//------------------------------// // New Burdens // Story: The Fears of Yesterday // by SolidFire //------------------------------// New Burdens Steel had woken up at around ten that night, and immediately he attempted to get out of the house. It was fortunate that Spitfire had entered the room with food when she did. As she opened the door, Steel was in the process of unlocking the window and pushing it open. He wasn't strong enough to break through cloud walls yet, so if he was going to escape it was either the window or the front porch. As he was about to jump out the now open window to go find his father, Spitfire grabbed his tail in her teeth and yanked him back in. "What are you doing?! You would have died if you did that!" Spitfire was now incredibly worried. There was no way a colt that young would have had that intention. "Daddy says you're bad ponies. I won't live with bad ponies!" Spitfire sighed. She liked Steel better when he was too tired to fight. She couldn't tell him the truth about Jade, it would just make Steel hate them more. "Steel, I know this situation isn't ideal, but we're taking care of you now. Your sister wants to have a relationship with you and-" "Spitfire, how about you let me handle this?" Lightning stepped in the room. "I know you're a far more experienced parent than I am, but he's not going to understand this if you explain it to him." As miffed as Spitfire was, she knew Lightning was right, and he always did have a way of being a role model for foals. "I'll keep some dinner warm for you." "It sounds like you have a window to remove first." "Rainbow can deal with that." Spitfire gestured towards Steel and walked out of the room. It wasn't long before Rainbow was removing the window and filling the hole with clouds. Lightning sat down next to Steel. The young colt was curled up in the corner of the room. Tears were streaming down his face. "Hey bud. What's wrong?" Lightning knew what was wrong of course, but he had to start somewhere. "I want my daddy back. I don't want to live with the bad ponies, I want my daddy." Lightning smiled softly. "They aren't bad ponies Steel. Your dad just didn't like their choice to get married." "He told me it makes them bad ponies." "Just because he said it doesn't make him right." He knew those weren't the wisest words he could have used, but it was better than saying that Jade was a bigot. Steel looked up. "But Daddy's always right." Lightning put a comforting wing around him. "Nopony's always right. Look, Spitfire made you food. That was nice of her wasn't it?" Steel smiled, but it faded quickly. "They took Mommy and Daddy away from me." Lightning wasn't sure how to respond to that. He knew that the Dash family had done nothing wrong, but to a six year old foal it sure would look like they did. A week after his mother went to live with them she had been killed, and his father died earlier that day after going into their home. "I know it looks like that, but they really are nice mares. I know it's hard to understand now, but you can trust them." Steel was hesitant. He didn't know anything about anypony here, but the stallion in front of him seemed sincere. "I still want my daddy." Lightning sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get much more out of the colt for now. He pushed the plate to Steel. "Eat up bud, it's been a long day for you. If you want to talk, I'll be here for a week, so you can come get me anytime you like." Steel nodded as he took a tentative bite of the food in front of him. It wasn't long before he gave into his hunger and assaulted the plate of food. Lightning chuckled and left the room. It was then that he realized just how hungry he was. While Steel was asleep, Lightning had asked his parents if he could stay with the Dash family for a while. After hearing the story they reluctantly agreed to let him stay for a week. He saw a plate of hot, cheesy potatoes waiting for him. Simple, but oh so beautiful on the tastebuds. "Well, looks like the guest room is taken. You can stay in Scoot’s room while you're here." Lightning almost spewed a mouthful of cheesy potatoes at that statement from Spitfire. Not from fear, but out of complete surprise that she would be alright with that. "Are-are you sure?" Lightning asked. "I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable." "Rainbow and I will be perfectly comfortable, just so long as you sleep on the floor." Her face turned hard. "But so help me kid, if you even CONSIDER sharing a bed with Scootaloo, I will know. Remember the soup." Lightning swallowed. "Y-yes Mom." "Good. Now enjoy the rest of your dinner." Lightning wolfed down his food and headed to Scootaloo's room. Lightning checked on Steel one more time before going to Scootaloo's room. Steel was asleep on the floor, his face covered in cheesy potato refuse. He seemed to be using the plate as a pillow of sorts. Spitfire pushed by Lightning while he was trying to get his suppressed laughter under control. She cleaned him up and laid him down in bed. A warm smile spread across her face as she pulled a blanket over him. When she turned around Lightning had already left. Lightning noticed the door to Scootaloo's room was still open. He also noticed that she had apparently passed out in an awkward position on the floor. Her hind hooves were still planted on the floor, while her forelegs were almost touching them. Her chin also rested on the floor, and thus her hindquarters were pointed high in the air. Lightning averted his eyes from the sight of his marefriend's rear. Spitfire poked her head in the door. "Good choice." "How do you do that?" "If you ever become a mom someday then you'll find out." "I kinda have the wrong set of tools for that." "I could change that for you." Lightning swallowed. There was nothing else for him to say. Spitfire walked away. Lightning turned back around and lifted Scootaloo onto his back. He set her down on her bed and pulled the blanket over her. It wasn't until he curled up on the floor next to her that he realized how tired he himself was. It wasn't long before Lightning fell into a deep sleep. Rainbow was still awake when Spitfire finally crawled into bed. "Long day?" Rainbow jokingly asked. "I think we both know the answer to that," Spitfire chuckled. "Amazing how we can still smile at the moment." Rainbow cuddled up to her wife. "I guess family will do that to you." Spitfire kissed her wife. "Uggh. I need sleep." "Aww, I was hoping to get 'burned' tonight." "Rainbow, if I had the energy to hit you right now you would have regretted saying that." "More than likely. I still would have said it." Spitfire chuckled at Rainbow's comment. "I know you would have." Spitfire turned out the light on the nightstand next to her and quickly fell asleep in her wife's embrace. Scootaloo was incredibly confused when she woke. It was four in the morning according to her clock and for the life of her she couldn't remember putting on her blanket or getting into her bed. In fact, she didn't remember anything after she opened her bedroom door. She looked around the room and saw the answer to her questions. Lightning was curled up next to her bed, sound asleep. Scootaloo removed the blanket from her bed and crawled to the floor next to him. He had been shivering in his sleep, and she wouldn't mind his company for the rest of the night. She draped the blanket over her and her coltfriend and quickly fell asleep.