The early summer sun rose to the sky, released from the horizon to shine down onto Equestria and a small mining town called Rocky Slopes. The morning was chilly, dew still hung from the leaves of the plant life, but the weather pegasi had promised a nice temperature in the afternoon. One of them would soon be awoken.
Slowly her consciousness emerged from a dark depth; Sky Blue was feeling warm and comfortable. She moved her legs in an attempt to get rid of the heavy feeling, bumping into something soft as she did. The darkness brightened to a yellow as it pierced through her eyelids. With some resistance she opened them, taking a moment to adjust to the light.
She was in a white room made from puffy clouds: her bedroom. Her home was made out of wood and rock, like most other homes on the soil of Equestria, but she couldn’t help but put a few clouds indoors. However, that was not what she saw when she had opened her eyes.
In front of her slept a little blue filly, her little hooves close to her body, not entirely different from when she entered this world. Azure Bliss, as the little filly was called, was only a few minutes behind after the one that laid on the mare’s other side, Cerulean Gale. The filly laid on her back, her hoof occasionally twitching upward. Small murmurs from her hinted she enjoyed her stay in dreamland.
Sky Blue enjoyed waking up this way: slow, comfortable and with two of the cutest ponies there were. The sun appeared to hang still in the sky, and the moment seemed to last forever.
So serene~
A memory flashed before her eyes, it was one of anger and fear. A time when her girls were ‘marked’. The memory disappeared as swiftly as it came, but the damage was done; her mood had soured slightly.
Sleep ebbed away from her mind, depriving her from postponing the day for a few minutes more. With a deep breath, Sky pushed herself upright, careful to not wake her girls. Stealthily, she left the bed, stretching her legs and wings followed by an occasional ‘crack’. Her hooves dampened by the thin cloud floor, she made her way downstairs.
Walking into the kitchen area, she spotted clues to her husbands presence: a crumpled newspaper, a plate and an empty coffee cup. The remains of an early morning wake up. She took out the bread and butter, preparing her own morning meal. As she made the sandwiches, she started to hum an old song she’d known since childhood. Her own mother had sang it for her when she was a filly, and she had sang it for her fillies. Making breakfast, or any meal for that matter, seemed to have a certain calm about it. she could think about the oddest things.
“Mama!”
The calm faded away as she heard Cerulean Gale calling.
“I’m in the kitchen!”
“Come on, slowpoke,” Sky Blue heard her other daughter yell. The two fillies had flown their way downstairs, bumping into each other trying to beat the other at their little race. Azure distanced herself from her sister only to bump into her harshly. The fillies had done this before, but this time Cerulean lost control. Although the filly tried her hardest, she could not recover before she hit the ground.
Sky Blue saw the incident happen and rushed over to her daughter. The filly lay on the ground, tears billowing up in her eyes. The mare quickly examined her daughter. Although the landing looked painful, the filly only had a softly bleeding scrape. When she didn’t see any other wounds, she released the breath she had been holding in.
“Girls! You two need to be more careful!” The blue mare scolded.
Azure landed on the ground, hanging her head in shame. “Sorry, mama.”
Cerulean sobbed, looking at her mother with puppydog eyes. Sky Blue always had trouble with saying no or staying mad when her daughters brought out those looks. A moment of hesitation passed and she sighed; she was not able to stay upset at their recklessness.
“Just be more careful from now on,” she said before turning back to the kitchen.
Ten minutes later, the two had devoured their morning meal and jumped of their seat, having no further inclination to stay there needlessly. “Mom! Can we go play with Green Grove?”
As one of the few other ponies in town of their age, the twins often played with Green Grove, a colt they often got in trouble with. She would have liked to have her children to stay close to her, but she couldn’t deny the girls some playtime with their friend either. Maybe one of them will marry him someday. No, scratch that Sky Blue, romantic fantasies are for another time. For now she could only hope they wouldn’t cause any trouble.
“Yes, but don’t cause any prob-,” before she could finish her sentence the two sisters had already left their home. A sigh escaped her lips.
*****
After cleaning up the remainder of breakfast, Sky Blue stepped outside, spread her wings and flew skywards. A strong breeze carried her higher, the air still chilly to the touch. She looked around, noting her surroundings. The town had started to get busy. Ponies started opening up their shops or practicing mining related business. Lofty Dreams was delivering mail while the sheriff made his way to his office with his two deputies.
Rocky Slopes looked nice from above; buildings spread over the side of the mountain, one placed on a higher elevation than the other, no matter what purpose it served. And all were bathing in a nice summer sun. However some spots were dark, which shouldn’t be the case with clear skies on the schedule. Looking up she spotted a few white, fluffy clouds, sluggishly moving through the skies. Catching up to the clouds, she started kicking them into pieces one by one. As it came down to the last one, she took a good look at it. The cloud was dense and puffy; she could create a cloud statue from it, or use it as a pillow, she thought as she suppressed a yawn.
With some exertion she tore pieces off from the cloud, reducing it in size. Bringing the small cloud to her house, she quickly stuffed it inside. Nothing worse than losing your statue material to a overzealous weatherpony. She was being reminded of losing perfect cloudstatue material some time ago, mere minutes before a sculpting contest.
Spotting no more clouds in the vicinity, she smiled at the ease of her job today. She had plenty of time to spare to get groceries. Could this be the start of a great day?
