Rainbow laid in bed one night. Her eyes were shut lightly as she gently hugged her filly and stroked her mane. The blankets had been kicked off earlier, but she didn’t want to move to put them back over her filly, despite the cold, out of ear of ruining the tender moment.
“Mummy,” the filly whispered.
“Ssh ssh ssh,” Rainbow whispered back and hugged slightly tighter. “It’s okay, just sleep now.” She felt a damp patch suddenly form under her, but she didn’t let it bother her, for she was there for her daughter, and that’s all that mattered at that point.
“Mummy,” the filly whispered again.
Rainbow knew the filly wouldn’t let it go and go to sleep, so she had to humour her, but that made a horrible feeling of dread spiral into her stomach and grow with every movement of time. “What is it, Shine?” she whispered affectionately, hoping her peaceful tone would make the filly stop.
“Why did I have to die?”
Rainbow’s eyes opened and she looked down at the pool of blood beneath her and her daughter’s rotting cor-
Rainbow sat bolt upright in bed with such a sharp intake of breath that it nearly hurt her lungs. In an attempt to stop herself from screaming she bit down on her hoof so hard that she could taste blood. Tears followed soon afterwards as she broke down into relentless sobs, which she kept as quiet as possible. She knew how lightly her daughter’s would be sleeping on this night of all nights.
That was the worst dream she had had in a long time. What made it worse was that it was something she had missed so badly. The act of hugging her daughter to sleep whenever she needed comforting always gave her the warm, motherly feeling inside of her which made her daughters all the more perfect, and it wouldn’t be the same again.
She grabbed the pillow beside and hugged it as tightly as she could, hoping the softness of it could somehow match her daughter’s, which it didn’t even in the slightest. It hadn’t been so heart wrenchingly painful since the police had to call off the search or the funeral.
She remained motionless for a while; just letting her tears fall from her and soak the pillow. She knew it wouldn’t stop if she carried on like this. She needed a distraction, and she had the perfect one.
She looked slowly over to the clock, already smiling with what she knew she’ll see, and it only grew wider once she read it.
She sniffed. “29th of July,” she said quietly in her tear-induced, croaky voice. She dried her soaking eyes and cheeks on her hoof and stepped silently form her bed.
From under the bed, she pulled out a large carrier bag full of toys, the sight of which still made her feel a sense of childish glee.
It still made her feel a horrible emptiness in the pits of her soul, but the excitement and anticipation of the day to come balanced it out.
Once again she reached under the bed and took a roll of wrapping paper. She gripped it under her wing and grabbed the bag between her teeth.
The next part would be difficult; getting downstairs without her daughter’s noticing. She assumed they were lying awake in their beds, waiting to wake her up.
With careful steps, Rainbow made it downstairs in a moment, with barely a peep of a sound coming from her or the old house.
She sighed quietly as she placed the bag down on the living room floor before sitting down beside it. The act of wrapping birthday presents made her feel as giddy as her daughters when opening them.
Dash couldn’t sleep any longer. The small clock on the wall in their room read half past six. She squeaked giddily. She didn’t know what time she should go wake up her sister, let alone her mother.
She couldn’t wait any longer. She quickly fumbled with her blanket and threw it to the hoof of her bed. She jumped out of her bed and over to Swirl’s to wake her.
She bumped her head against her sister’s and they both fell to their haunches moodily.
They quickly glared and stuck their tongues out at each other before breaking out into a smile.
“I was gonna wake you up!” they said at each other.
“Swirl,” Dash started excitedly. “We’re eight!” she cheered as she threw her hooves up in the air.
“We get presents!” Swirl cheered back loudly and mimicked Dash’s movements.
“Let’s go!” Dash shouted eagerly. Both fillies charged from their room and to their mother’s room.
“Mummy?” Swirl said cautiously as she pushed the door open. She couldn’t see the mare. She turned to face her sister. “She isn’t there,” she said with a shrug.
Both fillies gasped as they both got the same idea. They turned as bolted downstairs. Their hooves thundered down the stairs like were about to fall through them.
