Pony Tale

by PrincessCadence2012

A very interesting Tale. The story of a girl and her love for ponies and what that consisted of through out her life and her young adulthood. What it means to truly love and protect the thing you love even it if means you have to give that thing up. I don't Own ANY Of the mlp's, this is written purely for entertainments sake and as a gift for a friend. Hope you like PC.

Once upon a time,

There was a young girl that loved ponies.
Every chance she had she would go to the place that she had seen them and look at them. She really wanted to have one of them come to her and be her friend.
Unicorn
Pegasi
and
earth ponies.
Each and every one of them to her was special and beautiful and something that she truly wished that she could get. Often she talked to those in her life about how she wished she could get to one of the ponies and that having one for her friend would be wonderful.
There were however many circumstances that prevented this from happening. Her parents would often tell her that there was no way that she could get to one of the ponies. There were several reasons that they gave for why it was impossible for her to have one of the ponies in her life. The most common was due to the finances of the family. While they were not what one could call super poor, they were a young family trying very hard to make their way in the world and keep the family from having to spend too much money.
Still this didn't keep the girl from wanting the ponies and making her own plans to get them, saving up what money came her way until she was going to be able to have enough on her own.
Fate, in times like this, often has a way of intervening and seeing to it that even the best of intentions sometimes came to naught.
The girl suddenly became quite ill and her parents quickly took her to the healers of the land so that they could help the girl get better from her illness. Eventually in time she did begin to heal and was sent home with her parents to recover.
The pony loving girl also had an older sister, who claimed that she loved the girl very much. However the sister was nearly a decade older than the girl and already plotting what she would do with her life once she was officially an adult. The girl and her love for ponies and other things the sister considered childish, often were more of an annoyance to the sister more than anything else. On top of all of that was the fact that the sister had magic, and had the makings of growing to be a powerful magic user, something that the girl could not defend her self against. She was also very beautiful, long dark hair and sharp golden eyes, combined with a slender figure made the girl feel dumpy next to her sister. Some how, with out meaning to, or perhaps intentionally, the sister realized that the girl was less than confident in her self and began to use her own beauty as a weapon. The girl was not truly old enough at the time, or even well enough due to her illness, to fight back against her sibling and was often controlled by this cruelty.
It was into this type of life that the girl was finally able to bring her first pony. Through her own means she had finally managed to have one of them come to her. The very first one being glory the unicorn. To say that the beautiful white unicorn with the purple mane and tail was a happy to have the girl as she was to have her pony was a HUGE understatement. They instantly became the best of friends and would spend a great deal of time with each other, simply playing and enjoying each others company.
But the relationship was not with out hardships to put it mildly. For some reason that she never truly articulated the sister thought that the girl's love of ponies was not only silly, but immature and something that needed to be done away with. She tried on more than one occasion to get between the girl and her unicorn friend, by either trying to harm Glory, or by doing something to manipulate the girl. Truthfully though, it only worked sporadically, and often as soon as the sister was gone, the girl and unicorn would be with each other once again. The deep love the girl felt for her pony was something that was a part of her fundamental nature. While she thought of her self as a selfish person because she loved things like Glory very strongly, many told her that she was not by any mean selfish or heartless and a love of something, even a strong one, doesn't make you a bad person.
It was about this time that the mother of the two sisters noticed the love the girl had for her little white unicorn and thought that it was time for her to have more than just one friend. So not to long after that a new pony came to be with the girl and her unicorn. This time it was a sweet pink Pegasus named Firefly. The girl loved this one almost as much as she loved her unicorn friend and it wasn't long before the three of them became close to being nigh on inseparable.
Slowly but surely over time more and more of them through various means came to the girl and she began to love each of them as much as she loved the first two. Each one became a dear friend to her and every one of them loved her back. She often kept them with her and when her family went on journeys, many times one or all of them would some how manage to accompany her.
