Unending

"May I come in, your Highness?"

A stallion's white head and horn poked around the massive door held open by his shaggy hoof, followed quickly by his proud, armored chest. The straps and buckles which he bore shone with an obvious polish and attentive care, and his hair was kept as trimmed as it always had been: without a single blue hair out of place. Although his voice trembled slightly in hesitation, the rest of his lean and powerful form was proudly erect, stalwart and indefatigable. He was the very model of a true Captain of the Guard.

"One moment please, Shining Armor," was his Princess's curt, but kind, reply. Lowering her head once again, his Princess spoke some final words to a pegasus guard before her, her body resting on her padded dais as the two sat in discussion. The pegasus was not one with whom Shining Armor was familiar, for he knew every guard under his command. This foreigner bore upon his shoulder a crest from another city, so much less ornate than the one which Shining Armor wore proudly on his own chest. His dirty-crimson mane was uncovered and much longer than was customary. He was a guard, no doubt, but lacked the obstinacy and wholehearted dedication which was the undeniable trademark of the soldiers under his command.

He must have been a normal keeper of the peace, stationed in some town far away to watch for signs of trouble both foreign and domestic. He was a tad rustic perhaps, a bit out of practice in the art of soldiery, but despite where he came from or how he acted the pegasus was well versed in how best to address his Princess. He rose to his hooves only after his Princess had done so, prostrated himself before her as she leaned her head down in return, and raised himself from his bow only when she herself had risen. With a nod to signify their business had ended, he gave a final smile and an audible "thank you, Your Highness" before turning towards the door from whence he came.

Shining Armor stood aside as the stallion approached, holding the broad door open to allow him passage. With another little bow of gratitude and a tear of joy, the pegasus stallion walked as proudly as he could out the door before stampeding down the hallway. He flapped his wings a few times before taking off, looping through an open window above in a flurry of silver.

Shining Armor shook his head. He would have to remind his soldiers about proper decorum lest they believe themselves permitted to conduct themselves as such.

“You may come in now, Captain,” Celestia said calmly, sweeping up a quill and parchment in her magic’s grasp. Scribbling down a little note as he approached, her ears perked up to heed the sound of his shod hooves clicking on the floor as he tiptoed his way to his beloved Princess and Aunt-in-Law. His position in her family, however, was tertiary at best in his eyes: his primary role as a devoted subject and his position as her Captain would come before any notion of family ties, as thick as they might be.

Nevertheless, she awaited his arrival as she delicately scribbled a little note, stamping it firmly with her wax seal when her missive was complete. Then, with a little nod, she floated her message over to another guard who grabbed it with his own magic and, with a little nod to his Princess, trotted out the door to deliver his parcel. Once the door behind him had closed, the two royals were finally alone. Shining Armor took a few steps forward and bowed before he spoke, as was his duty.

“Your Highness,” he muttered to the floor, trembling slightly as he pieced together his intent. “I have come to discuss something with you.”

“Please, Shining Armor,” Celestia commented lightly, adjusting her position atop her cushion to allow him a place before her. “You are the Captain of my Guard and a member of my family. You do not need to practice these formalities with me, at least not while we’re alone.”

Her raised eyebrow and serene smile were all the assurance Shining Armor needed to relax his tensing legs and lay down across from his Princess. The sudden change in position afforded a modicum of comfort, and as he rested he breathed a heavy sigh of relief now that the weight of his armor lay on the floor and not on his muscled legs.

“So, what brings you to my hall?” Celestia stated calmly, whisking over a small decanter of wine and several glasses from nearby. Pouring them both a healthy portion as her Captain pondered, Celestia never broke her gaze with the stallion before her. “I usually don't see you unless ordered. Is there something on your mind?”

“Yes, Princess,” he sighed, sliding the wine she’d poured closer to himself as he played with the stem of the crystal glass. “I have a problem. Tomorrow is Hearts and Hooves Day, and...”

“You haven’t found something for Princess Cadence?”

“Oh, no no!” Shining Armor exclaimed, bringing the glass to his lips and allowing some to dribble down his throat. “No, I have that taken care of. I’ve been in contact with a rather talented gem hunter in Ponyville, and he’s been tremendously helpful in helping me find just the right gift.”

“If that’s not it, then what else might be on your mind?” Celestia queried, tasting the wine herself before replacing her glass on the floor, her palate satiated for the time being.

“I... I’ve been wondering, Princess, ” Shining Armor began, turning his words over in his mind for fallacies or little imperfections which might mar his true meaning. “I’ve been thinking about something... something important.”

He looked towards his Princess expecting to find an answer in her eyes, but she remained impassive and calm. It might not have been what he wanted, but he was comforted nonetheless by her state. Taking a little breath, he continued with his ponderings.

“You and your sister... you’ve been alive for so long. Even when Luna came back to Canterlot she didn’t look much younger than yourself, and that was after a thousand years of exile. You’ve ruled over Equestria for as long as anypony can remember.”

"It has been a while indeed," his Princess mused, admiring the clarity of her vintage through its crystal confines. "But time becomes blended together after a while, especially when you are in a position like mine and Princess Luna's."

"I guess it does," Shining Armor whispered, his downcast eyes rising to catch those of his Princess. "But not for us. We don't have that luxury, Princess. You look, and speak, and act the same as you always have... as long as I've known you. Princess Luna is just the same, even though we haven't seen her in so long. You are immortal, Princess. You will still be around long after I have died... after Twilight has passed on."

“And you wonder if Cadence will follow in our hoofsteps, to continue her life after yours has ended?”

In the passing of a moment she touched on the heart of the matter, and as she did Shining Armor's world froze.

Celestia watched the stallion before her lower his head, sighing his affirmation with a soft stroke of his cup. Lifting the glass to his mouth with his magic, he took a hearty gulp and replaced it on the floor, his eyes never lifting from where they sat counting the threads on the carpet.

“Yes, Princess...” he muttered. “I don’t know how I can handle that.”

“Neither does she, Shining Armor.”

With a jolt of action Shining Armor reeled from his Princess's words, sending his glass flying in the process. With an able flick Celestia was able to snatch the goblet from midair, catching what wine had spilled before it ever touched the ground. As she calmly refilled his glass her Captain sat dumbstruck, trembling with a mixture of relief and confusion before his words tumbled from his hanging jaw.

“She...she doesn’t?”

“She worries about it constantly,” Celestia replied with a little smile. “I can remember how that feels: to worry about the one you love to the point where even thinking about your mate brings you pain, even if it is an ache borne not in hatred or despair but pure and utter joy. I know how much it can drive a pony to do unspeakable things, but luckily you and Princess Cadence are beyond that point. What you two have is more pure than anything I have seen in a long time, and when I say long...”

Her eyes glinting with a little playful light, Celestia pulled in close to her favorite nephew-in-law with a glimmering wink.

“I mean really long!”

She couldn't help but emit a warm and very uncharacteristic giggle, almost as if the joke she’d told had meaning only for her. Shining Armor took the time to refill his Princess's glass, but took special care to ensure that his glass was more full than hers. It was not an act borne out of disinclination to give his all, but one stemming from his needs.

He would need every scrap of courage for what would come.

Shining Armor slid the decanter back across the ground and swirled the wine between his hooves before speaking to his Princess once more.

“If she’s an alicorn, does that mean she will live forever like you and Luna?”

Celestia thought a moment, raising her glass to her lips as she pondered his question. She took a sip, and then another, her tongue tracing her mouth to gather what wine she could. Lost for a few moments more, his Princess lowered her voice in reply, dropping her head a little towards his as she did so.

“Yes... and no,” Celestia stated calmly with an air of calm and serenity. “You saw how Luna kept her age when I exiled her to the Moon. Not a day went by in her absence that I did not regret putting her there, but those days went by nonetheless. I’ve aged since then... slowly, yes, but still. Alicorns do not react the same to the passage of time as others do. We are almost apart from time, but not entirely.”

“So,” Shining Armor whispered the floor again, struggling to lift his head up as the weight of her words hung over him. “Does that mean that when I die she will keep on living without me? Will she always be as young and beautiful as she is now, even as I get older and more frail?”

“Partially, Shining Armor. She will only age at a fraction of your rate, but she will age nonetheless. She will appear to be only a few years older than she is now by the time you retire, and not much older than that once you have gone from this world.”

“But...” he stammered, his heart sinking to some imaginary point below his hooves. “Why? Why does it have to be like that?”

Celestia raised her head once more, forcing his own to rise on posture and bearing alone. She had the tendency to do that, he remembered. There was something in her grace, her poise, and her impeccable bearing which commanded all in her presence to follow her lead. It was what made her his Princess, but beyond that: it was what made Ponykind revere her as a divine power. Despite her divinity and her generosity, however, she required his obedience. She reminded him thus when she raised her head and adopted the voice reserved only for the most solemn of occasions.

“She was made into an Alicorn Princess long before you met her, Shining Armor. She tended to your sister when she was but newly blessed with life and vitality, and came to know you and many others during her time here in Canterlot. But she fell in love with you, and you alone."

Granting her relative a little smile, Celestia took another sip of her glass before continuing.

"Many suitors offered themselves to her. Some had wealth, others had land, and a fair few had nothing at all, so enraptured were they by her beauty and kindness alone that they had nothing in the world save a promise of affection to keep them warm at night and standing in her presence. She is not a Princess because she is desired, or because she is able to spread love where once there was none. She is a Princess because she must.”

Lowering her head once more, she raised his heavy head and heart with her hoof. Holding his gaze with her customary serenity, Celestia smiled as radiantly as the sun for which she cared.

“But she loves you because she chose to, because you and you alone were the one who would always protect her, love her, and defend her from anything which might do her harm. She adores you for it... and she has always been willing to do the same for you.”

Dropping her hoof, Celestia swept up her glass in her magic and took a long pull from the chalice before replacing it on the floor.

“She came to me not too long ago, asking if I could reverse what magic Luna and I placed in her. She begged with us to rescind her divinity, to make her mortal. She wanted to die... eventually...”

“But,” Shining Armor stammered, a few drops of wine slopping on the floor as his concentration broke. “Why would she give up her divinity? Doesn’t she want to live forever? She always dreamed about seeing a future with her on the throne, helping others live their lives in harmony. She wants to watch the world grow like you and Luna do.”

“She may have wished for that then,” his Princess replied heavily, “but she no longer wishes to see those days anymore.”

“Why?”

Celestia recoiled slightly, looking at her Captain with a modicum of confusion before cackling to the ceiling above them, her voice echoing around the dome above to come down hard upon his already heavy head.

“Because immortality is a curse, my Prince. I love this land with all my heart and I always have, but I have seen this country... this world... change so much in the past thousand or more years. Not all of that change has been for the better. I have fought in wars, wars between my friends now long gone because of my actions. I have sent ponies to their deaths and written their families on the eve of their demise to offer my condolences, trying in vain to assuage the anguish of their bereavement. Life is a joy to those who live each day as if they might die, but when that finality is off the table... things lose a little of their old lustre.”

Taking another pull from her glass, Celestia slid the empty glass on the floor to rest beside her decanter.

“She wishes to die because she has found something which she loves more than life itself. I would be a fool to deny her the option, even though I regret having to be the one to revoke her immortality. We placed a little of our own power in her to keep her strong, young, and beautiful. When she passes, that investment with die with her."

As he finished his glass, Shining Armor placed it beside his Princess’s, his heart fluttering as Celestia's commanding tone slipped away to resume its previous warmth.

“It is a loss we are willing to accept, if you can.”

Her words weighed him down even further, and as the lingering worries and the drowsiness of the wine seeped themselves further into his mind, Shining Armor found that armor he so proudly bore upon his breast to be unbearably heavy.

“I... I don’t want to see her in pain, Princess, ” Shining Armor stammered, stamping the ground. "I don't want her to ever be in pain."

“I know you don’t, but that is not your decision to make. She is a Princess now. Her responsibilities to us and her people are something with which she must contend. She is wise enough to make her own choices, as all Princesses must do. If she chooses to suffer the pain of mortality and every consequence which will accompany it, then that is her prerogative. All you can do is trust in your love and do what you can with the time that is given to you.”

Then, with a final smile of courage, Celestia offered her subject a bow which prompted him to do the same. Their conversation had been concluded, even as those lingering questions in his mind berated him for not fighting with his Princess. He knew that the rules and regulations of immortality were above his knowledge, even if Cadence herself looked no older than he. The responsibilities she bore, both as an Immortal and the Crystal Princess, were ones in which he could offer little guidance. That reality only made his armor weigh him down further. Soon, as time passed and that body of his grew tired, he would be unable to stand and fight.

But there, by his side, his wife would remain.

“And here she comes now,” Celestia whispered into his ear as she raised herself from her bow, standing proudly to beckon her niece forward. Shining Armor, wishing he might have just a little more wine to grant him the courage to follow her lead, turned himself around to face the doorway and what splendorous serendipity he had been afforded.

His love stood by the door, proudly clad in her finest evening wear as if she had come from some elegant soiree to which he was not invited. Her neck and forelegs were draped in the lilting pieces of jewelry she had purchased for herself or had received as tokens of gratitude from the ponies over which she ruled. Their facets and various edges caught the lights from the setting sun outside, casting little motes of color around the room. She trotted forth, as light as a feather, to stand with pride beside her husband.

“I just received your message, Princess Celestia. What would you ask of me?”

Bowing as was custom, Cadence raised herself from her bow and looked her aunt in the eyes... but not before giving her loving partner a little nuzzle under his chin. They lingered there for a moment, lost in one another, before they broke apart and returned their attentions to their Princess.

“Cadence, I have called you here because I have a favor to ask of you. My dearest student Twilight has asked for my presence in Ponyville for a great reunion, but I have plans to which I must attend that evening. I was hoping that you and Shining Armor might take my place.”

They both jumped a little in surprise before Cadence's eyes lit up, her voice bubbling with excitement.

“You want us to go to Ponyville to see Twilight!?”

Bouncing a little in anticipation, Cadence's premature exaltations began to overflow before Celestia raised her hoof to silence her with some final words.

“Yes and no, Cadence. There is a matter to attend to that requires some royal attention. This shall be your foremost assignment, but prior to and following your engagement you may do as you wish. You will be attending a reunion, Cadence, and given your abilities and magical emphasis I can think of nopony more suited for the job than you.”

“We can go!” Cadence exclaimed excitedly, bouncing a little on her hooves as she beamed for the other two ponies in the room. Those same little bounces, however, died away when she felt the lowering gloom of her husband by her side.

“Are you okay, sweetie?" Cadence whispered, bowing her head to catch her husband's downcast eyes. "We can see your sister again! We can make a day of it, spend a little time on the town! Don’t you want to go to Ponyvi—”

With a squeal of surprise and a rapid flurry of movement, Shining Armor swept up his bride in his hooves and held her to his chest as Cadence looked around in shock. Lowering her head to allow her Captain some time to give his wife what attention she deserved, Celestia couldn't help but smile when her newest nephew, in a surge of passion, pulled in close to his loving wife and stole her breath away with a long, tender kiss. The couple lingered there in their embrace for a few moments, their lips locked and their hearts beating in unison before they broke apart, panting a little from their exertions.

“...Wow...umm,” Cadence stammered, still holding her husband's loving gaze with a stroke of his cheek. “I take it you want to go with me then... right?”

“Wherever you are is where I want to be” he whispered, drawing her closer. The smile he wore as he kissed her neck only grew wider when he had the honor of listening to his Cadence giggle, every one of her excited exclamations accompanied by a little squeeze as she held her prince closer.

They held each other just a little bit longer before their Princess gave a polite—but firm—little cough. Scrambling to re-assume their decorum, Cadence and Shining Armor, blushing furiously, straightened both themselves and each other out before raising themselves proudly before their monarch. Celestia couldn’t help notice the renewed blush in her niece's cheeks, and the light heart and smiling face of the stallion by Cadence’s side who had brought that little rouge back to life.

“I take it you would like to go?” Celestia commented slyly, beaming as she watched her subjects nod their assent. Stamping her hoof to seal their implicit contract, their Princess nodded her assent to the couple before her.

“Excellent! You are expected to be present in the schoolhouse the evening of Hearts and Hooves Day, but I would never deny you the chance to explore the town before you’re due to arrive. Twilight will fill you in with the details. Now,” Celestia declared, spreading her wings slightly to work out the kinks before folding them back to her sides. “I have a sun to put to bed. I bid you a good evening.”

They bowed before their Princess as Celestia did the same, and as they rose Shining Armor and his Cadence walked down the carpet and out the door. Lingering there a moment to ensure the door didn’t slam, Cadence took a little time to reinvest herself in their interrupted kiss as she drew Shining Armor's face to meet her own, the edges of her mouth breaking a little as what passion they shared broke from its confines and escaped through her lips.

Being intimate with her love was something she never really got the chance to do anymore, and she could feel in his chest that he had missed it too. Smiling at one another as they broke apart, Shining Armor nodded down the hall towards their waiting bedroom. As they walked back to their shared quarters side-by-side, Cadence seized her opportunity to speak.

“Dear,” she began, choosing her words carefully. “Is something wrong? It’s been a while since you’ve... well... done thatin front of the Princess. What were you and Celestia talking about?”

Shining Armor's gait slowed almost imperceptibly as he plodded along with his wife at his side. He lowered his head a little as he thought about what to say, considering how best to break the ice. The outlines of a lie came first, but there would be nothing to gain by lying to his love. Thus, with a heavy heart, Shining Armor gripped the lingering tendrils of his previous distressing conversation and pulled them back from their station in the back of his mind, displaying them to his Cadence with a shrug.

“We were talking about you, honey. We were discussing how you asked for mortality and how you wanted to die eventually. She was telling me that you asked her and Luna to remove their blessing.”

Rounding on his wife, Shining Armor lowered his brow, relinquishing that unbearable weight upon her forehead. She assumed the burden with a brief sigh, and with her silent consent and a little burst of courage Shining Armor whispered out his final thoughts on the matter.

“I don’t want you to do it.”

“But...” Cadence exclaimed, recoiling from her husband in confusion. “Why not? Why would you want me to live forever? Do you think I can handle what the Princesses go through every day? They watch their friends and loved ones die, standing aside to let them slip through their hooves! They watch their world grow darker and step back a little more every year to leave the world to its own devices! I don’t want to grow old and weary in a world where I have no say.”

Placing herself squarely against his chest once more Cadence held her love close, resting her head against the heart she’d come to love... that mortal heart which, despite the pressure of protection and the pain of his limited lifespan, beat on just for her.

“I don’t want to live in a world without you.”

"I know you don't," Shining Armor whispered, drawing his bride closer as he nuzzled her ear. "You've spent your whole life dreaming about being a Princess, of having that power that Celestia and Luna have. You dreamed of a world you could create and new magics to perform, with an entire country holding you in the highest esteem. You could have everything."

Looking down upon his mate, he could do little more than close his eyes and whisper some final words.

"I want you to have everything."

Nuzzling herself closer, he could feel Cadence's face constrict into a little smile and her eyes flutter briefly before renewing her embrace.

"I already do."

He almost couldn’t hear her voice, so lost was she in his chest that her voice was muffled and almost died away before it ever reached his ears. With a little rise of her head with his hoof and a little kiss, the two smiled at one another for a brief moment before reinvesting themselves in their shared rest upon the palace hallway floor.

It would take some time to stifle the guilt and the lingering hatred for himself that he felt. Closed his eyes tighter the more those emotions grew, Shining Armor drew what energy he had left to hold his loving mate closer. Those ruminations and those poisonous truths would die in time, even if it took until his dying day to worm their way out of his heart.

But now, as he hadn't known just a short while before, he wouldn't be alone in death.

He held his love, his angel, and his salvation in his arms, kissing her head as he slowly rocked their pains away. With every miniscule movement Cadence burrowed herself further into his embrace, a blissful, easy smile upon her face all the while. They lingered there together on the floor for what seemed like an hour before Cadence broke off and stood before her husband, wiping away a few stray tears of happiness as she shook her mane back into place.

“C’mon, Shiny," she crooned with a little jingle of her jewelry. "It’s time for bed!”

Getting to his own hooves, Shining Armor gave his wife a little prod as she walked away towards the door, holding it open with her hoof. With a sly smile and a cocked eyebrow, she nodded towards their bed. He knew that it was an order, an order only she was allowed to give.

It was an order he jumped to obey.

“Since when do you call me ‘Shiny’?” he chuckled as he passed through the door, looking back on his mischievously grinning wife.

“Hmmm... right about the same time you chucked me off a crystal tower to catch a falling dragon.”

Her little giggle was enough to alleviate the tension, and as the two shared a laugh Shining Armor gave his reply with a playful stroke of her mane.

“I promise not to throw you off a building again, my love, just as long as you don’t call me ‘Shiny’ in front of the other guards. Deal?”

Raising her eyes to gaze at her horn, she sidled up to her husband seemingly lost in thought were it not for the little devilish grin on her face. Placing a hoof on his chest, she acted the pensive mare and considered her options before giving her love one little kiss, holding his lips a little before drawing apart to whisper her little nothings for his ear alone.

“No promises.”

The two ponies shared a warm grin, their foreheads resting together as they basked in each other’s presence. A few more moments passed before Cadence broke off to remove her jewelry, flicking her tail at his face playfully as she did so. Smiling at the floor, Shining Armor watched her leave for her dressing room before releasing his worries in a little sigh. Gazing out a nearby window at the luminescent moon Luna had made for them, Shining Armor closed the door behind him, locking it tightly to seal out the world.

And keep his Cadence safe.

Unconditional

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Unconditional

She knew, almost immediately, that today was going to be like every other.

Even with all the love in the air... even with all the decorations which graced the eaves of the houses in town and the celebrations which were sure to ensue once school got out: there would always be that lingering animosity. There was always going to be the little irritations, the vengeful musings, and the little quips at her expense. Hearts and Hooves Day, she thought, was a time for joy. But everything the two colts whispered behind her made those little stalwart assurances die away, made her hopes for a day not spent in agonizing loneliness flutter a little and then fall crashing to the ground.

"I heard she can't even fly straight!" one colt whispered, his hoof deflecting the sound to his compatriot who leaned over in his desk to listen attentively.

"No, that's not true!" the other retorted, mimicking his friend's devilish grin. "She flew straight into my mailbox! She does it all the time!"

She closed her eyes to hide the first of her tears, preparing herself to await their brethren.

Not this again...

"Hey!" she snarled, her eyes aflare as she wheeled in her desk to face the two colts behind her. "Don't talk about my Mom like that! She does more for this town than your Mom and Dad ever could!"

"Is that so?" the blue colt to her left jeered as he leaned back in his desk, ignoring the lessons of his teacher and the multitudes of eyes which watched the conflict with rapt attention.

"You know what, Dinky? I think you might be right! Your mother's record of smashing into every mailbox in town has made my Dad quite a bit of money! The wholesale mailbox market was a little stale around here, but now we're making a mint off of 'Derpy the Fail-mare!’"

"Stop it! Stop calling her that!" Dinky whispered furiously, struggling to keep her voice below what could be construed as a normal speaking tone. "Stop it, or I'll tell Miss Cheerilee!"

"Yeah? Tell her what?" the mint-green colt chortled. "Tell her your mother is so ‘derpy’ she can't even fall in a straight line?"

"I'm warning you, stop it! I'll tell!"

"We'd like to see you try," the blue one snarled. "Who's going to care? Everyone thinks your Mom is the worst thing to happen to Ponyville."

Like a slap to the face his words lashed out, and as the filly recoiled from the backhanded verbal strike the palpable silence afforded her a few moments of uninterrupted clarity. She could hear the buzzing of her teacher's melodious voice as Miss Cheerilee explained the origins of their supposedly festive holiday. Dinky could hear the love in her voice as she taught the half of the class which was earnestly paying attention.

The other half, though they faked interest in their teacher's diatribe, couldn't help but listen in on what was taking place. They buzzed and muttered in their seats, only adding to the echoing silence as that little colt's words... those treasonous, profane little thoughts... bounced in the space between the empty confines of her broken heart.

"You don't mean that..." Dinky whimpered, her lip trembling as she tried to stay strong just like her mother taught her. "My mom is caring and kind! My mommy loves me!"

"That freak is capable of love?" The green one smirked with a playful nudge of his neighbor, glowering briefly at the broken filly before him before ignoring her entirely. "Looks like I owe you a few bits!"

The two stifled what laughter they could even as Dinky shed a little tear, lowering her head to face the floor. A few other fillies and colts snickered at her, but a few more could do nothing but send what love they had left in the heartbroken filly's direction.

None of them, however, were ready for her reaction, for they had expected none. Dinky Doo never showed anger, or anything above irritation. She was always silent, reserved, laconic.

But when she raised her head from where it had fallen, those terrified children looked into her eyes and saw nothing but unbridled fury. The two colts who roiled in fits of suppressed laughter didn't even notice her horn ignite with an effervescent little lavender light.

They barely even gave heed as her pencil flew into the air and, with an unnatural agility and force, embedded itself half an inch into the blue colt's desk, mere millimeters from his hoof.

What they did notice, along with every other soul present, was the silence which followed the sharp crack! as the pencil snapped in two. The bottom half of that miniature javelin quivered uncontrollably from the impact, shaking almost as much as the colt who had been its target.

The room was as silent as a tomb, and the only thing the little filly could hear over the buzzing of the rage-induced din in her ears was the muffled stomp of hooves in her direction. The sound of her breathing and the rapid influx of air into her little lungs couldn’t hide the fact that that same sound was increasing, and by the time she had calmed herself down enough to figure out what was happening she was staring into the eyes of her teacher.

Miss Cheerilee was not at all impressed.

“Dinky, and you two: stay in your seats. Everyone else: class is dismissed for recess. I will see you all in twenty minutes.”

The students who were not shaken from their trance by their livid teacher clued in almost immediately as the sound of little hooves broke the palpable silence. Dinky watched over her teacher’s shoulder as her classmates filed out into the playground, her eyes following one group of fillies as they escaped the suddenly stifling atmosphere of the school house. The three of them snuck glances back at the little unicorn who quivered in her chair, not unlike her leaded weapon but a foot from her, awaiting the wrath of her teacher.

