Big Ponies Cry Too
The cool breeze blew through Ponyville. It was late in the night. Not too late for the adult aged ponies but late for the foals of Equestria. No matter what it was, every pony was enjoying their night.
Even the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were enjoying their night. It had been several years since they last had a major catastrophe in which they needed to save Equestria from. Now with kids and more work, it has been harder to spend time with one another. Despite their now busy schedules, they try to get together for a night at least once a month. This month, the get-together was at Twilight’s.
The past year has been really hard on Twilight’s family, having had experienced a loss. Twilight seems to have moved on, and so have her kids. She still can’t believe how much her children were holding up.
Twilight had to move on of course. She’s a princess; she has her duties. She’s a mother; she has to care for her children. Sure she had time to grieve, but she quickly got back onto her hooves.
The Mane Six giggled over their conversations. They were loud but not too loud to where Twilight’s kids would be woken. They talked about their adventures in the past. They talked about their current working schedules. They talked about their children. They were happy.
“Excuse me,” said one of Twilight’s guards. Though Twilight was against the idea of having guards at her castle, Celestia insisted just to be careful. Thankfully, Twilight wasn’t given a lot. Celestial also gave Twilight some mares to help around the castle. Twilight didn’t like that idea either, but she was thankful about it now since she is always working.
“Can I help you sir,” Twilight asked politely.
“Starlight has woken up. She is sobbing, and we can’t figure out why.”
“Oh-Well I guess I better get up there then,” Twilight said rising to her hooves. Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity nodded.
Starlight Aurora: Twilight’s third and youngest child. She was a unicorn; the only one in the family without wings, in which both her two older siblings have.
Twilight pushed the bedroom door open. She immediately spotted the six year old filly. Sure enough, tears were streaming down her face. Starlight sniffed every few seconds. Her pink coat was wet from the tears. Twilight walked over to her little girl, and moved her purple and pink bangs out of the way.
“Tell mommy what's wrong,” Twilight said with a soft tone.
“I-I had a bad dream,” Starlight said.
“What was it about?” Starlight didn’t answer. She looked away when her mother asked the question. “Star, I can't help you if you don’t answer.” Starlight shut her eyes tightly. “Don’t make me have Aunt Luna have to deal with it.” Starlight shook her head at Twilight’s suggestion. Though she did love Princess Luna, she wasn’t quite fond of the idea of some pony walking around your dreams.
“T-There were some mean ponies,” Starlight finally said. “Actually there were changelings.”
“Changelings? Sweetie, you know they’re good,” Twilight said trying to calm down her daughter. “You’ve meet King Thorax.”
“They were the version of changelings that are bad. You know, the ones you told me about when Uncle Shining and Aunt Cadance got married.”
Twilight remembered that she had told Starlight the story of her brother’s wedding just a few days ago. “Don’t worry sweetheart. Those kinds of changelings haven’t been seen in years.” Starlight continued to cry. She couldn’t stop herself. “Star, Starlight Aurora, please tell me what’s wrong,” Twilight said now worried about her daughter.
“H-He was there,” Starlight said through her cries.
“W-Who was there? King Sombra? Lord Tirek? Sweetie, tell me every little detail about the dream.”
“W-Well, I was at school, and those ponies who are mean to me were teasing me.” Twilight knew that Starlight was being bullied at school for some time now. They’ve tried everything, but it just keeps on happening. No wonder those bullies are now in Starlight’s dreams. “T-Then they turned into changelings. They destroyed the school, and I started running home. The changelings tried to attack me, and Queen Chrysalis was right behind me.”
Twilight listened intently. “What happened after that?”
“I went to daddy for help.”
Twilight’s heart stopped, her wings and ears dropped, and her eyes widened. “W-What happened after that,” Twilight said now trembling.
“Daddy tried to protect me, a-and Queen Chrysalis attacked him. Then Q-Queen Chrysalis ki-ki-” Starlight could not finish her sentence due to her now uncontrollable sobbing. Twilight didn’t know what to do except hug her daughter. She still could not believe Starlight had a dream about her dad. “I-I miss d-daddy,” Starlight cried.
Suddenly, the memories Twilight had with her husband flooded into her mind. She remembered before they were married, before they were dating, before they were even friends, that they would always bump into each other when she visited the Crystal Empire. She remembered them spending time together and becoming friends. She remembered her sister-in-law always trying to set them up with each other. She remembered Cadance’s happiness when the two announced they were officially a couple. Those years were the greatest for Twilight. She loved spending almost everyday, especially Hearts and Hooves Day, with him.
Twilight became even more happy when her and Flash got married. They were married in the Crystal Empire. Their wedding was big due to Twilight being a princess and all. She loved it despite her wanting to have a small wedding. Twilight and Flash ruled together in Ponyville. They helped each other out when they needed it. They supported each other.
Just when the two thought they had everything they could ever want in their relationship, they welcomed their first little bundle of joy: an alicorn filly. Not long after, they welcomed a pegasus colt, and of course, they later welcomed a unicorn filly. Life was perfect for them.
