My Mothers

The lights of the train car were a stark contrast to the darkness outside, even with Luna’s moon casting its light over everything. In the reflection of the window, Anon could easily see the most immediate passengers and even their reflections in their respective windows. Listening to the soft clicks of the train wheels against the tracks and leaning his head against the cool glass of the car window, Anon spends his ride home from work like any other night, trying to fall asleep for the two hour ride. The ride wasn’t all that bad, in his opinion. It gave him time to think, or read if he brought a book. Most of all, it gave him time to rest. The gentle motions of the train always made him sleepy, seemingly more easily than his soft bed at home.

Heh, maybe I should become a train conductor. He mused to himself. But I could have a car all to myself if I outright owned a train. Maybe that’s what I should do. Buy a train. Lots of ponies use it . . .

“Shut up!”

Anon was ripped from his musings, eyes snapping open, when a series of shouts bellowed from the seats next to him. He sat up and looked over. What he saw wasn’t really anything new, two colts were fighting, but a recent experience pointed out exactly what was happening. There was no mistaking it.

Those two colts were fighting in front of their mother, about their parents. The mare wasn’t stopping them, which would seem odd, if not for the copious amount of tears she was shedding. She looked broken and fragile sobbing in her seat, her sons not seeming to really care or notice.

“You’re making mom cry! You’re the problem, not me,” the younger one said in a low voice. The angrier he got, the more the little propeller on his beanie would spin. It would have been funny, Anon thought, under any other circumstance.

“At least I wasn’t a mistake. How much older am I?” the older colt leered down at his brother.

“That makes you the mistake! I was the one mom wanted!” the younger one yelled. Anon couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but the colt’s brown fur raised up like hackles on a dog.

Anon heard a soft huff across from him. He looked over to see Twilight Velvet, who had also been disturbed by the commotion. Her disapproving glare held a hint of familiar pain behind it and was not lost on Anon. She had gone through a divorce nearly a half-year earlier and had similar experiences with her daughter and son, which Anon had been –uncomfortably– privy to.

Seriously. Aside from the yelling, having two high-level unicorns throwing random, harmful spells around at each other was some scary shit. Anon had been lucky to get away from it with only his hair singed off and a few bruises. Admittedly, a few of those spells had been hilarious, looking back on everything.

Twilight Velvet glanced at Anon, suddenly aware that her discomfort was on display and the memories they shared obviously on both their minds. He gave her a sympathetic smile, which she did not return and, instead, turned to look out the window.

Anon’s attention was suddenly ripped back to the fighting colts.

“I hate you! You’re not my brother anymore!” the younger one screamed.

“You’re probably right about that,” the older one quipped. His mother gave one loud sob and covered her ears with her hooves.

Alright, that’s enough. Anon stood up and walked over to the two colts and stomped his foot in front of them, snapping them out of their hateful ranting. “You two done?”

“Piss off, monkey! This has nothing to do with you,” the older one spat.

Anon nearly snarled at him. He gripped the back of the colt’s mane and got right in his face –¬his startled, wide eyed, face. Anon spoke slowly, pointing the colt’s face toward the crying mare in the other seat.

“You’re disturbing the other passengers. More importantly, you’re upsetting your mother. IF you really love her, you’ll calm down.”

“Dad wouldn’t have left if it wasn’t for her!” he shouted at Anon.

After the sudden shock of those words faded, Anon was pissed. He gripped the back of the colt’s mane even harder and Anon hauled him up into the air as he stood. He looked down at the other colt, who’d been watching the whole thing unravel,

“Go sit with your mother, she needs a hug.”

The young colt nodded and hopped up onto the seat with his mother. He wrapped his hooves around her neck. She, still sobbing, was shaking visibly and had buried her face in her hooves.

“We’re going to have a little chat,” Anon said, turning his face toward the colt in his hand, “Man to man. Or, Stallion to colt, in your case,” and walked to the rear of the train.

Ponies that had been staring quickly averted their eyes when Anon passed them, pointedly avoiding his gaze should he look down.

**********

Three cars later, Anon and the mouthy colt stood in the empty rear car. Anon sat down between the colt and the door back to the other cars.

“So . . . what’s your problem?” Anon asked, pointedly.

“I hate her! Dad left because of her! Why do you care, anyway? She’s nothing to you. She is nothing! It’s not your problem,” he sneered.

Anon rolled his eyes and spoke calmly, “Maybe, but she’s still your mother. Where I’m from, I’d have been slapped if I talked like you have been.”