Dinky caught the eyes of one of them, a yellow filly she’d never really gotten the chance to know, and for a brief moment she was looking into a set of eyes which felt that very pain which reared its snarling head in her heart. It gave her a little comfort to know someone felt the same way she did, that this particular day of life and love wasn't just the velvet curtain which suppressed every painful action. It gave her a sign that everything was alright, that there was little to fear.

It gave little Dinky Doo enough courage to pay for her transgressions.

When all was silent and her students had all escaped, Miss Cheerliee closed the schoolhouse door tightly to hide them from the yard outside. Then, seating herself before her charges, Cheerilee broke her usual sunny disposition to make evident her severe disappointment.

“Explain yourself, Dinky. Why did you think it would be at all appropriate to try and attack your fellow students?”

“I didn’t mean to!” Dinky whined, trying to hold back her tears. “I didn’t mean to do it... it just happened! Those two were saying nasty things about my mommy, so I got really mad! Then, the next thing I know, I'm staring at the pencil on the desk. I don’t know what happened, Miss Cheerilee... I don’t! I promise!”

Wiping away the salty evidence of her distress, Dinky pointed her accusing hoof at the two colts beside her, less resolved now than they were when Dinky’s mother was their sole concern. Shaking their heads furiously, the little colts could do nothing but worry for their own hides as Cheerilee cocked an eyebrow.

“Well, boys? Is that true? Were you saying mean things about Dinky’s mother?”

The two looked at one another nervously before the green one prodded his blue comrade into action. Raising his head from the desk, he looked at Dinky quickly before smiling at his teacher.

“No, Miss Cheerilee. We would never talk about her mother, much less make fun of her...”

“LIAR!!! THEY’RE LYING!!!” the little filly shrieked, lunging in her chair at the pair of colts who recoiled in terror from her spitting maw. Their teacher’s foreleg was enough to keep the raging unicorn at bay, and when the little filly had calmed down some Cheerilee nodded to the door.

“Boys, I will talk to you both in a moment. I need some time alone with Miss Dinky.”

Nodding at one another, the two bashful colts slid from their seats and plodded to the door, leaving a wide berth between them and the vicious unicorn filly they had successfully turned feral. With their heads low and their little “yes ma’am" muffled, they trotted to the door and entered the playground without another word. Once she knew the door was secure, Cheerilee turned back to her student who now lay disconsolate at her desk.

“It’s not fair!” the little filly blabbered, trying her hardest to stifle the flow of tears which evaded her attempts at control. “They always do this! I don’t... I just... they just keep teasing and m-m-mocking me and... and... m-m-making fun of my MOMMY!!!”

Cheerilee smiled a little as she held the sputtering and spitting Dinky to her chest, allowing the filly a few minutes to cry and heave her little frame, stroking the filly's back as Dinky struggled for air against the flood of tears. When she had quieted some, Cheerilee raised the filly’s little head from her chest, now splattered with mucus and damp from the filly's release.

“I know they do, Dinky. They’re boys, and boys make fun of things they don’t understand... especially those two. You’re not the first one they’ve made fun of.”

“But... but...” the filly choked out, a little more calm but still shaking in despair. “Why do they k-keep on teasing me?”

Raising her eyes to the ceiling, Cheerilee pulled out a little neckerchief from her vest and cleaned up the remaining tears on Dinky’s cheeks, bringing up the filly’s chin for her calm eyes to see.

“They do it because they don’t understand your Mommy, honey. They just don't see how special your Mom is. She is one of the kindest, most loving, and hardest working ponies I know, even if she is... well, a little different. Just because they think that being different is bad doesn’t mean that she is any less worthy of love than we are.”

“She’s not!... she’s not...” Dinky sputtered again, knocking her hoof on her desk as she relieved herself of her frustrations. “My mommy is wonderful...”

“She really is!” Cheerilee chuckled, rubbing the filly’s shoulder. “Just because they don’t see that doesn’t mean it’s any less true.”

The two of them rested a while, Cheerilee allowing the filly enough time to calm herself down before raising herself from the desk.

“Now... I know you didn’t mean to do it, but you almost hurt one of your classmates. I know you didn’t want to, but I don’t have much of a choice. If I bring them in, will you make up and apologize for trying to hurt them?”

Dinky started a little as her defiance tried to claw its way out from her belly, but the look in her beloved teacher’s eyes was more than enough for that little fire to quell and die out. With a little nod to her desk and a wipe of her face, Dinky gave her consent. Her teacher smiled, nodded back, and proceeded to the door.

As her teacher ushered in the warm sunshine of the glorious early afternoon, Dinky slid to her hooves and made her way towards her teacher’s side. With a deep breath in, Dinky closed her eyes to give herself some comfort from the storm of emotions she knew would ensue. The door creaked slowly open, and when Dinky finally forced herself to open her eyes she could see nothing but the faces of her classmates staring back at her, their eyes as nervous as her own. Closing the door once more, Cheerilee set herself next to her students.

“Boys, you’ve really hurt Dinky’s feelings today. You should know better than to make fun of other ponies, especially when I’ve told you many times in the past to stop. I would like you to say you’re sorry.”

The two colts—as boys often do—did nothing but stare at the ground and shuffle their hooves, keeping their faces downcast as Dinky awaited their apologies. When none came, Cheerilee slammed her hoof on the floorboards below to shock them into action. Recoiling in surprise form their teacher's outburst, they gave each other a final look before muttering to the floor in unison.

“We’re sorry...”

“I’m sorry boys, but I can’t hear you. Please, speak up!” Miss Cheerilee snapped with another little stamp of annoyance.

Shuffling their hooves further, the two looked at one another in consternation, each wishing the other would bear the whips and scorns of their prior victim. When nothing came from his green companion, the blue colt raised his head, took a little breath, and exhaled his apology.

“I’m sorry, Dinky. I didn’t mean to insult your Mom...”

“Yeah, ” the other replied, playing with the dirt from outside with a sideways glance. “Me neither...”

“Apology accepted,” Dinky muttered, regarding them both with a caustic venom before holding her gaze on the floor.

They were lying. Everypony always lied to her. This whole thing would happen again... she could feel it in her heart. No one ever meant what they said, especially when they were talking about her Mommy. Tomorrow would come as it always did, and just like the arrival of the day the next batch of insults would be sure to follow. Their lies was predictable, for she had heard them all before.

But their apology was enough for now, for Dinky knew boys well enough to know that that was the extent to which the chains of their pride would allow them to stray.

“Now, Miss Dinky? Do you have anything to apologize for?” Cheerilee whispered with a little nudge on the rump to move Dinky closer to her enemies. Sucking down a deep steadying breath, Dinky took a few moments to staunch her tears as she offered a truce to her tormentors.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you two. It’s just... you keep talking about my Mommy like that and I don’t like it! I wish you would stop! Why can’t you just...”

She was cut off by a little nudge from her teacher, who smiled down at her even as her eyes demanded the filly’s obedience to their plan. Casting her eyes down one last time, Dinky muttered to the floor.

“I’m sorry... I won’t do it again.”

“Boys?” their teacher supplied, removing herself from the rivaling children before her. “Do you accept her apology?”

The two colts nodded to the floor in silence. Gazing back at her teacher, Dinky gave a little nod.

“Okay,” their teacher smiled, opening up the door a little with her hoof. “Dinky: I’d like you to take the rest of the day off. Cool down and take a little time with your mom; It’s a short day after all, so you won’t miss anything important. Boys, I’m disappointed in you but I believe you are sincere. Don’t think I won’t be listening into your little conversations in the future.”

The three young ponies nodded their assent and turned to leave, but as Dinky's hooves tasted the first warm rays of the sun her teacher held her back with a soft hoof upon her shoulder.

“Miss Dinky, do you remember if your mother sent me anything?" Cheerilee queried. "She said she would send something with you to school today...”

“Oh yeah!”

Running to her desk to retrieve her mother's parcels, Dinky's face furrowed in concentration as she opened the lid, removed the letters, whisked her bags upon her back, and caught her mother's missive in her teeth. Then, trotting back to her teacher, Dinky deposited her documents in Cheerilee’s outstretched hoof with a warm smile.

“Excellent, thank you Dinky!" her teacher exclaimed as Dinky trotted to the steps outside... but before she could jump down from the schoolhouse steps and race back home, her teacher gave one final request.

"Dinky, dear: could you send in Apple Bloom for me please?”

“Sure thing, Miss Cheerilee! See you tomorrow!”

Bounding off the steps, Dinky raced towards the trio she’d hoped to spend her recess playing with, skidded to a halt under the large oak tree by which they sat. Apple Bloom was looking a little more worried than Dinky had ever seen her, but the assurances of her two other friends—a unicorn and an orange pegasus whom Dinky never really got the chance to play with—were keeping her active and smiling... if only a little.

“Hey Sweetie Belle, Scoots!” Dinky chirped, her excitement poking through where it could. “Apple Bloom, Miss Cheerilee wants to see you inside for a second.”

The little look which passed between the little yellow earth pony and her two friends was not missed by Dinky, and as she turned to go she watched as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gave their friend some hugs and words of encouragement. When Dinky turned to meet the road, she looked behind her to find Apple Bloom, her head hung low, walking through the door-frame of their schoolhouse with their loving teacher by her side.

Miss Cheerilee wore a similar expression, but Dinky would never know what would come for her acquaintance as their teacher, with a sad little smile, closed the door behind them to block them from view.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinky walked down the road alone, the warmth of the day whisked away by the light breeze and the heaviness of her tormentors' words. She had begged herself not to succumb to feeling so low, but every step kicked up a few more doubts and a little cloud of dust. Every other pony she could see was making their way to work or coming home to have some lunch before going about their next shifts. Every one of them was spending the lovely afternoon in bliss. Everyone was having fun.

Everyone but Dinky.

She never wanted the boys’ words to leave such lasting scars, but as she watched the various farmers, salesponies, and the little baby foals giggling in their mother’s arms, she couldn’t help but wonder why her mother had been made differently. Her speech, her balance, her eyes... everything about her screamed that she was different from everypony else, somehow inferior even though she could do everything they could...for the most part.

As Dinky trudged through the mid-morning Farmer’s Market, she listened to the ponies around her haggling for goods, selling their wares, conversing animatedly about weather patterns and crop yields. They chatted idly about things she would never, and could never, understand... things which didn’t matter. All that mattered was the way in which they were said: unbroken, easy, flowing without stutters or stammers. They lilted on the breeze, gracing the air with their melodious unbroken sound.

They didn’t sound anything like her Mom.

Passing by Sweet Apple Acres as she stumbled along, Dinky lingered there on the fence to watch Big Macintosh, with his grand muscled frame, bucking the apple trees to release those sweet fruits above. When a few would fall to the ground outside their waiting basket, he would gingerly pick them up with his teeth and place them where they belonged, doing so carefully lest he damage his tender fruits.

With all of his size and muscled bulk, it must have been overwhelmingly difficult to do those delicate tasks he needed to do. He must have thought about his size and weight when handling his wares, constantly worrying about his apples' condition when his heavy body moved to remove them from the ground. Dinky chuckled as he finished his task, imagining how hard it must have been for him to not damage the little Apple Bloom filly when they had first met... when brother first held little sister in his hooves.

Maybe that was it. Maybe it was the ability to remember one’s imperfections and account for them which made ponies special. It must have not have been the way in which they excelled, like Rainbow Dash and her flying skills, but how they made up for their shortcomings. She’d heard the stories of that great stallion and how he’d taken on the burden of the farm work to allow his sisters to go to school. If Big Macintosh could keep a farm going and manage the money which came in without schooling, then there was so much he could do that nopony even knew he was capable of achieving. The thought made Dinky smile.

If Big Macintosh could do it, then so could her Mom.

Dinky watched as Big Macintosh raised his head from the orchard, looking over to the farmhouse where his sister Applejack was waving for him. With a little nod, he hefted the load on his back and made his way over to her, placing the basket on the ground by the door as the two lingered together, their voices inaudible from where she stood. She couldn’t see their faces, but their proximity and their lowered heads indicated that something was going wrong.

A misplaced shipment of apples perhaps... or a problem with the pastries she always made.

What Dinky could hear, however, was the sound of hooves and heavy breathing as her friend Apple Bloom jumped the fence further down the road and ran across the fields of tall grass to reach her brother and sister. As Dinky turned to continue her walk, one last momentary look afforded her a glimpse of their hugs as the Apple Family, one-by-one, made their way into the farmhouse and closed the door silently behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was setting by the time Dinky finally made it home, and the bell in Town Hall chimed out the time for the whole town and surrounding lands to hear. She had lost all interest in playing with the frogs down by Fluttershy’s cottage, and had exhausted every dandelion head in the fields as her little wishes floated on the wind and made their way to unknown destinations on the breeze. She had blown them all out, and only realized she’d done so when she looked around the little glade to find herself alone again, without the inviting little puffs to catch her eye.

Plodding past the library, Dinky peered inside like she normally did to find Twilight Sparkle, librarian and magician extraordinaire, scribbling away with her magic. That talented mare wrote down notes furiously, balancing multiple sheets of parchment in her magic’s grasp as she worked diligently towards whatever important task their Princess had assigned her.

Twilight could always do the impossible. She could handle and manipulate so many things at once, and always without fail. She could split her concentration between so many important things and execute them all perfectly. Dinky remembered one time when her class had come to listen to her tell stories in the library, the whole class oooing and ahhing as she levitated books left and right and shone lights on the wooden walls to complement the tales of Daring Do and various other heroes.

She was truly exceptional. She was a pony whose own talent was the same magic she had studied in Canterlot to acquire. She was an Element of Harmony with lifelong friends to support her whenever she needed. She had everything, as far as Dinky was concerned. She was independent and strong, loved by everyone and loving of them in return...

But it was her horn and her magical gift which made her strong? If she didn’t have either, would she just be a normal pony? Was the fact that she was exceptional something which resided in her horn, or in her heart?

Without announcing her presence, Dinky closed the door behind her even though Spike the dragon had made his entrance in the lobby. She always found him fascinating.. but then again, so would anyone. A dragon who wasn’t fifty feet tall, dozens of times the mass of Big Macintosh, and not spewing fire and devastation in their wake was a rare find indeed.

Finally turning the corner into the alley where she lived, Dinky watched as the other mailmares and mailstallions ran to and fro about the town, their bags flying out behind them as they made their way on hoof and wing to deliver the last of the day’s mail. She could only imagine, given their exhaustion and their haste, that Mommy had made a mistake again. It wouldn’t have been the first, and it most certainly wouldn’t be the last.

She was amazed, honestly, that her boss hadn’t reassigned her to some other shift, some period of time when the load wouldn’t be as stressful or important to get right. Her mommy only worked the day shift because Dinky wasn’t there to take care of, and had school been at any other time her mother would be sure to change her schedule to ensure she wouldn’t leave her daughter alone in their house for any longer than necessary.

Her mommy had tried in the past to change her schedule, but she always said her boss needed her at that time and that time alone. Dinky remembered more than a few occasions in which her mother would talk animatedly about a new position which would open up, with more responsibilities and more money... only to find her silent the following evening as they ate dinner at their table. Imagining which of those delivery ponies had received the honor of her mother’s prospective position, she watched them go about their business, pushing open the door to her own little house as they sped around town.

Her mother wasn’t home, so Dinky began to make their dinner. Her Mom had done well by allowing her to experiment with food, and had placed everything on the lower shelves and cabinets so that Dinky, in her mother’s absence, could get everything prepared for their meal should she want. The pantry and kitchen were packed with everything the little filly would need, and all the spices and grains were alphabetized (as much as they could be) on the shelves.

Her mother knew her well enough to allow her to hold to her own schedule. Dinky walked herself home from school, did her own homework without help, only asked her mother for help on things when she wanted. Her mother never prodded, or pushed, or made her do anything she didn’t want unless she had to. All of her decisions were her own, and her mother was always there for support.

It was what made her the best Mom in the world...

...at least to the one filly who believed with with all of her little heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ringing of the bell and the closing of a door from the far side of the house as Dinky’s notification that her mother had made her way home. Treading delicately around the opened bags of flour and sugar on the kitchen floor, Dinky pulled out her latest creation and rested it on their kitchen table, struggling with her magic to keep the somewhat hefty package in the air. Nudging it into place, she ran into the other room to greet her mother when she was assured her her present's safety.

Ditzy Doo, with her saddlebags empty and her hair matted with sweat and debris, sat on the floor and picked those branches and dirt she could find out with her teeth, preening her feathers to get them back in line. Dinky had been right: somehow, Mommy had screwed something up. She only looked like this when she pushed herself to her fragile limits, speeding across town as straight and as quickly as she could to fix a delivery error or misstamped shipping address. Those other mailponies had been accounting for her mistakes, and the look in her mother's yellow eyes confirmed Dinky's suspicions:

They both had had another bad day.

As she preened her feathers with her head behind her back and cocked in an awkward and oddly humorous position, Ditzy could feel the little nudge of her daughter’s horn depressing her chest and the accompanying warmth of her little filly as the little one drew close. Lowering her head to her daughter’s, the mailmare enfolded her filly in her wings as the two sat together on the floor, the unicorn holding her mother as tightly as she could with her hooves, her chest buckling a little as she cried.

“Muffin? Whad’s wrong?” the mailmare whispered into her daughter’s hair. “Did you have anudder bad day?”

The little nudge of her diminutive horn was her expression of assent, and it only made the mailmare on the floor hold her daughter closer with her wings. Lowering her head further, she gave her daughter’s head a little nuzzle as she whispered lovingly into her daughter's mane.

“Did does nasty boys make fun of you again?”

A pause, and then: another silent nod.

The two held each other, there on the floor, in silence. Seconds passed into minutes as the filly held her mother as tightly as she could. All the rage and pain she’d tried to hide away slowly trickled from her eyes as she held her mother tight. They left in their wake only the emptiness of her fragile heart, and those spaces slowly filled with all the irritations she’d felt as the more fortunate went about their business, mocking her for having a mother like the one who held her so close to her beating heart.

She could still see them smirking at the less fortunate little unicorn as they played and lived in happiness with their own normal parents. The memories and images of their haughty, proud faces came flooding back to her, and she could do little more than allow them to leak from her eyes along with everything else. Gasping in pain as the tension grew, Dinky hid her face from the world in the breast of her dearest mother, shielding herself from the pain.

“Hey now...” Ditzy crooned, pushing her daughter’s eyes into her own. “Nuddings gunna be wrong any more honey... I’m home. It’s gunna be okay, Muffin. Everyting's gunna be okay.”

Relapsing into her tears once more, Dinky could do nothing but hold her mother closer. Her’s was the voice of pure joy, despite the jumbled noises and misplaced letters which lingered in her speech. These were the wings of a pony who would stop at nothing to make her way home, each and every night, just to be there to watch her daughter fall asleep in her arms. This was the chest of a mother whose heart, with every lingering beat and constriction, kept her body moving to speed her home.

This was the body of her mother, her dear and loving mother, whom no other mother, ‘derpy’ or otherwise, could compare to.

Dinky summoned up enough courage to raise her head from her mother’s warm and soggy chest to see those bright yellow glittering eyes looking down at her. They might have been different and misplaced, but she’d never seen anything quite so beautiful in all her short life. Sighing as those eyes filled her vision, Dinky gave her mother a sad smile and a few more tears.

“Some boys at school were making fun of you again, Mommy...”

The mailmare smiled down at her daughter, playing a little with Dinky's mane as she whispered her reply.

“Dat’s okay, Sweetie. I don' really care...”

“You don’t?” Dinky exclaimed, recoiling in shock. “But... but they called you ‘Derpy’! They called you a freak. They said that no one liked you...”

“Do you like me?”

A pause, followed by the ruffling of her daughter’s mane as Ditzy Doo gave her filly a kiss on the forehead. Dinky could do nothing but stare, looking at her mother’s chest in confusion.

“Of course I love you, Mommy. You’re my Mom...”

Holding her closer, Ditzy could only rest her head on her daughter’s as she cradled her child.

“Den dat’s all dat madders."

Ditzy stared, lost in the matted fur of her mother’s belly, her smile growing even as her eyes clenched tightly together as those tears returned. Her little grin twisted at the edges as she reinvested herself in her tears, clutching her mother once more to her little chest.

Her Mommy didn’t care about the others: the ones who played without having to worry about their mother tripping over their own hooves or running into others. She didn’t care about the opinions of Dinky’s friends when they opened their mouths to speak with nothing but insults at her mother’s expense. The lives and successes of the ponies who had succeeded where her mother had failed were swept aside, each and every night, as the mailmare stepped over the threshold of their sparsely furnished house to be there for her daughter. Those bad things didn’t matter.

All that mattered was her. All that her mother thought was most important in the world...was her. Every name, every remark behind her back, every snide look of contempt when the mailmare would come and pick her up from school when she had a day off... none of those things mattered.

They were the two shining paragons of their own little world, and nothing could ever change that.

For the first time that day Dinky let go of everything and gave into her mother’s embrace as every other worry melted away on the floor to join their shared perspiration andthe raindrops from outside. The two lingered there, warm in the other's embrace, as time passed without their knowledge. Ditzy stroked her daughter’s mane, brushing what dirt and detritus her filly had acquired via her proximity to her dirty, smelly, exhausted, and blissfully happy mother. Sniffling a little, Dinky took a few deep breaths to steady herself before she pulled away, nodding in the direction of their dining room.

“I made you something, Mommy! I thought you might have had a bad day, so I made you a little present. Just in time too,” Dinky exclaimed, bouncing a little on her hooves as she stood by the door-frame leading to their dinner table. “It should be warm enough to eat now!”

Standing by her creation, Dinky waited patiently as her mother threw off the saddlebags and trotted to the kitchen, smiling at her daughter.

“ You didn’ haff to, hunny! I was gunna bring back some food, bud id looks like you made...”

She stopped suddenly, inches from her daughter as she stared at what lay before her. She couldn’t move. She couldn't do much more than stare in wonder at what her little unicorn filly had made in her absence.

Glazed in a thin sugar coating and speckled with poppyseeds and the strawberries Dinky had found in the market, Dinky Doo stood petrified as her eyes took in the grand pastry her daughter had brought to life. There on the table, still steaming from its long bake in their little oven, sat the largest muffin either pony had ever seen. It took the form of a large and bulbous heart which was cracked in some parts, burnt in others, and generally lacking in that even quality which makes foods truly exceptional. It was the largest thing resting on their miniature table, almost threatening to break the legs below as it rested and cooled from its baking.

To Dinky, it was just an ordinary muffin, important only because it was a gift for her stressed mother... a mother who worked all day to make sure that she was wanting for nothing.

To her mother, it was a priceless gem.

There was nothing Ditzy could have done to stop herself from falling to the floor, staring in wonder at her present as her daughter ran to her side to see what was the matter. She couldn’t form a few words to express the warmth and the dull aching in her heart as she watched her daughter speak, but heard nothing.

She could only wonder how a mare as troubled, as broken, and as lost as she was could ever have produced a filly as wonderful, as complete, and as perfect as the one who now sat crying on the floor, sad because she’d assumed that her mother didn’t love the gift she had made for her.

Drawing her filly to her chest one last time, Ditzy trembled with pride and love as she cried, hugging her child to her breast as tightly and as completely as she could.

It didn’t matter that she wasn’t perfect, that her eyes rolled around or she couldn’t pronounce her “T’s”.

It didn’t matter that she had suffered the taunts and insults of her fellow pegasi... those fortunate ones who jeered and laughed at her when she’d been fired from all her jobs prior.

It didn’t matter that she couldn’t fly straight, or talk right, or deliver mail...

It didn't matter that she couldn't keep her promises, or be there for her daughter when she needed her, or even that she was unable to provide the life she wanted for her child.

Nothing mattered, save the two of them.

They rested, and cried, and held one another as close as they could as the muffin on the table cooled. They cried out their reservations and worries, their angers and their frustrations, all the little things they’d kept bottled up inside and from each other, leaving a pool of tears in their wake as they just sat and held one another.

They held on for as long as they could, before their muscles gave and their eyes grew dry, before they broke apart smiling and giggling in happiness. Giving her daughter a little kiss on the head, Ditzy pulled them both to their hooves with a little brush of her daughter's cheek.

“C’mon, my liddle muffin," Dinky chuckled, smoothing her daughter's mane. "Led’s dig in!”

Their faces erupted with joy as they turned to face their dinner, and with a giggle the two launched themselves at the delicacy on the table, ripping off great hunks of the massive muffin as they enjoyed the pastry and the company of the other at their sides.

There was never any hesitation, nor any need for apologies between mother and daughter for the abandonment of their decorum.

There would never be a reason for them in the first place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they had taken in what they could and left nothing behind but a destroyed muffin in their wake, Dinky levitated what plates they’d used while her mother slid the confection off the table and onto her back with her wings, guiding the remains of their meal as she followed her daughter to the kitchen. When the plates had been cleaned and what remained of the muffin had been wrapped and stored away for their breakfast the following morning, Dinky's stomach settled and gurgled happily, prompting an equally powerful yawn from the depths of her body. Her mother, knowing just what that meant, swept the little filly in her arms and flew carefully towards her daughter’s bedroom, making sure her wings didn’t clip on the door as she passed.

Nudging the door open with her hindleg, Ditzy carried her daughter as lightly as a feather towards her little bed, depositing her precious cargo on the covers as quietly as she could. Dinky, lingering on the borders of consciousness, squirmed herself into position beneath her little blanket, shivering when a gust of air from the window near her bed came rushing in.

Ditzy never had gotten around to replacing the window, and the mailmare cursed herself again for allowing her failures to cause her daughter discomfort. Her daughter, however, assuaged any negative emotions between them as her little hoof slipped into her mother’s.

“Mommy,” the filly whispered, keeping her voice low. “I have a question.”

“Yes, Muffin?” her mother responded, laying down beside her daughter with a nuzzle of her nose, shielding her daughter from the cold with her wings as the filly snuggled closer for warmth.

“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, ” Dinky whispered, looking up into her mother’s eyes. “It’s just...you never really told me why your eyes aren’t normal. I’ve always wondered about... no, it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry, that’s a stupid question.”

