure mean?” 

True to her word, Mom kept my life simple. No experiments I couldn’t handle, she set my head on fire again though, but most importantly, no jumping off cliffs. 

Right now, Mom and I are resting on my cloud bed. I have my left side pressed against hers, and I’m using her chest as a pillow. My godmother’s book is open in front of me, Cloudy Melody is watching me, and everything just feels right. 

“It means to attract, Spot,” Twilight said. She looked up from her own book, probably a complex book on magic or something, and looked at me with her purple eyes. I’m starting to really like those eyes, “for example, The leader had such an allure that he gained many followers.” 

“Oh, then can I say, um,” I had to think for a second, “Rainbow Dash, she allures me?” 

Twilight visibly tensed. “In essence, yes, but I think you can go into a bit more detail?” 

I liked it when she made me think, “um, the strong friendship you and Rainbow have allures me to your side?”

Twilight looked away from her book. “If you’ve got something to say, then say it Spot.” 

“I, uh,” I felt my cheeks heating up and looked away, “It’s just that you haven’t hung around Rainbow for a while. I don’t want you two to stop being friends because of me”

“Is that all,” Twilight put an arm around my back, pulling me closer, “Rainbow and I were connected by the Elements of Harmony at one time, and our friendship has lasted well over a decade now. You of all ponies could never break us up like that.” She leaned in close, “We’ll get through this, Spot. Try not to worry yourself over it.” 

I smiled, relief making me dizzy for a moment. “Okay, Mom!” 

If only she’d kept to her word.



	


	
Chrysanthemum was Spot’s best friend. He was very protective of her– from getting in between her and any kind of bully, even the bigger ones, to being the pony she runs to instead of her adoptive mother. He cares for her just as much, if not more then Twilight cares for him.

She was over just about everyday, eating Twilight’s food and making so much noise that Twilight had to cast a sound proof spell around both his bedroom. Although there were times when Twilight wondered just what went on between the two. She understood Spot more than ever since he started talking to her, but she could never truly figure out the connection they shared. 

They were complete opposites. 

Spot was calm and liked taking things slow, often refusing to do things he didn’t understand while Chrysanthemum was gung ho about life. She lived by the rule, you only live once, and often jumped off things that shouldn’t be jumped off. 

Yet, as Spot hugged Chrysanthemum tightly and said until we meet again, she could see his mile wide smile. 

“Hey, Spot,” Twilight said after the colt closed the door. 

Spot walked down the hallway that lead to the kitchen. 

The shiny crystal kitchen had three industrial ovens, enough to cook for a summer sun celebration in Fillydelphia (there’s a reason Pinkie kept using it for her parties) and more than ample seating. Twilight, Spot and Spike tended to use the small gathering room found on the third floor of the castle for meals. It just felt so empty in the kitchen with only three ponies. 

“I did the dishes, took out the trash, cleaned and swept the floor of my bedroom. Did I miss something?” Spot said. 

“No, and I’ll get you your allowance tomorrow,” Twilight started moving to one of the many long tables in the kitchen dining room, “I just need to ask you a few questions.” She could see Spot tense up, and knew he knew what kind of questions she’d be asking. 

Very personal ones. 

Most of the time they'd been about his life before 'the event', as they called it, but this was going to be different.

“Alright, Mom.”

The two sat next to each other at the end of one of the long birch tables. Spot sat with his back turned to a window, warm light soothing him, while Twilight sat in front of him.

“All I want to know is how you got to the Ponyville orphanage. What happened after your nightmare?” Twilight rested a hoof on Spot’s shoulder.

The room was silent as Spot digested Twilight’s words. Nothing was said until he took the hoof in his grasp, but didn’t push it off. “I panicked. What was a six year old to do? I knew she was gone, that I lost the one pony I truly trusted in this world. I lost my mind!” 

Twilight could see the strain in his eyes. She could feel him squeeze her hoof, and knew he didn’t want to go into any more detail. 

But she had to know. 

“You were at the bottom of Ghastly Gorge, how did you end up in the orphanage I picked you up from?” She kept her words soft, yet firm enough for him to get the point. 

“I flew!! I used my wings to fly out of the gorge!” 

“Is that it? Nothing in between?” Twilight put a second hoof on his other shoulder, and almost immediately he took it in his own. “The event happened at night, and I remember Cheery tell me that you arrived in the morning, around noon. What happened in between? Where did you sleep?” 

“I went into town screaming. Bonbon came out of her house and helped me as best she could.” Spot was yelling, and Twilight was getting an understanding on how stallions feel when their hooves were crushed by their wives in labor.

“But if you were screaming, then why was Bonbon the only one that reacted?” 

“Back off!” 

Twilight could see rage in her son’s eyes, and briefly worried about being attacked, “I don’t know why Bonbon was the only one that came out! Why do you like books so much? Why do ponies kill themselves? Why is death a reality? Some questions don’t have bucking ANSWERS!!” Spot got out of his chair. He looked at Twilight with rage, then kicked the chair to the ground. “There’s no reason for you to ask that question, Mom!” He hobbled, looking for things to smash. Twilight noticed, and was very thankful, that he didn’t look at her. “Who cares how I got to the orphanage!”He decided on the crystal wall, banging his hooves against it with loud thuds. “It doesn’t matter!!”

Twilight winced, each blow sounded like a whip crack. She lit her horn and forced Spot to the ground he hurt himself. He wiggled and squirmed but couldn’t break free. Twilight then walked up and knelt beside him. “Do you know why I adopted you, Spot?” 

“Because you saw something in me, something you wanted to nurture.” His words were like burst of steam from a train, sharp and painful to hear.

“To be honest, Spot. I wanted a unicorn filly. Someone I could teach to be a better magician than me, someone to pass on my most potent spells, but that’s not what I got, is it?”

Spot looked away before he stopped struggling. “Clearly not,” He gave a sad sardonic chuckle, “I’m right here, and I just so happen to be a pegasus, not a unicorn.” 

“The reason I adopted you, gave you a home, is because you looked sad,” she picked him up and sat him back down on his chair. He looked up, wiping his dry eyes, not saying a word. “It’s true I did see something in you. There had to be some reason why the other fillies and colts looked to lean on you, but, I could see a pain in your eyes. The way you walked was like you had a giant weight strapped to your back. 

“Through the five months I scoped out who would become my child, I became attracted to you. None of the unicorn fillies seemed so”

“Pathetic,” Spot yelled.

“No, mature. I’ve learned that maturity comes with life experiences, and you must have been through something horrible to make you look so mature out there. I took you in because I wanted to help you, heal you. Spot. I’m very thankful that you would recall such a painful event in your life for me, and I hope reliving them will help you cope with the pain instead of burying it.

"I know i'm not as important to you as Cloudy was, but I want you to feel safe with me. As your mother I want to guide you through this no doubt pain filled time in your life. It may take weeks, months, even years for you to completely move past her death, but I want you to know that I'll be there everyday."

Spot silently looked at his new mother, slack jawed. They sat like that for minutes at a time before Spot slipped off his chair and slowly made his way to the stairs. Twilight hoped he was heading to his room to think about what was said, like the other times.

She would later find him peacefully sleeping alone in his cloud bed for the first time.



	


	
Innocent blood willingly spilled with slashes from a razor blade on both fetlocks. 

Spot looked off into the distance. He could see tiny pink hooves with thin jagged scars marking a ladder that climbed up her legs. A lump formed in his stomach. Those pink hooves belonged to someone he truly cared about.

“Spot, it’s your turn.” 

“Wha…” Spot jumped, cards falling to the floor in a flutter. 

He sat in the gathering room on the third floor. There was only one small round table, perfect for breakfast for three, or a quick couple of games of Crazy Eights, Slapjack, ERS and whatever else Twilight’s book of card games could come up with. The fireplace was roaring and the wind was howling outside. Spike was too busy taking a nap to come and join them.

It was one of those rainy days that were oh so common this week. Twilight said ponyfeathers and closed the library. She’d posted a waterproof sign on the front door that said, All Books Get A Single Day Extension. Just one of the perks of being the librarian as well as owner of the castle itself.

“What were you thinking about?” suddenly Twilight’s voice turned sultry, “I bet it was Chrysanthemum.” 

“You’re right,” Spot said, placing his seven of hearts followed by his seven of spades down on the pile. “and now I win.” 

“Best six out of eleven!” Twilight shouted, a strand of hair going out of place.

“I beat you five times in a row, Mom! I want to play a new game.” 

“Best six out of eleven!!!” 

With a roll of the eyes, Spot gathered up the cards and began dealing.



	


	

Rainbow Dash stood outside the office of the late Cloudy Melody. To anyone else it would look like any other cloud building. White, puffy cumulonimbus walls, light glass windows kept aloft by a gravity proof spell, but this building was a part of her childhood. 

