Midnight Fragments

Echo started crying loudly until she got picked up from the pavement by a pair of hooves. She didn’t like the pavement and that was why she always cried when they put her there, she liked it when they put her on the couch or on the bed because the bed was comfy and it had sheets and those were soft and she liked rubbing her face on the sheets because it felt nice. She felt a hoof caressing her back so she stopped crying since she knew it was mommy’s, because she was the only one that picked her up from the floor. Mommy never wanted her to cry so she stopped and let mommy stroke her and she nuzzled her mommy’s chest because she knew that always made her giggle, so when it did she was sure it was mommy and she nuzzled her even more.

Mommy asked her who her little blueberry was and Echo said that she was and she tried to hug her because she knew that meant something good, because she had tried berries once and they were good and sweet and mommy said she was the sweetest little filly so she knew she was like berries and that was good. She liked when she called her blueberry because daddy never called her like that and she called her some other words she didn’t understand and mommy always yelled at him when he did but sometimes she didn’t and she just didn’t say anything and when that happened she could smell that daddy smelled bad, but that didn’t happen so much and right now she was hugging mommy as hard as she could because she had called her blueberry.

Mommy once said that her colour was blue but she didn’t know what colours were, so mommy told her that colours were special things that ponies saw when they went around,but she couldn’t see them because her eyes were bad and she could only see black. Echo had asked her how many colours there were and mommy had started telling her many names, but that didn’t mean anything to her, so she tried to explain the colours and Echo was really happy because she knew that red was the colour of apples and she loved eating apples because they were very good and they were her favourite except for berries but she never had berries so apples were her favourite. Mommy told her about yellow and that was the colour of the sun and she liked yellow because she told her it was the sun that always made the sheets warm in the afternoon when she was resting and she liked it a lot so yellow was a good colour too.

Mommy tried explaining her more colours, like green! That was the colour of the trees, but she didn’t know what a tree was so mommy had brought her a leaf one day and she told her it was green and Echo liked it a lot because it was smooth and when mommy had left it on the sheets where it was warm it got warm too, even though it didn’t taste so good. The sky was blue and she was too but she didn’t understand blue because she was too young to fly and mommy told her she’d teach her when she was older but right now she didn’t really like blue. The only colour she really really liked above everything else and even red was black because it was the only one she could actually feel.

Black smelled of mornings in the bed, of her favourite mornings with mommy and even the bad ones with daddy, of when she had tried berries and even when she had tried eating dirt once and it was bad because it made her belly very achy and they had to take her somewhere where there were a lot of voices around her and they made her puke everything and that was bad and she didn’t like that place but then she was better and they went back home, that mommy had told her was where she mommy and daddy lived. Black was everything around her and she loved it and hated it because the other ponies could see the other colours and she was jealous because seeing colours seemed very nice and she could only see black but she was happy with it because mommy told her she didn’t need to see all the colours, as long as she could remember the things that were like that colour and that made her happy again.

Mommy always picked her up from the floor where daddy used to put her and she always giving Echo kisses on the nose and hugging her and laughing with her and she liked mommy because she made her happy and Mommy liked her because she was her little berry. She loved her mommy and daddy even though daddy always put her on the floor and never talked to her and he didn’t call her berry and never gave her hugs. Mommy put her down on her bed and it was her favourite spot because it was warm there and she liked warm spots because they were yellow and the sun was there.

She stayed there on the bed and relaxed in the warm yellow and slept a bit and she didn’t know how much but the spot wasn’t warm anymore and there were voices coming from the kitchen and she could hear mommy and daddy, so she got up and tried walking to them, but she fell from the bed and started crying and mommy came back to her and picked her up and she stopped crying even if her leg hurt, because mommy was good to her and she made her feel better and she didn’t want to cry anymore because that made mommy sad. Mommy brought her to the kitchen and she knew it was the kitchen because she could smell cooking smell, but daddy was still talking and saying long words she didn’t understand while mommy put her on her seat and she was happy because she could smell apples that were her favourite.

Echo said hi to daddy after he had stopped talking and he didn’t say anything and she thought that he must have not heard her so she said hi daddy again a bit louder and he told her to shut up and mommy said was daddy’s way to tell her to stay quiet so she stayed quiet and she smiled because they were all there eating together and daddy would talk about his day with mommy and she’d get to eat some apples that were her favourite. She ate the red apples and everything was nice and her tummy was very full, because apples always made her full because they were red, but daddy was still smelling bad and was moving every now and then very quickly and he was talking very fast and mommy was very quiet and she tried to talk to her but she didn’t answer.

When she was full she tried calling for mommy because she wanted to go to sleep under the blankets because they were warm and smooth but mommy wasn’t going to pick her up so she called her again because daddy wasn’t talking and she could hear that mommy was crying. She didn’t like when mommy cried because mommy made her happy so she tried to get up on the table to go hug her but she couldn’t so she stayed still and called her and told her she was the best mommy in the world and to stop crying.

