The warm sun was beating down on Delta Vee’s Junkyard. It was always a welcome source of light though: crisp winter desert air retained little of the heat this time of year, making it cold enough for a little layer of frost to have built up on the windows of the small trailer-home.
The trailer’s door burst open, slamming noisily outwards and groaning on its hinges as Delta Vee stepped from the interior, her eyes blinking as she rubbed her face with her hooves. She stretched her forearms wide, a yawn forming deep in her gut at the sudden intrusion of bright winter-sun in her face.
It was already past noon, but she’d had a long night. The winter holiday season never treated Delta very well... Sure there were a lot more lonely colts (and mares) in the bars this time of year… but with so many sob-stories being passed around over booze it was always hard for Delta not to think of her own past and find herself swept up in a sea of her deep-seated emotions.
Stepping down the cinder-block steps, she made her way to the beat up mailbox at the front-gate of the eponymous junkyard, flipping down the little front-lid of the metal container to see the usual assortment of junk-mail, taxes… ‘What’s this?’ Delta thought.
She was looking through the pile of useless papers to see a what looked like a greeting card. She shifted some of the flyers and bill-envelopes around so she could see it more clearly.
It was a Hearth’s-Warming day card.
HAPPY HEARTH’S-WARMING MOM - was emblazoned on the front.
Delta’s eye twitched, the corners of her mouth beginning to turn down from their ever-present frown into a more discernible scowl. She’d only just managed to get through the damn holiday, all the gaudy decorations at the mall, the cheery greetings on the streets… she had even managed to fend off a gaggle of moronic carolers that had traipsed out to her front door of all places. That had been bad enough.
Almost as bad as waking up on the day itself.
As a foal Delta always looked forward to the day with wonder and excitement. She’d always been the first in her family to pop out of bed, rushing down the hallway to excitedly shake her parents awake as she bounced with boundless energy. It was Hearth’s-Warming Day!
Delta shook her head in disgust at the pleasant memories of the past. She'd been so foalish then, so naive.
This Hearth’s-Warming was much more representative of the holidays she’d been experiencing for the past 10 years. Lonely. Hung-over. Bitter. Alone. Tired. Depressed. Alone. Hollow. Alone. Alone. Alone…
Delta sighed, as she thought back on her recent experience of the holiday morning in question from a few days prior. She’d stayed under her covers, nursing a pounding headache and a shaky feeling of emptiness for as long as she could before the call of the bathroom inevitably dragged her from her miserable cocoon of sheets and blankets.
Once she’d finished her business, she’d stumbled out into the courtyard of the Junkyard, a beer clutched in one hoof as she looked over at nearby Las Pegasus. Both the sky and ground portions of the city were in full holiday mode - a light snowfall danced over the metropolitan area, while the sky-portion of the city basked in the dimming evening light.
Somewhere up there were two ponies that she wished were with her… and that she simultaneously wished were nowhere near her. It hurt her heart badly, a familiar ache that she only ever seemed to be able to dull with the right mixture of cider and spirits, as she thought about how she couldn’t be near them… not without finding herself overwhelmed by emotion… and yet she couldn’t be away from them either.
It just sucked.
Like the other day when she had gone to Jet’s apartment. She’d told herself that it was to get back a key and a toy that Apogee had snagged while she’d been over at her place… but in reality she was feeling a bit worried for the kid. Apogee had left her home so quickly that day. With her concern driving her, Delta managed to swallow her reticence to potentially run into Jet and had entered the 2-story condo to make sure her daughter was OK - she’d left the junkyard in quite a unique state of health after all.
What had happened next… had not been bad at all, actually. She’d spent the better part of an afternoon telling her daughter stories about her own first real romance. The filly’s eager eyes were wide with excitement as she listened to her mother hold court about the circumstances of the early days of her original relationship with her father.
Talking about those long forgotten days were actually not as bad as Delta would have thought they’d be. The sappy, happy memory had actually put her into a good enough mode to speak to Jet without spitting and slinging insults… well too many insults in any case… and the meal that they’d sat down to enjoy afterward had been something approaching pleasant.
As she'd chewed the delicious pizza and tried to avoid thinking about her awkwardness around her family members, she'd been struck by the fact that she couldn’t remember any time she’d sat down for a meal with her daughter and ex. It wasn't half-bad, actually.
They’d followed it up with a brief tour of the apartment, and the old black dog of depression began barking for Delta once again. Something in her was beginning to feel *wrong* again, like she needed to escape - to get away from the source of so many years of suffering. She wasn’t sure if it was the opulent surroundings and expensive furnishings (all of which irked her as she compared them all to her own drab junkyard surroundings - surroundings which should have been on par or better than Jet’s, if only her talents were truly recognized)… or if it was the moment when Jet had bumped into her, touching her there, even if accidentally… but her discomfort was rising rapidly.
Things were beginning to reach the boiling point as she realized that Jet and Apogee were paying less and less attention to her. Sure, Apogee had been givin her an excited tour with plenty of commentary about the various artifacts of her life... but Delta could she how she continued to steal glances at her father with lovey-dovey smiles, and how Jet would return them.
