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// A Cold, A Punishment and a Mark 
// Story: Instant Mom 
// by SeasonTheWiccan 
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The good news for Cue was that she got off of school for a few days with a REALLY bad cold, the bad news for her is that her grounding started immediately after she was better.The upside to being sick was that she got some one on one time with her Mom when she got home from work. Fluttershy watched over her when her mother was out, who also helped Cumulus start on a song for the Talent Show. Cue told Rainbow about the show, but wanted to keep the song she was singing a secret because it was inpired by Rainbow herself.

"Now, what should we put for the chorus?" asked Fluttershy.

"Umm...I don't know, I'm sure I'll figure something out."

She then heard the door open and close, "That's Mom!"

"Quick, give me the song!" Fluttershy exclaimed quietly.

Cue quickly handed her the song and she tucked it under the mattress. She gave Cue a reassuring nuzzle as Rainbow came in, "How's our little patient?" she asked.

"Oh, just fine...I think she'll be better by tomorrow," said Fluttershy.

"Good, because then your punishment starts for flying unsupervised."

Cumulus groaned, but understood her mother's reason.

Fluttershy kissed Cue's forehead, "Get well soon Cumulus."

"I will."

She smiled sweetly and walked out of the room and closed the door lightly. Rainbow crossed over to Cue, "Feeling any better?"

"A little."

Rainbow sat on the edge of her bed, "I know you think that me grounding you is unfair but..."

"Mom, you don't have to..."

"Just hear me out," Rainbow said as she took her daughter's hoof. "The reason I'm doing this is because I love you."

Rainbow nuzzled her as she continued, "If something happened to you...I...I don't know what I'd do."

Cumulus now felt a pang of guilt for saying, 'I hate you.' She didn't actually mean it, she was just angry that her mother was babying her so much. Now, she understood why.

"Mom...I don't hate you."

"I know, we both said things that we regret."

Cue then smiled and let out a sneeze that made her head hurt.

"I'll get your medicine."

Cue opened her mouth and let her tongue roll out with a, "Blech!"

Rainbow had to laugh, "Well, I didn't like it either when I was your age and sick. But, you brought this on yourself you know."

Cue sniffled, "I know."

Rainbow left the room, went to the bathroom and got the cold medicine called, Foal's Neigh Quill. She then went to the kitchen and got a spoon then flew back to Cue's room. 

As soon as Cue heard her coming, she hid under the covers. 'Note to self, hide the medicine,' she thought to herself.

"Cumulus? Where are you?" Rainbow asked playfully. "Now, where did she go? Did she disappear? Did she turn invisible?"

Cue giggled, which told Rainbow where she was. She made a coy smile as she came closer to the bed. "I think I know where my Little Cue is!"

Rainbow then heard another giggle before putting the bottle and spoon down on the nightstand and throwing off the covers to reveal Cumulus. "There she is!" Rainbow exclaimed.

She then began tickling Cue on the stomach, "I'll teach you to hide from me!" Rainbow exclaimed playfully as Cue was a giggling mess!

"Mom! Haha! Please! Ha! Uncle! UNCLE!!"

Her mother stopped and got the bottle and spoon. She unscrewed the bottle and poured the liquid into the spoon as the smell lingered to Cue's nostrils.

"Open..." said Rainbow. Cumulus pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Cumulus..." her mother said in a warning tone.

Cue squeezed her eyes shut and opened her mouth, Rainbow then shoved the spoon in her mouth. As soon as Cue swallowed and the spoon was out of her mouth, she let out an, "Ugh! Gross!"

"I'll get you some water."

While she was gone, Cue was trying everything to get that taste out of her mouth. Rainbow was soon back and handed her the glass, "Here ya go."

Cue drank it quickly and the taste was gone.

"Better?"

Cue nodded.

She was back to health the next day and her punishment began. Dandelion and Autumn Leaves decided to stop crusading until Cue was allowed to come back. But it was during Cue's grounding that she earned her cutie mark.

She had been so bored during her grounding after her homework was done, she began taking tufts of cloud from the walls in her bedroom and sculpting them into items in her room. She did this by feeling the object first, feeling every contour, every edge and every line then memorizing it. Every night she went to sleep in her bed while she was in the middle of sculpting something. When Rainbow came in to check on her, she saw Cue curled up in a ball; surrounded by her sculptures on her bed and on the floor. At first, Rainbow thought nothing of it and gathered the sculptures and put them into the hole in the wall. But as the week went on, she noticed more and more of them. She simply put the clouds back into the wall, but she knew that her Little Cue was about to earn her cutie mark soon.

On the last morning of Cue's grounding - it happened.

Cumulus was eating her breakfast, which was a bowl of oatmeal when Rainbow spoke, "Cumulus?"

"Hm?"

"I wanna talk to you about those sculptures you've been making."

She abruptly dropped her spoon, "I'm sorry Mom! I-I didn't mean to take clouds out of the walls, it's just..."

"Whoa Cue! Take it easy! You're not in trouble, I'm just wondering how you did it."

"Oh...I...I just felt the things I sculpted and I memorized the shape I felt."

"Really? How long have you been doing this?"

"I guess I started when my grounding began, there were times when I didn't have anything to do...so...I just started doing it. And, I...just now realized something..."

"What?"

"Not only do I enjoy doing it - but I'm good at it, right?"

"Yeah, you're good at it! I honestly thought you had some sort of spell to give you your sight temporarily; but you got past your blindness for you to understand that you see the world differently."

"I do, don't I? I see through sound, and feel...like you said."

Rainbow then gasped and Cumulus jumped, "Cue! Your cutie mark!"

"Seriously?!" she jumped excitedly.

"I'm serious! It's a cloud with a star in the middle of it and four other stars surrounding it."

"What color are the stars?"

"Your favorite color, blue!"

Cue jumped excitedly in a circle around her mother. That was Cue's highlight of the day as it was for Rainbow Dash, happy tears spilled out of her eyes as she realized, 'My Little Cue is growing up.'