“Dear Lightning Dancer,

I hope you keep that name. I don't even know if this letter will stay with you. I am crying as I write this. You won't be able to understand these words for quite a while. I am the mare that would have been your mom but gave you up for adoption. It's not that I don't want you, it's that I'm just not ready for you and neither is your dad. I'm in a very com- com-”

The colt turned to his mother in befuddlement.

“Complicated situation,” she supplied.

“Oh,” he grunted, looking back at the paper to find his place again.

“I wish I could be your mom. Trusting in my parenting skills is one thing but I don't want to lie to you and I don't want to lie to everyone around you about who you are and where you come from. This dess- ishon- decision?”

Wind whistled through the gap of his missing tooth as he struggled with the word.

“Is going to affect your entire life and I don't even know if this is what's best. I hope you find parents who love you like I would have. I can't imagine I'll be able to go a single day without wondering where you are or what you're doing and who you're becoming. I still have hope that one day I can be truly honest with everyone.

If you'd like to know me some day, (and I really hope you do,) then bring the parents you found to the Hope Springs Station outside of Manehattan on the seventh day after your seventh birthday. I'll wait there for you all day. If you come, we'll do something fun and I'll explain everything the best that I can.

Love, R.D.

P.S. I left you two feathers. The blue one is mine and the gray one is your dad's.

The end,” he added himself as if it were a bedtime story.

“You're such a good reader,” chimed his mom, patting him on the head. She carefully folded up the letter with her magic and slipped it back in its protective envelope before storing it in her satchel.

Lightning Dancer reared up on the bench and put his forehooves on the window to watch the desert and its beautiful red rock formations scroll by.

“Is she really going to be there?” he murmured. He'd already asked that question twice today.

“It sounds like she will,” mused his mother hopefully but in truth she had no idea. Heeding the prophecy written on the mysterious letter that came with baby Lightning was an agreement on day one as long as the colt was game once he turned seven. They weren't sure he completely understood, but he'd expressed interest in the meeting when they first told him at the age of three. Before his seventh birthday he'd been talking about it for weeks and couldn't believe the trip was finally happening.

“What do you think she'll be like?” he asked, face still pressed to the glass.

“I don't know but maybe she'll be a lot like you.”

“I hope she likes the Wonderbolts.”

The cabin door slid open and Lightning's dad squeezed in.

“Got the snacks. Forgot how much they charge you on the express though, jeeze.” He tossed the bag of pretzels to his son with his right wing and passed the seltzer to his wife with the left.

“Let's just agree to starve the rest of the way,” he suggested, sitting down across from them with his already open chip bag.

“Hmm… I thought alcohol was supposed to stay in the dining car.”

“Shh. It's just seltzer, not alcohol,” he winked.

“Uh-huh,” she droned, popping the tab with her magic.

The desert melted into green countryside which gave way to suburban sprawl. Soon after that, the train coasted to a stop at Crystal Springs and let out a loud hiss.

Lightning bolted into the opposing empty cabin across the aisle to peer through the window which faced the station platform. She must have been out there somewhere in the crowd but he could see very little.

“C'mon Lightning,” called his father. “This is finally it.”

“Where are the feathers?” he begged, shooting back into the hall.

His mother paused to bring them out. He grabbed one in each wing tip.

“Be very careful with them, Lightning. And remember, no matter what happens today, we'll always love you.”

The colt swallowed nervously and squeezed in front of his parents. He hopped down the stairs at the exit and spun around in the sea of departing strangers. They were all in the way.

“Stay with us, Lightning.”

The trio drifted about, looking for loiterers but it was difficult. They stopped by a lamppost and waited till the crowd thinned out. Lightning held up the feathers in front of his face like they were a pair of dowsing rods. A blob appeared in the background of his vision.

He looked past the keepsakes to see a pair of ponies walking up the platform toward them, two meandering pegasi seemingly looking for someone. There was a mare with a short rainbow colored mane and a young gray stallion. They both wore Wonderbolt bomber jackets.

Lightning glanced at the feathers, then back at them, gasping as their eyes met.

Author's Note

That's it. I have mixed feelings about shortening the ending. On one hand it feels like her life in Salt Point Cove could have been a story in itself. On the other hand, I feel like I've already told her story and her struggle and any more is just belabouring the point.

It is left to the reader to decide if Rainbow and Rumble are actually together in the end or just friends.

Hope you enjoyed.

Here's the Spotify playlist for the story if you missed it.

If you want to support my work you can buy one of my novels.