A new day had dawned upon Equestria, and life in Manehatten was beginning its typical routine once more. Out in the suburbs, young fillies and colts were being brought into school for another day of learning. Among the flow of ponies was a light pink pegasus filly walking beside an orange unicorn mare, who had the filly’s small saddle bag placed carefully on her back. Soon the pair reached the gates of the school grounds.

“Alright Darling, you be good now,” said the unicorn before levitating the saddle bags on the filly’s back.
“I will! Bye Miss Glitz, see you later!” the filly; Darling Rose, yelled as she ran to a group of other ponies. The unicorn; Gleaming Glitz, smiled at the energetic filly and then began walking out of the gates to return home. As she went through the gates, she looked back at Darling and let out a small, content sigh before continuing down the path.

*** *** ***

Darling and all the other children had entered their classroom awaiting the teacher. Darling; as well as some of her friends, had noticed a box on the teacher’s desk that wasn’t there the day before. A few seconds later, an older unicorn stallion trotted through the door levitating several stacks of coloured card with him. He set the stacks on his desk, adjusted his tie and sat down.

“Good morning, children!” he greeted cheerfully, bringing the attention of the class to him.

“Good morning, Mr. Kibitzer!” the children responded, some sounding more enthusiastic than others.

“Now then children, I’m sure many of you are already aware of what day it is today but for those who may have lost track of the date, today is mother’s day!” Mr. Kibitzer announced happily. Darling’s ears perked up and her eyes widened. She instantly realised what all of the card and the box were for. Mr. Kibitzer was going to have them make mother’s day cards. Darling’s chipper attitude soon faded away as she slumped down in her chair.

As Darling had expected, he announced that they would all be making mother’s day cards, which to Darling felt like being stabbed in the chest several times with a rusty blade. This was always a painful time of year for her, as she never knew her mother. When she became old enough to question her mother’s absence, her father simply told her that she’d left for a better place. She of course found out what this really meant after her father died in war. Since then, she’d been in foster care with Gleaming Glitz. Mother’s and father’s day simply served as painful reminders of her parents’ fate.

Mr. Kibitzer continued to cheerfully hand out art supplies and card to all his students, only stopping when he reached Darling who had planted her head firmly against her desk. He knelt down to get eye level with her, still levitating all that he was carrying.

“Darling, I know this is a difficult time for you, but perhaps you could make something for Miss Glitz? I think it would be good for both of you if you did,” he said calmly, shifting from his usual deafening tone. Darling nodded in agreement, but only so she could get it out of the way and not have Mr. Kibitzer give her a lecture later on. He smiled at her, gave her some supplies and card, and then continued on around the class to repeat the process until everypony had stuff to work with.

Once he was done, Mr. Kibitzer returned to his desk and called for the class to begin working. Darling just stared at the different coloured card sheets in front of her, occasionally glancing about at the other students happily working around her. She returned her gaze to the card before her and carefully began to fold a sheet, and then let out a weak sigh.

It was going to be a long day for Darling.

*** *** ***

The school day was over and the weekend had begun. Parents were waiting in the school grounds to pick up their children, with Gleaming Glitz standing by the main gate. She soon spotted Darling exiting the school building and waved her over. As she got closer, Gleaming noticed that Darling was looking a little glum and she then remembered this exact same situation happening exactly a year ago. Gleaming said nothing as Darling walked slowly past her, making Gleaming trot to catch up to her as the pair left the school.

Gleaming didn’t want to say anything out here and create a scene, but she felt she had to talk to Darling about it to hopefully ease her pain. She decided that as soon as they were back home, she would make an attempt to talk with Darling about it, but if it was anything like the last time then it would be very difficult. Darling had isolated herself in her room and became completely oblivious to everything around her. Even after mother’s day had passed, Darling still wouldn’t say anything to Gleaming about it.

This time though, Gleaming was determined to get through to her. She could no longer bear seeing Darling in such a state.

*** *** ***

Sure enough, as soon as the pair had made it home, Darling went to her room and closed the door without saying a word. Gleaming quickly got up the stairs and was at her bedroom door. She leaned closer to try and hear if anything was going on inside, but it was completely silent. She then raised a hoof and gave a gentle knock on the door.

“Darling, I need to have a talk with you.” There was no reply from Darling. Gleaming sighed. “I’m coming in now, Darling.”

Gleaming slowly opened the door and saw the filly lying on her bed facing away from the door. Her saddlebag had been dropped carelessly to the floor at the base of her bed and some of its content had spilled. As she got closer to Darling, she could finally hear something. Darling was crying quietly to herself. Seeing the filly like this was too painful for Gleaming to watch, but she knew she had to be strong to get through to her.

