The wind blew cold and strong from the north... the closer the night got to its peak, the more the temperature dropped...
a shiver of cold went through the filly's back…
despite having blankets the house was cold enough to make people not used to living in the clouds feel cold…
Rubbing her eyes lightly and shaking a little, Summer Breeze did not remember well what had happened the night before, she just knew that she had had a fantastic dream: someone had found her and brought her home, making her feel loved…
at least she thought it was a dream until she noticed where she was…
she was in a bed, not in her usual alley and, a few steps from her, there were those two mares who had welcomed her...
"Damn how cold..." Summer was trying in every way to warm up without waking anyone, but her attempt was in vain…
Trying to get more pillows to cover herself, Summer did accident so a vase dropped...
"Little girl, those pillows are not very good blankets..."
Cloudkicker was sleeping, when a rustle, a thud, and groans of discomfort woke her up...
in a corner of the room, there was Summer Breeze who was trying to use pillows as a blanket... this event made her smile, but still, she decided to do something more for the filly...
"Little girl, those pillows aren't great blankets..."
as the purple mare whispered, Summer jumped like a cat scared and started stammering apologies…
"S-sorry... I didn't want to wake you up... it's just that I'm cold and the blanket doesn't warm me enough..."
as she approached the filly, Cloudkicker smiled happily... she liked Summer's spirit... the more time passed with her, the more he reminded her of her years as a filly...
before she realized it, Summer, in the throes of a half panic attack, hugged her and started to whimper…
"P-Please... Don't send me away... I don't want to go back out there... I didn't want-"
Summer Breeze, she didn't have time to finish speaking that she found herself tightly in the mare's embrace …
the heat she gave off was just fantastic...
"Shh... Shh... Quiet baby... I won't send you away just for trying to get warm..."
Summer couldn't believe it... in all her short life, she had always been seen as a nuisance... and now, a mare who had met a few hours cared for her... maybe the ponies in this town were different as everyone said…
"I see that you're not used to the temperature... let me guess, you've never been on a cloud at night, right?"
the filly shook her head slightly as she continued to shiver…
"Well, then tomorrow we will go and buy a nice blanket, ok? a friend of mine knows a very good seamstress... but for tonight what do you say if I'm next to you and I'll warm you up? Only if that's okay of course..."
Summer couldn't ask for better...
"No one had ever done anything like this for me before..."
The filly nodded as Cloudkicker moved onto the bed with her...
in less than a second, Cloudkicker wrapped a wing around the filly and covered the rest with her tail to make her feel warm and safe more than ever...
"No problem little one... I would do anything to keep you safe..."
Summer Breeze was upset... no one was ever been so kind and thoughtful to her... everything Cloudkicker was doing made her think of her as some sort of mother, even though she had known her for a few hours... this all seemed right in a way... but still she had to ask... she had to know because this mare was doing all this for her without wanting anything in return…
"Um… Cloudkicker… can I ask you something?"
The purple mare looked at the filly and smiled...
"Sure honey, whatever you want..."
"Um... why are you and Raindrops doing all this for me?"
The filly's question was so profound that it reminded the purple mare of what had happened a long time ago…
"Well here it is baby, to explain it I'm going to have to tell you a story, okay?"
The filly nodded and got into the listening position…
"This is the story of a purple Pegasus filly, a little younger than you...
The little filly was all alone in the streets of Canterlot during the winter months…
She didn't have a place to go or a family to be with...
she was too scared to do anything and stood there in an alley crying, waiting for her time to come and stop suffering...
the filly dreamed of having a family that loved her but unfortunately, it was not so... her biological parents were criminals who maltreated her until you have not had the bright idea to get killed... see little one, that was the only good thing that they did for the filly...
While the filly was desperate for hunger, a couple of unicorns was passing by and heard her cry…
The two unicorns found the filly dying and decided to take her home with them...
They gave her a hot meal and a warm bed to sleep in...
The filly was so scared from everything that she didn't even speak... it took a year for the filly to talk to them... as time went by the two unicorns and the filly bonded so much that they decided to become a family and adopted the filly as their daughter...
the filly she wanted to do something to repay what her new parents had done for her, but they kept saying that there was no need... they said that all they needed was the happiness of the filly... they said they loved her and if she was happy then they too were…
the filly could only be happy... now she had a family, she had friends and had enrolled in school...
she discovered that she liked to learn new things and loved arranging clouds...
so it was that one fine day while she was having fun freeing the sky, a white flash enveloped her and a mark appeared on her side...
until that moment she did not understand the meaning of her name, but from that moment on she understood who she was... she was Cloudkicker, and her purpose was to brighten the days of others..."
Summer Breeze was flabbergasted... she couldn't believe that the gentle purple mare had been an orphan too...
