Chapter 7: Memories *Mature*

Chapter 7

Morning let out a long sigh of relaxation as she watched Star go up, and down on the swing. It was a Saturday morning, and Star had asked her friends, Bubblegum, and Angel to join her on a picnic, the trio of friends swung back and forth on the swings playfully, cheering, and squealing. Morning laid back on the blanket she laid out for lunch earlier, she smiled as she felt a small breeze run over her, and the warming light of Celestia’s sun shine on her coat. Morning thought about what she saw in the hospital the other day, about what Sketch said, what he said about his mind specifically, it was obvious to her, the must be something in his head he doesn’t want anyone to know about. She felt an overwhelming sense of curiosity come over her, as she thought about it more. Morning looked back to Star, who was now riding the carousel on the playground pushing it as fast as she could while her friends held on the best they could, so they wouldn’t be hurled into the air. She chuckled a little, as her thoughts drifted back, she thought about Sketch again, there was something about him, some kind of attraction, but not just that, there was a feeling, a feeling as if she needed to be there, as if being with him was a necessity, she felt confused.

“Why would I NEED to be with someone, I don’t even know all to well” This question drilled into her mind, she thought back again.

“Beautiful” she heard Sketch say in the back of her mind. She smiled as she remembered his compliment to her, running a hoof over her mane again. No one had ever really taken to much interest in Morning, she never thought she was unattractive, but she never really had time to find a stallion she liked. She sighed a little and continued watching her daughter enjoy her weekend with her friends.

The Next Day

Star yawned a little, she wasn’t all too interested in math, still if she wanted to be an astronomer some day, she’d have to be get good grades in all subject's after all scientists don't get F's. She looked to Firecracker, who wasn’t paying any attention at all “My dad taught me all this during summer before he left” he had told her earlier. Star wondered what kind of home Firecracker lived in, he was still a foal but he could already do things normal foal’s were still learning about, he had outstanding grades overall, he could already fly, and he seemed to be able to talk to just about anyone, and according to Firecracker, his father had taught him all this. Stars wondered how one can learn so much, at such a young age, and retain it all. Star returned her attention where Mrs. AmberStone was writing additions on the chalk board. Star had noticed something strangely cheerful about her teacher this morning, of course Mrs. AmberStone always taught her students with a smile on her face, and she always acted cheery around the students, but today she seemed to do it more so, she could’ve swore she caught her teacher day dreaming before class. Star wondered what it was, she tried to think what could have happened, whatever it is, it must be very exciting, since it made Mrs. AmberStone that happy. Star thought about it for a while until she heard Mrs. AmberStone clear her throat and ask for attention.

“Well my little ponies, I think that’s enough math for today. I have a question for you all, do any of you have any brothers, or sisters?”

A few of Stars classmates raised their hooves, Firecracker included. Star noticed Mrs. AmberStone’s smile getting bigger, Star had this feeling somehow her questions about her teacher were about to be answered.

“Do any of you with siblings, have younger brothers and sisters” A few hooves went down, some hooves remained up, as well as Firecracker’s.

“Firecracker, you have a younger sibling?”

“Yes Ma’am. I have a younger sister.” Firecracker said smiling.

“How sweet how old is she, do you remember her being born?”

“Yes, she about a few months old now, her names Snowflake.”

“Do you remember before she was born too?”

“Yup, I remember when my mom was pregnant with her, my mom’s belly got bigger and bigger until my sister was finally born. I always wanted a sister; I was really excited when my parents told me I was going to be a big brother”

Mrs.AmberStone smiled at Firecracker for a little, she then looked down a little still smiling.

“Well my little ponies, I have an announcement to make. Me and my husband are having a little foal”

The class filled with gasps, oohs, and d’aawws, as Mrs.AmberStone told them about the foal.

“Congratulations Mrs. Amber” Angel said

“So do you know if it’s a filly, or a colt yet” Bubblegum asked, before blowing a large bubble, which hin turn popped, and covered her snout.

“Not yet, yes I’m a mother now. So do any of your parents tell you stories of before you were born”

“Mommy said that when I was in her tummy that I kicked a lot”

Mrs.AmberStone chuckled a little “Yes, unborn foals tend to do that, some not much, while other kick a lot” Well I have some good news and bad news with this, good news is, that you all get to witness the journey of a foal growing inside its mother until its born, the bad news is that, later on I might not be here that often, that probably won’t be until later on, but once the baby is a few months or weeks from birth I might not be able to come in, teach you all.”

Star, felt her heart leap. Mrs. AmberStone’s having a baby, this is amazing, she thought as she listened to her classmates bombard her teacher with questions, which she gladly answered. Star wonderd what the foal would look like. She imagined a her teacher holding a bubbling, ahppy little foal in her hooves. The thought filled Star with excitement. She looked over to Firecracker, he too had a large smile on his face.