While the girl was making friends with all of these ponies, as it was prone to do, the world continued to turn and time passed. While the girl did grow stronger and eventually recover from the illness that had marked her earlier years, she never became as strong or robust as many of the other children in her family. Her sister, and the sons and daughters of her mothers siblings, her cousins, grew much stronger and more powerful than her. Often while the families came together, the sister and these cousins found that they had a great deal in common and would spend time with one another. The sister being the oldest often became the ring leader and would, through her magic and her age, control the others and have them do what she said when she said she wanted it. The girl found her self the odd person out often, but in time made peace with this and stopped even trying to get the others to notice her. She would go to quite places inside the castle of her grandparents and play with her pony friends. Sometimes they had wild adventures together where something horrid and dark threatened her friends and it was up to her to save them. Many times however, she simply spend time loving them. She would love to groom the ponies, comb out the soft manes and tails and bask in the beauty that her dear friends offered her.
It was a very innocent time one that she wished she could have held onto longer than she did, one that if it could have lasted for ever she would have wanted it to.
The sad truth is however, that the world does in fact change, and there was nothing that the girl could to do keep it from happening as much as she might want to.
The first crack in the girls protective armor of innocence came the day that the family had planned a journey, this one further away than what they were used to, so they would be staying more than just a night or two. It was far away and she did not want to endanger her friends so she was only taking Glory and Firefly because they were the most used to traveling with her.
The trouble came when, on the day before the journey was to start, her parents found out that the sister had done something, that while not horrible, did cause some issues for her. The sister had been attending an academy to learn the proper way in which she could use her magic. The sister was less than fond of the slow methods of teaching that this place were offering her and the methodical approach to magic. She wanted to get her results much faster, and honestly was much more interested in using her power solely for what she wanted. And while this in and of its self dose not make her a bad person, the fact that she began to take dangerous short cuts to get what she wanted often hinted that she would do anything for her power. One of those dangerous short cuts had gotten her a failing grade in many of her classes at the magic school. But rather than tell her parents she had basically cheated to get what she wanted and fix the problem, she simply cheated again and used her magic to change her grades on the forms she was given to take home to her parents. The crisis in this instance arose when, the parents contacted her school to get some information, and found out that she would not be allowed into many of her classes, and may not be allowed back to the magic school at all, due to the fact that her grades were not at passing levels.
The father of the girl, who was the stepfather of the sister, due to them having the same mother but different fathers, when he found out that the sister had been cheating was upset. OK so that's and understatement. He was LIVID. He was both a former solider and highly educated him self. He also came from a family that prized education of any kind very highly. Seeing his stepdaughter doing what he considered to be throwing away her education, he was understandably upset. However, he did not handle it in the best of ways. As stated before, the father had once been a soldier. When one is a soldier, one learns a certain way to think and act and relate to the world around them. In the father's case he had been the drill sergeant. He was both used to his orders being followed, and to what often happened when his orders were not followed. This simply being that he would often berate the person that did not follow the order and while the punishment was not unfair or lastingly harmful, it would cause the person that had the issue to think twice before he refused to follow orders.
He did not intentionally mean for this way of thinking to come on to the raising of the girls, but as stated, once you are a solider you are always one. So when he asked the girl and her sister to at the very least maintain passing marks in their schooling, he expected them to do it. When he found out that the sister had not only failed but lied about it, he was more than a bit angry. It almost caused them to not be able to go onto the journey they had planned, and if it had not been for the fact that they already had made arrangements, they would not have been able to go.
it was ultimately solved by the father telling the older sister that this year of schooling would have to be repeated, weather she liked it or not. The damage that had been done to her marks and education needed to be repaired and she would simply have to take the time to do it.
The sister was incensed. She instantly lit into her family, saying that it was not fair and that there was no reason she should be forced to do this and that she would never again be willing to do what the father said. At this time the sister also realized that the girl had not been berated by the father. The sister looked at the girls grades and realized that they were in fact much better than hers. That was when the first seed of her resentment. The first time that the sister looked at the girl and became convinced that their parents cared more about the girl than her. For her part the girl never noticed, she simply did the best that she could on her schooling and then went about her way as best that she could. She did in fact find out by this point that like her sister she had a talent for magic, which may have been why she was so attracted to magical creatures like the ponies. But like most of her life, the girl accepted this as just a part of life.
