//------------------------------// // Act III // Story: The Story of Roseheart // by Roseheart //------------------------------// Act III A few days had passed and no one had bothered to stop by. There was food in the refrigerator of course, but she couldn't bring herself to eat. Over the course of just a few days her joyful past life had become only a memory. All I have left is memories, memories of your smiling face, Mom. In my darkest moment you abandoned me. Now I'm left here with no way to bring you back. Why? You said it wasn't my fault but how couldn't it be? You wouldn't have left if I hadn't punched Solace. Did Daddy really die or did he just leave us too? Roseheart thought, laying on the couch and staring up at the ceiling. She got up and ascended to her room, all the while not bothering to comply with her mother's Don't fly in the house rule. She stopped at her window and rested on her hindquarters. All of these stupid rules, she thought, looking out at the usual commotion of everypony else's lives. Now I'm all alone with them. It's just me and the restrictions Mom put on me. For what reason? She left me, her only daughter that she always had said that she loved so very much, so she could escape all of... what? Escape me? She never even gave me a reason. Am I not good enough to deserve that? Just then her focus turned to a tiny filly who was walking along the edge of the main-cloud of Cloudsdale with her mother. The young pony slipped and began her descent from the cloud. C'mon, can't she fly? Roseheart thought. The filly continued to fall. Her mother didn't even notice, am I the only pony who's seeing this? Why isn't she screaming out for her mother? A few moments passed. I'm the only one who can save her... she thought, opening her mouth a bit. But this is just like me and mom.. I should let the mother suffer the pain of her ignorance. She knew she only had a few more seconds or there would be no hope for the filly. But what if she did save her? What if they figured out that her mother was gone? What would they do to her? She had heard many of the scary stories that floated around the city. She didn't want to think about it. She could only sit still and watch the young filly plummet to her fate. It was only then that the mother realized the horrible tragedy that had befallen her and her daughter. She cried out for anypony to rescue her daughter. Roseheart already knew the outcome: It was too late for anypony to save the poor filly now, she was doomed. She hung her head, got up, and walked away from the window. She walked back down the stairs and laid once again on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. I could've saved her. I could have. No one seems to love me though, so why should I show love to others? No one is deserving of it. No one. She could still hear the filly's mother screaming. A few minutes passed, and then she heard loud sobbing. They must've recovered the body, Roseheart thought, closing her eyes. At the sound of an opening door they reopened. She twisted her head towards the doorway and her eyes widened in disbelief. This is another dream, I need to wake up. Her mother was back. She was truly back. This was not a dream. "Rosey..." She was smiling. As the moments passed, however, the smile sank into the form of a frown. Roseheart got off the couch spoke up from amongst the silence: "What? Did you expect me to come running into your hooves? You abandoned me! You lied to me, Mom, and you were the only pony I could ever trust. How could you?!" "I'm sorry darling I—" "No! How can you expect me to just forgive you and forget the past few days?! You think you're my mother but you're nothing more to me now then some big mean monster that left me here to die! Why do y-you—" The filly broke down into tears. Her mother came over to comfort her, but she swatted her away with her hoof. It took Roseheart only a few moments to realize where she had actually hit her mother: Right across her face. Hard. She looked up, eyes now reddened, left mortified by the sight she saw. The hard jab from her punch had left a huge scratch across her mothers face, starting a few centimeters from the right side of her mouth and curling up along the inner-underside of her right eye. The red cut was a stark contrast to her blue coat. "Mom I—" "Maybe I shouldn’t have left you, but you shouldn't have done what happened at the mayor's house. Now look at what you've done to me. You're the one who's turning into a monster now. You really need to think about how you're acting." "Mom, did you even care about me or believe what I was saying that night?! What's wrong? Mommy please," Roseheart replied. Her mother could now feel the harsh sting brought down upon her from her daughter's attack. Her visage quickly formed into one of disappointment and rage. "You only care about yourself. You aren't the Rosey I knew and loved. You've become something disgusting!" She said. I'm not the daughter that she knows and loves? She doesn't love me anymore...? Does anyone? Roseheart thought. "You don't love me anymore?" Roseheart said, tears now easily flowing forth from her eyes. "I didn—" "But you did! You even said it! You don't love me and I don't think you ever really did love me! You just kept me around so you wouldn't feel bad! Who's selfish now?! Huh?! Who's really selfish?!" Her mother replied: "I came back so we could be together