Slowly, she moved on. Thoughts of a powerful pink mare with wings half her body length. Bright welcoming blue eyes that always had a fire under them. A blue double bolt on her flanks, her symbol, her hope. 

She started wandering down the streets of Cloudsdale, thoughts of her life if she hadn’t lost that mate floating in her head like bubbles just out of her grasp. She made her way to the Foal Protective Agency.

“So, Miss Dash,” A cream colored pegasus mare with thick red hair that made her head look like a poisoned weeping willow said, “if I'm getting the whole picture. You want to take custody of an already adopted foal? On the grounds that you are his godmother.” 

“For the third time, yes!” Rainbow Dash was down to her last nerve with this mare. She’d given her the document (it took a full day to find it in her house) that proved she was Spot’s godmother, and the mare still insisted on giving that stupid look of disbelief. 

“Well, you see,” Rainbow wanted to sock the mare in the teeth, “You had your chance. Blazing Spotlight was at the Ponyville orphanage for a full year, and if you’d gone down there and picked him up– but you waited, and now he has a mother. A Miss Twilight Sparkle, and even after two months under her care, you still did nothing. What makes you think I have the power to take a child from his lawful home?” 

“Because the paper says so!” Rainbow screamed, getting some worrisome looks from the other patrons, not that Dash took any notice. “I signed that piece of paper five years ago, and now that Cloudy Melody is gone, it’s my responsibility to take care of her son.” she gave the mare a dreadful glare, “and I won’t take no for an answer.” 

There was some typing before the mare gave Dash a rather annoyed expression. “Alright, under the situation where two parties are vying for a child, it is up to the child to decide who to live with. I can give you a week, and a week is all I will give you, to earn the love and trust of this Blazing Spotlight–” 

“Everyone calls him Spot” Rainbow spat, enjoying the slight groan that came from the mare’s lips.

“Spot then. You have a week to get Spot to sign this sheet of paper,” she passed Rainbow the paper, “and I am to take it that the late Cloudy Melody left something for Spot in her will?” 

“Yes,” Rainbow said, wings itching to take her from this awful place.

“Then I will see you in a week Miss Dash.” 



	


	      

For the first time that week, the sky was clear and the wind warm. Spot took Chrysanthemum to their spot behind the orphanage. An apple tree on top of a hill overlooking SugarCube Corner. 

They played hide and seek, tag, laid back and watched the clouds float by, everything normal friends would do. Chrysanthemum’s happiness had been so infectious that it stuck with him after they parted ways, promising each other to do it again tomorrow. 

As Spot walked home, he felt content. He was closer to Twilight then ever, maybe even as close as a real mother and son would be, and as he went over what she said in the past couple of days, he started agreeing. 

The palace was a safe place for him. Nothing bad could ever happen there. Twilight was someone he could trust and wouldn’t ever steer him wrong. He needed her, and she gave him what he needed. 

The sight of a low flying cloud, just above the straw roofed homes of the other ponies in town, sent a shiver down his spine. He didn’t run or shout, but kept an even pace that grew ever slower with each step as he made his way home. 

The cloud grew downwards, and turned into a white box. 

“I’m taking him for a week, Twilight!” 

Spot froze at the sound of Rainbow Dash screaming in the middle of the street, just below the giant white cloud box that looked more and more familiar with each passing glance. 

“And I said over my dead body!” Twilight screamed. Twilight never screamed unless she felt it necessary.

Spot felt the almost unbearable urge to run back to the tree. To avoid the scene no doubt involving him, but before he could, Rainbow spotted him. 

“Hey, Spot!” 

He tried to run, but no one can out run Rainbow Dash, two time Iron Pony champion. She was on him in the blink of an eye. She pinned him to the ground. When he looked up he saw a giant grin on her face. “Do I have a surprise for you.” Seconds after those words left her mouth, Rainbow’s body glowed bright purple and she floated off him. 

“Rainbow Dash, please, don’t assault my son.” Twilight’s words had lost their sharp edge along with half their volume. 

“Let go of me, Twilight!” Rainbow’s words, however, seemed to have gained what Twilight’s lost and Spot flinched. He got up and ran behind Twilight’s leg, nervously poking his head out. “Spot! This is your home! The one that–” 

“I know what it is Rainbow Dash!” Spot shouted. 

Twilight watched Spot move back, slowly, but he didn’t go very far. She saw his eyes shimmer as if tears were about to flow, and his body shake like he was about to collapse. “Spot, I could get rid of her if it hurts too much?” 

Spot mouthed words, but no sound came out. His legs gave out. Twilight made her way over after shutting and locking the door. She put a hoof on his shoulder, feeling him tremble. 

“I just need time, Mom,” Spot’s words came slow and evenly, “Please tell my godmother to go away, but keep,” he gulped, “my old home where it is.” 

Twilight smiled, “Alright. I’ll give you time, just relax and think. You can go to your safe room. I’ll be up there in a bit with some hot chocolate. With plenty of tiny marshmallows and a graham cracker, just like you like it” 

Spot nodded then took to his wings. 

When he was out of sight, Twilight moved back to the door. Rainbow banged against it with loud thumps that echoed in her brain, giving her a slight headache. When she opened the door, Rainbow stood there glaring at her. “Give me my son,” she hissed, angrily flapping her wings. 

Twilight flared her wings, making herself look twice her size. 

Rainbow flinched and when she was hit with Twilight’s harshest glare, she felt a pang of fear in her gut. “You should think about what all this is doing to my son, Rainbow. Seeing his old home is something that’ll take time for him to digest. To try and force him to leave with you is something he shouldn’t have to deal with right away. Yes, you have the documentation to take him, and I will let you, but only if he says it’s alright. If not then I’ll take you to court.” 

Rainbow’s jaw dropped, “you won’t take me to court, Twilight,” she gave a nervous laugh, “I’m one of your best friends…” her words ceased when she saw the unwavering glare come from the purple princess. 

“Leave, Rainbow,” Twilight hissed, “Let Spot cope with this one step at a time. I’m sure a pony as awesome as you doesn’t need a full week to gain the trust of a single colt,” the sarcasm was so thick you could spread it on toast, “so, I ask you as a friend and a mother, leave peacefully.” 

Rainbow left.



	


	

The white cube loomed ahead like a lion ready to strike a gazeel. Spot saw it, black against the night sky, and immediately thought back to that fateful night at Ghastly Gorge. The outside was exactly the same. Windowless with a gentle sag in the spot where the blankets lay. 
Steeling his nerves, Spot took flight. 

It was an hour after Rainbow Dash left, and Spot had taken twenty minutes to take in the fact that his old home was suddenly floating right outside his new one. The other forty minutes he was just trying to figure out just what to do with it. He could scrap it, but that felt almost sacrilegious. The cube was a part of him. He’d lived in it for most of his life. 

The only other things he could do was to go inside. 

Now, as Twilight also took flight, Spot prepared to go inside and relive the memories of old. Whether good ones or bad ones came up was his greatest fear. It was the reason he hesitated opening the floor door, and, if Twilight hadn’t been there to give him a reassuring smile, he would have run away.

Pushing the door open felt easier than it had a year ago, and flying inside was easier too. 

Poking his head inside, everything was dark.

“Whoops,” Twilight said, “my bad, I should have grabbed a few candles. I’ll be right back.” She flew off, leaving Spot on his own. 
Gulping, he went inside. 

Immediately, the moment his hooves touched the barely worn cumulus cloud, a wave of nostalgia washed over him, and the moment of truth made itself known. 

A checkers game. A crib. Warm, welcoming memories. 

“That’s where I slept, that’s where Mom washed me,” Spot chuckled, pointing to the different corners of the cube. “She had to use river water when I got really dirty, oh!” He flew over to the corner with all the blankets, and stood upon them when his legs gave out. 

Her presence was overpowering.

He lay, legs and wings completely relaxed, on the pile or warm fluffy blankets until Twilight showed up with three small gravity proof candles in her aura. 

In their light, Spot could see the few wonderbolt posters still standing proudly against the wall. The space where Cloudy planned to put Tommy’s second thunder cloud lay vacant, a small counter just big enough for him to sleep on. 

And he had. 

Twilight flew up, set all three candles on the empty counter and sat besides Spot on the blankets. Spot had a goofy grin plastered on his face as he looked around the home with glassy eyes. She pulled an arm around his back.

“It’s so nice to be here again,” he groaned more than spoke, like he didn’t wish to speak at all. 

The two sat in calm silence. Both ponies contemplating what, if anything, to say. After ten minutes, Twilight put a wing around Spot’s back and brought up the elephant in the room. “Rainbow wants to take you away from me, Spot.” 

Spot looked down, his good mood sliced through as if by a blade. “I know, Mom. You two kind of broadcasted it to half the town.”