“This is so cool.” Firecracker said turning to Star.

“Ooooooh, I just love newborn foals, their so small, and cute” Angel said daydreaming about what the foal might look like.

“I remember the day my sis was born, my dad took me early from kindergarten to go see my sister right after she was born, she was so cute that tiny little white filly all bundled up, she had the cutest little blue eyes.”
Soon it was lunch time, and all the children galloped outside to play, Firecracker took up his usual spot on the swings, while Bubblegum, and Angel continued to talk about the foal. Star quietly sat under the tree, and began to read a book, as she settled down and opened her book, she heard a small chirp from nearby, at first she ignored it but she kept hearing it, and it sounded closes. Star looked around to try and find the source of the chirping, as she rounded the tree, on the ground she found a small baby bird, sitting on the ground chirping calling for its mother, Star looked into the tree, she eventually spotted the nest, which was very high up in the tree. Star looked back at the small bird, which cried for its mother to come find it, but no bird came, the little bird was left there, alone on the ground. Star slowly walked over to the small bird.

“There there, its alright I’m not gonna hurt you.” She said giving a reassuring she picked up the small bird.

“How are we gonna get you back up in your nest ?” she looked up into the tree, the branch that held the nest was far out of reach for Star, she was going to need help from someone who could fly, she looked around for Firecracker, but he was nowhere to be found, then she saw Horace.

“No, he’ll try to hurt you for sure.” Star thought “I have to protect you from him” just then, Star heard a voice from behind her.

“HEY peewee, I need to talk with you” Star froze stiff as she turned to find Horace behind her.

“Watcha got there?” he asked pointing to her hooves, in which she was cradling the baby bird.

“Nothing, bye” Star tried to dash off as fast as possible.

“Hey get back here, I need to tell you something.”
Star wouldn’t have it, she needed to keep the bird safe. She galloped as fas as her hooves could carry her, still Horace was constantly right behind her.

“HEY, I JUST WANT TO TALK YOU SHRIMP”

Star continued to ignore him, and tried to speed up, still to no avail, just then, of all things, Star tripped, fell, and the little bird flew out of her hooves. She nearly cried as Horace trotted up to the little bird.

“So this is what you were so protective over” Star waited for him to start teasing it, or hurt it, tears started streaming from her eyes, waiting to hear the bird chirp, and screech in agony, yet she only heard the opposite, she heard silence, she opened her eyes. Star couldn’t believe her eyes, she looked up to find Horace gently pick up the bird with his wing, and gently stroke along is feathers. Star tried to comprehend what was going on.

“Wait, your not gonna hurt it?” She asked confused.

Horace looked at her sternly, but his face lightened a little, he looked at the bird again.

“Why would I?”

“BECAUSE YOURE MEAN, YOURE A BULLY, YOU ARE ALWAYS MEAN TO ME, MY FRIENDS!” Star now began shouting at him. This struck Horace with force, he wanted to react, but he he calmed himself, and ignored Star judging him.

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk about, but first” Horace looked around.

“Where’d you find it?” he said motioning a hoof at the baby bird, now hopping around on his wing.
Star pointed toward the tree, and led Horace to it and then showed him where the nest was. Star then watched, as Horace slowly flew up to the birds nest, and gently placed the baby bird in its nest. He looked square into Stars eye’s as he flew back down.

“Now, can I please talk to you?” He said, almost expecting her to run again.
Star slowly nodded

“Listen I’m sorry for being such a jerk, I shouldn’t have don’t that. I promise I wont do it again. Apology accepted?”
Star sighed a little “ Apology accepted, I’m sorry for judging you like that, I should’ve at least heard you out first.”
Just then Horace looked up and began to shout. “ ALRIGHT, I APOLOGIZED YOU HAPPY?!?!”
Star looked up trying to spot who, or what Horace was yelling at, her eyes widened as she saw Firecracker, slowly glide down from a low cloud, and land right next to Horace.

“Yeah, I’m happy, don’t ever bully my friends again, got it.”

“Yes sir, absolutely” Star giggled, as she watched Horace begin to panic slightly, trying to prevent conflict between him, and Firecracker.

“Glad I made myself clear, have a nice day.” With that Firecracker took off again, galloping over to his favorite swing again.

Star sighed, smiling slightly as she watched the colt, jump on the swing, and use his wings to propel himself on the swing. Star slowly gathered her things and trotted back inside as Mrs. AmberStone called everyone back in.

For Morning the day was business as usual, kick the clouds, clear the skies. Morning sighed as she kicked yet another cloud. Morning hated her job, it just didn’t feel like her, weather patrol, she let out another long sigh, as she continued to bust the clouds apart. Morning thought back again, she could be living a better lifestyle right now, it all would’ve been alright, until something got in the way. Morning cursed that memory trying to forget the best she could but to no avail, the memory, the nightmare just kept coming back. She hated it, she hated this memory with a burning passion, the night when her future, her life was practically ruined.