*****
Green Grove wiped the sweat off his brow and stared in admiration of his masterpiece. A big hot air balloon with a sturdy wooden basket of his own design that could carry a hundred ponies, as the colt would have put it into words. In truth, there would be enough room for just one fully grown pony, or three young ones, but he didn’t care what anypony would say. He could stare for hours at how the wind tugged at the balloon, almost desiring it to fly.
Cerulean Gale and Azure Bliss always wanted to go flying with him, but being an Earth Pony that proved problematic. The Pegasisters could carry themselves in flight, but carrying another pony would be too difficult. After spotting an airship one day the three young ponies had the idea to build a hot air balloon. After trying a test version, which was tying as many balloons to Green Grove as they could find, worked, he built this one.
He wondered if he could get a Cutiemark for this, but after the events of several months ago he wasn’t in a hurry to get one.
“Greeny to Equestria. Hello~,” Cerulean said, waving her hoof in front of the daydreaming colt.
“We’ve lost him sister. He’s brain-dead,” Azure followed up.
“Wasn’t he in the first place?”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Green Grove snickered, before laughing loudly. Soon enough the two sisters joined in, all three falling on the ground laughing.
“You’re a silly colt, Greeny, “Azure said shaking her head. “You laugh when we make fun of you.”
“Pops says I’m weird like that. He also says laughter is the best medicine, so I must be a very healthy pony.”
Cerulean walked to the balloon, tapping her hoof against the woodwork. “Are you sure this thing can fly?”
Green grinned, leaping promptly into the basket. “Let’s try it out!”
Azure and Cerulean flitted next to the balloon, waiting for it to take off. Green Grove untied the ropes holding the balloon down, sending the aircraft upwards with a jolt. The basket rocked back and forth as the balloon went higher and higher through turbulent winds. Green Grove squealed in fright, praying he wouldn’t tumble out. Slowly the rocking stopped. The pegasisters were holding the basket steady. He stood up and slowly peeked over the edge. His jaw dropped.
Mountains stretched far into the horizon, fading away in the blue of the sky. Fields of grass, gravel slopes and walls of blue gray rock as far as he could see. Small animals ran across ridges, birds soared on thermal winds, a few cows picnicking in the grass. He even saw a small lake in the distance, reflecting the sun’s light vividly.
He would love to go there one day, to lay in the grass watching puffy white clouds being reflected in the cold, clear lake water. He thought of splashing around with Cerulean and Azure, and having a picnic of their own. He felt his face getting warm as he thought of that.
“Hey!” he yelled over the blowing wind, drawing the attention of the fillies. “We should have a picnic there someday!”
Azure Bliss flew right next to him. “That would be cool!”
“What would we do then?” Cerulean Gale joined in.
“Play tag, go swimming, eat strawberries, that sort of stuff.”
“Is that all? Sounds boring to me,” she said while flying circles around the balloon.
“It sounds fun to me, but…,” said Azure.
“But what, Azure?” asked Green.
“We can’t swim,” she said shyly.
“Azure!” Cerulean whined. “Don’t tell other ponies that!”
“I know how to swim,” said Green Grove. “I could teach you two.”
Azure landed in the balloon. “That would be great! And you don’t mind doing it?”
“Nope.”
Cerulean landed in the balloon as well, shielding her eyes against a gust of wind. “Hmmm…”
Green Grove frowned at the balloon’s newest occupant. “Why are you so negative about the picnic?”
She remained silent and turned her head away.
“She’s scared of…” said Azure.
Her sister tried to interrupt her but a strong wind drew their attention, shaking the small balloon. Green Grove was shaking on his legs after the wind eased up. “Gah, that was sca…,” he said but another gust blasted the little balloon. One gale after the other came forth using the balloon as their plaything, making the foals scream for their lives.
After a particular nasty draft the balloon almost turned sideways. Feeling the force of gravity Green Grove was almost pulled down over the edge if not for the fillies holding him inside the basket. And then they saw the ground wasn’t far beneath them. In fact it was only a few seconds away from them. “We’re gonna crash!” Azure screamed.
Not a second later, it hit the ground, the wooden basket scraping as the balloon was dragged by the wind. The ground sloped downward, taking the fallen vehicle further down, shredding the balloon itself. The basket collided against a rock, cracking the wood and bumping it up several feet. Gravity ceased at that moment, just long enough for the three little ponies to take in there was no more ground beneath them. Then gravity was turned back on.
*****
Silent Song was bored. As a member of the council, the green earth pony was required to attend the meetings, and at this point she was practically begging for an earthquake or something to happen to escape the boredom. But no, the mayor was stringing one part of his monologue to the next, endlessly. As the words slowly degraded to a low buzz in her mind, she looked around to see how her other council members fared against the vocal massacre. Fluffy Prose was scribbling something down. Whether he was taking notes or scribbling down a detective novel, she couldn’t be sure. The seat next to him was empty, Sugar Circus had refrained from showing up today. They all knew today would be a boring day, but if he hadn’t skipped out he probably would have brought some excitement even if it did lengthen the meeting.
Then there was Earthbound, the owner and founder of the mining company in Rocky Slopes. Ever since the town was founded thanks to his company, he had been a pony with influence. When the council was formed he was given a spot almost immediately and had been the longest sitting council member since. To this day he was still very involved with the town and the mine, but that didn’t stop him from taking a nap when the mayor gave a monologue.