“What do you think? I left it up to you whether you wanted to go to Rainbow’s for six days or have me go to court. I know I could settle things there and you’d never have to deal with anything like this again.” 

Spot silently digested Twilight’s words. He sorted through them piece by piece until he sat up, looked her in the eye and said, “I’ll go.” 

Twilight’s eyes widened and there was the briefest flicker of fear in them, “but, she’s going to try to make you love her instead of me. I could easily, and I mean easily beat her in court, Spot.” 

“But I don’t want to go to court!” Spot shouted, “I don’t want anyone telling me who I live with, who’s my mother and who’s not! Rainbow is my godmother, and if Cloudy thought her good enough to take care of me, then there is no reason I shouldn’t give her that chance.” 

Twilight looked down, an almost inaudible whimper escaping her mouth as she gently scooted across the pile of blankets. “Spot, I'm scared she’ll succeed. I don’t want to hear the words ‘Rainbow is a better mother than you’ come out of your mouth.” 

Spot looked away. 

“She’s so enthusiastic, so charismatic, I fell more often than not to her crazy schemes.” Twilight couldn’t look Spot in the eye either, “She had her own fan club at one time. All of the foals marveled at how cool she was, how she always saved the day no matter the situation. She’s saved the world at my side countless times, and, I don’t think I can match up to an image like that.” 

“You don’t,” 

Twilight gave a quiet sniffle at his words.

“You’re a boring librarian whose only claim to fame links you to other ponies. The citizens of this town look to you for leadership, and all you can come up with are boring plans. Rainbow is about action, instinct. She has the energy ponies want to see. You can’t compare.” 

Twilight was about to shed tears in front of the son that watched his own mother kill herself. He should be crying, not her, but all of that stopped when she felt him rest his head on her chest. 

“But to me, that’s fine. You’re boring, but stable. With you I have the balanced life I want. With Rainbow my life would be hectic. I’d always need to be on my toes, no chance to truly let my guard down like I can with you“

“What are you saying?” Twilight finally turned back. 

“I’m saying that Rainbow might take me away, but you’ll always be a part of my life. She lives close, so whenever I need a break, I’d come here. I’m sure you’d let me have sleepovers, ones with ghost stories instead of pillow fights, and s’mores instead of late night pranks, right?” 

Mother smiled down on son and a peace fell over the room.

“Plus, you two are best friends. Taking your best friend to court is messed up.”

Twilight floated a book out of her saddle bags. “I brought Red Diamond, you’re favorite.”

Red Diamond was a story about a stallion in red diamond armor traveling through the world, defeating dragons even gods to save the princess of his land. Twilight had read the story to him nearly five times. Quite a feat since the book was well over three hundred pages long and Spot fell asleep by the ten page mark. 

“Cloudy used to read that to me every night before–” Spot suddenly went silent. A look of discomfort came over him before he relaxed again. “She read me that story before bed on the day of her death.” 

“I can choose another one?” Twilight said, closing the book. She was about to put it back in her saddlebags and grab one of three Daring Do books when he spoke up again. 

“No, I want to hear that one.” He looked up at her with a small, hopeful smile. “It could be like repeating history, except this time I don’t lose somepony I trust.” 

“Does that mean you want to sleep here too?” Twilight said, pulling the book back out, “like how Cloudy did it?”

Spot yawned for show, “Yes, Cloudy always let me sleep next to her. She felt like a heated bed,” he grabbed Twilight’s hoof and pulled it across his shoulder, then rested his head on the pile of blankets,  

Twilight sighed, at home she would have told him to sleep in his own bed, but she could let it slide this time. She’d gotten very used to reading out loud with how often Spot requested her to do it. On lazy days they would relax together, him, Spike and her, and she’d read out loud. Occasionally she’d pass the book off. It was a real book club (with only one book) and had easily become her favorite family time event. 

This was the first time she tried to act out a little more. She’d shout loud and proud when the Red Diamond would pronounce the dragon’s defeat this time, and Spot fell asleep after ten pages. It was like clockwork with him.

Closing the book, Twilight looked at the windowless room. To her it felt a little too claustrophobic to call a home. Maybe a bedroom, but not a home. 

She fell asleep, secure in the knowledge that while she might not always be Spot’s mother, she’d be in his life forever.


> Flight Lessons 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


	Chapter 4 Flight Lessons

        
Spot cracked his eyes open, the feeling of a hoof around his waist starting to come back to him. He lay motionless until Twilight snored from behind him.  “When did you snore?” He said, then realized that it hadn’t been Twilight. In the middle of the ceiling there was a sag and the sharp snore came again. 

Slowly, Spot lifted Twilight’s hoof off him. She just rolled over and mumbled something about Smarty Pants or whatever. She’d always been a heavy sleeper.  

Spot stretched, cracking his wings and arms in the most satisfying way before falling back onto all fours. Across from him, laying haphazardly on the floor, was a plastic container with his name written on a paper that had been taped to the lid. More curious than excited, he made his way to the box; feeling the cloud sag under his weight he remembered the snoring squatter on the roof. 

Twilight’s here, so everything’s fine, he thought.

Spot sat next to the box, it’s hinges like little hooks keeping the lid in place, and opened it with a pop. 

Colorful, bright Mogos, hundreds of them.

Mogos were building blocks that fuel a child’s imagination. Each and every Mogo started out as a simple, colorful brick, and if a filly or colt thought of a material, be it brick, stone, or hay, the brick will turn into that material the moment it sticks to another Mogo. Magic allowed any pony, young and old with an imagination to create something spectacular.  Towns, lifesize castles even exact replicas of ponies themselves have been made. 

Spot’s heart skipped a beat. Everyday after school he'd headed over to Cloudy’s work where these specific Mogos always were. Whenever he didn’t have to help a child pass through some tough time, or Cloudy didn’t want him listening in on her meetings for “learning” purposes”, he’d sit in the front room building small castles or reading his favorite books. 

He remembered something and moved to the counter. Underneath was a cabinet. “Please be there, please be there,” opening the cloud doors, he gave a sigh of relief before a bubble of excitement formed in his chest. The copy of Red Diamond, Cloudy read to him was still there, but more importantly, his first edition of the entire series of Daring Do books, minus the first one (no one could find that) was situated next to it. 

The thought of waking Twilight up and showing her his collection was almost too good to resist, but his mind came up with something even better. Moving back, he poured out the Mogos. He would make something to show off his amazing mind. 

He would build the best castle ever. 

Methodically he separated the blocks by type. The green baseplate went in the center, bricks of varying size and color went to one corner while the Mogo ponies, tiles and studs went back into the box for later.

Laying the brick work for his castle, he imagined the walls to be sandstone. Spot didn't notice the snoring disappear along with the sag in the roof. Memories of his mother’s office, the cool kids he played with, his mother’s praise at his art, all came rushing back to him. By the time he'd finished his smile was stuck to him like the bricks to the baseplate. 

The castle was done, but it was bland and boring, a simple sandstone tower. It needed decorations and ponies to bring it to life. Not bothering to be quiet, he riffled through the extra parts until he found a blank Mogo pony. Closing his eyes he focused on an image in his mind and, with a flash the pony erupted in blue magical fire. When the fire dissipated, a tall black pegasus stallion with red dots in the middle of his wings, a sword in his mouth and a spiky red mane that’d need magical intervention in the real world stood motionless before him. He imagined up some red knight’s armor and put the hero of the story, wing blades extended, in place. A big purple dragon with an orange underbelly and purple flames, a pink unicorn princess complete with flowing blue dress later, followed by some burning trees, burning flags, add a whole lot of screaming towns ponies and you had the ending of Red Diamond.

Spot took a step back, not noticing the floor door opening, and marveled at his work. He posed like his knight, ready to face the dreadful dragon, to protect his princess, when someone stepped beside him.

“Aw, Mom, I wanted to…” Spot’s words were cut short when a hoof plugged his mouth. 

“Quiet, Squirt.” Spot’s eyes widened when he saw Rainbow Dash stand over him. “I wasn’t expecting Twilight to be here.” She released her hoof and fell to the floor, admiring Spot’s work. “You know, this is pretty awesome, kid. I like the dragon. Does he eat the knight?” 

He blinked, unable to figure out where Rainbow came from. Then her words hit him “No!” Spot shouted, “the knight kills the dragon, then becomes part of the royal family and marries the princess. They live happily ever after!” He seethed, as if the remark had been a personal attack.

Rainbow did a quick turnabout to see Spot’s loud words had waken Twilight. 

Twilight rubbed her eyes, then blinked, “Rainbow, why are you here?” 

Groaning, Rainbow gave Spot, who wore a devious smirk, a glare. “I wanted to surprise Spot. You know, put my best hoof forward with him.” 

