//------------------------------// // Chapter Four- // Story: Reaper With An Angel // by MLPxMaestro //------------------------------// Reaper With An Angel: Chapter 4- It was Hearth’s Warming Eve, and the snow was falling ever so peacefully from the eternal gray sky, as it would continue to be this way for a couple more days. The wind had picked up a bit too, and little Octavia was riding on her mother’s back, as they all made their way to the play. Located in the Canterlot Concert Hall, the stage had been converted for this situation. The play was about the founding of Equestria, and like Melody had said before, it looked interesting, and she heard it would be good. So now her, Octavia, and the rest of the family made their way to enjoy the play. Melody on the other hoof before they even left out of the house, didn’t feel well, but began feeling just a bit better a little while afterward. Melody had been feeling pretty bad off and on since this morning. Is this leading to something terrible by any chance? If so, just how bad will it be? Her family already knows she could lose her life to this “thing” as any given time…would it carry onto the afternoon however? “So…is this a dinner and a play sort of thing?” Quaver asked. “No, this is just a play. We merely walk in there, sit down, enjoy it, applaud them, then leave…nothing more father.” Replied Melody. “Well I am famished at the moment, are we by any chance-” “No dad, we are heading back home to eat after this play.” She interrupted him. “Thank Celestia…well let us hurry this up then.” “Pawpaw, can I sit next to you?” Octavia looked back at him with those gorgeous purple eyes he just could not turn down. “Yes sweetheart, of course you can.” He replied sympathetically. “Can I be in the pway?” “It’s too late angel. If they accepted fillies, you would be the star of the show, I just know you would.” Melody nuzzled her Octavia’s charcoal mane. “She would have our family get famous, and go on tour to get us rich.” Golden Strings spoke up. “We are already rich my love.” Replied Melody with a giggle. “Well here we are…let us enjoy ourselves. We shall meet out here in the front entrance after the play, fair enough? Because due to such volume of this crowd, I presume we should separate into pairs of two, and find two seats adjacent to one another. Since we all know too well with this crowd, there will not be enough seats for us all to sit together.” Golden Strings stated to them as they went through the entrance. “Well thought up dear, I agree.” Melody agreed with him. She then turns away from her family placing a hoof of the side of her head…she wasn’t feeling right. “Same with me here, me and my husband will find ourselves a seat somewhere…come along now Quaver dear!” Octave spoke up among the crowd of ponies now starting to slowly increase in mass as they made it closer and closer to the auditorium. “Wait you forgot-…” Melody then looked back at Octavia appearing to be confused, all the noise around her driving her mind astray somewhat. “Octavia, how about you sit with-.” Melody was then interrupted by a cough. “Love? Are you okay at the moment?” her husband asked concerned. “Yeah it was just, *cough*, just a *cough cough* mild thing dear.” “Awe you okay mommy?” “Yes sweetie, I most certainly am.” she smiled to Octavia, however turning around to face her husband, keeping her face out of sight from Octavia’s view, signaling she felt odd just then. “We’ll do something about it after the play okay?” Melody said nothing, and simply nodded in agreement with her husband. “Lovely…now lets not let a petty cough ruin this day, eh?” he spoke up, as the three of them made their way down a row with two seats. The row they were sitting down at was located just a few rows away from the stage too. Enough to keep Octavia amused, since she grew bored of some things at distances sometimes. “Thank you dear, thank you for not worrying our little girl just then.” She said to him, and with the right level of volume to where Octavia didn’t catch what they were saying as they took their seats. “Of course Melody…I am here for you no matter what.” he and Melody then share a kiss in the middle of some ponies sitting down around them. A few caught eye of them kissing, but what would you expect? They’re a couple obviously, what more do they need? “Still the charming kisser I see?” Melody giggled, trying to lighten up the mood on the situation from her strange feeling. “I try my best when the time is right.” “M-hm-hm…oh you.” she chuckled a bit, as she