The suddenly bleak atmosphere of the house did not improve once the doctor was there. Outside, it was already dark so Quillflower lay in bed under the house’s pale yellow lighting. The way she looked that moment reminded Carbon Skies of how she appeared the morning after Rosy Bliss was born. All the while, Clean Sweep carefully tended to her in any way she could as the doctor went on with his procedures to examine Quillflower’s temperature, heart rate and breathing. After checking on Quillflower’s condition, the doctor sat beside her silently for a moment, looking towards the floor with a furrowed brow. Then, he approached Carbon Skies without directly looking at him until he was close enough to whisper, ‘I wish to speak to you outside for a moment.’
They both went to the large living room where Carbon Skies had a good look at himself in the mirror the morning he saw Rosy Bliss for the first time. This time, there was nothing lighting up the room in any way; it was early nightfall now and there hadn’t been a single light switched on. The doctor entered, he switched on a lamp that sat on a small table beside a velvety chair near the fireplace and proposed that Carbon Skies may have wished to take a seat. Carbon Skies declined and his whole body involuntarily turned rigid. It filled him with dread as he had a clear idea of what the doctor was going to tell him.
‘Please, just go ahead and tell me how bad it is.’ Carbon Skies pleaded while trying to sound as dignified as he could given the situation.
After Carbon Skies spoke, there was a brief pause before the doctor sighed, ‘She isn’t holding up well at all. To be honest, I think she has only been slightly worse off than if she hadn’t fallen ill at such a late stage in her pregnancy.’
‘What do you mean?’
The doctor looked to one side, rubbing his chin as if to take a moment to pick out his thoughts, ‘Bearing a foal can take a lot out of a mare. It’s not uncommon to one to become incredibly weakened or ill afterwards. I must admit, from how I remember seeing her last time, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened to her sooner.’
It was becoming increasingly difficult for the doctor to look at Carbon Skies in the eye who was trying to hold back his tears. He had seen it before, not often but enough times to know when it was happening.
Quietly, Carbon Skies asked the doctor, ‘How much longer does she have?’
‘Not much,’ the he replied softly. He knew no matter how he answered, pain would be felt from it. ‘I can stay here for as long as I may be needed if you like. In the mean time, it’s best that you spend these last moments with your wife however you can…’
A few tears trickled down the side of Carbon Skies face. He wiped across both his eyes and then simply nodded. As he turned back towards the bedroom, he gestured to the doctor to come with him.
A little while after Carbon Skies came back into the bedroom, Quillflower had woken up. She appeared incredibly weary and seemed to struggle to even keep her eyes open but once she saw Carbon Skies beside her with his hoof onto hers, she wanted to try and stay awake for as long as possible.
Suddenly, she appeared anxious and turned her head about to see as much of the room as possible. She turned back to Carbon Skies and muttered, ‘Where is Bliss? Is she alright?’
‘She’s fine, Flower,’ Carbon Skies assured her, pointing towards the cot ‘She’s right here.’ Quillflower made a long, drawn out sigh of relief and lay her head back until she was facing the ceiling. The room fell into complete silence for several minutes before Carbon Skies decided to speak. ‘Flower,’ he said, ‘If… if there is anything I can do for you right now… please… just, let me know.’ Quillflower continued to lay as she did for a little while longer; she slowly closed her eyes during that time. Her husband could see however, from the look on her face, that she hadn’t fallen to sleep but was actually deep in thought. A few more minutes must have passed before Quillflower quickly opened her eyes again. She turned her head to face Carbon Skies. Her voice was incredibly faint.
‘A story…’ Carbon Skies couldn’t hear it at all. He leaned closely towards Quillflower and waited for her to answer again, ‘Could… could you… read… a story? For me?’
Carbon Skies remained intimately close to Quillflower and whispered to her during this moment. ‘You want me to read a story?’ Quillflower slowly nodded. ‘Of course, Flower! Which one would you like?’
‘You choose…’ She said wearily, ‘I want you… to choose…’
Carbon Skies felt puzzled and stammered a little in response to the suggestion, ‘Oh, I don’t know how I could choose one… Surely, you know which story you would like best.’
Quillflower simply smiled, ‘Read me your favourite.’
Carbon Skies leaned away from Quillflower, setting himself upright at the bed’s side and put one hoof to his mouth, remaining motionless while in thought. Then he looked back to Quillflower and softly said, ‘Then I think I know just the story to choose.’
The other Ponies in the room expressed some confusion when Carbon Skies left only to return with what wasn’t a book but instead a large, pile of worn papers. However, Quillflower instantly recognised what her husband had brought in. It was none other than one of her own manuscripts.
Quillflower’s face was adorned with genuine surprise. ‘B-but dear… th-that one i-i-isn’t… even finished…’ she stammered.
Carbon Skies smiled at her, ‘I know. But that doesn’t matter. Because no matter what ending you could have chosen, it doesn’t change what I love it for…’
Quillflower smiled back. ‘And what is that?’
‘You once told me that what you loved about reading and writing, more than anything else, was how it could bring anyone to strange and wonderful places and show how such places can exist in a world that seems to have lost its colours. You told me how you wanted to become a part of something so magnificent and show the brilliance of the world to others. I did not lack faith in you as I was already captivated with you when we first met, but when you shared with me your dreams through this manuscript, it was then I truly fell into complete adoration…’
Carbon Skies trailed off for a moment, he choked a little trying to hold back his tears.
‘…And I hoped, when we started a family together, that I could have taken you around the world to find those wonderful places that we spoke of ever since.’
The corner of his eyes had reddened as tears streamed down his face and his breath seemed to shudder. However, Quillflower simply smiled back at him, her cheeks also marked with tears.
‘Then lets all go now…’ Quillflower looked to Clean Sweep and waved her forehooves to make a gesture beckoning her, ‘Bring Bliss over here and we can go through this story, and see the world, together.’
Carbon Skies moved to set a chair beside the bed where he could sit while Clean Sweep picked Rosy Bliss up from her cot and handed her to Quillflower. Despite the evident distress that she had been going through earlier that day, the little foal was now fast asleep. The three of them were close together as they were enveloped in the bedside lamp’s glow, which was now the only light source in the room. Even before Beckon Call silently suggested to Clean Sweep and the doctor that they should give the family their privacy, Carbon Skies was able to begin the story as though he, Quillflower and their beautiful little Rose were the only ones in the world at that very moment…
Rosy Bliss was little over a year old when her mother had passed away.