Old memories, new opportunities: Just a trip to the mailbox (October Prolog Prompt)

Prompt: Where was your charachter during the earthquake? What did they experience during or directly after the quake?

 

Swan Song stared at the envelope right in front of her.

The dark unicorn let it levitate with her magic while she walked down the busy street, passing other canterlot citizens that were going about their daily activities.

She had struggled to get the writing that spelled “ Canterlot school of magic“ on the paper as orderly as possible, fearing that otherwise the letter would not reach it’s destination.

‚So i’m really doing this.‘ she thought her heart making a jump at the realization.

‘Wait ,did i really get everything? All necessary credentials? I hope i got every writing mistake or misspellings when i prove read the letter again.... Perhaps i should go back home and-‘

’No! You literally read through this letter over an over again all night!‘ her inner voice replied. ’Get this thing to the mailbox asap or you will never get around to send it! You promised you would!‘

The image of Chatter Cherry’s sparkling green eyes looking at her crawled it’s way back into Swan Song’s mind.

Warmth spread itself in her chest.

Yes, she promised.

She promised her friend, so she would send this letter no matter what.

Swan Song nodded to herself before crossing the street.

She recalled that there was a mailbox near by right beside one of the local coffee shop's that were located near the city lake.

The unicorn slowed down her trot when she saw the familiar sign that had the lettering ‚Vanilla Swirl’s coffee and cake shop‘ written on it, appearing in the distance right at the corner of the street.

Walking around the corner she could already see that the outdoor coffee shop was as busy as usual.

Ponies were occupying almost all of the tables, eating cake, drinking tea and just chatting while enjoying the view onto the peaceful lake.

The mailbox she had looked for was standing right there a few meters behind the outside cafe at the a wall of another building.

She started to make her way towards it, passing the many patrons, until suddenly an brownish pony walked off of the crosswalk and made Swan Song nearly bump into her.

„Oh,whoops. Sorry.“ the earth pony said with a smile.“I’m was so lost in my thoughts i didn’t see you.“

„It’s fine, no harm done.“ the unicorn simply replied before looking back at the mailbox. “Well, i’ll just-„

„Hey, wait as second. Aren’t you that one singer pony? Swan Song, right?“

Swan Song blinked a bit irritated.

To be honest it wasn’t the first time she had been recognized, she had performed at some concerts before, after all.

Didn't change the fact that she still was suprised everytime it happend.

„Um..yeah, that’s me.“

„I love your songs!“ The earth pony said: “Such talent!  Really shows that you are the daughter of two opera singers!“

“Why, thank-„

Swan Song stopped.

She looked into the eyes of the earth pony.

There was a familiar red circle that framed her blue iris.

The unicorn let her shoulders sink and sighed.

„What are you doing here, mom?“

The pony in front of her widened her eyes for a moment before her entire demeanor suddenly changed.

She stood a bit straighter and held her head high, while she scoffed.

„Not even a ‚hello‘ first? Rude. Is that how you greet your own mother?“

„Mom, you are the one trying to trick me with one of your illusion spells. If anyone is rude here, it’s you.“

„Well, you didn’t really leave me much of a choice, dear. Since you moved out , you always seem to avoid me and your father whenever you see us.“

„How did you even figure out where i live? I didn’t tell you.“

„Connections.“ her disguised mother simply replied and flicked a strand of dark brown mane over her shoulder. „I actually came to visit you two days ago, but you weren’t home all day.“

„I was busy.“

„Busy with this, i presume.“

The pony in front of her used her magic to pull out a newspaper page from her bag and let it levitate in front of Swan Song.

The unicorn's eyes instantly landed on a picture of the inside of the old theater and an article all about the charity concert right below it.

She didn’t bother to read everything, but she clearly made out her name being mentioned ,as well as the names of a few other ponies that had performed on stage at that day.

She held back a groan.

‚Really? The Canterlot News normally don’t bother even mentioning smaller events like this! Then again the princess apparently has been there..ugh,just my luck..'

Swan Song took a deep breath and pushed the article to the side with one of her hooves.

„Yes, i was there. Is there a problem with that?“

She saw the brow of the pony in front of her furrow.

„Sweetheart, what did your father and i tell you about performing below you pay grade?“

„It was a charity concert, mom. No one who performed there is getting paid and everyone was aware of that fact from day one. So the pay grade doesn’t matter.“

„And that worries me. Sweetheart, you shouldn’t give away your talent for free. The times are hard enough.“

„I’m doing fine mom. I’m not gonna starve because of this.“

„You’re right, you aren’t. Because i’m making sure of that.“

„What do you mean?“

„Well, sweetheart there is this big concert coming up. I met one of the organizers of it at one of my after show parties. They were interested in hiring you, so i told them you would be there.“

Swan Song felt her heart stop for a second ,her eyes widening.

„You..what?! Mom! You can’t just promise me to people like i’m your property! I’m not a foal anymore!“

„I’m just trying to help you. Unlike that silly charity event, they actually want to pay you for your performance.“

Silly?

For some reason she felt her blood start to boil at that word.

„It wasn’t silly! It was to help fugitive ponies that lost everything to wild magic!“

„And that is very tragic, yes. But you have to think about yourself, dear. About your career. Stop focusing on useless things, or you’ll never become the star me and your father know you can be.“

There it was again.

Me and your father.

It was always: Me and your father.

Swan Song gave her mother a glare.