gestured her hoof back to him somewhat playfully. Melody was a bit of a flirt at times with her husband, no matter what the situation was it seemed. He didn’t really seem to mind either, since for one he could do that without judging from others since they were married. About fifteen minutes after everypony had found their seats, the lights then dimmed, and the entire room soon after, went nearly black. The only real source of light was up at the stage, as the large red curtain unveiled the characters as they started off on their scene. The crowd shared with each other in laughter at some of the moments within the play. Occasional suspense sent portions of the crowd just then into gasps, wondering what might happen next. After all of the actors took their bows in a row facing the crowd, every pony then stood up applauding. The occasional bouquet of flowers was thrown to the stage for such a wonderful performance. Melody however didn’t feel well at the moment, but she managed to keep it from view of everypony else. After the play, they luckily managed to locate each other outside at the buildings main entrance, just as Golden Strings suggested. “Ah, we are all here now…shall we head back to your house to have dinner now Mrs. Octave?” “Of course deary, let us be on our way.” “About time!” “Hush father…that’s rude in public.” “Oh, right…my apologies Melody.” He then leans in closer to Octavia riding on her back as they continue walking back home. “My apologies to you too, don’t do what pawpaw just did okay? It was ugly of him.” Quaver ruffled Octavia’s mane a bit, causing her to laugh. “Okay pawpaw, I will be wike a pwincess!” she smiled back to him. “That’s my girl.” Quaver then brought her onto his back after he gestured to Melody if he could or not. “Okay Octavia…would you like to see if we can beat mommy and daddy in a race?” Quaver then took a few steps ahead of them, and took position. “Yeah!” Octavia shouted, as she pointed her little hoof out in the direction in front of him. “Good heavens, here we go again…somepony stop him please.” Melody wanted to facehoof herself for what seemed was going to occur. “It’s fine dear, he won’t go very far. He ran track in his high school years, but I think-” “Weeeee!” Octavia yelled out enjoying herself with the rush she was getting. Octavia and her pawpaw then took off actually surprisingly fast to the remainder of the family’s knowledge. “Erm…oh my…” Octave’s eyes became as big as dinner plates in shock. The three of them stopped dead in their tracks to see Quaver run like he hadn’t ran in years. “I still got it in me!” he yelled back to them, as he continued back to their house. “Uh…shouldn’t we stop him?” Golden Strings advised the two of them. “No I believe he’ll stop eventu-” “My back! Never mind, we’re slowing down Octavia!” his voice was faintly heard yelling out into the air. “ally…” Octave ending the word she didn’t finish. Meanwhile, at where Octavia and Quaver were… “Go fast pawpaw!” “Pawpaw is not feeling well okay? So pawpaw will take a rest right now.” He spoke up a bit out of breath. “Awww…okay.” Octavia then lied back down onto his back. “Hope you feel better pawpaw.” Her tiny hooves then rubbed along his back, assuming where the pain might be. “I don’t…*sigh*…okay go ahead.” He added. “Daddy does this to mommy’s back, so I wanna twy it on you.” Octavia then began to rub along his back softly as Quaver continued slowly down the cobble-stoned streets. “You’re doing such a good job Octavia, pawpaw is proud of you. You are making me feel so much better now.” He said to her in mild sarcasm, just so he would make her feel good about her massaging his back as best as she could for him. “Thank you pawpaw!” she hugged his neck, then kissed the side of his face. The family then arrived back home, and Quaver was ready to eat. But however, Melody did not seem to feel very normal now, as she had been feeling shaky ever since the play started. She began feeling a bit dizzy once she and her husband made it through the door. “Melody, sweetie? Are you feeling okay?” her mother asked. “I’m just feeling a, uh…bit dizzy is all. I just need to…um…sit down…yeah that’s it.” Melody appeared to look confused when she was talking, which didn’t appear good to Golden Strings. She was then seen putting on of her hoofs over her chest after that. “How about I take you upstairs okay? Would you like to lie down up there?” “Absolutely, feel free to use Quaver’s bed.” Said Octave. “But that’s my fa-” “What’s more important dear, our daughter’s well