The family went on the journey and while they tried to keep it as peaceful as possible, there was dissention. The first of it came when the girl, thinking that her sister still felt the same, asked her if she wanted to go to some of the shops with her in the town they were in. The sister told her she would but when the time came later she told the girl that she had no desire to play with a little child and was going off on her own. The girl had no idea what to think of this but ultimately decided to let her sister do what she wished and left her alone.
So with out her sister to go to the shops with she took Glory and Firefly and headed down to the water that was near the town. She swam some and left them there on the shore to sun and enjoy them selves. She had finally come back to the side and was sitting with her feet dangling in the water. She said hello to her sister as the older girl walked up and waved at her. Rather than greet her the sister got an frown on her face and walked up to firefly.
"I don't see why you spend time with these stupid things," She told her girl, "They are such a waste of time. They need to all be gotten rid of."
And with that she proceeded to toss Firefly into the water. Pegasi are not good swimmers and its even worse for them when they get their wings wet.
The girl let out a wild scream and a few moments later was swimming down to rescue the poor pink pony. She was able to get her and bring her back to shore safely. Glory had nearly had a heart attack and on the shore screaming for her friends, trying to keep and eye out for the sister that had disappeared.
The girl pulled her self and the soaked Pegasus up onto the shore and dried her off and then dried Glory's tears and finally got her to calm down. Once she had both ponies calmed she returned to the place where her family was staying and with out malice, but knowing her parents should know, told them what her sister had done. Her father looked at the sister and demanded to know if this were true, and if so why did she do it? Their mother also asked the sister what would make her want to do such a thing to her younger sibling. The older sister looked at the girl and told her she was a little tattle tale that needed to learn to keep her mouth shut. That next time she'd do worse than toss the pony into the water. That night the girl refused to share her room with her sister and stayed in the room with her parents. There was no more trouble during this trip but upon returning to their home, it was clear that the sister now had some kind of anger toward the girl and her companions.
Again time moved on and the family finally had more money now so it was time for them to move to a much bigger and nicer home. They found one near a nice town that was not too large and made the preparations to move there. The girl packed up all of her belongings and made sure all of her pony friends were ready to go along with all of the others. The move to the new house was fun and exciting and there turned out to be a lot more places to play and explore here. It was a nice sized house with places to play in both the front and the back. Not to far off was a large park with a big stream running through it. The room at the top of the stairs would be the one that the girls would wind up sharing with each other.
For now the older sister had been trying to do what was asked of her and continue trying to improve her grades. The repeated year ended and she moved on to the next level of her education. The girl did as well and found that while her new school had many of the problems of the old one, she would make her way regardless. And so the family seemed to settle into its new life quite well for the first few months. Then the strife began again.
The parents found out that once going to the new higher school, the sister had began again with the same reckless behavior. Taking chances and short cuts or in some cases out right ignoring her studies in favor of doing what she wanted when she wanted. But knowing that Their father wanted her to have good marks, she slipped in and changed them again. It did not take long until the sister's lies came back to haunt her and the father took action against her. By this point the sister had begun to associate with things that were considered dark and she had begun to obsess over things that were impossible and more and more beyond her reach. She had fallen for the likes of a man that was a performer, but was also dead. She had plastered her half of the room she shared with the girl with images of this person and on that day when the father found out that she had been lying again, he went up to the room and informed her that it was time that she stopped worrying about this musician and went back to focusing on her studies. The disagreement escalated when the father went and began taking down the pictures that the sister had on the wall of this person. The argument progressed until it moved down stairs and the sister proceeded to attack the father.
The mother would not stand for this and called for the peace keepers of the area to come and take the sister to the detention camp and keep her there until she decided that she was not going to attack the father. Eventually she was allowed to return but like the first time there had been a fight in the family the sister returned and held the girl responsible for it. This time one of the ponies that had come to the girl after Glory and Firefly would be the one to pay the price. Sparkler was a unicorn much like glory and was just as fond of the girl as Glory. However this time she happened to be sitting with the girl when the sister returned to the room they shared. The girl looked up at her sister and asked her was everything ok? Was there anything she could do to help. All the while standing there with Sparkler beside her. The sister failed to answer for a moment and then turned and lashed out, not at the girl but at her companion. Moments later it was all over and poor Sparkler was severely injured. The girl screamed in horror at her sister and demanded to know what that was for? Why had she hurt her friend for no good reason? The Sister merely looked at her and then informed the girl that what had happened to her was all the girls fault. That their parents would love her and give her what ever she wanted, like the stupid ponies, but never let the sister have anything. So she said she was going to make the girl feel how she did.
