The little filly ran down the stairs to see her dad come home. Her hoof steps made a noise while she stepped on the wood staircase. She could hear the snowflakes fall on the roof as she walked down. Somehow she could feel the snow outside. The snow was cold but soft. The snow was softer than anything that the brown Pegasus filly knew of. She didn’t know that anything could get that soft. She took another step down the stairs and felt something strange. She felt as if her dad wasn’t down there as if he didn’t even exist. She shook that terrible thought out of her mind and continued down the staircase.
Each step made her think or feel something different. She didn’t even realize that she was at the bottom of the stairs when she felt like she had five hooves. The little brown filly looked through the dark living room. She made sure her hoof steps were quiet. She used to make her hoof steps loud, and her mother would notice her, but the little filly mastered the quiet run over the years. She leaped like a gazelle behind the couch and looked around the dark room with sharp eyes, looking for any light where her father could be. She soon saw the kitchen light was on and heard her father's voice in there. The filly crept by small furniture and hid behind the doors that lead to the kitchen.
The filly knew that she would see her father in the morning, but she just had to hear his tough voice. His voice sounded deep and heroic. His voice was tough and sweet at the same time. For the filly, explaining what her father was like would be difficult. The filly leaned in close to the kitchen to hear his voice before the morning. “I don’t think I should tell her, I think it would be best for her not to know” she heard her father sigh. Know about what, and who, the filly thought in confusion. She puts her ear to the door to hear more. “You’ll break her heart, she’ll cry her eyes out” the filly heard her mom say. It was obvious her mom was crying. The little filly was still confused on who and what they were talking about. Just why would it break somepony’s heart?
“She’s only three, she probably won't even notice,” the filly’s father said. The little filly thought I’m only three. “But she’s looks for you ever the night you come home” her mom cried.
“She, she does?”
“Yes!”
“I-I never knew that, she cares that much about me.”
“She does”
The little filly knew whom they were talking about. They were talking about her. What would they not want me to know, the filly thought? She had to know, she didn’t like other ponies to have secrets about her, and it seemed to be important. She creaked open the door and peeked through. She saw her blue unicorn father with a brown mane. He had his celestial armor still on. The armor was silver and it had black stars on it. His armor was supposed to be different than the others because he was the new captain of the royal guard ever since Shining Armor left. The filly also saw her mother across from the filly’s father. The mother was a brown unicorn with a light pink mane. The filly saw her mother’s cutie mark; it was a pink heart with a baby bottle. She got the cutie mark from her first fillysitting job. Turns out that she is amazing with fillies.
The filly and her father caught each other’s eyes. “Looks like I don’t have a choice” the father said staring straight into his daughter’s eyes. The filly’s mom followed his eyes to see her daughter eves dropping into their conversation. The mother smiled a little in relief, she wanted her daughter to know about this. “Come in Bouncer” Bouncer’s dad sighed. A salty tear dripped down his face and into his mouth. Bouncer slowly walked into the room. Unlike her two parents, Bouncer was a Pegasus, not a unicorn. She didn’t know what was she was going to know, and she didn’t really want to find out. Bouncer just wanted to hop into her father’s hooves, and stay together forever. Bouncer started to shake a little, and she was more nervous than she ever was before.
Bouncer stopped in the middle of the kitchen. Her father looked down for a second then looked back into his daughter's blue eyes. Bouncer stroked her dark brown and light brown braided mane. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. “Look” Bouncer’s father started, “I know I just got home, like literally just now but”
“But what?”
“There has been a threat against Princess Luna in Canterlot, and I have to go to Canterlot until we find out what pony or … well … thing that sent the threat”
“S-So does that mean” Bouncer paused. Her father slowly nodded, “B-But you’ll be back soon right?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well … you will come home, will you?”
There was a long pause. Bouncer knew the answer to that question, but she didn’t want to. Tears rolled down from her face and she closed her eyes. She ran into her father and cried on him. She didn’t want him to leave, Bouncer wanted to go with him. Bouncer wanted to help her father so she could be with him, but she couldn’t. Another tear dragged down her face and landed into her tong. Her tear wasn’t salty this time, and she didn’t know why. She looked at her father and asked again, “You will come home, right?” her father hugged her tight and said, “Once the snow shines, I’ll be back.”
Bouncer leaned into her dad again and watch the snow fall from a nearby window. The words repeated in Bouncer’s head, “Once the snow shines, I’ll be back” she knew that her father would soon return … hopefully.