“No, honey!” the mailmare exhaled, cradling her daughter in her hooves. “Id’s nod a silly quesjun. I was jus’ born dis way. Your Grammy and Grampy looked jus’ like you. Dey didn’ have loopy eyes like I do. I dink it jus’ happened when I was in my Mommy’s belly.”

“But does... does that mean that it might happen to me?” Dinky pondered aloud, her heart racing. “It’s not a bad thing! I don’t really care, I just... I don’t...”

“You don’ wanna be made fun of like me?”

“No! I just... I don’t... I...”

Dinky's little sigh slid through the silence, and Ditzy knew what would come. No one should have to deal with the pain of being left alone like she had. Her ‘loopy’ eyes were just an interminable facade which she had been forced to wear since the day of her birth.

That mask was the only thing her employers, her friends, and her lovers would ever see.

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” Dinky whispered, another tear sneaking out from her eyes as she shut them tight. “I’ve heard what they say and it hurts just to hear them say it. I don’t know if I could handle it. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings...”

“Id’s okay, Muffin, ” the mailmare replied, snuggling closer to her daughter on the bed. “It doesn’ change how much I love you. I loved you even before you were born, when you were right here!”

She patted her stomach with her free hoof, watching her daughter’s eyes light up as she imagined her mother and the life she’d had, that time they’d spent together even if Dinky herself could never remember.

They rested there again for a few minutes, the evening quiet sliding through the cracks in the windows as they huddled together for heat. Her daughter twitched just slightly as she slipped in and out of consciousness, balancing on the keen edge between wakefulness and the warm folds of sleep, dreaming about her mother and what stories she knew about her life.

Her thoughts rested on the time when her mother had carried her before she’d been born. What must it have been like: to have the love of your life with you for such a long time? How must it feel to find yourself staring into the eyes of some filly you’d never seen in the flesh, but knew in your heart that you loved them more than anything in the world?

Why was her mother alone, when half of that filly she loved came from somepony else?

With a little whisper, Dinky opened her lips and muttered those words which her mother had always feared she’d hear.

“Why did Daddy go?”

The wind whipping through the windows and the fluttering of the curtains were cacophonous compared to the silence which lingered in her mother’s heart and the utter quiet which hovered like a noxious gas between the mare and her daughter. Ditzy could do nothing but stare as her daughter’s chest, as calm as she’d ever seen it, moved up and down as her little lungs inflated. The only other movement besides Dinky's slow breathing was the little ripple as her heart kept on beating, pulsing just below the surface.

Ditzy didn’t know herself why her love had gone, why he had decided to take his things from their shared house and leave her behind, still pregnant with his foal. She couldn't tell just why he hid his face from hers as she screamed for him to come back... to hold her again...

...to explain why the second beating heart in her womb was any less important than her own.

She couldn’t fly after him with her daughter resting in her womb.

She couldn’t run, as the little body which grew near her heart weighed her down.

She could only watch as he ran away, leaving her with nothing but an empty heart and an empty home.

“Daddy was afraid, sweetie, ” Ditzy whimpered, keeping her eyes closed lest a look from her daughter sent her over the edge and into the horrors of her memories. “He was afraid dat he couldn’ love you like he wanted... dat you would be just so speshul dat he couldn’ provide whad he wanted for you.”

Her daughter finally opened her eyes, but the mailmare was prepared for her. She knew just what to say. She told it to herself every night as she kissed her daughter on the head while she slept, reminding herself each and every night as she closed the door behind her to leave her daughter with her dreams.

“He made me promise to love you for da boaf of us...and I do, liddle Muffin... I do.”

Her daughter smiled, and it gave her the courage to stroke her cheek, lulling her back to sleep just a little.

“You’re da preddies' thing I’ve ever seen...”

Turning a little as she succumbed to the warmth of her mother at her side, Dinky slid a little closer and gave her mother, her wonderfully warm mother, a kiss on her blushing cheeks.

“You’re pretty too, Mommy.”

Their eyes met again, and Ditzy looked upon her daughter in wonder. How she had foaled a child so selfless and kind was a mystery to her, but she thanked her lucky stars every second of every day that she, and she alone, was the one who had the opportunity to bring her into the world. Snuggling a little closer, she stroked her filly’s cheek again as she nestled her closer to keep them both warm.

“I don't know why my eyes are loopy, and I don't know why I don't fly so good...bud I do know I love you, liddle Muffin. I hope it’s enough.”

“It will always be enough, Mommy,” Dinky whispered, finally closing her eyes as she curled in her mother’s hooves, the warmth of her mother’s body rocking her to sleep.

Smiling as her beautiful daughter drifted off to sleep, Ditzy rested her head beside that little bundle who, with every ounce of love she had, had saved her from the world and all the sadness she’d found waiting for her. Every day spent in misery for her failures was calmed with but a look and a smile from that little furry ball who she could hold whenever she wanted and kiss until she could kiss no more. Every shortcoming, every cracked window, every cold room or blustery hallway which came about when she hadn’t found the money to make repairs... everything was silently and warmly whisked away the second her daughter walked through the door to finally make her way home.

The room in which they lay was as silent as she could make it, no sound save the whipping of the wind through the little cracks in the windows and the light whipping of the curtains as they flickered in response. Ditzy looked out the window to see a little herd of mares, with a dragon in tow, making their way to the schoolhouse , its lights aglow on the far side of town.

She’d planned on attending what event lay within, but after their long day she could use the rest.

And so, with her daughter in her hooves and the world growing silent: the two ponies slept away their worries, each safe and warm in the knowledge that the other watched over them and protected them from anything which might come between them.

Dinky opened her eyes one last time, looking at her mother to make sure she was okay and that the rustling of the wind in her drafty little room wasn’t so cold that her mother would need to share her blanket. Her mother shivered only a little, her chest trembling slightly as the wind picked up.

Without a word, Dinky moved herself closer to her mother who, in her sleep, clutched her daughter to her chest. As she burrowed closer into her mother's breast, Dinky smiled when her mother's wings spread over the pair to shield them from the world. Her warmth would help her mother sleep, and Dinky smiled as she closed her eyes again in the knowledge that she would always be there to protect and love that valiant, strong, and wholly beloved mailmare who held her ever so tenderly in her heart.

It was the least she could do for the best mother in the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unreserved

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Unreserved

His latest haul had been quite impressive, and he'd spent the last few weeks sorting what gems he had into their various types, qualities, colors, brilliances, and any other conceivable category his little brain could create. He'd been in discussion with royalty and common jewelers alike to find the perfect settings for his beloved jewels. Only the best stones would do, and those which passed his strictest of requirements had been cut, shaped, polished, set in their places, and lovingly polished again until they could shine no brighter.

And now, with his treasures stowed away in his little wagon and every possible problem addressed: Spike went about town to deliver his gifts.

It was the least he could do, of course, to repay what damage he'd done over the past year or so. His history with gift-giving and receiving had thrown his beloved town into a fair bit of turmoil... but with the level of care and attention he'd paid towards his handmade gifts this Hearts and Hooves Day, those lingering animosities were sure to disappear!

Hopefully, in his generosity, they might forget just what he was capable of becoming.

He thought about each of his friends in turn, but none stood out more than Applejack, whose leaves and apples he’d stolen when he’d gone wild. If there was anything that kind farm pony would understand, it would be how honestly he regretted his actions.

But even if he thought his gift would mean a lot to Applejack, there was one pony to whom his gifts meant a whole lot more.

She was the last on his list for that sole reason.

He walked through the morning hustle and bustle of the town en route to Applejack's farm, his head held high as he basked in the warmth of the gorgeous morning. Stretching his limbs to absorb the rays of the sun, Spike inspected the farmers sorting their wares before them and the other merchants flipping their store signs from 'Closed' to 'Open'. He also couldn’t help but notice that the town’s mail-ponies were running a little faster than normal to deliver their parcels. It must have been just a reaction to the normal love-letter influx of the day, but their haste alerted to him that something might have gone wrong which they were sorting out.

Regardless of the tumult, he kept his feet light as he strolled through town, gazing at the trees and the little colts and fillies of myriad colors and races trotting out the doors of their houses on their way to school. He joined them as they moved down the road in a herd, conversing animatedly or passing little paper notes between them, all of them laughing and enjoying the morning and the half-day they had in store. He listened in as his friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle talked about what they'd hope to do that day, and in his distraction, he found himself stopping in front of the Apple Family orchard before he even realized he’d made his way there.

Pushing open the gate leading to Sweet Apple Acres, he smiled as Applebloom ran giggling through the tall grass on her way to school, bounding over the fence as her saddlebags flapped at her sides. She leapt gracefully over the fence and disappeared in a flurry of dust, reemerging from the cloud with a bright smile for her friends. When the Crusaders had disappeared from sight, he padded his way to meet up with Applejack. The mare remained by the door of her farmhouse, watching her sister enjoy her day.

By the look in her eyes, it was a revelry she did not share.

"Well howdy, Spike!" Applejack shouted happily, her voice lingering on the wind as he trotted along the path. She smiled weakly as she caught his attention, waving her hat in the air as he waved in reply. Picking up his pace, his little wagon threw a little dust cloud into the air as he sped towards the orange mare who waited patiently for him. When he finally arrived, she gave his head-spikes a little tousle before placing her dusty hat back on her head.

"So, what can I do for ya, Spike?" Applejack offered with a smile. "Comin' to pick out some apples? I just got the first batch of cider bottled, if you want some of that..."

"No no, AJ," Spikechoked out, bending over to recover from his sprint. He took a few seconds to huff and puff, struggled to breathe before steadying his palpitating heart. "I came to...to...give you...something!"

"Aw, shoot, Spike!” Applejack muttered, rubbing her leg with a little grin. “You didn't needta go outta your way to do that..."

"No, I wanted to! It really wasn't any trouble; I just thought I'd make you guys some gifts for Hearts and Hooves Day this year. So I made you this..."

With an excited grin Spike dove his head in his bag to find his parcel, rummaged around inside as his tail whisked the dust below in his excitement. Then, as he returned to his place on the ground, he held out his gift before him with a grand flourish and a hidden smile.

Clutched in his claws, glittering in the morning light, sat a leather hatband encrusted with apple-shaped rubies set in little golden insets spaced apart evenly all around. Glittering from a fresh polish, his offering caught the growing light of the world and shone brilliantly, illuminating the various striations and facets which had entranced his equine companion with their luminous wonder. Steadying his hands, Spike returned from his bow and shifted his gift in his claws, admiring it as much as the mare who stood petrified before him.

"I found a few nice veins of gems just a few weeks ago, so I thought I'd make you guys gifts this year instead of buying them. Do you like it?”

He watched as she stared, dumbstruck, her mouth opened in shock as she gazed at the band in his claws. She looked at him once, smiling broadly before ringing the leather band on her hoof, twisting it around to examine it fully.

"Well I'll be! This is the nicest thing you've ever done for me, Spike! It's beautiful! Here, wanna help me get it on?"

With an excited glimmer in her eyes Applejack swept her hat off, resting it on her hoof as he stretched the band over the top, sliding it perfectly into place at the very bottom of the dusty hat’s crown. The little glittering lights which danced off the rubies' facets caught on the leather brim, and with a deft flick she threw the hat into the air and plopped it back on her head.

"How's it look?" she queried, shooting him a little pose to show off the rubies’ glitter. Spike couldn't help but beam as she looked towards her hat’s brim, trying to imagine what his gift must look like as it rested in its required place. Mentally patting himself on the back for his excellent idea, he folded his arms and gave her a little nod.

"That looks fantastic, AJ... honest!"

"Hey there!" the mare chortled, drawing the little dragon into a noogie as she gave her thanks. "That there's my line!"

She tickled him as best she could given his thick scales, but seeing as he was the most ticklish dragon she knew she had no trouble getting a few giggles out of him. After a few more minutes poking and prodding his giggling little frame, she abandoned her delightful torture and allowed him a few moments to calm down.

"Thank you, Spike," she whispered, grinning as she shuffled her hat in her hooves. "I was feelin' a little down before you came, but this here hatband... well... it’s made things a little better. Thank you..."

"No worries, Applejack! It was the least I could do for taking all your apples a while back... and your leaves... and almost destroying your barn...”

“C’mon, sugarcube! Are you still on about that nonsense?” Applejack queried, catching his eyes where they’d fallen to stare at the ground. “You didn’t do anythin’ more than be yourself, even if you were a big, mean, scaly dragon. I don’t blame ya in the slightest, Spike...”

Raising his eyes, he gave a little sigh of relief when those orbs he’d thought he’d dread to see looked back at him full of kindness and forgiveness.

“You don’t?”

Giving his chin a little nudge upwards, she stood up proud, gave him a little wink, and with a little rumbling in her throat pulled off a startlingly excellent imitation of her older brother.

“...nnnNope!”

With a sad little grin she knew she’d succeeded, and she shyly shuffled her hat the dragon before her tried his hardest not to laugh. His attempts to stifle his howls of mirth failed miserably when that same red stallion’s head poked around the door of the farmhouse to inquire as to what the hay was going on.

Stifling a little giggle as the baby dragon grabbed his stomach and fell on his side, Applejack's heart gave a little hopeful flutter as her little friend roared with laughter. Big Macintosh looked from his sister to the dragon before rolling his eyes and continuing with his work. Wiping off a little tear of mirth as he rose, Spike gave Applejack one last little nod and a broad smile.

“You do that too well, AJ! I’d love to stay and chat, but this wagon’s getting a little heavy. If you don't mind, I have some more gifts to deliver. You have a good day!"

With one last wave Spike trotted down the road, his little wagon bouncing behind him. Applejack returned the gesture before dropping her eyes, admiring her face reflecting off the facets of the gemstones he'd set for her. Applejack allowed herself another little smile as her friend enjoyed the day she couldn't, sending a little thought his way for his continued success.

"I'll try, Spike," she whispered, his little heartfelt gift and her dad’s dusty workhat on which it rested her only audience.

"... I'll try."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The light from the midday sun shone in little beams through the trees as he dragged his little wagon down the dusty road towards Fluttershy's cottage. The trickle of the nearby brook and the twittering of bluebirds were his only accompaniment besides the slight squeaking of his wagon's wheels, but despite his attempts to listen there were no signs that Fluttershy was home. The air wasn't full of her little songs or her hopeful whistles, and he could find no trace of the demure little pegasus among the trees where he usually found her. Peering around the glade in which she’d made her home, Spike glanced quickly around the trees and various birdhouses before turning his eyes skyward.

He spotted her almost immediately: she was floating in the air below a bird’s nest, her wing beats keeping her perfectly stationed a few feet below the branch of a tree. She was smiling calmly as a little troupe of baby birds stepped up cautiously, lingering on the edges of their nest.

"Okay little dears, now all you have to do is jump," she calmly asserted towards the little birds who nervously shifted to and fro on the rim. "I'm going to be right here to catch you if you fall, so don't you worry! Everything is going to be okay!"

Her soft smile and calm eyes shook away any lingering doubts for her avian pupils, and she watched attentively, one by one they spread their little wings courageously. They looked to their brothers and sisters conducting their similar preparations, and then, with little cheeps, each of them went tumbling off the edge, flapping madly as they fell.

She had no doubts they would succeed on their first time, but even so she couldn’t help but emit a heartfelt beam of pride when they caught the air beneath their wings and flew on their own seconds before they would have dropped right into her waiting hooves. Flying in broken circles as they adjusted to their newfound freedom, the little birds merrily circled their yellow instructor, tweeting and chirping wildly as they celebrated their accomplishment.

“Ohh, yay! Good job!” she said, clapping her little hooves together in triumph. “You did so well! I am so proud of all of you...”

“Oh, c’mon Fluttershy!” another voice sneered, this one more gruff and far less jovial. “They’re birds! They always make it on their first time! It’s hard to be a bird and not fly.”

“That’s just not true, Dashie! There are plenty of birds that can’t fly, and you know it,” Fluttershy retorted, her little triumphant smile lessened slightly by the assertion of the bright blue pegasus resting below her against a tree. The daredevil blew her little mug of tea and allowed her wings to warm up in a sunbeam, stretching them to their utmost as she sighed in relief.

Trotting down the path, Spike drew his squeaky wagon along, making his way to the two who happily awaited his arrival. Fluttershy dropped down from her position below the nest to re-seat herself on the blanket she’d cast out for the two of them, giving her Angel Bunny a little scratch on the belly. His toes curling from his caretaker's contact, Angel stretched himself out between the two pegasus mares, lazing around in his own private sunbeam.

“Oh...hello Spike! What’s in the cart?” the yellow mare queried, raising her cup to her lips and giving a little blow to cool it off.

“Well, duh Fluttershy: Spike’s been going around town collecting all his little love letters from all the fillies in town! You sly devil, you...”

Rainbow Dash held out her hoof with a broad smile, and as he sat himself down on Fluttershy’s blanket Spike reciprocated her little hoof bump with his own fist. Taking a page out of Ange's book, Spike leaning back to enjoy the morning heat and relaxed his aching feet.

“Oh... my...” Fluttershy stuttered, looking from Spike to his wagon and back again with a little blush. “That’s... ummm... that's quite a few letters there, Spike. You’re not going to break anyone’s heart, are you?! I mean, I hope you don’t... well...”

Her face only grew a darker shade of crimson as she stumbled over her words, and soon Fluttershy could do nothing more than take another sip from her cup and hide her face as best she could.

“I hope you let some of them down easy...”

“Oh, these?” Spike grinned, looking back to his wagon. “No, no... these are for you guys!”

His lighthearted proclamation made Rainbow Dash spew her tea out over the blanket, cascading Angel in a fine mist. The bunny jerked awake from where he’d been basking, and with a little growl he shot a deathly glare at the blue pegasus nearby.

Rainbow gave a little giggle and a shrug of her shoulder to assuage his anger, but could only laugh further when that little puffball drew two of his fingers to his eyes, pointed them at Rainbow's, and then brought them back to point at his own again. With a little hop, he nestled himself in his owner’s pink tail to find someplace where he’d hopefully remain undisturbed.

Sliding the bag from his wagon with a little grunt, Spike hefted his parcels in front of the waiting pegasi. Then, after he had found his gifts, he paused for dramatic effect before whipping out the first of his two wonders.

The broad straw hat in his hands, shining as bright as the sun above, had a floppy brim and rough edges, evidence that he himself had woven it together. He would have had to, especially if he wanted to work around the bright pink spinel and yellow topaz gemstones he’d placed around the base of the hat’s crown. With a little pause to allow the two mares time to marvel at his gift, Fluttershy gasped in astonishment as Spike, with a little bow presented it to her. Drawing her hooves to her mouth in surprise, the little pegasus was utterly petrified, lost in the dazzling glimmering splendor of his offering.

“Spike! Oh my goodness! You... you made this for me?”

“Well, yeah...” he began, shuffling his feet a little in embarrassment. “Why, do you not like it? I didn't know your favorite kinds of gemstones, so I just had to guess! Spinel and topaz seemed to be your thing, so I just went with my gu—”

He never finished his explanation.

He barely even had time to breathe before the little pegasus scooped him up in her arms and gave him a tight hug, the hat somehow already firmly planted on her head. Its brim was wide enough to hide them from the view of the sun, even though he’d left a few little holes to allow some light to strain through... but even then, it was nowhere near as warm as her squeals of excitement or her broad genuine smile.

“Oh my goodness, Spike: I love it! I’ve always wanted a hat like this, and you just... you made one for me! It must have taken you forever to make this, it's just so... so... oh my goodness! It's beautiful! Oh thank you, thank you!”

Fluttershy giggled with excitement as her little friend's feet swayed over the ground, but it wasn't enough to hide Rainbow's little scoff.

“I hope my present’s not that nice, Spike,” Rainbow’s remarked slyly, reaffirming herself to sampling her tea. “I’m not that huggy, so I wouldn’t want to have to compete with Fluttershy there for the title of ‘World’s Worst Gift Recipient’.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” was Spike’s coy reply, and as Fluttershy set him back down on the ground the dragon trotted over to his wagon. After finding Rainbow’s gift with his claws—and pausing once more to make her squirm in expectation— Spike whipped out his present with a little flourish.

The object in his claws was, by far and away, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. His little offering glinted and shone with a marvelous polish and grand sparkle... but the aesthetics of the present were far less beautiful than the mere fact that he had made it just for her. That little thought filled her with more happiness than she had thought she’d feel on this beautiful day, and as Rainbow took up his gift on her hooves, she couldn't help but lose her voice.

Made from a soft brown leather still stiff from its tanning, her newest goggles, oiled and polished, cut broad swaths of glittering color to mirror the namesake of the mare for whom they were made. Every inch of the band was set with little gemstones of every color of the rainbow: minuscule rubies, emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, and other precious and semi-precious stones formed a wide rainbow streak down both sides, each tiny gem inlaid individually by his little clawed hands.

Rainbow's jaw dropped a little as the full realization of her gift sunk in. Rainbow looked from gift, to dragon, to fellow awestruck pegasus before dropping her eyes again to look at the goggles...

Her goggles.

“Oh my gosh...”

“What?!” Spike exclaimed, scrambling in alarm towards the mare's side. “Is there something wrong? Is it too small? Is the glass cracked? I thought I might have heard something break on the way over! Oh please, I didn't mean to give you something broken! Is it broken? Tell me what’s wrong, Rainbow!... Rainbow?”

Rainbow's mouth twitched at the edges, her body struggling to find the perfect emotional output to represent just what grand elation she was feeling in this glorious moment. Her next words only reaffirmed Spike's confusion despite her entrancing stare and the broad smile slowly coming to life.

“Oh my gosh. Oh... my... gosh.”

“What, Rainbow? Do you not like it?”

“Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohymgoshOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!” Rainbow screamed, kicking her hooves on the ground in excitement. “OH MY GOSH, SPIKE! This is the best thing anyone has ever given me! You’re the best, you’re the best, you’re the best!”

Hugging his little frame to her chest as she tapped her hooves wildly on the ground, Rainbow's bone-crushing squeeze forced out all that air he'd selfishly stored away after Fluttershy's similar embrace. But this mare had a mischievous glint in her eyes, and as she placed her brand new goggles on her head, Rainbow Dash shot a wickedly mad little grin at the little dragon in her hooves.

“Wanna go for a ride, Spike?”

“What?!... oh no...”

Patting her on the chest in alarm, Spike looking wildly to Fluttershy for some assistance. Fluttershy, on the other hand, was finding her tea a little more fascinating than usual, grinning around her cup’s lip as she listened to Spike plead for her attention.

“Umm, Rainbow? You don’t have to do that, really! I’m going to be just fine here on the GROOOOUUUUUNN........”

His screams of terror and surprise were sucked away as he broke free from the bonds of earth and went soaring into the sky, held firmly clasped to Rainbow Dash’s chest as she rolled, ducked, and weaved through the air, savoring the sensation of her new goggles and the wind beneath her wings. She screamed and whooped in joy, both for how amazing their flight felt and how totally awesome she must have looked, even as the little dragon in her arms shrieked like a filly with utter terror as the world grew small below his claws.

Fluttershy, back on the ground, could do little more than drink her tea as his cries died away, pushing a little cracker to her bunny as she smiled into her cup.

“Angel Bunny, my dear,” Fluttershy stated with a sly wink to her furry companion. “I think we just lost the title.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time he had landed, stopped his heart from beating out of his chest, and gathered enough breath to heave his lightening load into his wagon, Spike soon found that he was a bit behind his schedule. Allowing himself a few more moments to bask in the praise of his gifts' recipents, Spike gave little hugs to the two blissfully excited pegasus mares on the blanket before trundling down the road with his wagon in tow.

His next gift was destined for that pink and puffy-tailed Pinkie Pie who helped run the sweet-shop in town, but she was the kind of pony who you could never really find when you wanted to. She was always bouncing around, going about her business, delivering invitations, helping others with their errands, and doing whatever things she did to fill up her time when she wasn't baking, tending to the store, selling sweets, or taking care of her employers' high-maintenance foals.

Not that she minded of course: of any pony in Ponyville, she would be the one who would tirelessly work herself to the bone just for the glimpse of an honest and heartfelt smile.

Looking around him at the sunbeams which cascaded through the trees by the side of the road, he plodded along a little faster now that his load was lightening, though it’s weight wasn't the main thing making his trip easier.

With each passing gift and each smiling face he’d seen, his prospects grew a little lighter and his hopes a little higher. Sure, Applejack had been reticent when she’d received her new hatband, but he didn't even need to think twice about if she had meant what she said. She was Honesty Incarnate! She would never lie!

Fluttershy and Rainbow had loved their gifts, the latter of the two so much so that he’d almost had a heart attack and died hundreds of yards above the earth as she cavorted and weaved around the clouds to express her glee. There was little doubt left in his happy mind that the remaining three ponies on his checklist would adore their gifts as well.

There was, however, one pony to whom the little shadow of a doubt still lingered... but hopefully, if all went well, his encounter with her would be as easy and as happy as the others’ had been.

“She’s an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny bit finicky, isn’t she?”

Nodding his head in reply, Spike shrugged his shoulders with a sad little smile.

“Yeah...” he said wistfully, sighing as he walked down the road back towards town. “I took a whole lot of time trying to make sure her gift was perfect. I even spent some time in those Diamond Dog tunnels just to... to...”

He stopped for a second before looking towards town, his face contorting in confusion as he looked around. Finding nothing and nopony who might have been there, he mouthed some silent words as his mind churned.

Who am I talking to?

, Spinning around to regard his surroundings, Spike could find no sign of another soul behind him, to his sides, hiding in the bushes, or up in the sky. He couldn't find a single pony with whom he had—or at least thought he had—been talking to. Turning to look back towards Fluttershy’s cottage in the distance, he scuffed his feet.

There was nopony there, and as he turned around he berated himself for allowing himself to get worked up about delivering his gifts. He took another step forward, his eyes downcast...

“BOO!!!”

“GAAAH!!!”

Scrambling backwards as his spikes and spines stood up on end, Spike huddled behind his cart, breathing heavily as he looked around the edge of his wagon to find the source of his sudden renewed heart attack. Finding nothing, he gave one little sigh of relief, followed by a look at his claws.