More and more as the tour went on, she felt like she was intruding in someone else’s home. That she was an outsider. A stranger to this family. She wasn’t sure why that should surprise her given how little time she had spent with her Apogee over the years, but it did. It shook her.
Finally, the nail in the coffin… that damn journal.
In Jet’s office, the original thesis paper that she’d written back at Coltumbia University had been adapted by Jet into some kind of perverse journal… a place for him to record his thoughts and feelings for her and their lost dreams over the years. Once she’d seen the reverently treated document on Jet’s desk she’d been unable to stop herself, poring over the notes in the margins with a fascination that quickly turned to horror.
With such a unique window into Jet’s feelings, Delta had been struck by Jet’s idea that she’d transformed over the years… had drifted away from somepony she didn’t even know that she used to be. In that room, as she turned the weighty pages, there'd been a brief moment where she’d felt the full weight of her loss of self. Something that she’d always blamed on Jet... but it seemed more and more to be something that she could take some responsibility for as well.
It sucked.
She’d snatched the journal and blasted off out of the office, noticing with a sob that no daughter or stallion called out to her to wait as she flew off.
She’d tried for the next week to drown the pain of that afternoon with liquor, and had even come close to doing so after a particularly talented construction-stallion had taken her home one night. That was a titillating distraction.
But inevitably that horrible sinking anxiety would return.
Each time that crashing wave of despair would break upon her, she was drawn to the journal, confronting herself with even more of the harsh words in the margins, drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Apogee needed help with her 4th grade science project today. She was going to do a baking soda volcano of all things. A part of me wanted to let her do it, just because I knew it would be easier and get the easy grade…
But a part of me knew that DV would never have stood for her daughter doing something so trivial… so I made little Gee come back with a new plan - she ended up wanting to make a miniature 4-stroke engine…
Her mom would be proud.
Delta had smiled even as she read the journal in her half inebriated state. She was proud. When she read nice little entries like this, she felt that admiration for her little girl… and even (she hated to admit) a little admiration for the good parenting done by Jet. It made some part deep inside of her feel warm inside. At peace. That deep feeling made her wish that she had been there. It rejected her arguments that she couldn’t be there because of the past. It steamrolled over her feelings in the present about avoiding hurt by not being a bigger part of her daughter’s life now - and the feeling was growing.
Day by day, Delta’s feelings grew as she caught up on the lost years of her foal’s childhood. The warmth would bubble up from inside her at times, making her face twist into more smiles whenever Delta thought of her little girl, or make her chuckle when she saw the kid drop by randomly and unexpectedly every other week.
Delta could feel herself changing. She was starting to get her head above water.
…
Delta sighed. That part of her got a huge kick in the teeth when she’d gotten NO visit on Hearth’s-Warming Eve or Hearth’s-Warming Day.
In that moment, it became painfully obvious that she wasn’t a member of the family. Not yet.
Perhaps… not ever.
…
Back in the present, blinking away her unwanted tears, Delta flipped open the card.
Happy pre-Hearth’s-Warming Mom!
I hope you’re having a great time with your friends during the holidays. Dad says that I should be careful not to bug you TOO much, and we’ve got a TON of stuffy corporate holiday parties to go to this week… so I won’t be able to drop by until after the ‘big-day’.
BUT.
I asked Dad if you could drop by the condo again on Hearth’s-Warming Eve… maybe even stay over for the morning? You could sleep in my room! I have a big bed, heck I can even sleep on the floor.
It was really fun having you over a few weeks ago! It would be great to have you back again! We can sit on the sofa and have cocoa, watch the goofy old-timey Hearth’s-Warming videos…
But, if you have other plans already… I understand. No worries! Still, I hope to see you!
Either way, Happy Hearth’s-Warming Mom! Dad says the same!
I love you!
Apogee
…
Delta blinked, flipping over the card to see the postmark on the front… dated 3 days before Hearth’s-Warming Eve.
‘Dammit!’ Delta swore silently in her mind with ferocity. Ever since Celestia had appointed some dumb-ass low-level mail-mare pegasus from Ponyville as Postmaster General for ‘heroic deeds’ during some recent invasion the mail service had gone to ABSOLUTE shit.
Typical royal nepotism.
“What the BUCK!?” Delta swore aloud as she delivered a kick to her mailbox, leaving a noticeable hoof-shaped dent.
Her frustration exhausted through her throbbing hoof, Delta her head in frustration. It was a crappy excuse, anyway. Why hadn’t she reached out to her daughter? It was her fault after all. She hadn’t needed to celebrate Hearth’s-Warming alone.
Now, the situation was all bucked up again... it was all ruined, consigned to a irredeemable, irrecovera past once again… She sighed, grumbling under her breath. All she could focus on now was the future.
“Mom!”
Delta looked up.
