The Colthood of Steel Wing

Chapter IV: Departure

One month later...

Leaf Wisp was used to waking up to her husband's warmth every morning ever since he'd been given two months leave to look after her in the final month of her pregnancy and the month following. Every morning, she'd open her eyes, her head laying on his buff, warm chest, and look up to see his sleeping face, his closed eyes still with peacefulness, laying on the adjacent pillow on their bed. His rich brown mane would be a bit puffy, sometimes, but he could always fix that once he'd woken up. On occasion, she'd wake up to find his massive wing draped across her slender figure underneath their shared blanket. In fact, that was her favorite way to wake up.

This particular morning, however, was not the same.

Leaf Wisp lay somewhat sprawled out on her belly on the bed, looking as if she had drunkenly jumped onto the bed the night previous and fallen asleep right then and there. Her breathing was even and her mind, while dreamless throughout the night (and thankfully uninterrupted by one of foal Steel Wing's early-morning outbursts), was pleasantly at ease. The dawn sun blasted through the window in the room, warming her light-brown coat from the nighttime chill that would sometimes creep into the house. Stalliongrad's location of being in the northeastern sector of Equestria does little to mitigate the cold climates. The sleeping mare's left foreleg unconsciously dragged itself across the bed sheets to the part of the bed Iron Wing would normally be sleeping in, hoping to find his benevolent presence. Her hoof swept up and down, reached farther out and closed in... But she found nopony next to her.

This roused Leaf from her sleep. Her eyes opened curiously and scanned the other side of the bed, and when her sluggish mind finished processing what she was—or rather, wasn't—seeing, her head angled itself upwards, somewhat alarmed. Iron Wing wasn't in bed. Where was her husband? An anxious look crossed Leaf's face as she gazed around to the window, exposing her sensitive pupils to the harsh sun's early-morning rays. She estimated it was about six, maybe seven in the morning. Leaf pondered why her husband wasn't in bed. It took about ten seconds until a particular bell went off inside her head that made her eyes grow wide. It had been a month since she'd given birth to Steel, meaning...

Meaning it was Iron's time to go back.

The mare silently cursed the day she chose to marry a Royal Guard, but quickly silenced herself from such an unfair accusation. She loved her husband, regardless if he had to leave home in order to work. Besides, it was his duty to the crown, and she knew she couldn't prosecute him for his choice in profession. Plus, he'd supported her more than enough financially with the hospital bills, as well as getting the foal supplies for Steel, so at least he'd done his job. And even though his superiors gave him only two months on leave, the mare was extremely thankful that he'd been allowed to return at all. She knew how strict the Royal Guards were when it came to protocol and national security, but she was equally thankful that they valued family just as much. She found that quite an honorable reality of the Royal Guard.

Still, without Iron around, it was going to be difficult to raise not one, not two, but now three foals by herself. Mostly.

Leaf sighed despondently, and turned around on the bed and sat up. Ears drooping down, the mother of three brought her forehooves up and rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes. Taking the opportunity, the earth pony stretched her forelegs and neck out, twisting her back this way and that to get the blood flowing. She cleared her throat, feeling a slight tickle dancing around in her larynx, and hopped off the bed. After quickly assessing her coat and mane, and concluding that she should really go to the salon sometime in the next week, Leaf trotted out the door into the hallway. In the small lobby just outside of her door, there was a single bathroom door right next to her bedroom door, and two doors on the opposite wall—one for her newborn, and the other belonging to Sweet Root and Neon Vice.

The earth pony soundlessly went up to her elder children's door and creaked it open, peeking inside. She could see Sweet sleeping in her rather large, yellow and green-stripped bed sheets on the far wall. Leaf opened the door more to see her other child, and upon finding Neon peacefully unmoving, closed the door. True, the two foals were adamant to share a room, but cooperated in the end, putting up with each other's annoying habits. To Neon it was especially bothersome, but the added incentive that he and Steel would switch places once Steel had grown enough helped.

She then went to the other door and peeked in as well. After another second, Leaf went fully inside. There wasn't much inside—only a crib for the newborn on the right wall, a few toys scattered around here and there (most of which were Leaf's old toys, of which Sweet had thought of a good use for), a wide, red rug for the foal to play on in the center of the room, and a large wooden drawer with a space on top for changing the baby's diapers. Only a single photo hung on the wall, above the crib, and it was of Leaf holding the infant at the hospital. Leaf trotted up to the crib and reared up on her hind legs, holding herself up by the crib's edge.