“Oh, well, that’s fine,” Twilight sounded normal, no magical laser beams like Spot wanted, “I’d like to get some food before I hand Spot to…” she trailed off, her eyes finally reaching the castle. “Woah,” she got up, stretched much like Spot had earlier, and moved to her son’s side. “Did you make this Spot?” 

“Yep!” Spot chirped, “I wanted to wake you but Rainbow came and ruined the surprise.” 

“That’s fine,” Twilight waved a hoof at Rainbow, “I’m proud either way. I just have two questions?” 

“What?” 

Twilight leaned in close, a wicked smile forming on her lips, “I haven’t had my coffee yet, but is the knight you and the princess Chrysanthemum?” She giggled as a blush grew on Spot’s cheeks. 

“I never thought of it that way, Mom. It was always just a knight protecting a princess from the evil dragon.” 

“Yeah Yeah Yeah, the knight kills the dragon,” Rainbow cut in, literally getting between Twilight and Spot, “Let’s get some food! I went to the Sun Shack and got me and my godson each a stack of pancakes. There’s blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, whipped cream, every kind of syrup under the sun and,” she leaned close to Spot, “Chocolate chips! These are amazing, I mean, I had one at three in the morning, just before picking up the pancakes really and, oh my Celestia, I think I know how Pinkie Pie gets her energy!" 

“Thanks, Rainbow” Spot said. He readied his wings. If Twilight wasn’t mad at Rainbow, then there was no reason for him to be either. He flapped as a pilot might check the controls of the plane, making sure everything was there and in line. “I think I can fly to your place,” suddenly Spot’s eyes widened, “Mom, look! My collection of first edition Daring Do books is here!” 

Spot rushed to the cloud cabinet, pulling it open before proudly displaying the spines of each book. Rainbow said nothing.

“Funny,” Twilight said, touching the felt  spines of each book, “I remember that being empty last night. And where did the Mogos come from?” She eyed Rainbow, who gave a childish snicker. “Rainbow?” 

“So as Spot’s godmother,” Rainbow started, giddy clear in her voice, “I was given all the stuff from Cloudy’s office. The Mogos, the books, and I thought, hey, Spot’s living with me for a week. I know he’s in his old home right now. Why not bring the stuff to him?” Rainbow buffed her wing as if posing for some award. 

“You came into Spot’s home,” Twilight said, glaring at Rainbow, “in the middle of the night to plant books and Mogos?” 

“That’s kinda creepy Rainbow,” Spot said as he opened the floor door. He expected to see the ground below, and gave a soft shriek when he saw more cloud, “Where did the ground go!!” 

Twilight looked at Rainbow.

“Alright, stop looking at me like that Twilight. All I did was move the cloud box on top of my house,” again, she stood as if readying herself to receive an award, “I just thought the little squirt deserved a bedroom, and what better bedroom than his old home?” 

“So on top of breaking and entering,” Twilight started in a low tone, “you kidnapped the two of us? Is that what I’m to understand Rainbow Dash?” 

“I really don’t know how to feel about that Rainbow,” Spot said sitting on his haunches. 

“What! I said I was going to put my best hoof forward and I did! I woke up in the middle of the night, did work in the freezing cold to make sure Spot had a pleasant morning as well as a new bedroom in my house! Why am I suddenly the bad guy?” 

“Because it’s…” Twilight stopped and groaned, “It’s too early in the morning for this stuff. Forget it, let’s just get some food.”

Spot floated down the passageway to Rainbow's adjoining home, Twilight was about to follow when a hoof blocked her way. “And where do you think you’re going Twilight?” 

“To have breakfast with my son. You stole us so the least you can do is feed us.” Twilight pushed the hoof away. 

“I’m sorry, but right now he’s my son so you can go get food somewhere else.” Rainbow got right back in Twilight’s way, going as far as to push the princess back a few paces. “Go on, shoo.” 

“Yeah, no.” This time, Twilight used her magic and levitated Rainbow out of her way. 

“I’m good with kids!” Rainbow spat, actually getting spit on Twilight’s face. 

“I’m not leaving,” Twilight hissed. “If you can prove that you’re capable of handling him, then I might consider it.”



	


	

Breakfast was held in Rainbow's kitchen where an awkward silence hung over the room like fog. Spot’s few attempts to start a conversation were met with 'eat your food’.   Despite his concern after being virtually kidnapped, Spot had actually looked forward to hanging out with Rainbow, wondering what she would do to try and win him over, but now, he just didn’t know. 

Rainbow gave Twilight a cup of coffee, but nothing else. She kept glaring at her, especially after Spot ended up giving Twilight a few of his pancakes. Rainbow knew she couldn’t do anything about. No matter how much she wanted to. 

Food eaten, the three made their way outside to the edge of Rainbow’s home. Looking up, Spot noticed that his house had been awkwardly attached to what looked like a straw of clouds. It was like seeing a virus attach itself to Rainbow’s house.

“Alright,” Rainbow shouted, “let’s get you in the air!” All the worry and anger left her voice and for the first time, Rainbow seemed to be getting back to her old self. 

Spot lifted off, as well as Twilight, and headed up to meet Rainbow, who had moved to what looked to be a few stray clouds about two hundred meters above where they once were. 

“Don’t you think this is too high, Rainbow?” Twilight said as she and Spot each landed on one of the clouds. They were well above the sky line. To the point where breathing got rather difficult.

The clouds were a set of three, and now looked to be put there on purpose. Spot realized that they were platforms much like diving boards. Rainbow stood on one of the three while Twilight and Spot stood on the others. 

Wordlessly Rainbow leapt off and went into a swan dive. Spot watched, shaking ever so slightly, as the rainbow mare performed turns that were so tight he wandered if she got whiplash. 

After she did a few loops, Rainbow looked as if she were falling sideways before she landed on a cloud that looked like a white dot from the mile high platforms, and shot back up leaving her trademarked rainbow trail behind. Once more she landed on the platform, and buffed her hoof, waiting for her praise. Spot gave it with a couple hoots and hollers before falling into a stunned silence.
 
“You doubt my skills anymore, kid?” Rainbow said, her ego through the roof. 

“No!” Spot shouted, bouncing up and down. 

Twilight stood, worried. 

Rainbow showed Spot the proper way to do a loop, how to angle his body to perform a corkscrew and had him work on tightening his turns, all of which he went rather slow for. Twilight watched, sweat dripping down her brow as Rainbow went into momentum, showing how a loop could fall apart at slow speeds. She talked in greater detail than either expected, and Twilight realized that Rainbow was in the groove of things.

Then, as Spot’s excitement was at an all time high and he started speaking more openly to the other pegasus, Rainbow turned the subject to instinct. 

“Your wings know when you’re in danger, Spot,” Rainbow said as she guided him back down to the cloud.  Spot gave Twilight some affection, much to Rainbow’s dislike, before moving back to his new teacher. “I’ve seen my other student and number one fan, Scootaloo falling out of the sky and watched her wings open automatically. I’ve felt Instinct kick in when I fell out of the sky a few months ago. I didn’t understand it at the time and crashed, breaking a few bones in my wing, but now I do, and I want to teach you the signs so you can get out of danger.” 

“How are you going to do that?” Spot said. He wished he’d brought a notebook. “Is it going to be dangerous?”

“Well,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, “it kind of has to be, but trust me when I say it’s important. I could have avoided a lot of hospital bills if I learned what you’re about to. And don’t worry about the danger, I’m right here, the fastest flyer in equestria. I’ll catch you.” 
“I don’t like this, Rainbow,” Twilight shouted. “Spot’s still a weak flyer, and even if you could catch him in a free fall, the risk is too high. I think this is something he should learn on his own.” 

Spot turned, sudden worry visible on his face. “If Twilight thinks it’s too dangerous, then I do to.” he stomped his hoof in the cloud, unable to shake the feeling of just how high he was. The houses below looked like ant hills!

Rainbow was persistent. “Would both of you cool your jets. I haven't even explained what you’d do. I did this with Scootaloo and every other kid I taught. A few of them went into freefall and I caught them like it was nothing. Trust me, the juice is definitely worth the squeeze.” 

Twilight flew over to Spot. She put a hoof on his back, noticing him shake, “Spot, if you’re scared, I can –”

“He’s going to be fine!” Dash hissed, “All he’ll be doing is falling into clouds! A hundred feet up, just falling into these clouds! And you know what, Twilight? I’ll be right next to him. If the clouds can’t hold him, I’ll catch him! If he misses, I’ll catch him!"

Spot’s fears abated a little. Dash seemed so confident that he could look up again, yet a single sting of doubt, that ever present ‘what if’ question rattled through his brain like beans in a can. “I’ll do it, but Mom,” he said before looking at Twilight, “could you be below me? Just in case?”

Rainbow felt a similar sting, but instead of doubt, it was rage, “I’m your mother, Spot.” 

