In a small secluded village far separated from anything, a mother lay in the thralls of labor. Her husband stood outside the bedroom listening anxiously while the midwife talked the wife through the birthing. The parents’ young daughter stood with her father, attempting to get a look at her newest sibling as he or she was born but her father held her back.
“Almost there, just a little bit more and you’ll be through.” The midwife said gently. The mother screamed as she finally pushed her child into the world. New lungs cried out filling the cottage with their shrill noise. Panting heavily the mother asked “The baby… is…. Is it…”The midwife knew what she was going to ask, but seeing the child she now cradled in her hooves, she feared to answer. “It’s… a girl… of sorts,” she answered hesitantly.
“What do you mean? Is she… alright?” The mother asked fear and exhaustion bringing a sharp edge to her voice as she tried to see her youngest daughter. Outside the father craned his neck trying to get a look through the doorway. “Your child has… She… She has… wings.” The midwife managed. Silence followed the midwife’s announcement with only the sound of the crying newborn to break it.
“That cannot be my daughter!” The mother shouted , “I could not give birth to a… to a demon!” “We don’t know she’s a demon,” the father said, trying to calm his wife. “I don’t understand, what’s wrong?” Their daughter asked, trying to understand why her parents were so upset. “Morrow go to your room, this is between you mother and me.” Morrow’s father said in a tone that was not to be disobeyed.
“Why did this have to happen to us?! Did we do something wrong?!” Morrow heard her mother wail as she left the family room. Before heading up the small flight of stairs to her room Morrow peaked in at her baby sister in the small linen closet. The makeshift cradle had been placed under the closet’s small window by the midwife after the birthing. Morrow couldn’t understand what was so wrong with the little baby. Surely those tiny wings weren’t that bad? Morrow thought her sister was the most beautiful pony she’d ever seen and she was sleeping so peacefully now even with their parents yelling across the hall.
Morrow heard a loud sob from the family room and decided to hide in her room until things had calmed down. She shut the door to her room as quietly as she could and hopped onto her bed. The midday sun shined through the window warming her. She looked out the window at the dense forest behind the cottage that marked the borders of the village. Her own reflection looked back at her, her light blue hair and tan coat glowing softly.
After a few minutes of staring out into the trees and trying to keep her parents shouts out of her mind Morrow decided she couldn’t sit quietly. Moving as silently as she could Morrow crept out into the small hallway outside her room being careful not to let the door creak as it open. She could hear her parents still arguing but their voices were too muffled to make out any words. Morrow climbed down the stairs and walked until she was at the door to the family room and pressed her ear against it.
“What should we do then? Throw her into the forest and let the wolves take care of her for us?” Morrow heard her father say.
“I don’t know! But she’s evil! Those wings aren’t natural!” Her mother replied.
“Maybe it’s a test. Something is testing us.”
“What? What’s testing us? More demons? Are they trying to see if they can get us to raise their young for them?!”
“Or maybe it’s a test from spirits who want a reason to harm us.”
“And what does that mean?! If we throw the baby out they’ll kill us?!”
“Maybe! What if they will?”
“Then… Then… I don’t know!” Morrow’s mother wailed.
“Why don’t we let her stay for now and at the first sign of anything wrong I will take her into the forest myself.”
“Alright… Alright… But only for now! I’m not having that… THING in my house any longer than I have to!” At that there was a shrill cry from the baby’s room. “And I’ll only feed it until we get that drink the Arnella was talking about!”
Morrow stepped back from the door, stunned by what she’d just heard. Her parents couldn’t possibly be thinking of throwing her little sister into the forest, could they? She heard hoof steps approaching the door and quickly raced to the stairs trying to get out of sight.
“But what will we tell Morrow? That her sister is a monster?” She heard her mother say as she neared the top of the stairs. “Maybe it’s just a phase and the wings will go away.” Her father said hopefully. “And what if it isn’t?! What then?!” Morrow couldn’t bear to listen to anymore and ran to her room, almost forgetting not to slam her door shut.