Glancing out the window she saw the homes and shops of the town being as busy as usual. The mine was in the distance with ponies entering and leaving while pulling minecarts. In the sky she saw Sky Blue flying around kicking clouds while a small air balloon floated out of sight. Having alleviated her boredom a smidge, she turned her head to face the mayor again, whose face was only two feet away from her.
“Are you listening, miss Song?”
“Eh…”
Late in the afternoon Silent Song dawdled out of the town hall. The mayor had not taken kindly to her short break of his monologue. He ranted for half an hour before he continued it. Just remembering it made her groan. But now she could relax at home with a nice cup of–
“Silent!”
She looked in the direction the call was coming from but it still took a few seconds to discern her friend from the cobalt sky behind her. Not so surprising if you considered her name was Sky Blue.
“Have you seen Cerulean and Azure?”
“I haven’t seen them all day, why?” She asked, expecting a certain answer.
“Because I can’t find them. They didn’t come home for lunch and I didn’t see them at your place either. All I know is that they were going to play with Green Grove.”
Silent thought back to a few days ago, when she saw her son crafting something odd. “I know Green was working on what looked like a wooden cask but I have no notion what they intended to do with it.”
Sky tilted her head in confusion. “Could it have something to do with the twins asking me to teach them to sew?”
Silent sighed. “We are not getting any closer to finding them our current path. We better separate and search for them from both the air and the ground.”
“Okay,” Sky said distraught before she flew off.
Silent ran off in the other direction, softly wishing Green Grove wasn’t with the twins. Galloping across town and looking any other place where the foals could be, she dearly hoped to run into her son so she knew he was safe. But even if she did find him, Cerulean and Azure were still missing.
*****
As time went on, Silent Song didn’t find any trace of them. They weren’t in the town square or at Golden Greens grocery store begging for sweets. None of the miners had seen them playing in the cavern, nor did Tough Nails find them toying with his heavy machinery. No matter who she asked, nopony had seen them. As the realization seeped in, she felt her knees getting weak. Her child was missing.
“I think I saw them.”
“Huh?” Silent Song said distracted.
“I think I saw Green Grove and the pegasisters,” said the pony she was asking absentmindedly.
Quickly her attention rose from her mental sea of worry to the old stallion in front of her.
“Where!? Where did you see them, Arty?”
“I-I saw the twins flying around a small hot air balloon,” Arty Fact said attempting to keep steady.
She felt an emptiness appear in her stomach as he said that. Instead of being in the areas surrounding Rocky Slopes, the foals could now be all over the mountain range!
“Which way did they go!?”
“They went further up the mountain range. But why are you so worried about the Pegasisters?”
“Because they haven’t returned yet and my son is with them!” She cried.
“Wait…the balloon’s pilot was your son?!”
“Yes…” she said weakly.
“…,” Arty Fact waited for the green mare to say something until he concluded she was too busy worrying to actually undertake action. “Silent Song!”
“Yes!?” The startled mare answered.
“What does the town do in case of a missing pony?”
“Ah, we…uhm, form a search party. One consisting of Pegasi,” the mare said with hesitation.
“Why only Pegasi, shouldn’t the whole town join in?”
“No, this isn’t like a hiker falling into a crevice then we would sent everypony out. The foals…” she said trailing off.
“Silent Song, focus!”
“Uhm the Pegasi can search for the balloon by following the direction of the wind. The balloon was just drifting through the air, so the Pegasi should be able to catch up to it. Yes, yes this should work!”
*****
Soon enough the Pegasi were in the air, searching for a hot air balloon matching the description Arty Fact gave them. Among the group was Sky Blue, who joined of her own accord. Several times after leaving Rocky Slopes she got yelled at by the leader of the search party due to her erratic and headstrong searching. As time passed, the horizon glowed red and purple putting more pressure on the pegasi. The hues of red turned everything in the landscape into a potential balloon.
More and more often a pegasus called out a resemblance to the balloon only to find nothing. Sky Blue was besides herself with worry, her eyes darted all over the landscape praying for any hint of blue coats. And then she spotted something. She flew towards it, half hoping it was the balloon, half expecting it was another dead end.
It was. An odd shape of the ground looked like a flat balloon from far away, but up close it was just another piece of hope grounded to dust. She flapped her wings to rejoin with the group, looking around shifty, praying she would spot the foals.
A scream rang out through the sky. Sky looked around, searching for the pegasus who drew her attention. The other Pegasi from the group flew off, having located where the scream came from. Sky Blue chased them down, noticing they were heading towards a cliff.
Her heartbeat, already in an heightened state, began to beat even faster. She strained her wings, catching up to the group which already arrived at the spot. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, an odd feeling of cold and energy accumulated in her chest. She came to a stop, hovering in place.
There, hanging on the tips of rocks and clawing branches was a small, red, torn hot air balloon with underneath a crudely made wooden basket. And three young occupants overjoyed to be found. A moment later Sky Blue embraced the three, as small rivers of relief ran down her cheeks.
“I will never let go of you again.”
*****
The next morning Sky Blue hovered down the stairs, heading to the kitchen as usual. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she touched down. Despite last evening’s happy ending, the mare was kept awake by her own worrying. She pulled out plates and bread to prepare breakfast for her and the twins. As she prepared the sandwiches, she pondered what today’s weather schedule would be since she didn’t have a chance to look after yesterday’s ordeal. Her ears twitched when she heard little voices from the upper floor of the house. Staring at the stairs, she saw two blue fillies flying down.
“Slow down girls, we don’t want a repeat from yesterday, do we?” She said strict.