being, or your darned bed?” “…you win.” Quaver looked off after his wife’s truthful remark. “Thank you mother, I’ll just…yeah, okay.” Her husband then leads Melody upstairs gently. Octavia on the other hoof looks at them confused at to what was going on in front of her. “Is mommy okay daddy?” Golden Strings caught a bit off guard by the sudden question she asked, quickly looked back at Octave, implying she take over from here. “Octavia? Would you like a cookie? They’re finished.” Octave greeted her granddaughter, as Octavia’s legs hastefully made their way into the kitchen from the aroma of the cookies still warm within the oven after they finished a little while back before they arrived home. Little Octavia then take a bite of a cookie quickly, as her granny then gives her a glass of milk to go with it to hopefully get rid of the question Octavia still had about her mother. “Gwanny?” “Yes dumpling?” “What was mommy doing?” Octavia asked, continuing to munch on the cookie in her grasp. Octave had no idea how to say it other than how it should be said straightforward. “Well uh…your mommy is not exactly feeling well, this is the worst I have seen her yet.” Octavia then stopped completely after she took another gulp of milk. “…what’s that mean?” “It means well…she’s…she’s starting to get sick. Or well she has been sick ever since you were just itty bitty dear.” Octave then turned around, her face facing away from Octavia’s. She looked out the kitchen window, as her eyes started to water. “I hope to Celestia she will be okay, I haven’t seen her this sick since she got that stomach bug when she was little…calm down Octave, your granddaughter is right here with you.” “What are you saying gwanny?” Octavia’s voice spoke up once again after overhearing what her grandmother said. “It’s nothing sweetie, how about you finish that cookie, and I’ll give you another one?” “Yes pwease!” “Good girl, good job for using your manners.” She brought up a faint smile across her face, as her mind went back on the thought of her daughter not feeling well. Octave then makes her way back to the kitchen table with a plate of cookies that were still warm in front of Octavia. Octavia’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, her happiness was all that helped her stay away from the negative thoughts she had in her mind, as she watched her sweet little granddaughter eating away on the plate. “Could you get up here dear?!” It was her husband’s voice, and it didn’t sound good. “I will be up there momentarily!” Octave, before just leaving her granddaughter told her to then stay where she was, and that she could help herself to all of the cookies on the plate…Octavia wasn’t going anywhere after she heard that. She made her way into the bedroom, and noticed that Melody in a matter of minutes looked out of shape. She could see her face turning pale. Was this unknown and incurable disease truly the ultimate of unknown and unpredictable forces to be reckoned with as they all figured? Atleast it wasn’t transferable or contagious, otherwise her entire family obviously would have already received it. “Mother I’m…I’m sorry…” Melody’s voice sounding like it was transitioning to another tone. “No my child, you just lay right there and take it easy okay?” “Yeah…ow!” “What now?” “My head…it’s-ow! It’s starting to hurt all of a sudden…again.” “It’s just symptom after symptom, even I didn’t expect this?” Golden Strings added. “Nopony in this family would’ve expected it…not even the doctors dear. The doctors don’t even know the time it takes for this…well… “thing” to take its victim. It is random I believe from what the doctor told me. It effect every single pony in a different way, no matter how fast or slow it may be.” Octave replied, looking back up to Golden Strings continuing to hold onto his wife’s hoof to help comfort her. “M-mother…I’m c-cold.” Melody said with a bit of shakiness of her voice. The mare’s shakiness coming from both feeling cold, and out of fear. “First was dizziness, then paleness, a headache, and now you’re shivering…my goodness…Celestia grant her the peace she needs, I beg of you.” Quaver gets down beside his beloved daughter and begins praying. He was scared for his daughter, but he wasn’t showing it to the others. His prayer however would be silently and rapidly granted…but not in the way they would wanted.” “I will get her a cold rag and a thermometer, Golden Strings darling…you get a few extra blankets for her.” Octave spoke up in the momentary silence, as she got up and made her