Days later the girl was able to get help from her parents with sparkler and the little sliver unicorn began to heal. But the marks and scars left on the girl would never do so. It was clear now that for some reason, her sister had decided that she hated the girl. So because she hated the girl she was going to take it out on the girls companions.
The girls parents found out what the older sister had done and made her apologize to the girl for harming her friend. The sister did so and truly tried to seem like she was sorry for what she had done. However now the girl knew that she could never be able to trust her sister around her friends again and so began keeping them as far from her sister as possible. Every time the sister would come into the room the girl would take the ponies out and keep them away from her. It got to be old after a while, something she loved was not even safe in her own room. But it was worth it to the girl to make sure that none of her friends were ever hurt again.
Eventually the fighting in the family would continue to escalate. It was clear that the sister had no intention of listening to the parents and believed that she should be allowed to do what ever she pleased. The girl had no say in what the parents did or did not do with the sister but it seemed to her some how she constantly was caught up in the middle of them arguing with one another. The escalation continued and the Sisters cruelty to the girl continued as well. Due to the fact that she could no longer get her hands on the girl's friends, she began to go out of her way to hurt the girl. She began a prolonged and planned assault on the thing that she knew could get under the girls skin the most, her looks. Te truth was the girl was actually very beautiful. She looked a great deal like the people on her fathers side of the family. Long red hair, huge silver eyes, and soft pale skin that marked his family were all things that the girl had. She also had a very strong build. Unlike her mother's family, that her sister took after, the women on her father's side were very strong. Very little difference between male children and female children were ever made. The girls were taught how to fight and sent to magic school in her father's family along side the boys. And the boys were taught to keep house and raise young right alongside the girls. So most of the women in the family were blessed with a wild rugged beauty of the hills and mountains rather than ethereal flower like beauty of her mother's family. They were raised to be strong and they looked it, while in the girl's mother's family the women were much more traditional in their roles and looked it. This was the kind of beauty that the sister possessed.
And so because The sister thought her self so much more beautiful than the girl, she began to let the girl know it. She made fun of the girls weight, the way she dressed, her long her, her glasses. Time and time again there was some comment from the sister about how the girl did not measure up to the ideal of beauty and would never do so. Eventually the girl began to believe this her self and stopped trying to work on her looks. It became simple clothes and nothing more elaborate than a simple braid for her hair. The girl simply thought, if I'm not beautiful, why should I waste time on my clothes and things. Nothing I do will ever make me attractive. Even in the castle of the grandmother, which had once been a place she went to find peace and happiness, that the girl knew no respite. When she was there, the sister would bring the other children and they would gang up on her. She eventually stopped listening to them, stopped being around them when they were at the family get togethers. She would stay in her room and either read or play with her ponies and wish that the sister and the cousins would just go away. Through all of this the one constant was her friendship with the ponies. The fact that they didn't make fun of her tears, or tease her about her looks or her dream of being an magic user. It was the faith that these companions had in her that Kept the girl going and from time and again giving up, it was that unshakable friendship that kept her alive.
Again time passed and it was a short two years after they moved to the new house. The girl had for the most part gotten to where when her sister came into the room she would get up and leave. She wouldn't say anything and had become horribly shy. This was due to the fact that the girl had found this was the only way to protect her self. The girl had grown tired of running to her parents for help because the truth was, to them it was just sibling infighting. They thought it was simply two sisters sorting out differences. The fact that it was more than that, that the older sister had set out to break down the younger one, never occurred to them, and the older sister was convinced she now had the younger in her control. So she believed it was time to put her plan into action. The sister wanted to leave the parents behind, and because she thought that they had wronged her.. she wanted to leave them with nothing. So she had plans to take the girl with her. However she underestimated that the girl still had a will of her own, and that her friends would fight for her. When the sister came to the girl and told her what she was doing and that she wanted her to go with her, the girl told her no. This was her home, this was where her parents were. She couldn't be happy while her sister tormented her, but she did love her home and informed her sister that she had no intentions to leave it. The sister at first grew angry and tried more of her tactics on the girl, telling her how she wasn't worth anything and that someone as vile as her would never amount to much. Telling her how much better she was than her, because she was prettier, stronger, and had never been ill. The girl however stood her ground. Why in heavens name would she want to go any where, she asked the sister, with someone who had spent the last five years tormenting her. Tormenting not just her but her friends. The girl simply stated again that she was going no where with her sister and that if her sister wanted to leave that was fine with her, but it would be alone.