        Twilight got between the two, “Rainbow, you’re my friend, and I guess hearing you say you want to take away my son has put me on edge, but all I want to do is ensure Spot’s safety.” She turned to Spot, “I don’t care who you call mother, Spot. If it’s Rainbow that’s fine; if it’s me, I’m all for it.” Looking back at Rainbow, she put on what Spot called her ‘lecture face’, “Rainbow, I’ll let you do your instinct training, but be warned, if I have to catch Spot, you will concede your wishes to become his mother. 

        “The first rule is safety!" Twilight got close and spoke in a whisper, “don’t let him fall.” With that she gave Spot a hug and took her cloud to the base of Rainbow’s cloud home.

When Twilight was out of earshot, Rainbow took to the skies with Spot quick to follow. “You will call me Mom, Spot,” she said, “you are my son, no one else's, got it.” 

“Okay, Mom,” Spot said as they reached a hundred feet above the two clouds. 

“Listen up, Squirt,” Rainbow said, putting a hoof around Spot’s back, “I’m going to show you what you need to do. It’s really simple, just fall in a way that you’ll land on the clouds. Watch.” 

Rainbow closed her wings, and her eyes. She went limp, letting gravity take her in its grasp. The mare fell with grace, and Spot could see her wings twitching. Rainbow landed without a sound and flew off as if an alarm went off in her head the moment she hit the cloud. One second later, she was back and the cloud was twenty feet away. 

“You’re new so I don’t want you falling too far,” Rainbow gave a glance at Twilight below. The other mare watched with an unwavering glare, “Trust me. I'll catch you. Just close your eyes and feel the signals your body makes. You should notice your wings twitching. Those are your instincts kicking in.” 

Spot nodded. He aligned himself over the cloud, then, just as Rainbow had moments earlier, went limp. Immediately his wings twitched and fear kept his eyes open, but he resisted like Rainbow did and landed safely on the cloud. 

“That’s the way!” In the blink of an eye. Rainbow was at Spot’s side cheering him on. “You felt it? Your wings I mean. They wanted to open, right?”

“Yeah, and,” Spot rubbed the back of his neck, as if nervous, “If you weren’t here I would have given into them.” he gave Rainbow a hug, not noticing her tense up. “Thanks, Mom”

Rainbow had been hugged plenty of times before. Scootaloo, her number one fan and favorite pupil for example, gave her a hug every time she did something neat. But this, this hug from Spot, her son, felt completely different. Suddenly Rainbow wanted to stop the training, call it a day and get some lunch even though it had only been half an hour since breakfast ended. 

She couldn’t though. Rainbow had to impress Spot if she wanted to win him over. Pushing Spot away, she looked him in the eye. “Let’s double the distance. After a few runs of that I’ll teach you what to do when you feel those twitches.” 

Spot nodded and the two went at it for another half an hour. 

Twilight watched, nervous. What if’s ran through her head like rats through a maze. Her legs twitched and it took everything she had not to bite her hoof. Part of her, most of her actually, wanted Spot to fall. To end this whole charade and take her son home.

But what it she missed? 

“It’s simple Twilight, just line up the trajectories and bam!! He’s safely in your arms. Nothing more to it." She nervously chuckled, “nothing more to it” Still, the thought of missing persisted, a termite eating away at the wood of her brain. 

Up above, Rainbow motioned to the cloud a hundred feet away. “Now watch me.” 

Again, she fell, but this time face first. Moments before she hit the cloud, her wings popped open and she flew back up. When she looked Spot in the eye, she said with an emotion she wasn’t all that familiar with. Concern. “You know what to look for with your instincts, now is the time to act upon them. When you can open your wings just before hitting the cloud like I did, we can go into town. I want to show you some of the best places to take naps,” she leaned in close, “Twilight and the others think I just choose a random cloud, no, there’s a process.” 

“Cool!” Spot shouted, pumping his hoof in the air like his favorite hoofball team just scored a homerun. “All this training is making me tired anyway.” 

“Alright, earn that nap!"

Spot nodded before diving down.

One thing he didn’t realize though, was that going down is completely different from going up. Gravity pulled him like he was attached to a rope, speeding him up far faster than he wanted, and seeing all those ant sized ponies race towards him was more then enough to make his stomach do flips. 

Suddenly the ground changed, and Spot didn’t know whether it was his imagination, but the bright happy homes he’d gotten so used to disappeared. He was left with a cold, dark gorge.

He popped his wings open and stopped before the ten foot mark. 

“What was that?” Rainbow said, “You weren’t even close!” 

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted from below. 

Rainbow groaned, not noticing how Spot shook. “I almost forgot you were there Egghead.” She saw Twilight open her mouth for what could only be another lecture about safety. Celestia, what’s there to worry about when you have the best and safest couch around? “I told you, Twilight. I’ll catch him! Nothing’s wrong! He’s just never looked down before!  A simple fear of heights, that’s it!” 

“Don’t you ignore me, Rainbow!” Twilight screamed, straining her throat, “Do you even know what he’s been through?” 

That ticked Rainbow off. She briefly remembered waking up on a cold december morning with something missing. Turning a harsh glare Twilight’s way, Rainbow shouted right back. “Are you KIDDING me! Do I know what he’s been through? Do I know what’ he’s been through!! Did you really just ask me that!!” A flash in her mind, like lightning, and the thought occurred to her. She never told them. 

“Yes! And I expect an answer!” 

Spot had calmed down just in time to see the Rainbow Dash, wilt. He’d never seen her rub her hooves and fly completely still. The way her eyes fidgeted was not normal, and he was about to say something when she slowly floated towards Twilight.  

Rainbow’s mind was ablaze. She hadn’t told them why she went to therapy in the first place. How was Twilight supposed to know what she’d been through if she hadn’t bucking told her? “Look,” she tried to steel her nerves, tensing her body as if for a blow. She refused to rub the back of her neck. She wasn’t scared, couldn’t be scared in front of Spot. How would that make her look? Like a pansy who no one would follow, that’s what. “I’ll tell you later, hopefully. The story’s just, a little personal to me and, well, you see. I do know what Spot’s been through. I’ll tell you later.” She flew back up before Twilight could properly respond. 

Twilight couldn’t have responded in the first place. Like Spot, she’d never seen such a change in Rainbow. It caught her so off guard that she forgot to shout how that wasn’t what she wanted to say. 

“Alright, Alright, everything’s going to be fine.“ One of Rainbow’s best defense mechanisms was to just distance herself from a troublesome situation, and this was no different. She put on the familiar mask of Couch. “I know you’re scared. The ponies down there really do look small and we are really high up right now.” She put a hoof around Spot’s neck, “But I want to tell you that you aren’t alone. Everyone, even myself, goes through this dramatic change in view. In fact, the first few times I flew this high, I had to scream for my mother to get me because I was too scared.” 

Spot’s eyes widened, “You were scared of heights? How did you get over it?” 

“By taking it step by step. It took me about a year to completely get over it,” Rainbow paused as words spoken to her by the one she lost came out of her mouth. “You see that cloud?” 

Spot nodded.

“Well, the average height for a two story building is twenty feet, and that cloud is only twenty feet away. Twenty is a lot less scary than a hundred bazillion, right?” 

“Yeah, it does sound less scary.” 

“Well it’s not!” 

Spot turned, his nerves suddenly on fire. Wasn’t she supposed to help calm him down in this situation? 

“At twenty feet you can still get hurt,” she flicked one of his wings, “and your instincts tell you that. What you’re going through is normal..” Rainbow pointed to the cloud twenty feet away. “Focus on where you’re going to land, be it ground or cloud, and keep it there. Take your mind off the height by figuring out a plan. What are you going to do when your reach your destination?” 

“Open my wings and fly away?” Spot said, nervous instead of scared now. 

“Exactly, just keep your eyes on the cloud and mind on when you’ll release your wings. It’ll take some time to get used to and it’ll still be scary, but that’s why I’m here.” Rainbow gave Spot a gentle thump on the chest. “You were able to fall backwards because of me, and that tends to be scarier than forward. You can’t see where you’re going then.” 

“Okay, I think I can do this.” Spot gave Rainbow another hug. Rainbow again flinched at how foreign it felt. “Thanks Mom.” He turned and raced downwards.

Pegasi ponies were a proud race. And that’s easy to see with how they are the sole race that can physically interact with clouds. They make clouds, make snow clouds, rain clouds, lightning, even rainbows. Pegasi are proud of themselves and how they deliver life giving rain to a dry farm, make the snow that turns into snow ponies and snow angels. Pegasi are proud of their heritage and who they are, but if there was one thing they weren’t proud of, it would be their inability to control the wind. 

Wind just comes with the storms as if drawn by a magnet. It is as elusive as the wild clouds in the everfree, yet, when Spot focused on the cloud and Rainbow on him, neither thought about it. Rainbow did know wind tended to be stronger the higher up you go, but when she planned for this height, she did it with Spot’s fear of heights in mind, not the wind.

