There was a blinding white flash as that moment in time was captured forever. This concept confused Phantom Knight since pictures were supposed to preserve happy moments in time, not ones that felt... incomplete. That's what this scene was, incomplete.
Five ponies were seated in front of a hearth, all of whom were pegasi. On the left, the black stallion whose eyes glowed a brilliant blue held in his foreleg a newly born black-coated filly with red eyes. In front of him was a midnight blue colt, about six years older than the filly, and whose eyes matched the stallion's perfectly. On the right of the picture was another stallion. This one had a soft, lavender coat and comforting, tan eyes. His vivid rainbow mane matched that of the cyan filly he cuddled with. At his side, a bright pink mare with a cobalt blue mane leaned over him, giving the cyan filly a goofy face. Each of the ponies wore a toothy grin, except for the colt, who barely managed more than a smile.
It was Hearth's Warming night in his cloud home. His father had decided that he didn't want a big party like he usually had. He invited over only his best friend and his wife who had brought along their month-old filly. The Dashes: probably the nicest family you would ever meet, willing to do anything they could to help you.
Phantom, the colt, was the first to step away after the camera flashed. He flapped his wings once to help him jump onto a soft cushion that sat next to the hearth. It was his favorite spot. Just in the right place to feel the warm air from their airlieu, a hole in the side of a cloud home that sucked up the warm air that the clouds rode on and distributed it throughout the home to help with heating. The opening had a grate in front of it to prevent children from falling through them and to the ground below. It was the place that his mother, Spirit, would cuddle with him during one of his night terrors.
His father, Spectre, rose next, holding in his black hooves his daughter, Nyx. He set the filly next to Phantom and tickled her briefly with his hooves before turning towards his son.
"Hey, bud," Spectre said. "Can you watch Rainbow and your sister while I go start dinner?”
“Sure, Dad,” Phantom said, nodding. He looked at his sister, who stared back, sucking on the tip of her hoof. As much as she annoyed him with her insistent crying fits—especially those at night—he loved his younger sister, and there was nowhere he could go to escape from her cuteness. Giving in, Phantom bent down and blew a series of raspberries on Nyx’s stomach, enticing short giggles out of the filly.
Seeing the fervor of activity, Rainbow Dash, the cyan filly with a namesake mane, buzzed over to the pair. She silently teamed up with Nyx, turning the tables on the colt and piling on top of him.
Meanwhile, the lavender pegasus, Spectrum, crawled out from under his wife, Firefly. Turning to face her he said, “I’m going to go help Spectre. Be right back, honey.” He gave her a soft peck on the cheek.
“Take your time, dear,” Firefly said. “I understand.”
“Thanks.” Kissing her again, he set off down the dimly lit hallway on the other side of the living room towards the kitchen. Turning right, Spectrum entered the light of the kitchen.
For a moment, Phantom lost track of everypony. All of his attention was focused on the foals that were currently mauling him. With careful ease, he climbed out of the ball of fur, sucking in a large gulp fresh air as he did.
There was another flash while Firefly hovered above the foals, camera in hoof. “Aww... look at you three!” She raised the camera to her eye. Adjusting the lense focus, she took a second picture. “So cute!”
Firefly set the camera down on a nearby coffee table next to a blue-covered book. “Come on,” she said, carefully picking up her daughter. Sitting down in front of the cushion, she grabbed the book with her wing. “I’ll read you three a story while we wait on dinner, then we can open the presents!”
Phantom jumped off of the cushion. He turned around and, with practiced ease, picked up his little sister in his legs and carried her over to Firefly, who had curled up and tucked Rainbow Dash in her forelegs between her and the book. Phantom place Nyx in a similar position, sharing the space in Firefly’s forelegs with Rainbow Dash, leaving enough room for the mare to still move her hooves to manipulate the book. Phantom placed himself in the gap that the mare’s legs made, snuggling closely to her barrel and peering over her shoulder and the heads of the foals to get a view of the book.
Wrapping her wing around the colt and bringing him in closer, Firefly opened the cover of the book. It was a simple foals’ tale: The Legend of the Rainboom. The story was merely a picture book with several drawings on each page underscored by a blurb of words.
The first picture depicted a massive rainbow ring in the sky, in the center of which was a light brighter than the midday sun. All of the clouds that the ring touched seemed to disappear completely, and a massive wind swept across the grassland beneath it. From the center of the ring extended the most brilliant of rainbows, one far superior to those made at the local weather factory, that stretched across the sky, disappearing behind Mount Equis.
“The Legend of the Rainboom is one of the oldest tales in pegasus culture,” Firefly read. “It is said that only the best and fastest fliers can achieve such a feat...”
