Chapter 23

We both went inside the house with chills up our spines. The kind of chills ones would get after nearly getting killed by some crazy stallion; (Oh right, not everypony gets chased by a mad bouncer). We felt that we had both faced a horizon and it faced right back with great fury. Now all the energy we had left was enough to get us to a couch to sit down and take in what had happened.

By this point, Ruby was no longer afraid to show me the scratches on her eye. In an instinct, I went to grab a small towel to go and try and clean off the scar.

“Where are you going?”, Ruby asked me.

“I’m getting a towel with water. I don’t want it to get infected from tonight.”, I said standing up.

Ruby had grabbed my hoof.

“It wasn’t from tonight. It….”, She said before looking silent.

I sat back down on the couch to understand what she was talking about. She gave a long sigh before looking back into my eyes with great concern.

“Do you remember the night when, it happened?”, She asked me.

I knew exactly what she was talking about. The way she said,”It”, wasn’t a good sounding memory. Ruby was talking about the night when well, shit went completely sideways for her.

“Sadly, I do.”, I said to her sympathetically.

“That night I saw something in my dad that I should have seen a long time ago. For a while I thought he would one day change the way he would act. He would give up his, excessive partakings and finally be what I wanted him to be; An actual dad who cared for me and would cherish me with all of his heart.”, Ruby said with a gloomy tone.

I put my hoof around her to try and comfort her trying to talk about her father.

“But I was wrong, so very wrong. That night I saw…..I saw my own father as a monster. H-He attacked me like I was someone in the war trying to kill him. He clawed and clawed all over me like I was threatening his life. I-I managed to punch my way out of it with a few scratches, but h-he left me with this mark that hasn’t healed up like the others have. H-H-He was so violent when he scratched me, l-like he didn’t c-care for my wellbeing and-”, Ruby said breaking down into small sobs.

I shushed her by pulling her in for a comforting hug to let her know that she was far away from him, and that he was never going to hurt her again.

“But do you want to know what the worst part of that evening was?”, She said looking back up at me with tear filled eyes.

I gave her a small nod.

“I finally came to a reality: I’m all alone. I-I don’t mean with friends or you around me. I’m the only one alone in my family. I’ve sworn my father off from that night for what he did to me.”, Ruby said with a more calm, but still sad tone.

“But what happened to what you believed about your mother still being out there?”, I said to her trying to cheer her up.

“Velvet, think about what I said. I believed that even though my mom was gone that she was still out there. If she was there, where in Equestria would she be? She probably left me there with him to save herself. Even though he is a fucking asshole, I’m starting to believe that she was just as bad as he said she was that night.”, Ruby said to me.

I couldn’t help but feel frustrated by that.

“Do you realize what you just said Ruby? You never even met her and you are already talking about her like your father. Based on seeing you these couple of days, I know for a fact you are not your father’s daughter by believing that. You just need to keep looking. And one day you might be able to find her and ask her all the questions about why she did what she did.”, I explained to her to try and snap her out of that mindset.

She stood silent. I knew right away that she still wasn’t convinced.

“Look, I know that you still listen to Moose, yes? And that you brought some of their music?”, I asked her.

She gave me a small nod.

“There you go! Deep down you truly believe she is real because you still listen to the music she left behind for you to find. I know for a fact that you probably listened to at least a couple of them on the way here, yes?”, I asked her.

She once again nodded now slowly perking up.

“Once again, you still believe it. As long as you keep the stuff she left for you, you can still believe that she is out there. I’m not what one would call a motherly type, but if I were your mother, I would hope that you were okay despite the circumstances, whatever they may be.”, I said to comfort Ruby more.

She stood silent, before letting out a small, faint smile.

“You never cease to disappoint me Velvet. You always manage to come out with a way to cheer me up.”, She said snuggling up to me.

“It’s my job as a boyfriend Ruby.”, I said pulling her close.

“May I ask you one question?”, Ruby asked me.

“Shoot.”, I said to Ruby.

She sat up to face me once again.

“Why do you have such a way with expressing that my mother would still care for me? I believe that she would, but I want to know why you are so atomit about her.”, She asked me.

“Well, it’s….touchy, but…...ah shit! I might as well tell you after you opening up to me like that.”, I said to Ruby.

She sat up with attentive ears.

“It all started with my mother. She had such a way to express how much she loved me when I was younger. Sure, my father also loved me, but it wasn’t like my mom’s love for me. She wanted to see me grow up and sprout into the little Velvet she had dreamed of.”, I said before breathing in a sad sigh,” but sadly, she was never able to see it, nor my father”.

“What happened to them? If, you are comfortable saying.”, Ruby asked me wanting to know.