Spot sped towards the cloud, feeling that ever present twitch in his wings, counting down the seconds until he’d open them. 

“3”

“2” 

Before he could get to one, a strong gust of wind blew from the north. It made Twilight brace and Rainbow briefly stall. But, even worse, it pushed the cloud. 

Spot’s sight went from the white puffy cloud, to the harrowing town. His insides churned like butter and he lost control. 

That’s when it happened.

Bright sunlight turned to dark moonlight. The colorful ground changed to the menacing rock of Ghastly Gorge, and as Spot spun in circles, fear exploding in him, he saw a flicker of those green eyes widening.

Open your wings! 

The command that had saved his life a year and a half ago came, and Spot obeyed it.

He opened his wings, not realizing that to perform a successful reorientation in wind, his wings needed to be like knifes, using the wind to his advantage. 

His wings were flat against the wind, and he was blown to the left. 

Rainbow heard the scream. She knew Spot was spinning out of control. 

Yet she didn’t move. 

Inside, she saw Spot replaced with herself. Then a bold pink and blue blur race after her. “Mom,” Rainbow said, unable to hear the desperate shouts from Twilight below.

Everything changed. Rainbow was at one of those high canterlot parties wearing nothing. Her pink and blue mother stood proud, wearing her Wonderbolt costume for the last time in her life. “I’m quitting the Wonderbolts to raise my daughter.”  

“No,” Rainbow said, unable to tell if she was talking to herself, or her mother. “Don’t quit. It was your dream to be a Wonderbolt.” 

A sharp pain burned her right cheek and everything shattered. Reality came rushing back, clouds, sky, Rainbow floundered in the air, feeling her heart move into her throat for a second before she got herself under control and flapped normally. 

“What the buck is wrong with you, Rainbow!” Twilight screamed. Rainbow looked up to see Twilight fly just above her. Just like at Froggy Bottom Bog, she had lost it and her mane was set a blaze, but that wasn’t what kept Rainbow from speaking. It was the murder in her eyes. “You say you’ll catch him if he falls. Oh don’t worry, Twilight, I understand what he’s been through,” Twilight’s words were laced with sarcasm like poison in a drink. “If you did then you’d know that Spot watched his mother die while he fell face first down Ghastly Gorge! You’re a bucking moron! That's exactly what you made him do! I will never trust you with my son again!” She turned and flew downward just as Spot’s uncontrollable sobs reached Rainbow’s ears. She saw him desperate for solace. Desperate for evidence that he was in fact, alive. “If you ever come near him again, I’ll take you to court.” 


> Chapter 5: Decision
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


	Chapter 5 Decision 

	
“Spot! Get back here!”

It had been two hours since Rainbow failed to catch Spot. Twilight put him down for a nap once he’d calmed down, and gave him some soup when he woke from that same nightmare of the night at Ghastly Gorge.

The last thing she expected out of his mouth was ‘what happened to Rainbow?’ Twilight had left without looking back, so she didn’t know. She told him to forget about Rainbow for a while. But he persisted. When she couldn’t give him an answer he left the house and took flight. 

Twilight wouldn’t have said anything, she thought he was going on a flight to burn off some steam, but ran after him when she realized he was headed for Rainbow’s house. 

“Spot! Listen to me!” Twilight shouted. The two flew over Sugarcube Corner, receiving curious looks from the pegasi above and towns ponies below. “She tried to kill you!” 

Spot stopped. He floated in place until Twilight caught up, but when she turned him around, expecting to see sorrow or fear in his eyes, she saw anger. 

“And you don’t question why? Did you ever ask yourself, why did Rainbow Dash not catch me?” Spot said, pushing Twilight with his hooves, “or were you too wrapped up with crowning yourself the best mother? I’ll have you know that you’ve had plenty of times when you spaced out. Maybe Rainbow had one too? Maybe it was important, or something that hurt? She talked about her mother and said some pretty personal things for a brash and prideful pegasus like Rainbow.” He started flying towards Rainbow’s house, which floated close by, “I don’t know about you, Mom, but I’m going to figure out what happened, and if you were her real friend, you would join me instead of making vain threats about court.”

“If I were a real friend!!?” Twilight huffed, looking everywhere except at Spot to find something to unleash all her unwanted emotions upon, “I’m the best friend anyone can have! I know more about friendship in one cubic millimeter of my hoof than you do in your entire body!” 

“Then show it!” Spot shouted.



	


	

Returning to Rainbow’s cloud home held an eerie sense of dread. 

Twilight, after getting what she thought of as a wake up call, realized that Rainbow had been giving off signs that something was wrong well before that gust of wind. She remembered that Rainbow never came after her when she slapped her in the face. She always loses her cool once physical contact was involved.

How dare she want to take her son away. 

Anger, familiar and welcome, bubbled up in Twilight’s gut.

How dare she try to take your son. 

She wanted to slap Rainbow again, then follow through with her real threats and take her to court.

She watched Spot go inside, but didn’t follow. 

His words rang out like the dinner bell in her mind. “If I were a real friend?” She said out loud. Her anger slowly subsided as a meaning dawned upon her. “Real friends don’t let matters outside their control affect them. But she tried to take my son away! How could I not get angry at that?!”

Slowly, still talking to herself, Twilight went inside. 





	

Rainbow clutched her cloud pillow. Her insides were being torn apart by guilt and she had failed to keep the tears at bay ten minutes ago. She lost her chance to do right by the pony that helped her through the toughest time in her life, and now she questioned how prepared she even was to begin with.

Answer, not at all.

The paper sat next to her on a wooden nightstand, the one that, if Spot signed, would mean he was her son forever. She thought of burning it, tearing it to shreds. There was no way Spot would ever want her as a mother now. Maybe Twilight was right, and she should stay away from the colt.

“Ah! Why does this have to hurt so much?” Rainbow screamed, punching the cloud over and over again until she deemed it beaten to submission. “Why did I have to think of her then? Why not during the nap?” she grumbled, pulling at her hair.

When she gained some semblance of control, she looked out of the window, Heart thudding and the urge to punch something rising, she watched the pegasi fly outside. “I had it all planned out too. I don’t think I ever put so much work into a single day, not for Scootaloo, not even for Fluttershy.” She laid back down and covered her face with the cloud pillow, blanketing her sight in a slightly damp softness she’d grown accustomed to over the last few minutes, and eventually fell asleep.

She awoke to an annoying pressure on her side. She swatted at it, merely wanting what had to be some kind of bug to go away and let her mope in peace. 

“Rainbow Dash?” 

Rainbow groaned, the voice rang a bell, then she shot up, pillow floating in the air before gently falling to the floor.

A white furred colt bearing feathered wings with bright red spots on them, blue eyes, no green eyes, stared at her. 

It was Spot. 

“Now you wake up!?” Spot said, standing inches from Rainbow’s face. “I tried to nudge you, then spoke your name– it took me almost ten minutes to wake you up! And here I thought Twilight was a deep sleeper.” 

“What are you doing here, Spot?” Rainbow refrained from calling him Squirt, “Did I kidnap you in my sleep? Oh Celestia, Twilight’s going to kill me” 

Spot galloped towards the mare, “I came with Twilight, but we got separated. I hope she’s wandering your house thinking about what she did.” 

“What, are you two banishing me from Ponyville? Good luck getting the weather right without me.” Rainbow sat up. She fluttered to the ground and stretched, trying and failing to keep her nerves from showing. 

“Stop it, Rainbow! We’re not here to banish you, throw you in jail or anything like that! We’re here. Well, I’m here to get your side of the story.” Spot moved over and put a hoof on Rainbow’s left front leg, “For Celestia’s sake, what happened back there?”

“I messed up, that’s what happened.” Rainbow took to the air and looked down on Spot with angry eyes, “I almost got you killed, Spot. What else is there to know?” 

“I know what happened, Rainbow. It was only a few hours ago.” Spot glared at Rainbow, looking directly in her eyes. “I want to know why you hesitated. Cloudy wouldn’t choose a careless pony to be my godmother, so there has to be a reason you didn’t save me. So what happened?” 

“What are you, some kind of psychologist? Come here to judge my innermost thoughts like they were some kind of book?” 

With a calm tilt of the head, Spot declared. “yes”

“Oh great, they sent in a child shrink to analyze my brain“ She jazz handed her way through that, but couldn’t hide the quiver in her lip. 

“I’m not a shrink, Rainbow. I just want to know what happened. You were talking about your mother. Did something happen to her? And don’t bother using the ‘I’ll tell you when you’re older’ trick. You of all ponies should know I’ve seen worse. I just want to help.” 