Was he going insane? Was the stress of delivering his gifts to the remaining Elements taking that much of a toll on him?

Would his final parcel be delivered to a pony who thought he was clinically deranged?

“Ohh, no no no Spike! You’re not crazy!”

Spike listened to the voice another time, a lilting and high-pitched chirp which he had heard many times before. There was only one mare who had a voice like that: you could hear it all the way across town as it prefaced most every smile the ponies in Ponyville had to give. With a little sigh of relief, Spike slumped against his cart and calmed his heart down once more.

“Pinkie? You can come out now!”

He watched as a shadowy dark ball moved over his head, growing in size before the bright bubblegum-pink hooves of that same springy mare landed before him, kicking up a little dust upon impact.

“Awwww! You found me!” Pinkie huffed, giving her hooves a little stomp. “I was hoping you wouldn’t find me, because it was a fun to sneak around and be mysterious! Where are you goin’, little guy? You wanna come with me to Sugarcube Corner?! Oh my goodness, I just made a fresh batch of bubblegum muffins! They’re so totally awesome! Well, at least I think they are... wanna give them a try?”

Holding his head a little as he reacted to her sudden onslaught of words, Spike shook his head and made his way towards his bag.

“Sorry Pinkie. I wish I could, but I have some stuff to deliver.”

“Oh, well...” she muttered, scuffing her hooves again as she walked back towards Ponyville, Spike just a few steps behind her. “That’s okay, I guess! Maybe another time when you’re not so busy. Why are you so busy, Spike? Today is a holiday, and oh what a super-duper love-a-riffic holiday it is! Are those your presents?! HOW DID YOU GET SO MANY?! Not even I got that many, and I gave everypony at least five cards apiece...”

“Well,” Spike smirked coyly as he pulled out her present, sidling up to his pink companion. “Want another present to add to your collection?”

“Me? A collection!?” Pinkie exclaimed, shaking her head feverishly. “I don’t really have a collection... it’s more of an amalgamation of amorous alphabetical arrangements... or a preponderence of pink, polka-dotted, and purposefully positive parcels! But nopony has given me a gift yet, just notes and little letters leaning towards the ‘lovey-dovey’...”

She looked back towards the Spike she’d left behind to find him holding what only could have been her present in his little claws. Looking from dragon to his gift, then back to dragon, then back to his gift so rapidly and so fast he couldn’t keep track of where her head was, Pinkie suddenly sprinted over and wrapped him in the tightest hug he’d received that day.

“SPIKE! These are the prettiest things I’ve ever seen! Can I try them on? CAN I, CAN I, CAN I?!”

“Of course, Pinkie!” he beamed, handing her her new gift. “They’re yours now! I hope you like them.”

Looking from the dragon to the bright pink horseshoes which lay in her hooves, Pinkie rubbed her hoof over the edges of those gleaming and sparkling sapphire and topaz balloons he’d carved, each of them set with silver. She gave a big broad smile when she pressed against the large metal springs he’d cemented to the base, releasing a very audible squee! when her hoof depressed them and suddenly snapped back when she released.

“How could I not like these, Spike!” Pinkie exclaimed, bobbing a little as she moved from hoof to hoof to slip on her new shoes. “These are so super-springy and sparkly I could just die! Oh my goodness! We should try them out together!!!”

“No, no, Pinkie!” Spike shouted, holding onto his still rapidly beating heart as he recalled his flight not twenty minutes before. “Let’s... umm... well, let’s not do that, okay?”

“Whatever you say!” she squealed in joy, her usual bouncing hooves more pronounced as she grew accustomed to her new springy shoes. “Thank you SSSOOOOO much Spike, these are awesome! Are you gunna be at the schoolhouse tonight?”

“Of course, Pinkie. I wouldn’t miss that! Now, I’m really sorry, but I need to run and deliver the last of these gifts.”

Her usually light bounces greatly magnified as her little hooves bounced her higher and higher, and as her head broke over the treeline she pulled a front flip, shooting him a wave as she tumbled.

“Of course you do! They’re a-waitin’ for ya, Spikey!”

His smile only grew wider as she screamed in joy, twisting and tumbling in the air yet somehow always managing to land squarely on her hooves before her new shoes, once again, sent her flying in the air. He kept the image in his head, smiling all the way into town, and he only shook himself out of little daydreams when he realized he’d made his way back home to the library.

Pushing open the doors of the treehouse in which he and Twilight had made their home, Spike entered the wide circular room to find Twilight and an unknown pegasus stallion talking animatedly. The two exchanged little nods and a slight hoofshake before the stallion gave a little bow, a smile of thanks, and then turned to leave. Spike stepped aside as he passed, looking at the stallion oddly as he left.

“Don’t you worry about him, Spike," Twilight said calmly. “I've got everything under control.”

“I hope so,” the little dragon shrugged, giving his little wagon a jerk to clear its wheels from the little bump by the door. Trotting inside, he wheeled himself and his wagon around to face the purple mare reading on the floor, grinning at the serendipitous circumstance which Twilight had unknowingly engendered.

“So, Twilight, ” he said with a grin, rocking back and forth on his little feet between his gift and its intended. “How’s the reading going?”

“Ohh you know: same old, same old,” she muttered distractedly, flipping over a page with her magic as another book floated over from the shelves nearby. “I've got a nice little backlog of assignments and letters to write to the Princess, plus I’m expecting Shining Armor and Cadence soon, so I have a little work to get done.”

“Oh, well, ” he smiled, feigning innocence as he slid a little closer. “Your eyes must be hurting a little... what, with all the reading and all.”

“You know, now that you mention it,” she commented, rubbing out the lingering irritations in her eyes. “They really have been hurting lately. I guess I should take a nap or something, a little break...”

“Or, ” Spike offered, whipping out his present with a wide grin. “You could wear these!”

As she removed her hooves from her eyes, those same eyes grew wide in excitement as she gazed at a little midnight-purple case before her, glittering with little stars as the light from inside the massive tree caught on the facets of hundreds of miniature amethyst stones. Tapping her hooves in excitement as she opened the lid with her magic, Twilight gasped as a pair of purple reading glasses and their attached necklace sat delicately on their own velvet perch, a thin silver band contrasting heavily with the wondrous sheen of her favorite purple stones.

“Ohh, Spike!” she gasped, her hoof gingerly nestling itself over her heart. “You didn't need to get me anything for Hearts and Hooves Day!”

“It was really no trouble!” he said with a shrug, still rocking backward and forwards on his feet. “I got gifts for everyone: you, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow... I just gave Pinkie Pie hers!”

Regarding the inevitable consequences of his gift to Pinkie, Spike added a little addendum to his original statement with a whisper into his friend’s ear.

“I might have to apologize in advance for her gift. It’s a little extreme...”

“No, Spike,” Twilight muttered tearily, enveloping her oldest friend and assistant with her warm embrace. “You don’t need to apologize for anything. You've done so well with your gifts, and I am so proud that you’re willing to show your friends...our friends... how much you love them.”

“Thanks, Twi...” Spike muttered, still lost in the wonderfully warm emptiness of their shared affection. The two of them rested there for a brief moment, but as Twilight moved to relinquish her grasp she found Spike had no similar intention. The dragon only tightened his grip, holding her closer to borrow her confidence... just for a little while.

This could only mean one thing: there was one more mare he hadn't visited.

The only one left on his list.

“Spike,” Twilight whispered, casting her head down to linger there beside his own. “You haven't given Rarity her gift yet, have you?"

Nothing came... nothing save a renewed squeeze and the burrowing of his head into her breast. Stroking his back gingerly, Twilight summoned up a little more courage for Spike to take with him towards his final recipients presence, relinquishing her hold upon it with a soothing whisper.

“Don’t you worry, Spike, ” she crooned, stroking his head-spikes. “I know she means a lot to you, but you don't need to worry about her not liking your gift. She will love whatever you made for her, I know it.”

“But what if she doesn’t?” he gasped tearily, looking back into his friend’s calm eyes. “What if she doesn't like it? What if it’s just one more thing to remind her of how I almost hurt her when I transformed? I've never seen her wear the other gift I gave her... what if she thinks I don’t care as much as I did back then? What if she doesn't care at all?”

“Spike,” Twilight whispered, laying on the floor to meet his eyes. “Rarity knows you care about her, she really does! Nothing is going to change how she feels about you... but it might not be as strong as you feel for her.”

“I know,” he admitted, staring at some imaginary point on her forehead. His shrug was enough of a substitute for a brief moment of eye contact, for had their eyes met what he truly felt might come cascading out against his will.

“I just... I just wish she would.”

“She can’t, Spike, ” Twilight whispered. “The most that she can feel is how she feels for you right now. She is too wrapped up in her little dreams, as lofty and ambitious as they may be, to keep her hooves on the ground.”

Raising his head, she rubbed his cheek with her hoof and gave him a little smile of courage, one which he would look upon and remember even when he trudged towards his hearts’ destruction.

“I want you to go over there with your head held high. You are such a kind little dragon, Spike, and even if she doesn’t feel the same way that you feel for her, I want you to remember something...”

“Anything,” he whispered back, a single tear tracing his little scaly cheeks before dying on the floor.

“Just remember that we all love you, Spike. You will always have a little place in our hearts, even Rarity’s, and we always will... even if we are a little mad at one another or don’t show it right away. Just remember that, above anything else.”

Nodding his understanding, Spike wiped his face and gave his caretaker a courageous wink.

“I will.”

Giving his chest a little nudge, Twilight gave him one last little wave as he grabbed his wagon, checked his bag to ensure his gift was still inside, gave his dearest friend and surrogate mother one last sad little grin, and closed the door behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike lingered there before the door of her boutique, lacking the will to knock and announce his presence. The various swatches and ribbons which Rarity so effortlessly held aloft whirled and tumbled in the air as she went about her business. She delicately flounced this way and that between sewing machine and dress forms, assembling what creations she needed to make good on her Hearts and Hooves Day deliveries.

She always slaved away, often to her own detriment, to make sure that everyone was happy... that everyone was completely satisfied. Spike couldn't help but smile as he remembered the dresses she’d made for her friends ever so long ago and just how ridiculous they’d looked. He recalled when she’d been nothing but a mass of tangled and unkempt hair after their encounter with the Poison Joke, yet still somehow beautiful.

He looked back on every time he’d been in her presence, every time her hair had caught the light and shimmered, every time her mane and tail bounced as she walked.

Every little grin, every wide-eyed moment of excitement... every scream of surprise when something went either horribly wrong or wonderfully right.

Those little memories of the mare he’d fallen for made him smile, even though his arms grew hollow as he knocked on the door. He barely had the courage to stand, his legs trembling as if some slight nudge might crack them and send him falling to the floor to smash into a million pieces.

He almost couldn’t could hear her high-pitched invitation inside, but as her voice shocked him back into reality he found himself pushing open the door despite his reservations, tiptoeing his way inside even as his heart willed him to turn tail and run back home.

In a blur, he found himself staring at the lovely pearly-white mare strutting around her boutique, levitating her various fabrics and tools around as she tended to her work. The little wheels on his cart squeaked as he drew it close, leaning in to find her gift. Looping his final marvel around his claws, he withdrew it gently and held it close for comfort.

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique!” Rarity chimed, her back still turned to her visitor. “I’m sorry if I’m a little busy at the moment: I have some orders I’ve fallen behind on, so if you’d like to look around and find something you like, I’d be happy to...”

Turning finally to face her prospective customer, Rarity looked around in surprise to find nopony there. The one dragon who remained, however, shook her out of her busy mental state like a dash of cold water.

“Spike? My goodness, I’m sorry! I wasn’t expecting you! Can I do something for you?”

He could do little more than stare at the mare before him, so lost was he in those bright blue eyes of hers that he lost track of what he was doing. Before he had even realized what was happening, he found himself holding out her gift in his claws, staring dumbly back as he watched her face for any sign of emotion, any flicker of the love he’d been hoping for.

Almost in slow motion, every object which she had been holding clutched delicately in her magic dropped to the floor. The fabrics and scissors, needles and thread, and the various other odds and ends which her profession required her to use fell silently to the ground as all vestiges of her concentration broke. Rarity shuffled over to the little dragon, entranced by his offering even as he squirmed and shivered at her approach.

“I don’t... I...” Rarity whispered, kneeling down to examine the wondrous object which his little claws had brought before her. “How did you... why... this, this is too much Spike...”

“No, Rarity, ” Spike muttered, still watching her eyes as they moved to and fro around the object in his hands, widening in awe as they looked over the various little delicate intricacies he’d spent the past few weeks perfecting. “It isn’t too much. If anything, it’s not enough.”

“You can’t be serious!” she gasped, looking to the dragon in shock. “This... I can’t accept this, Spike! This is too much, and I don’t feel comfortable taking this.”

“Please...” Spike whispered, his voice trembling as his courage died away. "I want you to have this, Rarity. I made it just for you..."

“I can’t, Spikey. I couldn’t even begin to think of how to repay you, and I don’t think I ever could even if I wanted to.”

They stood there in silence, the little dragon planted firmly in his place as the mare before him, kneeling on the ground to face him, held his gaze.

“I can’t take this, Spike... I can’t. I know you put so much work into it, and I know you really want me to have this...”

Pressing his gift back to his chest, she gave a little shake of her head, the curls which he had loved for so long bobbing and bouncing in the absence of the same love which kept them aloft.

“But I can’t, especially when I have nothing to give you back. It’s just too much.”

Rolling his gift in his claws, he stared at what he’d made in wonder. It was utterly flawless in every way, and he had spent countless hours and many sleepless nights working and cutting, filing the diamonds into shape with his scales and claws to the point where they fit perfectly in their insets. He had heated the metal onto which those precious stones were stationed with his own fire, stretching and teasing everything into place.

But still, despite his efforts, she would have no part in it. She couldn’t take it, just like Twilight had warned him.

Dropping his gift on the floor with a thud, Spike recoiled from the mare before him, closing his eyes to hide himself from the severity of his declaration.

“No, Rarity! I put everything I had into this present! If you’re just trying to spare my feelings because you don’t want it, just tell me! You don’t have to give me anything back! You never have! I slaved on this... this... thing! I worked forever to make this! I’m sorry if you don’t like it, and I know you’re just trying to be polite, but if you don’t like it, then tell me! I can take it!”

"No, Spike! I do like it, I adore it!... I just can't accept anything so gracious, I just can't."

She recoiled a little as the dragon wailed with fury, his little fists clenched tight to keep himself together.

“I made it for you! I worked on this... for you! I slaved, and I dug, and I filed my claws to the bone to cut everything just so... for YOU! I DON’T NEED ANYTHING BACK! I DON’T WANT ANYTHING IN RETURN! I JUST WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY! I JUST WANT YOU TO BE OKAY! I JUST WANT YOU TO LOVE ME! I JUST... I just...”

Plopping himself on the floor, his legs gave out beneath him as he fell on his tail. His fists still firmly clenched together, Spike gave in with a longing stare at his love's dazzling hooves, holding onto them through the watery glaze of his tears.

“I just... I just want you to be safe...”

Spike's little whisper, as silent as he could make it, lilted through the air... though more for himself than for the mare who listened attentively before him. Staring wide-eyed at the little dragon in awe, Rarity remained petrified as a single tear ran over her foundation and streaked a little line of black on her cheek.

They didn’t move. They did nothing but breathe together, glued to the floor as both willed themselves to make a sound, some flicker of activity which might prompt the other to repair the damage his outburst had caused.

He could only tremble on the floor, breathing heavily as he strained to keep his breaths even.

She could only stare in shock, wipe her cheek, hold his tender face in her hooves...

... and give him a kiss.

It was but a brief moment in time, a few lingering seconds of intimate proximity, but it lasted an eternity for that little dragon. Closing his eyes and pouring himself into what lingering physical contact he had with his beloved, Spike allowed himself to be carried away before Rarity pulled away, ever so slowly, lingering there before him with tears in her eyes.

“I am safe, Spikey-Wikey,” Rarity whispered, stroking his cheek with a trembling hoof. “And I am so, so happy! Ever since you came to Ponyville, you've been so generous, kind, and thoughtful. You've been irreplaceable, even if you've been obnoxiously doting on me at times... even if you do have a shirt with my face on it!”

Spike couldn’t help but give a little chortle at that sad little fact, and as his face grew a little brighter Rarity allowed herself to relax, still holding his face in wonderfully soft hooves to bring her point home.

“I’ve loved you as a little brother, Spike... but we both know I can’t love you any more than that.”

“Why not?...” he whispered, devoid of emotion, as blank and as empty as the bag in which her present, the last remaining gift in his possession, had been but minutes prior. He drew his eyes towards it even as she spoke in her quiet dulcet voice, trying to explain.

What once was full of hope was now but a hunk of cloth, useless without something to hold within itself to keep it safe. That bag was devoid of meaning from the moment he’d drawn her gift from within to leave it on the ground to sparkle in the light.

He wished he could have kept it there, to keep it safe from being scuffed on the floor and away from any harm. He wished he could have kept it for himself instead of giving it away just to be rejected, even though he wanted so badly for her to know it was there... just for her.

He only wished, as they sat there together in the silence, that she knew just how empty she'd made him feel.

But that was something no diamond bracelet or soft, sweet word would ever fully convey.

She was one treasure he would never protect, as much as his brave little heart wanted it to be so.

“Because, Spike,” Rarity whispered calmly, shedding another tear. “Because the place where you reside in my heart is just so full of love that it hurts me a little to see you like this. It kills me to know that I could never hope to match the love you feel for me. I’ve known that you love me ever since you first came here... and as I’ve watched you grow, play, and mature into the brave, kind, selfless dragon you are now: I've only seen you as my own little knight, my brave little protector...”

Removing her hoof from his cheek, Rarity chanced a glance into his empty, trembling eyes and the breaking heart beneath.

“...But nothing more.”

With a comforting smile Rarity slid his present towards her leg, placing her hoof within its arms and adjusting it slightly with the other. What portion of happiness still alive in Spike's miserable heart fluttered with pride as his offering fit her foreleg perfectly. It still pained him to see his gift whole and intact when the heart that had made it lay splintered and broken in his chest, but the way she wore it... it could only have been hers. It would always be hers.

She took a moment to examine his offering, feeling the ridges and bumps of the diamonds on her arm.

“It truly is beautiful, Spike, and it means the world to me that you thought of me when you made it. I know you must feel betrayed, and I'm sorry that I'm the one who did that to you. I want you to be happy, Spike... and if it makes you happy to see me with this on, then I will keep it safe. It's the least I could do to repay you.”

Adjusting the cuff to her desired location, Rarity chuckled a little when her own mascara-streaked face looked back at her in the flawless clear facets of her favorite gemstone.

“Thank you for your gift... and for your love, Spikey-Wikey. I’m sorry than I can’t give you anything in return.”

“...Don’t be.”

He raised his little head from where it had lain to gaze on the floor, a little smile and a flicker of understanding in his bright eyes.

“I understand. I may not like it, but I understand. I can't force you to love me.”

Returning his sad smile, Rarity pulled her brave little knight into her embrace, granting him one last kiss on the head as they rested together. That soft, lilting floral fragrance she always wore still carried with it all that same sweetness, but it lacked that little extra meaning now that everything had been laid on the table, covered with satin and silk, and then smashed into pieces before his eyes.

"It may not be as strong as you hoped, Spikey-Wikey," Rarity whispered, holding him closer. "But I do love you. You never had to force me to do that: you made me love you just by being there for me, for listening to me, for saving me when I couldn't handle things on my own. It might not be the same kind of love, Spike, but it's love nonetheless. I just hope you remember that, even if you hate me for what I've done... even if you regret everything you've done for me."

Spike's eyes closed once more as he savored her embrace, memorizing the feel of her skin and her hair as he pieced those little fragments of his heart back together, ever so slowly, with her memory as his mortar.

She could feel his little heart beating away, slowly calming as that little last hope for her love slid out of his body, forcing him to relax in its passing. One day, it would find its way back in there, brought back to him in the claws or hooves of some other love.

But that was something she couldn’t do, as much as it pained her to see that little spark which kept his hopes alive wither and die as she held him close.

Spike pulled away when he could hold on longer, sniffling as he lovingly stared at her foreleg and the bright cuff he’d made for her. Shuffling towards his wagon, he prepared himself to leave, still hiding his face and the evidence of his despair.

“Just remember... just remember to polish it every so often... and don’t leave it lying around. I don’t want you to lose it.”

Another tear flashed down Rarity's cheek as Spike wheeled his wagon around to walk back towards the door. She smiled as she watched him leave, and almost without her knowledge she found herself clutching his gift to her heart, feeling the little ridges of the hundreds of tiny diamonds which lay encrusted on the surface.

“I never will...” she whispered, beaming as she watched him go.

She never noticed, but for the briefest moment he paused in the doorway as her words, those soft and sweet notes, came fluttering into his ear.

She never saw him smile to the ground outside or saw his heart give another little flutter before he pushed it back down below the surface.

She only saw him leave, taking the time to make sure sure her door closed completely behind him before the sound of his feet grew quieter... and quieter... until, at last, they died away completely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“C’mon, Spike! We’re going to be late!”

He had barely had time to wake himself from his nap, get his scales all in order, and touch down on the library floor before Twilight scooped him up, hoisting him onto her back as she trotted through the front door towards the orchard and the schoolhouse beyond. The sun had finally set, and that gorgeous day he’d been enjoying still rested in a glaze of august light just over the horizon.

“Are we meeting up with the girls?” Spike queried, holding onto Twilight’s neck as she ran towards Sweet Apple Acres. She looked back and gave him a little nod.

“Of course! Applejack has something she needs to attend to, but everyone else is going to be there.”

“Of course we will be! We wouldn’t want to miss this!”

Twilight gasped in surprise when she turning her head to see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying just above their heads. Spike, resting on his back, gave them little waves as the pegasi kept pace, their gifts resting squarely on their heads where they had been hours before.

“There’s Pinkie and Rarity!” Fluttershy exclaimed, pointing out two more figures by the fence leading to the orchard. One of them was easy enough to identify: a bright jumping ball of pink would be hard to miss, no matter how dark it might have been getting.

Her companion, on the other hand, stood proudly beside her bouncing pony friend, awaiting their arrival calmly. The glittering cuff he’d made for her gathered what remaining light there was in the world and released it in a radiant burst of sparkling iridescence which caught Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s attention.

“Oh, my...” Fluttershy sighed as she squinted to pick out the source of the light. “That’s quite... wow!...”

“Did you make that, Spike?” Rainbow snapped, looking from dragon to Rarity’s sizable bracelet in surprise. “Please tell me you didn’t make that!”

“Me?” Spike stated calmly, cocking his eyebrow as he looked from Rainbow to the white unicorn mare standing nearby. Her mane and tail were coiffed just as they always were, but the addition of his glittering bracelet stood out from the beautiful gown she was wearing. A flowing dress cropped just shy of the dusty road beneath her glinted with a silky sheen as the moonlight slowly grew brighter... but nothing she wore could compare to the wondrous cuff on her arm.

Or the great heart-shaped Fire Ruby which shimmered on her breast, trembling as Rarity anxiously awaited his arrival.

She’d kept it, after all this time.

It wasn't some treasure she locked away for herself, or gave to another when she required. It was a gift... his gift... which she had kept nearby, keeping it close and safe from harm. She had taken care of it, polished it, made it shine as if it were brand-new. She’d made sure it wasn't lost, kept it in perfect condition, ensured that nothing would come to scratch its deep crimson facets or the golden necklace in which it slumbered.

She’d kept it safe, even when she’d broken his heart but a little while ago.

She’d had it close when she’d given him his first kiss on the floor of her boutique, holding his lips as tenderly and with as much love as he had for her in his strong little heart, even if it was a love she could never fully reciprocate.

She had worn it when they were falling to a certain doom, her hoof placed over his mouth because she knew how he felt... knew what he would say... knew just what he’d yearned to tell her ever since the first day he’d laid eyes on her. They were words she'd never required to hear, for she had heard them in his actions, in his bravery, his kindness, and his selfless protection of her throughout the years.

They were unnecessary.

The heart which lay on her breast was his own, and she had kept it safe through everything.

“No, Rainbow Dash...” Spike grinned, watching Rarity all the while as her smile beamed, her hair fluttered, and her eyes twinkled when she looked through the darkness to find him staring back.

They shared a little look, his love’s final farewell, before he broke their contact and smiled back up at the blue pegasus above. Rainbow's eyes still stared in wonder at the bracelet which his little hands had made for the mare who had entrapped his heart.

The heart which lay glittering on her breast, beating in time with her own.

“...She’s had that as long as I’ve known her.”

Unwavering

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Unwavering

Today was the day.

Today was the day, Apple Bloom was convinced, that her world would come crashing down around her. The pillar on which they had built their lives and the strongest, strictest, most perfect foundation they could have asked for was finally going to come down, and no sounds but the whispers of her friends as they snickered at some little unicorn filly she had never really known made their way into her little yellow ears. She could hear nothing over the buzzing of the thoughts inside her head. There was room for little else.

She stared blankly forward, struggling to pick up what her teacher was saying as she stood by her blackboard. Names, dates, and places littered the surface as she connected the dots to link the whole history of Hearts and Hooves Day together. Her mouth was moving even though, as far as Apple Bloom knew, she wasn't saying a word.

She listened to her classmates and the ruffling of little paper expressions of affection passing to and fro along the back rows towards their intended destinations. She watched her friends giggle and blush at one another, feeling in their little hearts the flickerings of love and, only sometimes, the little sneering head of jealousy poking its way through. She envied some, but hated most.

Why should they be so happy, when she was in such despair?

The sudden slam of a desk in the middle column and the loud snap! of a pencil shocked her from her reverie, and as Apple Bloom turned with her classmates to find the source of the noise, Apple Bloom found herself staring at the little unicorn Dinky in the middle of the room, her chest heaving in rage. Apple Bloom watched those eyes burn with an unbridled fury, but despite what malice they contained she couldn't help but smile.

