“Once upon a time there was a girl
In her early years she had to learn
How to grow up living in a war that she called home
Never know just where to turn for shelter from the storm
“Hurt me to see the pain across my mother's face
Everytime my father's fist would put her in her place
Hearing all the yelling I would cry up in my room
Hoping it would be over soon
“Bruises fade father, but the pain remains the same
And I still remember how you kept me so afraid
Strength is my mother for all the love she gave
Every morning that I wake I look back to yesterday
And I'm OK”
“I often wonder why I carry all this guilt
When it's you that helped me put up all these walls I've built
Shadows stir at night through a crack in the door
The echo of a broken child screaming "please no more"
Daddy, don't you understand the damage you have done
To you it's just a memory, but for me it still lives on
“Bruises fade father, but the pain remains the same
And I still remember how you kept me so, so afraid
Strength is my mother for all the love she gave
Every morning that I wake I look back to yesterday”
I’m OK: Christina Aguilera: Stripped: 2002
Fluttershy’s Cottage:
Eventually, everything settled down into a peaceful state, as things always did. Gilda had left a few days back to return to Cloudsdale with Windy, and sad goodbyes were exchanged.
“I’m… I’m sorry we have to leave this early, and not spend more time with my darling granddaughter on more peaceful terms,” Windy said sadly, ruffling Scootaloo’s mane and making her giggle. “But a new case just came up. Somepony accused of beating his wife, and I have to be the defendant for this as-”
Fluttershy shot her a look, and Windy quickly corrected herself as Gilda covered Scootaloo’s ears briefly.
“Er, sorry, defendant for this jerk, sadly…” Windy finished, and she noted the expression on her daughter’s face.
“Sure this case won’t get too personal for you?” Rainbow asked in concern. “I mean, you just finished dealing with one case of domestic abuse…” she trailed off, looking towards her daughter briefly.
“That was a member of my family,” Windy replied, and Scootaloo felt a surge of… Well, she couldn’t narrow down the feeling of what it was exactly. It was some sort of warmth, really. Then Scootaloo smiled as she figured out what it was. Happiness, something she really hadn’t had a chance to feel around a family member for a long time. “This isn’t. It’s just some pony I don’t even know, haven’t even heard of till now before I got the case. I’ll be calm and collected during this.” Windy continued.
“If you say so…” Rainbow murmured. “Promise to call, or at least send a letter?” she asked hopefully, any previous ill feelings towards her mother vanishing. She’d done so much for her and Scootaloo, putting her career on the line trying to help them get away from Icy Winds and throw her behind bars.
Windy smiled. “Don’t worry, I will. I’d love to keep in touch with all the members of my family, new and old…” she said, looking at both Rainbow and Scootaloo, kissing them both on their cheeks.
With that, she extended her wings -Gilda doing so as well- and took to the sky, flying west towards the direction of Cloudsdale.
“Think they’ll be okay?” Rainbow asked in concern, and Fluttershy nuzzled her reassuringly.
“Yeah, they’ve got each other, and that’s all they need,” her wife replied. “Never thought I’d say this about Gilda, but she makes a good counterpart to Windy, and vice versa. They know when to reign each other in, and they both bonded over a similar pain in their lives… You.”
“Yeah…” Rainbow trailed off. “I suppose. Still gonna be weird calling one of my childhood friends my mom someday…”
Fluttershy giggled, Scootaloo soon to follow, as the threesome walked back inside the small cottage they called home.
However, they might have been more concerned had they been partial to the scene that occurred as soon as Windy touched down outside her home in Cloudsdale. She began to find it hard to catch her breath, and she felt a pressure building up inside her chest. It was soon to fade, but Gilda noticed.
“Hey, you alright?” She asked in concern. “Looked like you were trying to catch your breath there for a sec. Sure I wasn’t flying too fast for you?”
“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine.” Windy said, even though she knew perfectly well that she wasn’t fine. She recognized those symptoms, and Gilda recognized them as well. They both knew Windy’s side of the family had a history of heart problems, and Gilda couldn’t help but wonder if… No, she didn’t want to dare think about it.
Windy was finally finding happiness again, and she didn’t deserve this. She’d found herself love again, and was just starting to connect with her granddaughter and reconnect with her daughter. For this to happen now, well… Gilda hated to even think about it.
“I’ll be fine, my Leannán,” Windy reassured, trying to quell her fiancee’s fears. “Don’t you worry about me.”
“I’m your fiance, it’s my job to worry about you Windy…” Gilda replied, cupping her fiance’s face with her paws and kissing her softly. “Now, as your Leannán, I would suggest you go lie down and take a rest. You’ve had a long week, and things are only about to get worse for you now with this new case of yours…”
“Yeah… Everything will be fine.” Windy muttered. If she only knew how exactly wrong she was…
The letter came like a bolt from the blue, completely unexpected a few days later. Gilda’s worries, as it turned out, turned out to be more than just that. Sadly, as Rainbow Dash found by reading the letter her old flight school buddy had sent, her mother’s heart problems had gotten the best of her.
Dear Rainbow Dash
“I don’t usually like writing these kinda things, but… it’s pretty important. Like, REALLY important.
“You know your mom, Windy Whistles? Well, I’ve been by her side for the past couple of months and… I don’t wanna break your heart or anything but… she’s dead. She had one of those heart-attack things and just died. I’m terribly sorry about that.
