The Pain Within

by RoyalRick

First published

When Shining Meadow and her younger sister, Twinkle have to take over the family farm, how will they deal with the pain of losing their parents?

It seemed as if Shining Meadow and Twinkle would have been two of the happiest ponies in Equestria. They had a profitable farm, friends that cared for them, a beautiful field in their own backyard. If only it was that easy for them. Twinkle, Shining Meadow's younger sister, had been dealing with awful depression from losing her parents just a year ago. And it was a pain for Shining Meadow to take care of the entire farm AND try to take care of her younger sibling all by herself.

Chater 0 - Prolouge

View Online

Twenty years ago, two ponies from Las Pegasus were both invited to a party, one was a rough N' tough stallion named Billy Hoofston. He had a dark brown coat along with a light brown mane and a cutie mark of a wheelbarrow full of crops. He had been raised up in the small town of Ponyville with his father and three brothers and had recently moved to Las Pegasus. The other pony was a mare by the name of Silver Meadow. She had a sleek silver coat with a long lime green mane and her cutie mark was a rolling pin. She was raised up as an only child living in an apartment with her mother and father in the city of Las Pegasus.

The two ponies had been invited to the party by some of their friends. Their friends kept insisting that the two need to ‘get out there and find that special somepony’. That would have worked out all and well, but the two of them weren’t very social, so for most of the party they just sat in a corner, quietly sipping on a drink every now and then. Later when the party was over, the two ponies were the last to head to the doors. They bumped in to each other while they were leaving the building. Their eyes locked and it was love at first sight. The two had stood there for a minute, staring at each other, until the lights in building went out. They just chuckled and started to strike up a conversation.

Through the next six months, they spent most of every day with each other. No matter if it was at another party, or just having a chat in the town park, they loved being with each other. Then, one day, Billy popped the question, pulling out a wedding ring. Silver was quick to accept the beautiful wedding ring, and he slid it onto her hoof. Though fate be it that Billy had nothing but spare change left after he bought Silver the wedding ring, and she didn’t have much in return. They were broke and down on their luck, and they decided that they didn't enjoy the big expensive city life of Las Pegasus anymore. So they scrounged up every bit they had and eloped together.

They neither knew where they were going, nor when they would get there, but they didn’t care, as long as they had each other, that was all they needed. After a day and a half of constant traveling (besides stopping to eat and sleep), they finally stopped at a small spring that was in a huge field, in the outskirts of the city of Baltimare. Silver bent down to take a drink from the spring, when Billy saw a vision in the field, a vision of a nice big barn, a hen house, a pasture for cows, and even some farmland. At that moment, they knew what they were going to do. After heading into town, getting the hoofs up from the mayor to use the field, and buying some building supplies and some seeds, they built a small house from the ground up, and planted a small plot of crops in the field.

Not long thereafter, they put a sign up in the front yard that read ‘Meadow Springs Farm: home of Baltimare’s finest fruits and vegetables’. After living there for a year or so, they decided they would have a foal, so that the foal could take the farm off of their hands when the time came. That foal turned out to be a filly that they named, Shining Meadow, after her mother. Shining Meadow had a light grayish-green coat with a bold dark green mane.

As the years went by, little Shining Meadow was learning the farming trade from her mother and father. She learned how and when to properly plant the crops from her father, and learned how to bake delicious pies and fritters of all kinds from her mother. Soon though, when Shining Meadow hit the age of 8, her parents bore another child, a filly, who they simply named, Twinkle, because of a twinkling star that they saw reflecting off her eyes. Twinkle had a dark gray coat with a dark blue mane.

Shining was especially happy with this, as she always wanted to have a little sibling that she could be a role model to. She would always tell her parents how grown up she was, and how she wanted to take care of Twinkle all by herself. Little did she know that she would come to regret this statement for the rest of her life.

