She always thought of it to be inevitable, but she never before thought to leave like this…
Late one evening, Rosy Bliss stood at the door to her father’s bedroom for a long minute. She looked to her hooves and took a deep breath before knocking.
‘Is it you, Rose?’ Carbon Skies called out from the other side.
‘Yes father.’
‘Do come in, dear.’
The room was dark, save for the bedside lighting. Carbon Skies was in his bed, having propped himself up against the bedhead. He smiled at Bliss and gestured for her to sit on the chair set up beside his bed.
‘You wanted to speak with me?’
‘Yes. There has been something on my mind this past month or so. I think it’s finally time I let it be known to you. It is important that you hear this sooner rather than later’
Rosy Bliss laid a hoof on her father’s, ‘What is it father?’
‘You don’t need to be here anymore.’
A grim silence hung in the air. Bliss sat still like a statue, with a stunned look in her eyes. Finally, she murmured ‘P-p…pardon?’
Carbon Skies lay back slightly more, his expression never appearing completely severe, yet everything was stated as a matter of fact.
‘There is no use in denying it, my dear Rose. When I am gone, there will be nothing else for you here. You want to have nothing to do with the mill, I understand that and I don’t want to be holding you back. This city is not the place for a Pony with dreams such as yours. You need to go and find your own place, where you can make you realise those dreams. I am telling you this right now because I know that it is not right for you to be holding yourself back while we wait for what is inevitable.’
Bliss did not like to hear this but she knew everything Carbon Skies was telling her to be true. Her eyes began to well up.
‘I have spoken to everyone else. Beckon Call and Clean Sweep have agreed to help pack your things as soon as you wish. Spokes is also ready and willing to take you to the station once you have everything together.’
Bliss was in tears at this point. ‘But father, I can’t just leave you like this! Is this really what you want me to do for you?’ she cried.
‘My Rose, please… I’m not asking you to do this for me… I’m asking you to do this for yourself.’
Bliss lowered her head in contemplation for a long while, never letting go of her father’s hoof. They both remained silent the entire time. Finally, Bliss lifted her head back up, eyes still reddened and cheeks streaked with tears, ‘Very well. I understand…’ she tried to muster enough strength to smile, ‘but isn’t there at least one more thing we could do together?’
‘I could do with one more adventure…’ Carbon Skies simply smiled at Bliss, his expression more confident than hers. ‘I know… Rose, could you read me a story?’
Rosy Bliss lightly nodded and said, ‘I think I know just the one.’
She headed out of the bedroom and saw that Beckon Call and Clean Sweep were already both standing by the door. Bliss took a deep breath and nodded to them without a word. They both nodded back, understanding what they had to do. When Bliss returned to her father, she had brought with her the old, worn manuscript of The Incredible Adventures of Little Rose.
Bliss decided to move the chair aside and sat on the edge of the bed itself. Her father propped himself back up so that he rest against the bedhead and the two sat closely together.
Through the evening, until the darkest hours of the early morning, the two embarked on the incredible journey; from the lonely island Little Rose wakes up on, to the crystalline caverns that housed the majestic stag; from the lively jungle of Quetzal to the searing Yara-ma Desert; from the mountainous cities of the Griffon Kingdom to the treacherous seas of the vicious Leviathan, and beyond. Although Carbon Skies hadn’t read the manuscript since Quillflower passed away, going through it once more with his daughter made the memories of that night seem as fresh as yesterday. By the time Bliss had managed to read all the way through however, she saw that Carbon Skies was leaning against her shoulder as he had fallen asleep. Bliss helped properly tuck her father into bed without disturbing him from his slumber. Once she had laid her father onto his back, she wrapped one hoof over his shoulder to gently embrace him. Then, she kissed him on the brow and switched off the light.
‘Goodnight father,’ she said softly ‘goodnight, goodbye and thank you for everything you have done for me.’
Slowly, she walked out of the doorway without ever looking back, even as she quietly closed the door. There were tears once again slowly rolling down her cheeks. Everything in her room had been packed together, thanks to Beckon Call and Clean Sweep. Bliss had Beckon Call pass on the message to Spoke that she was to leave for the station first thing in the morning.
Carbon Skies passed away six months after Rosy Bliss had left. His dearest friend, Brunet Smoke, honoured him by renaming the mill on the Blight Streets “Carbon Skies Mill”.