way into the upstairs bathroom just across the hall. “Yes ma’am, on it.” he replied, making his way downstairs to a droar in the living room that contained what he was looking for fortunately. Octavia then caught glimpse of her daddy in the living room quickly grabbing a few extra covers for some reason. This sparked her curiosity and as many her age would be. She got off of the chair, and began walking upstairs up to where they all were. “Here you go Melody, some extra covers to help keep you warm.” Her husband spoke softly to her, as he put them over her shivering body. “Do you have any idea at all why all of this is happening so fast?” “N-no…t-the doctor s-said that he d-didn’t know exact-l-ly how I-it would happen w-within it’s-s final st-tage. I-I for a-all w-we know...I-I could q-quietl-ly d-die today.” She replied shaking in her voice, as tears began forming in her eyes. For some reason now, her gut was telling her she wouldn’t even be able to make it for her daughter’s fourth Christmas tomorrow. She felt tugs at herself…almost like somepony thought her time living, was up. The sickness seemed random and entirely unpredictable to the doctors. So one symptom wouldn’t happen to another victim, but yet they might die much faster with it, and so forth. “Shh, just calm down okay? You’ll be just fine. You’re…you’re not going to alright?” Her husband ran his hoof across her soft face. She had that amazing complexion, that wonderful natural beauty. It was like he was looking at a sick and dying angel. But angels this pretty don’t die…or do they? Octave then made her way back from the bathroom just across the hall with the stuff she needed. “Okay, here is your rag dear, just put it over your forehead like that. I also need you to op-” “M-mother, I know w-what to d-do.” Melody intervened, as she proceeds to open her mouth for the thermometer. “Okay, just let the thermometer do its magic and I’ll go downstairs and check on-” “Mommy?” Everypony in the room then froze; figuring those cookies to distract her granddaughter would’ve bought her out. “H-hey my little an-gel…w-want to be w-with mommy? S-she’s cold and s-she needs her little g-girl.” Octavia still curious as to what was going on made her way over to her mother’s bedside. “There you go squirt.” Said Quaver lifting Octavia onto the bed to be with her mom. “Thank you pawpaw.” “T-that’s my little Octy.” Melody spoke softly with a tranquil smile. “Awe you okay mommy?” “Let’s leave the two of them alone, okay?” said Octave, as she gestures for the two guys to follow her downstairs to get dinner underway. She closed the door behind them, as then nothing but golden silence filled the air, and pure love seemed to radiate out from Melody to her one and only daughter. “T-thank you for helping m-me get warm…these c-covers are doing the trick.” Said Melody softly, as her voice began to steadily returned to normal from sounding shaky due to her warming up now. “Awe you-” “Shhh, yes I-I’m okay Octavia. I’ll always be okay w-when you’re with me, don’t you ever forget that.” “But you wook sick…” Octavia’s face started to then look worried. “No…I’m not sick, don’t you l-let them tell you that. I’m just not feeling well is all, I won’t have to worry about this for much l-longer anyways.” Melody continuing to talk in the same tone of her voice, but tears began to reform once again silently in her eyes. “Mommy?” “Yes sweetie?” “Um…” Octavia then got as close as she could possibly get to her mother’s body, without being too close of course. “Do you want to snuggle with mommy?” her mother asked. Octavia nodded, and got next to her mother as Melody brought some of the blankets over that little gray ball of fur that was her body. “I wuv you mommy.” Octavia kissed her mother’s cheek. “Oh I certainly love you too my little angel.” “When you get better, what will happen?” “Well…I…I won’t be hurting anymore atleast.” Melody sniffed from her tears, as her emotions were fighting to show to her daughter just how she really felt. She continued to try and hold them back, and be as calm as she possibly could so she wouldn’t get Octavia stirred up along with it, but she just couldn’t seem to contain it. “What does that mean mommy?” Octavia asked curiously, as her head tilted a bit to the side. She laid her small head across her mother’s chest, awaiting another response. Her charcoal colored mane was seen covering up a portion of her face, shrouding one of her purple eyes as she stared right into her own mother’s transcendental eyes. “I’ll tell you