Landing quickly, the two ran to their mother. “Mom, are you okay?” They ask with the morning of the day before in mind.
The mare hummed a positive answer. “Now eat your breakfast before it gets warm.”
“Gets warm?” echo the fillies before they sit down at the table. To their surprise, instead of their usual breakfast of daisy sandwiches and milk, there stood a bowl of pale yoghurt.
“What is this gooey stuff?” Azure asked.
“It is yoghurt,” Sky Blue said sweetly. “Knowing how you two scarf anything down that is on your plate, I thought I would help with serving you girls something you don’t have to chew.”
Cerulean stirred into the muck, raising her spoon only to see the goo plop back into the bowl. She gulped as she saw the lump of ooze rejoin slowly with the rest of its body.
“This is yucky!” the filly exclaimed, shoving the bowl away from her.
“Well, if you don’t eat it you’ll go hungry, Cerulean,” Sky Blue responded.
“Well then I’ll eat something else,” the filly said as she jumped off her chair.
“Cerulean, that is a perfectly fine breakfast on the table, don’t waste it.”
Hesitatingly, she glanced around, but the stern look from her mother forced her back to the table. She looked at her sister, who slowly put a spoonful of the sludge in her mouth. Heedful she watched Azure consume it, waiting if she would drop dead. Fortunately for the life of her counterpart, her life was not abruptly shortened. It only made her frown at the goop in front of her.
“It’s so bland!” Azure exclaimed.
“Are you sure it’s not eating you from the inside?” Cerulean asked.
“Cerulean! Azure! Yoghurt is healthy for you and won’t eat you up or any of that nonsense! Now eat your meal!”
With their heads hanging, they slowly start on their meal.
Seeing her children finally eat obediently, Sky Blue left the kitchen and flew up the stairs.
She landed on the cloudy underground of the house’s second floor. Passing by her bedroom and that of the twins, she came to a bland looking door. Opening it revealed boxes piled high, loose toys, vases that didn’t fit in the current décor and a rack of clothes. Carefully manoeuvring through piles of book, she came to the rack of clothes. Ponies didn’t wore clothes often, unless for events or for job requirements, so the amount of clothing in the house was scarce. But each item had a function, and Sky Blue was after a specific set.
*****
As soon as her mother left the room, Azure swiftly flew to the sink with her bowl, Cerulean curiously following after her. As fast as they could they put the bowls in the sink and opened the tap to wash them clean. The yoghurt flushed away leaving nothing but a clean bowl. The two smirked as the yoghurt disappeared down the drain, it was the perfect scheme!
Cerulean thought of something as she sensed her still empty tummy. “But what do we eat instead? Mom will know if we take anything else.”
Azure looked around, trying to spot anything her mother wouldn’t miss and be edible. Sparked with a sudden idea, she flew up to a drawer and took a few loose bits out of it, tucking them under her wing as she landed on the ground.
She ran to the bottom of the stairs, skidding to a halt. “Mom! We are going out to play!”
“Wait a moment, girls,” their mother answered.
Azure Bliss wondered what her mother wanted them to wait for. A goodbye kiss, checking if their meals were eaten? She gulped, what if their mother wanted to see if their wings needed preening? Her little plan would fall through, before they could get out of the house!
“What do we do? If mom finds out, we’re in trouble!” Azure whispered to her sister.
“What are you girls whispering about?” Sky Blue asked as she walked down the stairs with a few crumpled pieces of thick cloth tucked under her wings.
“Nothing,” answered Cerulean quick.
“Well, have you girls finished your breakfast?” she asked as she gazed to the empty dinner table.
“Yes, it was ‘Bleh’,” she answered as she sticked her tongue out in disgust.
“It may not be as tasty as you are used too, but it is for your own good.” Sky Blue grabbed one of the cloths from under her wing, dropping the tail end of the cloth on the ground, revealing it to be a yellow scarf. “We wouldn’t want you girls to choke on your food, would we?”
Azure couldn’t remember the last time she choked on her food; she wondered what her mother was talking about. Pondering the question, she let her wings relax, causing the bits to shift. She immediately tensed her wing again hoping the bits were securely tucked away in her wing again. Hoping her mother didn’t notice, she asked; “Can we go out to play now?”
“I was expecting you girls wanted to do that, so…,” she said before she wrapped the yellow scarf around Azure until it formed a tight woolly whole. “There, now you won’t catch a cold.”
Confused, Azure looked at her mother, who just showed a small smile. She turned to her sister who looked as confused as she was. Plucking another scarf from underneath her wing, Sky Blue wound a green one around Cerulean. The twins shared a glance between each other.
Cerulean shook her head. “Let’s get going, sis!”
They ran out of the house and rounded the corner of their house before Azure Bliss suddenly stopped, causing her sister to collide into her. The impact sending Azure tumbling forward. Several bits escaped azure’s grasp and were scattered all over the ground. Cerulean hurried to pick up the coins while her sister picked herself up. Before Azure could complain, her sister tossed some of the bits to her while holding on to the rest.
“Don’t stop so suddenly Azzy, I don’t want your butt in my face.”
“Lets just take off these stupid scarves and get some food.”
After taking of the garments, she took a leap, opened her wings and soared to the sky or at least a couple of meters above ground. Cerulean Gale followed her sister closely after.
Together they flew to the centre of the town, landing in front of the shop all the ponies would do their groceries. “Shall we get some food here?” Azure asked her sister.