They fell through the door that led into the living room and landed in a pile. They looked up and saw their mother sitting on the sofa with a huge smile on her face.
“Happy birthday!” she cheered loudly and threw her hooves in the air. “Come here, you two.”
The eight year old fillies ran up to their mother and jumped on her, forcing her down onto the sofa.
Rainbow laughed and hugged them for a long while. She gave them each a loving kiss.
“Are you two excited then?” she asked happily. Not being able to say three anymore hurt her, but she managed to hide the pain from her daughters to no less than a few tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Yeah!” both fillies replied together with great enthusiasm.
“Good. Now, you know the drill. You can each open one present for now, and you have to save the rest for later when everypony comes round.” Rainbow reluctantly released her children.
The fillies darted to the small piles of presents on the floor and found their respective heaps of gifts. They both rummaged around and took identical triangular prisms from the depths of presents, knowing exactly what it was.
They unwrapped it greedily to find just what they expected. They opened the boxes and unwrapped the foil. They both snapped off a triangular peak of nougat and chocolaty goodness and ate it slowly, savouring the rare treat of the fine sweet.
Rainbow chuckled. “I knew you’d do that. But don’t fill up on chocolate, you still have your special birthday breakfast to eat,” she said eagerly. “What do you want?”
The fillies gulped down their mouthfuls of chocolate and looked to each other. Both turned to their mother in perfect synchronisation and said loudly, “Pancakes!”
Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief. “I was hoping you’d say that.” Her mouth had already started watering. “When do you want them?”
“Err…” Swirl said thoughtfully. “Now?”
Rainbow celebrated quietly. “I was hoping you’d say that too!” She jumped from the sofa and headed to the kitchen. “Come on. Let’s get cooking!”
The fillies placed their chocolate back with their unopened presents and followed their mother.
“Y’know what,” Rainbow called from the kitchen. “I think you can open one other, little present.”
“YAY!” the children shouted gleefully and darted back for another present.
Rainbow laughed.
More Ponies than normal came to her daughters’ eighth birthday. Rainbow knew why, but she didn’t care, she was just grateful for the company. Her mother and Nana sat on either side of her on the larger sofa, and if she was honest they were the only ones who needed, but her father helped in his own ways by distracting the little Rainbows, and it was nice to see her lesser seen twin brother.
She would’ve ideally liked Jet Stream to drape a wing over her back and hold her close, but her family and friends would have to do.
“Here you go, little Swirly,” Nana said in her kind, grandmotherly voice as she passed Swirl a sealed envelope.
Swirl took it politely, trying to mask her impatience since she and her sister wanted the presents and not cards. She slipped her small hoof under flap and ripped through the paper, revealing the back of the card.
“Thanks, Nana,” she said sweetly as she pulled the card from the envelope. Before she had a chance to read the front, she threw it in the air with a small scream, raining the four bits that were hidden inside all over the floor, and dived for the safety of her mother.
Ticker, who was sat with her best friend, reached for the card confusedly, but she was beaten by another filly.
Derpy, who sat with her own mother on a large beanbag by the door, saw the distress of the card and quickly went to save it and protect it.
“What’s wrong, Swirl?” Rainbow asked worriedly as she cradled her daughter, whom she could see starting to cry slightly.
Derpy held up the card to Rainbow, thinking it would help solve the mystery.
Rainbow looked at the picture of a cartoon spider with googly eyes and sighed. She turned slowly to the elderly mare by her side.
“Nana, she’s terrified of spiders,” she said exhaustedly.
“Really?” Nana asked in disbelief. “Since when?”
Rainbow remained quiet and her eyes saddened.
“Ah…” Nana whispered awkwardly.
Rainbow looked to Derpy, who remained floating in the air with the card on display. “Thanks, Derpy. Could you put it on the mantelpiece, please?” she asked kindly. “And make it face the wall, please.”
Derpy nodded and flew over to the fire place. She carefully lined up a spot for the card and began the difficult job of placing it exactly right, but her small wings created a light wind in the room, so as she placed it on the hard surface the cards beside it blew off.
“Oh no!” she cried and went to catch them before they were hurt, but in doing so more fell off.