“I… I wanna try to stay strong like I always do, but I’m just so torn up right now that I can’t even speak. So that’s why you’ve got this letter. You’re probably in tears right now, knowing your mom’s dead and all, but I want you to be strong; something I wasn’t for once.
“If you wanna come say goodbye to her one last time, the funeral’s in two weeks’ time at Cloudsdale. I’ll be there, totally. I’m just hoping you’ll be there too.”
Sincerely:
Gilda.
Rainbow Dash trembled, dropping the paper out of her hooves. Her mother, the most awesome—Although, sadly, she hadn’t realized that until just a few weeks ago- pony she knew, was gone and wouldn’t be coming back. She turned towards Tank with tears fighting to break out of her eyes, before barrelling into him and crying as loudly as she could.
“Moooooom!” Rainbow Dash wailed into her pillow, hugging Tank as tightly as she could. “It’s not fair! You weren’t ready yet!” The tears streamed down her face, dampening her pillow and bedsheets, with the rest landing on Tank’s hard shell. “Why did you have to go so soon?!”
Rainbow had never been so broken in her whole life. Sure, the issue with Tank hibernating was a close second, but that was only temporary. This was permanent. Her mother wasn’t coming back, no matter how hard she wanted to believe it and deny the letter Gilda had sent her. All she could do was cry at the news, unable to feel any sense of bravery as miniature waterfalls tumbled from her eyes.
“Tank…” Rainbow looked deep into his eyes. “You… you’re all I’ve got now.” She squeezed him so hard, she nearly popped his body out of the shell. “Promise me right now, that you won’t leave me, OK?”
Tank just blinked and slowly nodded, receiving a reward of more tearful hugs from Rainbow. Fluttershy soon came in, hearing the wails, and just instinctively wrapped her forelegs and wings around her wife and let her cry into her shoulders.
“Shh… It’s going to be okay Dashie…” Fluttershy whispered, doing and saying all she could. After all, what else could she do?
She looked towards a picture of Rainbow, Windy, and Scootaloo, just taken a few short days before. Everything had seemed so perfect then. It was like nothing could go wrong. Just when Rainbow was starting to rebuild her relationship with her mother, and then this happened. For one of the few times she could ever remember, Fluttershy swore softly to herself.
“Celestiadamnit… Just, damn it….” she thought as Rainbow cried herself to sleep, her energy spent.
The Prancing Pony Inn:
That next evening the Prancing Pony Inn found itself home to a most unusual visitor. Stepping inside the inn’s tavern, soaked to the bone, and her eyes bloodshot from a lack of sleep was a very familiar mare.
Whispers echoed through the bar, news of Windy Whistles’ passing -Although it had yet to hit the papers- still found themselves in the minds of ponies through sheer word of mouth. She was an upstanding citizen in Cloudsdale, and the mother of one of the Elements of Harmony so this was hardly surprising really.
Some were sympathetic, others were more curious.
“Hey, is that Rainbow? ...Oh, sweet Celestia, wonder if she knows about her mom?” someone, a voice Rainbow recognized as Raindrops whispered.
“Oh Rainbow... “ Cloud Kicker muttered, shaking her head in pity. “...You didn’t deserve this. Sure, you may have left your only child out to fend for herself for years, but…”
Her words were sympathetic, but her tone was anything but.
One pegasus, one with the Orion Constellation on his flank sighed to himself as he looked towards Cloud Kicker. Her latest fling he may be, but that didn’t mean he had a heart.
“By Luna’s moon, at least show some common decency!” Star Hunter hissed towards Cloud Kicker. “You sound like a completely contradictory pony! One minute, you’re berating Rainbow… The next, you’re sympathizing towards her! Make up your own damn mind, eh?”
His thoughts about having a one-night stand with Cloud Kicker, even if she was… renowned for her abilities shall we say, were fading fast if she was going to be this much of a bitch.
Honestly, Cloud Kicker didn’t know what to think. On one hoof, she hated Rainbow for kicking her off the weather team and for what Rainbow did to Scootaloo, but on the other, nobody deserved to lose their mother.
“Shut it, you two!” Blaze, a member of the Wonderbolts and Spitfire’s twin sister hissed out. “Doubt you’d want ponies gossiping ‘bout you if you were in Rainbow’s place! God knows if it was my mother, I’d be punching you both in the face right about now!”
Both Star Hunter and Cloud Kicker took that as their cue to shut up.
“Now Rainbow, what will you do?” Blaze had to ask herself.
“By the creator’s wings, she really must be broken up inside to come here…” the owner of the tavern, one Berry Punch remarked sorrowfully as she poured glasses to ponies at her counter. She watched sorrowfully as Rainbow stepped up towards the bartop.
“One glass, that’ll be fine…” Rainbow muttered. In a more organized state of mind, Rainbow wouldn’t even think of doing this, but right now… Honestly, she felt she needed something to just forget.
“You sure Rainbow?” Berry had to ask, a tone of concern in her voice. One of surprise as well. She knew Rainbow was one of the most hardline anti-alcoholics she knew.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Rainbow growled. “Now, some hard cider, on the rocks.”
With more than a hint of nervousness, and a sigh of sadness, Berry poured Rainbow a glass and thought to herself: “Oh Rainbow…”