“Do you think we can buy anything tasty in there?”
“Dunno. Let’s find out.”
The two pushed the doors open, entering the large shop. It was still early in the morning and the owner Golden Greens was busy stocking the various shelves and baskets. Yet there were many, many articles already in place. Fruits, vegetables, spices, knives, pens, pencils, coffee cups, tea cups, plates, cutlery, bobbleheads, figurines, magazines, notebooks, paperclips, it was all here in the store. And colourful, soft, mouth-watering, sweet candy!
The fillies stood in front of the shiny sweets, their mouth watering by the thought of the taste. The golden metal of the bits almost begged to be spent out on the tasty treats. Azure reached out for the red colored candy among the colourful pile of sweets.
“Hey girls, should you eat sweets that early after breakfast?” Golden Greens asked, keeping the fillies in the eye.
“We haven’t had any breakfast, Mr. Greens,” Cerulean said. The honesty prompted Azure to jab her sister in the ribs, hushing her to be quiet.
“I am pretty sure your mother wouldn’t tolerate any sweets before breakfast, girls.”
“Mom wanted us to eat yoghurt, which is yuck, so we didn’t eat it.”
Golden brought his hoof to his chin, thinking for a moment before responding again.
“That is understandable, but you two still need to eat something healthy for breakfast, or else you’ll have to visit the dentist soon.”
The two fillies shivered at the thought. The dentist was an evil stallion, he should be locked up with the key thrown away.
Taking a gander through his store, Golden Greens came up with the ideal substitute. With each making a soft ‘thud’ sound, he placed four shiny apples on the counter. “Will this suit your fancy, girls?”
With disappointment they couldn’t stuff their bellies with candy, they took the offer. Walking out of the store, apples in hoof and wing, they went on for a few minutes before they wondered what to do next.
“Sall we such fer Geen Gove?” Azure said, munching on her second apple.
“What did you say, Azzy?”
She swallowed the pieces of apple. “I said, shall we search for Green Grove?”
“Sure.”
*****
Sky Blue laid down on one of the few clouds floating above Rocky Slopes. After checking in with the weather office, she found out today’s schedule involved getting several clouds to drizzle above the town and its outskirts. It would be a nice refreshment for the plant life that grew in the town, but it would be a pain in the flank for her. To clear a cloud of all it water is easy; just a few good jumps on it should suffice. To get a cloud to rain involves a good bit of prodding.
But to get a cloud to drizzle requires delicacy. For some reason when they hired her, they thought her cloud Cutiemark stood for being adept at working with clouds. While that was exactly what her Cutiemark represented, it was not intended for weather control, but for artistic purposes.
So now she was stuck here, the only mare on the job, trying to ‘tickle’ a cloud just right to get a continuous drizzle. She knew pushing a cloud too much got you a downpour, so after a few minutes of trying to convince the cloud to drizzle with only a few specks of water as a result, she gave up and laid down on the puffy white.
She thought back to her children, running through life without a care. It may go well for now, but someday they will get hurt. Again. She’d wish she could protect them all the time. On the days she and Silent Song homeschooled their foals, she could be certain of their safety. On other days, she could worry herself sick. Sometimes literally. She couldn’t always be around them, like when she needed to do her job as a weathermare.
But that gave her an idea. Her job would give her the opportunity to look for the girls without being awkward about it. Peering over the edge, she looked for the blue coloration of her daughters. peering over to all sides at least once, she was about to panic when she spotted three faraway dots. Two blue and one green.
Sky Blue sighed in relief, she wouldn’t be able to take it if the girls went missing again. Spreading out her wings, she prepared to jump off the cloud, but she stopped herself mid-jump. As she regained her footing, she clarified her hesitation; If she would so openly watch the kids, they would just find her a bother.
But that gave her another idea. Taking a good gander at the cloud she was sitting on, she decided on her course of action. Manoeuvring her limbs inside the puff, she sank away until only her wings stuck out the cloud’s surface. Sneakily peeking through the cloud, she saw various ponies walking below her, none of them noticing her. Satisfied with her makeshift hiding spot, Sky proceeded to slowly fly to where her daughters where.
She needed to be careful, too fast would raise suspicion, while if she was too slow she might lose sight of her daughters. She peeked out of the cloud every other moment to determine if she was going the right way. Eventually she became close enough to the children to see how they were doing.
*****
“Stop!” yelled Green Grove.
Azure Bliss and Cerulean Gale skidded to a stop, each turning to their friend. Green held up a small ball, closing one eye to determine the right trajectory. Azure gasped as she saw Green hurling the ball towards her, bouncing on the ground, to ultimately roll between her legs.
“Horsefeathers,” Azure said as she grabbed the ball and turned her back to the other two. “Call out a time of day!”
“Night!” Cerulean responded.
“Dusk!” Green Grove answered.
Azure smirked. She had chosen long before the two had given her the option.
“Night!” Azure yelled out as she launched the ball.
Cerulean sprinted after the ball, while Green and Azure ran as fast as their little legs could carry them. With a pounce the filly caught the ball.
“Stop!”
Azure stopped on the spot, using her wings to brake. Green Grove on the other hoof, tripped over his own hooves and landed on his face.
“Greeny, are you okay?” Cerulean asked.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he responded, “I am a stallion after all.”
The girls looked to each other. “You’re a colt,” they responded in sync.
