private A New Life: Manehattan Story

[Starshine 16,333]

@,

 

Winterglade's eyes widened when Fender slid his plate in front of her. She quickly waved her hooves and made the universal sign of 'I've had enough'. Autumn Glow from across the table rolled her eyes and snatched the plate away. Winterglade was about to protest, but her stomach was already too full to do anything. Both mares ended up throwing a look at each other while Morning Mist chuckled. Her daughter were certainly putting on some weight now.

 

"Hm... Did your father said anything before he left?" Morning Mist asked.

 

Winterglade hurriedly swallowed her food down and replied, "There's nothing! He only left a fruit basket at the door and a note. Looks like he would be rather busy for a while." At this Morning Mist pursed her lips. The stallions in her family were always like that. She silently thanked Celestia that Fender wasn't taking any examples from them.

 

"I bet he's going to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory," Autumn Glow chimed in. "If what Fender told me this afternoon was right, somepony was going to be dragged to the court. I... There was a lot of casualties, hundreds too many. Vanhoover isn't a pegasi city, lot of the dead were earth ponies," she commented as she bit into a corn and spit. "I seriously hope they will execute whoever was responsible."

 

Autumn Glow shook her head a few times. Other mares looked at her in disapproval for speaking about execution so easily, but she didn't pay any mind to it. As a senior member of the disaster relief team, she witnessed pretty much the large bulk of the disaster. She had to dig a lot of families from their house turned frozen coffin, the still frame of foals who breathed their last moment under the bulk of all that snow... She shivered and quickly stood up. "I'll... Walk around for a bit, need some fresh air." She walked out of the house and turned to the backyard.

 

Morning Mist closed her eyes and sighed. She could only imagine what could put that much strain on her elder daughter. Even Winterglade fell silent. The white mare stood up and cleaned up her snout. "Thanks for the dinner, mom. It was delicious. Um... I'll help you cleaning up."

[Fender 1,283]

@@Starshine, 

 

Fender frowned at Autumn. "I'll...I'll make sure she's alright." He said flatly, when she left.

 

He followed Autumn to the backyard, and approached her side. "You alright?" He didn't bother letting her answer, neither of them would ever forget. "Look, there's more to our trip to Vanhoover than we told..." He figured now was a better time than any to tell her, "...that filly we helped on the train, her mother was some...fortune teller." He frowned, "Anyway, she entrusted us with her daughter when we got to Vanhoover. The filly had some gem with her, something for teleporting to her mum in an emergency or something. Her mother was really in tune with magic, so we thought nothing of it. Anyway, after we escaped the avalanche, maybe before it happened, I can't remember...we got curious of the gem. I touched it, and in an instant it-" He inhaled, while he took a moment to think how to describe it, "-it honestly felt like my brain might have exploded. It overloaded with some negative energy or something. Anyway..." He braced, as the though brought back some emotion he didn't want, "...I saw every dead or dying pony in an instant. The second I touched that gem, I saw every last one. The entire city." He was careful how he spoke his next words, "And..." he shivered, "...I heard each of their dying breaths." He leaned against her in hopes to offer comfort. "Look, anypony at Vanhoover would be traumatized. I met the mare responsible for the avalanche...I can't describe to you the sorrow in her eyes when I saw her...everypony was looking like they were about to kill her. I saved her." His spine got chills when he spoke the words. He didn't regret his actions, he just hoped that Autumn wouldn't hate him for it. "The point is...wishing death or pain upon somepony might as well be causing it for them...or others. You're no better if you wish death upon somepony." He frowned more, "It was an accident." His face flatlined again, as if he released any tension for himself.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Becker (Fender)

[Starshine 16,333]

@,

 

Outside, at the edge of the cloud, Autumn Glow stood still. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe, she thought inwardly, maybe I need a vacation somewhere. She was contemplating on asking for some days off from work when Fender's unannounced arrival nearly spooked her.

 

Autumn Glow didn't say anything as Fender slowly explained to her about the filly he met at the train, and how it all lean to him touching the gem. She involuntarily shivered when Fender described what he heard and seen from the gem. The waves of emotions emaciating from the stallion were... nauseating.

