It's no secret that children have very active imaginations. Whether children are playing pretend, creating their own stories based on things from their own lives or simply having imaginary friends, children are incredibly creative beings. This included Starry, who constantly amazed her parents with the lengths her mind would go in making up stories.

At 4 years old, Starry had one of the most active imaginations in Ponyville and was always play pretending as a royal guard like her father or a ind princess like her mother. She also loved to make up stories about dragons and ponies and act them out with the other children her age; in particular four year old Gusty; sometimes in front of a small audience in the village or just her family. Twilight believed that this was one trait she had inherited from her father was her active imagination.

Because of this both Flash and Twilight should have realized that there was one issue that she would have used this talent for; Flash's leg. (A/N Personal doing of mine, will explain later in a different one-shot)

Flash and Twilight had never told their daughter how her daddy had come to lose his leg, thinking the time would come when they believed she would be old enough to understand. What they didn't realize was that time came a lot sooner than either of them expected or wanted. Starry had an active imagination at the best of times, but put her with four year old Gusty and it suddenly got a whole lot wilder, which it did one particular day, six months after her fourth birthday.

"Gusty! Gusty, get back here right now!"

Starry looked up from the book her mother was reading to her on her lap outside the castle to see Rainbow chasing her four year old son around the village, all while trying to hold onto her five month old son, Split Second. Hearing the yelling, Twilight looked up just as Rainbow stopped outside the castle, looking worn and breathless, as Gusty continued to run in and out of buildings ahead of her.

"You alright there Rainbow?" Twilight asked the young mare sympathetically. "Gusty looks like he's giving you the run around." She looked around. "Where's Soarin?"

"Out flying with Spitfire and High Winds," Rainbow answered wearily as she watched Gusty get further and further away from her. She nodded towards his retreating figure. "Soarin usually takes Gusty if he gets bored, but today I'm on my own. I can't keep up with both of them at the same time when he's in this mood," Rainbow explained with a sigh.

Twilight looked over at Gusty, still running around ahead of his mother. "Rainbow, why don't you leave Gusty with us for the day?" She suggested kindly. "I'm sure Flash won't mind and that way he can play with Starry. You know those two never get bored of playing dragons and ponies," Twilight added with a chuckle and Starry's eyes lit up with this offer.

So did Rainbow's. "Really, you wouldn't mind?" she asked Twilight gratefully. "I wouldn't usually ask, but with Soarin out and Gusty in this mood, you'd really be helping me out," Rainbow said in relief as she shifted the five month old colt in her hooves.

"I don't mind Rainbow, really" Twilight smiled. "He's no trouble. I'll just ask Flash," she said with a glance towards her husband. "It's his day off, but I'm sure he won't mind." She turned to Flash, engrossed in a sketch he was doing while leaning against Pepper nearby. He hadn't heard the conversation yet. Rolling her eyes with a grin, Twilight got up and went over to him, where he finally looked up at her.

"What's up Twi?" Flash asked her with a smile, completely oblivious to the conversation that had just occurred.

"I know it's your day off, but you don't mind if Gusty comes over to play with Starry do you? It's just that Dash needs a break," Twilight said as she nodded towards Rainbow Dash, who smiled sheepishly at the captain of the guard.

"It's fine with me," Flash said with a smile towards Rainbow as he stood up. "Gusty can come over whenever he wants Rainbow."

"Thanks Flash, I appreciate this," Rainbow said gratefully, before she turned her attention to Gusty. "Gusty!" she yelled loudly, "do you want to go over to Starry's house?!"

That got the colt's attention and he immediately stopped what he was doing and ran back to his mother, a look of excitement plastered on his face.

"That got your attention didn't it?" Rainbow chuckled. "Now, Flash and Twilight said you can play with Starry today, so you be good; promise?" Rainbow told him firmly.

Gusty nodded. "Yes, mummy," he said before he ran off to play with Starry.

Rainbow turned to Flash and Twilight. "If he starts acting up, just send him home. He can be a bit of a troublemaker," Rainbow said with a sigh, glancing over at her four year old son running around with Starry who was squealing as she tried to avoid getting caught.

"So can Starry when she wants to be," Twilight grinned. "He'll be fine, Rainbow. We'll drop him home before dinner."

"No, I'll get Soarin to pick him up when he gets back," Rainbow said quickly. "Thanks for this Twi," she added appreciatively as she turned to leave, just as a fine dusting of snow began to come down. Twilight waved to Rainbow as she hurriedly flew up into the sky, not wanting Split Second to be exposed to the cold.

"I guess that's our cue to go inside," Flash said with a look at the falling snow. He turned to the kids with a smile. "Sorry kids, but it's too cold out here. You'll have to go inside and play." He ushered them towards the castle where they both sighed, but went to follow Twilight inside. As Flash began to follow, though, Twilight's eyes suddenly widened.