“My dad said she’s some sort of evil demon that’s going to eat us all!” A young brown coated filly said matter-of-factly. “Well my mom said she’s going to fly away and bring back an army of demons!” A gray colt retorted. Morrow sat silently not saying a word as she listened to her friends try to come up with the best evil story about her sister. It had only been a couple days since Morrow’s sister was born and already everyone in the village was talking about it. No one seemed to care what she thought about her sister, they all just made up their own stories.
“I bet you don’t even know what she looks like!”
“I do to!”
“Prove it!”
“She’s big and hairy with glowing red eyes!”
Morrow shook her head slightly and got up to walk home. “Where are you going, Morrow?” One of her friends asked as she left. “Home.” Was all she could reply.
“She probably doesn’t want think about it, since it is her ‘sister.’” Morrow heard as she walked away. Everyone was talking about her sister. Everyone except her. Morrow wanted to defend her little sister and tell everyone that she really wasn’t evil. But at the same time she didn’t want to lose her friends either and she knew she would if she tried to going against all their parents.
When she got home Morrow went straight for her sister’s small room hoping her parents wouldn’t get back from the fields while she was with her sister. The tiny filly was sleeping soundly in her cradle under the window. Morrow thought it was sad her sister had to stay in this closet, but at least her parents had moved the towels and blankets out so it seemed a bit bigger.
“How could anyone think you were evil?” Morrow asked her sister quietly. “I don’t think you’re evil at all. I think you’re beautiful and good and-”she stopped as her sister stirred in the cradle, the sunlight reflecting off her golden mane. Morrow sniffed back tears as she watched the sky blue baby, trying not to wake her. Morrow’s efforts were in vain; her sister tiredly opened her round gray eyes, looked at Morrow, and yawned. Morrow couldn’t help laughing a little and smiling at her sister’s adorable yawn.
“Oh! I know what you’ll like! I’ll be right back, you stay here okay?” She said backing out of the closet. As she turned and dashed up the stairs she heard her sister start crying. Moving as fast as her legs would go, Morrow raced to her room, grabbed a doll from her bed, and raced back down to her sister’s room. As soon as she entered her sister stopped crying, smiled, and laughed.
“Here you go! This was mine when I was a little filly,” Morrow told her sister, giving her the doll. She hugged it tightly and chewed toothlessly on the doll’s ear. Morrow laughed and affectionately head butted her sister, almost knocking the tiny filly over. “I knew you’d like it!”
A cry rang out in the night forcing Morrow awake. She got out of bed, her hooves clicking softly on the wood floor. “Daemos is crying again,” she heard as she reached her room’s door. “Let her cry all she wants, I don’t care.” Her mother replied, her words barely audible. Trying not to let her parents know she was awake, Morrow opened her door and crept quietly down the stairs.
As Morrow entered her sister’s room the little filly stopped crying briefly to look at her from the cradle before wailing even louder. “Sis, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Morrow asked gently. Her sister’s only reply was to cry louder. Morrow sniffed the air trying hoping it her sister wasn’t crying for the reason she thought. “Oh good… You don’t need changing,” Morrow said with relief, “Are you hungry? Did Mom feed you? I’ll go look in the kitchen!”
Morrow scurried out of the closet room and hurried to the kitchen. Even in the dim moonlight she was able to spot the half-filled bottle on the kitchen table. Her mother wasn’t even bothering to feed her anymore. Even if Mom doesn’t feed her, I will! Morrow thought determinedly. She was almost too small to reach but she managed to grab the bottle and its special cap.
Moving as fast as she could without dropping the bottle, Morrow went back to her sister’s cradle and gave the filly the bottle. She stopped crying and looked at the bottle for a moment before grabbing it between her small hooves and suckling on the tip. Morrow sighed with relief and smiled, “I guess I have to take care of you now since Mom and Dad won’t…”
After sitting quietly with her sister for a while Morrow stood up. “I need to go back to sleep now, but I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?” She told her sister softly and backed out of the room. When she’d left the small filly stopped sucking on her bottle and stared at the moon just visible through the tiny window above her, it’s soft light making her eyes seem to glow.