All that happiness soon ended. Just about a year before now, Flash had to leave his family. Being a royal guard and all, it was common for guard ponies to leave their families for an extended amount of time. Twilight remembered Flash telling her he would be right back. He would come back home to her and their three beautiful children. The family waited and waited until the day finally came where he would come home. They watched as all the other guards returned to their families. They looked around, but Flash was nowhere to be found.
“Where is he mommy,” Twilight remembered Starlight asking.
“I’m sure he’s on his way,” Twilight remembered saying anxiously.
Another guard had spotted the little family and walked over to them with a solemn look on his face. “Hello Princess Twilight,” he said bowing his head.
“Hello Commander, may I ask where Flash is?”
“I am so very sorry, but Flash had died on the mission. We weren’t sure if we should’ve let you guys know by mail or telling you now. I guess you can see what we chose.”
Twilight remembered that moment as one of the worst moments in her life. Her and her children huddled together and sobbed. Twilight remembered his funeral. Her friends and their families showed up. Her brother, her sister-in-law, and their kids showed up. Even Princess Celestia and Luna showed up. Of course it had been raining that day. All Twilight wanted to do was cry by herself. Though, she knew she couldn’t do that. Twilight had put her kids feelings first. She didn’t want to shut them out during this hard time. She wanted to be there for them during this hard time.
“Mom,” Starlight called out. “Mommy,” Starlight yelled. Twilight snapped out of her daze. Her mind was back in Starlight’s bedroom. “Mommy you’re crying.”
Twilight didn’t even realize it until Starlight mentioned it. “O-Oh, it’s just-” Twilight was unable to finish speaking. Twilight tried to wipe the tears away, but they wouldn’t stop. She looked down at her little girl, not wanting her to see her mother cry. Starlight’s eyes, despite being welled up with tears, sparkled in the light. Unlike Twilight’s first two kids who inherited her amethyst colored eyes, Starlight inherited Flash’s royal blue eyes. Twilight immediately saw Flash in Starlight’s eyes. She couldn’t help but start sobbing herself.
“M-Mommy, why are you crying?”
“I miss daddy too,” Twilight told Starlight.
“B-But I thought big ponies don’t cry.”
“W-Who told you that,” Twilight asked starting to calm down.
“The kids at school.”
Twilight was shocked at that response. “What do they say?”
“T-They say that I’m a baby for crying when they make fun of me. They’ve been making fun of me ever since dad-you know. When it first happened, it was hard to keep it in at school. They would always make fun of me for it. They would also say mean things about how my dad is gone. That would just make me cry even more, and they would make fun of me even more.”
“What does that have to do with big ponies not crying.”
“Everypony at school thinks it’s bad to cry. It shows that you are weak and a whimp. They think it doesn't show that you are strong. I want to be strong, but I’m not,” Starlight said, her sobs starting to come back.
“Star, Starlight look at me,” Twilight said raising her hoof to Starlight’s chin. “You are perfect the way you are. You aren’t weak. You aren’t a whimp. You are strong. You’ve survived a year without your father. You, me, you sister, and your brother. We all are strong.”
“B-But I thought big ponies aren’t supposed to cry.”
Twilight lightly laughed. “Big ponies cry too.”
“Really?”
“Really. There’s no rule that says only babies cry. Everypony cries. Baby ponies, young ponies, big ponies, and old ponies. Heck, even I’ve seen Princess Celestia cry. You have no shame in crying. Everypony does it. In my opinion, if you don’t cry, then you are weak.”
“Wow. That actually helped me feel better a little bit.”
“Did it?” Starlight nodded. Twilight looked up at a clock to see the time. “It’s getting late. You should go back to sleep.” Starlight layed back down into her bed while Twilight pulled the covers over her. Twilight kissed Starlight on the forehead. “Goodnight my little filly,” Twilight said walking out the door.
“Goodnight mommy. I love you,” Starlight said as she drifted off to sleep.
“I love you too,” twilight whispered. She shut the door softly to ensure that Starlight wouldn’t wake up.
Twilight walked back down to join her friends. “Sorry girls. Took a little longer than I thought.” Twilight looked around. Her friends all looked like they have been crying too. “Are you girls okay,” she asked.
“I-It’s okay Twilight,” Rarity said. “Big ponies cry too.”
“And we stood right outside Starlight’s door for awhile,” Pinkie said. The rest of a the girls gave Pinkie a stern look. “What?”
Twilight gave her friends a warm smile. Tears began to well up in her eyes again. Her friends took noticed and embraced her in the biggest hug Twilight has ever gotten in a long time.
The End
Author's Note
Thank you so much for reading. Wanted to see how well I could write a sad story. Isn't that sad, but I think it's pretty good for my first time writing a sad story. If you are a reader of my story The Next Generation of Harmony, remember that this is not connected to it in any way.
By the way, I came up with the name for Starlight before Season 5.