Phantom’s eyes drifted shut, his mind not paying the story much attention. It had been told to him many times since he was born, so it wasn’t of much interest now. Rainbow Dash, however, was glued to the pictures, hanging on every soft word her mother spoke.
The colt relaxed, something he found to be surprisingly easy to do since he wasn’t too comfortable around other mares. But Firefly, she reminded him so much of his mother with her voice, her scent, the softness of her fur, even the way she hugged him with her wing. His head rested on her side as he slowly drifted into a dreamscape.
Sounds drifted far from his mind, leaving him in a peaceful silence. All that was left was the low bass in Firefly’s voice that massaged his eardrums. Then he felt something soft briefly pulse the side of his head. Phantom shifted positions, paying the disturbance barely any mind. Letting out a breath, he hoped for sleep to come quickly. His request was denied as another pulse hit him. Then another. And another. They came and went in a slow, steady rhythm. He smiled, listening closely to the beating of Firefly’s heart. It sounded just like his mother’s.
But this wasn’t her... This wasn’t Spirit. This was Firefly, Rainbow Dash’s mom, not his. Her touch, her sounds, her smells, even her voice, the feeling Phantom got being snuggled up in her embrace like that, it all added up to her being his mother. When he opened his eyes, he didn’t see his mother’s warm, comforting smile, her midnight blue coat, her tender, red eyes, her black mane. He instead saw a pink coat, a cobalt mane, and lavender eyes.
Phantom looked to the top of the hearth where a photo sat. It was the most recent family photo in the home, depicting him in his father’s grasp at the side of a hospital bed that his pregnant mother occupied. They had all seemed so happy at the time, with his mother sporting the largest smile out of them all. The picture had been taken shortly before Nyx was born, and shortly before Spirit had died.
His breathing increased, and he slipped out from beneath Firefly’s wing, escaping the familiar sensations. She completed the sentence she was on then stopped, turning her attention to Phantom for a brief moment before speaking in a soft tone. There was something about the way she was looking at him, something that Phantom couldn’t quite grasp.
“Phantom,” she said, “can you see how dinner’s coming along?”
He didn’t manage a vocal response, opting instead for a simple nod. Firefly picked up where she left off in the story as Phantom trotted towards the hallway. The sounds of the mare’s voice and the foals’ laughter faded away as new voices became apparent. Ahead of him, the kitchen door was slightly open, its golden light flooding the otherwise dim hallway.
The pictures that hung from the left wall depicted his parents’ lives from their beginnings up until not long before that fateful day in the hospital. Things like Spectre passing Royal Guard training, Spirit on a stage receiving her medical degree, a photo they managed to get from a passer by that showed the two just moments before they met for the first time, a multitude of dates and holidays spent with one another, their marriage, Phantom’s birth, even more holidays with the family as a whole, all the way until their anniversary the month before. Then, they stopped. Sure, more pictures had been taken since then, but Spectre hadn’t yet had the film developed. Phantom couldn’t help but avert his eyes, closing them tightly and turning his head away.
”...just miss her... so much...”
Phantom tilted his head to the side. That sounded like his father’s voice, but it was short, weak, strained, everything his father’s voice wasn’t.
”It’ll be okay, everything’ll be okay.” That time Phantom recognized the voice as Spectrum’s. It was a comforting voice, like what he usually heard out of the stallion, and one that was trying to calm Spectre.
Phantom reached the door and looked through the gap. His father sat at the far end of the cloud table, head buried in his black hooves. Spectrum sat to the stallion’s right, his own lavender hooves crossed in front of him. He watched Spectre with a pitiful look.
“Spectre, listen to me,” Spectrum said. “You. Will. Be. Okay. You have to be okay. For your family. Your wonderful son, your beautiful baby girl, you’ve got to be there for both of them. Phantom’s been pretty protective of her, you know. Later on, he’ll really help out a lot.”
“You seem sure of that...”
“I am sure. Firefly and I can help, too. Don’t be afraid to ask us for anything.”
“Won’t you guys be too busy with Rainbow Dash? From what I’ve seen, she’s quite the hoofful.”
“She takes after her mother in that... Anyway, we’re Dashes, remember? Can’t get more Loyal than us. How long have we been serving together, now six years?”
“Seven. Spirit and I met the same year as our graduation from the academy.”
“And Firefly and I the year after, right, I remember. Now, during all of those years, have we ever left each other’s sides?” Phantom couldn’t hear any verbal replies, he assumed that his father had shaken his head if Spectrum’s response was anything to judge by. “Right, not. One. Time. And we will always be there for each other.”
“What’ll happen if something happ—”
His father was interrupted by the sound of one of the chairs sliding angrily across the floor. Spectrum rose from his seat and marched to Spectre's side.