“You gonna hit me? Go ahead, monkey,” the colt huffed and looked away, “I hate her.”

“Do you now?” Anon challenged, “I remember you and your family. I live in Ponyville, remember? The times I have seen you with your mother and brother you were smiling and I very explicitly remember you giving you mother a hug and telling her ‘I love you’ after she gave you a few bits to play the arcade machines near the market,” Anon pointed a thumb over his shoulder, to where the colt’s mother was several cars up, still –probably– sobbing,

“You hate the mare who raised you? Who cared for you more than anyone has a right to? Who walked you to school? Gave you food? Helped you when you needed it? “Anon watched as every word seemed to push the colt further and further out of his anger and into guilt, “You’re going to tell me that you’re going to hate the mare who loves you more than you deserve? Really?! You hate the mare who freely gave you her love?”

“I-I . . . I–,” the colt began sniffling and shaking.

“–Don’t know how badly your words hurt her just now! Because I do! You might as well have thrown her off this train and down the mountain to be smashed by every rock and tree she lands on! I’m sure bleeding out and having every bone in her body being broken would feel better than being told ‘I hate you!’ by one of the two people she loves most! So go right ahead. Hate her to your heart’s content. Because right now, you’re nopony’s son. You’re a little coward out to hurt others because you think the world’s unfair.”

“I am not!” the colt shouted, angry again, “He left her! My dad left her because of something she did.”

“Not that it matters –because your behavior is really uncalled for– but what happened?” Anon reasoned to the colt.

“I just told you. He left her. He just handed her some papers and mom started crying and he left us there in the courthouse. He said he had a surprise for us . . . and then that happened,” the young colt began weeping softly, “I don’t understand. Why would he leave her? Why did he leave us?”

“I hate to break it to you, kid, but some people are like that. Ponies, griffons, humans . . . people can be selfish,” Anon looked pitifully at the colt.

“He left because mom was being ‘selfish’?”

Anon face-palmed, “No, colt. Your dad was being selfish,” he put a hand on the colt’s shoulder, “Your dad might have left for any number of reasons, but, I’ll bet none of them were your mom’s fault. He just handed you mom those papers?”

The colt nodded.

“He didn’t say why and your mom was surprised to?”

The colt nodded again, “She begged him to stay and kept asking him why, but he wouldn’t say.”

“Then you can’t blame your mother. If I were you, I’d be mad at him, not her.”

“I am, though! I’m mad at him because I don’t understand why he left . . . “

“I can’t say I know why, because I don’t. I’m not even going to guess, it won’t help anypony here, especially you or your mom. You might find out later if you’re unlucky. But just do your mom and yourself a favor. Don’t become like your dad. Be better than him, okay?” Anon smiled down at the colt, who looked up at him brokenly.

“Y-yeah. Okay. I can do that. I don’t think I would do what he did, anyways.”

“Good. Now,” Anon stood up and opened the door to the next car, “let’s go see your mother. You need to apologize and tell her you love her.”

The colt nodded and went back to his seat with Anon in tow.

**********

As Anon approached his seat, he saw that the mare who’d been crying minutes earlier was staring out the window sadly.

“Mom?” the older colt approached hesitantly.

When she looked over to him, her cheeks showed matting from all her crying. Her eyes were bloodshot and her nose had been running as well. Her light brown mane was disheveled from her current state. She was a mess, inside and out.

“I-I’m sorry. I really am. I don’t hate you,” He scuffed his hoof across the flood and kept his eyes down until he was ready to speak again, “I love you. I’m just mad and . . . I’m sorry.” He hung his head again.

The cream-colored mare smiled at him tiredly, “I love you too, and, I forgive you. I’m quite mad at h-him too,” a tear rolled down her cheek and landed on her hoof.

The colt stood up on his rear legs and embraced his mother. The younger colt shied away from his brother until he saw his brother smile and wave him over.

Anon sat back down in his seat. He looked over at Twilight Velvet, who was smiling at him. “Um . . .“ Anon looked himself over then back a her, “What?”

“Oh, nothing.” She said in a sing-song voice and feigned disinterest, still smiling and occasionally looking over at Anon. He gave her an odd look and she winked at him. He swallowed visibly. Anon lied over the seat, pointedly trying to get comfortable enough to take a nap, and he heard Velvet giggle –probably at him.

**********

Anon awoke from his nap by way of a hoof prodding his shoulder.

“Anon. Anon? We’re here,” came a voice sweet as honey.

Anon opened his eyes to see Twilight Velvet poking his arm and smiling at him.