later, just…just not now okay?” Over several hours had passed, and Octavia and Melody haven’t eaten since they have been together snuggling in the bed. Octavia was now just about to fall asleep next to her, as the sun was setting just now. Before those eyes sealed shut, she asked her mother some last questions. “What’s an angel mommy?” “An angel is somepony you know is with you. You can’t see them, but sometimes you just…know they are there with you.” “Are you an angel mommy?” This remark then brought Melody into tears once again for her daughter. She brought her in close to her, hugging her in her weak embrace. “Yes Octavia…I…I am…an angel. I always will be an angel for you as long as you live and want me to be for you.” “Can I be an angel wike you?” “You certainly can one day…maybe when you’re old like granny or even older.” “Mommy awe you cwying because you are hurting?” Octavia asked one last time. “No angel…it means I won’t be hurting for…well…much longer. I don’t…” Melody stopped herself, and smiled back to her daughter with the kindest smile you would ever see on a mare. Her ability to stay strong, even when she knew her time was running much shorter and faster than she had expected. She now knew that the disease had silently consumed her body, and instinctively knowing…her time might be up now. “Now I have one last question for you.” Melody softly poked Octavia cheek, her breath sounding softer…her breath even sounding like death was finally at hoof. “What is it?” “I think I need an angel to sleep with me tonight, are you that angel?” her silent crying subsiding to a calm but yet fading presence now, as her face began to appear that she had found a way to not hurt anymore. “Famiwy stick together, that’s what daddy says.” Octavia grinned back to her. “…and they stick together for all of eternity. I love you my dear…sweet Octavia…don’t you ever, ever forget that…okay?” “I won’t mommy, don’t wowwy.” However, Octavia’s instincts seemed to kick in, and that something didn’t seem right to herself now. She noticed how her mother was now staring up at the ceiling. “Mommy?” “I’ll…see…you…later…o…o…kay?” Melody’s voice then began to fade, as Octavia noticed her mother take in one big breath and exhaled. “My…an…gel…” her exhale then ended. Octavia then started to feel like she was hurting now. “Mommy? Awe you hurting again now?” There was no response, and all could be seen was her mother looking so content with nothing but a small and weak smile on her face. Her eyes in addition closed with the softest lashes a pony could ask for. “Mommy?!” Octavia then got up a little from her mother’s chest and started to shake her a bit. “Mommy?…Mommy?!” Octavia’s face started to then flood with tears. “MOMMY! MOMMYYY!!!” she kept on shaking her as she kept crying, still no response. “WAKE UP MOMMY! PWEASE?! I USING MY MANNERS WIKE DADDY SAYS!” Octavia then screamed out to her mother in a crying tone like nothing before, which caught the attention of the other three downstairs. “Octavia?!” her father’s voice could be heard, as he galloped up the stairs. “Octavia what’s…” he then collapsed to the floor to the sight of his daughter looking back at him with tears flooding and flowing down her face like two little rivers. “the…matter…” he ended off. Speechless and truly shocked and lost for words as he was, he could do nothing but keep looking at his poor daughter torn in half by what was happening to her at such a young age. “Golden Strings, is she oka-…oh my…” “MOMMY’S NOT WAKING UP GWANNY! HEWP ME WAKE MOMMY!” Octave was caught speechless, as then Quaver came up to the tragic site. “She’s not hurting anymore Octavia, you need to let her sleep okay?” her father cried awfully hard to her, taking in gasps of air every now and then. “BUT SHE’S WANTED TO SNUGGLE, DADDY!” Octavia continued to stay in her place right next to her mother like she never wanted to leave her side. “I STAY WITH HER FOWEVER! SHE SAY I’M HER ANGEL!” “Octa-…” Golden Strings then stopped himself making his way over to Melody’s bedside. His wife’s sweet face, that face so full of life, now gone and given to the ages. “M-m-my…Melody…my sweet…Melody. Please, surely this is a joke?!” he collapsed back onto the carpet floor next to her bedside. Gripping onto her hoof that felt cold now, and used to be such a warm feeling of love. He continued laying kisses along her hoof and her lower arm, praying in his mind as hard as he could for her to come back to him. “P-please…d-d-don’t…” he notices Quaver standing right next to him trying