She gasped in horror and went after them as well, but ended up blowing them across the floor of the living room.
She looked at the desolate scene of paper chaos and shed a single tear.
Rainbow tittered. “It’s okay, Derpy,” she said affectionately. She looked to the cream stallion speckled with brown dots sitting on the ground in front of her mother. “Dad?” she asked simply.
“Sure,” he replied, knowing full well what she was going to ask. He forced himself up with a small groan and went to place the cards back on the mantelpiece.
Derpy celebrated her work well done and flew back to her mother, where she nestled back into a comfortable position by her side and was rewarded by an affectionate nuzzle on her mane.
Rainbow shook the scared filly gently, gaining her attention. “Are you okay?” she asked lovingly.
Swirl dried her eyes and nodded.
Rainbow smiled at her. “Good. Now, I believe some bits fell out of the card. Go get the- Hey! Where are they?” Rainbow questioned as she saw no glints of gold on the carpet. “Dash, what did you do with Swirl’s money?”
“What money?” Dash asked innocently, which failed as she obviously had some coins in her mouth.
Rainbow giggled at the filly. “Dash, stop being silly and spit them out.”
Dash did as ordered and spat out three gold coins.
“I remember seeing four,” Rainbow said with a raised eyebrow.
Dash blew the fourth coin from her mouth and fell to her haunches, feeling annoyed at being caught.
“I'm gonna wash them,” Swirl said with mild disgust as she left her mother’s side to pick them up. She trotted to the kitchen to clean her sister’s germs from the fortune of four bits.
The doorbell rang out in the house, which made most of the inhabitants jump.
“I’ve got it, Rainbow!” Derpy said confidently. She swiftly jumped up and went off to make herself useful.
The small grey filly opened the door to a large, panting, yellow mare.
Derpy stared at her confusedly. “I don’t know you,” she said dumbly.
“I don’t know you either, Sugar,” the large mare replied with her much deeper voice.
“Oh, my name’s not Sugar, it’s Ditzy Doo, but Ponies call me Derpy. Derpy Hooves for long,” the small filly said confidently.
The yellow mare chuckled loudly. “Sure, Derpy. Nice to meet you.”
“Who is it, Derpy,” the grey filly’s mother called from the living room.
“It’s a fat mare,” Derpy said simply.
Dizzy gasped. “Ditzy Doo,” she said angrily. “That is NOT nice. Apologise. Now.”
Derpy’s brain lost its ability to function, so it made the filly it controlled remain completely silent.
Rainbow perked up upon hearing the description. “Sass! Come in!” she said ecstatically and began watching the doorway intently.
Sass pushed past the frozen filly as politely as she could. “Thanks,” she said in her loud voice. She looked at the filly, who still stood with the door open in her hoof, and shook her head with a smile. “It’s okay, Derpy. I know you don’t mean anything bad. There ain’t a need to apologise.”
Derpy seemed to reboot from hibernation and become aware of all the heat she was letting in through the front door, and so shut it gently. She turned to the large mare and smiled at her.
Sass chuckled deeply and walked into the living room.
“Hi, everypony,” she said in her loud, friendly manner. She walked to the centre of the room where the two young fillies were sat. “Happy birthday,” she said kindly and gave them both a card from her bag.
“Thanks,” the little Rainbows replied together with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm from being giving something that wasn’t a present.
Sass paid no attention to their lack of gratitude and sat on the smaller of the two sofas, and nearly crushed her best friend’s brother in the process.
Derpy had gathered the courage to take the long walk back to her mother with her head bowed with shame. She stopped a few steps in front of her and started twisting her hoof into the floor embarrassedly.
Dizzy raised an eyebrow at her daughter in a moody fashion. She could see that the filly had been through enough and was clearly sorry, so she smiled and raised a wing invitingly.
Derpy smiled back and took her place under the feathery canopy happily.
The many discarded envelopes and ripped wrapping paper lay strewn over the floor, showing that there were no more presents to be open.
The little fillies, Ticker, and to some degree Derpy, were all looking around for something to do next. So many toys to choose from meant it was very difficult to think of what to do.