"So you were the filly of the story?"
Cloudkicker smiled at the question and gently cuddled the yellow filly...
"Sure, the purple filly of the story was me... and as for the question you asked me earlier, my answer is that helping you is a way to repay my parents for what they did for me, and then you and I are very similar... from what I saw you are a very strong filly, just like I was, that's why I want to help you... I love you, little one... now but sleep, tomorrow will be a long one day..."
Summer Breeze understood... now she knew she wasn't the only one who had gone through everything that had happened to her... and now she knew she would never be alone…
now she had a place to call home, someone who would console her if got hurt and someone who would celebrate her triumphs…
After a long time, she understood... Home is that place where your heart resides, and Summer Breeze's heart was together with Raindrops and Cloudkicker...
before it slipped in the arms of Morpheus, she pressed herself even more against the breast of the gentle mare...
"Thank you for all you're doing for me... I love you..."
Cloudkicker smiled at the sweet phrase of the filly and kissed her on the forehead...
"I love you too... goodnight my little one"
Then the sweet embrace of sleep caught her too and she fell asleep with the filly gripped between her hooves...
While Cloudkicker and Summer Breeze slept happily embraced, Raindrops got up from the bed and, in the kindest way possible, she covered the mare and filly with a blanket...
"Goodnight Girls... I hope this becomes permanent..."
With a smile on her face, Raindrops lay down on her bed and fell asleep...
A ray of sunshine entered from the window, lighting up the room...
Cloudkicker slowly began to open her eyes…
As soon as she became aware of the situation, she smiled and looked at the sleeping filly between her hooves... she could feel her small chest rise and fall with a rhythm slow and regular and on her face, she had an expression that conveyed serenity…
Cloudkicker felt a tug in her heart when she saw the scene... that tug, it began to turn into a feeling, a feeling of maternal love…
The purple mare had no intention of waking up the sleeping filly, so she stayed cuddling her until she got up on her own…
While Cloudkicker was cuddling the still sleeping filly, Raindrops woke up and decided to go and prepare breakfast... she had decided that to surprise the little filly, she would do her specialty: Pancakes with chocolate chips and caramel...
Summer Breeze had always been used to waking up in pain, lying on a pile of newspapers and the cold, but this time something had changed...
While the filly still kept her eyes closed, she noticed the warmth and softness in which she was waking up… it felt like the softness of a bed, a real bed, not a couch or a pile of newspapers…
Slowly she opened one eye and what she saw surprised her... she was really in a bed, wrapped in a protective embrace by a purple mare...
The purple mare of what she thought was just a dream...
Before she could open her mouth, the mare spoke…
"Good morning sleepyhead, my favorite filly slept well?"
This sentence confirmed to the filly that it wasn't a dream... but Summer still had doubts about what had happened... she didn't clearly remember the night before...
"Y-are you real? It wasn't just a dream, wasn’t it? I don't want to go back out there..."
The filly was still uncertain about the reality of the situation, but when Cloudkicker held her in her wings all doubts vanished...
"Sure girl, it's all real, don't worry, I'm here, you're safe now..."
The filly couldn't believe her ears... with the speed of lightning, Summer returned the purple mare's embrace while an expression of pure serenity appeared on her face... not one of those forced smiles, but a simple, genuine smile, a smile that expressed eternal gratitude...
"I... thank you..."
The filly buried herself in the chest of the purple mare while she was gently cuddled...
After comforting the little yellow filly, Cloudkicker continued cuddling her to make her feel better... after all those years alone, much more than cuddling would be needed to bring the filly to see life differently from the desolation of the streets, but in the meantime, it was a good start...
While holding the filly, he noticed that her feathers were all ruffled, and many were broken...
"Summer, there is something I wanted to ask you... if then it's no good then I leave it alone..."
The filly looked at her confused and nodded...
"Huh-uh tell me"
"Well here... I saw that your wings are very neglected... has anyone ever taught you how to preen them correctly?"
Summer shook her head...
"No... nopony ever taught me how to do that..."
Cloudkicker wasn't surprised by this answer... after all, neither she has any idea of preening when her parents found her...
The purple mare smiled and looked into her eyes...
"Well, what do you say if I teach you? When you understand how to do it correctly you should do it at least once a day, and most importantly, do not do it in public... other ponies may find it inappropriate..."
Summer Breeze enlightened at the proposal... once again she felt that she was important to someone…
The filly nodded and hugged Cloudkicker tightly…
"Thank you thank you thank you, I love you Cloudkicker!"
The purple mare smiled...
"Me too baby, me too... now come here and let's give your wings a good smoothing..."
When the filly approached, Cloudkicker wrapped her with a wing and carried her with her back against her stomach...