Foal Steel Wing was laying in the fetal position on his side in the center of the crib, a miniature blanket spread across his body, and his eyelids closed with his forehoof lodged in his mouth. Within a week of acclimating, Steel was at home in this new house, practically forgetting about the hospital room. Leaf smiled at him, taking a moment to memorize him like this, and reached down to stroke his black mane, which was growing considerably thicker as the weeks went by. In fact, Leaf noticed, Steel now seemed bigger than he did in the photo on the wall. His wings especially seemed to be the most prominent growth on his body. Leaf thought that was quite odd, considering that pegasus wings don't grow for the first two or three years of life—at least, that was what Iron had explained to her back in the hospital. She began to wonder when he would start flying.

A small chuckle escaped Leaf's lips as a humorous thought occurred to her: she'd given birth to the trifecta; a unicorn, then an earth pony, and now a pegasus. Several memories of trying to manage a foal Neon resurfaced, and Leaf grimaced as she remembered the first time the colt went through a magical surge, which caused their entire house to transform into a giant pumpkin and turned Leaf herself into a potted poison ivy. Thankfully, Neon's father, who was also a unicorn, managed to deactivate the surge and turn everything back to normal. Leaf's heart ached at the memory of her first husband. She presently closed her eyes and could see the events of his passing vividly in her mind, but she cast aside those thoughts when she realized that tears were beginning to leak out of the corners of her eyes. This was the present; she couldn't linger onto the past, not when she had responsibilities.

Sweet Root, being an earth pony as well (Thankfully, Leaf thought to herself), was exponentially easier to bring up.

And this brought her to Steel Wing, her youngest son, and a pegasus. If Iron were staying, he'd be able to help Leaf when the colt started flying, but since being a guard prevented him from begin home for the majority of the year, Leaf would have to figure out most of the complexities and difficulties of having a pegasus for a child by herself. This wasn't to say Iron wouldn't help out at all—he'd return for holidays and his birthday, and such—but Leaf would be the main one taking care of the colt.

After another moment of lingering by her son, Leaf exited the room, and decided that her husband would be downstairs. He wouldn't leave without saying goodbye to her, at least. Making her way down, she caught the formerly missing pegasus exiting the kitchen with a full and satisfied expression on his face—she guessed he'd just eaten breakfast all by his lonesome—and wearing the torso and hoof pieces of his golden armor set. Since his natural coat was gray, the armor he wore didn't disguise him into the pure white coats Leaf had known some of the other guards to bear. The earth pony noticed his helmet and two bags sitting by the door, ready for the journey back to Canterlot.

"I hope you weren't planning on leaving without a proper 'So long'," Leaf spoke up softly, careful to wake the children upstairs. Iron's head jerked to where she stood on the bottom step of the stairs, a little surprised that he'd found her already awake.

"Actually," the guard pony replied, "I was on my way back up there to let you know I was just about to leave." He approached the mare and pulled her into a tender kiss. Leaf could taste sugary cereal and milk in his mouth and lips, but decided to not bring it up. She knew he enjoyed the kids' cereal as much as the kids did.

A few seconds went by, and Leaf pulled back, looking into her partner's eyes, and asked, "Gonna' make the entire trip back to Canterlot by flying?"

Iron nodded. "That's right, how else?"

"Aren't you going to get tired pretty quickly?" The earth pony tilted her head somewhat mockingly.

"Why would I get tired?"

"Probably after last night?" Leaf hinted, placing another quick peck on her husband's lips.

The innuendo made the faintest traces of redness swell underneath Iron's gray coat. "Yes, well, even you know that isn't enough to tire me out for long, especially since it was only the one time. You, on the other hoof, seemed completely tuckered out." A coy, lopsided smile grew on Iron's face. "Fell asleep right after, and everything."

This prompted a more prominent blush from Leaf's cheeks. Then, she tossed her head back towards the top of the staircase. "And what about the kids?"

"I was going to tell them 'Bye' too," Iron replied. "They still asleep?"

"Of course they're asleep," Leaf whispered back, "it's... What time is it?"

"About six-thirty."

Leaf groaned. "If I didn't love you, I'd kill you for waking me up this early."

"I... didn't wake you up. You did that yourself."

"But you were going to, weren't you?"

Iron chuckled. "Heh, true." He cast a glance out the window by the door. "Chyort (Damn), I really need to get going. It'll take three hours minimum to get to Canterlot by flight. I'll go see the kids now."

"Prodolzhite togda (Go on, then)," Leaf said, patting Iron's shoulder as he went up the stairs. Since she was already awake, Leaf figured to make herself some tea while her husband was upstairs.

The first room Iron came to was Sweet's and Neon's. Opening the door just enough for him to pass through, Iron was thankful that his armor didn't jingle and jangle as he moved. He first went to Sweet's bedside. He examined her, noting how cute she looked in the curled-up position she always seemed to get into when she slept, and then leaned down and planted a tender kiss on her forehead, brushing a tuft of her mane from her face.