Apogee came fluttering down from the clouds above, a red Hearth’s-Warming hat still perched on her head, and a scarlet scarf bundled around her neck.
She was flying a little bit slower than usual because she was holding a gift-box in her fore-hooves. A small, white box with a red-ribbon.
She came to a skidding halt a few feet from her mom, discarding her gift-box and sprinting to Delta, wrapping her in a hug.
“Mom!” Apogee squeaked again as she squeezed as hard as she could.
Delta felt a filling feeling of satisfaction surge through her, a sense of completeness and wholesome warmth compelling her to return the hug with just as much fervor.
Delta squeezed her daughter. “Hey kid. Missed ya.”
Apogee finished her hug with a nuzzle into her mom’s neck and a squeak of happiness. “Didja have a fun hearth’s-warming mom? It sucks you couldn’t make it to our place…”
Delta grimaced, her face unseen by her daughter because of their close hug. “Y-yeah… tons of fun with my friends. Sorry I couldn’t make it.” Delta broke their hug to lean back and look at her cute, hat-toting daughter. “It’s nice to see you kid… but why are you here today?”
Apogee chuckled, as she skipped back over to her gift-box. “Well, for one I wanted to see you.” She turned with the gift box in her hooves. “For two, I wanted to give you your gift.” Apogee smiled widely as she gesticulated her hoof wildly. “And for three… I figured if we couldn’t celebrate Hearth’s-Warming Eve, we could at least celebrate the new-year!”
Delta arched an eyebrow at her daughter. “You know about the New-Year’s Eve celebration? Not many ponies do…”
“Dad told me all about it.” Apogee smiled. “He said it’s a favorite of smart ponies, scientists and engineers… so I knew it’d be a favorite of yours.”
“Oh?” Delta smirked, as she began trotting toward the trailer.
“For sure,” Apogee chuckled, falling into step with her mom, “you’re like… the smartest mare I’ve ever heard of.”
Delta blushed and smiled. She didn’t even gripe that her daughter hadn't said ‘the smartest pony’, she was too happy to have received the compliment from someone so special to her.
“Well… I don’t usually do much for new-year’s eve.” Delta smiled as she pulled open her door, kicking a small pile of beer-can detritus to one side.”But maybe a certain filly might like some hot cocoa and holiday movies.” Delta silently hoped that she still had some of the cocoa powder she’d purchased months ago.
Apogee squee’d as her mother opened the door and revealed that there was indeed a full mason jar of cocoa powder.
“Wait, what are you doing with the TV, mom?” Apogee asked as she watched her mother unplug the TV and lift it up.
“Heck, I figure the best place to enjoy the new year with some TV’s is on my old couch out back with some blankets.” Delta smirked as she gathered up a pair of blankets. “You young kids need to learn that hot cocoa tastes better if it’s earned.”
The sun was just beginning to dip beneath the distant hills, its last rays sliding off the top of the trailer as the 4th holiday movie of the evening completed on the small TV, powered by a yellow extension cord that snaked inside.
“Awww…” Apogee sighed at the sappy ending as she snuggled into her mom. The pony on-screen had just realised that Hearth’s-Warming was all about family and not about the fact that he had just lost his job, as his wife kids kissed him and the credits began to roll.
Delta smiled, resting her chin happily on top of her daughter’s head. It was a stupid movie… how was that stallion going to pay the bills? But if it made Apogee happy, she wasn't complaining.
Delta had spent half of the afternoon watching movies just observing her daughter’s face as it reacted to the various events in the film. Each little upturned twitch, grin, chuckle, or eye-roll… and even when Delta had watched any of the films, it was solely for the purpose of riffing or making snarky comments to elicit laughter from Apogee.
Delta accepted her daughter's snuggles with a grin, as she thought back on the past few hours: it had been a good afternoon.
There'd been a moment earlier, when she'd reached into her fridge for some milk for their hot chocolate, that a six pack of beer had seemed to call out to her, offering her a chance to mute the strange wash of anxious emotions she was aswim in today. Then Apogee had called out to her to hurry because the next movie was about to start, and the moment of weakness passed. She’d grabbed the milk and hurried back out.
There was something infectious about the way that Apogee so casually gave out her love with no judgement, no hesitation. It made Delta want to give back to her too. Apogee's bright eyes twinkled each time Delta would come back outside with a fresh cup of hot cocoa, even though it was just the cruddy powered stuff you could buy by the gallon at the supermarket. Her tail would swish with nervous anticipation each time Delta went inside to find a new videotape. The filly just oozed adorableness… Delta was having trouble retaining her demeanour.
‘I wonder why I never got into this whole ‘Mom’ thing… this is kinda nice.’ Delta thought to herself.
Delta noticed Apogee shiver as the cold dusk fell quickly upon them. This was the shortest day of the year after all, and the desert in winter could get unforgivably chilling. Delta slid her blanket partially over her daughter, affording her a second layer of insulation against the falling cold.