baby, so we can maybe go somewhere else and have a new life together, away from Solace and those other ponies." "Now you're just lying. Mom, how do you expect me to believe you now when you can't even show any faith in me? All I ever wanted to do was make you proud of me and now you're taking that away from me because some mean pony comes along and starts bullying me with her friends! How could you?! I don't even want to call you my mother anymore! You don't even act like one!" "How dare you accuse me of such nonsense! You're asking for it my little filly. You better just go upstairs and get your things packed, because we're leaving tomorrow." "I'm not going anywhere with you! You abandoned me and now you want me to go somewhere with you?! Who the fuck do you think you are?!" Roseheart bellowed. "I've taught you to watch your tongue for a long time now. Do you want some soap in your mouth?!" "Fine! I'll go up to my room and I'll pack!" she said, then speeding her way up the stairs. "I've also told you not to fly in the house either!" her mother yelled, slowly walking over the couch, sat down and began to mope. Up in her room, Roseheart began packing. She wasn't going with her mother of course, she was going now and she was going alone. Where am I going? I don't know, but where ever I go the other ponies better not give me any trouble, or they'll be getting some themselves, she thought, wiping the residue of her mother's blood off her left hoof on the cloud wall. She took her satchels full of everything she could possibly need and jumped onto the window sill. She cocked her head back and took one last look at her room before jumping. She sent herself into a nosedive for a couple seconds and then opened her wings and curled upward. She flew roughly 500 meters before making her way back up to the main cloud. If I walk on the main cloud with everyone else, no one will suspect that I'm leaving when I get to the other side of the city. If anyone tries to stop me I won't be stopped anyway, but I better just play it safe for now, she thought, landing back on the main cloud. She walked until a group of fillies approached her. They seemed to be not much older than she was, but she knew she could handle them if things got out of hand. "Hey, you don't look like you live around here, where are you from?" one of them said. "I don't have time to talk, leave me the fuck alone," Roseheart replied. "Well there's no reason to be rude like that, I was just aski—" Roseheart interrupted her with a hoof to the face. "I told you to leave me alone, now go before I show you what happens if you bother me again you pathetic little shits." The fillies, however, decided to fight her instead. They fought within the ghost-town of a street, punching and bucking and biting. The odds against her, Roseheart had won the confrontation. She spat at the injured fillies and flew away in a hurry in order to get away from the scene that had unfolded before her eyes. Her eyes were now strained, veins replaced areas of white. She continued along the twisting and turning streets of the legendary city of clouds known to all as Cloudsdale until she reached the very outskirts of the city. Roseheart looked around and saw no-pony. She backed up a few meters and ran towards the edge of the cloud. At the very last possible second she vaulted into the air and, akin to her earlier experience back at home, forced herself into a nosedive. She slowed her descent and levelled her body parallel to the horizon, and moved onward towards her destination. Night was now beginning to fall and the events of the past day had left her tired. She noticed an old abandoned cottage in the middle of a forest below and rushed towards it. I hope no one lives here, I have nowhere else except this forest to get some rest, and I don't want to risk something bad happening while sleeping in a forest, she thought, as she entered through the front door. "Does anypony live here? I don't mean to come on to your property if anypony does. I'm just looking for a place to sleep. I've had a horrible day and I just want to check to see if anypony is here so I can sleep here if there isn't." she said, her voice echoing inside the empty and dark cottage. After a minute with no answer, Roseheart decided it was safe to sleep in the cottage for the night. Due to the moonlight coming in from a window, she was able to see a box of matches on a table. She took one with her mouth and lit it, however she fumbled the match and it fell to the floor, catching the rug she was standing on on fire. Roseheart tried to stomp it out with her hoof, but failed and slightly burned the underside of her hoof in the process. The fire then began to spread rapidly. She leapt off the rug as it continued to become engulfed into a blaze. She could only watch it in horror. It didn't take that much more time for one of the torn curtains to catch fire and begin to disintegrate. It seemed like every minute she spent standing there that the fire had spread somewhere new. I need to get out of here before this whole place burns down. So much for sleeping here tonight! Damn it! I'm such a failure! she thought, as smoke began to fill the room. She ran as fast as she could out of the cottage, which was now engulfed in smoke. She let out a cough and continued to run. Roseheart was now heading straight into the forest. She was now heading straight into the night.