Did you know that some species of butterflies live only one or two days? They only have time to lay eggs before they abandon this world. I was shocked when I found this. I thought it was so horrible that the poor larvae had to live without their mother to help them. But this only applies to certain generations, as the descendents will live for much longer, and take part in the well-known migration.
I think my mother was the first kind of butterflies. If I close my eyes, I can still remember the incident.
My legs tremble a bit as I look down. The altitude seems to increase every second I look.
"Fluttershy, don't go too close to the edge!" My mother's sweet voice has a slight tone of warning in it.
"Sorry, Mom."
I step away from the cloud's edge and approach my mother. She opens her wing a little and I snuggle under it. She nuzzles me a bit, and resumes her watching of the clouds. I have a lot of memories of us trying to learn the shapes of the clouds. I was only eight at the time, and the beauty of the sky, both on it's day and night forms, amazed me. Even today, I feel that looking at the sky is a way to remember her in all her beauty.
Getting back to the story, I feel my mother stand up, waking me up from my light slumber. She puts me on her back, like every time we were going somewhere and it was too far for me to walk without getting exhausted. The sudden movement makes me nervous, and curled up into a ball between her wings. She notices it.
"Don't worry, dear. We're just going home." She uses that special tone. Later in life I would learn that it's normally used for when a parent is afraid of something dangerous, and tries to calm the child so that he or she won't panic. But at the moment I didn't know, so I didn't realize what was going on.
I begin to get worried. If we were only going home, then why weren't we walking? Home wasn't that far from here. And why was Mommy so nervous? Maybe it was just me, but something wasn't right.
The truth comes in the form of a storm. It's not just a little rain, it's a full thunderstorm with lighting and thunder. And it's getting closer every second. My mother does what she can, but she isn't fast enough. The storm traps us in a vortex of darkness, rain, and lighting.
"Hold tight!" Her voice is definetly scared now, and I put my whole strength in obeying her order. The wind, however, has other plans.
I feel what little warmth we share disappear, and I realize what's going on. I'm slipping away from my mother. I remember one more thing. Her screaming.
"FLUTTERSHY!"
"MOM!"
Light is my next memory. My eyes slowly start to focus as a hospital room comes into my sight.
"Finally, you're awake dear." A brown unicorn aproached my bed, a gentle smile in his face. "Your name was Fluttershy, right?" After my nod, he continues. "Well, Miss Fluttershy, I'm Doctor Stable. We found you aproximately fourteen hours ago, unconsciouns. We believe the reason for that is the recent thunderstorm, which slipped out of pegasi control somehow."
"Where's my mum?" My first words in the hospital echoed through the room.
"Look, dear-"
"Where is she?!" My fear comes in the form of anger, and before I can stop myself, I've already yelled. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to yell at you!"
The doctor sighs as he continues."Don't worry, I know you are worried. Yes, we found her, but she was in a worst state than you. We did what we could but..."
My fear returned full force. "No..."
He stops for a moment, as if he was taking strength to muse up his final words." Miss Fluttershy, your mother is..."
"...gone, but we must remember her as she was before the accident: a happy, beautiful, and kind pony."
I rest my body against my father's as I hear those words. It's my mom's funeral, and I barely take notice of the things around me, as the pain in my chest and my quiet crying seem to have numbed my senses.
I don't understand what's exactly going on. Apparently she got the worst of the storm, was found gravely injured, and was rushed to the hospital. But the doctors couldn't save her. But something in my head wasn't clicking. I was taught that storms like that are similar to vaccums, as they suck everything in and send it directly to the vortex. If I had slipped off Mom's back, then I would have been sucked in too, unless...
I close my eyes as I try to remember. The only thing that have would saved me was standing in a specific spot, which would lunch me out instead of in. Maybe that was her objective?
The full truth hits me. She knew it was unlikely for us both to survive, so she went to that specific spot of the storm and let me slip. In a way, she sacrified herself so that I would survive.
Thankfully for me, it's time to go out. I can barely hold myself enough to leave, and I then break in my father's arms.
"Um, Flutters?"
The voice distracs me from my thoughts. Next to me is a mare, a cyan pegasus.
"Finally you paid me attention. Do you wanna see one of my tricks?"
I smile. She's had both of parents her whole life, she doesn't really understand my pain. Then again she doesn't know what i'm thinking about. "Um, okay. Could you wait for me a second, Rainbow?"
Rainbow nodds and flies away. I take one final glance at the clouds in the sky before I stand up and speak in only a whisper.
"Goodbye, Mom. I'll see you tomorrow."