*****
Sky Blue’s muscles felt tense, she wasn’t particularly happy with the foals dashing wildly like that. Right as she thought about it, she saw Green Grove land on his face. Before she could react, the colt quickly stood up again, his pride being the only thing that was hurt. She sighed as her fear ebbed away.
She heard a giggle behind her, drawing both her attention as that of the children. Green Grove’s mother, Silent Song, trotted up to the group. “You listen to your father too well, Green. It is okay to cry if it hurts,” she said as she smiled.
“No mom, stallions aren’t supposed to cry unless their heart is torn out or something!” In sync, Green enacted his heart being torn out.
Silent Song put her hoof to her face. “And that is taking your father’s words too literal.”
Sky giggled at the small parent-child theatre before her. It felt like ages since she last had a good laugh.
Cerulean’s ear twitched, hearing the faraway giggling. She looked around until she spotted an out of place cloud where the giggling seemed to emanate from. “Mom, is that you?”
Sky Blue stopped abruptly with giggling. Silent Song and the other two ponies looked up to the weird cloud.
“Sky? Are you there, Sky?” Silent Song called out.
Sky Blue frowned for letting herself get discovered. After a moment passed, she couldn’t think up anything to get away. So she decided to come clean.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“Why are you hiding over there, sweetie?”
“I wanted to make sure the children were alright Silly, but I didn’t want them to see me in case they would find me a bother,” she answered.
Silent Song snorted disagreeably. “The children will be fine, they have promised to stay in town after their last enterprise,” she said while sneaking a quick peek at Green Grove.
“We can’t be too sure about that!”
“Compose yourself Sky Blue, it is not like they get in trouble intentionally, is it?
“Evil intent gave them the Cursemarks!” Sky Blue yelled.
Silent Song’s eyes widened. “What?”
“We couldn’t protect our children from them! Who knows what the next day will bring? Discord returning once more? They might die!”
Silent straightened her posture, a habit of her when she had a discussion with one of the council members. “You cannot protect them from everything, Sky! Everypony gets hurt, everypony dies someday!”
Tears welled up into Sky Blue’s eyes. “N-n-no, not them!”
“Mama,…?” Azure uttered.
The blue mare dove of her cloud, grabbing Cerulean Gale and Azure Bliss midflight. “I will protect you, even if it is the last thing I do!” Flapping her wings with force, she flew up to the sky.
*****
Silent Song and Green Grove stood baffled at what just had transpired. Then it slowly sank in what happened. She slowly started following the distressed mare, moving faster, running harder with each passing step.
“Evil intent gave them the Cursemarks!”
Of course it would be those blasted marks! A few months ago, a unicorn arrived in Rocky Slopes, running from the authorities after he had cursed dozens of ponies throughout Equestria. He cursed five inhabitants of the town; Green Grove, the two pegasisters, Honey Rock and Silent Song herself. But he was discovered, hunted down and brought to justice.
Green Grove’s Cursemark resulted in him breaking everything around him, even giving Silent Song a dislocated leg. It made her fear her own son. She didn’t dare to get close and it was the worst when she was cursed herself, cursed to shout even when trying to whisper. At that point, she couldn’t even comfort her son with words anymore.
She overcame it, her and Green Grove were closer than ever. Sky Blue however, seemed to have grown fearful of harm coming to her children.
Silent Song arrived at Sky Blue’s home, with Green Grove behind her, panting after trying to keep up with his mother. Silent figured Sky Blue would return home, a fortress of safety for many from a bad day. Although unclear, sounds of ponies inside could definitely be heard. Anxious she stepped forward, knocking on the front door. She heard no change in the sounds, nor was there a reason to assume somepony had heard her.
She knocked on the door again, this time louder, slightly shaking the door in its hinges. The sounds inside changed slightly, prompting Silent Song to listen closely to hear anypony come to get the door. After a moment she still heard no hoofbeat going towards the door. She gritted her teeth, this was going downhill, fast. She pounded on the door, rattling its hinges and shaking it against its framework. “Sky! Open up!”
As she stopped beating the door she heard rapid hoofbeat going downstairs. Silent Song was relieved, she hopefully could talk this one out. But then the hoofbeats moved away from her to the back of the house, where she remembered there was another door. Running to the back of the house, she spotted Sky Blue, just before she closed the door. Almost smacking into the back door, she pulled it open, only for a hoof on the other side to try and close it again.
Silent Song pulled with all her might, her earth pony strength overcoming her pegasus friend.
“Sky, listen to me!”
“No, please let go!”
“Sky, just…,”
“Let go!”
Silent held on the door, until she decided to let go. The door slammed into its frame and the sound of a bolt sliding into place soon followed. She had her foreleg stretched out until she realized she would not be able to talk her friend out of that state. Falling down unto her haunches, she didn’t know what to do. What do I do now?
“Mama?”
Silent Song turned her head to see her son standing behind her.
“What’s wrong with Sky Blue?” The young colt asked.
“She has become scared, Green Grove. She fears Cerulean and Azure will get hurt.”
“Get hurt from what? A tail between the door? Yesterday’s balloon ride?”
Silent Song sighed, staring at the door. “Whatever life brings, Green Grove. She got scared by that balloon trip, but the Cursemarks really shook her up.”
“Who didn’t get scared from that? I was anyway.”
“We all were, but Sky has never really gotten away from the fear. Now it has surfaced and I don’t know what to do.”
Green Grove pondered for a moment before he spoke again. “Can’t we just hug her and tell her it will be alright, just like dad did?”