“Morrow come on! We’re going out to the fields to try and catch crows!”
“Sorry Emmy, I can’t make it.” Morrow said to her friend.
“Why not? Did you get in trouble?” Emmy asked, looking worried.
“No, I’m just… I’m just feeling ill!” Morrow replied forcing a pathetic cough. Emmy gave her a suspicious look but didn’t question Morrow any further. When she’d left Morrow sighed with relief and went back to the kitchen where she was preparing her sister’s food. She still couldn’t bring herself to use the name her parents had given the filly. She had tried coming up with nicknames for her sister but none of them seemed right.
Morrow thought about possible names as she mixed the food for her sister. So many possibilities but none she liked. She had to pick something pretty, something just right. Carefully she poured the nutrient rich mixture into the feeding bottle and screwed on the cap. As she turned to head to her sister’s room Morrow heard the filly begin to cry so she hurried her pace.
“Here you are! I made it myself!” Morrow announced proudly as her sister began suckling the food out of the bottle. “You should probably eat quickly, I need to get the bottle back before Mom or Dad gets home,” Morrow added. She had been caring for her sister for nearly a month now and she was afraid what would happen if either of her parents found out. She was certain they would punish her sister somehow and she couldn’t bear that.
After her sister had finished and she’d taken care of the bottle Morrow stayed in the closet room playing with her little sister and the doll she kept hidden under the cushion of the cradle. She couldn’t take her sister out of the cradle because her parents had tied a small rope to the little filly’s neck out of fear that she would somehow learn to use her wings and try to terrorize the household. Instead Morrow held the doll in her mouth and tried to make it seem like it was moving about on its own and her sister loved it.
Morrow stopped briefly, propping the doll up against the inside of cradle as a thought occurred to her. Her sister looked at her curiously then snatched the doll with her hooves and began chewing on its ear. “I can’t call you Daemos, but what about…”Morrow paused thinking for a second before continuing, “What about Mist Eyes? Or Misty for short! Your eyes look just like the color of the mist that hangs over the fields in the morning, I think it fits perfectly!”
The newly named Misty gave a small laugh, toppled over sideways, and continued chewing on the doll’s ear. “That’s it, then. I’m going to call you Misty from now on!” Morrow announced with a broad smile. She and Misty continued to play together until Morrow heard the front door start to open. Quickly she stashed the doll under the cushion, gave Misty an affectionate head butt, and dashed into the family room just barely making it before her parents.
“Oh there you are, Morrow,” her mother said with a smile, “Your friends told us you were pretending to be sick!” “Is anything wrong?” Her father asked looking concerned. You’d never be this concerned about Misty Morrow thought bitterly but replied with a cheerful “No, I just didn’t feel like playing today.” Her mother gave her a suspicious look. “Are you up to something?” She asked playfully.
“Maybe you’d like to work with us in the fields instead? It’s almost harvesting season after all,” Morrow’s father mention. Morrow was nervous about answering him; she didn’t want them suspecting anything. After pretending to think deeply about it for a minute she answered “Umm… Okay, sure.” Her mother was taken aback by this.
“Really? You want to work the fields with us?” She asked, surprise lying heavily in her voice. Morrow nodded with a smile. “Yeah, it sounds like fun!” Her parents looked at each other before shrugging. “Alright then, come on!” Morrow’s father said and the three of them walked out of the house. As they left Morrow glanced back at the cottage worrying about Misty.
“And it just appeared?!” Emmy asked in amazement.
“Yeah, it happened while I was helping my parents in the fields!” Morrow explained to the circle of fillies and colts around her.
“My dad said those are really rare! You’re like super gifted!” One brown colt exclaimed.