his best to be strong. But the tears now forming even in his eyes could be seen plain as day. “She’s gone! My gorgeous Melody is gone!” he cried loudly into Quavers shoulder. “I know, I know…she is not hurting anymore though, be thankful of that. Just because she is gone doesn’t mean she is gone forever. You could consider it rather for a “see you later” promise she has made to you.” “But she just-” “There-there Golden Strings, cry it out, cry it out with everything you got, you need to do this.” Quaver patted him on the back, treating him like the son he never had. “My prayer had been heard…I knew she would not be hurting for much longer.” Quaver thought to himself in his mind. Octave crying hard herself noticed, that her very own husband was not crying nowhere near as bad as the rest of them were. “How on earth are you not-” “Because I already know I will see my daughter soon, I am willing to wait as long as it takes for that priceless reward. Once that day comes for me to depart from this land, it will be the happiest feeling you could ask for. Just imagine, meeting your loved ones again, and even in a place infinitely better than this place is down here? It is a feeling I cannot wait to experience.” He replied. “I…I under…stand dear.” Octave almost lost for words, but she knew what he meant by those few memorable sentences. With Golden Strings hearing this, he then broke his father-in-laws caring embrace, and snatched up Octavia in as much of a loving hug as he could possibly give her. “MOMMYYYYYY!!!!!” “Shhh-sh-sh-sh…I know Octavia I know. She didn’t die though, okay?” Octavia kept crying pretty hard, her voice muffled in her father’s chest. “BUT SHE’S-” “Shhh…no she’s not…did you hear what pawpaw said?” Octavia then sniffles a few times, “No!” “You’ll get to see her again one day dear…doesn’t that sound lovely?” with her father saying such a sudden thing to her at her age, she still sort of didn’t understand it. “Mommy’s *sniff*…not gone? *sniff*” “Pawpaw's going to get to see her again…and I am too. Mommy doesn’t want you to be sad my little angel, she wants you to keep being who you are. Keep being the same little Octavia you have always been. You know, I bet if you try hard enough, you can even fe-” The bedroom window shooting open, as a sudden blast of wind that transcended into a steady breeze came into the room around them then stopped him. “What in Equestria is…” Quaver then noticed something. “It’s…warm? How in the name of Celestia is it warm? I…I feel…happy?” Octave added, as she looked around the room then back to the window. It was the strangest thing that has ever happened to that family, a warm breeze coming from outside that was very cold? “It…it doesn’t feel like a normal breeze. It feels…kind…tranquil…I feel a feeling of… love.” Quaver’s eyes then got big; realizing something like this had a crazy explanation. “Mommy?” Octavia looked around confused. “Octavia…” she heard the voice call out to her. “What are you talking about deary?” Octave stepped closer to her granddaughter, figuring her granddaughter seemed delusional. “I love you so much.” The voice faded in and out to her saying. “Mommy!” Octavia’s voice shouted out, a grin showed up on her face. “W-what?” Golden Strings stood there, looking at Octavia like she had lost it. She was acting strange, like she was in some other world of her own or something. “Octavia? Are you okay?” Golden Strings called out to her, but she ignored him like he wasn’t even there. “Daddy asked you a question sweetie…” Quaver added in, but still no response back to either one of them. “This breeze…was that window shut Octave?” he looked back to her. “Yes, of course it was, it always is for winter, you know that.” she replied. Meanwhile with them talking briefly back to one another, trying to still understand why a locked window keeping cold air out, shot into the room like a warm gust of wind from a summer storm, Octavia was apparently in some kind of trance just then, like she was in another world. “Mommy! You’re better!” she jumped up and down to the sight of her mother seeming to be surrounded in a veil of light. She then ran to her mother and gave her a great big hug on one of her legs. “Yes…mommy is much better…I will be with you everywhere you go.” Her mother hugged her back. The angelic presence then brought her face down next to hers, as she placed a truly heavenly kiss upon her cheek. It had felt so delightful to Octavia, and even felt flawless. Like nothing but pure love, happiness, and warmth rushed to her