Apple Bloom watched that furious little unicorn as she shook with anger and hatred for her blue and green classmates. She watched those little eyes she'd never really looked at before and smiled. That filly who had always looked down at the floor as she tracked in dirt from the playground was now sounding our her fury as she never had before, illuminating the courage and undefinable power with every flickering flame of wrath in her eyes.

At least someone felt as Apple Bloom did. At least one other pony, save her and her siblings, wasn't feeling the magic of the holiday. At least she had one pony she could count amongst her ranks.

At least she wasn't alone.

A nudge from her pegasus friend and a nod towards the playground was enough notice for Apple Bloom to slide out of her seat and tramp towards the door. She, her friend Scootaloo, and another unicorn filly with bouncy pink-and-purple hair congregated around their desks, obeying the unheard order of their teacher as they trotted towards the door.

"Did you just see that?!" Scootaloo whispered, her voice cracking with excitement. "That was awesome! Dinky almost got him good!"

"Scootaloo! That's not very nice!" her unicorn companion exclaimed. "He could have been hurt really badly!"

"Whatever, Sweetie Belle," the pegasus retorted, turning back from the door to look over her shoulder at the unicorn filly and her blue target. "Those two are bad news: they pick on everyone, even me! ME! They called me 'little flutter-fail' just yesterday..."

"That shouldn't matter, Scoots! Besides, Rarity always told me not to look poorly on other ponies, even if they're your enemies. It is not a fabulous thing to do!"

"Heh... she would say that, right, Applebloom?... Applebloom?..."

The two of them turned to find their friend staring at the ground just beside the door, off to the side to allow her various classmates and friends to make their way through. She stood there, lost in thought, before turning to watch Dinky Doo suffer the consequences of her actions.

She'd done nothing wrong, at least in Apple Bloom’s eyes. She was fighting in defense of her mother, whom everyone knew to be a very hard worker. It didn't matter that she was a little 'derpy', as the term was. She accounted for her shortcomings and always did what she had to for her family. Why shouldn’t Dinky be allowed to fight for her? She fought for Dinky... every second of every day.

Dinky and her mother didn't have much, but they had each other, wholly and completely.

That was what 'Family' was all about.

The three of them turned to watch Dinky, and they did they noticed that the little filly was staring back at them. Her eyes were calm, her breath almost controlled. She didn’t look as if she rested on the precipice of disaster. For the most part, she was ready for anything. She was ready to embrace her punishment.

Ready to face the world.

Turning to enter the sunshine of mid-day as it graced the playground and the world beyond, Apple Bloom trudged across the dirt patches and various dusty spots in a daze. She could do nothing more than plod over to her favorite tree across the yard, sitting down beside it with a little plop. She could feel the bark scratch her hide a little, tickling those itchy places she'd been meaning to scratch all throughout the class period. She shifted a little to afford herself some comfort as she thought about what was to come...

~~~~~

Her sister had been silent that morning, preparing Apple Bloom’s saddlebags as usual with her favorite morning oats and a nice shiny apple, organizing her paperwork and holiday notes a little more tidily than usual as if making up for her reticence.

She never saw her brother leave. Big Macintosh would usually come into her room and gave her a little kiss before leaving for the far side of the orchard. She always pretended to be asleep just to feel her big brother nearby, to feel her heart flutter as he reminded her every single morning that he loved her, even if she wasn't awake to acknowledge it...

...But that morning he had never snuck in as he usually did.

Applejack didn't say much, no usual words of encouragement or last-minute reminders of things to gather from the market. She only gave her sister a tight hug when she came down from her bedroom, holding onto her little sister as if she were the one last precious thing in the world. She had always tried to hide her tears, but Apple Bloom always knew they were there. She had never been good at hiding anything from her: being the physical manifestation of Honesty had that one disadvantage.

"Now remember, sugarcube," she'd said, holding Apple Bloom's shoulders as the early morning cold snuck in through the partially open door, fluttering the edges of her hat a little. "You might need to come on home early, y'hear? I already asked Miss Cheerilee to tell you about it, but y'all have a half-day anyway... so..."

She'd given her sister a sad little smile, stroking Apple Bloom's chin as she struggled for purchase.

"Just wait for your teacher to give you leave, then you just c'mon home... okay?"

She remembered she'd given a little nod of acknowledgement before she was once again lost in that straw colored mass her sister called a mane, though it didn't smell like it usually did. She'd washed it, perfumed it a little with a floral fragrance Rarity used on occasion whenever the Crusaders would have their slumber parties in the Boutique. She never imagined her sister would smell like anything more than sweat and dirt, but now?

Now she smelled almost divine.

Giving her sister a little pat, Applejack had sent her along and out the door to go to school, standing in the door-frame to watch her go. Apple Bloom remembered running through the tall grass by the road in excitement, awaiting the surprises they would undoubtedly have in store for that evening: pies, cakes, turnovers, cobblers, and whatever else her sister dreamt up for Hearts and Hooves Day, just like she and Granny Smith made every year. She also had thought on what Miss Cheerliee would provide: games, excitement, maybe a short lesson before recess, and then they could all spend the rest of the day with their loved ones to share the holiday together. It was a recipe for another beautiful Hearts and Hooves Day, and the sunshine was only making it better.

But Granny Smith hadn't been downstairs to help out like she usually did. Apple Bloom hadn't seen her in her usual rocking chair as she got a little more sleep before tackling another day to the ground and throwing it into submission. She was as tough as nails and about as sharp when she wanted to be, but she was always there in the mornings every time Apple Bloom went off to school, always without fail.

She was there bright and early to make the Zap-Apple Jam when the season was right, and she never missed the chance to be there for the cider, cakes, pies, and various delicacies she'd taught her daughter-in-law and her daughter after her how to make.

Apple Bloom had always given her grandmother a hug before she went off to school. She had always made a point to suffer the old mare’s usual words of warning about the weather and the various critters which lived in the tall grasses where she usually ran. That rocking chair which was always moving as that shriveled green frame pushed herself back to sleep was as silent and as still as her sister had been, and as cold as the cheek which her brother had always made a point to kiss as she slept.

She had hoped to see her grandmother awake on the morning of Hearts and Hooves Day just to tell her how much she loved her, but the only one to whom she had spoken was Applejack, who had never said a word about their grandmother’s absence. Apple Bloom had planned to show them all that she loved them, to give them hugs and little words of affection before she spent the day without them.

But Granny Smith hadn't been there this morning...

~~~~~

That lingering fact was what kept Apple Bloom glued to the ground, ignoring the world as her friends stood by, watching over her, giving her time to think. She was so lost in the irregularities, the breaks in the Apple Family routine, and the absence of her grandmother that she almost didn't notice when that previously-furious unicorn filly skidded to a halt nearby, kicking up a little cloud of dust as she stopped abruptly before the three of them.

"Hey Sweetie Belle, Scoots!” Dinky said, a little too enthusiastically for Apple Bloom's taste. “Apple Bloom, Miss Cheerilee wants to see you inside for a second."

She had been counting down the minutes, but the time arrived sooner than she'd thought it could. Rising from her position she grabbed her friends and gave them hugs, thinking that the harder she squeezed them, the longer she might be able to stave off the inevitable.

But she only had so much energy, and now she had no time.

Strengthened by their embraces and emboldened by their words of encouragement and love, Apple Bloom trudged towards the schoolhouse door held open by her loving teacher. She took a second to scan her teacher's face for some confirmation of her fears, but saw nothing but Miss Cheerilee's usual serenity staring back. It was enough to get her through the door and seated at her usual desk as her teacher closed and locked the door, depositing two letters on her desk before making her way over to Apple Bloom, her hoofsteps quiet and even.

Apple Bloom looked to the floor to see that pencil half still lingering from when it had snapped.

She felt, in the face of what was to come, almost as broken.

"Apple Bloom, sweetie," her teacher began, sitting down on the floor beside her student. "Do you know why I called you in here?"

Applebloom slowly shook her head, her unkempt hair cascading over her face as she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and lowered her gaze from her teacher's, shaking her head as furiously and as silently as she dared even though she knew it was a lie.

She knew exactly why she was here. She knew why her grandmother had been missing that morning. She wished she could be as ignorant as her friends outside, the one’s who waited for her and gave her comfort without understanding why she felt as she did. She wished that she was just a little younger so that she didn't fully understand the abstract concepts which slowly twisted the knife in her heart... just so she could be spared the pain. Cheerilee rubbed her leg in that tender way she always had, as if Apple Bloom was one of her own.

"Are you sure?"

Her teacher's little whisper was enough for Apple Bloom to renew her resolve and shake her head, her hair falling over her little face as she kept her defense up, as if the denial of her fate would change what was in store.

But then, as her eyes closed ever so tightly and her face contorted into a pained little smile, she gave a little nod, her tears tracing her lips as she cried in silence. She heaved a little, trying so very hard to ensure she wouldn't give in, wouldn't give up... be strong like her sister and her brother and her Granny.

But that was something she couldn't do, no matter how hard she tried... no matter how much she wanted to.

She reached for her teacher's neck to pull Miss Cheerilee as close to herself as she could, but she went straight into her teacher's waiting hooves in the process. Cheerilee could do little more than be there for her student as Apple Bloom struggled to keep herself from wailing, her little chest heaving as that little heart of hers pounded away, each wave of blood ushering in another equally dull wave of despair. Every tear, every choking gasp, every rasping little scream brought only more pain, and Cheerilee herself couldn't help shed a few tears to complement her student’s.

A few minutes more gave Apple Bloom the time to collect herself and take long, deep breaths, exhaling out her worries and the lingering tears.

"These things happen, Apple Bloom," her teacher whispered, squeezing her crying student closer. "Everyone goes through this, and I know you don't want it to happen, but it's time. There is a time for everypony, and now..."

Raising her student's chin from where it lay against her chest, she gave a sad little smile.

“...and now, it’s her’s.”

Nodding as she held her teacher closer, Apple Bloom sniffled a little as what her teacher said sank in. She held her teacher’s eyes for as long as she could, her own dripping as her teacher continued.

“I know it hurts, honey... and I know you think it’s unfair. Even I think it’s a little unfair that she never got the chance to see you grow up... but she knows that you are such a strong little filly, just like she was.”

“I’m not!” Applebloom babbled, her head shaking as she trembled in despair. “I’m not! I can’t be, I just can't! I can’t do it, Miss Cheerilee! I can’t do it! I can’t go home... I can’t do it... I can’t do it...”

“Yes you can, little Apple Bloom, I know you can...”

“NO!” Applebloom cried, clutching her teacher closer. “Please, don't make me go home! I can’t see her! I don’t want her to go! I don’t want her to leave me! Why can’t she stay? Why can’t she just stay around for a little while longer?”

“She just can’t, honey” her teacher said, unable to stop her own little tears from joining with Apple Bloom’s. “She has been working so long and so hard to keep you safe, and now that you are: she needs her rest. She needs to sleep, Apple Bloom. Just because she’s gone doesn't mean she doesn’t love you. She will always love you, honey... and she’ll always be there for you.”

“Where?” Applebloom whimpered desperately, her tongue catching in her throat as her stomach heaved in pain. "She's going to leave me! She can't leave me! Where will she go?"

She watched as her teacher pushed her away a little, looking into her eyes. She could feel as her teacher’s hoof made contact with her own skin, and as she looked down she saw what her teacher meant.

That magenta hoof which she had always seen coated in chalk or dirt was placed squarely over her heart, and as she watched she could see her own little organ creating so much pressure that her teacher’s hoof moved as it kept beating.

“Right here, Apple Bloom... right here in that big heart of yours. She’s always been there, and she always will be.”

Cheerilee smiled as her student looked to her chest, wondering over what she had said. Then, with her eyes aglow, AppleBbloom gave one last little sniffle and beamed up at her teacher, clutching Cheerilee’s hoof to her chest. Her teacher gave her a little nuzzle, and then spoke quietly so that only they could hear.

“Now, my dearest Apple Bloom: I want you to be strong, like your brother and sister. I want you to go home and be with them. I want you to be as strong as your Granny, for yourself and your family. You have so much love in that heart of yours that I know you can spare a little...”

She gave a little nudge and a warm smile. “I want you to go home now, Apple Bloom, and I don’t want you to come back until you’ve had time to relax and do what you need to do. Your sister is waiting for you at home, dear.”

Wiping away the tears which lingered on her student’s face, she walked with Apple Bloom towards the door, opening it with her hoof to allow her brave little student outside. When she had gone down the steps and made it to the road with her head held high, Apple Bloom looked back and caught her teacher’s kind eyes one last time before looking to the road, running as fast as she could back home.

~~~~~

After a few agonizing minutes of sprinting down the dusty road, Apple Bloom cleared the fence like her sister did and ran through that same tall grass she’d trekked through in the morning fog, not even noticing the little unicorn filly nearby who watched her from the fence further down the road. She thought it silly that these tall grasses, where just a few hours ago she’d sprinted through in excitement, now lowered over her in dread as their edges caught on the wind.

Breaking from the grass, she looked to find her brother talking in hushed voices with her sister, the both of them standing proud but visibly drained. It wasn’t that same look they always had when they’d completed some wide stretch of the orchard: their usually unbreakable frames sagged and their eyes drooped a little more than usual, past the point of physical exhaustion and into the realms of emotional distress.

But regardless of their heavy bodies and hearts, they both smiled widely as they watched her approach, Big Macintosh sitting down on the ground to allow the filly a space to curl against. When she found her way into his arms, he held her close to his massive beating heart before giving her that kiss on the cheek he had always made the effort to give her. He hadn't forgotten about her, and that little thought made her smile.

He would always love her, and even if it took him a little time: he would always be there.

Apple Bloom smiled as she held her brother against her chest, the two of them were frozen together for a few moments before he pulled her chin up and nodded in the direction of his other sister who sat in the doorframe awaiting Apple Bloom's arrival.

“It’s time, Applebloom,” Applejack stated calmly, the lingering tracks of her tears carving little valleys in the dirt which had always found its way onto her face. The little glinting sparkle of a new hatband lay squarely on the crown of her favorite workhat, and Apple Bloom couldn't help but admire it a little. It set her at ease to see something so simple and beautiful. It was not unlike the mare who stood proudly just beneath it.

Nodding her assent, Applebloom removed herself from her big brother and walked towards her sister, giving Applejack's chest and neck a little nuzzle before plodding slowly inside. Applejack and her brother shared a little flicker of relief before they too trotted inside, closing the door behind them.

They ate their lunch without saying a word to one another, and when it was finished they found themselves, and their farmhouse, utterly silent. Each of them did what chores they needed to do, and as they worked to make use of the time they had, they didn't even notice as the hours ticked away. Their thoughts had never been on the clock or the position of the sun outside, or the chores to which they needed to attend before they allowed themselves some respite.

They all had lingered, in one form or another, on the gentle soul who was unable to join them.

The only sound they could hear was the dull beating of their own hearts which punched through with a percussive force into their ears.

After all was said and done, the three Apples found themselves grouped around the stairs which led to the upper levels of the house, looking on another in apprehension. It was finally time. Each stared at the stairs, hoping another sibling would instigate, and after a while it was little Apple Bloom who made the first move. The two eldest siblings, strong though they were, couldn't help but smile in pride as the brave little Apple Bloom ran up the stairs, turned the corner, and made her way to her grandmother’s room.

She found herself standing at her grandmother’s door, but devoid of the will to open it. That little slab of wood was the only thing separating her grandmother from the ravages of age and time, and if she pushed it open she knew she would be allowing those forces inside. They would take her beloved grandmother from her, and she wouldn’t... she couldn’t... allow that to happen. Her sister’s presence at her side was comfort enough, but still she lacked that extra push she needed to open the door and be there for her Granny.

It was a push which Applejack, as she sat down beside the hesitant filly’s side, would provide for her.

“She ain’t afraid, sugarcube...” her older sister began, pulling Apple Bloom’s face towards her own. “She’s never been afraid. T’aint nothin’ can keep her down, and you know it.”

“But...” Apple Bloom whispered to the floor, finding her sister’s calm eyes too painful to look into. “How can... how can she not be? She doesn’t know what’s going to happen! She doesn’t want to go, I know it! I can feel it!”

“Darlin',” her sister whispered for the two of them alone. “She’s been ready for a long time. This is something she wants, and there ain’t nothing can come between Granny Smith and what she wants.”

Bringing her sister to her chest, Applejack whispered into her beloved little sister’s mane as she rocked her into the warm diaphanous folds of calm and comfort.

“She misses her friends, sugarcube. She misses Daddy. She misses your Grandpa too so very, very much... and now? Now she’s got the chance to see him again, to see them all again. We ain’t in no position to deny her that.”

Gripping her sister, Apple Bloom did what she could to calm herself down, clutching her sister tighter to her little chest.

“I don’t want her to go...”

“I know you don’t, honey,” Applejack smiled, hugging her sister a little tighter. “Neither do I. She’s been a mother, a father, and a grandparent to all of us. She’s been there for everythin’: for every whoopin’, every birthday, every reunion, every day we spend alone together in the house, playin’ cards and swappin’ stories when the weather ain’t good enough for harvestin’”.

Releasing her sister with a little nudge on her chest, Applejack gave one final smile before nodding in the direction of the door.

“She’s been there all the while, and now... now it’s our turn to be there for her.”

Giving her little sister’s chin one last stroke, her eyes pointed Apple Bloom back to the door which stood between the three of them and their grandmother.

Taking a deep breath, Apple Bloom filled her lungs as much as she could and, as she exhaled: pushed the door open.

~~~~~

The room was well lit and ventilated, warm enough to keep them all comfortable yet not musky or tepid as the upper levels sometimes got. The balcony across from her bed was wide open, the curtains fluttering lazily in the breeze as the landing soaked up the heat of the slowly setting sun, drawing little lines of light across the floor as the curtains moved. The room was just as spotless as she usually kept it, and the remaining bowls and utensils which hung around by the bedside indicated that she hadn’t eaten her morning meal.

She didn’t have much need of it. Not anymore.

Walking slowly and silently to their grandmother’s side, the three Apples kept their hoofsteps quiet and their pace even as they surrounded her bedside: Applebloom took up a space on the bed beside her grandmother, while Applejack and Big Macintosh flanked the four-poster on either side, resting at the bedside as they watched their Granny sleep. Her chest moved slowly upwards at first before drawing out her exhalations, lowering once more for a few seconds before it slowly refilled.

The phlegm and other fluids which old age had deposited in her throat were audible as they crackled against the releasing air, but they provided enough sound for Applebloom to know that her grandmother was still there... still holding on...

A little snort and a cough shook them all from their silence as their grandmother gave a racking wheeze to eject what fluids she could, buckling over as she gave a few hearty coughs into a nearby handkerchief. Big Macintosh grabbed the cloth when she was finished, placing it on the bedside table near an old photograph. Its edges were faded and it looked as if a stiff wind might tear it apart, but it was there nonetheless. A little candle nearby threw its light over the frame, dancing on the glass as if the images below were moving.

“Thankee dearie...” was her soft reply as she opened her eyes to look around the room, not expecting an audience like the three ponies which lingered there to watch her sleep. Starting a little, she looked in surprise at Apple Bloom who sat beside her on the bed, her little frame placed so carefully near her own.

“Apple Bloom... dearie... why ain’t you in school? You playin’ ‘hookey’ with them l’il friends of yours again?”

“No, Granny Smith,” Apple Bloom replied. “I got the rest of the day off, so I came to spend it with you.”

“Well,” Granny Smith commented, looking around the room at her oldest grandchildren. “You should'a done stayed in school ’stead of lookin’ after some old coot like me! I’m gunna be fine, don'tcha know?”

“I know you will, Granny,” Applebloom whispered, her voice and body shaking as she placed her little hoof into her grandmother’s wrinkled one. “I know you will...”

Apple Bloom gave her grandmother a little stroke of her hoof as she kept her smile tight across her face, watching her grandmother as the green mare diverted her attention to Applejack.

"Dear... were y'all able ta find that feller?... that there 'Royal Guard' or some such?"

"He ain't nothin' but a regular Guard, Granny," Aplejack offered quietly, raising her head proudly before giving a little nod. "But yes: Twilight found him."

"Good... good..." was all Granny Smith could say, patting Apple Bloom's hoof offhandedly as she looked around the room, searching for something to address or scrutinize, finding nothing but their kind faces gazing back at her.

“Granny,” Big Macintosh grunted, his voice low as his baritone timbre rumbled around the room. “Wouldja like me to open them curtains for you? It’s quite nice out...”

“Couldja dear?” she exclaimed, raising herself a little as she pulled her back up to meet the bed-frame. “I’ve been meanin’ to watch a proper sunset from that there balcony... never did get ‘round to it, I reckon.”

He nodded his assent, walking slowly towards the curtains before gripping the drawstring holding them closed with his teeth. Then, with a careful application of force, he drew them open slowly enough so that the incoming light wouldn’t blind his grandmother who now lay fully upright to watch the sunset.

“My oh my...” she whispered towards her smallest grandchild. “Wouldja look at that...”

Drawing her close, Granny Smith gathered up the little Apple Bloom to her wrinkled chest, holding her tightly as the two ponies, their hearts beating in unison, watched the sunset together.

The light from that majestic celestial orb cascaded through the lingering branches of the West Orchard, casting long trails of shadow which framed and split the lingering orange and red beams of light as their sun dipped low on the horizon. A few pairs of birds, singing what melodies that had reserved, flitted and played across the face of the spectacle, adding to the shadows as they looped, sang, and chased one another around the sky.

Apple Bloom could feel her grandmother’s grip tighten as she watched, and could almost hear her Granny's little heart beating away against her back, its own thump thump...thump thump... much weaker and quieter than her own.

“She should be here any minute, Granny,” Applejack whispered, watching the skies for a sign of some great portent, looking over to make sure that the doors would allow for the arrival of their visitor.

“I never reckoned she’d come down here on the farm to watch this old firebrand go out,” their grandmother stated evenly, her eyes glazing over slightly as she leaned back to watch the skies with her grandchild in her arms. "But I'm glad she's a-comin. I've been meanin' to see her again."

"Granny," Apple Bloom whispered, adjusting herself closer to the green mare who held her close to her wrinkled chest. "Who's comin'?"

Giving her smallest granddaughter a little grin and a bop! on the nose, Granny Smith turned the filly around to face the coming twilight.

"You'll see..." was all she whispered.

The four of them watched in utter silence as the lights and shadows of their glorious sun cast their elongating trails around the room, illuminating the dark corners where the light never reached with the bright august glow of the sun’s descent. Those shadows grew larger unbeknownst to Apple Bloom, who could do little more than wince as the sun shone in her eyes. That light grew dimmer as she held her eyes closed, and when the light had finally all but died away she opened her eyes to find herself staring at a most magnificent sight:

Just as their sun’s uppermost edge dipped below the topmost foliage of their apple trees, a great gust of air shook the curtains aside, forcing them to flap and flutter in the room as they reacting to some unforeseen downdraft. Then, as they watched, a single golden-clad hoof... and then another... alighted on their balcony’s bannister and rested on the planks.

The ruffling of the curtains hid their visitor away only slightly, and as little Applebloom watched in wonder, Princess Celestia, her horn splitting the curtains as she bowed her head, stepped into the room.

Apple Bloom could only gape in awe at what resplendence came with her Princess’s arrival, and her mouth dropped as the Princess, her head bowed only slightly to avoid scraping the ceiling with her massive horn, stepped towards Big Macintosh’s side to rest by Granny Smith’s bed.

“Well, hey there, Princess,” their grandmother stated with a smile, allowing herself another little cough before speaking once more. “I ain’t never thought you’d be standin’ in mah room like you are... but here you are.”

“Anything for you, Granny Smith,” her Princess whispered. “It’s been a long while since we’ve seen one another. That was back when this town didn’t even exist on any map.”

“Darn tootin'!” the shriveled green Granny exclaimed with a little wild light in her eyes. “We Apples done built this town, and I’ll be rollin’ in mah grave if there ain’t always an Apple here in Ponyville! That there’s the truth of it, y’hear?”

She made her last little point towards her grandchildren, who sat both in awe at their Princess’s presence and at the little fire still lingering in their beloved grandmother’s heart. Big Macintosh gave a grin and a nod while Applejack smiled, laughing to herself as she wiped away a little tear.

“Of course we will, Granny. We’ll always be here...”

“You sure as shoot will, little Hayseed... or mah name ain’t Granny Smith!” she laughed, pounding her hoof on the bedside as she gave a firm, but loving, little command. It was her way, and they knew what it meant.

Their grandmother, even as she lay dying, wanted them to be safe and to care for one another, to make sure that they stuck by one another throughout the years, come what may, and keep the Apple Family together.

Granny Smith gave a little smile towards her Princess, who returned it with a little giggle of her own and a warm grin. They had long since abandoned decorum, she and the shriveled green mare at her side. There was no use for formalities when one such as Granny Smith had been her subject for so long, stood by her side through everything... fought to uphold her values and her rule with every fiber of her being.

Celestia had watched from afar as the town had grown, as Granny Smith herself nailed the first planks to the Town Hall framework. She’d watched as her old friend fell in love, built a farm, started a family, and watched it grow. She’d watched from pride as the same green mare before her worked to provide for her loved ones, struggling to ensure her family’s survival through the harshest winters and lowest yields in recent memory.

She’d watched as those little bones grew weak, and then brittle, and then slowly withered to the point where she couldn’t even hold her own son, or his own children, close to her chest the same way she’d used to.

She’d watched her slowly die, as the Princess herself never could, and yet through it all she'd stayed strong. She was mean sometimes, strict and unyielding not because she could be, but because she had to be. She was the oldest pony in Ponyville, and she had earned herself some rest.

She had built a town. She had raised a family. She had let them spread out like seeds on the wind.

And now, with her Princess by her side: Granny Smith would start her next great adventure.

“Are you ready, Granny Smith?” was all the Princess could muster as she knelt down before her subject, gazing into her old and filmy eyes as she awaited her response.

It was a response which didn’t come, at least not right away.

Granny Smith gave her smallest grandchild one final little squeeze as she turned her around to hold her there, staring back into her eyes, resting her hooves on Apple Bloom’s hips all the while to comfort the silently weeping little filly in her arms.