“I…” Rainbow could only blink. She saw so much of Cloudy Melody in him that for a moment, just a moment, she believed his words. She sighed and put her hooves to the air. “Alright, alright. I was going to tell the story anyway, why not now?” She sat back down on her cloud bed and beckoned Spot to come up. He did and gave Rainbow his full attention. 

“I haven’t been much for all the mushy stuff I bet you saw Cloudy deal with, but I think I can say that I know exactly what you went through in that gorge.” 

This caught Spot off guard. “What? What do you mean, Rainbow?” 

“I’m saying that I lost my mom for no reason as well. I just woke up and poof, she was gone. My dad was in shambles and I couldn’t see straight.” 

Spot went limp. He turned away from Rainbow and focused on how his hooves bobbed up and down, hitting the cloud bed every now and again. “When did it happen?” 

“December, ten years ago” Rainbow said, lying out on her back, arms outstretched, head towards the ceiling. “It was a cold night. I went to bed fine, but had a dream of the mantacore, from the stories my mom read to me before bed. I went to sleep with both my parents, but I woke up with only one. 

“It happened two months after she stepped down as the Wonderbolt’s captain. We’d watched Spitfire rise to the challenge of filling her horseshoes, to everyone’s surprise, and I can clearly remember asking myself, why did she quit? Our life was fine when she’d been captain. Sure I didn’t see her much with all the practices, but she always found time for me. She still saw me off to flight camp, even gave me a few lessons from time to time.” 

“Do you think someone forced her to resign? Like someone was out to get her job?” 

Rainbow looked like Spot had punched her in the gut. She furrowed her brows and glared at him as if wanting to hit him before relaxing. “Not that I know of, but I think I see where you’re coming from.” Rainbow’s usual enthusiasm to take revenge wasn’t there, but a calm collectiveness that was as uncharacteristic as rain in the desert. “I can think of a few names that might have wanted her job, but I knew them all personally.  One of them mentored me when mom couldn’t”

Again, the room fell silent. No one spoke for a full minute as the words already said processed. Finally Spot said the last thing Rainbow expected him to say. “I forgive you.” 

“For what?” 

“For not catching me.”Spot looked up, smiling at Rainbow, “Sure it was scary, but I’m fine, no broken bones or anything like that. You remembered something that really affected you growing up. You couldn’t stop it and I bet if we tried it again you’d catch me.” 

“I would! Honest! I learned my lesson!” Rainbow trailed off, tears finally spilling out. “I really didn’t expect you to forgive me! That, that means a lot.” She wiped her eyes and forced a smile. “If you want we could ditch Twilight and I could show you where I take my naps? I’ll even buy you something from Sugarcube Corner! How does that sound?” 

“Hold everything!” 

Spot jumped and hid behind Rainbow only to emerge seconds later as Twilight walked through, grinding her teeth. 

“Spot, are you saying you forgive Rainbow for almost killing you!!” Twilight hissed, “How could you? Rainbow Dash let you fall!” 

“I did not!” Rainbow shouted. Getting to her hooves, she stared right at Twilight, posing as if to strike the princess down. “I hesitated, sure, but I would not, ever in my life, willingly let someone fall. Did I let you fall in the everfree all those years ago? How about Rarity in the young flier's competition?” 

Twilight back pedaled. She steadied herself and glared right back. “okay, so you didn’t mean to, but that doesn’t take away the fact that it happened!” 

“Would you two shut up!!” Spot yelled. Twilight and Rainbow glared, the former lighting her horn and dragging Spot behind her.  “Let go of me, Twilight! You two are at each other’s throats over this?!” 

“This?!” Twilight’s words came with a gasp, “Spot, I don’t know if you realize what you’re saying. You could have died if I hadn’t caught you.”

Spot let out a whimper, his eyes shimmering before steeling again. “Well you did catch me! I wanted you below me so you could catch me if something happened, and something happened. You know what you did, Mom, you caught me. End of story!” 

“No, no, no! Not end of story,” Twilight said, “the point is you almost died because of Rainbow’s negligence. How can you forgive her so easily?” 

“Because I love her Mom, just like I love you.” 

He was able to break the hug. 

“Does that mean you want me as your mother, Spot?” Rainbow asked, hesitant to call this a victory. 

“I don’t know I don’t know I DON’T KNOW!” Spot ran to the window. Spreading his wings, he jumped onto the ledge of the hole of a window. “I don’t want to choose, I can’t choose I can’t choose! Why are you making me do this?” 

“Spot, where are you going!” Rainbow shouted, running up to the window, while Twilight just stared at the colt like he’d turned to a ventriloquist doll. 

“Away from here!” Spot yelled, kicking Rainbow in the face. 

Rainbow recoiled, staggered back before coming back around and glaring daggers at Spot. “Oh you little punk,” 

Spot shuddered, turned, then flew away. 

Twilight saw the fear. It was like the final piece of a difficult puzzle, and she snapped out of her daze. She grabbed Rainbow by the tail before she could retaliate against a seven year old child. “Hold it Rainbow, geez. How dense are you?” 

“What did you call me!” Rainbow turned, her anger changing its destination. She charged her friend, only to receive a buck to the face, much harder than Spot’s fight or flight response.

“Rainbow, you bucking dolt, you were scaring him.”

Rainbow only pressed a tender hoof to the throbbing in her nose and cheek, “I know, Twilight, he kicked me in the nose. I think a good scare is in order.”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Twilight backpedaled, releasing Rainbow’s tail, “I mean we're scaring Spot. Our fighting, it’s tearing him apart on the inside.” She moved forward, sitting down next to Rainbow. “Imagine this, you’re living your happy childhood, when, bam! Your parents are fighting about the mortgage. It has nothing to do with you, but you hear them yell at each other night after night. It’s grates on a child. And one of the hardest things for a seven year old to deal with, especially after going through the suicide of a loved one, is divorce.”   

Rainbow thought for a moment, then her eyes went wide. “So, he sees us both as his parents and us fighting...” she trailed off, eyes widening. 

“Yes! And we need to fix that. Come on!” Twilight said, waving her hoof, “I know where he went. We have to tell him how sorry we are.” 
Rainbow nodded, then took flight after Twilight. Her sights set on Carousel Boutique.






	

Through the front door, up the ivory stairs, being lead through the hallway that held four rooms. Rarity’s inspiration room is first on the right, inside was a mess, but that’s how Rarity wanted it, and to the left, a perfectly usable guest bedroom. Beyond those were the bedrooms. Rarity’s on the far right and Sweetie Belle’s old bedroom on the far left, mere feet apart. 

Spot moved through the door on the far left, entering a warmer world. Chrysanthemum always liked her room to be ten degrees hotter than a spring day. She lived in Fillydelphia before being orphaned after all. 
  
Colorful stuffed animals littered the floor. An open Lady RaRa backpack on the floor with the singer’s smiling face marking the large pouch where papers drooled out. The sound of Lady RaRa’s new hit single My Heart Will Go On playing looped on vinyl record throughout the room. 

“Please, help Chrissy clean up her room, would you, Spot?” Rarity said. The white mare held the door open, her luscious purple locks swaying ever so gently with her movements. “There’s some cookies in it for you if you do.” 
“Okay, Miss Rarity,” Spot said not turning to face her. 

Rarity raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, “you two have fun then. I’ll let Twilight know you’re over here, Spot. You know how she gets when she misplaces you.” 

“She knows, Miss Rarity,” 

Rarity had met Spot many times before. He was a grand colt, the only one in town she trusted her little Chrissy alone with, and he’d been over to her house at least three times this week, none of which had he ever told Twilight about. But again, she kept silent. Chrysanthemum and him shared a bond she could never figure out. Something deeper than common interests. Sometimes a friendship like that brought up bad things.

“Alright then, if you need anything, I’ll be in my inspiration room. Remember to knock though.” Rarity left. She was down the hall when Chrysanthemum shouted how sorry she was for knocking all of Rarity’s mannequins over trying to deliver lemonade. “Just like Sweetie Belle.” a smile never left her wrinkleless features as she reminisced on the chaos wrought by her sister years ago.

Once Chrysanthemum finished whining over how it was an accident all Rarity’s fabrics got soaked, she closed the door and sat against it. “What’s wrong?” Her words were cautious instead of jubilant like they usually were.

Spot didn’t respond. He held himself, wings fluttering, and glared at the space heater. Black with a single fan powered by magic. One punch would break it. “I don’t know how much more I can take Annie. They’re at each other’s throats over me. They’re killing their friendship because of me. I think Twilight’s really going to take her to court. Over me!” 

Chrysanthemum, a five year old filly who needed help getting dressed in the morning, took Spots words without blinking an eye. She walked over and sat on her bed. “Aloe taught me a few things about massages. She says they’re great at easing tension, as she puts it.” She put on a sheepish smile that only accented her baby blue trimmed jumper. “Want me to loosen those muscles?”