“Have a nice nap?” she asked.

Anon sat up and looked around the car to see that most of the other passengers had left, “Mmm, yeah. Thanks for waking me, Ms. Velvet,” he yawned and stretched his arms.

“You’re quite welcome, dear. Do you sleep on the train often?” she asked, the apparent interest in her voice and expression delighted Anon.

“Yeah. I’d live on that train if I could. There’s something about the way it feels when it’s moving that just makes falling asleep easier,” Anon stood up, twisted sideways once to stretch his back, and began walking out of the train car beside his fellow passenger.

“Like being rocked to sleep?” Velvet asked, giving him a sly look.

“Maybe?” Anon blushed at the silent joke, “I used to do it back on my world too. I’d fall asleep in any moving vehicle.” Anon stepped aside, letting Velvet out before himself –giving her a slight bow and extending his hand to indicate his gesture of ‘ladies first’.

Velvet nodded her thanks and stepped out, “That must be nice. I can’t fall asleep in anything that moves. It feels like I’ll fall out of the seat or something,” she let out a little giggle.

Okay, something was up with this mare. Anon couldn’t quite figure it out, but she was paying more attention to him than usual. And why was she calling him “Dear”? That might have just been the way she talked to others, Anon knew Velvet through her daughter for quite some time, but if she had ever called him that before now, well, he just couldn’t recall.

“I’m sorry to hear that. To each their own, I guess?” he said stepping out beside her once more.

Velvet nodded and the two began walking off the platform.

“How have you been, Velvet? I don’t see you around very often anymore.”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that, dear. I’ve just been keeping myself busy to take my mind off of things,” she gave a regretful little smile, “But if you’d like, I’ll make time to see you more often.”

“I . . . I’d like that. Is there some time in the morning you’d like to get together?” Anon’s mind raced as he tried to figure out her motives.

It seemed like she was interested in him, but he couldn’t figure out why. He wanted to ask her if she was, but any time he’d asked a girl that, he always got the same answer, ‘I was just being nice.’ But she wasn’t just a girl. This mare was older than him by at least ten years, not that anyone would be able to guess by looking at her. She showed almost no signs of aging. Based on her looks, she could have any stallion she wanted. That had to be it. She was just being nice.

“How about the market? 10:00 A.M. sound good? I usually go there for breakfast and if I remember right, you jog by there in the mornings?” she said, scraping a soft little arch in the dirt with her hoof.

“Sounds good to me.” Holy hell, this mare is adorable! Why, in the name of Luna, would Night Light have ruined this?

“Perfect! I’ll see you then, Anon.” she said, a bright, happy note in her voice and a little clap of her hooves. She turned to her daughter’s Library and began humming softly.

Anon watched her leave, a noticeable skip in her step and an occasional flick of her tail as she did so. His mind sprung a gear as he realized this could very well be a date or the beginnings of dating if he played his cards right. From what he knew of Twilight’s mother, she was a writer and had been a singer once. He made a little mental note to bring those up in conversation tomorrow.

Anon shook himself from his thoughts when he realized he’d been standing in the same spot for a few minutes just thinking. He made his way home quickly so he could be all rested for the morning after. His mind kept fighting him saying it was a date while his rational mind kept warning him it might only be a friendly little get together.

Did you see the way she kept watching you?

What about that she’s never shown much interest in you other than mild curiosity and being one of Twilight’s friends.

But SHE offered to hang out. She likes you!

Because you stopped the shouting.

Because you’re good with kids. A lot of women like that in a man. Even if she doesn’t have kids.

Dude, she’s Twilight’s mother! How awkward do you think that’s going to be? “Hey, Twili! Dad’s here for a visit!”, “Ew, no, Anon! You’re not my dad!”

She very well could like you more, “Daddy! How are you? I’m so glad you and mom are together, I really needed a real fa–”

BAM

Anon suddenly walked face-first into a tree. Thankfully, shaking him from his train of thought. He deliberately shifted his thoughts over to getting home before they went into unwelcome territory.

Standing there holding his face and attempted to rub away the pain, Anon recounted the events on the train. Most specifically, the crying mare and her children. Looking back, Anon wished he had said something to her, but really, what was he going to say? He wasn’t about to apologize for the male race. That would mean admitting he was the same as the jackass that had hurt her. She looked nice enough, and from what her son had said, she didn’t deserve to be dumped like that.