“Thanks Mom.” Apogee grinned, as she tucked her little wings in tightly to her body. “So… what's this new year's eve thing all about anyway? Is it like the summer sun celebration of the new celestial year in late summer?”
Delta scoffed, her eyes rolling ever so slightly. “Nope. This has nothing to do with princesses, governments or magic, kid.” Delta hopped up off her couch, doing her best to toss her blanket onto Apogee's lap as she grabbed a nearby stick and began to sketch into the dirt.
“See kid, there's this thing with our planet, a tilt… like this…” Delta had sketched out a rough 2 dimensional version of the planet, with little dotted lines from each pole to a nearby Sun she'd drawn, clearly demonstrating the axial tilt with her diagram.
“And as we go around the sun… like this…” Delta hastily drew another diagram with a large elliptical path around a central dot. “…This tilt ends up wobbling to the other hemisphere… I'm sure you know about all this from school and you've probably seen it yourself with the seasons changing and the shorter days during winter.”
Apogee nodded. “Yeah, they told us in school about the legends of Luna and Celestia… how they wanted to ensure that winter creatures like snow-hares and arctic wolves as well as the night creatures… bats, bat ponies…” Apogee rolled her eyes a little bit as she went on… “…but this was all in history class, not science class… so it always seemed a bit fanciful to me…” Apogee beamed as she noticed that her mom was nodding and grinning at her proudly. The filly pointed at the ellipses on the ground with her hoof and remarked, “Also, I thought that Celestia controlled the movement of the sun?”
Delta sighed slightly as she indicated the central sun with her hoof. “Well, there’s definitely a lot of arcana surrounding just how powerful the princesses truly are. It causes a ton of confusion when you’re having to unlearn half the things they taught you in high-school once you’re in college.”
Delta pointed at the overall diagram, grinning when she noticed that she’d captured the complete attention of her usually bouncy and overly-energetic daughter, “In any case, kid… we know that, independent of any alicorn interference, the gravitational system of our local solar system looks like this.” Delta sketched some force vectors onto her increasingly complex dirt diagram. “The jury’s still out on whether Celestia and Luna really could move the body of Equis, or a solar mass like the Sun… I mean, I know magic can do a lot… but we’re talking multiple orders of magnitude higher than even the most powerful of unicorns have ever demonstrated.”
Apogee was nodding her head up and down enthusiastically… this was making so much sense when placed in the context of some of the reading she’d done from her dad’s library, as compared to her high-school textbooks. “So, what do you believe mom?”
Delta smile grew wider. Her kid was totally engaged: she was really interested in what she had to say… this was pretty fun! The older pegasus continued scrawling out some of the more basic gravitational equations and bodies in the desert terrain.
“Well, there are some ponies in the scientific community who try to play the middle ground and say that Celestia and Luna do maintain this solar-system’s balance, which is different because of thaumic energies… and that Celestia does change the rotational velocity of Equis from time to time… as evidenced by those crazy events that crop up every once in a while…”
Delta shrugged, then looked from side to side cautiously, before leaning in to her daughter conspiratorially and whispering with a low mutter: “…but others… like me… think the whole thing is a bunch of bunk… meant to make Celestia seem more powerful than a mere overpowered unicorn to other nations on Equis. Heck, I don’t think Luna was ever on the moon either… she was probably in a dungeon somewhere.”
Apogee covered her muzzle in slight shock. “So you don’t think that they…! But what about those crazy events that they talk about in history class? I mean everypony could see that stuff! The return of Discord, and the attack of Tirek and the invasion from a fe-”
Delta prodded her kid with her hoof. “Ever notice how most of those things tend to happen either in Canterlot, where most of the Royals cronies hang out… or over Ponyville, one of the most backward towns in the whole of Equestria? Hay, kid, half of those country bumpkins don’t even have indoor plumbing yet, let alone electricity. Give me a couple of unicorns and a smooth talker and I could have that town believing I was some kind of God-pony inside of a week, tops!”
Apogee frowned, cocking her head before pressing her mother further. “B-but what about the way the sun and moon zipped around during all these incidents? I’m sure you must have seen it last summer when that invasion happ-”
Delta rubbed the back of her mane ashamedly… she’d actually been passed out drunk on some stallion’s couch… while under said stallion on the date in question. “W-well kid, first of all, I'd never heard of some all conquering 'Storm-King’ before last summer, had you? Second… I think the princess has some pretty powerful unicorns in her employ, don’t you? I’m telling you… the energies needed for a city, or nation-wide spell illusion are magnitudes lower than doing what she claims to be doing…”
Seeing that she had started to evoke a bit of a skeptical response from Apogee... the kind that a flat-Equis conspiracy-obsessed pony might elicit, Delta decides to summarize her position as quickly as possible: “L-look kid, I’ll never tell you what to think, like your teachers would… I’d rather tell you how to think… with a healthy-dose of skepticism… just make sure you don’t believe the first thing anypony tells you.”