“Your dad did a lot more than that to solace me.” She opened her mouth to continue speaking, when an idea hit her.
She turned around to face her son. “Green, I know what to do.”
*****
Vermillion put one hoof before the other, over and over again. The load he was pulling was heavy, but nothing he hadn’t pulled before. It was his job. Well part of it, as he was a miner. The crew had pulled out enough rock, ore and gravel out of the mine’s walls to fill up the cart, thus he put down his pick axe and took the cart away.
His hooves left the rocky soil and stepped on wood and metal; what would be the elevator upward. Once the cart was fully on the platform, a fellow miner pushed the button letting the red pony take a breather. Despite being a bigger pony than most, it was still a physically intensive job. But it fed his family, and that was all that mattered.
The elevator rattled to a stop, so Vermillion stood up, grabbed his gear and started pulling the cart again. At the moment emptying the cart was still a pain in the flank, but the mine owner; Earthbound, had promised if a certain point in the mine was reached, they could make an exit in the side of the mountain. Thus making it easier to get the ore to the processing plant down the mountain. Which hopefully would lessen the need to go to the physiotherapist.
He pulled the cart off the platform through the cavern, the last section of the mine. Or the first section, depending on how one saw it. The light blinded him as he exited it, setting hoof again in the surface world. The last stretch was the easiest, the even ground made it easy for him to pull the cart.
“…!” A shout echoed against the mountain, Vermillion didn’t pay any attention to it.
“V…ion!” His ear twitched. Something was drawing his attention.
“Vermillion!” A green mare came galloping up the elevation. She was panting hard as she slowed down. She lowered her head to catch her breath. When she raised her head she possessed a scared look in her eyes.
“Where’s the fire, Silent Song?”
“Vermil-*huff*-lion,” she uttered before taking a few deep breaths of air.
“Come on, spit it out girl,” he worriedly asked.
“Sky Blue has locked herself and the kids in the house.”
“What?! But why would she do that?” He said as he undid his gear.
“She is really scared Azure and Cerulean will be hurt by something,” she said as Vermillion kicked the minecart’s brakes into place. “For some reason she thinks the whole world is just waiting for a chance to hurt the fillies.”
Vermillion gnashed his teeth and turned homewards. Starting to run, he waited with going to full gallop before Silent Song could catch up. “I was worried her fear ran deeper than she showed. But she always calmed down when I spoke to her about it.”
The two ponies ran through the town, prompting anypony to move out of their way. After barrelling down the streets, knocking over obstacles, the two Earth ponies arrived at the house. All the curtains were closed and the blinds were down, there was nothing that indicated there were ponies inside. Vermillion walked up to the door and shook the door to try to get it open.
“Locked, huh?” he stated grim.
“The backdoor is locked as well.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Walking around the house, Silent Song and Vermillion looked for signs of life or sounds, but none were to be found. The kitchen door seemed locked as well. None the less, Vermillion tried to open it, to no avail.
“I don’t suppose you have a key?” the mare reasoned.
Vermillion charged forward bashing his shoulder into the door. The wood splintered and cracked, but the wrecked door remained in place. The stallion snorted, turned around and bucked the door down. Stepping on the fragments, he entered his home, followed closely by Silent Song.
The house was dark, the main source of light coming from the kitchen door and what little light came through the cracks in the curtains. They stepped further into the house, spotting quickly a shoddy heap of furniture blocking the stairs.
“Did she really intended to fortify the house this way?” Silent Song said.
“’Baby Blue’, why are you doing this?”
Shoving a few chairs out of the way, Vermillion climbed over the obstacles on to the staircase. His anxiety reached his peak as he stepped onto the second floor. Behind him he heard furniture fall down, with Silent Song swiftly appearing after Vermillion, slightly wounded in her pride. He sighed, showing his tension and walked up to the door of his bedroom. He breathed in deep, letting the air numb the anxiety for a bit before he laid his hoof on the door handle.
With a creak the door opened, slowly revealing the cloudy underground, the window above the two pony bed and a big closet. But no ponies to be seen, nothing out of the ordinary in the room. Vermillion closed the door, mentally checking off the rooms in the house. The next door would be the twin’s room.
Without intent of doing so, he silently sneaked to the door. Stopping in front of it, he swallowed and laid his hoof on the door handle. Pressing down on to it, he felt something blocking the door from opening, it was locked.
“Squeek!” sounded from the other side of the door. Bingo.
“Sky Blue! Cerulean Gale! Azure Bliss! It’s me, papa.” Vermillion said, worry sounding in his voice as he uttered the last word.
“Daddy!” the twins yell out. They scurried to the door, only to be pulled back by their mother.
Sky Blue laid her hooves over their mouths, “Hush, it can be a changeling,” she said, her words ringing with fear.
Listening to the soft-spoken accusation Vermillion wondered what to do. His wife doubted he was himself, how could he prove that?
“Sky Blue, please open the door,” he begged. He waited as time went by, five seconds, twenty seconds, forty seconds. But no answer came.
Silent Song stepped forward, standing besides Vermillion. “Sky Blue, it is me; Silent Song. Please come out.”
A moment passed, but then…
“Silent Song, Vermillion, is that really you?” Sky Blue said, the despair strong in her voice.
“We are here for you honey–Sky, it is us,” they said dissonant.
“I’m scared,” she said whimpering.
“As I understand it, you feel unable to protect our children, am I right?”