“Well,” Rainbow started intriguingly, drawing the attention of her friends and family. “I think there’s time for one more present each.”
Dash and Swirl looked at each other with a look that basically called their mother stupid. Both of them could see that there were no presents left.
Rainbow shot a crafty look at her brother, giving him the signal.
He nodded back and took his backpack from the side of the sofa. From its depths he removed two expertly wrapped presents.
Dash and Swirl looked longingly at them, for one of them was quite big and they both wished for that one.
“Okay then,” Rainbow’s brother started. “This one’s for… Swirl!” he said excitedly.
Dash smiled broader. This meant that the bigger present was hers.
Swirl took the box happily. It was still pretty big, so she wasn’t about to complain. She ripped into the paper greedily and gasped at the image she saw underneath. She quickly tore the remainder of the paper away to reveal the box of a brand new camera.
She looked to her mother with her mouth agape.
Rainbow giggled. “Yep. A new camera, just for you. Me and my brother went halves on it, so it’s definitely a good one. And it’s digital, so you don’t need countless rolls of film!”
Swirl couldn’t believe it. She ignored all the words her mother just said and focused on the picture on the box of the small, pink camera. She hurriedly opened the box and took it out.
“I charged it up for you last night, so it’s ready to go,” Rainbow’s brother told her.
Swirl looked over the device and found the power button in seconds. She squeaked excitedly as the lens extended from behind its automatic cover. It was already far better than her old one that she lost in the Everfree Forest.
Rainbow reached a hoof out politely. “C’mon, I’ll take a picture of you and Ticker.”
Swirl smiled and nodded excitedly. She carefully passed the small camera to her mother as if passing her child.
“Thank you,” Rainbow said politely as she took it and placed the hoof strap on, knowing full well that Swirl would shout at her if she didn’t. She lined up a shot of Swirl and Ticker and pressed the button.
“Lemme see!” Swirl said quickly as she reached for her camera.
“Hang on,” Rainbow said calmly. “Let’s get one of you and Dash. And Ticker, why not?”
Swirl nodded before grabbing her sister and her best friend and holding them tightly against her sides. Dash’s smile looked very forced, making Rainbow chuckle, but the other two looked genuinely happy to be in the picture.
“Smile!” Rainbow said cheerily as she looked at the image on the small screen.
Just before she could press the button, the grey filly across the room decided she wanted to be in the picture as well. So Derpy rocketed from her spot with her mother and flew over the floor, reaching the other children just in time to for Rainbow to take the picture of a grey and yellow blur obscuring the others. Although, there was a priceless reaction shot from Swirl, which Rainbow couldn’t help but laugh loudly at.
“H-here you go, Swirl,” Rainbow laughed as she returned the camera to its rightful owner, who took it gratefully.
Derpy quickly trotted back to the beanbag with her mother with a great air of pride about her, making her mother just smile and shake her head.
“Okay,” Rainbow’s brother said to gain the attention of the Ponies in the room. “Time for Dashie’s present.”
Taking after her mother, Derpy helped by delivering the present to correct owner, and made very few mistakes.
Dash took it greedily and shredded the paper from it in seconds. Her face lost its glee and her brow furrowed with confusion and slight anger.
“Lego?!”
Derpy gasped and looked to her mother, hoping to be allowed to play with it.
Rainbow’s father gasped and looked to his wife, hoping to be allowed to play with it.
Rainbow’s mother slapped her forehead and dragged her hoof slowly down her face in a slow, tired motion.
“Must you be so childish?” she asked wearily.
“It’s a guy thing. You wouldn’t understand,” he said condescendingly.
She sighed and decided to ignore him.
“What’s Lego?” Dash asked confusedly as she stared at the large box.
“I’ll show ya!” her granddad said excitedly and crawled over to the dumbfounded filly. He removed the lid hurriedly and poured the contents onto the floor between him and Dash. “Okay then,” he said as he laid on the floor comfortably. “This is how you do it…”
“Look! I made a spaceship!” granddad said as he rolled over to show his wife the crude model with a huge sense of pride.