Apogee nodded, as she hopped up from the couch to inspect the intricate designs on the desert floor more closely, paying particular attention to the bits showing the wobble of the planet she was currently on. “I guess that makes sense, mom…”
Delta sighed, happy that she’d managed to impart at least that much to her kid from her little anti-Royalist conspiracy rant. Delta perked her ears up as Apogee continued, “But you never really told me what was up with the holiday, before we got all distracted about the Princess stuff…”
Delta sat up, smiling as she remembered the original topic that they were speaking about… “Ah, well that’s simple kid… you see…”
“Hey there below, coming in for a landing!” A baritone stallion’s voice interrupted from above, as a dim figure streaked down from the rapidly darkening twilight sky.
Jet Stream, Apogee’s wealthy corporate executive father and Delta’s estranged ex, had showed up just in time to interrupt her.
He landed brusquely in the courtyard of the junkyard, mere yards from the two pegasus-mares, before quickly explaining that he had managed to wrap things up at the office much faster than expected despite the lower attendance of the holiday period.
Jet shrugged as he finished returning the hug that Apogee had delivered to him upon his arrival, exchanging only a nod and tight-lipped smile with Delta.
“So… I was about to head home when my chief of security let me know that Apogee had scampered off to your place, Delta. I figured I should drop by…”
Delta only grunted slightly in response. Jet usually avoided dropping by her junkyard as much as possible… mostly because she had always made it clear to him that he wasn’t welcome: whenever he showed up she would try to be as unpleasant as possible - not a difficult task when she was nursing one of her trademark hangovers.
Delta cocked her head slightly, unsure why the stallion had decided to show up at her place tonight. “Uh… why would you figure that?” Delta asked, not with outright venom, but enough bite in her statement to elicit a quick rebuke from Apogee.
“…Mooom…” the filly groaned warningly.
“Because it’s what decent ponies do during the holidays… you know… visiting family?” Jet growled back, his eyebrows already starting to pinch together.
“…Daaaad…” Apogee’s warning became more insistent.
Jet sighed, covering his face with his hoof quickly to recompose himself before he went on. “Sorry… sorry. Listen, I really didn’t come here to start a fight, Delta. Just to say hello, merry Hearth’s-Warming and happy New-Year’s, then pick up Apogee and head on home.” He extended his hoof neutrally toward Delta.
Delta stared at it with suspicion for a few moments, unwilling to move forward... until she felt her filly prod her flank and grumble at her. “C’mon mom…”
Delta resignedly bumped the hoof of Jet, causing him to immediately let out a little sigh of tension. “H-happy New-Year’s, Jet.” Delta mumbled, before quickly turning away and heading back over to the outdoor sofa.
Apogee half-squee’d, clopping her hooves together. Her parents not immediately not killing each other or screaming their heads off was fantastic progress!
“OK hun, grab your stuff. We should get going!” Jet nudged his daughter with his head, directing her toward the gate of the junkyard.
Apogee stuck her hooves in the ground stubbornly, not allowing herself to be pushed along. “But Daaaaad… I don’t wanna go yet! Mom was just telling me about New Year’s eve…” Apogee bristled as she saw that this excuse was having little effect on her father, who just stared at her with an upturned eyebrow. Taking another run at her usually successful petulance, Apogee quickly went on, “…AND I haven’t even given Mom her Hearth’s-Warming present yet!” Apogee looked up at her father with big saucer-eyes, willing tiny tears to appear in the corners.
Jet sighed and threw up a hoof in frustration, “Fine… fine! Delta, can Apogee stick around a bit longer?”
Delta grinned from her spot behind the outdoor sofa, “Sure… no problem.”
Jet nodded and flared his wings out, beginning to flap so that he could take off, “Thanks, see you at home then hone-” Jet was cut off from his takeoff by a pair of yellow hooves hugging his rear leg.
“Aww Dad, can’t you stick around too?” Apogee asked, pouting.
“Seriously?” Jet grumbled, folding his wings back onto his back as he looked over to Delta to see her reaction.
Delta’s frown kicked up a couple of notches into ‘annoyed’ territory and she rolled her eyes slightly, “Ehh… I dunno kid… it’s gettin’ kind of cold and…”
Delta was cut-off mid statement by a pair of yellow hooves grasping one of hers. “Pleeease mom? I don’t ever get a chance to spend time with both of you… and… you could make a fire! You love fires!” Apogee looked up at her mother with saucer-eyes and a whimpering-lip… which to any trained eye were both obvious fakes.
Delta looked across at Jet, her frown transforming to an unsure grimace.
Jet chuckled at Delta, shaking his head. “Hard to say no to her when she does that, isn’t it?”
Delta looked back down at the begging, puppy-dog eyes of her daughter and sighed. She did have that newly downscaled rocket engine she’d converted into an outdoor firepit she wanted to try...
“Well… I do like fires.”
The still twilight desert air was momentarily pierced by an echoing filly’s shout of triumphant joy.