~7 Years Ago~

“Morning darling are you ready yet?”

“Almost, I’ll be right down Violet.”
“Well hurry up dear; you wouldn’t want to be late for your big event.”

Morning rolled her eyes, as she applied the final touches to he make up, she wanted to look perfect. Tonight was the night everything would change, for years she had prepared, rehearsed, and tonight it would all come together for her. Morning was the composer for the music in a musical that was to play in the grand theatre in Canterlot, “La Vien Rouge” was to premiere that night, the premiere was to be grand event, the greatest of composers, actors, and directors would be there, even the princesses were supposed to attend, this event, if all went well would make Morning famous, there was no way Morning would allow anything to go wrong. She began to search her room, slightly panicked by the fact that she couldn’t find the music sheets.

“Morning dear, what’s taking so long?” a voice called from downstairs.

“Nothing, I just need to find the sheets, go on without me I’ll be right behind you” Morning said reassuringly.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

“VIOLET”

“Alright, alright I’ll head on out, but you better be right behind me.”

Morning continued to search her room furiously, she searched everywhere, top to bottom, left to right, it seemed as though the sheets had mysteriously disappeared. Morning looked at the clock, half an hour till curtain, time was of the essence, Morning looked around frantically, finally she found the, in front of the mirror she just stood before minutes ago. Morning groaned out frustration as she grabbed the sheets and hurried downstairs, she quickly put on a scarf, and bolted out the door into the cold night.

~Present~

Sketch rubbed his temple as another migraine rose up, he winced slightly as the pain shot through his skull again, Sketch tried to hide the fact he was having migraines from the doctor, anything to prevent more screenings. Sketch looked around as the headache subsided, he hadn’t even realized how fast time had passed, stil it should have been obvious by the fact that it was now dark outside, and the moon was in the sky. Sketch looked at the clock next to him, for the past two nights he had continuously woken up, and strangely enough, always at the stroke of midnight. Sketch frowned as he figured out what this reminded him of, the cold of night, the quiet, but that nagging feeling of a presence, voices barely audible, but still there. Sketch wanted to forget, he wanted nothing more, still it was a wish that would never come true, he closed his eyes tryig to fall asleep again, but the memory stuck to his mind. The memory of the battle for the Golden Square, the market place in Stalliongrad, the memory ran fresh in his mind, the blood curdling screams of agony, and death, the crackling of gunfire, Sketch could remember it all clearly, he felt the blood his veins chill as he thought back to the events of that night.

~7 years ago~

“DO NOT STOP, KEEP MOVING!” Caius shouted, barking orders to the soldiers around him. After the events at the crossroads, Caius was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, a promotion that didn’t really sit well. He ducked as a rocket nearly missed him, he looked ahead, the mission this time, was to take a bridge that lead directly into the market square, for days they had pushed for taking the bridge, and they were close to victory now, but that left no doubt the insurrectionist’s would blow the bridge before retreating back into the market. Caius took cover as a haze of magically charged projectiles began flying towards him, peeking over the low wall he managed to spot a machinegun, he took aim, just before he could fire though, the whole other side of the river seemed to suddenly light up in a ball of fire, from the other side of the river one could hear the screams of the insurrectionists dying, or writhing in agony as they slowly burnt away from the flames. Caius looked to the skies as three Pegasi bombers from the 305th Aerial Assault Squadron shot through the air at breakneck speeds. Caius looked back to see the insurrectionist falling back to the Market, this was it his chance to end the battle.

“THE WAYS IS CLEAR, PUSH FORWARD DO NOT STOP!” Caius shouted as the troops in his unit pushed for the bridge, as they crossed the bridge, Caius looked up at the support structures of the bridge, at first he saw nothing, but then he saw a distorted figure on the beams, almost invisible, Caius could only see it by the distortion of light that reflected of it, then as quickly as it appeared, the figure dashed away with agility that was unparalleled. Caius tried to track the figure but all focus washed out of his mind when the bridge suddenly erupted in fire, it seemed as though the whole world had gone up in flames, and Caius was right in the middle of it, Caius however couldn’t see the rest, as his unconscious body was thrown against a support beam. In an instant all went black.