“You must be the best farmer in the history of EVER!” A yellow coated filly added.
“My mom and dad said it means I’m talented at growing things,” Morrow supplied, looking at the image of bundled wheat that had appeared on her flank a couple hours earlier.
“I bet we’ll have lots of food this winter with you helping!” A brown filly crowed.
“Yeah, maybe!” Morrow said.
“Ooooo! You know what we should do?!” Emmy exclaimed excitedly.
“What?” The other young ponies asked in unison.
“We should see if Mister Loopine will make those special cakes for her to celebrate!” All the fillies and colts gasped excitedly at this thought.
“YES! Let’s go!” Morrow agreed and bounced off, her friends following her energetically.
The front door to the cottage opened slowly and Morrow walked in, carefully balancing a small cake on a wooden plate in her mouth. Luckily her parents were out with the other adults of the village and probably wouldn’t be back until later at night. She trotted cautiously in the kitchen and put the cake onto the table. Checking to make sure there was no one around Morrow grabbed a spoon in her mouth and began crushing the cake into a mush.
Once it was mushed to her satisfaction she picked up the plate again and trotted into Misty’s closet room and placed it beside the filly who was sitting upright watching her with a smile. “Here you go, Misty, I saved this just for you! I hope it’s soft enough to eat,” Morrow said gently, smiling back at her sister. Misty looked at the mushed cake and sniffed deeply at it before falling face first into the mush. Morrow burst out laughing as Misty munched contentedly on her face full of cake.
“Miiisty! That’s not how you eat cake!” Morrow managed between laughs, “Now I’ll have to clean you up so you don’t get cake all over your cushion!” Misty disregarded her sister’s slight reprimand and ate the cake as she pleased. Morrow couldn’t stop giggling watching Misty eat. It was moments like these that made Misty the best sister ever, Morrow thought.
A sickle flashed through the air cutting down a few errant weed stalks that were trying to invade the wheat fields. Morrow carefully brushed the stalks out of the way and dug at the ground around the weeds with her hooves in order to loosen the roots as her father had shown her.
“When do you think she’ll start flying?”
“I bet it’ll be on a full moon!”
Morrow’s friends had decided to accompany her to the fields this time as harvest season started. They all wanted to see her special talent in action but had gotten bored and started talking about Misty again. Try as she might, Morrow was having a hard time ignoring them.
“Who do you think she’ll eat first when she escapes?”
“Ha ha ha, bet it will be Rain!”
“Nuh uh, I bet it will be July! He’s closer to their house!”
“Ooo, yeah! She’ll fly in his window with her fangs all RARGH!”
The young ponies all laughed at that. The sickle dropped from Morrow’s mouth and stuck into the ground. She’d had enough.
“She’s not a monster, you know!” She said angrily at them. They all looked at her in shock.
“You can’t really mean that…” One filly ventured.
“I do! I’ve been spending almost every day with her and she’s just a little filly like any other! Just because she has wings doesn’t mean she’s going to eat anypony!” Morrow snarled. The other ponies all stepped back and looked at each other with worried expressions.
“She’s barely even got teeth! She couldn’t even bite off the end of a carrot if she tried!” Morrow continued, letting all her frustration out. “Why does everypony have to insist she’s so evil?! All she ever does is cry, eat, and be silly! And she’s really beautiful too if anypony would just look at her!”
Her friends looked scared now, not knowing what to think of their friend’s sudden outburst. “But she isn’t natural…” A colt spoke up and immediately jumped backward when Morrow glared at him. “I don’t care, she’s my sister and I love her.” Morrow stated then angrily turned back to the weed and began digging furiously. The young ponies stood in shock for a minute before quietly leaving. Tears fell softly onto the dirt and roots as Morrow dug.
The door slammed shut nearly causing the whole cottage to shake. Morrow flinched and Misty fell backwards in the cradle that was nearly too small for her.
“I told you this would happen!” Morrow heard her mother shout, “That demon’s gotten to our daughter!”