Delta tweaked the switch on the tank feeding the small fire she’d quickly built in the courtyard, right in front of the outdoor sofa. She’d done an excellent job of converting the main-engine of an old military ballistic missile into the centerpiece of an outdoor fire-pit. She’d set the whole thing up a few hundred yards from the trailer, out behind the junkyard near an old LOX fuel cell that would feed it… and to a small ridge that provided a pristine view of the night sky and the Las Pegasus skyline.
As she got the setting just right, the smoldering engine bell quickly transformed from a few small tongues of orange fire into a raging blaze of shooting flames, almost an inferno.
“Ah… much better.” Delta sighed as she hopped back onto the sofa, the radiating heat washing over them and making the cold desert night much more palatable. Delta looked over to her right, scooching as far over as she could from the other side of the smallish love-seat style sofa, leaning heavily on the left arm of the beat-up piece of furniture so that she could stay as far away from Jet Stream as she could.
“That’s a clever piece of decoration. Almost looks like the real thing…” Jet murmured, as he held his hooves up to warm them and looked over at Delta with a small smile.
Delta just grunted, not even looking at him.
Jet slunk onto his his hoof, one of his elbows resting on the right arm as he muttered something about his eyebrows being melted off. He was also feeling a bit grouchy that he’d been forced to sit so close to Delta especially if she was going to treat him like a leper-pony all night. It had taken his teenage filly Apogee crossing her arms in front of her and giving both her parents a look that said: ‘seriously?’ to get them both to sit down. They’d drawn the line when Apogee had chuckled and suggested that they snuggle together if they were cold. The filly’s insistent enthusiasm had its limits after all.
Jet moaned out, “So are we gonna see this amazing present or what hun?”
Delta glared over at Jet. He always got a bit annoying when he wasn’t the center of attention. This was her gift… he should just shut up for a moment. Delta opened her mouth to say the same, but Apogee beat her to it.
“Shush Dad, this is Mom’s gift.” The yellow filly flittered over happily to drop the gift box she’d been carrying earlier onto her mother’s lap. “I-it’s not much… just a little thing.”
Delta rolled her eyes and snarked, “What, no diamonds for your mom?” When she saw that her joke seemed to have landed poorly on Apogee she quickly added: “Th-that was a joke kid, honestly… I’m pretty happy to get anything… heck I didn’t get you anything.” Delta mentally kicked herself as she stuck her hoof in her mouth once again - maybe she wasn’t cut out for this family stuff after all…
Delta was snapped out of her funk by the bright smile of her daughter, staring at her expectantly, “Well? Open it mom!”
Delta undid the silk bow, haphazardly tied by what had to be a disorganized but enthusiastic young pegasus. She reached into the box, lifting out what felt like a small ceramic plate as her daughter shook with excitement, barely able to contain her happiness.
It was an ashtray with a periwinkle-colored background and a well drawn image of Apogee’s face in the center of the tray and “BEST MOM - LOVE YOU” around the outside. It was a well-made piece of ceramic, painted and glazed multiple times with care.
“Do… do you like it?” Apogee asked bouncing up and down. “I started making it after I broke yours earlier this year… you know the Las Pegasus one?” Apogee quickly turned the ashtray in her mother’s hooves so that she could see the writing around the outside edge. “I-I wasn’t super pumped to make you something that would encourage you to smoke… but… I guess… I just knew you needed one.” Apogee was running on, getting more and more nervous that her gift hadn't gone over well.
“Kid…” Delta said, putting her arm on her nervous daughter, finally calming her rambling stream of explanations, “I love it.”
“Really!?” Apogee asked, clenching her mother's hoof with both of her own. At her mother's slow nod, Apogee stepped back, pumped a hoof in triumph and launched into the air with a triumphant “YES!” for the second time that evening.
Delta sighed, chuckling as she looked over to Jet, who was similarly bemused. It was kind of funny actually, if anything was ever going to get her to quit smoking, it would be the constant reminder of her daughter's face on her ashtray… come to think of it… was she really supposed to stub out her cigarettes on her daughter's adorable smiling face? Maybe the design would have been better if it was Jet’s face on the center of the ashtray… she smirked looking over at the stallion who only returned a confused smile back at her: Jet was unaware that Delta was currently imagining stubbing out embers on his goofy face.
“Move over guys, I want a spot!” Apogee whined before immediately hopping into the air and twisting about, landing in between her two parents on the already tight love sofa.
“Ooph… not a lot of room here… is there…” Apogee's butt struggled to find a place between her mom and dad, as she'd end up with either one buttcheek on her father's hip, or one on her mother's. “Hang on… what if I… there!”
Apogee had shifted about so that she was perched on her father's lap, on top of the blanket, her little chest puffed out as she absorbed the warm radiating heat from the crackling flames.
The fire pit began to flicker and spit. Delta looked at it with concern, delivering a quick kick to the fuel hose running next to the couch. If she didn’t know any better, it almost seemed as if the engine was following the procedure of one of its old launch protocols… but that was impossible, she’d disabled all of those when she’d converted it. The swift kick seemed to work, in any case, and the fire-pit resumed its crackling heat.