„What if i don’t want to become a star? What if these useless things are more important to me?“

Her mother looked at her for a moment, before she started to laugh.

Swan Song felt her muscles stiffening, her ears flattening themselves back against her head while she clenched her teeth.

„Oh sweetheart, come now stop this nonsense. “

„No ,mom. And i think it would be better if you just leave now.“

Her mother froze her mouth hanging open.

„E-Excuse me?“

„I have things to do. So, if that was all you needed to say, you can move on now. Because that’s what what i’m gonna do. Have a nice day.“

Swan Song turned and was about to walk towards the mailbox, when she heard the voice of her mother behind her once again.

„Wait, what do you have there?“

Then in the next moment, she felt how the envelope was snatched from her magic grip, before she could do anything. Surprised she turned around quickly just to see her mother levitate the envelope in front of herself.

„To Canterlot school of magic?“ she read out loud. ,,For what reason would you..?“

She saw her mother‘s eyes grow wide.

Swan Song didn’t give her a chance to say anything, she just hastily came forward to grab the letter.

Her mother’ magic however floated the the envelope out of reach before she could. Swan Song stomped on the ground with one of her hooves.

„Give it back!“

„You are not actually thinking about applying to that magic school, are you?“

„And if so? What’s it to you?“

Her mother shook her head.

„What in Celestia’s name has happened to you? Singing free of charge at a silly charity event, wanting to waste your time at a magic school...It’s that friend of your’s isn’t it? That earth pony?“

„Don’t you dare.“ Swan Song growled „Don’t you dare say one word about her!“

„She is a bad influence, i have always known that. Planting all these fancy ideas in your head was her doing!“

Magic flared up in her mother eyes, as she looked at the envelope that now slowly floated above the water of the lake.

Swan Song’s heart made a jump.

‚She wouldn’t dare...!‘

„Stop!“ she roared:“ If you do this, i’ll never forgive you! You are dead to me and i don’t want to see you ever again!“

Swan Song could hear her voice echoing through the entire street, only now realizing how much she had raised it.

She froze.

The ponies that had sat in the near by cafe had stopped their conversations and were looking over.

Some other passers-by on the sidewalk had stopped in their tracks as well, alerted by her outburst.

Her mother stared wide eyed at Swan Song , her eyebrows lowered and knitted together.

Then after a few seconds of silence, the envelope floated back towards the two ponies.

Angrily Swan Song summoned up her own magic and ripped the envelope out of her mother grasp before turning and trotting over to the mailbox.

She opened the latch and shoved the envelop into the opening behind it.

The unicorn breathed heavily.

She did it.

„Swan Song, Sweetheart i-...i’m sorry. I went to far..“ came the voice of her mother from behind her.

The unicorn gritted her teeth still feeling the blood boiling underneath her skin.

She turned around to face her mother, who still was in her earth pony disguise even now.

„Please mom, just leave. This is the reason i wanted to move out as quickly as possible. You and dad never listen.“

She could see the obvious hurt in her mother‘s eyes through the illusion ,but the anger in her still was stronger then her bad conscience.

Her mother opened her mouth to say something but got cut off by a sudden jolt that went through the ground.

Swan Song stumbled nearly falling down.

`What the-`

Then suddenly the jolt became a tremble that shook the earth beneath her hooves.

In the first moment it was only a light rumbling but in the next the earth began to shake violently, as if a switch had been flipped. Swan Song got thrown off her hooves, landing on the ground, as was her mother and a few other ponies on the street.

She heard glass break.

The tables of the coffee shop were thrown over by the earthquake, porcelain cups and plates were shattering when they hit the ground.

Patrons where thrown out of their chairs and landed on the shaking ground amongst the shards, injuring themselves.

The quakes caused the lake to form big waves that splashed onto the street, carrying away anypony that wasn’t able to get way in time.

There were screams coming from everywhere.

Swan Songs heart was rapidly beating as she kept her head lowered onto the ground trying to protect it from possible falling debris.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she heard a clumsy movement right next to her.

Then she was surrounded by warmth.

She opened he eyes and saw red eyes looking at her.

Her mother had dropped her illusion spell and hugged her, shielding Swan Song with her body.

A familiar feeling of comfort and safety spread out in the younger unicorn‘s chest amongst all the chaos.

A slight feeling that everything would be okay.

A foalhood memory.

Then as sudden as the earthquake had come it disappeared, leaving only a street full of injured and shocked ponies behind.

For a moment it was like the world stood still as nopony seemed to even dare to move before slowly Swan Songs mother released her from her hug.

„Sweetheart, are you okay? You’re shaking.“

„Y-Yes.“ stuttered Swan Song still a bit shaken up, as she looked into the eyes of her mother sitting right beside her on the street.

The older unicorn smiled and then placed her head onto Swan Song’s.

„Thank Celestia. The last thing i want is to lose you.“

Swan Song looked around.

There was crying to be heard near the coffee shop, most likely from one of the ponies that had injured themselves.

A few ponies went over to help ,while others were still too shocked to move, only standing there with shaking legs staring into thin air.

„W-What was that? An earth-q-quake?“ Swan Song stammered, as her mother helped her onto her shaking hooves.

„I-..I don’t know. I’ve never seen something like this happening either. Not here in Canterlot.“

Swan Song took in a shaky breath trying to steady herself.

„Mom, i-„

„You don’t need to say anything. I’m the one who has to apologize, so just spare your energy.“

Swan Song just nodded and just let her mother hug her once again.