Having made sure that the filly could see what she was doing, Cloudkicker slowly began to adjust feather by feather...
"See little girl, to smooth the feathers well, go with your teeth to the root of the feather and slowly slide towards the tip, taking care to don't mess with the others..."
Summer Breeze couldn't concentrate much on the explanation, the feeling of being preened by someone else was priceless... when the purple mare breathed, Summer could feel her warm breath flowing through the feathers... the feeling was so wonderful that she remained in a trance until Cloudkicker finished...
"Hey baby, I'm done... do you understand how to do it yourself?"
Summer was abruptly brought back to reality by the question...
"Uhh... there I... I didn't follow much... the feeling was so good I was about to fall asleep... sorry..."
Cloudkicker chuckled lightly at the filly's phrase...
"I guess it was the first time someone did it for you, right?"
The filly nodded
"So don't worry, being preened by someone is one of the most beautiful things a pegasus can experience..."
Cloudkicker pulled the filly to her and gently ruffled her mane...
To Summer's embarrassment, her stomach decided to speak for her again, signaling that she was hungry...
"I'm not the only one who is hungry, how about we go downstairs to see what Raindrops has prepared? I smell very inviting…"
The filly smiled and nodded happily
"Yeeeee… um, Cloudkicker, could you carry me on your back? My shoulder still hurts..."
Cloudkicker walked over to the filly and helped her up...
"Sure, everything you need for you to be well"
Trotting gently, the couple went downstairs where a fantastic breakfast awaited them...
Raindrops had given the best of herself: she had cooked a mountain of Pancakes accompanied by strawberries, apples, and cinnamon, with a glass of apple juice for each...
Summer could not believe her eyes... in all her life she had never seen this lots of food up close…
"Wow… Is this all for me?"
Raindrops smiled, walked over to the filly, and stroked her as he sat next to her...
"Sure little girl, everything on your plate is yours... after all, you don't have to have eaten much when you were out there, so I'm going to fix it and make you feel better... starting from this mountain of Pancake..."
Summer could no longer hold back... she hugged both mares and began to cry with joy...
"Thank you very much... in this short time you have made me feel loved as if I had a real family... I wish you were my parents..."
As soon as Summer noticed what she had just said, she turned red with embarrassment...
"S-sorry... I d-not..."
Summer couldn't finish the sentence as she found herself tightly in a hug from the two mares…
Cloudkicker spoke first...
"Hush now little one... no need to apologize... we don't mind, and indeed... Raindrops and I talked about it last night, and we decided that we would see if we could adopt you... but only if it suited you…"
Summer stayed with her mouth wide open in amazement
"R-really? Do you want to adopt... me?"
Summer couldn't believe it... it sounded too good to be true... the filly looked at Raindrops for confirmation of what she had just heard…
"Sure little girl... from the first moment I saw you, I knew I had to do something, then when I brought you here me and Cloudkicker we immediately fell in love and decided to give you a second chance... if you want we will be your new mothers..."
Summer almost fainted... the emotions were just too much... she had always been rejected and treated like a nuisance and now these two mares wanted to adopt her… it seemed too good to be true…
"I-it's not a dream, isn’t it?"
Summer looked uncertainly at the two mares...
They both shook their heads slightly... it was all true...
Summer jumped forward and held them in a hug...
"Thank you... I don't know what to say... you are the best ponies in the world..."
Cloudkicker and Raindrops embraced the filly and, as she cried for happiness between them, they turned to each other and exchanged a kiss...
Summer's crystalline voice broke the previous silence…
"S-So... now you will be my Moms?"
Cloudkicker smiled at the filly and rubbed her nose...
"Sure darling... and you'll be our little filly"
Summer smiled and hugged the purple mare tightly... as she enjoyed the embrace, a wandering thought crept into her head...
"And if someone wants to take me away? I don't want to leave you... I'm afraid..."
Raindrops came up and placed a wing on the back of his new daughter...
"Don't worry, today we will go to the mayor and we will put everything on paper... this way if someone takes you away they will be guilty of kidnapping and he will have to deal with two very pissed-off mothers..."
After her little speech, Raindrops nodded to Summer...
"Now let's go, I don't think those pancakes eat themselves ..."
The filly and the mares stood up and as Cloudkicker and Raindrops made their way to the table, Summer asked one last question…
"I know it might be stupid, but can I call you Mama Rain and Mama Kicky?"
Following the question, Summer blushed a little and waited for the response of her new Mothers...
Raindrops and Cloudkicker giggled and nodded kindly... Raindrops walked over to the filly and helped her to sit down...
"Sure darling, whatever you want..."
Summer smiled and dove into the Pancake Mountain in front of her...
The two older mares smiled and joined her for breakfast...