Morrow quietly shushed Misty who looked about to cry then squeezed herself underneath one the empty shelves.
“What do you expect me to do about it?! You’re her mother!”
“If you had kept her busy in the fields this never would have happened!”
“And if you had kept a better watch on her at home this wouldn’t have happened!”
There was silence for a moment as both parents though things over. Morrow anxiously bit her lower lip and Misty giggled slightly in her cradle.
“You know what? This is the last straw! I am not having that thing in my home any longer!”
“I agree, it’s gone too far. But we can’t just toss it into the forest when we have so much work to do!”
“Why does that matter? You could go out tonight and just toss it in a bush or something!”
“And if I fall asleep in the fields? I’m sure you would be happy harvesting all the wheat on your own but what would the village think?”
Another pause punctured by the sounds of angry pacing right outside the closet room.
“Fine! We’ll wait until after the harvest!”
“Good, that will give us extra motivation to finish sooner.”
“Yes, now let’s go straight to bed so we can get working sooner and have this thing dealt with!”
Morrow waited a minute after their footsteps had died up the stairs to be certain they weren’t coming back. Horror and fear were etched into her face as looked at Misty who blinked poked Morrow with a small hoof causing some dust from the bottom of the shelf to fall out of her mane.
“I… I can’t believe it… They’re going to throw you out!” She said quietly, “I can’t let them throw you out! You’ll die out there! But… But I don’t… I don’t know how!” Tears began to stream down Morrow’s face and plink onto the floor. Misty looked confused and tried to make a goofy face to cheer Morrow up, but Morrow just cried even harder.
“I can’t let them take you away! I can’t!” She sobbed. Misty not knowing what to do began to cry as well. Realizing she was making her sister cry Morrow covered her eyes with a hoof. “I’m sorry… I’ll stop now…” she sniffed. The two sisters sat staring at each other with tear filled eyes in silence.
The flickering of light from a candle in the hallway caught Morrow’s eye. She found herself filling with hope as an idea came to her. “I know! We can run away together! I’ll make a distraction and when no one is looking we’ll run away and they’ll be too busy to catch us!” She told Misty triumphantly, “I’ll just need some wheat and a candle which’ll be really easy.”
Buoyed by this new plan Morrow made sure Misty was all taken care of before quietly making her way out the front door of the cottage and, making sure no one was watching, grabbing a sickle from its place in the wooden shed on the side of the cottage. With it she snuck out to the fields, harvested as many wheat stocks as she could, and snuck back to the cottage. She looked around the base of the cottage until she found a hole into the crawlspace beneath, a place she hadn’t been in a couple years. Finding a nice spot underneath the floorboards she stashed the wheat and headed back inside leaving her sickle behind without thinking.
The early morning sun shone through the window lighting up the ceiling with its warm golden rays. In a flash Morrow jumped out of bed landing roughly on all four hooves, her blanket landing in a heap on the floor next to her. I overslept! I need to hurry! She thought rushing to the door. Just as she’d thought her parents weren’t quite up yet, there was still time.
Morrow hurried downstairs and opened the cupboard where the candles where kept but just as she grabbed a fresh one and prepared to light it on one of the dribbling candles that had been left lit last night there were the sounds of hoofsteps coming down the stairs. Quickly Morrow put the candle away and shut the cupboard.
“Morrow? What are you doing up so early?” Her father asked suspiciously.
“I just woke up and… I thought maybe I could change the candles?” Morrow improvised.
“That’s nice of you but you’re still too small for that,” He replied, no less suspicious.
“I’m sorry; I was just trying to help…” Morrow said. Her father sighed, “Alright, well since you’re up do you mind helping me make breakfast before your mother wakes up?” Morrow nodded meekly.
