Plip.
Plop.
Plip.
Plop.
Her ears twitched, the sound of something dripping cacophonous within the usually silent cavern. She chanced a glance towards her right where the sound had originated from, and sighed in relief. It was just water falling from a stalactite to its counterpart stalagmite, nothing she needed to worry about. She hurried on deeper into the cave, a low buzzing hitting her ears as her wings lifted her off the ground. A smile graced her face as she thought about seeing her mother for the first time in a month and all the things she would be able to tell her of. She wove around stalagmites and the occasional boulder, her speed increasing as she became more excited.
"Mommy!" She cried as she entered the deepest part of the cave where she would often find her mother. "I've collected way more love than last-" She froze at the sight that met her eyes. "-time."
Her mother lay on her side atop the stone dais that sat at the back of the octagonal chamber, and she didn't appear to be breathing.
"Mo-ther?" She spoke softly after lowering herself to the ground. She approached the dais and slowly climbed her way to the top where her mother was. A closer look revealed that her mother was indeed breathing, but her breaths were so short and so shallow that it was clear that she was not long for this world.
She knew what she needed to do.
Gathering all of the love she had collected while she was gone completing Mother's test, she collected it at the base of her horn and, resting her horn against her mother's, transferred it to her all at once in a bid to save her life. She sat back on her haunches when she was finished, leaving her feeling hollow. It took a few minutes, but her mother's eyes eventually opened as her body absorbed the love her daughter had collected.
"Do you feel better Mommy?" She asked as soon as her mother looked strong enough to speak.
"Ooh... Aren't you just precious." Her mother rasped, shifting her front legs apart . She took what was offered and curled up between them, cuddling with her mother. "To think you'd sacrifice all that hard earned Love for a few more minutes with your mother... I am truly blessed to have been given the chance to spend these last five years with you."
Her mother's tongue lolled out of her mouth and stroked the hair between her ears. She leaned into the caress, staring up innocently, not quite understanding what her mother meant by 'a few more minutes'. "Of course I would Mommy! I love you lots and lots!"
Her mother retracted her tongue and smiled down at her. "How about I tell you a story before I go back to sleep?"
She gasped, nodding her head quickly in affirmation.
"Excellent." She was pulled closer against her mother. "But before I tell you the story, you have to promise me something."
"What is it?"
"You have to promise me that this is a story you will never, ever forget."
"Huh?" She tilted her head in confusion. "Is this a special story of something?"
"That's correct my darling." Her mother confirmed. "This is a story that I have told each and every one of my children . It's a story that, someday, you will tell to your children."
She blanched, realizing how serious this story was to her mother. "I promise to never forget Mommy!" She cried out.
"That's a good girl."
She lay in suspense as her mother looked around the chamber, a far off look in her eyes.
"A long, long time ago, before the Diarchs of Equestria, before Equestria was even a name, there lived a tribe of ponies called the Flutterponies. They were relatively small, and lived only within Flutter Valley. They lived there in peace and tranquility, never a sad moment in their lives."
"Why's the story about ponies? I thought ponies were bad Mommy?"
"Hush darling, let me finish. Now then, as I was saying, they lived there in peace and tran-" Her mother paused as a coughing fit wracked her body. "-quility."
"Mommy! Are you alright!?"
"...Yes darling, I'm just fine." Her mother shifted around for a bit before settling back down. "They were loved by all the other ponies, so much so, in fact, that they began to believe they deserved the love that all the other ponies gave them. They became arrogant and selfish."
"Mommy, what does arrogant mean?" She interrupted her mother.
"Arrogant means to have an exaggerated sense of one's own importance."
"Okay!"
Her mother opened her mouth to continue speaking, but was stopped by another fit of coughing.
"Mommy!" She cried out.
"I'm fine." Her mother bit out after getting her coughing under control. She cleared her throat before continuing, her voice much weaker this time. "The Flutterponies, as I already said, grew arrogant and selfish, and so they were punished. A curse was laid upon them, warping their bodies, and making it so that they could now only feed off of the love they had believed they deserved. Poetic Justice, the other ponies called it... And they were right."
"Did you know these Flutterponies Mommy?" She asked, still not understanding why her mother was telling her a story about ponies.
"...I knew them quite well my darling child. After all, I was their Queen."
"What?!" She had to hold herself back from jumping in shock. "You were?"
"Yes, I was... Back then I called myself Rosedust. But that name no longer applies to me now." She was pushed out of her mother's grip as her mother collapsed back onto her side.
She was back at her mother's side in an instant. "Mommy what's wrong?"
"You're such a good girl my child. I wish I could stay with you longer but I'm afraid I cannot."
A chill of realization ran through her body. "Mommy...?"
Her mother gave a sad smile. "No matter how much love you had collected, you couldn't have saved my life today, do not blame yourself my child. I have lived a long life, and it is my time to go."
Her mother raised up a hoof to the top of her head, grasping the crown that marked her as queen. She lifted it up, and lowered it onto the child that was the splitting image of herself. "We weren't always like this my darling, and I believe that we won't be trapped like this forever. The rebirth of the Flutterponies... As a species, we'll get there someday. And as the last of the Changelings, you'll lead us there."
With the last of her strength, her mother gave her one last kiss, transferring all the love back into her, before her head fell back onto the dais.
She stared down at her mother, silent tears trailing down her face. Even though she had all the love she had collected back within her, she still felt hollow inside.