“Ungh, ah-AH!”

All around her, the voice cried out in… pain? It was hard to tell; her vision was blurry. What she could make out was an ever-increasing tide of pink. A tide of what, she wasn’t sure, but it kept encompassing more of her sight.

“AAAAAAGH!”

The voice cried out again, louder this time. She turned and finally found its source, the only part of her vision that appeared clear. It was a face, heavily blushed. Strands of purple, pink and gold hair strayed across the panting face as drool dribbled out of the mouth. The eyes were showing signs of pain and sadness, but when they crossed paths with hers, recognition finally shone through on both the mares’ face, and her own.

“Mommy?”

Flurry Heart woke with a jolt, her young eyes scanning her surroundings for any sign of movement. The soothing light from the aurora outside revealed she was alone in her bedroom, and thus her panicked breathing began to slow, aided by the breathing techniques passed on from her mother.

Her mother… Was the mare in the dream truly her? She had left when Flurry was still a baby, and the only way the young princess even knew what she or her father looked like were the paintings and photos of the family from happier times.

Still too unnerved from her dream to return to sleep, Flurry Heart decided to see if her aunts Starlight and Trixie and uncle Sunburst were willing to let her sleep with them. Even at six years old, she knew she should be able to sleep in her own bed, but hopefully they’d understand. She shimmied her way out of bed, shivering a little in nothing but her sky-blue pajama dress before wrapping herself in her large wings.

Opening the door, Flurry Heart peeked out, seeing no guards currently on patrol in this hall of the castle. She quickly stepped out of her room and closed the door behind her before taking flight and gliding up to the higher points of the raised ceilings. During the day, Flurry would enjoy leading whichever unlucky guard was assigned to be her attendant on wild goose chases through the halls, especially when they weren’t pegasi themselves. Now, however, she was moving carefully, landing and hiding whenever one of the castle guards came through.

A few turns before arriving at the door to her destination, Flurry stopped and watched as she saw her aunt Starlight Glimmer walking alone through the halls. A guard came through and gave her a crisp salute, to which the unicorn half-heartedly nodded to in response before carrying on. Her childhood curiosity helping her stay awake, Flurry waited until the guard had turned away before following Starlight at a distance. She followed on foot for the most part to make sure her relative couldn’t hear her wings flapping, taking flight only to avoid any guard patrol that approached. Starlight then began ascending the long, spiraling staircase up to the higher floors. Flurry rarely came up here, as there wasn’t much interesting up that way as far as she was concerned.

Eventually the unicorn mare came to a stop at the highest observation floor, walking to the balcony and looking out to the south. Towards Equestria. Flurry had been told to never venture beyond the raised crystal walls of the city unless it was to the north towards Yakyakistan, as any other direction was apparently too dangerous. The pink clouds to the south glowed ominously from underneath, and had played a part in more than one nightmare for the young filly over the years. But just as she was about to leave her aunt to whatever she was doing, she heard something. Something that made her stop.

The terrible sound of sobbing.

Flurry Heart looked back to see Starlight’s shoulders shaking, one hand covering her muzzle. She was shocked. Starlight always seemed the strongest of her caretakers. To witness her feeling sad rocked the princess to her core. It hurt her to witness this as Starlight fell to her knees, left hand barely holding onto the balcony railing as her cries became louder.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

“Aunty Starlight?”

The sobbing stopped. Time seemed to stop for a moment as the unicorn slowly turned to look back at the concerned look on the face of the young alicorn. Immediately she tried to wipe away the tears.

“H-Hey there, Flurry.” She replied, the smile she quickly put on not reaching her eyes. “What are you doing up so late?”

“Are you okay?” Flurry Heart walked closer, twiddling one of her primary feathers between her fingers as she looked the older pony in the eye. At first, she kept up the façade, but then sighed and looked away.

“…No,” Starlight finally admitted. “I… I’m not okay. I…” Hesitation ran rampant in her eyes as they met the pure gaze of the princess. “I just had a really bad dream and needed to clear my head, that’s all.”

Flurry came to a stop before the kneeling unicorn now. “It’s okay Aunty. I had a bad dream too, but maybe if we sleep together, we’ll be okay?”

This caught Starlight’s attention. “Oh sweetie, you had one too?”

Flurry nodded. “Yeah, I think… I think it was about Mummy.” Understanding washed over Starlight’s face, and she brought the filly in for a tight embrace. With her chin resting on the elder’s shoulder, Flurry could see through the railings the foreboding clouds in the distance. The sight brought up a question she had asked many times, hoping each time she’d finally get an answer. “Aunty Starlight, where’s Mommy?”

A deep breath escaped the older pony as she released Flurry from the hug before placing her hands on those small shoulders and looking her in the eye. “You parents are… they’re fighting. Fighting to save so many ponies. But… they haven’t come back in a long time. They’re probably just saving as many ponies as they can before coming home, or have gotten lost during their adventures.”

“Oh,” Flurry responded, some of the explanation flying over her young head. “Then, can we go see them?”

“NO!” Starlight’s response was immediate and loud, causing Flurry to flinch. But when she opened her eyes again, she saw Starlight looking sad once more. “I’m sorry Flurry. I didn’t mean to shout. It’s just… It’s not safe where they are right now. They left so you could be safe here.

“But, maybe one day when you’re older, they’ll find their way home. Or perhaps we could search for them together. When you’re older.”

“You mean it?” Flurry asked, a hopeful smile forming on her face.

“Pinkie Promise,” Starlight answered, holding out her pinkie finger, which Flurry took with her own.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” With the nursery rhyme chanted, the two giggled. Giggling that was interrupted when the young alicorn let out a big yawn.

“Now, I think it’s time both of us got back to bed. That sound good?” The filly nodded, prompting Starlight to pick her up and carry her back towards the stairwell. With one last glance back at the southern skies, Flurry Heart smiled.

I’ll find you, Mommy, Daddy, she called out mentally, unaware if anypony could actually hear her thoughts. I promise.

Author's Note

And so concludes our story. I'm sorry there were delays with these last three chapters, but having spent nearly two months trying to pump this story out as quickly as possible among everything else life was throwing at me was getting pretty draining. As I've stated already, I'll be taking some time off now that this story is finished to recharge.

But as we've just seen, this isn't the end of this particular story universe. With the bad end achieved, a sequel is being prepped for writing, a story that I began planning for long before the Purity Test was even an idea in my head. But again, it'll have to wait til after my break. Also, shortly after this is published, I'll post a blog explaining all the different options, their points values and effects for the entire story, including the ones that weren't chosen.

Finally, I need to once again thank each and every one of you that's read, commented, liked and favourited this story. As I've already said, I was really nervous and pessimistic about this story's chances of success, even after posting it. But then you guys came in, began commenting and liking, and helped make this story what it has become. Thank you all so much for helping me to finish this story and hopefully make it an entertaining one.

Until our next adventure,
CorruptedKindness.