“If you ever think like that again so help me Celestia... You aren’t going to go anywhere, not while those foals are in your care, understand me?”
“Y-Yeah...”
“Good. Now you have to be strong. Stronger than you’ve ever been before. Phantom needs you now more than ever, and Nyx, Nyx will need both of you later on in life. As long as you guys stay together, every moment will be happy, and you’ll have one another for those moments.”
“I know, I know... it’s just...” there was a pause as Spectre sighed. “It’s hard to believe she’s actually gone.”
Suddenly Spectre picked a hoof up and slammed it back down on the table, cracking the impact site and knocking dishware to to the white floor. Even though he had bashed compressed clouds, it still made a significant enough thump that caused Phantom to recoil, hiding behind the door.
Spectre tried to keep from yelling, “She’s gone... Spirit’s gone and there’s nothing I can do...”
Phantom stood, looking at the crack and wondered what was happening. He had never seen his father lose control like this before. Or lose control at all, really. Spectre always held himself together, no matter the situation he encountered. It didn’t matter the scenario, whether he was on duty or off, he was the calmest out of anypony there, and his calm spread to others near him.
Now, all of that was falling apart. Phantom could even hear quiet sobs emanating from within the room. He fell to his haunches, jaw a gape. Dad doesn’t cry...
The concept seemed alien to the colt. His dad, his dad, crying? Spectre never cried! Ever! How could Phantom expect to be strong if his own father had faltered?
He leaned to the side. Focusing only on the turmoil in his mind and not his balance, Phantom was taken by surprise when the door we leaned against gave way and swung open. As he fell, he let out a startled squeak before hitting the soft cloud floor. The conversation between the two stallions stopped and they stared at the fallen colt.
Phantom turned his head to look back at the adults, then scurried to his hooves. “S-Sorry,” he apologized, rubbing one hoof in front of the other and looking down at the floor.
“It’s alright, bud,” Spectre sighed. “We were just having a talk. How much did you here?”
“N-Nothin’! I swear!”
“Son, you get your curiosity from me. I know you were eavesdropping. Now, why don’t you come over here and I’ll explain everything, alright?”
Phantom nodded, trotting over to his father with his head still lowered. Reaching the table, Spectre bent down and picked his son up, placing him on his lap and holding him near his chest. He rested his jaw on the top of Phantom’s head and started to slowly sway from side to side. Spectrum took this opportunity to go off to the other side of the kitchen and start the process of making the dinner for the night.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Why were you crying?”
There was a pause. “Well... Son, it’s because I miss your mother.” Spectre hugged his son tighter. “I miss her... I miss her a lot.” Phantom didn’t notice it before but now he felt a warm tear drip down the side of his cheek.
“I do too...” Another tear tracked down the same path as the one before it. Above him, Phantom could hear his dad sniff, a sure sign that he too was crying.
“You know we gotta be strong for your sister, right? Just like Spectrum said. Especially later on, we have to be strong for her. Can you do that for me? Can you be strong for your sister?” Phantom nodded beneath his father’s jaw. “That’s good. We’re going to have to do some growing up, you and I. More than we ever thought we would have... especially you. You understand, right?”
“I understand, dad.”
“Good. We’ll all get through this. Do you know how?”
“T-Together?”
Spectre smiled. “That’s my boy. As long as we’ve got one another, we’ll all be okay. Everything’ll be okay.” Spectre rose from the chair and held Phantom out in front of him. He kissed the colt on the forehead before gently setting him down on the floor. “Now, go to Firefly that dinner’ll be done in ten or so minutes please.”
Phantom nodded, turning to head back through the kitchen door. Just before he stepped through the threshold to the hallway, he was stopped by his father calling to him.
“Oh, and Phantom?” He turned to look at his father. “Promise me you’ll always look after Nyx. Please? Can you do that?” Again, Phantom nodded. “Alright. I’ll hold you to that promise. Don’t let anything happen to her, okay?”
“Yeah, you got it.”
“Thanks, son.”
Phantom entered the dimly lit hall and headed towards the sounds of foals laughing. A flash reached his eyes from the living room. Through one of the mirrors, he could see Firefly hovering a distance, taking pictures with a contorted face to entice more laughter from the foals. Phantom smiled to himself as his pace slightly increased.
His father was right. Everything would be okay. Everything would be okay and they would all have one another. He would never break the promise that he had just made to his father.
“Phantom!” A foal cried. Before the colt whose name had been called had a chance to react, his vision had been filled by a cyan and rainbow blur, and he had toppled backwards into the hallway.
“Aww!” Firefly cooed, hoovering towards the foals. “You two are too cute!” She raised the camera, and with a flash, took the picture.