She stared back at her husband with her mouth hanging open. She had been rendered speechless by his stupidity, but he turned back and carried on regardless.
Rainbow tittered and looked to her daughters, Ticker and Derpy, who were working together to build something.
“What you girls making then?” she asked curiously.
“I don’t know,” Dash replied simply. “But it has wheels, so probably a tank.”
“Ah, of course,” Rainbow said with a hint of sarcasm.
She shut her eyes and took a deep, quiet breath through her nose. “It’s now or never,” Rainbow thought.
She turned to her mother by her side. Her eyes had lost any hint of cheer and had a look of sadness.
“Mum,” she whispered. “I'm going out for a bit. I’ll be back later.”
Rainbow stood up and headed into the hallway silently, with her mother watching intently with some concern in her frown.
Rainbow grabbed her back that she had left in the corner since the morning and left the house before anypony noticed.
Dash and Swirl heard the door click gently and looked up from their toys.
“Where’s Mummy gone?” Swirl asked innocently.
“She’ll be back later,” their grandmother said with a sigh.
The fillies looked back at the door, feeling slightly saddened by their mother’s absence.
Rainbow flew for about half an hour before reaching the ground below Cloudsdale. She landed lightly on the grass by the entrance and stretched her stiff, tired wings.
She kept her head down. The sight of the sign would have been enough to make her cry.
Her steps were slow and solemn as she walked into the Cemetery.
The trees were thick and green, scattering the light on the pathway that led through the middle into a beautiful pattern. The smell of the grass and the leaves blew through Rainbow, waving her mane gently around her head, keeping it from her eyes.
The sounds of the birds were calming, but she still felt as bad as she thought possible.
It wasn’t long before she found the small, pristine headstone half cast in the shadow of a willow tree.
Rainbow looked around. She was alone.
Her breath was shaky as she approached the grave. Grass had already grown over it.
She laid down in front of the tablet of marble with a sigh and let her wings unfold in the warmth. Her eyes were already wet.
She watched as a pair of butterflies landed gently on the stone, admiring their beauty for a moment.
“Hello, Shine,” she sniffed as her attention drifted back to the shiny rock on which they perched. “Happy birthday,” she said with a small laugh and a smile. She rummaged her head in her bag and pulled out a small, card box.
She opened it and removed the small cake within and a candle. She placed it by the side of the headstone and lit the candle.
“Go on. Make a wish!” she encouraged before leaning in and blowing it out herself.
“Well done. I hope you like it. It’s your favourite. Chocolate and hazelnut cake.”
A bluebird flew from the tree, making Rainbow gasp at the surprise, and pecked at the cake.
Rainbow giggled. “It’s nice seeing you share for once.”
The bird flew away again with a piece of cake in its bill. Rainbow watched as it landed back in its nest high in the tree.
She smiled at the critter before looking back to her daughter.
She laughed awkwardly. Nothing came to her mind about what to say. It all felt slightly ridiculous to her, talking to a rock in the ground.
Time passed quickly. The sun had gone further through the sky, and was now warming Rainbow’s back, casting her shadow over the headstone.
“So,” she started a little loudly to break the silence. “I suppose you want to know how we’re all doing, no?” Rainbow asked before waiting for a reply.
The leaves rustled slightly.
“I thought so,” Rainbow said knowingly. “Well, Swirl twisted her hoof playing hoof ball last month, but she got better pretty quickly, as she always does. And Dash is getting better at flying.” She perked up as the topic came up. “And you should see her! She learned how to do loops and barrel rolls a few weeks ago and now she does them nonstop! It’s so awesome, just watching her zoom about the tree and pulling tricks that even I'm a bit jealous of!”
The smile she wore slowly vanished and was replaced by a look of sadness. “I wish you could see it.”
She sighed.
“I'm doing okay. It’s hard, but I'm managing. I try my hardest not to show Swirl and Dash how I feel, because they’re too young to understand and I don’t want to worry them. But they must miss you in some way. They seem less energetic without you around anymore.”
She bowed her head down slowly and shut her eyes. “But I miss you.”
