The sculptor wiped the sweat off her brow, letting out a satisfied sigh. She took a step back, then turned to address her Queen. “Well,” she said with a polite grin, gesturing towards the bust she had finished. “What do you think?”
Queen Haven placed a hoof on her chin as she inspected the statue. “Hmm,” she said, frowning in thought. “This is absolutely terrible.” She then pointed an accusatory hoof at the bust. “No, no, no! Literally everything about this is wrong! Is this even supposed to me? I mean, just look at that chin! That is way to bulbous for me! I’m much prettier than that…”
Meanwhile, two of the Royal Guard stood by, keeping a silent vigil over the courtyard as their queen continued her art critiques. Well, at least one of them was. The other was snickering to himself, his phone tucked under his wing in a way he thought was stealthy. He stopped laughing, however, once the guardsmare beside stepped on his hoof.
“Put that away, cadet,” Zoom said, keeping her gaze locked straight ahead.
Thunder let out a grunt of pain. “Oh, c’mon,” he said. “I was just checking it real quick!"
“Not interested in excuses.”
“But...”
“Not. Interested.”
Thunder pouted, but put his phone away as told. As he slid back into attention, however, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. He pointed with a hoof. “Uh, Zoom? I think we have a problem.”
Zoom followed his gaze, her eyes widening. She spun around, running over to the Queen.
“Y-your Majesty! Your-”
“Not now Zap,” Haven said without looking at her.
“Zoom…”
“Whatever. I told you I am not to be interrupted during Queenly business!”
“B-but, but…”
“And look at this! You know my nose doesn’t look like that…were you even paying attention?”
“LOOK!” Zoom shouted. Haven spun around to reprimand her, but stopped once she saw the two of them gesturing towards something off in the distance. She squinted, curious. Haven saw the tower where her daughters slept, nothing unusual. That is, until she noticed that a window several stories off the ground had a small white filly leaning out of it.
“ZEPHYRINA!”
Zipp was sitting in the window sill, wingtip in her mouth as she took in the view. She was wearing a cobalt blue hoodie with a yellow lightning bolt crudely painted on the front, along with a pair of swimming goggles on her forehead. She removed her wing from her mouth, carefully extending her primaries into the air.
“Alright, no wind! You know what that means?”
Zipp turned towards her sister, who was sitting in her crib, engrossed in the task of stacking blocks. When she realized Zipp was looking at her, she gave her a nearly toothless smile. She then clapped her hooves together with a giggle.
“That’s right, Lil’ Pipp,” Zipp said, affectionately running a hoof through her hair. “Your big sister’s gonna be the first Pegasus to fly in thousands of moons!” Zipp then pulled her goggles down before leaning out the window. “Hear that Equestria? I’m gonna fly!”
“ZEPHERINA!”
“Oh, hi Mommy!”
Haven skipped to a halt just below the tower, with Zoom and Thunder in tow. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? You get down from there this instant!”
“But Mommy, I’m gonna do it! I’m gonna fly, just like you said I could!” Zipp said with a grin so large it could be seen from the ground.
“Zepherina! You get down here this instant before you hurt yourself!”
“Silly mommy, I’ll be fine. I did the math,” Zipp said proudly.
“Enough of this nonsense! Zepherina, you cannot fly!”
“But Mommy! You told me I could do it,” Zipp pouted.
“I said no such thing!”
“You told me I could do it as long as I didn’t give up.”
“I… uh,” Haven stuttered as the memory came back to her. “Well, I suppose…”
“...and didn’t you say I should never give up on my dreams? That I need to live life to the fullest?”
“Well, uh, you see, what I meant was…” Haven frantically looked back and forth between Zoom and Thunder, silently pleading for help.
“Uh, Zipp?” Zoom cautiously asked. “You see, your mother was…”
“...Lying?” Thunder added.
Zoom and Haven both turned to glare at Thunder, before looking back to Zipp. The filly slowly frowned. “Oh,” she said, disappointed. “So, uh, dreams don’t really come true then?”
“...usually no.”
“Even with lots of hard work.”
Thunder swallowed. “N-not really.”
“So life is just biding your time until death comes and sends you into an eternal nothingness?”
“Kinda?”
“Huh,” Zipp said, leaning away from the window. The three let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Oh thank goodness,” Haven said.
“Wait,” Zipp said. Queen Haven froze. “If life is meaningless,” she continued, “but we only get one chance at it, then I better make the most of it!”
“Oh no,” Thunder said. “She’s full of unyielding optimism again!”
Zipp then leapt off the window sill.
“I’M A WONDERBOLT!”
“NO!” Haven wailed. She collapsed onto the ground, burying her face into her hooves. A million thoughts raced through her head. How could this have happened? Why didn’t she put a safety latch on the window? Why didn’t she station a guard outside their bedroom? Why didn’t…
The Queen’s musings were interrupted by the sound of a filly laughing.
“Look at me mommy, I’m doing it!”
Cautiously, Haven looked up. Her eyes widened. “I-I don’t believe it,” she heard Zoom say.
“Z-zepherina? You’re…”
“She’s gliding,” Thunder finished for her.
“Wow. I’ve never seen a filly able to glide like that before,” Zoom added.
Zipp landed in the courtyard with a “Yippee!” She then turned and ran towards her mother. “Mommy, Mommy!” Zipp said, practically vibrating with excitement. “Did you see me? I did it! I flew! Just like you said I could! Mommy… why are you crying?”
Haven whipped her eyes. “Oh, Zipp,” she said, pulling her into a hug.
“You are so grounded.”