The sister told the girl that she would regret this, that she would never have freedom, never be able to fulfill her dreams. That the mother and father would crush the girls dreams as much as they had crushed hers. The girl told her the only one who had crushed someone's dreams was her, the sister. Two days later the sister was gone. She left no note for her parents, and took everything she thought would be of any value. The girl went to her school and then returned to find that her sister was not going to return home. She went down stairs and told her parents that it appeared that her sister had gone, run away, and that this time she was not coming back.
To say that this set the parents into panic mode, would have been putting it mildly. The local peace keepers were contacted and searches went out for the sister. Other family members were also contacted and more searches were started. However the sister had been planning this for a long time, and had been planning on traveling with the girl, who was a scant 11 at the time. Due to the fact the sister no longer had the girl to worry about she was able to travel much faster. By the time the peace keepers picked up her trail she was so far away that it would be impossible for them to find or stop her.
Days turned into months, and months turned into a year. Then one night when the girl was up alone by her self, and her parents had already gone to bed, the sister contacted them. She had gotten mixed up with evil forces and needed her parents help to get her home, other wise the monster that was pursuing her would no doubt catch her and she would be killed. It didn't take long for the mother to spring into action. She had lost the older sister and felt responsible due to all of the fighting that had gone on in the house. She was now determined to get the sister back and make up for the mistakes she believed she made, no matter what. So the funds to get the sister home as quickly as possible were sent and with in a few days, the person who had been gone for a year returned to the girl's life. The sister truly believed that the dynamic that had been before her and the girl parted ways would be resumed once she came home. That they would pick up where they left off and that it would be like it always had been. She was mistaken. In the time that she had been gone, the girl was convinced she was never coming back. That her sister would never return from the glorious life she sought out west. So she had simply moved on. The bed room they had once shared had changed. Now it only held one bed and a couch, and the sister's belongings had been packed up and put away. Her posters were down, the music was gone, and the girls things, including her ponies were all in places of honor about the room. The girl briskly informed her sister that they would NOT be sharing a room this time and she was welcome to sleep on the couch or in the guest room, or not at all, but she would not be staying in the room with the girl.
Again the sister grew angry at the girl but this time because she was here on her parents generosity, and there was the possibility that she could always be asked to leave, she kept quiet and said nothing. She simply lived there and tried to insinuate her self back into a home that she was no longer part of. The mother due to the fact she believed she had ran her off, began taking the side of the sister. Believing her bad parenting had driven the sister away, she was determined to keep that from happening a second time. So when a fight broke out between the sisters, or the younger one told that the older had tried to harm her, the mother more or less took the side of the older sister, while the father usually backed up the girl. Yet again there was much disharmony in the house and between the mother and father taking sides the clashes became more often.
When the person that had been perusing the older sister was suddenly caught, many things changed. The grateful sister that had promised she would not cause any issues because they had saved her life by letting her come home, vanished. The arrogant person the sister had always been returned and again she began to make plans to do what she wanted and nothing else.
The older sister again decided to leave, feeling that she still had connections to the west and wanted to pursue those. So again the sister left and the girl went back to her life. She left the primary education and moved up to the next grade level. She had just turned 12 years of age when the following Yule, the older sister called again and said that she would be returning once more. Of course the mother was very willing to take her back, the girl was skeptical and suspected that this would be the establishment of a pattern that would repeat many times in the future.
This time when the sister came back though, she came back with something else. Some how during the time out west either she had been briefly married or in love. Either way the woman had a significant other and the natural resulted. When she came home this time the Older sister was carrying a child.