“Now listen here, Hayseed...” she began, smiling as she laid down another rule for her progeny to follow. “I want you to listen to your brother and your sister. They know how to run the farm better than I ever could, so you just pay attention and do as they say. Ain’t nothin’ bad gunna happen as long as y’all stay together. Y’hear?”

Her grandchild nodded and smiled, even as her eyes clenched together in pain and worry.

“I don't want you to go!” Apple Bloom cried, rocking herself back and forth as she struggled to contain herself, trying in vain to stifle those tears she told herself she’d never cry even as her grandmother held her close. “I don’t want you to go Granny... I don’t want you to go... I don’t want you to go...”

“Hayseed?” she heard her grandmother whisper, not in alarm at her actions but in sincere and utter love. Raising her head, Applebloom looked back into those milky eyes as best she could.

“Look at your sister, little one...” was her quiet command, and the two of them looked at Applejack in unison as the eldest sister stood silently by, watching the two with tears in her eyes.

“Look at Applejack, dearie...” Granny Smith whispered again, as close as she could into the little filly’s ears. “Look at how brave she is... how strong and honest she is. Don'tcha wanna be like her someday?”

As they stared, Applebloom couldn’t help but nod.

“Does Applejack look afraid, Hayseed?” her grandmother queried, giving her grandchild another squeeze. With a little shake of her head, Applebloom stared deep into Applejack’s eyes and watched as her strong, brave, and honest sister shed a little tear as she smiled warmly back.

“No, Granny... she doesn’t.”

“That’s because there ain’t nothin’ to be afraid of,” her grandmother whispered. “There ain’t nothin’ to be scared of as long as y’all stay together. That there’s the truth of it, little Apple Bloom. Don’t let nobody tell you otherwise.”

Giving her smallest grandchild a little kiss on the head, Granny Smith turned her around and pulled her close to her chest, giving a little nod and a smile to her eldest grandchildren. The two of them lingered at the bedside with their heads held high, their faces beaming in pride for her courage and her long and glorious life... granting her a little courage as she faced down the unknown.

Releasing her grandchild from her grasp, she gave Applebloom a little nudge on the rump to move her beside her sister, who’d sat down on the bedside to be there as she passed. The bed depressed even further as Big Macintosh, in all his massive bulk, sat towards the foot of the bed to allow his Princess enough room to conduct her affairs.

“I think it’s time, Princess...” Granny Smith smiled, placing her wrinkled hoof on Celestia’s own as she gazed at her family one last time.

“...I’m ready.”

With a little nod and a glance back at her family seated around her little shriveled frame, she lingered there on the mattress a moment, still holding onto what little threads of life she still held onto out of sheer Apple Family obstinacy. She watched them calmly as they awaited her departure, and in all her long years she had never seen anything quite so beautiful.

Beside her stood her eldest grandson, more powerful and muscled than she had ever seen, but within his breast beat the most tender and loving heart she'd ever had the honor to know. She'd known ever since he'd been but a little colt, when she was still able to hold him. She had placed her ear to his little chest just to hear her first grandson's heartbeat... and it had always been strong. He looked just like his father.

Her eldest granddaughter was just as brave, just as beautiful, just as tender and kind as her brother and father were. She had taken on her own duties and had done the impossible with the life she had been thrust into. She had denied herself so many things to allow her family to thrive, to allow her sister to go to school. She was a business pony. She was an Element of Harmony. She was never afraid. She always smiled, even when her heart was breaking... even when she watched her parents go.

Granny Smith couldn't have been more proud of her.

But despite everything which had occurred in her long life, there was nothing which compared to the beauty of that little filly who sat beside her older sister, smiling as she allowed herself to cry, beaming at her grandmother as she gave herself one last fleeting moment to be weak. Granny Smith remembered when she'd first been born, when her heart had fluttered as her granddaughter's little black eyes surveyed the valleys and crevices which had slowly grown over her own face. She'd played with them, traced their lines with her tiny little hoof. She watched that same little hoof grow larger and larger, the filly to whom it belonged growing stouter and taller. Her hair gleamed, and her mother's bow held it perfectly.

There were so many things she would gladly sacrifice just to see them all... just for a few more moments...

But the lingering presence of her Princess and the little warmth she still had pressed her to keep to her plan.

The Apple Matriarch closed her eyes, leaned back towards the bed frame as she pulled her head up, gave one last little smile to her beloved kin, and gave Celestia’s hoof a little tap.

The Princess rose, bowing once again before her subject and the last of her oldest remaining mortal friends. As she rose from her bow, she gave a nod to the three Apples sitting on the bed, granting them one last little smile of courage.

A smile to ensure them that nothing bad would come to pass in the remaining life of Granny Smith. A smile to remind them to keep their heads up high.

A smile to usher in the end.

She placed the very tip of her long horn against Granny Smith’s head and, with a little spark between bone and flesh, granted Granny Smith her final wish.

Apple Bloom, who had clutched her grandmother’s hoof in her own to help her grandmother through the veil, could only feel as the lingering tension of her Grandmother's hoof began to fade, very slowly, almost as if she was falling slowly back to sleep.

She felt as her grandmother's pulse kept on beating with her own, keeping time with her fresh heart. She felt it slowly die out, sliding away ever so faintly as her face, her radiant face, stared ever upwards towards the ceiling, smiling as she ascended.

One last thump thump...thump thump...

Then one more pair of beats.

Then just one solitary constriction.

and then:

