Chapter 13
When our time is up,
When our lives are done,
Will we say, we've had our fun?
The night sky above was cold and unforgiving.
With no princess to guide the stars, they sat in their heavenly observatory and cared not for the whims of the souls which dwelt beneath.
It was chilly in Cloudsdale, but anything but peaceful. From a large detached cloud mansion the sounds of raised voices could be heard, and the occasional sound of breaking glass and ceramic.
Will we make a mark this time?
Will we always say we tried?
”You what!?”
A deep masculine voice, proud and scorning lashed at the sky above.
“I got kicked out! So what?” A smaller, higher voice, filled with with the kind of anguish only a child could know squealed its own protest.
“I was never going to be good enough for you whether I got through the academy or not! What difference does it make?”
“What difference? What difference!?” More roaring, more smashing.
“You would have one of our family, a Dashington, be known to have not only failed the academy, but been thrown out!?”
“You don’t give a damn about family, all you care about is the name! Your name and reputation. Don’t talk to me about family!” The fires of a young heart, the tears of a torn soul ripped forth.
“You’re damn right you ungrateful brat! That name means everything! Everything!”
A shape skips through the night sky.
A smack rings out. A heavy, wet sound.
The stars look on.
Someone screams.
We're standing on the rooftops,
Everybody scream your heart out!
Standing on the rooftops,
Everybody scream your heart out!
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From the stage, Cuffbert Linksforth Dashton spread his wings, pouring his voice, his feeling, his regrets into the microphone before him. Nothing he could ever do would make up for that night, for failing his little sister, for cowering in the room above while their father reigned terror down. Nothing would gain back a single minute of the ten years they had spent apart when their father had fled his shame, the stain on his honour, his own daughter. But Links would be damned if he lost another second. It was time, for them to be part of a family together. A real family, a true family, even if it was just the two of them.
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All the love I've met,
I have no regrets,
If it all ends now, I'm set,
It had taken a full three months for for the multi-hued filly to recover. Almost every bone in her left wing had been shattered by the fall, and her back legs had been dislocated and bent into unnatural angles.
It was pure luck she was alive at all, her injuries caused by impacting into an airship making deliveries, if it hadn’t been passing it was a one way ticket to the cold earth below.
Will we make a mark this time?
Will we always say we tried?
The broken little creature hadn’t said a single word since she arrived in the hospital complex. Her family had been contacted, and an adult had come and signed some papers but nothing more had been seen of them. He hadn’t even come to look at her. The doctors whispered, when they thought she couldn’t hear. The family was gone, moved away to a far off city. They had left assurances that they would return for the child, but none of the nurses and doctors actually believed it. Quietly, they were making arrangements for her long term care.
On the eve marking the start of the fourth month of her stay, a little yellow bundle of worry came bounding into the stark white room, breaking in on the empty dejection of its very alone occupant.
The yellow bundle pleaded, worried and wept for its dear friend. What had happened to the brave heart in her breast? Would that strong body ever be the same? Would she ever smile again?
We're standing on the rooftops,
Everybody scream your heart out!
Standing on the rooftops,
Everybody scream your heart out!
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It would take a long time, and much kindness to heal the deadened heart, much more so than the shattered body, but the broken little creature would laugh again, play again and love again.
It would grow into a fine, sleek animal with many awards and accolades of its own, and many which it could call friend.
It looked up now, at the beast bearing its soul to the crowd before it from the dazzling stage.
Now, it had regained something else it had lost that day all those years ago, a brother, and a family.
Standing on the rooftops,
Wait until the bombs drop,
This is all we got now,
Scream until your heart stops,
Never gonna regret,
Watching every sunset,
We'll, listen to your heartbeat,
All the love that we found,
The party was at a standstill. Everypony present knew they were being witness to a Moment, one of those points in time where something momentous is happening. Even if they weren't directly involved, the raw and pure feelings on display reached everypony present. From paupers to princesses none that night left without touching some deep part of the soul.
Two princesses in particular dwelt on their own separation, and how a long and painful departure from one another can cause much bitterness and pain, but also how a beautiful reunion could go a long way to healing even a millennium of wrongs.
Scream your heart out!
Scream your heart out!
Scream your heart out!
Scream your,
Standing on the rooftops,
Everybody scream your heart out!
Standing on the rooftops,
Everybody scream your heart out!
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