“Actually, that sounds nice,” Spot moved towards the bed, dim light from the curtain covered windows shined on his spots as he let his wings fall to the ground. He was too tired to keep them in place, “I tried to tell them to stop. The first time at Rainbow’s house, I used the book as a peace offering. A way to get between them, have them focus on me instead of each other.” He climbed on top of the bed and lay motionless, feeling Chrysanthemum’s hooves touch his back. “I mean, I’m afraid of heights and I willingly– we were so high up,” he shook, because of the memories or the unfamiliar touch, he didn’t know. “I pushed myself, trusting Rainbow and Twilight would save me and come together in the face of my near death experience. That I just had to give them that extra push by putting them in the same room.” Spot hit the bed pad, groaning, “Rainbow went along fine. She didn’t hate me for ruining her friendship.” Suddenly, before Chrysanthemum could use words only spoken when the two were alone to calm him, he stopped. “I never should have told Mom. This all started then. Before it was the worry of loosing some hair, or fur, maybe a broken bone with a lot of kisses and alone time with her– my life was great back then, and now I’m tearing it apart!”

A sharp pain echoed the loud crack in his back. “Would you calm down, Spot? Everything is going to be fine.” Chrysanthemum eased up, she made circles between Spot’s shoulder blades, just how Aloe had taught her. “I want my room to be an escape from your troubles. One where you can be happy no matter what’s going on around us. Just relax.” 

“I guess you’re right, Annie.” Spot felt his left wing being extended. He lay his head down as gentle pressure was placed on the joints. The slight pain numbed his mind, freeing him of his parent’s fights. 

He fell asleep before he knew it. 

A half an hour later, he woke to the sound of the door opening. His eyes blearily made out the form of Chrysanthemum sorting through the trash on her floor. The music had changed from Lady RaRa’s calm voice to the dapper sound of Big Benny’s jazz house, recorded by magic through the record player. 

“Spot.” 

Spot made no attempt to move. The room felt boiling hot at that moment, and the smooth rhythm of Benny’s trumpet sounded like a cat being grated with a nail file. 

“Blazing Spotlight, look at your mother,” Twilight said, “Please” 

Spot lifted his head. Chrysanthemum had stopped cleaning and watched, offering a kind smile. He knew it was all she could do. 

“Mom,” Spot said. Not only Twilight, but Rainbow had shown. His heart thumped. The first thought was that the two had moved their argument into Rarity’s home. To Chrysanthemum, but that thought didn’t last long. 

For one, Rainbow was flying still, and she rubbed her hooves. Twilight bit hers.

“Chrysanthemum, would you mind giving Rainbow and I a moment of privacy with Spot?” Twilight said, “we need to patch things up is all. Shouldn’t take more than a minute.” 

“Bring Rarity!” Spot shouted. 

“That won’t be necessary, Chrissy,” Rainbow said. She landed and trotted up to Spot’s side. This time she saw the fear in his eyes and hated herself. “Twilight told me how close you two are, and she said it was likely that he told you about our fights.” 

“We just want to apologize in private. I’m sure he’ll tell you later,” Twilight added, moving to the other side of Spot. 

Chrysanthemum looked towards Spot. She saw how tense he got, the little beads of sweat rolling down his brow, but she also saw how calm and in control Twilight and Rainbow were. They looked more worried than angry. 

“Alright. I’ll be back soon.” 

Spot watched as Chrysanthemum closed the door, then looked up at Twilight. She wore a smile, “Calm down Spot, neither of us are going to hurt you, jeez.” 

“Yeah, you need to relax more. I can take you to my napping spot, it’s a bit of a hike, but it’s worth it. Trust me.” Rainbow nudged the colt’s arm. “Anyway, I might as well get it over with. remember when I said I messed up?” 

“We messed up, Rainbow,” Twilight said. The princess got up and knelt before Spot, as if proposing. She took his hoof in hers and spoke with the clarity you’d expect from royalty, “When you told me your story two weeks ago, about Cloudy. It was the first time I ever saw you act so violent. I thought you were mad at me for dying your coat white, but you were just scared and didn’t know how to bring her up. Am I right?”

“Yes,” Spot said, nodding. 

“I should have seen the pattern. As our fighting got worse, you became more unpredictable,” 

“Ugh, I’m not good with all this mushy stuff,” Rainbow groaned. She stood on all fours and spoke with clear determination. “Look, Squirt, we understand. You can’t choose between the awesome me and the egghead Twilight. So we came up with a solution.” 

“I would have liked to have a bit more build up, Rainbow” Twilight shouted, then took a deep breath instead of taking it further. Something Spot noticed. “Rainbow’s right, Spot. The two of us have come to an agreement.” 

“We’ll each take you every other week,” Rainbow said, almost pleased with interrupting Twilight, “Starting today you’re sleeping at my place, then next week at Twilight’s. Each of us gets to spend time with you, and you get not one, but two moms.” She leaned in and poked Spot in the side wither her elbow, “Not a bad deal, eh kid?”

He couldn’t respond. Spot swam in the relief that seemed to come from all sides until he drowned. Unable to hear the concerned voices of his parents, he fainted with a smile on his face.



	


	

A few days after Spot returned from his epic naptime mission, as he called it, Pinkie threw a “My Best Friends aren’t fighting anymore” party, which was changed from “My Two best friends are raising a child and might get married one day” party, for reasons.

Spot and Chrysanthemum sat at their tree behind SugarCube Corner watching the party through the back window like a show. The moon was out. It painted the familiar soft edged roofs in a gentle white light.

“It feels weird not being at a party, Spot,” Chrysanthemum said. She sat in the surprisingly chilly night air with her back resting on Spot’s for warmth. “Shouldn’t we go in soon?” 

“Annie,” Spot said. He looked up at the stars, and thought about asking Twilight to teach him astronomy. She would, oh Sweet Celestia she’d jump at the chance like a spider on a fly. “The past two weeks have been harrowing to say the least, but, I think it was worth it.” 

“Worth it?!” Chrysanthemum lifted her head off of Spot’s neck, shivering as the cold air tickled. “Spot, you were stressed out, miserable, even afraid to go home. You remember those times you had me open the front door so you could sleep with me?” 

“I do, but look Annie,” he pointed a hoof at the window. Inside was Rainbow Dash and Twilight, chatting. “They aren’t fighting, they aren’t arguing, they’re talking. Two ponies that were head over heels for me, who looked close to killing each other, are chatting at a party. They’re both my mother. I have two ponies that will look out for me, challenge me, annoy me, everything a family does, all because of the past two weeks.

“And do you know what’s best?” Spot said, “It’s that in here,” he pointed to his heart, “it doesn’t hurt as much anymore. Whenever I think about Cloudy, I don’t cry. Because I can see the light forward. Those two,” he pointed at Rainbow and Twilight, who had left the window to grab some punch, “are taking me by the hoof,” he teared up, “So you see, the pain I went through. It was all worth it.”
Chrysanthemum wiped at a few of his tears, “Oh you baby,” she chuckled, “blubbering about this or that. We should be inside, partying our butts off. It’s freezing out here, could we please go inside now?” 

“In a second,” Spot said once he calmed down. He looked into Chrysanthemum’s eyes, a bright smile, almost devious, slowly grew, “You should do it too, Annie. You should trust Rarity with your deepest secret.” 



	


	

Rainbow Dash and Twilight sat on the ground at Pinkie’s party. It was sort of taboo, so they didn’t plan to stay long. They were in the kitchen where it was less crowded, looking at the document Twilight was going to send back. Filling in the first blank that decided who Spot’s mother would be was both Rainbow and Twilight’s names, and at the bottom, in crummy handwriting Twilight was hell bent on correcting, read Blazing Spotlight.

“So, once you mail this back to the Foal Protective Services, it’ll be official, right?” Rainbow said, unable to avert her eyes from the paper as reality started setting in, “We’ll be the parents of the same child?” 

“Yeah,” Twilight said, “We’re parents. I mean, I was a parent to start with, but now we’re working together.” 

“I’ll leave the scheduling stuff to you,” Rainbow rolled her eyes, “All those boring egghead tasks are yours. Hey,” she got serious and her eyes turned to daggers, “just because we’re raising the same kid doesn’t mean I love you.”

“I don’t love you either!” Twilight shot, completely caught off guard. “You’re a friend, Rainbow, there will be no… GROSS!” she got up and started walking down the hallway that lead to the party room. She needed a cupcake all of a sudden, “get your head out of the gutter Rainbow!” 

Rainbow groaned before following after her, “you know that’s not what I mean!” she grumbled, thoughts of all the fake love letter pranks she was going to get now. “Dumb Egghead.” She shot away from the window where, if you looked out, you could see two foals, a white one and a pink one, yelling and screaming like an old married couple.