Silence.

~~~~~

The trio rested there, watching her, guarding over their loving grandmother as she slipped slowly away, sliding into a realm in which they could not follow. Apple Bloom shed one last tear as she released her grandmother’s hoof from her own, smiling at her sister and nodding in acknowledgement of her passing. Sharing her sad little smile, Applejack swooped her sister into one final embrace before nodding to her brother as she held onto the filly who rested there against her chest, both of them smiling all the while.

Big Macintosh, with a little bow to mirror his Princess’s, drew the blankets over the smiling and serene face of their grandmother to shield her from the light, allowing her to slump into the bed as her body, her frail and stubborn body, finally rested.

Celestia could do nothing more for them, and as she walked back towards the balcony to take flight, she looked behind her to watch the remaining Apples seated in silence, holding each other not in pain, or sadness, or anger that their grandmother had left them behind. They sat and watched her go with smiles on their faces, looking to one another in pride as they remembered the life of their loving and stubborn grandmother, one they loved with all their hearts even when she would punish them, give them chores, or tell them to clean their room...

...One who had built a town, who had cared for the three of them by herself when their parents had passed... the mare who had shirked her own hopes and dreams to keep together the one thing, the one little world, which truly mattered.

With a nod and a flicker of magic she pushed the sun below the horizon, extinguishing its light from the world even as the little candle which lingered by the bedside threw light around the old picture, that worn and faded thing encased in glass and wood from their very apple trees.

The flame cast shadows on the smiling face of an exhausted young green mare, sweating profusely and much less wrinkled than she was now, holding the form of her newborn son in her hooves... both staring at the other in wonder.

And thus, with her family by her side and her pain extinguished: Granny Smith passed away.

Two of them, nodding their heads in reverence before their grandmother, walked silently from the room. Only Big Macintosh remained, watching his sisters leave before walking to his grandmother’s side to give her one final kiss on the head. Then, lingering there for a moment, he raised his hoof from the bedside table to snuff out the candle at her side.

Celestia gave one final powerful surge of her wings and lifted off from the balcony, admiring the town below and the sparkling lights which glittered from the houses and street lamps. She smiled in admiration as she watched a small herd of multicolored mares and their dragon friend slip silently past Sweet Apple Acres, with Twilight alone in the knowledge of what had occurred within.

She watched for a moment when one blue dot so very far below stopped, lingered there beside the others, and then shot off for some point in the orchard below while the others continued on their way to the schoolhouse which glittered further down the road. Everything was going as planned.

She turned her gaze upwards, watching as her sister Luna, from Canterlot so many miles away, drew the stars in the sky to tell the story of Granny Smith and her long and exceptional life. It was a final present, etched in the evening sky, from two grateful and loving Sisters to the mare who'd taken the broken lives of three little ponies and, with a smile on her face all the while...

...had given them her world in return.

Unrelenting

View Online

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He pawed the floor, for he knew not what he would do.
He felt their eyes linger on him, for they had nowhere else to stray.
He heard the door open, for he knew what was to come.
He opened his eyes and smiled, for he knew he’d finally made it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unrelenting

Scootaloo had always felt an affinity for those roosters who kept the time in the farm beyond, for they always knew just when to wake her up and how best to do it. Their crowing always came lilting through the trees and fruits of the deeper parts of the orchard, soothed by the distance and the filter of foliage which separated her from their coops. Their proud voices which rang through the air as the harbingers of the dawn allowed her to pull herself from her warm dreams ever-so-slowly, and as her eyes slowly adjusted to the light and lingered on the wooden slats which comprised their clubhouse ceiling, she smiled.

It would be another glorious day, by the looks of it: the sun, in all its majesty, slowly pulled itself up from that same sleep she’d been lost in to announce another day. She watched in awe as Celestia, from far away, willed her sun upwards to awaken her subjects, her celestial sphere moving just as slowly and as sleepily as the filly herself was. Its rays, as they ran through the atmosphere, shed warm streaks of light which caused her to shiver as her body began to heat up and clash with the surrounding cold. If she felt warm now, even while the morning fog and the lingering cold rested visibly on the ground in a cloud, then today would be quite spectacular indeed.

Even if it was Hearts and Hooves Day.

She stood at the window, embracing the warmth of the sun but preparing herself for the day which she had always come to dread. They had always made such a big deal of it in the orphanage, as if they expected them not to remember that they were all alone in the world. They tried to placate her with presents and promises, but those words always died out when the next year came around. Their lies were why she couldn’t stand to live there anymore, and her audible dissension was why they had decided to abandon her.

Just like her mother had.

Rolling her sleeping bag and various blankets from the ground into a tight roll, she braced herself for the coming day and all the emotional turmoil it would bring. Although she was excited for the half-day which their teacher had promised them, and even though she was looking forward to spending time with her friends, Scootaloo knew nothing fun would happen afterwards. The day had a tendency to be boring when everyone else went about to do things with their families and loved ones. She would be working as they played in the fields, slaving away to feed herself as they cavorted with wild abandon. Still, despite the disappointment, she couldn’t help but smile as she tightened the string which held her sleeping bundle in place.

She had many ponies to whom she could show her love, even if they would be busy. She loved her fellow Crusaders, who had given their friendship to her without question, embracing her differences and her little quirks, never asking why she was unable to fly. She loved her teacher, who allowed her to have an education and was always a constant source of comfort when things got rough. She loved her friends’ sisters and their friends, the remaining Elements of Harmony, for they had always shown her kindness as if she were their own. Rarity and Applejack even gave what food they could to her when she was hungry, never once asking why she didn’t eat with her parents.

Never asking why she couldn’t eat with her parents.

Depressing the edge of one of the floorboards, she pulled up the opposing side with her hoof and slipped her bundle beneath the floor into the little storage space where she kept all of her most priceless possessions. As the sun rose higher, the light caught on the edges of her medal from when she and her friends had won the Talent Show’s Best Comedy Act, a picture of Rainbow Dash which frayed at the edges, and the long silver feather which she had always had.

She never knew just where it came from, but she had always had that feather as long as she could remember, all the way back to when she could only see the walls of her old orphanage. It had always been there for her when she would open her own little trunk at the foot of her cot, its silver lustre so very different from the rust and rotting wood in which it was encased. But it had been so long ago she had forgotten why she had it. Now, it served as a reminder for her never to give up in her attempts at flight, and was proof that eventually she would be able to fly with Rainbow Dash if only she tried her hardest.

She looked at her own wings and the diminutive nature of her own feathers, and sighed as she replaced it gently beside the other treasures. It ruffled when it caught the wind, casting little sparkles of silver in her eyes as if it were encrusted with infinitesimally small diamonds.

Maybe it wasn’t a goal which she could achieve, and perhaps it lingered there as but a reminder of what she could never be... but in her eyes that affront was a challenge she would never pass up and a condition of passivity which she would never accept.

If Rainbow Dash could fly, then so could she.

Replacing the floorboard and the little mat which rested atop it, she checked her saddlebags to make sure that all of her little notes to her friends were inside. When everything was in place, she hefted the bags on her back and proceeded out the door and down the ramp outside to make her way to the outer edges of the farm. Stepping through the mist which still lingered to the ground, Scootaloo spread her little wings to absorb the heat and add a little extra warmth to get her through the day.

She made it just in time: as she bounded over the fence which separated the orchard from the road, she could see the rising dust cloud of her fellow students as they made their way to school. Stepping onto the road to meet them, she started a little when the first thing she saw was the head-spines of Twilight’s assistant Spike, with a wagon in tow, followed by the multitudes of different mane styles of her friends and fellow students. Giving him a little grin as she joined the herd, she listened as the ponies around her talked about what they were most excited for.

They talked about the usual school festivities, of course, and they lingered on the subject of what foods and activities they were most expecting Miss Cheerilee to provide... but eventually every single one of them began to chat idly about what came afterwards. They all began to talk about their sisters, their brothers, their visiting aunts and uncles and cousins who would be in town for the holiday. They talked about their parents and what promises they had made before they had left for school, the things they could expect when they finally made their way home.

It was her cue to be silent, for she had nothing to contribute.

The voice of her friend Sweetie Belle and a reassuring pat on the back from Spike gave her some comfort, and she watched him as he broke from the herd to make his way towards the front gate of the orchard and the farmhouse beyond. Watching him go, her eyes were distracted by a flash of red and yellow as a small figure darted into the tall grass by the road. A few seconds later, the two Crusaders smiled as their earth pony friend Applebloom bounded over the fence with an agile grace and skidded to a halt next to them.

“Well howdy, you guys!” their friend beamed, panting a little as she recovered from her sprint. “Y’all ready for school today? I heard Miss Cheerilee’s got some cool stuff planned for us!”

“Well, yeah she does! She always does!” Scootaloo remarked, flashing her friend a smile. “It’s Hearts and Hooves Day! What kind of teacher doesn’t pamper their students on Heart and Hooves Day?!... Which reminds me, did you guys get Miss Cheerilee anything...big?”

“After last time? I don't think so!” Sweetie Belle quipped, levitating a little card from her saddlebags. “I just decided to keep things simple this year, and nothing says simple like rubies!”

Her card, glittering with a dozen little rubies in a oddly-shaped heart, was graced with a drawing of Miss Cheerilee and their teacher's “favorite” white unicorn filly on the inside. It was evident she had drawn everything with her magic, as the lines were a little broken and uneven. She must have been still getting used to the feel of her horn and how it worked when using a pencil and markers, but for the most part her work had been quite good.

“Does Rarity know you used her rubies? And does she know you...umm...” Scootaloo remarked, looking at the card closer. “Is... is that... glue? You glued rubies to a card?”

“Well, duh! How else was I going to get them on there?” her unicorn friend beamed, looking from her card to her pegasus companion with a wide smile on her face.

“I couldn’t tell you, Sweetie Belle...” she sighed, shaking her head towards the ground with a smile on her face. “I haven’t a clue!”

Looking from her card to her two friends, Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but smile and laugh at just how ridiculous the whole thing was. As it usually was, her smile and her piercing, high-pitched, and honest laughter was terribly contagious, and before they knew it the three of them were laughing as they trotted down the road to class.

Scootaloo looked to find her friend Apple Bloom laughing along with them, but when her laughter died away her happiness and resolve appeared to dwindle away as well. Maybe it was the prospect of a long day of boring classwork which kept her down, but the weather and the fun they would be sure to have would alleviate that in a few hours.

Of that, Scootaloo was undeniably certain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He stumbled in from his yearlong deployment to find an empty home and the remnants of her possessions scattered on the floor in a trail of clothes and broken glass. Stepping onto the cloud on which they had built their home together, he trod on the mountain of mail which had collected on the welcome mat inside, his face looking over the bills which had accumulated. Hoofing through them, they dated back as far as a month.

A month in which no one had been home.

Stumbling to his kitchen table, he looked to find that the liquor cabinet had been drained, and all that remained on their table was the molding remnants of a half-consumed glass of wine and a letter, stained with tears. Within was her apology, her admittance of failure, and one final goodbye.

Running to their room, he opened the door to find no one inside and nothing but the scattered articles of clothing and various possessions which he had bought for her. The twinkle of a single earring rested on the drawer, its partner’s whereabouts unknown.

He ran to the nursery which he himself had constructed only to find it empty. All that remained was a photograph which rested on the bottom of the crib and a little blue blanket in which she had always slept.

Falling to the floor, he lingered on his empty crib... his empty world... his empty chest...

And as he stared at the photograph, his heart shattered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scootaloo knew something was wrong almost immediately. To her credit, she had always been more observant than was necessary, and as she watched Apple Bloom’s head fall ever so quietly to her desk as the class continued without her awareness, she could tell that something was running around inside that mind of hers, weighing her down. She knew her friend would be too stubborn to say anything about it, for every member of her family was just as obstinate. All Scootaloo could do was be there alongside her friend through whatever was plaguing her.

Her reverie was broken by a loud snap! as a little unicorn in the middle column whipped around with a pencil clutched in her magic’s grasp to bring it down hard near the hoof of a colt who had always been mean to her. Scootaloo looked upon the spectacle not in shock, but with a modicum of pride: Dinky Doo had never been the one to stand up for herself, but now she was taking matters into her own hooves. She was finally a filly after Scootaloo's own heart, and she watched the panting, furious little unicorn even as her teacher told her students, save the three in the middle of the classroom, to leave immediately.

There could only have been one reason why Dinky Doo would have reacted the way she had. There was only one thing which people knew her for, save her timidity and her silence during the day. She had a mother who, despite her undeniably strong work-ethic and her willingness to do anything for anypony, looked different from everyone else. It was nothing she could control, and the hatred which many showed towards her was something she had never deserved. Given that those same two colts whom Dinky had attacked were the same ones who berated her for her inability to fly, or made fun of Pipsqueak and Featherweight for their size and apparent weakness, they must have been attacking Dinky’s mother.

Scootaloo beamed as she realized that, given Dinky’s example, she would have done the same. It didn’t matter that she didn’t have a mother or father to defend: she would grant herself the same comfort and defense which Dinky had given her mother, and she would be the one who would keep herself safe.

Sidling up to her unicorn friend Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo looked back at Dinky with pride, happy in the knowledge that Dinky had unknowingly given her the strength to trust herself with her own protection.

"Did you just see that?!" Scootaloo whispered, her voice cracking with excitement. "That was awesome! Dinky almost got him good!"...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His head fell in front of his commanding officer’s desk as he stared at the large bold red letters which were stamped over his transfer papers. He had begged and pleaded to be released, only to find his commander impassive. He had shown her the photograph, shown her the letter his wife had left for him to find, cried and fell apart as he screamed for his freedom, beseeched her to allow him to be let free to scour the earth and find them.

But he couldn’t be spared, not with the threat so close by...not with his contract renewed.

She said she would do what she could to help, that she would report to her commanding officer and send a letter to the Captain of the Guard in Canterlot to see what could be done.

She said she would try...

But 'trying' would never be good enough.

He recalled what had happened as he filled his saddlebags to the brim with food, clothing, scarves... anything he would need to keep himself warm and fed. He placed his life savings on the very bottom after making sure that he had every scrap of money he could manage. He had sold everything: his heirlooms, his more expensive clothes, various medals he had never cared for for feats he had never wanted to accomplish. He zipped up his uniform and placed her photograph in the pocket by his heart, making sure to button it up lest she be lost to the wind as he flew away.

He kicked open the door and took flight, resting on the thermals to conserve energy. He had a long way to go, and a world to search. They would be looking for him, but he didn’t care that he was now a deserter. Some things would always be more important than a name on an insignia.

He hoped that he would find them and hold them again. He didn’t care that his wife drank too much, or that she had told him she was afraid that he might not make it home. He barely remembered that she had been inconsolable when he’d left, his kiss the last thing she would ever truly feel before she withered away without him.

Those thing’s didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were safe.

Everything else could be forgiven and forgotten, but not them...

...Not his family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scootaloo could do nothing but be there for her friend. Whatever it was that had been stampeding around in Apple Bloom’s brain had finally broken free from its cage and was running rampant. Not even the sunshine and the chirping of the birds in the oak tree by which she rested could bring her around. The only thing keeping her from crying was her friends, Scootaloo could feel it. She had always been brave like her sister, but this was the most disconsolate she had ever seen Apple Bloom.

And it broke Scootaloo's heart because she didn’t know why.

She turned her head around as the sound of panting increased, and closed her eyes as the same little unicorn filly who had been inside just minutes prior skidded to a halt before the three of them. She gave a little smile and nod to Scootaloo before turning her attention to Apple Bloom.

“Hey Sweetie Belle, Scoots!” Dinky said, her voice chirping like the birds who, unlike Apple Bloom, were enjoying the day. “Apple Bloom, Miss Cheerilee wants to see you inside for a second.”

Apple Bloom slowly got up and, without a look or request for permission, grabbed her pegasus friend and held her tightly to her shaking chest. She would never need to have a reason to hold her, and Scootaloo didn’t mind that her friend had given her such attention. She could feel her shaking, and could only tremble in response as the little pony in her arms quivered.

“Hey,” Scootaloo whispered for the two of them alone. “Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay! You’ve got us, and we’ll always have your back...”

Her friend didn’t say a word, for the tightening of her body was all the response Scootaloo could have asked for and more. Releasing her pegasus companion, Apple Bloom turned to Sweetie Belle and held her as well, only briefly, before turning her gaze to the ground and walking slowly towards the teacher who awaited her arrival. It pained Scootaloo to watch her go, and the two remaining Crusaders could only send little thoughts to the breeze in the hopes that she would be okay.

As she turned to head inside, they both could have sworn that Apple Bloom turned to look at them, memorizing their smiling faces and what love she had at her back. It was all they could do given the distance.

After that, the day had lost all vestiges of the happiness it once had. The gifts and presents were traded in a blur, and without their friend there, what point was there in having fun? The two remaining Crusaders could do little more than watch everyone else as they played, laughed, and ate the cookies and sweets which they had given one another or received from their teacher. Sweetie Belle had even given Miss Cheerilee her little letter of admiration and thanks, but neither pony could feel what joy and love had gone into it. Miss Cheerilee didn't say much, just a smile and a brief hug before she returned to her desk.

Sweetie Belle didn't really notice, for her mind and her friend were elsewhere.

With the removal of Apple Bloom the Crusaders' integrity vanished, and when the day ended and everyone made their way home the two couldn’t help but find themselves walking together to Sweet Apple Acres in silence. They never went in, but they gave little smiles to the farmhouse as they passed just in the hopes that Apple Bloom, wherever she was, might see them and know that her friends loved her.

When they had finally made their way to town, the two shared a look of love and a small hug before they went their separate ways. Scootaloo watched her friend as she trotted towards her sister’s Boutique, waving to the dragon who carried his little wagon from the front door. He shot a little smile and waved back, but never said a word as Sweetie Belle made her way inside to enjoy some time with her sister. He didn’t even notice Scootaloo as he faced the ground and plodded towards a destination unknown, his empty wagon following close behind him.

He didn’t look like he had a plan or a place to go.

He didn’t look like he cared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He had gotten as far as Fillydelphia before the Guards found him. He had searched town after town, always with them at his heels, but he had always been just two steps ahead and a few days out of their reach. He had ran and flown as far as he could, with his half-empty saddlebags and his empty wallet lightening his load, but the pull of magic and the speed of the Royal Guards finally won over his malnourished and sore body.

They had given him his sentence, and he had pleaded for mercy. He had begged to be given the chance to redeem himself, tried to mitigate his punishment with his story and his cause. What mercy they had had been crushed with the falling of a gavel and the slamming of a cell.

He remembered receiving his discharge. He had used it as a napkin when they gave him his meals that day.

He remembered watching the walls as the marks he’d gouged there counted out the days... weeks... months... years...

He watched as the marks spread from one corner of a wall to the far side, then upwards, cascading from one wall to the next as the days passed slowly by. They were only truly recorded as he tracked the shadows made by the bars in his windows and his Princess's sun on the floor, marking the shadows' positions with every successive day... every changing of the seasons... every solstice and equinox... every Hearth’s Warming Eve... every missed birthday...

Five years... five long years...

He remembered when he had finally been granted his freedom and saw the world outside, and in the face of the skyscrapers and buildings and various inventions he had missed, he could only cower in fear.

He had never felt so small.

And without his family, he had never felt so alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Counting out what money she had, Scootaloo placed a few bits on the counter of her favorite cafe as the pony at the till swept them up in his hooves, watching her skeptically as he counted everything out into the machine. When he was satisfied, he rang a little bell and slipped a sheet onto a rotating drum, turning it around to face the inside of the kitchen. She knew she had about five minutes until her sandwich and shake would be ready, so she took a seat at a table in the far corner.

This had become her routine: go to school, get out, grab some food, do odd jobs for ponies around town, do some chores for Applejack or Rarity, accept what food they offered for her help, eat alone in the clubhouse, clean her mess so that nopony knew she lived there...

Fall asleep... wake up...

Rinse, wash, and repeat.

It was a routine which she never minded. She could make her own money, take care of herself, keep herself warm in the winters and cool in the summers, never once needing any more help than what she received now. She might have been a filly, and she might not have parents, but there was nothing to stand in the way of her getting what she wanted. She never stole, and she never begged. She worked for her money, and in doing so had learned how important a strong work ethic was.

It was something these other fillies and colts would never know until far too late. She watched them smile and giggle as their parents gave them presents over the table, enjoy the meals which their parents had bought for them... give thanks for the things which they hadn’t truly earned. They would learn the hard way that the world wasn’t as lenient as their parents made it seem, the way that she had learned, except now they would have to fight against their own shortcomings when all of their behaviors were set in stone.

Scootaloo nodded in appreciation as the waiter placed her food and her drink before her on the table. With a little smile and a final parting glance at the undeserving ones before her, she dug into her sandwich, enjoying the crunch with a smile on her face as she remembered the one universal fact she'd learned about finances and food:

Food which you buy yourself always tastes better.

Savoring the greens and the crispy lettuce, she looked around to see other ponies and their respective Very-Special-Someponys enjoying the beauty of the day, and each others' eyes, as they sat at their tables in pairs. She, some of her classmates, and a distracted pegasus stallion nearby were the only ones not lost in the embrace, eyes, or lips of another. She watched as her classmates on the far side of the cafe watched one particularly amorous pair as they kissed, and she giggled when they all turned away and gagged simultaneously.

Even though they reacted as they had, Scootaloo couldn’t help but smile as she watched the pair. She had seen them before: one of them was a local musician who would often play in the park for her loving partner across from her, a mare who ran a local candy store.They might have both been mares, but they loved one another far more than any other pair she had ever seen. She could see it in their eyes. Scootaloo couldn’t help but smile as she watched them play with each others' manes, finding her own hoof locked on her cheek as she leaned in.

They had found something truly special, and nothing, not the words or faces of a group of naive students or the disapproving stares of others, would distract them. She could see on their faces that the only thing to which they gave heed on that glorious afternoon was the pony which sat across from them. She watched as they became lost in the other’s eyes, barely noticing the world fade away as they dove into the deep colors and inky blackness of those infinite and beautiful portals.

Scootaloo had always hoped she’d feel that way for someone, but independence was a sobering pool in which the ponies she longed to love were unprepared to swim.

Draining the last few drops of her shake, she balanced her dishes and glass on her back and trotted to the counter, placing them there near the edge. She didn’t need to, but the waiter and buspony appreciated her help nonetheless.

Breaking from the shadows which the overhanging eaves had created, Scootaloo stepped out, fed and watered, into the glorious sunshine. She had a full day ahead of her, and many things to accomplish to earn her keep. With a little nod to herself and a sigh as the beautiful mares kissed each other again, she ran towards the closest store she could find to start her work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He awoke slowly to don his uniform, though it was graced with different buttons and symbols from the one he was used to. It held itself close to his gaunt frame, but it had loosened slightly in the shoulders from when he had first worn it. He was losing weight. He was losing muscle.

He clocked in on the dot as usual, giving a nod to his employer before making his way to his station. Discharged soldiers, especially dishonorably discharged soldiers, had little options in post-military careers, and security was the only viable option for many. He needed a job, one which wouldn’t violate his parole. The Fillydelphia train station needed security, and could use somepony skilled in taking orders. Everything fit.

Everything but his clothes and the rearranged pieces of his heart.

He grabbed a pastry from the office in which he and his fellow guards were stationed, but the rumble of the trains masked his “thank you” and his nod to the others. They never noticed. He doubted they cared. He wasn’t even scheduled to work today, but he needed the money over his sleep and sanity.

He had to keep going. He needed a lead. He needed some food in his cupboard which wasn’t stale or molding.

He needed a chance.

He watched a filly who walked alone on the platform, trotting away from the nearby train to make her way to a bench, seemingly lost. This must not have been her home, and her short red hair shook as she looked around at the surrounding buildings, gazing in wonder when she alighted on something new. Her brown and freckled face scrunched when she squinted to read the lettering of the signs nearby, and her cape fluttered when the wind picked up.

Why she was wearing a cape he had no clue, but she looked lost and confused. She looked a little scared. She might need the comfort, and he could use the conversation.

He stepped forward to find out more about her, her travels, her destination, and the origins of her red cape emblazoned with a rearing filly patch on the side...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She had moved the crates and their contents within as quickly as she could, zipping along the ground as she picked up what carrots she’d spilled before placing them in a little basket nearby. While she couldn’t fly, there was nothing stopping her from zooming along the ground quicker than most. It was her one advantage, and as she swooped up the basket to wash the carrots within, she smiled at the new speed she found herself capable of. She was getting faster. Soon, she might even be able to beat Rainbow Dash!

Pumping the nearby faucet, Scootaloo splashed and scrubbed what water she could on the vegetables to clean the lingering dust away before taking her basket and placing it alongside all the others. Wiping her damp hooves on her coat, she ran towards her temporary employer and gave a little nod.

“All done! Do you need anything else, Ms. Harvest?” she beamed, sweating a little from her exertions. The older mare looked from the filly to her work, beaming in satisfaction for her speed and care.

“Oh no, dear! You’ve done more than enough! Besides, you didn’t need to wash those carrots: I was just about to. Thank you for making my work a little easier!”

Reaching into her apron, her local carrot vender pulled out a handful of bits and gave them to the little pegasus.

“That’s what I’ve got, I hope it’s enough...” she stated sadly, looking to the beaming pegasus who slipped the bits she’d earned into her saddlebags.

“That’s more than enough, Ms. Harvest! I’m just happy to help.”

“You always are, kid, and it's going to make you rich one day!” her employer beamed, giving Scootaloo's hair a little tousle.

Smiling in appreciation, Scootaloo gave her a little nod and a smile of thanks before making her way towards the Boutique to do her usual chores for the mare who worked within. There was always some massive box with used clothes or broken things she’d need disposing of, and Rarity never minded when Scootaloo would rummage through and pick out what things she could repair and use again. Her food and her store were always warm, and it had become such a routine over the long months she’d been helping that Rarity almost always left the door unlocked just so she could make her way within and begin her work.

Strutting inside, she saw Rarity trotting away from a chest near her sewing machine, levitating a key in her magic before tucking it away into the pocket of her dress nearby, one which hung on a dressform until she was prepared to put it on. It was splendidly cut, and was draped with a large heart-shaped ruby which would remain there until she finally doled herself up enough to allow it to grace her breast. Apparently, she was preparing for a date of some kind, or some other high class event which Scootaloo could only dream about.

“Good evening, Rarity!” she smiled as she closed the door behind her. “Do you have anything you’d like me to do tonight?”

Rarity turned, and at once Scootaloo knew something was wrong. Those same dazzling white cheeks were tainted with a grey finish, and there were spots near the corners of her eyes which were still streaked in black. She was visibly startled, and looked from herself to her dressform in rapid succession before turning away from the filly to stare back towards the chest from where she’d come, speaking in her usual high-pitched and sonorous voice to the wall before her.

“Ohhh! Umm... Scootaloo, dear! I wasn’t expecting you so soon! Why don’t you... why don’t you just go into the kitchen, for a moment, and find something to eat. I will be right there!

She never turned, and Scootaloo watched her as she made a point to keep her back firmly placed between the filly and her face. Shaking off her odd behavior as a result of the stress of dress-making, Scootaloo trotted towards the pantry and pulled out a box of granola and oats. She jumped as she buzzed her wings, and was able to gain enough lift and altitude to swipe a little jar of honey from the shelf and catch it deftly in a hoof. Allowing herself a little smile, she applauded herself for her minor accomplishment. That had been a few inches higher than the last time she’d tried.

By the time she had collected her things and closed the pantry door, Rarity was standing before her, looking far fresher than she had seen her just a minute prior.

“Ohh, dear!" Rarity cried, stamping her hoof lightly on the floor. "Honestly, Scootaloo: you must have something more substantial for dinner! Oats and honey is no way for you to grow up big and strong! Would you like me to make you something a little... umm... healthier? A nice salad with winter greens, perhaps?”

“No, thank you!” Scootaloo said around the box in her teeth as she poured a bowl full of oats. “I just got some money, so I can get something from the market before it closes. Do you need me to do anything around the shop?”

Shuffling her hooves a little, Rarity dropped her head as she spoke to her temporary assistant.

“Unfortunately, no: I will be a little... busy... tonight, so just go ahead and eat.”

“But... if I don’t do any work, I don’t want to take your food! I can’t do that!” the filly cried, pieces of partially-eaten oats dripping from the corners of her mouth.

“No, Darling! It’s fine, just fine!" Rarity pleaded, gesturing with her hoof towards Scootaloo's bowl. "Just... just eat up and I can give you something to do tomorrow, if you’d like. I just don’t have anything I need you to do tonight, that’s all.”

Staring at the dressmaker, Scootaloo could tell she was hiding something. She might have been generous in nature, but she had a tendency to be withholding when it came to her emotions. It might have been her fear of offending anyone or just her natural lady-like graces, but either way it was something which made their encounter that evening far more uncomfortable than Scootaloo liked. Draining her bowl, Scootaloo took a look around the kitchen, which was spotless as usual.

Perhaps she wasn’t needed tonight, for the kitchen and her Boutique were looking as if she'd scrubbed them raw. In her heart, she gave a sigh of relief: Apple Bloom’s despair, the children in the cafe, Spike’s apathy, Rarity’s hesitation... everything she had seen that day was doing nothing but weighing down on her nerves, causing her to reaffirm her convictions about just how horrible this day really was. The only thing she'd enjoyed was the sunshine, but now even that was slowly fading. She was amazed at how fast the day had gone by, and as she cleaned out her bowl, she closed her eyes a little and rested.

She could use some sleep, if only to put this day behind her and move on with the month. In a couple of days, no one would remember or care what particular curiosities happened on this day. Everypony would be too wrapped up in the present and the future to give any notice to the past.

“If you say so, Rarity, ” the filly whispered, plodding to the front door after placing her bowl on a drying rack nearby. “Just don’t hesitate to tell me if you want anything done.”

“I won't, honey,” the mare smiled in reply. “I won't. You just go home and rest. I bet your friends are wondering where you are... I bet they’re waiting for you!”

Gazing at the floor, Scootaloo pushed the door open with her hoof and walked outside in a daze. She couldn’t see Rarity start after her only slightly before stopping herself from following the little filly who stared only at the dirt, listening to the faint clinking of the bits in her saddlebags.

“No, Rarity...” Scootaloo whispered to the rocks she kicked as she went to scrounge for food.

“No one’s waiting for me...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He could do nothing but wait.

He had been waiting for weeks, wondering when the letters he had sent would finally garner some responses from those mares he’d hunted down and tried to contact, from the stallion who rested at the head of his profession with the power to release him from his duties. The guards were watching him, and he couldn’t run away from his job or his parole. He had to stay, lest he be thrown back into jail. He had to wait... he had no choice. He could only hope his letters had made it to their destination and that they would be seen with compassionate eyes.

He had been waiting there on the stoop of his rundown apartment building every day for weeks, sitting there on the steps to await the coming of the post. It had become routine, and everyday the kind mailpony who would sort the mail would give him little shakes of the head when nothing came for him.

But today... today all he saw was a smile on that mailpony's face.

A smile... and some mail.

He must have looked a sight: disheveled and scrawny, his beard unevenly shaven and his hair longer and wilder than usual. It had been a while since he’d trimmed either of them. But what was most unnerving to the ponies who walked nearby was the mad burst of laughter and tears which followed when he looked into his hooves to see that they had finally come.

The first letter came from Celestia’s student, one 'Twilight Sparkle', acknowledging his plan and his arrival. The second, from a school teacher, to verify his hopes. The third, from his highest authority, granting him an audience with the Princess herself.

He did not care what they said, the ponies who stared as he held the letters to his chest, heaving and crying out his pains and desperations as he curled in the street. They were less important to him than the three pieces of parchment which he held to his heart, and as he cried he praised the three of them for their affirmations.

In just a day, he would be on his way to Canterlot.

In another, he would be prepared to see the Princess.

And in just one day more, he would hold his world again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scootaloo was able to buy another bag of oats and an assortment of vegetables from a local vendor with the bits she had earned that day. It would be enough to feed herself for a few more days, and as she mentally calculated what extras she had in the floorboards back home, she gave herself a little smile. She had enough to last the week, which meant she would have enough to deposit in her little growing savings box.

A few more weeks like this, and she would be able to afford something nice for herself. Perhaps a belated little Hearts and Hooves Day gift, a nice pretty skirt or another poster to add to her collection. She imagined the possibilities as she passed by Sweet Apple Acres en route to her makeshift house in the depths of the orchard.

There was a single light which was barely visible as it flickered in the upstairs window of the farmhouse. It meant someone was home, and that meant she had to be careful unless she wanted to be found. She walked slowly along the road before slipping between the fence-posts where the forest met the field. She darted and buzzed from tree to tree towards the clubhouse, keeping an eye on the balcony all the while. With a final look, she made a mad dash for their hideout, clambering up the steps and closing the door behind her. Sliding to the floor when no yells of discovery came, she allowed herself to relax.

She was finally home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He wished he had been prepared.

His audience with the Princess had been nerve-wracking. She spoke nothing but truths, and as she did the walls which he had unknowingly created to protect himself from the horrifying possibilities of his failures began to fall apart until the hopelessness and desperation of his plan shone through.

How could he have dared to believe himself ready to find her? What kind of reckless audacity had he exhibited in his attempts to hold her again?

He had been gone for far too long, been locked away for far more time that he had imagined. She was growing up with her friends, without need of guardians. What good was he now that he had no job? No security? No home?

He could do little more than cry, and beg, and plead with his Princess to afford him this one kindness, to find some portion of her massive immortal heart to give to him to spare him from the misery of his failures.

It was a portion she found, and gave unto him with a nod and a smile.

Prostrating himself before his Princess, he barely noticed as a muscled and handsome stallion opened the door behind him and announced his presence. He could only watch his beloved Princess as she rose from her bow, allowing him to do the same. The lightness he felt in his heart now that she had confirmed that he was indeed on the eve of his redemption blinded him to all else but the large door and the blue-haired stallion who held it open.

That kind face was affording him a kindness as his Princess had, and thus he gave the armored stallion a smile and nod of thanks. Had he known it was that same Captain of the Guard to whom he had written, he would have given himself in heartfelt gratitude for the stallion's help, but all he could do in his present state was smile in elation, shed a hopeful tear, and run through the hallway to take flight through a window above. He looped through the air on his way to a town which lingered in the shadow of the mountain on which his wonderful Princesses’ palace rested.

A town by the name of Ponyville.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she appropriated what food she needed to keep herself warm that night and what food she could save, she stored the rest away in a floorboard near her little treasure trove and leaned back in her bedroll, gazing on the face of a cyan blue pegasus whose image she had drawn on a fading poster. It was one of her few joys, and when she finally got around to finishing it she would have it laminated and would ask her mentor and idol to sign it.

After that, her collection would be complete. After she finished it, there was nothing save the passing of time, the completion of her education, and a few years of hard-earned bits which would stop her from placing her beloved idol's smiling face on the mantle of her very own home. In her eyes, that action was a confirmation that she had finally made it. In her eyes, it was one step closer to soaring in the sky without a care in the world.

Spreading out in her sleeping bag, she took one last look outside as the last traces of the sun dipped below the horizon, watching as the vibrant explosion of color slowly died out to hide itself away again. Giving a little thanks for Celestia so very far away, she rolled over in her bag to watch the opposite window where Luna had already begun to raise the moon, throwing a softer light upon the world which rested below. She imagined that she and she alone was the only one awake to watch Luna’s splendorous charge rise from its slumber.