“They….went out on their anniversary trip, like I had said before. Around that time, a huge storm swept over Hoovesiana that flooded almost every major city. Unfortunately, they were unable to make it out of the flood and...you can probably figure out the rest.”, I said with a soft tone.

“Velvet I’m-”, Ruby said before I interrupted her.

“It’s okay, you couldn’t control the weather that mother Equestria gives. Anyways, the following year was hard on me. Knowing that my parents were gone, I felt truly alone like you felt. That was until Peach, bless her soul, took care of me for a little while to keep their memory alive with me. She would always say how they were not really gone, despite not being there. To prove this, she gave me this.”, I said standing up to walk over to my shelf.

I used my magic to grab the most sacred item on it: my memory box. I sat down with the box in hoof looking over at Ruby.

“This is what Peach called my Memory box. It sounds silly, I know. But this silly thing is my most prized possession I own.”, I explained to her.

For the first time in a very long time, I opened the box to see the very familiar items my parents had left behind that I now kept in memory of them. Inside, was a couple of the last pictures I ever took with them before they went away. The were pretty generic family photos if you ask me, but what really rung with me the most was what really defined who I was as a pony. A long time before my mom became a baker, she tried to become an artist who would draw all sorts of stuff. Unfortunately like most starving artists, she ran out of money to keep going and decided to look for work elsewhere. She never once picked up a pen to draw again after finally getting a job at the bakery, until my tenth birthday.

My mom considered the tenth birthday a tremendous occasion. Since I was still a learning colt, my mom decided to show me what she did a long time before ever meeting my father and eventually having me by making me a drawing. It was a collage of multicolored shapes forming around the white outline of a small colt. That small colt, in my mother’s words, represented the happiest ten years of her life having me as her son. From the day I found that drawing again when Peach put it in the memory box, I dedicated all of my drawings to both my parents, my mom especially.

“It’s beautiful.”, Ruby said softly seeing the drawing.

“Yeah. I guess now you can see where I get my love of drawing from.”, I explained to her.

“Not just that. Your family and you all happy together in that picture.”, She said pulling out the picture of us under the oak tree that was similar to my dreams.

I was tempted to explain to her the strange occurrence with my dreams showing my parents still seemingly alive. However, I thought about it and I think it would’ve made her think I had some sort of schizophrenia.

“Heh, I know that they are watching over me somewhere. Seeing me grow into the stallion they dreamed of me becoming.”, I said taking the picture and looking at it before putting it back in the box and closing it.

“They would be proud of you. I know I would if I was your mother. You’re so kind and caring to others. It’s a trait I wished that everyone would have.”, Ruby said smiling.

I saved the box on the shelf above us with my magic.

“Thank Celestia for letting me have this rare trait.”, I said smiling back at her.

There was once again silence between us as we just stared into each other’s eyes with smiles on our faces. In a weird, cosmic way, we both had the same idea to lean into each other for a kiss. Our faces pressed our lips and beak together for a very passionate kiss. In that kiss, we held onto each other like never before when we kissed. Like we were holding on until we would lose grip with each other.

In a matter of time, we shifted even closer to each other still into the series of passionate kisses. We were now caressing each other in a way that was unfamiliar to me. I didn’t care about the unfamiliarity, I instead turned it into good feelings. Our kisses must’ve lasted for a long time because when we finally broke our kiss to breath, a strand of our mixed spit seeped from both our mouths. We looked into each other’s eyes again, this time we read what we both wanted to do next.

“Are we…….doing this now?”, I asked with a blush.

“I’m perfectly okay with it. Are you?”, She asked me with the exact same blush on her cheeks.

“I am, but…...it’s my first time.”, I said embarrassed.

Ruby laughed and pushed me down on my back on the couch. I won’t lie, I thought I messed up at first when she pushed me down like that.

“It’s okay Velvet. It’s my first time as well. So lets do it for the first time together.”, She said with a sympathetic smile.

I gave a small nod of approval as she moved on top of me to kiss me once more.

“Looks like tonight you might get your title from me. Let’s find out together what it will be.”, She said letting up from the kisses to wink at me.

The next hour was an experience that I will never forget. I’m pretty sure you can figure out what we were both doing in that hour, but let’s just say it was more than kissing. But the part I will describe was the feelings we were feeling with each other. In those moments being truly close to Ruby, I felt total bliss and serenity. For that hour with her, I felt we had become one. Not physically of course, but metaphorically.

After we had finished what we had been doing, we laid there next to each other in each other’s arms cuddling. It was strange, we were both tired from today, yet we stayed up with each other to hold onto one another. We hadn’t said a word, all we wanted to do was lay next to each other.