Meanwhile the oblivious, pair of ponies next to her had completely missed the fire’s little hiccup. Jet groaned as he tried to shift about under the teenager's weight. “Aww c'mon Hun, you're not a little filly anymore…”
“Dad! You sh-”
“Shouldn't mention a growing young mare's weight,” Delta snipped quickly, beating her daughter to the punch. “Or else you're liable to get a hoof to the face… besides, the kid is as light as a feather you wimp. Grow a pair.”
“Th-that's not what I…” Jet began before he heard Apogee's laughter.
“You tell him, Mom!” Apogee extended her hoof out to her mother, who quickly responded in kind with a hoof bump and a wry grin at Jet.
Jet shook his head and chuckled, as he realized he was being put on. “Why do all the mares in my life want nothing more than to tease me?”
This just made Apogee giggle harder.
“Maybe because it's easy. And because you're an ass.” Delta responded without hesitation.
“Mom!” Apogee scolded half-heartedly; she could tell that her mother's usual spite wasn't behind the insult.
“Oh sorry… is that species-ist these days? I meant he's a dickhead.” Delta deadpanned.
Now Jet and Apogee were chuckling. Delta's unintentional comic timing and unemotional delivery was just too much… and seeing their laughter, a small grin began to infect her face too.
‘This is nice.’ Delta thought.
But that brief moment of peace passed away suddenly.
The memories of the dark days that Delta had suffered, that she was still suffering, crashed back upon her like the powerful waves of a relentless tide of depression. All that pain and anguish, because of this stallion, sitting right next to her… laughing.
Delta could feel herself becoming ill… nauseous even. She felt woozy, she wanted to get up. Needed to. She needed a drink.
Delta began to get up, when she felt a hoof on her shoulder press her back into her seat. It was Apogee, and her smile… a face as refreshing as an ice-cold cider on a hot day.
“Mom? Where are you going?” Her daughter cocked her head curiously at her. “You still haven't told me the meaning behind New Year's Eve!”
Delta sighed, both in annoyance and relief.
Her daughter's question had managed to kick her out of the chain of depression and panic that she had felt descending upon her. She wasn't feeling great, but that crashing wave of anger and pain had passed over her.
“W-well kid. There's not much more to my explanation, actually.” Delta slumped back into the beat up sofa, resting her head against its tattered back cushions so that she was staring straight up at the starry night sky. She was still trying to slow her racing, panicky heartbeat as she went on, “Basically in a few minutes, we’ll hit the winter solstice… which is when we get furthest away from the sun. That's solstice is when a bunch of science-y types arbitrarily decided it would be a good day to start the New Year, and used it as an excuse to blow up fireworks and get hammered.”
“Oh.”
Apogee seemed to deflate a little bit at her mother's downcast and sardonic interpretation of the holiday she was so eager to learn about only hours before.
“Ahem.” Jet’s rumble filled the silence, “Pardon my interjection, but let me tell you something I heard once hun.” Jet ruffled his daughter's mane slightly as he also leaned back and looked up at the night sky.
“I heard this from a young mare in my college days… she was the one who taught me about this holiday in the first place.” Jet sighed as he looked up at the twinkling lights. “She told me that New Year's Eve is on the solstice because it's all about a new beginning. We celebrate tonight because we've made it through our darkest nights and survived our shortest days. From this point on, every passing minute we're returning to the light... Each moment of the new year brings us closer and closer to the sun… the passage of time alone will start filling our days with more warmth and light.”
Jet smiled as he watched the stars twinkle, then looked down to see his daughter staring at him with a wide-eyed fascination. “That's why we celebrate, hun.”
“M-mom said all that back then?” Apogee whispered, stunned at the revelation.
Jet chuckled, “Hah! No, it was this TA that I knew…” Jet paused half a beat to watch a confused look spread across his daughter's face before correcting himself, “…of course it was your mom, goof. DV used to love New Year's Eve.”
Apogee giggled at her father's dumb humor. “Awwwww, Mom you were such a romantic!” The little teenage filly prodded her mom, teasingly.
Both Jet and Apogee couldn't help but chuckle when Delta could only reply with a harumph and an eye-roll.
“I don't quite remember being so sappy about it,” Delta groused from her side of the sofa, “…and there's such a thing as the summer solstice too, you know? Where the days start getting shorter and the nights longer? It's all just one big crappy cycle you know.”
Apogee paused to look up at the stars herself, their twinkling light cascading down on the three of them like a soft dew. She reached one hoof to grasp her father's right hoof, and the other to grasp her mother's as she leaned back into her father. Neither knew it, but for this moment all three were connected through her, the little grasps and squeezes from her beloved parents reassuring her and giving her the courage to say more.
“But for now that summer solstice is a long way away, right?”
Delta and Jet both nodded at the same time, as time continued returning them to the sun.
It was a couple of hours later when a sputtering sound roused Delta. She must have nodded off at some point.