Mommy moved and got her up and she hugged her and mommy hugged her back but she was still crying so she tried to kiss her cheek and her cheek was very wet, but mommy still stroke her mane as she nestled in her arm so she felt good and smiled. Mommy opened the door and she was getting really sleepy, so when she put her in her bed and tucked her in, she yawned and closed her eyes and she nuzzled her pillow because it was so soft and she heard mommy said goodnight and felt her kiss her head. She fell asleep but then she woke up again because daddy was talking loudly again and she almost wanted to cry again because she was sleepy and daddy always talked loudly when mommy put her to sleep but then mommy and daddy both went quiet and she sucked on her hoof because it tasted like mommy and fell asleep.

***

“We can’t do it anymore, Sunflower. We can’t afford to keep that kid, I keep telling you that. We need to take measures. I can't stress it enough but you keep telling me ‘No, no that's my kid, you can't do that and blah blah blah!’ ” Whirly said slowly, emphasizing the end of his sentence by hitting the table with his hoof, as alcohol and cocaine rushed through his bloodstream. The plates and glasses clinked, and one of them fell down with a high-pitched crash.

Sunflower stared at her husband. He was right, they couldn’t do that anymore. It was time for a change. She put her hooves on the table to raise herself to his eye level and stared at him, gathering all the hate she had suppressed in the last months in one single speech. “I’m tired of listening to your shit, Whirly!” She clenched her teeth and hissed at him, filling every word with venom, not wanting to wake up Echo. “We can’t afford to keep our daughter because you keep getting drunk off your ass every night since you’ve lost your goddamn job. I’m the only one that can keep this house running as you sit on a stool yelling at ponies! I’m the one that cares for Echo and the only thing you do... the only goddamn thing you do is drinking the money my father keeps giving me because he know you’re a no-good bas—”

Whirly slapped his wife and sent her tumbling down the floor, hitting her head. “Never. Ever insult me, you broad. You have no right to tell me what I should do with my money and that... handicapped thing.” He lowered himself down to her and lifted her chin to his with his hoof. “Which by the way is your fault. You’ve got messed up genes or something and gave me a pegasus that will never fly unassisted. You gave me a useless kid.” He slapped her again. “Oh hey Whirly, how’s your daughter? Oh she’s fine, just a fucking!” He kicked her in the guts. “Bag!" He kicked her again. "Of potatoes!”

She held her stomach with hooves and looked down in pain but quickly went back staring at him angrily, while all her fury grew steadily. He was bigger than her and could keep beating her up until she couldn’t get up anymore... it wouldn’t be the first time.

“It would have been better if you had delivered a dead foal.” He sneered and got up again, reaching for the bottle on the table.

Oh no you didn’t. You fucking didn’t.

Sunflower roared and tackled her husband, head-butting him as he fell on the floor face first. The bottle rolled over from his hoof to the floor, shattering. From the other room, Echo started crying.

Whirly tried to move out of the mare’s grip but she was above him, blocking his wings and keeping his arms still. He thrashed from left to right, flailing his legs aimlessly.

“Hurt me any time you want you sick bastard, but don’t you dare... don’t you dare to say shit about my daughter anymore!” She hissed again. She bit his ear as hard as she could, trying to rip it off as he screamed in pain. Echo’s cries were louder now, ever higher than her father’s. In a small corner of her mind, Sunflower recognized that Echo was scared, but pushed that small rational part of her aside for the moment. She'd deal with that later.

Whirly smashed her wife off his back onto the kitchen counter, trying to find the broken bottle with his hoof.

“You...” he said panting, running a hoof on his ear. “You’re going down with her. I should have done this when she was born, so you wouldn’t get attached to that little crying bastard too much.” He got up, turning his back to her, looking for the bottle but without any luck. He found a large chunk of glass instead, soaked with liquor. “See? It’s always your fault. If you had delivered a strong foal, none of this would have happened. You really brought all this on yourself, Sunflower...” He chuckled... just before a jagged glass bottle neck stabbed his back.

Sunflower slipped on the alcohol-soaked floor. Whirly had enough time to turn around and face her... but not enough to dodge the slash aimed at his belly. And the next one. And the next one.

And the next one.

As the mare kept hitting his chest with the half broken glass bottleneck, the last thing he saw was a blinding complexion of fury right in front of his face, so close he could actually kiss her... like they used to do just six months before. Before everything had started falling apart.

She stopped after a couple of minutes. Sunflower got up and groaned with pain. She looked at her chest and saw the long blade of glass sticking out of it, inches away from her heart. “Huh.” She chuckled slightly and pulled it out, squeezing her eyes and flinching at the sight of blood coming out of her body, suddenly realizing what had happened.