 

Then Fender told her about the mare responsible for the catastrophe, and how he saved her from being lynched by the mob. The anger welled inside her nearly burst up. How could he saved the mare who had killed all of those foals? Her wings vibrated, momentarily losing their disguise. She was about to protest, but quickly stopped herself. Maybe... Fender was right. Autumn Glow sighed. She was too tired for this. Without even saying a word she jumped and flew into her room through the window, and locked it shut.

 

...

 

Winterglade, who had been watching the conversation from the door, slowly walked to Fender's side. There was not a little amount of hesitation in her hoofsteps. Her older sister had always been the emotional one. Fender had also suffered enough in their time in the Vanhoover. It certainly felt like she was merely an audience in this entire thing. When she reached Fender, she couldn't help but to press herself close to her husband and nuzzled him.

 

Above them, the night sky slowly moved to take its rightful place, blanket of stars covering the entire horizon. The last rays of sunlight could be seen from the mountains at the west. It was beautiful, Winterglade thought to herself, if only there was no terrible things happening to mar this experience. She leaned her neck to Fender and spoke softly, "Are you okay?"

[Fender 1,283]

@@Starshine, 

 

He sighed,his voice was almost a whisper. "Just trying to keep the peace. I wouldn't want your sister sounding so...heartless." He smiled weakly, "I wonder how she would've reacted if I had told her of Princess Luna's appearance in our hotel room."  He kissed his wife on top of the head. "Still...it's her choice how she feels about this. I still hope my words meant something to her, though."

[Starshine 16,333]

@,

 

Winterglade smiled warmly from the touch of Fender's lips on her forehead. It certainly felt... nice. "Give her time. My sister is a bit stubborn, but she's not unreasonable," she replied. "I'm sure she would be grateful of your words."

 

She sat on her haunches right there, next to Fender, on the soft cushion of the cloud. After days of trotting on hard wood, the cloud was certainly a welcome change. Behind them, Morning Mist turned on the lights and slowly closed the door to spare her daughter and son some privacy. Winterglade smiled. Her mind trailed back to that day when she flew off from her argument with her dad, and about Fender who caught up with her. So many things have changed since then.

 

Winterglade hugged Fender from the side, brushing their wings together. "It's a generally good day, isn't it?" she asked. She didn't really feel like doubting that, but she just wanted to hear his voice.

[Fender 1,283]

@@Starshine, 

 

He again smiled weakly, at her question. "Yeah...I suppose it is. I'm still excited that we are going to be parents." The mere thought of parenthood brought an even bigger smile to his face. "I wouldn't want anypony other than you to be the mother of my foals..." He nuzzled her. "...thank you for entering my life."

[Starshine 16,333]

@,

 

Winterglade smiled warmly at the nuzzle, the touch filled her entire being with that certain warmth she had grown to love so much. Yes, this was definitely the thing that made her life worth it. She moved in for a bit some more of the nose kisses. Maybe they could just try it here...

 

+++

 

It was about three o'clock in the morning. Winterglade groggily rose from her bed. The entire thing was a mess. A lot of weird crumbs as far as her hooves could feel, the bed sheet was pretty much gone, replaced with a thin film of sweat. What had happened last night again? Tried she might, but there was no answer coming. After stretching her wings twice, taking care not to wake Fender from his slumber, Winterglade teetered down from the bed. The stallion was sleeping rather peacefully, she didn't have the heard to disturb him. A couple of one-sided kisses later, she slowly walked out of the room and into the dining area. Time to get everything ready.

 

About three hours later, the sun had started peeking out from the horizon, and Winterglade was still busy preparing the stew for the breakfast. She had taken care nearly all of her things that would be taken back to the Ponyville, now the only thing left was the food. Without her knowing, Autumn Glow tip-toed her way to her room and right to Fender's side. The elder sister looked around the scene and whistled. "Now that's something wild there," she giggled and poked at Fender. "Wake up now, big boy. Your wive's trying to burn the house now."

[Fender 1,283]

@, 

 

Fender awoke, barely hearing Autumn's words. He almost thought it was Winterglade waking him, but quickly took notice to the fact that it was the elder sister. He sat up and slumped down off of the bed, slowly regaining his normal composure after a moment. He rubbed his eyes, "Good morning." A part of him was almost saddened by seeing Autumn, given the events from last night, but he didn't even remotely show it. Instead, with only concern in his eyes and voice, he asked "Are you alright?" and hoped she would remember everything he had said.