“Maybe you’re right.”, Ruby said to me breaking the silence.

“Right about what?”, I asked.

“My mother and how she could still be out there.”, Ruby explained.

“Oh. Well like I said before, she could be anywhere. She is probably out there somewhere wondering how her daughter is.”, I said to comfort Ruby some more.

“Yeah, maybe.”, Ruby said looking back down at my chest.

There was something about her tone that made me unsure that she completely in board with the idea of her mother being out there. I felt like there was something else that I needed to say to make her truly believe what she has been saying.

“I’m gonna make you a promise.”, I said looking back down at Ruby.

“What?”, She asked me confused.

“I promise you that one day I’m going to find your mother. On that day I‘ll make sure you get your answers and you’ll maybe have that relationship you should’ve had when you were younger.”, I declared to Ruby.

“You know what they say about promises; don’t make a girl a promise, if you know you can’t keep it.”, Ruby said warning me.

“This isn’t some petty promise, this is a real promise that I plan on fulfilling.”, I said pulling Ruby closer.

Ruby gave a small chuckle snuggling into my chest.

“I won’t stop your ambition. I’ll try and look for answers where she would be.”, Ruby said laughing.

“Hush you.”, I said to the snarky Ruby before kissing her forehead.

Around this time we both became silent, as it was time to finally go to sleep. I felt that Ruby was the first to fall asleep. While she was asleep, I moved the feathers out of the way of her scratched up eye. I could understand her wanting to hide it, but personally it didn’t affect any of my thoughts or feelings towards when she had her feathers back.

I gave Ruby one last soft kiss on her forehead before letting my eyes close to settle down for a long night’s nap. Only this time, I felt like I was truly complete for the night with Ruby next to me.

After that night, Celestia must’ve heard that promise I made to Ruby and decided to help me along to fulfill that promise. How it happened is a bit of a long story, but I’ll try everything I can to explain it thoroughly.

Two weeks had passed since that night. I was now back at work at the bakery and I convinced Peach to let me bring Ruby along for a “internship” for a job since she was now gonna be living with me. Peach told me that I didn’t even need to have her for the internship, and that she could have a job right away. So what was Ruby’s job? Well, because Peach couldn’t think of a first name basis job for her like she traditionally does, she had Ruby act as a mixer for the frosting of our cakes. It’s not a hard job, usually the job would shift between everypony in the bakery to do it when the time came for us needing more of one frosting. But since we now had Ruby to do it, there was now no need to, and on top of this, we never seemed to run out of frosting because of how fast she would make it. She managed to blow Peach away with it as well, even considering Peach herself taught her how to make the frosting.

Speaking of Ruby, her scar on her right eye was now starting to look a whole lot better, as she was now more open about the small wound by grooming her feathers back. She had thanked me one day after work for helping her get over that insecurity, but I told her that it was my job to make her feel good about herself by encouragement.

In those two weeks I was feeling good, but something didn’t feel right. Like I was forgetting to check on something before leaving my house kind of not feeling right. Then I remembered one day as I was walking to work with Ruby; it was around the time for Hearth’s Warming. I noticed this when I was walking in front a store that had the sign that said,” This Hearth’s Warming Eve, get her something she’ll never forget”, advertising some cheap looking purse. It wasn’t until then when I realized that I had absolutely no clue what to get her.

Sure I could do the basic gift and get her something with the band Moose on it, but I wanted to get something more memorable than that. There were nights where I would talk about Hearth’s Warming with Ruby and what she would want and she would tell me that anything would be fine. Only problem with that was, I’m a pony who likes to go big when it comes to gifts. One example was for Peach’s 65th birthday two years ago. Every year, she tells me that a card would do just fine, bt this year I was stubborn. I got her the nicest picture of me and her when I was younger and a nice gold plated frame with a tag that read,” For the one who cared for me the most”. It may have costed a lot, but that didn’t matter. Because she kept that photo on display in her home since then when I first visited her home.

Naturally, I gravitated towards Peach to give me advice on what to get Ruby for Hearth’s Warming because she had gotten to know Ruby a little bit more with the one on one training she had been giving to her on making frosting. Sadly, not even Peach could help me in this predicament. Instead, she told me what she always tells me,”If it comes from you and she cares, she’ll love it”.

Feeling like I was in a corner with about a week before the day of Hearth’s Warming Eve, I turned to another familiar face who I thought could help me; Amethyst. I hadn’t seen her since the day I picked up Ruby because well, when you are adjusting to someone new in your home, you kind of lose time for visits with some friends.

I kind of forgot the feeling of going to Amethyst’s home. Mostly the feeling of seeing Storm’s drawings he would make.