"Flash, watch out for that-"

Flash's metal leg caught in a small hollow in the ground and wobbled with his weight on it, sending him sprawling; Pepper tried to catch her friend and support him, but was too slow and could only watch as he fell face first into the snowy grass.

"-hole," Twilight finished with a wince. Flash groaned and spat out a few blades of grass as he sat up again causing both Starry and Gusty to burst into fits of laughter and a moment later Twilight joined in, unable to help herself.

"The old metal leg strikes again it seems," Flash said dryly as he stood up from the ground, make Twilight just laugh harder.

"No, you just keep forgetting the hole's there, that's all!" Twilight laughed. "I've never seen anyone so accident prone in my life!"

Starry giggled too. "You're clumsy daddy!"

"Nice to know my girls have so much faith in me," Flash said, voice dripping in sarcasm, causing Twilight and Starry to burst into fits of laughter again, as did Gusty who was looking at Flash's metal leg in wonder. Why did he have a metal leg anyway? He would ask Starry; she'd know.

After a moment, Twilight finally calmed down, before she gave her husband a grin. "We do have faith in you; we just know you're accident prone" Twilight said in amusement, making Flash groan, but grin at his wife as he gave her a tender kiss on the lips, before bending down and kissing his daughter's cheek, making her giggle.

"Im not that clumsy, am I sweetie?" Flash asked her with a chuckle.

Starry grinned at her father. "Yes, you are, daddy," she said honestly.

Flash shook his head. "I feel the love sweetie, thank you," Flash said dryly, but he beamed and picked his daughter up, tickling her which made her squeal in fits of laughter again as he and Twilight brought her and Gusty inside from the cold flurries of snow.

"Sorry that you two have to play inside, but it's too cold outside now. Just play what you want in here, but be careful alright?" Flash said as he, Twilight and Pepper went to sit down by the personal fireplace while Starry and Gusty sat on her blanket on the floor.

"We will daddy," Starry said with a smile as she and Gusty began their usual game of dragons and ponies for a moment, before Gusty looked at FLask and then back at Starry.

"Starry, where did your daddy's leg go?" Gusty asked his friend curiously.

Starry looked up at Gusty with a look of surprise on her face. None of the others foals had ever asked her that and she didn't know the answer either. Her daddy's metal leg was just there. It was so normal to her that she had never really thought about it, but now it got her thinking; where had her daddy's leg gone? Her parents had never told her about it and all she knew was that he had lost it long before she was born.

"I don't know," Starry admitted, " it's been like that for a long time. Mummy and daddy never told me what happened," Starry said with a frown.

"When did he lose it?" Gusty asked curiously.

Starry gave a shrug. "I don't know. A long time ago, before I was born. Daddy never says why, but he always makes funny jokes about it. Like when he falls," Starry giggled, remembering the incident outside.

"Maybe it fell off!" Gusty suggested. "Can legs do that?" Gusty asked with wide eyes.

Starry eyes widened in shock at the suggestion, before she laughed. "Legs can't just fall off!" Starry giggled. "If they could, no one would have one!"

Gusty frowned in thought, we as much thought a four year old could do anyway. Then he looked around the room and spotted Pepper asleep in the corner of the room where Starry followed his gaze and knowing what he was thinking, he gasped.

"Pepper didn't bite my daddy's leg off!" Starry protested. "She loves my daddy. It would have been another bad dog," Starry said as she looked at Gusty, who frowned in annoyance.

"It wasn't MY daddy's falcon! Hooky is only naughty listening to MY daddy. He loves your daddy!" Gusty replied in a huff.

Starry giggled. "I was only being silly," she said. "Maybe it was a wild dog?" she suggested. "Maybe daddy was trying to save one of the princesses and it took my daddy's leg?"

"Maybe," Gusty said with a nod. "My daddy said there were lots of evil ponies who had evil dogs that used to fight use good ponies so maybe an evil pony took you daddy's ;eg like they took you Uncle Sharp Shot's," Gusty said.

"Why doesn't daddy hate dogs then? If a dog took it, wouldn't he hate Pepper?" said Starry mystified. (A/N Starry is obsessed with dogs, so ya know....DOG EVERYTHING XD mlp villains don't have evil dogs :P)

"I don't know, maybe it wasn't a dog. Maybe it was a pirate!" Gusty exclaimed dramatically.

Starry frowned. "My daddy's never mentioned a pirate," she said. "Maybe it was an accident?" Starry suggested quietly as she suddenly looked down at her left hoof where there was a faint, small scar that stretched a little way up her hoof where she hurt herself a year ago trying to use her mother's axe.

"An accident?" Gusty asked, perplexed.

