A Dreary Dreamer
The sky was alive, with the star-fall of rain. It fell to the earth, a discordant rhythm to the choir of droplets gently drumming the rooftops. A private orchestra for the unappreciative residents of the dim dreary city. All the ponies retreating to their homes, bundling warm near their hearths, and enjoying life's small eccentricities. As they waited out the scheduled storm. All the ponies, except the forgotten, with nowhere to be and no place to go.
Sunless Sky wasn't one of these tragic souls, trapped in the winds of fate. She loved the rain, despite how everypony else seemed to despise it. Cloudy days always seemed such a chore for the weather team to schedule, so they came rarely. Just meeting the minimum requirements of rainwater production legislated every year. So, as the rain came down, it felt nice to her touch. Reminding her of home, as she closed her eyes, embracing the moment of precipitation. Tears falling unnoticed with the weeping Sky.
The rain thoroughly drenching her, as she stood, lost in the memories of a lifetime ago. It seeped through her jacket, and clung to her feathers, as her wings instinctively twitched against their biting frigid fangs. Yet even roses had thorns, and Sunless Sky enjoyed the small discomforts. Knowing that when she had had enough, she could join her fellow ponies as they cowered from the harsh weather. Perhaps she'd catch a cold, but to her it was worth it. She longed for this feeling, this moment she sparingly found for herself.
Life had a way of being busy, losing one's mind in the commotion of its chaotic curriculum. But here, Sunless could be happy, here she could find peace with the demons that fought to rule her. She smiled, despite her bleary visions. As she waited, listening to the endless echo of the rain hammering the streets around her. A mighty torrent that rang through the city, drowning out her doubts as she listened to its mighty symphony. Basking in the glory of a sunless sky.
Daring to dream in the dreariness of a dousing downpour. Daylight, but no warmth to cherish, save the spark insider her heart. As she saw without seeing, a vision of a higher perspective. Weightless, with her head held high, cherishing the bittersweet of the tempest round about her. Yet not inside her soundless soul. Sunless Sky found her peace in the absence of sunlight.
She coiled her legs, preparing for what she knew would come next. Springing high into the air, defying the cascading rain pelting her. Sunless spread her wings, and flew. Higher and higher, kept aloft by her own determined desire. Rain was difficult to fly through, but she'd done if enough times, that it no longer bothered her. She glided just below the clouds drifting lazily over the city. Eventually they would drift away entirely, to rain on somepony else's parade. But for now, they were here to stay. She watched the lights below, like twinkling stars of the earth, as she flew along through the rain. Their colors dancing across the water droplets as they plunged to the pavement.
Sunless Sky eventually turned her sights upward, as she burst through the lofty cloud canopy, to find paradise. The ethereal peace sudden, and breathtaking above the clouds. The sun shone down on the seemingly endless fields of cotton candy clouding. Sunless stretched her wings, feeling the water evaporating off every feather, as she soared smoothly through the quiet stillness above the storm brewing below. The warmth was rejuvenating, as she dipped towards the clouds, low enough to caress their soft luster, as she sped by on wings of lightning. Bouncing off a small blanket bustling with electricity, forcing a clapping applause that rang through the skies beneath. The small tingling in her hooves reminding her of days long gone.
She found laughter ringing in her ears, as she flew onward. She loved the rain, her grandfather had shared in her forbidden fixations, and even encouraged them at times. He had taught her how to fly in the rain, and eventually how to break through the tough gentleness of clouds. He had taken her above the clouds on many occasions throughout her foalhood. She cherished those happy times of cloudy days. Just him and her, spending time that had been woven into priceless memories. They brought a tear to her eyes now, as they clung in the weightless air, before falling to become just another droplet to the puddles far below.
Eventually Sunless landed atop the shifting chaos, finding its static surface refreshing. She could feel the storm gathering its energy for further thunderous applause, as she stood upon the shifting living clouds. Like a sea in which she, as a pegasus, could walk upon. She lay upon its pulsating surface, basking in the sun above, as it beat harshly upon the cloud-tops. Closing her eyes, to allow her mind to drift in the calm of the storm below.
It had been years since her late grandfather had been able to fly, but his recent passing had thrown her life into a chaotic spiral. Time seemed to stand still, in her reverent remembrance. Snailing along in these moments that passed her by, as she took the small opportunities to revel in life's nuanced halcyon. Sunless had spent enough time crying, and yet tears always lingered at her loss. Her heart had felt like it would shatter when she'd first heard the news, and had slowly over the last week grown to a numbing rhythm of forced acceptance.
What more could she do? But accept that the past could not be changed, no matter how many stars she wished upon. It was bitter to her taste, but acceptance had to be received to move on. Even though she didn't want to, she didn't want to close the book. Sunless Sky didn't want to forget her joyful sadness.
Life seemed so finite in the grandeur of existence, and death so final in its relentless chase to quench the flames. To cast the light to endless darkness, and sleep. What was the meaning of it all? The unsolved mysteries and philosophies of ages spanning the dawning of time itself tormented her thoughts, as she curled into a ball. Finding comfort in herself, as she bobbed along on the stormy seas. She allowed herself to feel small, to face her own insignificance. Life was so busy, and yet. At the end of it all, to what point was anything?
Except memories.
To be remembered, to lead a legacy worth passing onto the next breaths of life. The younger generations.
However, this premeditated answer still felt lackluster. It didn't fill Sunless Sky with hope, just continued despair in the inevitability of struggle and strife. The ever present conflict of life. Her distress was palpable as she traced her hoof gingerly across the storm's billowing waves. Finding solace as she closed her eyes, and felt it's cold frigid body rising and falling in its fragile breaths. As she bathed in the warmth of the sunlight above. She didn't particularly hate sunlight, it just had a harshness that she despised when missing the cooling balance of the sky's cloudy gaze.
Perhaps she could write her own meaning of life. More than money, more than vain ambition, but whatever monotonous answer she would publish in her thoughts never felt right. And setting something so tedious to strive for, felt hollow, as Sunless Sky's hope faded away with it. What was the point anyway?
Sunless knew she'd have to move on eventually, go back to work. Pretend like nothing was ever wrong. She'd have to get over herself, and get back to work. But she didn't want to. Not yet, not after this paradigm shift she'd been awakened to. Life was so demanding, there would be future bills to pay, debts to repay, and at the end of it all. What would she have, but a fully funded prison to live in until the rest of her days. No children, no legacy...
Nothing of importance left behind to be remembered.