"Poka, vozlyublennyy (Bye, sweetheart)," he whispered. "Ya vernus' skoro, ya obeshchayu (I'll be back soon, I promise)."

Sweet didn't so much as stir, or make a sound in response, but Iron didn't expect as much. The filly could be quite the deep sleeper when she wanted to be. Iron then turned around to Neon's bed and went up to it. The unicorn was conveniently lying on his left side, facing Iron. He gently shook Neon to rouse him. The white unicorn responded, after several continuous seconds of shaking, with a groan.

"I'm leaving," Iron whispered to him.

After a pause, and without opening his eyes, Neon hummed, "Mmhmm..."

"Do you remember your promise?" Iron asked. "To help your mother with your sister and brother?"

Another pause, then Neon peeked one eye half-open and looked at Iron. The pegasus responded with a raised eyebrow. The colt closed his eyelid after a second, and sounded, "Mmhmm..." Iron figured that was a fair answer, being that it was too early in the morning for the two foals to produce a coherent answer, left the room and the children to resume their slumber. It was thankfully Sunday, so they were allowed to sleep in to their hearts content.

The stallion then made his way to his son's room. Upon entering, he found the young colt wide-awake and looking at him with his tiny blue eyes through the bars of his crib. Iron smiled at him, and went to the crib and reaching in for the colt.

From Steel's point of view, seeing this pony again made him feel happy and safe, as it always seemed to do. Over the course of the colt's month-long life, repeatedly seeing this pony had formed a bond within the young colt, along with the other three ponies that he saw often. And when the pony got closer and reached for him, Steel couldn't help but smile back and reach up with his own forehooves.

Iron picked up the foal and held him against his chest, looking down on him as the colt's wings flapped once more, causing a minuscule gust to flow through the room. The gray stallion couldn't help but let pride swell in his heart, knowing his son would be a top-notch flyer with those magnificent wings of his.

The colt, meanwhile, was rubbing his head up against his father's chest. He didn't know why he was doing it, it was just a habit he'd developed over the month whenever this pony held him like he was doing right now. Small giggles escaped him as he did so.

Iron watched his son lovingly, and he now realized that leaving was going to be much, much harder than he previously assumed. The stallion had come to love this foal more than he thought possible, and the simple thought of having to leave him for months at a time was almost unbearable. Iron was tempted to flat-out quite his duties to be with his son as much as he wanted... but, doing so would not only be incredibly selfish, but it would jeopardize his family. He needed his job; the pay and the benefits were good, and he knew that if he continued for another five years, the Royal Guard would pay for his son's college tuition when that time would come. No, he needed to leave.

But why did it have to be so painful?

With reluctance, Iron leaned his head down and whispered, "I gotta' go, buddy." The colt ceased his rubbings and looked up at the bigger pegasus. "I'll... I'm going to be gone for a while, but I'll come back soon." He kissed the top of Steel's head. "Obeshchayu (Promise)."

Iron then placed the colt back into his crib. Steel, on his part, grew confused. He couldn't form full sentences in his head, but he somehow understood that he isn't going to see this pony for a while. Steel grew sad at the thought; he'd gotten used to having this big pony around, he didn't want him to leave. As the big gray pony withdrew, Steel stood up (something he'd learned to do about a week prior) and leaned against the side of the crib, whimpering in the foalish way foals do as he looked up to his father.

Iron Wing's heart grew heavy and ached at the sound, but he tried to reassure the little pony. "Shh, shh, ne plach' (don't cry), son. You'll..." Iron's voice caught in his throat for a moment, but forcefully swallowed and continued, "You'll see me again soon enough. A few months will go by, and before you know it, I'll be back!" Iron smiled to try and get the message across.

It seemingly worked, as Steel's whimpering stopped, and a smile of his own grew on his tiny face. Iron leaned down and kissed him on top of his head again. "Ya lyublyu vas. Tak nastoyatel'no. Uvidimsya skoro (I love you. So strongly. See you soon)."

Iron then turned and, hesitantly, exited Steel's room and closed the door. The room was cruelly quite for the minutes that followed.

Steel was left where he was in the crib. He leaned against the side once more, looking to where the big pony left his room. He felt sadder as the seconds went by, knowing, somehow, he wouldn't see his father again for a while. A word occurred in his mind; a single, simple word that he'd heard several times whenever that pony was around him, and his infantile mind had linked that work to that pony. Steel hadn't been able to vocalize that word, until now. Holding himself up against the crib's side bars, Steel's mouth curved and twisted this way and that, his throat struggling to make a proper sound, the sound he wanted to vocalize into a word. After a minute of repeated attempts, Steel, at last, managed to utter the words, in a high-pitched voice:

"Papa."