“Yes, I want to keep them safe from this dangerous world! But the things that have happened - the balloon flight, the Cursemarks - there is nothing we can do against them!”
“The Cursemarks were not coincidental, but were brought on by malicious intent, Sky. Nopony can guard against that,” Silent Song coined in.
“She is right, honey. When that comes around all we can only hope for some good luck. However that is the big stuff, we can help the little stuff. We heal from cuts and bruises, we fix them up with some spit and a Band-Aid.” He gripped his foreleg with his hoof. “We may break bones but nothing stops us from healing them. Every now and then, life turns sour and we get hurt. But we get stronger with that.”
“Didn’t your mother tell me, you were a cry-baby when you were a foal? But that stopped when you grew older, right? When you grew stronger. So will Azure and Cerulean. They will get hurt; kids tend to do that. They might cry but we fix them up and kiss the pain away.” She laid her hoof on her heart. “It isn’t the job of us parents to protect our children for the rest of our life. Our job is to raise them into mature ponies ready to take the world by storm upon on the time they might become parents themselves.”
“I know it hurts to see them get hurt, but everypony gets through that. Sadness exist because we know love; we worry because we care. And one day, our girls will become mothers and worry just as much. On that note, they like Green Grove right?”
“I like him,” Azure replied.
“He is a good friend,” Cerulean followed.
Vermillion grinned as he continued, “Didn’t you tell me once you wished one of the girls would marry him?”
Silent Song blushed upon hearing that.
“Vermillion!” Sky Blue said embarrassed.
“Mom!” the fillies responded upset.
“Sheesh Sky. You could join SilkShine in the romantics department,” Silent Song said.
“I didn’t know the innkeeper was the type for that,” she said, intending to change subjects as soon as possible.
“She is a sucker for–“ Silent Song said before Vermillion raised his hoof to ask her silence.
“Sky Blue?”
“Yes, Vermillion?”
“Could you open the door?”
It became silent. Minute after minute passed, with nothing happening on the other side of the door. Silent Song was gesturing that either of them should talk, or that was at least what he could interpret from her gestures. Every now and then he could hear the twins, walking around talking to each other softly. After another minute, he decided to break the silence. But then he heard metal scraping. Followed by a click. With a creak the door slowly opened inwards. Standing behind it stood Sky Blue, her lip quivering, her eyes wet with tears.
Before she could say anything, Vermillion embraced her, starting to cry himself.
***Two weeks later***
On an open spot at the edge of Rocky Slopes stood a small air balloon, just large enough to carry two ponies. From a distance one could see a blue pegasus coercing a green Earth pony to the craft.
“I don’t know if it’s such a good idea for me to get in there, Sky Blue. I’m as light as a feather so I’ll just be blown away!” Silent Song said. A drop of sweat rolling down her face.
“Nonsense, silly. I'm a pegasus and even lighter than you, so you’ll be fine,” Sky said, enjoying the slight desperation of her friend. She turned her head to face the colt walking to the side of them. “Won’t she, Green Grove?”
“Mom is as tough as my pop, she can handle it!” The colt yelled in excitement.
Silent Song gulped.
Cerulean Gale and Azure Bliss flittered past, circling around the group.
“Come on, come on! Hurry up!” the two shouted.
Green Grove quickly climbed into the balloon’s basket, waiting for his mother to do the same. She on the other hand stood rigid in front of the vehicle, her face slowly getting paler. “Sky, are you sure you need my help for this lesson about aerodynamics?” she pleaded to her friend.
“Yes silly I need you.” Using her wing Sky Blue slowly ushered her friend in the balloon.
With clearly visible unwillingness Silent Song slowly climbed into the vehicle. “Please don’t call me silly, Sky.”
“Sorry~,” she said singing as she turned around.
One by one, Sky Blue began to release the ropes that anchored the balloon to the ground. After untying three of them, Silent Song gathered the fear to try to talk herself out of the ride, she was sure it would be the end of her.
“Sky?”
With a strong tug she untied the last rope and turned to her friend. “Yes, Silent Song?”
As she asked her question her voice became notably higher. “What do you need me for?” She said with begging eyes.
Slowly the mass of the balloon stopped pressing on to the earth until it was released from the ground entirely. Silent Song fell down onto her haunches, not daring to look over the edge of the balloon basket. Sky Blue flew in and hovered over that same edge. With a slight grin she answered her friend’s question.
“Ballast.”
Silent Song’s eyes grew as big as dinner plates, a soft squeak escaped her lips.
Sky Blue reached in and nuzzled her friend. “Nah, I am just kidding Silly. Just make sure everypony stays fine.”
Silent Song sighed deeply. “Don’t call me silly.”
Green grove raised his hoof in the air. “Miss Sky?”
“Yes Green Grove?” Sky replied curious.
“Uhm…” He fidgeted around as he seemingly tried to come up with the right words. “Uh… can we go to the lake I wanted to visit with Azure & Cerulean? It looked quite beautiful.”
Sky Blue’s smile disappeared. “Despite you three drifting off course and getting stranded on an outcropping the last time you tried that?”
Green Grove hung his head in disappointment.
“Sure we can!” she said with surprising cheeriness.
Silent Song gasped. “What?! But-…Sky~!”
Green Grove high-fived the twins, Sky Blue giggled. “We can’t linger in the past forever, silly. Mistakes are made and they’ve learned from them. This time they have two adults with them.”
Silent Song snorted and smiled. She was happy her friend was acting like her old self again.
The End