Morrow crept once again to the candle cupboard, this time more certain that she wouldn’t be spotted. She managed to grab a candle and light it on a nearly burnt out candle her mother had forgotten to replace in the family room. Carrying it carefully outside so it wouldn’t drip hot wax on her, Morrow navigated back around the house and squeezed into the crawlspace. Everything was ready, she had carefully opened the window in Misty’s closet room and her parents were nearby but not so close she and Misty couldn’t escape first, everything was perfect.
“Morrow? Is that you under there?” Came the sound of her mother’s voice.
Morrow froze for a second, candle hovering inches from the wheat pile. “Uhh… yesth” She managed, the candle lisping her voice.
“What in spirit’s name are you doing down there?”
Morrow carefully stuck the candle in the ground and looked around for an excuse. “I… Uh…” She stammered slightly, her eyes finally resting upon the sickle, “I dropped my sickle earlier and it fell under here. I got it though!” She grabbed the sickle and hurriedly backed out of the crawlspace.
“That was clumsy of you,” her mother remarked, “Keep better track of these things, they’re hard to replace you know!”
“Thorry…” And in that moment Morrow made the worst mistake of her life.
She forgot about the candle.
Morrow stayed late in the field, at her mother’s insistence, the sun was nearly set when she headed for home with a bundle of wheat on her back. Her parents had gone home two hours before leaving her to work alone. She was halfway home when she saw the smoke billowing up above the village. As soon as she saw it, she remembered the candle and the pile of wheat that she had left underneath the house. Immediately she panicked, dropped the wheat, and began to gallop as fast as she could.
As she approached she could see other village ponies desperately trying to smother the flames with buckets of water from the village well and a nearby pond, but it wasn’t enough. They shouted at her as she sped past but she ignored them. She was only thinking of one pony as she ran into the house through the wrecked door. There were flames all around her and the air was thick with smoke that made her eyes water and her lung choke.
She ignored everything and dived under a flaming support beam that had collapsed, the heat singeing her back as she slip under it. Morrow made it to the closet room where Misty was but found the way blocked by the door frame that had partially collapsed.
“MISTY! MISTY!” Morrow shouted in desperation. She tried to get in but the heat was too intense. Growing in desperation she turned and kicked the burning wood as hard as she could, leaving a gap just wide enough to see through and burning her hind quarters slightly.
“MISTY!” She shouted again, trying to see her sister. What she saw instead was the rope that had been tied to Misty’s neck half-burnt on the window sill and the cradle in ashes.
“No! Nononononononon! MISTY!” Morrow screamed, tears pouring from her eyes. A piece of the ceiling fell down with fire spreading everywhere. Crying Morrow galloped back through the cottage and underneath the collapsed support beam, racing outside the house, past the distracted ponies, and around back until she was under the window to Misty’s closet room. There were bits of rope on the ground underneath the window and small hoofprints leading towards the forest.
In a panic, with tears and smoke making it nearly impossible to see in the growing night, Morrow ran towards to trees.
“MISTY! MISTY PLEASE! MISTY COME BACK!” She shouted in between sobs.
“MISTY!”
Morrow continued to shout and scream, searching for her little sister as she ran into the dark forest until she stopped and stood crying.
“Misty… Please! Please come back….” She said, almost at a whisper. Morrow stood in the dark of the forest with the flames from what was once her home lighting her back and tears streaming down her cheeks. “Misty… I just wanted us to be happy together… and now… Now our home is gone… and I don’t even have you…”
From underneath a bush, nearly blinded by pain and paralyzed by fear, two gray eyes watched as the home burned and a world shattered.
The End.
Author's Note
This came from the idea of cultures outside of Equestria, ponies who may have been isolated for thousands of years. Oblivious to things outside of their village, the only exposure to magic or flight through ancient stories, most of them not very pleasant either. The quality isn't quite "up to par" with what I'd like for a published story, but I wrote this some months ago all in one sitting during a fit of insomnia and haven't really touched it since.
Once I've completed my current story in progress I plan to fix this one up a bit and add a small epilogue to give some clue as to what happened to both the sisters. Not sure when that will be, but my best guess is in a couple weeks time. So much to write.