She looked at the body.

She looked at her hooves.

There’s no time for panicking, you idiot. Get the kid and go to the hospital.

But... Whirly...

You’re going to die if you don’t, sweetie pie. Do you want Echo to die of starvation? Get there and fly to the hospital.

Whirly...

Or maybe she’s gonna die of dehydration... That surely takes less.

Whirly I’m sorry...

Sunflower walked past the body of her now ex-husband and slowly opened the door of Echo’s room.

***

Echo was scared. Really really scared. She kept crying but no one was going to pick her up and give her a hug and tell her everything was okay and she was scared and she wanted her mommy and she heard someone scream and a loud crash of something like a plate falling down and she started rocking back and forth. She wanted her mommy. She wanted her mommy. She wanted her mommy. She wanted her mommy. Daddy and mommy had been screaming and her bed had moved a bit when something fell down on the floor and she didn’t know what was happening. She stood still. Everything went quiet, then mommy started crying. Echo called for her but she didn’t answer.

She stayed quiet again because maybe it was a game and if she stayed quiet then mommy would come and she’d pick her up. She waited and then heard the door open slowly.

Mommy!

She got up and tried to flap her wings to get to her but that didn’t work and she was sad because her wings were small and she couldn’t fly to mommy but she got picked up again and mommy was crying really hard but she didn’t know why and even when she kissed her cheek it didn’t go away so she started crying too because she was scared because mommy never cried that muchand when she was with her and she smelled weird but mommy said they'd be going out for a field trip so Echo stopped crying and smiled because they were going out. She never got out and she liked it because in the night there were many sounds and there were trees in the forest and mommy was there finally and they were green and she liked green because it was smooth and it was warm in the day so she hugged mommy and she hugged her back and it was a bit too tight but it was good because she liked it when she got hugged by mommy.

They went together outside and mommy was flying and she was very happy because she was listening to all the sounds of the night and the wind and even if it was cold she didn’t feel it much because mommy was hugging her really hard and she kept her warm. There was cold stuff falling down on her and she asked mommy what it was and mommy said it was snow and she asked her what snow was and she said snow was white and cold and fell down from the clouds and made everything white and it looked like flour and you could play with it and Echo loved the snow because she loved playing and even if it was cold there was mommy that kept her warm and she asked her if she could go play in the snow but she said no and she was sad but she said she could have played with the snow soon, so she was very happy.

Mommy moved her head away from above her quickly to look away and she knew that she was doing that because every time she did it the snowflakes fell on her nose and she had to rub it away because it was very cold so Echo asked mommy why but mommy didn’t say anything and just rubbed her nose for her and she smiled because she liked when mommy touched her nose because she was warm and she smelled nice, not like daddy. She really liked her hair because it always smelled super nice and she used to nibble on it and mommy would laugh and tell her hair wasn’t a thing to eat but it smelled nice so she did it anyway but then when she told her to stop she would stop and smile at her and ask her why her mane smelled so nice if it wasn’t made for eating and then mommy would laugh again and hug her just like she was doing now but a bit less tight.

She tried her best to make mommy happy doing funny faces and booping her nose because that was the thing that always made her smile even when she was sad but that didn’t work so she got worried again and hugged mommy close and told her not to be sad because that made her sad and they shouldn’t be sad because mommy was the best mommy ever and she was her little blueberry and they should go play in the snow and laugh and have fun with daddy even though he never laughed.

When she asked mommy where daddy was mommy put her down on the ground and Echo started crying because the ground was cold and she wanted mommy because mommy was warm but then she felt mommy get down on her knees and kiss her cheek and tell her everything would be alright and that it would be all over soon but she had to rest a moment because she was tired and gave Echo her scarf and said not to move from there and play with the snow and she kissed her again on the other cheek then on the forehead and she booped her nose, so she stayed there and she wrapped mommy’s scarf around her and it covered most of her. Her head was sticking out but the scarf smelled like mommy and it was good so she stayed there and try not to eat mommy’s scarf even though it smelled good and she started playing in the snow and there was enough she could play with, even though mommy said not to move from where she was and good ponies always listen to their mommies.

She tried licking the snow because mommy said it was white and flour was white and she liked it because mommy made bread with flour and bread smelled super nice and was very good in her tummy so it must have been good too, but it was really really cold and it hurt her tongue so she cried a bit but mommy didn’t pick her up and snow was bad because it hurt her and it wasn’t like flour and she called for mommy but she didn’t answer and she tried to cover herself up with the scarf because it was getting really cold so she walked against her mommy following her breathing and hid under her wing, all wrapped herself up in the scarf and she didn’t feel cold because mommy was with her and they were sleeping together.