“Darling, please talk to me...” Gleaming begged. There was still no response. Gleaming walked closer to the bed and sat down. Just as she was about to put a hoof on the filly’s back, she shot up and hugged Gleaming tightly while burying her face into Gleaming’s chest.

“Why does everypony have a mom but me... why couldn’t mine be here with me...?” whimpered Darling between sobs. Gleaming just responded to this by returning the hug while gently stroking her mane. It felt like an eternity went by as Darling unleashed her bottled anguish. It wasn’t long before she had no more tears to shed and the crying had stopped, but Gleaming didn’t let her go.

“Feeling a bit better now, Darling?” Gleaming asked, still stroking the filly’s mane in comfort. Darling turned her head so she could breathe properly and gave a light nod and while Gleaming couldn’t see it, she felt it against her chest.

“But I can’t stand it. Every year I have to watch as everypony in class does something for mother’s day, and it hurts me... everypony has a mom who loves them. Everypony but me...” Darling murmured. She tried to cry again, but she couldn’t. She then felt Gleaming tighten her hug and press her chin down on her head.

“That’s not true, Darling,” Gleaming whispered. Darling shuffled around in Gleaming’s embrace and looked up to the unicorn’s face. Gleaming had tears slowly running down her cheeks.

“You’ve been here longer than any other child I’ve fostered, Darling. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t grown to care for you as more than just a foster parent,” she continued as Darling continued to stare at her with wide eyes. “You’ve brought so much joy to my life over this last year and a half, and I don’t think I can bear to let you go anymore.”

Gleaming finally opened her eyes to look at the filly. Despite the tears, she gave Darling a gentle smile and loosened the grip of the hug. The gears in Darling’s head began to run overtime trying to comprehend what she was hearing, until it finally clicked to her what Gleaming was getting at.

“Y-you me-mean...?” Darling muttered with a quivering lip. Gleaming wiped away some of her own tears and gave a light nod to the filly.

“Yes Darling, I would like to be your-” before Gleaming could finish speaking she was barrelled down onto the bed by Darling, who was now crying into her chest again. She responded by wrapping her front legs around the filly and nuzzling her forehead.

“My little Darling Rose... you don’t have to feel alone anymore. I’ll always be here for you,” she said softly. Darling seemed to have discovered a whole reservoir of new tears to unleash, but Gleaming knew that unlike earlier these were tears of joy. It wasn’t long though before Darling was fresh out of tears once more and had completely exhausted herself from all the crying. Gleaming carefully manoeuvred off of the bed and left the filly to nap.

*** *** ***

The rest of the day seemed to fly by for the Darling. She was woken up from her nap for dinner, and then spent the rest of the evening playing with Gleaming. It wasn’t long until she was being tucked into bed for the night, much to her aching body’s relief. Gleaming gave her a kiss on the forehead, wished her goodnight and started walking out of the room, but before she could leave a little voice stopped her.

“Miss Glitz? What if somepony tries to take me away?” Darling asked with worry in her voice. She knew that she was in foster care and that sooner or later a family would try and adopt her, as was the system. Gleaming turned back the filly and gave her a reassuring smile.

“You don’t need to worry about that, Darling. Tomorrow morning I’m going to drop out of the foster agency and start the adoption process. From what I hear it’s a very easy process too if you’ve got a trustworthy reference like a foster agency,” she replied. Darling was pleased to hear this. “Now then, goodnight Darling.”

Darling nodded against her pillow. She then shuffled around under her covers to get comfortable and let out a content sigh.

“Night, mom...” she muttered quietly. Gleaming once again stopped dead in her tracks. Fresh tears began to well up in her eyes and a smile crept across her face. She quietly closed Darling’s door and went back downstairs.

Darling lay peacefully in her bed, drifting off slowly into a deep slumber. It had been a day that she would never forget, and the best mother’s day she had ever had. For Darling, everything would just get better from that point as she had finally obtained the one thing she wanted most in life.

She had finally been given a mother of her own.

Author's Note

Howdy folks, Terton here. First time attempting writing a fanfic for me and while I think I did okay, some constructive criticism would be most appreciated so I can improve the next time I do this sort of thing. Improvement is good and I need to improve!

Catch you next time maybe I guess!

Story was written for the UKofE bi-monthly fanfic writing contest.

Story set in the Life in the City tumblr blog timeline, three and a half years before the starting events of said blog.