Now things began to get darker for the girl. The sister had come home and because the girl had now reached the middle school age, the sister was convinced it was time for her to give up her childish ways and become an adult. Despite the fact that 12 is still very much a child, the sister thought that because when she was at the age of 12 she was ready to be an adult, the girl would be too. This could not have been further from the truth.
The girl had begun to slowly mature physically, and her magic had become a lot stronger. however the attachment to the innocence of her child hood still lingered. Indeed for many people the age of 12 is still a little girl. But circumstances now existed that would give the sister the power to do what she never had before. Because she was carrying the mother's grandchild, this gained her access to her mother that the girl did not and could never have. The girl's illness she had suffered as a child, while she had recovered, that cure had come at a price. She would never be able to carry or bear children of her own. She had not seen this as much of a loss due to her still being very young. But she had also never realized just how desperately her mother had wanted grandchildren. So when the sister came home carrying the one thing the girl could never give her mother, she sister found that she had even more power over the girl than she had tried to force on her during their growing up.
The girl spent as much time now as she had avoiding the cruelty of her sister, but because her mother often called her on what she saw as jealousy or bad behavior, it became more and more apparent that the girl was going to have to face the situation some day very soon. That day happened when the girl, the sister and their mother, sat on the balcony one day and talked about her coming child. The girl made an innocent comment that would change her life and make her have to choose between her family and what she loved.
"I can't wait," She told her mother and older sister, "Till the baby is born so he can play with me and my ponies!"
She could not have picked a worse thing to say, and the sister could not have had a better opportunity to do what wanted. She saw the opening the girl had left and went straight in for the kill. Literally.
"You and these STUPID HORSES!" The sister snapped at the girl, "I am so sick of you and these stupid horses! your almost grown! You need to stop screwing around with these things and act like an adult!"
The girl had that day brought two of the younger ponies with her, a little white unicorn and a small pink earth pony. It was a mistake she would regret for the rest of her life. Before the girl was able to stop the sister, the little white unicorn and pink earth pony had been flung off the balcony. The girl rushed over and watched in complete and utter horror as the two babies fetched up on the rocks below and were swept away by the current. The girl nearly went mad. She took two steps back and the proceeded to get ready to lash out with all of her power against her sister. The only thing that stopped that was the comment her mother made.
"Well I was wondering when someone was going to make her get rid of those things, its about time."
Horror filled the girl as she stopped and looked her mother square in the eye.
"What did you say?"
"Honestly dear," Her mother told her, "You were too old for those things a long time ago. Now we need to get rid of the rest of them."
The sister turned and smiled cruelly at the girl, "I'll contact the stock yard in the morning mother. I'm sure they will be more than happy to do away with those useless things."
The girl simply looked at both her sister and mother and turned and walked back into their house. Her father saw her and saw that she was on the verge of tears, and asked her what had happened. She hollowly told him what had been done and what had been said and what was going to happen in the morning. Her sister was sending her friends off to die, and her mother wasn't going to stop it. Not only that but she had no idea how to stop it, and was now considering taking all of her friends and running as her sister once had. Her father offered her a different solution.
"Dear," He stopped and looked away, "are you willing to give them up to save them?"
the girl blinked back her tears and looked at her father, "I don't understand. What do you mean?"
Her father smiled softly, "Your old dad once upon a time knew magic when he fought for this nation. I haven't used it since because I haven't needed it. But I have something that could save your friends. But it would mean that you would have to give them up for a while."
"But it would keep them safe?" She asked nearing desperation.
"Oh yes," He told her, "They'd be in a place where no time would pass.. so they wouldn't be hungry or thirsty. They would go to sleep so they wouldn't know they were even in this place, and they would be safe. But, you wouldn't be able to have them. Not until your able to protect your self from your sister."
"Tell me what I have to do daddy," The girl replied, "what about mom?"
" your mother is always going to be starry eyed over your sisters children honey, "He told her, "Unfortunately that is just how her family works. But some day you will be big enough and grown enough that your mother will have to listen to you. Then you can bring your friends back."
the girl nodded, "Ok.. show me."
That night the girl gathered up her ponies and said her good byes. She explained to them what was going to happen in the morning if she didn't do what she was about to do. That they would be killed.
