//------------------------------// // Galaxy // Story: Interstella // by Rust //------------------------------// G A L A X Y "... And those lava pits were the coolest things ever! They were everywhere, too! I had to grind across the rocky ledges so I wouldn't fall in. I looked down into one and I was all like whoooaaaaa that's a long way down and there's fire and stuff in there too! Did'ya see me, momma? Huh? Did'ya?" Stella shivers, rocking slowly back and forth as she leans against a tree in the park. A thin film of sweat is drying off in the noonday sun, and each breath is quick and shallow. It happened again. Surely not as bad as the first episode... but enough to jolt her right out of the sim. Enough to knock her down into a seizure right there on the projection pad. Stella thanks Faust that her daughter was still rigged into the virtual world, that she hadn't noticed her own mother convulsing on the ground next to her. But... wasn't she on medication? "Oh, I remember now, you didn't, 'cuz you fell into one. Like, three times." Galaxy giggled. "And then you went straight into the wall at that one turn! I think the sim actually glitched a little you hit it so hard. Hehehe... You look a little sick, there, momma. You alright? Ooop!" The little filly is swept up into a crushing embrace, all the air swept out of her lungs with an adorable squeaky noise. Sometimes she forgets how strong her mother is, being a nocturni. "Ghaaack! Mom... c-can't, breathe!" Stella fixes her with a stern glare even as she suffocates her daughter with love. "Your mother thinks you shouldn't be playing those horrible, awful, nasty sims anymore." She squeezes even harder, finding comfort in the fruity scent and warm, wriggling body. "Ghhkt! J-just... sayin'... that... cuz... I beat y-you..." Stella sighs. "It was my first time!" She relaxes her death grip. "Nooooob." Galaxy breaks into peals of laughter as her mother ruthlessly pins her down and tickles her. "Aauuughhhhaahahaa!" She squirms and wrestles away, before launching a retaliatory pounce with all her might. Down they go! For Stella, the stress of the incident melts away in bliss. Squealing, the two mares tumble across the sunlit park in a ball of feathers and fur. The sun is setting. Stella plods wearily down the sidewalk, but there is a small, melancholy smile on her face. Galaxy perches between her shoulders, tiny pink wings outstretched to catch the evening breeze. The little filly nurses a comically oversize ice-cream cone between her grass-stained hooves. "Momma?" Galaxy manages to speak between licks. "How come you've been home so much? You have a job and stuff." She has enough tact to notice that her mother's fluffy ears suddenly wilt. "I don't not like it! Please don't be sad." Exhausted more than she should be, Stella slowly shifts over to the edge of the sidewalk, where small but steady stream of pedestrians won't have to edge around her. She sighs. "Mommy sold her store." "What!?" Galaxy sits bolt upright, almost dropping her ice cream. "But you've got the bestest telescopes in Equestria! I thought everypony loved your shop. Those really smarty-smart-smart College ponies always buy fancy things from you!" "No, honey," Stella gently soothes her. "I didn't go out of business. I sold off the store and all the wares to your great uncle Starbuck. Remember him?" Galaxy frowns, her muzzle scrunching up in effort. "The big scary bat pony from the reunion last year? From the Knight Guard?" "Mmhm! That's him. You have such good memory." "He talked funny." Galaxy scowls. "Why, though? Momma, you loved that store." That she did. Stella and Blue had built the place with their own hooves. A lot of memories lived atop the glass counter in the back. She couldn't count how many initiates to the Everfree College she had sold her telescopes and lenses to. Stella has to resist the urge not to sniffle as she wipes at her eyes for a second. "M-mommy... yes, mommy loves that store very much. But I also love you very much." Stella lifts one of her leathery wings and strokes her daughter's mane. The tiny filly gazes back at her with a surprisingly serious expression. "And, recently, I had to chose between the two. Does mommy work, or does mommy spend time with her little star?" Galaxy's expression softens. "You chose me," she realizes. "It wasn't even close." Stella gives her a gentle peck on the forehead. "I just don't want you to be sads." Galaxy stares at the ice cream cone clenched between her hooves. "Being sads is bads." She offers her mother the ice cream. Stella takes a generous lick. Hmmm. Blueberry... "Are you and daddy getting a divorce?" The question is so sudden that Stella actually stumbles off the sidewalk, nearly falling completely over. She catches herself at the last second, her reflexively-opened wings the only thing that stops Galaxy from toppling off her perch. She looks at her daughter with wide eyes, gobsmacked. "Your father and I love each other very much! Why in the world could you think that little star?" "I hear daddy crying sometimes when you aren't around. Are adults allowed to cry?" Galaxy mumbles sheepishly. "It makes me feel funny because it must be very serious if adults cry, and my friend from school told me when parents get a divorce they sometimes cry." "..." Stella simply stares. "Momma?" Galaxy chirps. "What's a divorce? If we get one I promise I'll take it for walks every day and feed it and clean up its nasty doo-doo so it doesn't make you cry." "..." Wordlessly, she steps back onto the sidewalk and kicks into a canter. She makes it about a block before she can't hold in the snickering any longer. "Mommaaaaa!" "Heeheeheehee - snerk - heeheehee!" "Dooooon't! This is sewious business!" "Bwaaa-hahahahaaa!" The laughter is real, but so are the tears.