She took a deep, shaky breath. “I-I miss you so much,” her voice cracked. She could feel herself about to cry again.
She shut her eyes as tight as she could, squeezing out the few tears that had begun to form, and looked away with a small growl at herself.
“No. I won’t cry again,” she ordered herself in a harsh voice. “I have to be strong for you.”
Her eyes remained closed and her face screwed up as she took several deep, forceful breaths. It was some seconds before she brought herself back to a state of calm.
She sighed once she returned to her sense and opened her eyes.
The words on the stone jumped out at her. The name Rainbow Shine hit her heart like a train, sending a terrible shiver coursing through her body and making the pain all the more horrible.
She began to break down again with a shivering breath and reached out to touch the name of her daughter, but her hoof fell before it reached.
The sudden realisation of what the stone meant rang clear in her mind and she fell forward, collapsing against the soft earth beneath. She couldn’t push it away again.
After a sharp intake of breath she let out her emotions and cried loudly. She could almost be heard from the entrance to the cemetery. It hurt her throat as the screams of despair left her, but she couldn’t stop. Every second she cried it only got worse as her mind reminded her repeatedly, “My daughter is dead.”
The grass went cool under her and her eyes became red, but she couldn’t stem the flow, only lessen it, but she sobbed quietly as the evening wore on.
She knew she needed to leave, she had been with her lost daughter for far too long, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave her side. Every time she tried to put weight on her hooves her legs went limp and she couldn’t stand.
An unexpected shadow fell over her, breaking her shell of sorrow with a twinge of fright. She turned her head slowly to see the cause of the darkness.
Cast in a silhouette stood the brown stallion that could make Rainbow’s heart leap even now. The dramatic pose Jet Stream struck. The way the breeze made his mane ruffle. His powerful body. It was enough to make Rainbow feel a little better. But his eyes betrayed this image. They were sunken and sad, almost as much as Rainbow’s.
Knowing he could feel bad like that didn’t help her. Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but Jet simply shut his eyes and shook his head solemnly.
Rainbow watched as Jet walked to her side and silently lay next to her. She instinctively rested her head against his shoulder as he gently draped a wing over her.
His comfort was what she needed. As her breaths slowly returned to normal, the head stone began to be just a stone in the ground and no longer represented the loss of a loved one.
The sun was lower than before. Only a few hours left until the bright, blue sky was replaced by the darker red of dusk.
Rainbow and Jet Stream landed by the end of the path that led to the house. They could hear a few laughs coming from fillies inside as they got closer to the front door. Hearing it made Rainbow feel massively better. It even put a smile back on her face.
Jet opened the door and led her inside.
“Mummy!” the little Rainbows shouted in unison before galloping into the hallway.
Rainbow watched with an ever-growing smile as her daughters ran for her. She stooped down and picked them up as they reached her hooves.
“Hey, girls,” she said quietly. As she felt them against her, her troubles melted partially and she relaxed. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah!” they cheered back.
“We built a really cool err… thing out of Lego!” Dash said proudly.
“Awesome, Dashie. I’ll have a look in a minute.” Rainbow looked up as her mother, father and Nana filed into the small hall. Sass would’ve come as well, but there wasn’t enough room.
“Are you okay, Swirly?” Nana asked caringly with a sad look in her eyes. It was obvious that all the adults had guessed where she had been.
Rainbow nodded. “I'm fine,” she said truthfully as she placed her daughters back down.
However, nopony believed that it was entirely true, so her mother stepped forward gave her a tight hug. Although, if anything, it made Rainbow feel slightly awkward, seeing as Jet Stream was stood right next to her.
“I'm fine, Mum. Really, I am,” Rainbow insisted politely and pushed her mother away.
“So who’s this then?” her father asked with a sly smile.
Jet shook his head as he was brought from his dumbfounded state. “What?”
The father chuckled slightly. “Distracted by all the colour?” he asked knowingly.
Jet nodded sheepishly.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. I have a son in there with rainbows and blue as well, just to let you know.”
“Err… right,” Jet said awkwardly with a small laugh.
