Rainbow sat on the floor by the back door, looking out at the overcast sky, listening to the rain patter against the wooden decking, sipping delicately from her large mug of tea.
She found it calming. Her mind was troubled for a reason she didn't know.
She had a theory behind it, although she didn't want to believe it.
The inevitable had happened. They had asked about their father.
She sighed as she remembered their faces when they asked, all beaming with innocence. During dinner, all three had paused as Shine asked. They looked so curious and full of wonder.
She hadn't known but they talked about it amongst themselves when they should have been sleeping. They dreamt up magnificent tales of who their father could be.
Dash hoped it had been a Wonderbolt, of course.
Shine wanted him to be celebrity, which surprised her. Rainbow would have thought she wanted a father with something to do with animals, like a zookeeper.
Swirl said she wanted him to be handsome. She was the only one who was right.
"No," Rainbow whispered harshly to herself. "Don't think like that. It will make you miss him again. And you don't want to cry anymore."
She let out an aggravated sigh.
She wished she had thought about it more beforehoof. Her reasoning was sloppy and unbelievable.
She told them they had no father. She told them that that colt didn't actually exist.
While true, Rainbow thought as she had never even mentioned a father to them, the story wouldn't hold out for long. Teachers and classmates would tell them that that's impossible, and so they would soon ask again.
This made it harder. She would also have to explain why she lied, something she would punish them for if they ever did.
She was not looking forward to it.
She ideally wanted to tell them when they were older, when they could actually understand and be mature about it. She decided when they were twelve would have been good. But that was that plan out of the window.
She just about managed to remove those thoughts from her mind and returned her attention to the view outside.
It was still very early morning, but she couldn't sleep. The sun had risen some time ago, although when she had moved there it was still dark.
She raised a hoof and reached for the handle. She slid the glass, screen door across.
A gentle breeze blew inside, ruffling her mane, making the fur on her back stand on end.
The rain was louder now.
She shut her eyes and hung her head down, trying to listen to it intently.
Despite being such a bright, warm personality, Rainbow preferred the rain to sun when she felt like this. It had an almost sympathetic quality to it. As if the world knew how she was feeling and was showing it cared by paying attention.
She hated that reasoning behind her liking of rain, but it was the best she could come up with.
She glanced up at the clock. She hadn't realised the ticking until just then.
"Half five. Two hours before I have to wake the Rainbows up."
She adjusted her position on the floor, moving to lie down. She was glad she had brought a blanket with her.
She draped the cloth over her back and rested her head against the floor.
She watched the rain fall down, growing steadily harder. Her tree was being buffeted the many, heavy drops, creating a pleasant sound.
She lifted her head up to take another gulp of tea.
She shuddered as the cold liquid went into her mouth. She so badly wanted to spit it back into the mug but she had an aversion to spitting, and so managed to swallow it.
She pushed he mug away from her in the hopes it would prevent her from doing it again. It didn't.
Her mind was pleasantly blank as she heard the sounds of light hoofsteps on the tiled floor behind her.
"Mummy?" asked a young filly.
Rainbow recognised her voice."Hey, Swirl."
She turned around. She was suddenly scared as she saw her daughter's eyes were red.
"What's wrong, Swirl?" she asked worriedly.
"I had a nightmare," Swirl replied with a little catch in her throat.
Rainbow gasped slightly. "Oh dear," she said affectionately.
"I went to go sleep with you but you weren't in your bed," Swirl said as she started crying.
Rainbow felt terrible now. "I'm so sorry, Swirl. I was downstairs."
"I was in my bed for ages after I couldn't find you. I thought you had gone."
"I'll never leave you, Swirl," she said with absolute sincerity. "C'mon, come lie next to me."
Rainbow raised the edge of the blanket and allowed Swirl to lie next to her.
Swirl quickly went and snuggled into her mother’s side.
Rainbow tucked the blanket under her.
"What did you dream about, Swirl?" she asked curiously yet caringly.
Swirl buried her face into her mother's shoulder and began to cry softly.
Rainbow placed a foreleg around her and hugged her.
"Hey, don't cry," she whispered. "It's alright now. Nothing bad is going to happen. I'm here for you."
Swirl choked back the tears enough to talk.
"We were in the park and then a nasty, red colt turned up. He started picking on me and Dash and Shine but you were there and came to fight for us. But then he-he-he."
She started sniffing and was almost about to cry again.
"Hey," Rainbow whispered again. "The red colt isn't real. You can tell me what happened. You're safe."
Swirl picked up the courage to talk. "Then he stole you and flew away with you. We were left in the park, watching you go, but then you fell from the sky and nopony saved you. That's when I woke up."
Rainbow hugged her tighter. She felt like crying now, but she was also touched that her daughter found that to be a nightmare.
"That sounds like a horrible nightmare. But it's over now. You should try to get some sleep."
Swirl shook her head. "I'm too scared," she whimpered.
"You can sleep here next to me."
Swirl shook her head again.
"Swirl, listen to me," Rainbow said firmly yet softly.
Swirl looked up to her with bloodshot eyes.
"It was only a nightmare. It wasn't real. I'm never going to get stolen and I'm never going to fall from the sky. I promise I'll be right here when you wake up. Okay?"
Swirl sniffed and wiped her nose on her leg. "Do you really promise?"
"Of course I do."
"Can you hug me properly?" Swirl asked sweetly.
Rainbow nodded with a smile. She rolled to her side and grabbed the little filly with both forelegs.
Swirl hugged back tightly. Her crying had lessened significantly. Although Rainbow could still feel her coat becoming slightly damp.
Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane and hummed a peaceful tune to help calm her daughter to sleep.
Swirl fell asleep quickly. She wasn't troubled by dreams anymore.