They'd spent a few hours just watching the fire burn and listening to Apogee regale them both with stories of her school-life. The friends she'd made, the activities she’d gotten up to, the teachers and classes she liked.
It had been hard for either her or Jet to get a word in edgewise over the talkative filly… at least until she'd mentioned a cute colt in her class. Jet had instantly begun to bristle and grumble about Apogee being way too young to start dating, which had just made the little filly roll her eyes while snuggling up to her dad.
Delta had immediately teased her daughter for being too much of a 'daddy’s filly’ to which Apogee had just stuck her tongue out at her and said “Yup! And proud of it!”
The both of them had laughed about that, even though Jet still seemed to be a bit ticked. Delta had never figured that he'd be such a protective father when it came to colts. Guess it made sense, considering.
That had gone on for a little while before Apogee has started singing some soft songs from the musical she'd been in the previous year. Delta hadn't gone, so she was stunned to hear just how well Apogee could sing. That definitely didn't come from her side of the family… and not from Jet’s either from what she knew about his vocal talent… must just be one of those lucky things where genetics comes together to make something special.
In any case, her soft voice was soothing and relaxing. It was strange... as long as the little girl was around Delta felt… safe. She knew she'd probably crash pretty hard tomorrow or the day after when the next wave of depression hit… but for now… in this little frozen instant… she could feel herself slipping peacefully into sleep.
The last thing she remembered was Apogee complaining about being cold and slipping under the blanket to sit on her father's lap. Jet made some funny faces and groans… ‘Still being a wuss about having Apogee on his lap…’ Delta mused.
Yawning, Delta had asked if Apogee was getting tired too. The usually loquacious filly simply murmured “Mmmhmm…” and remained silent. Uncomfortable with the sudden silence, Delta had tried filling it with a short, totally false recounting of her Hearth's-Warming day. Within a few moments, hearing only half-grunts of attention from Apogee, and feeling tired herself, Delta let her eyes sink shut.
Until they slammed open at the familiar sound of a sputtering nozzle.
“Oh BUCK.” Delta threw the blanket off of her, twisting quickly to try to shake Jet awake. As she reached over though, she saw that he too was already staring wide-eyed at the bonfire… apparently the sound of a failing LOX-fueled engine was all-to-familiar to him too.
“Is that what I bucking think it is!?”
Delta nodded, scrambling to her hooves as she tried to shut down the fuel feed to the bonfire aperture, an old converted and downscaled RS-25 LOX engine. Delta had thought she’d completely safed all the old fuel pump protocols that would drive thousands of pounds of fuel per second through the powerful rocket nozzle, but apparently she’d missed one: this engine was firing up to full throttle.
“Why the HAY would you use a REALrocket engine as a bonfire!? I thought it was an imitation, decorative fire-pit! Are you bucking NUTS!?” Jet shouted, shaking Apogee, who was still sleeping in his lap, drool trailing out of her mouth.
“Less complaining, more engine shutdown procedures!” Delta yelled as she desperately tried to throttle down the red-hot engine using only a nearby stick to get close enough to the searing heat of the engine… which only promptly evaporated the stick as it approached the expanding plume from the rapidly increasing thrust of the engine. “Oh BUCK, Jet - I think it's into some kind of launch abort mode… we gotta fly outta here!”
Delta waited for Jet to lift off safely with the bundle of blankets and drool that was the still sleeping Apogee, clutched in his forearms as he flew away to the south as quickly as he could. Once she was sure they were away safely, she followed, the heat of the massively increasing column of fire from the rocket engine behind her singing her feathers and tail as the three escaped to a rock a few hundred yards away.
“ARE YOU CRAZY!?” Jet screamed, his voice barely able to reach Delta's ears as she huddled under the rock next to him: the roar of the now fully throttled engine many times louder than even Jet Stream’s largest airliners at take-off power, “WE WERE SLEEPING NEXT TO THAT THING!”
Delta sheepishly shrugged, “I KNOW!” The desert was bathed in a fiery orange-white flickering light, as bright as the day, as the powerful rocket exhaust plume tore through the night, reaching hundreds of feet into the air.
Delta couldn't help herself as she began to get a bit excited from the shaking vibration of the desert dust around them… the pyromaniac in her beginning to surface. “AW C'MON. THIS IS PRETTY AWESOME! BESIDES EVERY NEW YEAR'S EVE NEEDS F-”
A huge double thud shockwave cut her off as it knocked the air from Delta’s lungs and sent her and Jet sprawling. A massive red fireball was blossoming behind them, the very heat of it making them scurry back to the cover of the rock as burning sparklers and comets of molten metal showered away from them in fantastic trails of various colors.
The engine had finally failed. Spectacularly.
Delta blinked, working her jaw around and making *MAWP* sounds to try to clear the ringing from her ears.
Her hearing came back just in time.
Apogee's eyes groggily opened as she finally awaked, and smiled goofily.
“…ooo fireworks!”
Jet and Delta smiled over at the groggy little filly.
“That's my girl.” Delta murmured.