"I'm sorry," She told them all, "But I don't have a choice. If I don't do this, If I don't send you away, in the morning my sister will murder all of you. She will send you off to your deaths and smile at me while she does it. I cannot live with that. I have to protect you, even if it means I cant have you."
All of the ponies gathered around the girl and her sobs mixed with their own. They told her that they understood and that they would always love her. The deaths of the two babies had not been her fault. That they trusted her and that she would protect them. She sobbed more and told them how much she loved them all, too much to let them die.
And so the girl began the spell to open a portal to her father's holding dimension. No one would ever be able to open it but him or her, and they would all be safe there, for as long as need be.
one at a time each of the ponies went through the portal and told the girl one last good bye. Finally the only two left were firefly and Glory. The little pink Pegasus rubbed her nose against the girl's cheek and promised that some day they would fly again. Then it was Glory's turn.
"I'm not going to say good bye to you," She told the girl, "But I am going to do something else."
"Glory," The girl said, "Please don't..."
"no," the white unicorn said, "Now hear me out. Unicorns are magic.. you know that... and sometimes we can see into the future. So I am going make you a promise and I want you to believe it. You wont see us for a long time, and sometimes you might loose hope. But some thing will remind you of us from time to time and you will keep your hope alive. When you see our kind rise, fall, and rise a fourth time, You will wake up one day, and your sister will never have power over you, that day or ever again. When that happens, you'll have enough power to love and protect as you see fit. That's the day, we will come back to you, and many more will follow. Because you will need us again."
Tears filled the girls eyes, " I need you now... I just can't..."
Glory Nuzzled her one last time, "I know. But some day you will. I love you. I WILL see you again."
The white unicorn followed her kind into the portal and the girl closed it, and something inside of her self closed off to. It would stay that way for a very long time...
But... Not forever.

TWENTY YEARS LATER...

It had been cold and dark for a long time for the ponies.
They really didn't know what had happened, or remember how long they had been in this time less place. They slept and dreamed fleeting memories about a Small girl that had once loved them all. But it was all dreams, and many in those dreams began to wonder if it had been only a dream. If the girl had EVER really existed.
It had gone on like that for them for such a long time. trying hard to remember what life had been like and lost in endless slumber. They truly expected that this would go on forever, when one day. .. EVERYTHING changed.
It started with beautiful pink light that filled everything. The darkness around them was replaced with this warm soft color, and the cold banished by the feeling of warm familiar hands pulling them back into the world of the living. But something was most certainly strange. The hands that were on them felt almost the same as the ones they remembered from the endless dreams, almost, but they weren't the hands of a small child. They lacked the tremor of one that had fought severe illness and never quite recovered all of her strength.
They were the soft hands of memory though, even if they were changed.
these hands slowly drew each pony lovingly back into the light and waited for them to awaken.
Glory suddenly felt someone nosing her she moved around and tried to focus long enough to tell who ever it was to stop poking her with their snoot when she recognized firefly's voice.
"GLORY ! GLORY! WAKE UP!" another poke, " YOU have GOT To see this!"
Glory finally sat up shook her head and looked around. They were back at the home the girl had once lived in...the place they had dreamed about for an eternity. Standing down at the other end of the open area was a crowd of her friends all gathered around someone. Glory blinked and shook her head again. It LOOKED like the girl, sort of. The same red hair, same big silver eyes, same pale skin... but. This was a tall handsome woman, with strong broad shoulders and a huge smile on her face. The marks of her childhood illness had totally faded leaving a few lines about her face from a life time expressions. She was currently bending down to hug another one of the ponies and had not noticed that Glory had woken up. When she stood up and looked across the way at the little white unicorn her heart leapt into her eyes and she moved through the crowd and then broke into a run, finally reaching glory.
"Your ok!" the now grown girl told her, "your all o k! IM SO SO sorry that I left you alone for so long! please please forgive me."
The grown girl collapsed onto her knees and put her arms around glory's neck. Glory smiled and nuzzled her cheek.
"I knew you'd come back Rose," She nuzzled her again, "I knew it! I dreamed of you! I knew you'd come back some day!"
She hugged her long lost friend again and pressed her face into the soft white hair, "I did, and no one is EVER going to take me away from you again."

The end...?