little heart from the kissed area of her cheek. “What’s that mean?” she asked her angel of a mother. “I love you Octavia…I can’t wait…to see you again one day.” Octavia was frozen in place; she had never seen her mother look so beautiful before. Bands and rays of light surrounded her; she was clothed in pure white, as it shined like the sun, and lined with gold along the edges of the thin white clothing around her like a toga. “Can I come with you mommy?!” she shouted back to her as she saw her mother leaving out of sight from her. Melody’s apparent angelic presence did not respond, as Melody spoke her final fading words before she left. “I love you…my little angel.” her mother’s voice then faded out. The area around Octavia then seemed to snap back to reality, as she kept hearing muffled noises around her. “Octavia please answer daddy! Darn it Celestia, I can’t lose her too!” She could hear her father shout, as he kept lightly shaking her. Octavia’s eyes seemed to just then, revert right back to normal. Her sudden breathes of air coming back to life in and out of her chest. “Oh thank Celestia you’re okay!” her father hugged her tightly. “Mommy said she’s better daddy!” “Huh? What…what are you talking about?” “I got to see mommy again! She say she will be with me evewywhere!” she smiled. “My goodness…is…are you sure you’re just not dreaming dear?” “I got to hug her too! She still wuvs me, but I can’t go with mommy.” Octavia then looked off. “Wh-what? What are you saying?” “Mommy’s an angel! Just wike she pwomised! Octavia then wiggled out of his embrace, and shortly ran over to her granny. “Mommy says I am her wittle angel!” she spoke happily to her. “By Celestia…her mother was here with us after all…” Quaver realizes what that sudden breeze was all about, and just exactly what it really was all along. The remainder of the day was mourned, as Melody’s body was sent straight to the deceased area of the funeral home to be taken care of. Golden Strings and Octave went to the funeral home's office to deal with all of the proper preparations needed for the funeral. As for Quaver, he stayed back at the house with little Octavia, telling her the many stories of his life, even a similar experience with his own grandmother when he was about five. “Pawpaw…will mommy visit?” she looked up at him, as they sat in front of the fireplace together. “Mommy will not be visiting, no…but she’s with you right now…can’t you feel her in your heart?” Octavia blinked a couple of times, not understanding the idea of removing one’s self from the equation obviously, along with metaphors. “Mommy’s in here?” she places that that little gray hoof of hers over Pawpaw’s chest where his heart was. “Of course…but don’t worry, she will be fine in there. She wants to be with you in your heart. She will even be standing right next to you if you just believe and have faith that she is.” “How do I do that pawpaw?” she asked curiously again. “Well…it goes a little like this...” Meanwhile at the funeral home… “Okay, the funeral arrangements have been made, and we will see you and your loved ones in a couple of days okay? You both have a pleasant day.” “Thank you sir…we are certainly trying.” “Absolutely Mr. Golden Strings…farewell for now.” The stallion then closes and locks the door to the building, as Golden Strings and his mother-in-law make their way back home in the cold. “You have my word Mrs. Octave…she would be delighted if she could see this.” he said. “She will be seeing it dear…she will be.” Octave gave a soft smile of sincerity back to him, as she looked back up to the sky. Knowing that her daughter was looking back down upon them. She had no more pain, no more crying, no more sickness, for the mortal things...have passed away. Through the events of this story, we conclude that you should NEVER under any circumstances take life for granted. It is a gift, and not a given right, love everyone as you would yourself. Live every day like it would be your last, because you never know when your time on earth is up, nobody does…nobody ever will. It is always a comforting thought to think you will get to see your loved ones eventually, it’s a warming thought indeed. I will be honest here: I do not apply what I just told you in this story to myself, even though I certainly should be. It however has actually self-taught me some things about just how valuable your life and my life as well, really is. Let everyone you care about know this truth on life as well. I hope you enjoyed this story I have worked on here.