“So who exactly is this then?” the father reiterated, only slightly louder this time, gaining his daughter’s attention.
Rainbow looked round quickly and looked at the older stallion briefly with confusion, but she soon heard what he said. “Oh, yeah. This is Jet Stream.”
Rainbow’s mother turned quickly to face the new stallion with a knowing smile. “So you’re the one my daughter fa-.”
“Ssh!” Rainbow whispered harshly at her mother before she could finish. Her face went a deep shade of red, as did Jet’s.
Her parents started to giggle amongst themselves while Rainbow and Jet tried their hardest not to look in each others’ direction.
Dash and Swirl looked around at the taller Ponies with a look of annoyed confusion on their faces.
“What?” they asked angrily. They didn’t like being kept out of something funny.
A fortunately timed doorbell terrified the Ponies into a state of normality and racing hearts.
“Who could that be?” Rainbow asked as she turned to face the door.
She opened it slowly and cautiously peered around the edge to see who it was.
A young mare stood on the other side of the door, possibly only a teenager. She was light brown with a long, scruffy mane and several piercings in her ears and on her face. Rainbow thought her to be one of the few Ponies to be able to pull that look off. And if she were younger and a colt…
The mare sniffed with a distinct lack of grace. “Yo, is Ticker here?” she asked with a hint of uncalled for aggression.
“Err…” Rainbow mumbled as she was caught off guard by the question. Fortunately, she heard the sound of Lego being pushed out of the way and urgent hooves getting louder and louder.
Ticker ran up to Swirl and flapped her wings in a well practiced manner.
“Thanks,” Swirl replied politely before throwing her hooves around her and giving her a hug, which Ticker gratefully received. “See ya!” she chirped happily as she released the mute Pegasus, who held on just a little longer before letting go and waving.
The small, tea coloured filly trotted to the door and stopped by Rainbow. She made a small movement of her wings that Rainbow had learnt meant “thank you” and did a small curtsey, just to emphasise her point.
Rainbow chuckled. “You’re welcome, Ticker. And I’ll see you later.”
Ticker waved before heading off with the mare.
Rainbow watched intently for a moment in an attempt to figure out who it was, but before she could, Ticker had jumped on the mysterious mare’s back and they flew off quickly.
She shut the door quietly with her mind still trying to work it out, but it couldn’t, and so she had to resort to asking somepony else.
“Swirl, who was that?” she asked with a little too much worry.
“That’s Ticker’s sister,” Swirl replied simply.
“Oh…” Rainbow said with mild surprise. “I didn’t know she had a sister.”
“Yeah, she lives with her.”
“Really?” Rainbow asked with a little intrigue entering her voice. “What about her parents?”
“They don’t live their parents.”
Rainbow gave her daughter a shocked look. “Really? But she only looked about fifteen.”
Swirl nodded slowly, giving her mother a questioning look. “How did you know?” Swirl asked suspiciously.
“Just a guess.”
“Oh, well, yeah. But no, they don’t live with their parents.”
“Why not?”
“Their dad doesn’t like them very much. And he drinks all the time, Ticker said.”
Rainbow felt slightly sad about that.
“And their mum’s not with them anymore.”
Rainbow gasped slightly. “Oh, I'm sorry.”
“Yeah, she’s in prison.”
Rainbow jumped at the new information. “What?”
“Yeah, she robbed a shop and got put in jail,” Swirl said casually. “And she was supposed to get out again a bit later, but then she um… what did Ticker say…? She shanked somepony?” she questioned herself. “I think that’s what she said, whatever that means.”
“What?” Rainbow asked again, only now she was more worried for the filly her daughter was best friends with.
“So their mum’s in prison and their dad drinks a lot, so her sister moved out, took Ticker with her and now they live in Cloudsdale and now she’s my friend!” Swirl cheered happily.
“B-but how do they live? How can they afford living here?!” Rainbow asked urgently.
Swirl shrugged. “Dunno. Her sister said her special talent is cooking, but I’ve tried some of her food, and for somepony whose special talent is cooking she’s not very good. And she’s always smoking these really weird looking cigarettes,” she said as she tried to gesture their shape, with no success.