But from the sound of wings and the creaking of a plank outside, she knew she wasn’t.

Bolting from her bag, Scootaloo looked to the door in horror. She stepped on the floorboard which housed her food, cramming what she could inside, eying the door all the while lest it open before she could make her escape. She could hear as the creaking of the planks got closer to the door, and it only made her scramble in panic as she stuffed and pushed things away to make room for her precious sleeping bag. In her distraction, she wasn’t aware that her bag had caught on a shard of wood and ripped, causing some feathers to come streaming out. But that didn’t matter, not right now!

She was going to be found! She would lose her home! She had to run!

Abandoning her mission entirely, she backed towards the edge of the clubhouse and took a deep breath, stretching out her wings. She eyed the distance between herself and the window for a brief instant before running towards the far side, the buzzing of her wings picking up in frequency and pitch as she struggled to stay aloft, fought to gain some altitude.

She would have succeeded, had she not been blindsided.

She watched as Luna’s moon was ripped from her vision by a blue streak of fur and a wild dash of hair as some form far larger than her tackled her from the side just a few feet from the window. Falling to the far wall, she tumbled with her captor as she scratched and struggled to break free, biting at what blue skin and fur she could find with her teeth. She only stopped when she realized that there was only one mare with that particular shade of blue fur.

Only one mare with a bright rainbow mane.

“What the hay, Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash yelled, still holding Scootaloo’s little orange body in her hooves. “Why did you bite me?! And what do you think you’re doing, running at that wall? You could have hurt yourself! You know you can’t fly that high, you could have been seriously injured! What’s with the panic, and what’s with all the feathers?!”

Looking back towards her storage space Scootaloo could see that, in her sprint, she had ripped the hole of her precious sleeping bag even further, causing most of the feathers to come whisking out in a downy tempest. She watched as a few stray feathers fell to the floor, picked up only as Rainbow Dash squirmed to get back upright. Scootaloo looked in horror at what she had done.

Her only warmth through the night was gone, and in her haste to run away from the one mare she most revered, she had been found out. Every recognition of her failures and the looming dread which would come from her actions only made her heart sink into her stomach, and she could feel the tears coming despite her disinclination to release them.

She couldn’t cry. She wouldn’t cry. Rainbow Dash never cried, and therefore neither would she.

“I didn’t want you to see me here, Rainbow!” Scootaloo howled, struggling to break free from the mare’s grip. “I shouldn’t be here! I was just trying to find something I left during our last meeting, nothing more! I know Granny Smith doesn’t like people trespassing, so I was only going to be here for a second...”

“What, with a sleeping bag?!” the electric blue mare barked, looking from the mess to her little orange companion. “Do you usually carry a sleeping bag with you wherever you go? Do you think I’m that stupid?”

“No! That was just here! I didn’t put it there...”

“Don’t lie to me, Scootaloo!"

"I'm not lying!" Scootaloo grunted, pushing away the warm arms of her idol as Rainbow sat in the corner, looking at the filly in surprise. "I didn't put it there... I'm not even supposed to be here! I'm not allowed to be in the orchard after sunset, Granny Smith said so! If she knew I lived here, she'd tan my hide! I don't even know what that means, but I know I don't want that!"

She steadied her breathing and her temper lest her voice gave off more noise than she thought. Her resolutions were sound, and her reasoning was perfect: that old mare, as kind as she may be, was sometimes unreasonably strict. Glaring at the mare who prevented her escape, she stared as her idol sat on the floor, looking at her in shock.

Maybe she was right, and Rainbow knew what ‘tanning’ entailed. Maybe she was thrown off that the filly was so vehemently opposing her. Maybe it was something else entirely, something novel which she churned over in her mind as the filly stared at her in confusion.

Maybe it was the admission she hadn't realized she'd made until far too late.

"Oh no... no no no..."

She stared at her hooves, and then at her priceless sleeping bag. With the ripping of her one warmth and comfort through the cold and blustery nights, she had ruined her only solace. With her discovery in the night as she tried to sleep, she’d lost everything. There would be no home for Scootaloo, no place of comfort from the world she believed had forgotten about her.

These thoughts flashed through her mind, and in her reverie she found herself staring at the one flickering hope she had:

Her idol, who sat in the corner with her hooves held wide.

She’d known this was coming. She'd known it for far longer than Scootaloo herself had. She knew right where the filly would be tonight, right when she’d make her way home. She had already prepared for her, gotten herself ready for what she knew would come next.

Rainbow Dash could do little more than enfold the crying filly with her hooves and wings, allowing Scootaloo to slip inside her embrace to find some safe harbor for the raging flood of pain she struggled to release. She could do little more than stare and stroke the filly's mane, her own lip trembling all the while, as her surrogate sister wailed. Her hooves and wings tightened around her ward as she held the filly to her chest.

Scootaloo howled out the horrors of her loneliness into that bright blue fur she had come to love, her eyes and nose firmly placed in the breast of the mare who had given her such hope, such ambition. She had failed her idol by allowing her to see the squalor in which she lived. She had betrayed her trust in hiding the realities of her condition. She had lost everything, for how could her hero love a pony who couldn't even love her enough to tell her the truth?

How could she dare request that Rainbow be her sister and give her her world to share, when all she had to give could fit in the cracks of a floor?

Rainbow stroked her tiny friend’s mane as Scootaloo sobbed in despair, holding her closer as her sobs and wails renewed themselves with each new epiphany and realization. Every buckle and kick when she fought against some little demon or self-hatred, Rainbow took upon herself. Every time she trembled or scratched to try and burrow herself further and further into her embrace, Rainbow smiled. She sat and held her little charge, for she could do little more.

When Scootaloo finally calmed herself down enough to speak, she found Rainbow Dash more than willing to listen.

"Please don't tell Applejack... or Granny Smith. I don't want them to know," Scootaloo whispered into that mass of blue fur. “I don’t want them to make me leave...”

“Applejack already knows, dear...”

Scootaloo’s eyes shot open with fear, but Rainbow just held her a little closer.

“She knows, and she doesn’t mind. She’s just happy you’re safe, even if you do sneak into her orchard every night to do it. We’re all happy you’re safe, even me...”

Holding Scootaloo closer, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and allowed herself one little tear.

“...especially me.”

Scootaloo renewed her grip on her loving hero, and for once she was unafraid to show any reservations. Rainbow was always there to save her, even when she didn’t need it... even when she didn’t know what she was doing or why. Her failures at flight, her adventures with the Crusaders which went awry...

...waking up in a forest in a daze, lingering on the threads of an all-but-forgotten dream as Rainbow saved her yet again.

She was always there.

But she couldn’t stay forever.

Nopony ever could.

“You could have just asked me, kiddo,” Rainbow whispered, stroking the filly’s mane as she tried in vain to stop them both from trembling. “You could have just asked to live with me, and I would have let you. I would have taken you in. You don’t have to be alone. I don’t want you to be alone...”

Rainbow’s words and the squeeze which accompanied them brought her back around to face the reality which she had trying so hard to forget. She struggled to reclaim what attention she had had on the blue pegasus who held her close, but Rainbow's offer and her feelings did not comply with her own.

“I can’t, Rainbow... I have to do this by myself.”

“Why?” Rainbow grunted, unable to keep her voice low and even. “Why do you have to do this? You don’t have to be alone every night, sleeping in a... a sleeping bag! You don’t have to hide! You could have just asked, and everyone would have helped you! I would have helped you!”

“No,” Scootaloo asserted, stomping the floor in the space which lingered between them. “If you don’t need help, then I don’t either...”

“I do need help,” Rainbow muttered, pulling the filly’s face upwards. “I need help all the time. I might not show it, but I do.”

“When?!” Scootaloo barked, glaring at her hero with rage. “Don’t lie to me! You never need help: you’re Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash never asks for help! You don’t need help... you can do anything!”

She glared at the mare with what little anger she had, but the face she saw staring back at her was serene, tranquil, and so blissfully calm that she herself couldn’t help but mimic it. Watching her eyes, she barely noticed when the bright blue lips below began to move.

“Have you ever wondered why I can only pull off a Sonic Rainboom going down?”

The filly pondered this for a moment. It was true: she had never seen the execution of the Rainboom conducted while going up, diagonally, or sideways. It was only when she was facing straight down that Rainbow Dash gathered the energy to pull it off. But that didn’t matter: she could do it! She had the talent! What help did she need?

“I can only do it going down,” the mare continued, “because I need to rely on gravity to give me a little boost. I can’t do it any other way. I have to have it to push me along, but that doesn’t make me a failure, Scootaloo! Taking a little help every now and then let's us to do more than our abilities allow, be able to accomplish those things we just can’t do on our own. It’s still me pulling it off, Scootaloo! It’s not a badge of failure if you need help, and I want to help you...”

“Don’t you get it?!” the filly screamed, pushing herself from the embrace of the mare on the floor and scrambling backwards towards the middle of the room. “I can’t! I can’t ask for help! If I ask for help, it means I’m weak! It means I’m worthless! If they couldn’t take care of me, why shouldn’t I be allowed? Why do you get to take care of yourself and I can’t?! I can do this! I want to do this!”

“Scootaloo, please,” Rainbow pleaded, trying to crawl to the filly shouting on the floor. “Just... come with me and... and... we’ll work everything out, okay?! You can stay with me for a little while if you want, just... just... please don’t cry!”

Panting on the floor, the filly could do little more than close her eyes and scream. It was all her little heart was capable of at the moment, and she had kept everything inside for so long that now...now her heart just couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“They couldn't do it, but I can! I want to take care of myself because she couldn't! She never could! She failed me, and I know I won't fail myself! They ran away from me, Rainbow! Why did they run?! I never saw him! He never wrote! He just left me alone and never came looking for me!”

“He did, honey... he is...”

“Don't lie to me, Rainbow! Sisters don't lie to one another! He never tried! He doesn't care! She only cared about drinking, and crying, and hating herself for giving birth to a crippled, worthless, flightless waste of feathers like ME!!!”

Rainbow could do little more than tremble on the floor as that little filly she had come to love scrunched her face and screamed at her, her little voice punching through the darkness as all vestiges of her reserve broke down.

“SHE ABANDONED ME! SHE LEFT ME BEHIND! THEY BOTH JUST LEFT ME BEHIND AND NEVER CARED! THEY JUST WENT ON LIVING WHILE I DIED, EVERY DAY, WITHOUT THEM! THEY’RE PROBABLY HAPPY, RAINBOW! THEY’RE PROBABLY CELEBRATING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HAVING A WORTHLESS, CRIPPLED, GIMP FOR A DAUGHTER!!!...”

“She killed herself, Scootaloo...”

What noise there was in the world outside died out in a flurry of quiet, and all that remained was the lingering whisper of her idol as her words slithered out and rested in her brain. Neither pony spoke, and naught but the sound of Rainbow’s tears as they smashed with concussive force on the wooden slats below came pouring into her ears. Rainbow’s words were poison, some kind of paralyzing draught which had left Scootaloo frozen on the floor. The filly found herself staring at her idol, her hero, the one paragon that kept her fighting.

She could feel nothing. She could hear nothing, and as all faded save herself and the body before her: Scootaloo found herself utterly alone. The only thing which remained was the beautiful, broken, terrified Rainbow Dash looking back at her with those foreign and profane tears in her eyes.

They scared Scootaloo far more than being alone in the dark ever could.

“She missed you, Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash whispered, her tears racing down her cheeks as she crawled on the floor towards the filly illuminated in a moonbeam. “She missed you so much! She couldn’t get you back, no matter how hard she tried... no matter how hard she begged. They didn’t think she was able to take care of you after... after she... but she wanted to... so, so badly!”

Cradling Scootaloo's little form in her hooves, Rainbow could do little more than be there for the petrified and silent little pony who lingered there on the floor, unable to say a word. Her little body was as devoid of heat as her mouth was words, and despite her courage, it only made Rainbow Dash cry harder.

“He told us everything, Scootaloo! She couldn’t live with herself for what she did to you... what she did to him. She couldn’t do it. She needed help, Scootaloo... she needed help. She didn't have anyone to help her, and I don’t want to see you like that! I don’t want to see you in pain like she was.”

Slowly, quietly, the world regained its voice... but Scootaloo remained there, bereft of heat and words of her own, lost in the fur of her hero. None of Rainbow’s soothing truths about her mother really mattered. She felt a slight twinge of pain when she couldn’t recall her mother’s face, but she had no memory of anything from before the orphanage and the grey walls within. She had little memory of her mother save what the nurses and caretakers told her ever so long ago... what lies they whispered from their silver tongues.

Her mother never cared, she was convinced: she could only care for her own stability, her own pride or self-efficacy. She had never tried... how could she try? Scootaloo was far more expensive than a life to herself could ever be. Her mother was weak, far weaker than she, and choosing between her two loves was always an easy choice for the mare who ignored her crippled daughter, wasted away the day with her wine by her side, wishing and praying that her husband would come home and relieve her of her torment.

But one thing stood out from Rainbow’s story, for there was one lingering fact which remained which even Scootaloo couldn’t comprehend.

How did Rainbow know her mother’s life, when she herself was ignorant?

“How do you know?” she whispered, finally breaking her silence.

Rainbow could only stare into her little eyes before remembering why she had come, why she had flown away from her friends on this particular evening to find her where Twilight had said she’d be. She could only smile, unfold her wings, and gather the filly up in her arms as she prepared for their flight, whispering as Scootaloo wrapped her hooves around her neck.

“Come with me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He found himself explaining everything: every town he searched, every hardship he’d encountered, his meeting with the filly on the train platform, his audience with the Princess...

...The image of his love, his life, hanging from the supports of a boarding house loft, her wings pinned to her sides with a length of the same rope which held her neck in place...

...Her body motionless save the little movement which fluttered around the note she held to what remained of her heart...

Everything came tumbling out, and he didn’t care whether the four mares before him were judging him for his life or his troubled partner. Nothing made sense to him anymore save the one lingering flicker of hope who was hiding somewhere in that rustic town, keeping out of sight.

A few of them cried. Another lowered her head. One of them was stock-still as she had never been, her pink hooves firmly planted on the ground where once they had been bouncing.

They left once the purple one acknowledged their plan, and they never said goodbye. They turned to leave, not once looking back. Maybe they had not understood why he had told them everything. Maybe they had other plans. Maybe the Elements couldn’t do anything for him, just as he expected.

He watched as they held their gazes to the floor and the ground outside, making sure not to tread on the tears of the one who walked before them.The purple one caught his attention, forcing him to listen as she laid out her plan.

Her idea was simple. He found himself nodding his acknowledgement as she told him what she thought would be best. She had already planned out everything, down to the last detail: who would find her, where she’d be, when to arrive and what building to be in when the time came. She had already contacted the Crystal Princess, and she would be there.The mare herself would be there. Her friends would be there.

The last remaining shard of his heart, the one who would keep him together... she would be there too.

It would have been simple for her, for it was her job to plan these things. The Personal Student of Princess Celestia was always prepared.

With their plan in motion, he walked out of her library, not even noticing as he passed by a baby dragon and his wagon. Right now, he needed food and rest, a distraction... some refuge from the storm he’d created. Lost in the haze he sat himself down where he could, the rays of the sun warming him only slightly.

He found himself staring absentmindedly as two mares kissed one another in a little cafe on a bright, sunny street.

How he wished he could feel that way again...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ruffle of the wind in her mane and the sound of Rainbow’s hooves on the ground brought Scootaloo out of her little nap. She couldn’t resist falling to sleep just a little: the night was dark, and her hero’s chest was warmer than she’d ever thought possible. She wondered if she could keep her close, just for a little while longer, just to savor her proximity and the steady, soothing, perfect beat of her heart. But according to the whisperings into her ear as they flew, there was something which needed to be done, something which required Scootaloo's presence.

The lights were all on in the schoolhouse, and there was no explanation why they should be. Everything else was dark, and the only light outside came from the full moon above and the silently swinging lightbulb on the schoolhouse steps.There were no shadows inside which might denote the presence of anyone of importance, which only made her stare at her blue companion in worry and confusion.

“C’mon,” Rainbow whispered, giving her a little nudge from behind. “They’re waiting for you...”

Looking at the schoolhouse door, Scootaloo could do little more than stare at the door which separated her from some unimaginable pain, her lips and voice steady even as a single tear drifted lazily down her cheek.

“I don’t want to go, Rainbow. Please don’t make me go... please don’t leave me.”

“Scootaloo, look at me.”

Turning herself slowly, she found the mare at her side beaming brighter than Luna’s moon which graced the skies above. The soft light dulled the usually vibrant colors of her mane, but she was still radiant nonetheless, still perfect in every way... even if Scootaloo now knew that her hero could cry, even if her leg was still bruised from where she’d scratched and bit her in her attempts to be free.

The face she found was the warmth she’d been looking for, and she took one brief mental picture of her smile before she allowed herself to be drawn into another hug, closing her eyes as Rainbow Dash held her close.

“No matter what happens... no matter what you do or what you say: you will never be alone, not anymore. I will always be right behind you, no matter what.”

Raising her chin, Rainbow Dash held her little friend... her dearest sister... as close to her chest as she could.

“You will never be alone, and you will always... always... be loved, because that’s what sisters do.”

Then, with a kiss on the forehead and a trembling smile, Rainbow Dash allowed little Scootaloo to take the lead. The filly could see her out of the corner of her eyes. She was right behind her, just like she promised. Her rainbow mane caught the breeze and shimmered as they walked towards the schoolhouse door with their heads up high.

She would always be there, right behind her... right there to catch her if she fell.

Nothing could change that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The glaring incandescent bulbs could do nothing but hang over him, making his shadow dance on the floor. He stood in a corner, away from the middle of the room, just like he had been instructed. He allowed Twilight to take the position at the fore alongside the teacher he’d contacted. He could see one of the three Princesses standing behind them all, her wings folded to her sides and her mane bobbing as she waited.

They had told him to stay quiet to allow them time to explain what was going on. They said Princess Cadence would be there to help if thing's got rough. They said she was a firebrand, and he couldn’t have been prouder. She was strong, like he was...

...Like he had been when he hadn't been standing in his dark corner, trembling in a horrible, terrifying excitement as he was now.

He could hear hooves on the steps, and he braced himself as they grew louder.

He pawed the floor, for he knew not what he would do...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scootaloo opened her eyes to find herself surrounded.

She saw Twilight the librarian, and Rarity, and the other Elements save Applejack waiting right behind them. She could see the bobbing hair of her dearest Sweetie Belle poking from behind her sister, but there was no red-haired Apple Bloom in sight. She could see Spike standing beside his caretaker, looking from the filly at the door to Twilight and back. She could see the smiling face of her Princess Cadence beaming at her, her posture immaculate as always.

She could see her teacher walking towards her, sitting on the floor in front of her, holding a certificate in her mouth emblazoned with the seal of Celestia herself. It was a hunk of paper... it meant little more than a promise.

And you can never trust a promise.

“Scootaloo, honey,” her teacher began, giving a little look to Twilight nearby before looking back to her student. “I know this is confusing, and I know you don’t know why you’re here tonight. Your friends are all here and they wanted you to be happy, so they...”

“Where’s Apple Bloom?”

Her firm assertion and her raging eyes demanded an answer, and Cheerilee couldn’t think fast enough to respond. Scootaloo, on the other hand, had been more than prepared. She’d seen and counted the ponies who stood there... and there were two that were missing.

“Apple Bloom’s not here, and neither is Applejack. Where are they?” Scootaloo stated calmly, her eyes never moving from her teacher, her tone calm but unyielding.

As Cheerilee mumbled some excuse Twilight took a few steps forward, kneeling alongside the teacher as she spoke in soft tones to the orange filly near the door, the one who glared at them in contempt.

“They couldn’t be here, sweetie... but they wanted to be! They had something to do, something which required them to be at home.”

“Then you lied to me.”

The room was silent, and Scootaloo could even see her own Princess who stood on the far wall recoil from the acerbic bite of the pegasus filly’s words. The Elements, or at least the ones who actually were standing before her, all looked at one another with trepidation. Things weren’t going as they had hoped. That much was obvious.

‘Honey,” Cheerilee muttered, moving closer to the filly on the floor. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

“No, you did...” the filly began, her voice piping up from where it had lingered in her throat, waiting for the chance to come out. “You meant that. Don’t try and cover it up. Don’t treat me like a child. I’m not a child anymore. I haven’t been for a long time.”

"Scootaloo, please..." came a whisper from behind her, and as she turned Rainbow's eyes pleaded with her own to show some leniency, to allow them their explanation. As much as she felt otherwise, she wouldn't deny Rainbow that one courtesy. She wouldn't deny Rainbow anything.

Cheerilee took a few steps backwards from the quiet and seething filly in the floor,looking behind her towards the Crystal Princess who waited by the desk. Cheerilee had reached the extent of her abilities, and it was time for royalty to intercede. With her sister-in-law nearby and her husband at her back, Princess Cadence took a few steps forward to approach the filly by the door, laying herself down on the ground to meet Scootaloo's quiet, tempestuous eyes.

“You are quite an honest filly, aren’t you?” Cadence said softly, her silky voice not twinged with the same attempts at sincerity that her teacher’s had been. She spoke with an easy grace, as if her tongue was lined with honey. Everything flowed. Everything was melodious and calm. It soothed Scootaloo to know that the lies had died out. It slowed her racing heart to know her Princess was listening... actually listening to her, not thinking about what lie to tell next.

She could be honest. She was allowed to show a little fear. She was allowed to speak her mind, for Rainbow had her back, literally and figuratively.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Scootaloo whispered, looking at the space between herself and the glittering hooves of royalty. She watched in wonder as the light shone off them, and her eyes went wide in shock as those same hooves came to meet her chin, pulling her face up from the floor.

“Please, Scootaloo... just call me Cadence.”

Grinning as she stared at the calm and composed royal so close to her own slightly trembling body, Scootaloo gave a little nod. Finally, a pony to whom she could talk to, one which wasn’t trying to placate her, wrangle her in, tell her to be calm. She cared, as did Rainbow. It had been a while since anypony had taken her as seriously as her actions had demanded they should. She felt her muscles loosen, and her Princesss smile grew wider as the filly relaxed.

“Scootaloo,” Cadence continued, placing her hoof on the certificate which Cheerilee had dropped just moments ago. “Do you know what this is?”

Sliding the gold-lined parchment carefully on the ground, the filly looked at it without emotion. All it had were names and dates signed in black, affirmations and promises, jumbled signatures, a hoofprint...

...her hoofprint...

She stared for a moment before looking to her own hoof, comparing its size with the one which rested in the bottom corner of the parchment. It had grown, and as she placed her limb on the inky spot on the page she couldn’t help but smile when nothing showed beneath. If what this paper said was true, then this would be the first time she’d touched that sheet with her hoof since she had been but a newborn. It had been such a long time since she’d seen it, even if she would never remember. The magic still remained though... her hoofprint still remained, immortal, forever printed on that parchment. It could never be erased, for she remained to validate its existence.

But the signatures which lingered above it, a mare's and a stallion’s... they could be replaced. They had already tried to forget her, to erase any knowledge of themselves from her life. Their names might have graced that page, but neither of the ponies who made those marks remained behind them. Those spaces may have been filled in, but they were abysmally hollow. They were empty, and that fact made sliding her own birth certificate back to her Princess that much easier.

“This is a lie, Princess. This is nothing but a lie.This is names and information on a sheet of parchment... and nothing more. They signed me into existence, and then abandoned me. They signed this just like my mother signed the papers to lock me away. This means nothing to me.”

Her words were acidic to everyone but the immortal one before her, and she watched as the courage and resolve of The Elements died away. The truth had that effect on ponies. They were finally dipping their hooves into the pool which she had lived in for so long, and they couldn’t stand the temperature.

The only one who remained steadfast was Cadence, who smiled with a soft pain at the filly on the floor, not looking into her eyes but beyond them at some miniscule point, as if looking for that one unfettered sliver of love in Scootaloo's icy heart. Then, she turned her head back towards some far corner of the room, as if expecting another Princess to arrive with a flurry of ephemeral hair and a dazzling light.

Nothing came: no fluttering of wings and no silhouettes... just her soft voice as she whispered to the crowd, bidding them to stand aside.

“It means everything to him.”

They looked, saw their Princess, and bowed their heads, moving themselves away from where she stared while Scootaloo followed her example, watching the wall beyond. What followed was the parting of a sea of ponies until only one remained:

A stallion who stood in a dark corner.

Alone, trembling, and terrified.

She couldn’t remember where she’d seen him before. He might have been the stallion in the cafe so many hours ago, but she couldn't be sure. There was something about him which she found familiar. There was something about him which told of some hidden story which she had been but a fleeting chapter in, like they had been together on some great adventure... even if only for a short while.

His entire body quivered and his knees were shaking as he moved himself just a little closer towards her. His bright blue eyes were wide in wonder, and he blinked them often as if expecting that, every time they reopened, she would disappear from sight. His greying vermillion mane was close cropped and a little unkempt, and it looked as if he himself had cut it.

His silver wings and coat glimmered in the light, his feathers shining as if they were bespeckled with thousands of tiny... little...

...diamonds.

Scootaloo paused, and the world paused with her.

She took a breath, and the room echoed.

She closed her eyes, and the world died away...

and then, as she opened them:

Scootaloo found her father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No one moved.

No one breathed.

No one said a word.

The filly they had seen just moments ago talking with their Princess was as silent as the room in which they found themselves, and not a sound save the clip-clop of the pegasus stallion's hooves broke through the tangible pall. They watched as he moved... quietly... breathlessly... inching himself closer to the filly who stood up proudly by the door, her lungs inflated and her chest puffed out proudly. Her breaths were even, and her face was dry. The only thing about her which flickered save the ruffling of the tips of her mane as the wind rolled in was her eyes.

Those bright eyes which stared at the stallion making his way towards her.

Those eyes which glimmered with malice.

As he moved forward, her head rose to hold his eyes. His head lowered to look upon his daughter, and his eyes twinkled as every new feather, every spiked hair, and every scar stood out. Everything about her was new even though he'd spent his life, so very long ago, kissing that face and those arms as the infant he had known giggled and sputtered with glee. Everything he saw was beyond understanding, novel and unique.

She was breathtaking. She had grown. She had bruised herself. She had felt pain, physical and emotional, which he hadn't been there for.

He hadn't been there for anything.

He hadn't been there for the birthdays, to watch her blow out her candles and wish for the things which he would always strive to find. He hadn't been there to dress her wounds or dry her eyes when she scraped herself up. He hadn't been there to hold her when her mother left her behind. He hadn't been there when she cried for her mother to come back, to stroke her mane and kiss her hair as she screamed herself to sleep on her stiff cot with only the light from the moon to keep her company.

He had only been there when she'd first opened her wings... those tiny little wings... to take her first flight, however high she could manage. It didn't matter she could never truly fly, like the obstetrician and the specialist after her told them. She always tried. She never stopped buzzing, not even when he would lay her down on her little cloud, smiling as she sucked on the edges of her favorite blue blanket.

His knees buckled a little, and in a daze he found himself falling on his tail, mere feet from his child.

But she wasn't a child... not anymore.

The other ponies watched in silence as he sat down hard on the floor across from his daughter. He looked down at her, and she looked back up at him, neither moving or breaking their eye contact. He struggled to find the words to say... but what could he say? What words of his could ever bring together the chasm his absence and the passing of time had created? There was nothing he could do, no words he could use to mend those wounds. There was nothing he could ever have done to prevent those scars from forming, hidden just below the ones she wore proudly on her flesh.

He could only smile and whisper “hello”.

She could only stare in hate before drawing back her hoof to slam it against his wet cheek.

The ponies around her jolted back into action, drawing their hooves over their mouths or starting themselves forward to try and come between the filly and her victim, but his hoof raised to hold them at bay. Held out from his side, his hoof shook just a little as he drew his face back to his daughter, his cheek red and beginning to bruise with a faint but growing outline of her hoof.

He held them back as he smiled down at her. He was unfazed. He couldn’t feel the pain.

Why wouldn’t he feel her pain?

She hit him again, this time on the other cheek, slamming her hoof harder with a little grunt of exertion to add power to her attack. Her hoof dragged across his face as she swiped, and when he turned back she noticed his lip was bleeding. The cut only grew wider and the blood only trickled down his chin faster as he smiled.

All he did was smile

Why was he smiling?

He wasn’t allowed to smile!

“Stop it!” she screamed as she swiped at him again, catching him on the chin. But still, he kept on smiling. She clocked him again on his left cheek, but he kept on smiling. She hit him on his bruising face, his neck, his shoulders, his chest... she struggled to do as much damage as she could, her eyes growing more and more damp the more she hit him.

He was still standing! Why didn’t he give up?! Why didn’t he run away?! Every smile and shimmering tear was an invitation for more abuse... but why was he taking it? Why was he just sitting there, smiling?

Why could he smile when she couldn’t?

“Stop smiling!” she bellowed, her eyes closed shut as she smashed her little hoof against his chest. “Why are you smiling?! How can you be smiling?! Why won't you go away?! I don't want you here!!! I don't need you!!! I didn't need Mom, and she didn't need me, so why do you care?! You're just like her!!! YOU LEFT ME JUST LIKE SHE DID!!!”

He recoiled with every hit only slightly before reaffirming himself to his punishment. It was all he could do save whisper a few words to the filly now but a foot from his chest, keeping his voice soft and even as her hoof smashed and pummeled him mercilessly.

“Scootaloo...”

“NO!” she shrieked, slamming her hoof into his chest again as she beat that growing patch of skin which was slowly becoming more and more purple and blue. “You're not allowed to call me that!!! I don't have a name to you!!! You give names to things you care about, and you don't care!!! If you cared, you wouldn't have left me!!! You ran, and I never saw you! I never heard from you! You never wrote or sent me anything! You never told me you existed!!!”

He allowed himself another tear, which slashed through the blood slowly trickling from the side of his mouth as he stared in wonder at his violent, angry, sobbing, heartbroken daughter.

... his daughter.

His baby.

“They locked me away, sweetie...”

“Don't lie to me! Don't lie to me again! Everything I knew, everything I loved... IT WAS A LIE!!! TELL ME THE TRUTH! TELL ME ONE THING WHICH ISN’T A LIE! ARE YOU EVEN CAPABLE OF THAT?!”

“... I love you, Scootaloo. I’ve always loved you...”

“HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME THEN?!” Scootaloo wailed, pummeling his chest as hard as she could even though her strength was failing her, even though her aim was shaky as the lights in her eyes danced as the tears grew. The gap which separated her from her father might as well have been miles, for the silver-winged pegasus before her defied all of her dreams about her father. He wasn’t strong, he wasn’t attentive, he wasn’t brave.

He never came for her. He never came when she wanted him to.

He never came to save her from the world and the mother that threw her away.

“How could you abandon me?! I waited for you to find me! I waited, Daddy, but you never showed up! Did I not matter to you?! Why didn't you save me?! I died every day you were gone, but you never came! YOU NEVER CAME FOR ME, DADDY!”

“I tried, honey...” he mumbled, his lips trembling almost as much as the filly who sat before him, her hooves numb and her body quivering from her screams and cries for help. “I tried everything. I left home to find you. I broke the law, just to find you... to hold you again.”

“I DON’T CARE!” Scootaloo screamed, renewing her attack on the stallion before her who, with every blow, just kept on staring at his daughter. With every hit, she moved just a fraction of an inch closer, just a few steps closer to falling apart. She couldn’t be weak like her mother. She had to be strong! She had to be tough like Rainbow Dash!

But even Rainbow cried sometimes.

She closed the gap between herself and her father, but it was not the welcome the ponies around them were expecting. It was very much unlike the reunion they had hoped. They were not expecting her to bite, and claw, and scratch, and punch, and kick. They had not expected him to remain stock still as he was, never holding his daughter in his arms, taking each attack and hit with a smile on his face. They had never imagined she had that much power and endurance in her little frame, but with every punch she screamed at his defiant chest, and every time she hit him her eyes closed just a little tighter.

“Why did you leave me?! Why did you go?! Why couldn't you love me?!”

“I do love you, ”he whispered over her screams of rage. “Not a second goes by that I don’t love you with all my heart...”

“You don't have a heart! You've never had a heart! You never cared! Why would you care: I'm worthless to you! I can't fly! I CAN’T DO ANYTHING!!!”

“No, sweetie... you’ve already done what I never could.”

“You never tried!!! You were never there!!! I never saw you again!!!

“I had no choice, honey...”

“YOU COULD HAVE STAYED!” Scootaloo screamed, slamming her hoof against his chest, adding to the bruise which slowly grew around his already damaged heart.

“YOU COULD SAVED ME!” she cried, her voice cracking as she wailed herself hoarse.

“YOU... COULD... HAVE... LOVED... ME!!! she shrieked, every word punctuated by her little hoof beating against his chest, each strike weaker than the one before.

She capitulated as gave one final ragged scream straight at his chest, and her voice broke entirely. She couldn’t move her little head. She couldn’t move her hoof from his chest. She couldn’t stare at the purple spot she’d created on his breast or the little drips of red on the ground as his broken smiling lips released his blood on the floor. Her eyes were so firmly closed and so inundated with tears she couldn’t open them.

She couldn’t do anything.

She could only feel as his chest remained... still rising... still trembling... still there.

and then, through the silence:

Thump-thump...

Her eyes opened, but nothing came pouring out.

Thump-thump...

The blood stopped dripping on the floor, and she watched as it hardened.

Thump-thump...

She felt her hoof quiver with every beat, every pulse of that bruised and broken heart over which her little hoof rested.

Thump-thump...

She felt a warmth unlike anything she had ever felt on her hoof, holding it closer.

Thump-thump...

Her eyes moved upwards to look at the damage she had caused, her hoof so small and so dainty compared to the growing bruise on his breast. It was so much larger in comparison to her own hoof, but that was not what shocked her.

It was the fact that his own hoof was right there, holding her own, resting on hers as he kept it firmly to his chest even though he had no reason to do so. She couldn’t move it away.

She wanted to feel it there forever.

With a great effort, she finally looked into his iridescent blue eyes. She could see them memorizing the changes of the years, darting around as they looked from face, to hair, to little scars, to lingering tears, and then finally back into her own. His eyes were soft and he was unafraid to stare right back at her. It was comforting to see something so deep, so profoundly colorful and dark, and yet without any of the fear which the darkness usually brought with it. It was like she was wrapped up in some warm embrace, even though she sat apart from him.

It was almost like being wrapped in her little blue blanket, kept warm as her father blew raspberries on her belly, tickled her with his wingtips... cradled her back to sleep when the nightmares had reared their heads while she slept in peace.

It was like he was right there as she dreamed, cradled in his arms... listening as he sang a lullaby into her hair.

It was like being home.

“Daddy?” she whispered, watching his eyes for a sign, a flicker of light, some evidence that he was actually there.

He never broke eye contact. He never moved away. He didn’t run.

He only stroked her cheek, gave a little smile, and held her hoof even closer as a tear silently trickled down his face.

She listened to the lilting whisper of his heartbeat, an effervescent ribbon of sound and sensation which danced and played on the whisking air between them. She tried to listen as the world restarted itself around her, but she was so lost in the realization that below her hoof, through a mere inch of skin, lay the one thing she had been dreaming about.

It wasn’t as strong or as dutiful as she dreamed, nor as consistent... but it was there... right there...

It had always been there.

With every pulse, it pulsed to keep him moving towards her. With every beat of his wings, it had beat to keep him aloft. With every jagged and broken fragment, he’d slowly pieced it back together, and now that she was here, he had found the missing piece.

She stared in wonder as her hoof moved, for she had found what she had always been looking for:

The living heart of her father.

A heart which kept on beating just for her.

Thump-thump.

She leaped into his arms, her wings buzzing like they never had before as she dove forward to be caught by the stallion before her. He wrapped her up as best he could, his wings expanding to their impressive width to encapsulate them both in a cocoon of brilliant, dazzling silver. He held her close to his breast as the both of them shook with relief and the wrenching pound of overjoyed tears, releasing what breath they still had as they sobbed together.

He hid them both from the world as he kissed his daughter on the cheek, on her forehead, in her hair, on her neck, anywhere he could, as much as he dared, and as strongly as he was able to. She could only hug him tighter, bringing herself as close to him as she could, allowing him to squeeze her as he heaved with that wonderful pain of heartwrenching joy. His chest buckling under his cries of happiness, he trembled as the weight bearing down on his heart was lifted by her tiny wings, those wings he’d always loved, no matter what.

No matter what.

The rest of the ponies who surrounded them looked at one another, and they smiled. There was no reason for them to be here any longer. With Cadence at the front, they made their way silently out of the schoolhouse to allow the two pegasi to reunite. In a few moments, they were gone.

But the two who remained, alone in the middle of the empty room?

They never noticed anything but their own smiling faces, their bodies wrapped up in silver wings and each other’s arms, Scootaloo’s smile reignited as her father held her in his hooves again, singing to her just like he used to.

For the first time in her brief, dismal, and unbearable life without him: Scootaloo wasn’t alone in the dark. She wasn’t tumbling alone into the terrifying abyss of her loneliness, watching the world through tear-soaked eyes.

And her smile grew wider and her eyes closed tight as she listened to her father sing to her because of one little truth, one immutable fact which reaffirmed itself with every tightening of his arms and every pulse of their shared heartbeat:

Her father had finally caught her as she fell...

...and he would never let her go.

Love, in Other Words

by Mickey Dubs

Unending

Unconditional

Unreserved

Unwavering

Unrelenting

Epilogue