Morning galloped through the streets as she tried to get to the theatre as fast as she could, after a few minutes she was near her goal, but as she came to the intersection, she froze, something wasn’t right, she felt as though she were being watched, as she tried going further down the street, three large stallions came out of an alley, grinning as they cut morning off, grinning wickedly as she came to a halt, quickly she turned around and tried another street as she slowly trotted down the street she felt uneasy, she looked back to find the three stallions, slowly trailing behind her, Morning was beginning to sweat as she tried taking another turn, again the stallions followed her, Morning was now beginning to panic, she rounded random corners frantically trying to lose her pursuers, but to no avail, Morning hadn’t realized where she was going, she looked back the stallions still there, she hadn’t noticed she was running into a dead end until she ran into a brick wall knocking her down. She quickly got back up, wanting to turn around and take a different route, but when she turned around she found three large shadow at th end of the alleyway, Morning looked around frantically, she felt her gut sink as she realized there was no escape, the three figure slowly began to approach her.

“Well, well, well, what have we got here boys” the middle stallion said slowly walking around Morning.
The others slowly forcing her back deeper into the alley, catcalling as they circled her, like Timberwolves circling their prey in its last living moments.

“So sweetheart riddle me this, what’s a beauty like you doing here?” the stallion said, now leaning in uncomfortably close to Morning. Morning winced from the potent odor of alcohol on his breath.

“You know, the streets are dangerous at night, or maybe you’re out here for another reason”

“What do you want?” morning spat trying to hide her fear, but to no avail she couldn’t hide her feelings of horror.

“Got to admit, you’re quite a look at.” Said another one of the stallions said before slapping her flank, Morning gasped at this and fell forward slightly only to be pushed to the ground by the biggest of the stallions. Morning got back up, and brushed herself off. Then out of nowhere one of the stallions grabbed her holding her in place.

“Your quite beautiful you know, makes me wonder if you’re this pretty up front you must be amazing, back there” The stallion started reaching for her flank.
Mornings face went pale as she heard this, she tried to break free, struggling all she could only to once again be pushed to the ground.

“Yeah, I like a nice piece of tail, c’mon baby lift the tail and spread ‘em.” One said
Morning turned and slapped him across the muzzle, the stallion didn’t even blink as her hoof came into contact with his face , the stallion in return grabbed the hoof and twisted it, then punched her in her face. Morning now felt sheer horror sink not her soul as the Stallion began to loom over her.

“You know we might’ve let you go before, but now I think you deserve a punishment for that, hold her down.”
Morning froze stiff in terror as two of the stallion grabbed her legs, and held her down. Morning squirmed, and struggled as much as she could, but she couldn’t break the grip.

“Uncomfortable you little bitch? Good, oh and it gets better.”
Morning began to panic even more as the stallion spread her hind legs.

“I’m gonna enjoy this, so don’t be getting any ideas so little shit.” The stallion laughed as he spat on Mornings face.
Morning felt disgusting, as the stallion began to fondle her marehood, tears rolling from her eyes as she was forced to take the shame, just when she thought it might me over, Morning gasped as the stallion plowed into her, Morning tried to scream but was cut off by a hoof covering her mouth, and a punch to the gut. Morning unable to bear the pain passed out as the stallions raped her unconscious body, grunting, and moaning as they violated her. The stallions kept at it for a few minutes until they were finished, they laughed as they began to kick, beat, and stomp on Morning as she lie there on the hard cobblestone, unconscious, bleeding, and covered in filth.

“Have a pleasant evening miss” one of the stallions said before spitting chewing tobacco on her face.
The three stallion laughed maniacally as they left her there, broken and violated. After a few minutes Morning regained consciousness, in a state of shock, and agony she stood back up, and staggered her way to the theatre

“Help me, somepony please.” She said her voice quiet, and rasping as she cough and sputtered trying to cry for help. She slowly entered through the crew entrance to thee theatre which led backstage, as Morning tried to find help. She tried to speak again when she found her friend.

“Violet’ she whispered

“Morning, where in the name of Celestia have you been, we were supposed to start several minutes ago, an-“ Violet Blossom screamed when she saw the state her friend was in, her dress torn to shreds, her face bleeding, bruises covering her whole body, and a white fluid dripping down her hind legs.

“V-Violet, I-I, I need-“

“Somepony get help, now” Violet’s eyes began to water, as she quickly grabbed her friend, who fell unconscious, and into her arms”

“What’s going on?” A grey stallion came around the corner, gasping at what he found.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU MORON DON’T JUST STAND THE YOU BLITHERING IDIOT GET HELP NOW!!!” Violet screamed, as the stallion ran for help as quick as his hooves could carry him.

Violet slowly ran her hoof over Mornings mane trying to keep calm herself, the situation was overwhelming, Violet felt dreadful as she held her best friend in her hooves. The events of that night would haunt Morning in her dreams for weeks; it was only a few weeks later they discovered Morning was pregnant. Morning for the next few months became a recluse, staying at home, only visited by family, and close friends. The stallions responsible were never found. The events of that night, were eventually forgotten, and Morning soon faded away from the spotlight.