Rainbow’s mouth fell open slowly and her face became the picture of horror and panic. She quickly glanced between her family, all of whom were wearing the same shocked expression as her.
Swirl just continued to look at her mother, wondering why she was looking so distressed.
Rainbow couldn’t think of what to do, so she let her brain do it itself. “Cake?” she suggested without a conscious input.
The little Rainbows gasped and raced toward the kitchen, each trying to beat the other to get there first.
Rainbow chuckled and moved on after them. She sighed with great relief to be distracted by the story of Ticker’s life.
It was night time again, and midnight had long since past. Her family and friends had returned to their respective homes across Equestria, leaving Rainbow with her thoughts as she tried to sleep.
She couldn’t. She couldn’t keep strong anymore.
She sat on her bed, hugged her legs close to her chest and cried quietly. She had left the curtains open to see her tree, but it didn’t rain, making it harder. The world didn’t care.
In the stillness of the night, in the quiet, peaceful darkness only broken by the light of the moon, Rainbow could only think of the truth the day revealed, that she would always be missing one daughter.
She tried to stop herself, she knew she couldn’t keep crying, but she couldn’t stop it no matter how hard she wanted to.
She lowered her head down and shielded her face with her forelegs. She grew slightly louder as the image of last night’s dream flashed briefly in front of her eyes.
Light from the hall spilt into the room, illuminating her in the lamplight. Rainbow gasped and faced the door.
Swirl and Dash stood there side by side, holding the door open, and looking at their mother with more sadness than Rainbow had ever seen before.
“Mummy,” they started sadly.
Rainbow looked away quickly. One hoof tried to hide her tear soaked face and bloodshot eyes while the other tried to usher her daughters out of the room.
“Please go,” she whispered pleadingly. “I-I don’t want you seeing me like this.”
The fillies stepped further into the room. “Mummy,” they said again.
Rainbow shook her head to herself and bit down on her bottom lip in an attempt to stop her looking at her children, thinking it would help.
Dash and Swirl looked briefly at each other before facing their mother once again. “We miss Shine,” they whimpered, clearly about to cry.
Rainbow looked round again and faced her fillies. In the light of the moon their tears glistened.
In that moment, Rainbow felt a bolt of selfishness pierce her heart. She should have known they missed her. She knew they were smart enough to understand, but she hoped they wouldn’t be, because it made it too hard.
She held her hooves out for them to come closer, which they did so swiftly.
As the door swung shut behind them, Swirl and Dash jumped onto the bed, where Rainbow took them and hugged them tightly against her.
The feeling of their coats against hers and their need of comforting, which would normally give her the warm, motherly feeling inside, did not help her in anyway.
They hugged and all three began to cry as they wept for their fallen Rainbow.
A pale sun began to shine through the fine mist of summer, casting a dim light through the window of Rainbow’s bedroom.
Dash and Swirl were fast asleep. Dash stayed by her mother’s chest, as she always did, so she could be hugged. Swirl lay further down the bed from Dash, but still pressed against her, and hugged at the long rainbow mane of her mother for security, like she did when she was just a few months old.
Rainbow didn’t sleep. She couldn’t sleep. She stared straight ahead and let her mind continue doing whatever it wanted. She may have been completely emotionally drained, but still the fatigue was not enough for her to sleep past the barrier of what little emotion was left inside her at that time.
Dash was hugged, just as she wanted, with one of Rainbow’s hooves, while the other stroked down her daughters’ manes.
First over Dash’s scruffy mane, which was cut into an awesome style as the filly had demanded. It suited her so well, with her carefree, confident attitude.
Next was Swirl’s thick, perfectly combed mane, kept out of her eyes with the headband she always wore. It was the best mane out of her daughters, the only one anything like her own and it only added to her beauty.
But there was no third mane. No erratic curls of colour that sprang randomly from the head of a filly. No mane that made her think of the smart, chubby, asthmatic filly that always made her smile just by being there.
She missed that most of all.
Somehow, the rainbow seemed less bright now.