Starry showed him her scaar. "I hurt myself being naughty with mummy's axe a little while ago," she explained. "Mummy was very scared when I did and she kept saying about daddy's leg. Maybe he accidently lost his leg playing around with an axe too and that's why mummy and daddy were so scared," Starry wondered sadly.

"I guess it could've been an accident, but how did daddy lose his leg?" Starry asked Gusty before her eyes suddenly widened.

"Daddy's very clumsy, maybe he got it stuck somewhere. He always says he'll lose another one if he's not careful," Starry said with die eyes, turning her attention to her daddy, talking to her mummy on the couch in the room; her mum's head lying on his chest.

Gusty followed her line of sight and he stuck out his tongue in disgust at the scene.

"Eww," he shuddered. "Are your mummy and Daddy always like that?" Gusty asked his friend in disgust making Starry burst into fits of giggles.

"Not all the time," she giggled. "Mummy and daddy sometimes fight, but not for long. Daddy gets scared of mummy mad," Starry said with another round of giggles.

"You think your mummy could've done it?" Gusty whispered jokingly and Starry went silent for a moment, before bursting into fits of giggles along with Gusty, falling back onto the floor laughing.

"No way!" Starry said breathlessly and Gusty grinned again just as Flash and Twilight looked up at the laughing pair with confused looks on their faces.

"What are you two laughing at?" Twilight asked them and the two 4 year olds looked at them innocent grins.

"Nothing mummy," Starry told them innocently. Flash and Twilight looked at each other with an amused look, but let them go, keeping an ear on the conversation in the process, though.

Starry looked back at Gusty before giving him a playful punch on the arm with a grin. "That was mean Gusty, why did you say that!" Starry laughed.

Gusty winced at the contact of Starry's hoof but grinned at his friend. "I was joking," he grinned. "My mummy threatens my daddy when he's being annoying," Gusty added, leaving Starry once again to try and hold back a laugh.

"Yeah, but she doesn't do anything Gust!" Starry grinned and Gusty blushed at Starry's nickname for him, before laughing.

"Maybe a troll ate daddy's leg?" Starry said with a gasp and Gusty snorted, in a way much like his father.

"They steal socks Starry. Like they steal you Uncle Sharp Shot's," (A/N He wears boots in his forge.) Gusty said matter-of-factly.

"Oh yeah."

"Daddy told me about nasty plants he's seen flying once. Your daddy could have had his leg eaten by a plant," Gusty said.

"Or an animal," Starry said. "Daddy use to go out in the forest a lot." Starry frowned. "A plant?" Starry questioned.

Gusty shrugged. "Maybe a plant suddenly grabbed your daddy's leg and ate it?" Gusty said, his imagination, like Starry's, now running wild. Starry gasped at the thought of her daddy losing his leg to a plant and Gusty grinned mischievously and started to snap at Starry like that plant, before he started chasing her. Starry squealed and ran off, Gusty chasing after her, their theories forgotten in their minds for now.

They weren't forgotten in Flash and Twilight's minds, though. Having eavesdropped on the kid's conversation after Starry had laughed earlier, Twilight was now looking at Flash with a look of amusement on her face, Flash looking back at her with an identical expression.

"Is she...trying to guess how I lost my leg?" Flash asked, amazed.

Twilight nodded with an odd expression on her face. "I guess her imagination doesn't just stop with her games now," she sighed. "We should have known that she'd use it to guess what happened to your leg," Twilight said.

Flash wasn't deterred though and he grinned. "I like some of them actually, they're more interesting. Especially the one where they thought it was you," Flash said grinning cheekily and Twilight snorted and hit him on the arm with a smile, before her face turned serious.

"Flash, as much as I love our daughter's imagination, I think it's time she knew the truth," Twilight said.

Author's Note

Hmm, cliffhanger. Holy shit ok I'm back it's been a really long time. I'm going to update Living with the sparkles soon but I'm very sorry to say that may be the last chapter. Yeah, you read that right. I'm going to be canceling the story. POSSIBLY. I don't have much inspiration for it anymore and I'm no longer really a part of the MLP fandom. Sorry guys. As much as I love your guys support and stuff, I'm not going to be continuing. Of course, that may change depending on the responses to this. More things are taking up my time, for example my youtube channel. It's growing and I'm really trying to keep up with putting up videos and stuff. Yeah... so thats one reason. I have many more but I don't want to bore you guys. Also, I'm part of the how to train your dragon fandom, and I'm truly a bigger fan of it. Much more inspiration towards that, and I'm writing fanfic for HTTYD so if you guys still wanna see my writing leave me support here and it would be great if you could support me on Wattpad (user is thatrandomdragon). I may post this on there idk yet. So, if you guys want Living with the Sparkles to keep updating and you don't mind a long wait between chapters tell me and I'll remember to update it once in a while. (Of course, it may not be full of life and really good but eh) OK DONE RANTING BYE GUYS.