An idea struck him. Anon wanted to show her that not all males were like that. A bit pretentious, thinking she didn’t already know that, but he wanted to show her anyway. Maybe just give her some kind of pick-me-up to lessen the pain she was feeling.

Anon marched to the only place he knew would be open this late. The bar.

**********

Upon entering, Anon’s senses were assaulted with the stench of spilt booze and smoke, loud conversation and laughing, and the dim lights that afforded the patrons of Ponyville’s finest bar a mood for the evening. Behind the bar counter he saw a few ponies mixing drinks and taking orders. One of whom he was there to see specifically.

That same mare glanced up and saw him. A wide grin spread across her face and she greeted him, loudly, “Heya, Anon! Come for a drink? Or, ya just here for little ol’ me?” she teased.

“Both.” he said and sat down on the nearest bar stool.

Berry Punch chuckled heartily, “I’ll be right over, hun!”

Berry finished tucking away a few bottles of her top-shelf stock and made her way around to where Anon sat at the bar. She propped herself up on her elbows and rested her chin on her hooves, giving Anon a sly smile as she waited for him to speak.

“Cider. Hard as it gets.” Anon said flatly.

“Not the usual? Too bad. I was hoping for a little relief tonight,” she huffed playfully.

Berry turned around and opened a small icebox below the mug racks and pulled out an “Apple Family’s Barn Raiser”. She popped the top and set it down in front of Anon, who immediately took a few swigs, swallowing loudly.

“Hot damn. You alright?”

“Yeah I’m fine, I think. I may have scored a date . . . or she scored me. I’m not sure at this point,” he shrugged.

“A little full of yourself tonight?” she giggled.

“No. She asked me out to breakfast. I’ve known her for a while but this is the first time she’s shown an interest in me,” Anon put the bottle to his lips but only let a little sip into his mouth before putting it back down on the bar.

“That’s a problem?”

“It’s Twilight’s mother.”

“. . .”

“Berry?” Anon waved a hand over her face. She didn’t respond. So, Anon did the only thing he knew would work, he took a finger and pressed it to her nose, “Boop,” he whispered.

Berry tilted sideways before catching herself and wiggling her nose. She rubbed the spot he’d touched in an attempt to undo his little poke, “Would you quit with that? It’s weird. You’re weird!”

Anon laughed and took another sip of his cider.

“So. No joke? You really got a date with her?”

“Yup. Though I’m not sure if it counts as dating or just making friends,” Anon shrugged.

“Hun, listen. It’s a date. It’s a small one, a way to test the waters, but yeah. It’s a date,” Berry was still scrunching up her face trying to get the poke sensation off her nose. Anon loved doing that to her. It seemed to have the longest lasting effect on the purple mare than any other pony he’s done it to.

“That’s why I wanted the drink, but I needed to talk to you about something else.”

Berry stopped her rubbing and balked at him again, “How can you be so flippant about this! She’s–she’s–“

“Just the mother of a good friend of mine,” Anon finished for her. He knew she idolized Velvet. Velvet was an impressive person by anyone’s standards –if her career was anything to go by.

“Urgh!” Berry groaned, “At least get me an autograph, will ya?”

“Fine, fine, I’ll get you an autograph,” Anon conceded.

“Good. So what else did you want to talk about?”

“This doesn’t leave your lips. Ever, Berry. No rumor, no gossip,” he warned her.

“What do you think I am? Loose-lipped? You should know, I had them around your–“

Anon slapped a hand over her mouth and held it there, “Yes, you did and yes, I do. I need help cheering somepony . . .” he started and regaled her with the events of the train concerning the crying mare. Frequently, he had to bring her attention back on track after every mention of her idol sitting next to him.

“That sucks. Damn. More than I care to think about,” she frowned, “Yeah, I’ll help. I may even have a few ideas to help her feel better, just, generally.”

“And that’s all I’m after. Thanks, Berry,” Anon stood, his Cider long drained, and he leaned down to plant a kiss on his friend’s head, “A tip for my favorite wine’o.”

Berry giggled, “It’s too bad. I wish things had worked out between us, Anon.”

“Yeah, me too. I’ll see you around, Berry,” Anon walked to the door and waved as he left. He had stifle a pang in his chest at the memories of his former marefriend. He still loved her, but he couldn’t go back to the chaos that was their work schedules. Truth be told, he also dearly missed Ruby as well, that little filly could talk his ear off for days if he let her. He let a single tear roll down his cheek before steeling himself and walking home. Tomorrow would be a good day. He was going to meet up with Velvet, have a nice breakfast, and send something to the poor mare from the train.