On one fateful day, when Shining Meadow was 17 years old and Twinkle was 9 years old, the family was hanging out at the spring in the back of the field. Twinkle and Billy were making sandcastles together in the sand, and Shining and Silver were lying back, talking to each other. But then, out of nowhere, they heard a mysterious sound. Curiously, they all walked out into the field to check out the noise. They heard the sound again; an eerie sound that sent chills up their spines. Then, nervously, the family stepped out into the front yard. But what they saw shocked them; it was a ferocious, rampaging, bigger-than-a-house dragon! The dragon had just destroyed the wheat mill that was only a few hundred yards away, and was now headed towards their farm. The family couldn’t believe what was before their very eyes. Shining and Twinkle instinctively hid behind their parents, while Billy and Silver just stood there in horror, staring at the beast that was tearing its’ way over to them.

But just when it had seemed like all was lost, the Baltimare guards showed up! They were decked out with sturdy armor and were carrying swords, bows and all types of lethal weapons. Charging in like bats out of Tartarus, the guards started attacking the dragon. They were hacking and slashing away at the dragon, but this only seemed upset it even more. The dragon viciously slashed its’ claws at the guards, ripping the armor off of one of them and striking another one down. All while this happened, the Meadow family just stood there, frozen in fear, watching the battle unfold. That is, until the dragon killed off the last of the guards and suddenly charged straight at them! Step after pounding step, the beast came closer and closer, until it was right in front of them. Without thinking, the family made a mad dash to their house.

When they were about half way to the door, Twinkle tripped on a rock and fell down hard on the ground. Twinkle made a loud screech from the pain, which startled Silver, who quickly whirled around and ran back after Twinkle. Silver didn’t even care that the dragon was coming straight towards her, because her only thought, her only care, was to save her child. With great speed, Silver swooped in, grabbed Twinkle, threw Twinkle up on her back, and ran like the wind back to the house.

Billy and Shining were at the front door, anxiously waiting for Silver. But just when it had seemed like she would make it, the dragon stomped its’ foot down and caused the ground to split and crack all over the place. This made Silver fall down and drop Twinkle just feet away from the door. Silver just lied there, unable to get up, because of damage to her spine she received when she hit the ground. Then, she coughed and strained out one last sentence, saying “I… Lo… love… y… you…”. Right as she spoke her last words, the dragon lowered its’ head, bit down into her body, and swallowed her in one gulp.

Seeing this, Billy became enraged. He told Shining Meadow to grab Twinkle and bring her into the house and go down to the basement. Shining tried to speak up, but Billy yelled at her to do it now. With a quivering lip, Shining Meadow shook her head up and down in agreement. Shining put her head under Twinkle’s body and lifted her up. She carried Twinkle to the doorway and with tears in her eyes, stood there looking back at Billy one last time, before closing the door.

With Shining Meadow and Twinkle safely inside the house, Billy turned to the dragon with anger in his eyes. Then, he ran over to one of the dead guards, pulled their armor off, put it on himself, and grabbed one of their swords. Billy prayed that his children would be safe, and took off running towards the dragon. He knew he had to kill this dragon before it could kill any more innocent lives.

Billy and the dragon locked eyes and with a giant leap, Billy jumped up to stab him. The dragon lowered its’ head and opened his mouth, trying to bite him. Billy ended landed inside of the beast’s mouth. The dragon shut its’ mouth with incredible force and its’ teeth slammed down into Billy’s back and stomach. With his last bit of strength, Billy threw the sword which went through the back of the dragon’s neck, killing it instantly! The dragon’s body went limp and came crashing down to the earth. When the head of the dragon hit the ground, its’ teeth went straight through Billy’s body, killing him.

At that moment, it felt as if the world stood still. Everything looked gray and all was quiet. The only noise was the deafening sound of silence throughout the field. In the basement, Shining Meadow and Twinkle just sat there, staring at the ground with tear-filled eyes. Shining Meadow put her hoof around Twinkle and embraced her, to which Twinkle hugged her right back. Shining took a small cloth and wiped the tears from Twinkle eyes. She then kissed Twinkle on the forehead and they continued to hug. With the supplies they had in the basement, they stayed down there all night, following the orders that Billy gave to them.