The day I was going to visit Amethyst was a day where me and Ruby had off and decided to stay up a little bit late the day before to sleep in. I woke up first, seeing Ruby’s cute face when she sleeps. I gently woke her up.

“Hey, Ruby. I am going to go visit Amethyst, do you feel like coming?”, I asked her softly.

“Mmmh, Another time. I just want to sleep a little longer Velvet.”, She said with a tired voice.

“Okay, I shouldn’t be gone long.”, I said kissing her forehead.

Ruby turned over and went right back to sleep like I wasn’t even just talking to her. I’ll say this, she is a master at sleeping. Like she could almost fall asleep on command. An ability I wish I could have.

I quietly left the house allowing Ruby to continue sleeping. The air was cool, just like it normally gets for this time of year. For all my gripe about how the weather of Hoovesiana being one random mess of events, I could always count on the weather to get cool during Hearth’s Warming time.

As with most stores one week before Hearth’s Warming Eve, stores were pack like crazy; Mostly due to the fact that everything was discounted heavily. Think of it like Black Friday, minus the ponies trampling each other to get a good deal on a gift for the holidays. With stores filled, comes crowds, which I didn’t like to be in the middle of.

After finding my way around the crowd, I managed to make my way to Amethyst’s home. The look of that small house still never got old to look at walking over to it. I arrived at the front door and knocked.

Amethyst opened the door from the inside. The look in her eyes said that she hadn’t seen me in a while.

“Well if it ain’t the one who disappeared for a while! How are you doing Velvet?”, Amethyst asked with excitement.

“I’m doing fine Amethyst. Can I come in to visit? It’s been a while.”, I said to her.

“Absolutely! Come in, come in!”, She said stepping aside to let me in.

I won’t lie, seeing that small living room connected to the kitchen for the first time in two weeks felt great. I felt like I was ready for teatime once again.

“So nice to be back here again.”, I said to Amethyst as she closed the door behind us.

“I was wondering where you had gone. Teatime had been getting a little more lonely.”, She said walking in beside me.

“Well I’m sorry for that. Still trying to get used to someone else living with me in my home.”, I explained to her.

“Oh how did that go with your special friend? Does she like the new town?”, Amethyst asked me.

“Oh it went absolutely wonderful! We had a lot of fun touring the town. I really think she loves New Saddle. The Club was a little rough because we were both a little bit shy, but overall we had a great time.”, I explained to her sitting down in the chair next to me.

“Well that’s nice. You feel you’ve made a great decision with this now?”, She asked me sitting in the chair across from me.

“Oh absolutely, everything feels perfect.”, I said before looking around,”Where’s Storm?”

“He’s out with his dad. They wanted to go down to the park for a new playground opening up. I stayed here to do some chores and was going to surprise them until you showed up.”, Amethyst explained.

‘Oh I’m sorry. If now is a bad time I can come by later.”, I said apologetically standing up.

“No no please sit down. I don’t mind the visit. I’m glad you came by. Anywho, would you like some tea?”, She asked me standing up.

“Sure, you know I can’t say no to your tea.”, I said sitting back down.

After she made both of our teas, Amethyst and I got on with our chats we usually had. Most of our conversation was about how things were going with her since the last time I saw her. Amethyst’s husband was able to get a promotion that allows him to be home a lot more. She talked about how these two weeks that Storm and his dad had gotten the closest with each other in a while. I was happy to see that Storm finally had the dad he wanted, he was a good kid.

“So, do you have any plans for Hearth’s Warming?”, Amethyst asked me.

“Well, visiting with a little bit of family. But I’m still worried about one thing though.”, I said to Amethyst sipping the last of my tea.

“Oh? What’s troubling you?”, She asked me.

“Well it’s mainly gifts. With my special friend moving in with me, I never realized how much I didn’t know her.”, I said looking down at my cup.

“Well I know that’s a lie. You’ve been saying so much about her to me and you look like you understand her well enough to know what to get her.”, Ruby said putting down her tea.

“No, I know what she likes. It’s just…...Celestia I care too much about making a gift memorable.”, I said with a sigh.

“Well like I said before, if she really loves you, it won’t matter what you get her. As long as it comes from you and means something, she cherish it with all her heart.”, She said with a smile.

I gave a short sigh.

“One week away and I still don’t know what to do for Ruby.”, I said looking down.

I was expecting Amethyst to say something to try and encourage me, but instead I heard deafening silence. I looked up at Amethyst and saw that she had a surprised look on her face. Her eyes as wide as the two seas of cheese. (If you can get that reference you are cultured.)

