Prodigal

Rosy was an earth pony mare just a few months shy of being eighteen, she packed a few bags and was on her way downstairs. Rosy thought that her parents were too controlling and didn't let her do anything; of late they had put in place a curfew and had her hoof over her phone for the night. "It's not fair! You let Lilac keep her phone!" her mind screamed more than a dozen times. She made it down the stairs and was about to head out when a voice called to her. "Did you clean your room and get the dusting done?" The voice belonged to her mother Poinsettia.

"Yes mother, I did it all!" she called in return, Lilac had come down the stairs and not trying to be a snitch mentioned that her room hadn't been dusted.

"Rosy………….tell me the truth, did you dust the house?"

"Damn it! I forgot a fucking room why does it matter!"

A deep voice belonging to her father Hyssop, "It matters because you know Lilac has allergies, and it whacks her out terribly. The next problem I've got is your attitude and your profanity. Apologize and head up to your room………….you're not spending the night with Minuette, Lyra, and Bon Bon."

As Rosy stomped up the stairs she shoved her older sister down, the latter with help of her father was taken to the emergency room with a broken leg. Several hours later the family was all asleep and Rosy talked to herself.

"Stupid Lilac had to open her damned mouth. If they ground me I'm out!"

The Next Morning

Rosy went to the kitchen where her parents met her Lilac was in bed drugged up still from pain killers the doctors had given her. "Rosy, because of yesterday's actions you'll be grounded for the next two months; your behavior over the past few months has gotten really out of hoof. We would like for you to hoof over your phone until further notice."

"Why the hell! I'm outta here! You are too controlling and restrictive! You don't let me do anything, or even just hang out with any of the stallions at school."

Rosy ran to her room, threw her bags onto her back, and stomped down the stairs. Lilac woke up and hobbled from the guest room on the first floor. "I wish you would either give me the freedom I want or just hurry up and die so I can have it! Better yet just kill yourselves!" she stomped through the door and slammed it and her scrying and Lilac calling after her:

"Rosy, don't leave like this!" Rosy went to the train station and bought a train ticket from Manehattan to Las Pegasus. When she arrived at her destination she went and found a flat she could rent, she also got a job bussing tables at a club. It wasn't a glamorous job, but it would do until she found something else. Her flatmate was a stallion, the type your parents would've warned you about.

7 years Later

Rosy found herself on the curb outside of the flat she had been renting looking at her eviction slip, the stallion she shared the place with up and left her after he had gotten intimate with her. She began to trudge to nowhere, in particular, the foal she had been carrying had passed on in a miscarriage.

She barely earned the bits to just acquire food, and as the days turned to weeks and the weeks to months; she thought about her family. It dawned on her that the restrictions would've protected her from all the hell she had faced and all of the horrible choices she made.

One night as she plopped her exhausted self down in an alley in an empty crate a factory left out for the rubbish she munched on an out-of-date 3.50-bit snack that had been thrown out. She began to contemplate.

"Why didn't I stay home? I would've been warm, safe, fed, and most importantly loved. I mean my parent's restrictions were severe, they were just trying to keep me from getting hurt. But no I had to run off and not keep my head on straight. Now here I am, used, lost a foal and now got nothing to show for myself. I guess I could go home…………….but would they just kick me away after the crap I've done? I've done everything that a pony of ill repute has done. I gotta at least try! Maybe they'll hire me to clean. It'll sure beat begging hand-outs and being covered in this filth!" So Rosy began her homeward.

7 Years Earlier

"Why the hell! I'm outta here! You are too controlling and restrictive! You don't let me do anything, or even just hang out with any of the stallions at school."

Her Parents

Hyssop and Poinsettia looked out the window and beside them stood Lilac. "Hyssop, what did we do wrong? We tried so hard with her…………."

"I know Poinsettia, how did we not see this coming? We saw the group she was hanging within the school; we should've acted way sooner than when we had. We may have been able to save her."

"Mom………..Dad………..will we ever see her again? I know her, she won't turn around until she hits rock bottom……..I just hope it doesn't end here on the streets after something bad happens to her."

The Present and Another Year and a Half

Rosy was covered in snow and freezing to death. Looking down a long driveway she saw her home, she trudged the thirty-foot drive and up the porch steps. She raised a chipped hoof to knock but decided to leave. She had disgraced her family and the family name. As she turned to leave, the door opened and a pair of voices exclaimed, "Rosy!" She by this time was about fifteen feet from the front door. She tried to push her folks away because of the shame and filth.

"Mr. and Mrs. Field" she called them by a formal title, not feeling worthy to call them mom and dad anymore; "I would like to apply for a job cleaning house and…………."

Rosy was suddenly hauled into the house and placed in the shower, as she got cleaned up, she heard her folks calling everypony they knew. When she was taken to her old room, it was exactly how she left it. "Why are you treating me like this? I've caused nothing but trouble for the family name, not to mention the bits dad spent to bail me out of jail and the passage tickets to do so………….. I'm sure it had to have come out of Lilac's college fund. I just want to say how sorry I am for the way I've acted and the things I said, I wouldn't blame ya for kicking me out. One last thing……………I………..um, had gotten pregnant six years ago…………and I miscarried. The flat I rented in Las Pegasus, was with a stallion and I didn't pay attention to the warning signs in my instinct and I let things get out of hoof."

"We're glad to have our daughter home, we thought we'd never see you again. You will always be our daughter and our love for you will have no end. No matter what."

The Party

Lilac came home from work and was exhausted from school and her 10-hour shift. She heard the sounds of a party. Entering her home she saw Rosy was home and wearing a sweater her parents said they were gonna buy for her! She turned and stormed out of the house angry and tempted to spend the night in a motel. She soon heard the sound of snow crunching behind her as she sat on a bench in the front yard. "Aren't you coming in dear?"

"I can't believe you're throwing a party for her! She left saying she wished you were dead, and she's getting a big welcome home party and wearing a sweater you and mom said you'd get for me! I stayed home and picked up the slack I followed all of the rules and yet you didn't let me throw a party."

"Follow me to the porch window." Father and daughter walked to the window. Inside they saw Rosy smiling and happily chatting to all of the relatives and friends who had been worried sick about her.

"You see Lilac, to your sister was lost and is found, dead but now brought back to life. Whatever funds we have left when we die is yours, just be good to your sister. She had to learn lessons the hard way, that day years ago, you said before she turned around she'd have to hit rock bottom; well you almost became an aunt but the foal didn't make it to term."

"This foal……………was it illegitimate?"

"It was, but it was the thing your sister only had a hope of living for. Over the past years, we almost lost her without being able to see her again. Remember Lilac she's on borrowed life now with what she's done…………..let's make her years the best we can.

Lilac walked in and she and Rosy made eye contact and ran to hug each other, Lilac then realized how much she missed her little sister when Rosy began to cry and beg for forgiveness for how she had treated Lilac personally. Lilac and Rosy spent the night by the fire and got caught up. Rosy realized that she would struggle to catch up in her education and was fearful about trying college. When the latter told Lilac her fear, Lilac offered to tutor her sister free of charge.

Four Years Later

Rosy hoofed Lilac a necklace she wore. "Remember this necklace Lilac? You gave it to me when I turned sixteen. This locket with the family photo in it, I managed to keep a hold on it when I pawned all my belongings away. This kept me going for eighteen months as I trudged on foot to get home. I still think most days that I don't deserve to be treated as a family member, I haven't slept in my bed for months now."

"I know sister, I've slept beside you as I hear you weep in your sleep. Look at me, your past is in the past, you gotta learn from it and move on. Let your past drive you to be better than you were yesterday or even last week. You have family and friends ready to back you up and support you! "

"Thank you sister" the pair sat on the couch sipping hot cocoa and watched the blaze in the hearth die to embers. Rosy contemplated her life and drifted off to sleep on her sister's shoulder.