“What…...What did you say her name was?”, She asked me with a serious tone.

I was startled to answer, never before has she spoken to me in a manner like this. I felt that I said something wrong. Nervously, I complied.

“Her name is Ruby. Ruby Heart.”, I said nervously.

Upon hearing this, she put her claw over her mouth as her eyes widened even more. She stood up from the chair anxiously.

“I’m sorry, I just need…”, Amethyst said trembling as she walked through the doorway to the hall.

I was left so confused as she walked away. What did the name Ruby have to do to her that well, made her walk away like that. Curious to find out why, I stood up from the chair and walked near the hallway to try and see what was going on. I knew it was kind of rude of me to eavesdrop on a griffon who needed a moment to herself, but I needed answers on what had Ruby involved.

I placed my ear near the entry to the hallway to listen in to see if I could hear why. With as close of an ear I could, I made out the sound of…...crying? I was confused by this sound because this wasn’t normal for her to cry like this. I felt that it wasn’t enough information. As sneaky as I could be, I poked my head around the corner to see what she was doing. As I predicted, Amethyst was crying, but only now I could make out the words she was saying silently in her sobs.

“Oh my god…..she’s here. For the first time since…….it happened, I could….finally see..”, She said before erupting into soft tears.

“‘To finally see’? What is she…”, I said in my head.

By this time, I heard that she was slowly walking back. I rushed as soon as I could to sit back down on the chair. Amethyst soon came out with slightly red eyes and a face that said that she had been crying for a little while. Without saying a word, she sat down across from me.

“Velvet, I need to tell you something. It’s not something I thought I would want to share with you on a regular basis, but with what you had just said earlier I feel that I need to...explain myself.”, Amethyst said in a serious tone.

I nodded and sat quietly for her to explain.

“Do you remember when I told you about the music I listened to?”, Amethyst asked me.

“Absolutely I do.”, I answered.

“Well, do you remember when I told you about something I left behind back in Manehatten?”, She asked me.

I nodded.

She gave a deep sigh before continuing.

“A long time ago, I met a griffin in Manehatten that at first seemed to have an attraction to me. When I knew him back then, he was so kind and thoughtful. I remember the day he took me out to a cafe where he and I shared our first tea together. He had confessed his love to me, he said that I was his little flower lily. By then he had my heart. He and I grew closer and closer to the point where he and I got married in a beautiful chapel near Vanhoover, my hometown. All was going well until…”, She said before stopping suddenly with tears in her eye.

I grabbed a tissue box with my magic and handed it over to her. She took the box and wiped her eyes before continuing.

“Until I told him that I was pregnant. When he heard me announce that, that was the moment he changed for the worst. Not long after that, he would go to the bar after he was done working and would come home drunk out of his mind. Not only did he do that, but his feelings towards me had changed. H-He started speaking to me, like I was a drag to his life. I at first thought he could change his ways once he realized that we would both have a kid, b-but I was naive to believe that.”, Amethyst said with a sniff.

It hurt my heart to hear about this. Especially since they were both going to have a family. But wait, this seems awfully familiar, have I heard this some-

“Then came the time my child was born. I had given birth to a little griffin girl that I loved from the moment I saw her. However, her father was the opposite. After a month of me hoping to see him change for the better and raise our child, I finally came to my senses and decided enough was enough. I demanded from him that I wanted a divorce. He, on the other hand, saw it as an attack for me to do this. He said that he would keep our little girl if she tried. I took this as a challenge, as we went to court, I fought my hardest to separate me and my daughter away from him. Unfortunately, he had friends in the court that sided on him and ultimately gave him the victory in the court case, giving him full custody over my daughter.”, She said with a tear rolling down her face.

I was going to say something, but a weird feeling told me to shut the fuck up and listen.

“The case said that I couldn’t be anywhere near him or my daughter. I had to move away in a terrible apartment that reeked, but worst if all, I had to be separated from my daughter.”, Amethyst said breaking down in sobs before continuing,” I couldn’t bear to see him treat my daughter the way he would, so I moved away to Hoovesiana, hoping to try and bury the thought of how she would be raised. I met my husband not long after and we got together. We soon had Storm together, I hoped that he would be loved and cherished in a way that I wish I could give my daughter. I wanted…..I wanted to give Storm a life that I wished to give to my little Ruby.”, She said before crying more.

All of a sudden, the puzzle pieces fit right into place. I couldn’t believe what I had just realized from Amethyst’s story. There was no way that it could be true.

“Are…..Are you?”, I said with great anxiety when she calmed down.

“Yes Velvet. I am, Ruby Heart’s mother.”

Author's Note

Dun Dun Dun
😱