“So Bramble, how was school today?” A young green mare asked the young colt, who smiled back.

“It was great mommy! Today we painted pictures with our hooves! I made one of us!” The young colt proclaimed as he pulled out a crude painting of four ponies in front of a stereotypical-style house, all the ponies smiling widely.

“That’s beautiful honey. Here, let me put it up on the fridge while you go play with your sister.”

“Okay mom!”

With that, the young colt ran out of the kitchen while the mare grabbed the picture with her hoof and placed up on the fridge of the run down lower-class house, using one of the many magnets that were free for use. Minutes later, as the mare was preparing dinner, a large, bulky, dirt brown stallion walked through the kitchen door, earning the mare’s attention. “Oh, hello dear, how was work?”

The stallion simply grunted and sat down at the table. “Don’t even talk Tulip.” He said to his wife in a harsh tone. “Just be quiet and get me a beer.”

“Y-Yes dear.” She answered timidly.

After doing as she was told, the stallion opened the bottle up and began drinking, then spoke more after he belched. “I’m sorry Tulip-“ He began apologizing. “My day was fine.” He finally answered her as he began to shuffle through the bills that were laid on top of the table.

“You don’t sound fine dear.” His wife replied, timid once more.

“Yeah, because I know I have to come back here, knowing I might not even able to feed my family with this cruddy job. Look at this Tulip! Water bill, second notice; electricity bill, second notice; house mortgage, third notice. We might have our house taken from us for Celestia’s sake!” He slammed his head on the table, completely frustrated. “What are we going to do Tulip? You work a job, I work two jobs, and yet, we barely make ends meet…”

“Well dear, we have two children to take care of as well…”

The stallion raised his head and looked at wife. “The kids!” He yelled out. “It’s their fault! We spend so much damn money on them, yet we barely have enough to spend on ourselves, or on our house!”

“Dear, please! Calm down!”

“No I won’t calm down, because you know it’s true!”

“No dear, you’re wrong!” Tulip argued back at her husband, only to fight a losing battle.

“Then tell me Tulip, where does our money go?! We need to pay for diapers, for extra food, for preschool. Preschool Tulip! If we didn’t have these kids, you know we’d be able to pay these bills no problem!”

“Then what do you propose Thorn?! Abandon the kids, just so we can pay the bills once again?!”

Thorn took another sip of his beer before answering. “Maybe we ought to.”

“You can’t be serious!” But Thorn continued to glare at her, trying to stare her down.

“Just think about it, that’s all I ask…” He said as he got up from his seat, then headed for the back door. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get going to the factory, otherwise the boss will be pissed.”

Tulip simply stared at the back door for a while, not even bothering to check her surroundings, before going back to making dinner. Unbeknownst to the two adult ponies, a certain colt had been listening to the entire conversation, when he should’ve been playing with his sister instead. ‘Mommy and daddy… Don’t love me?’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, as he was being tucked into bed, Bramble smiled at his mother. “Good night mommy.”

Tulip smiled back. “Goodnight honey, sweet dreams.” She told him, before kissing him on the forehead and turning for the door, and as she placed her hoof on the light switch, Bramble called out.

“Mommy?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you and daddy love me?”

Tulip turned to Bramble with an expression of shock and horror. ‘Did he listen to our conversation?!’ She bit her lower lip before answering. “O-Of course we do sweetie. Now be a good little colt and go to sleep.”

Bramble smiled once more and nodded. “Okay mommy.” With that, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, not seeing or hearing his mother cry as she turned off the light and closed the door.

Hours later, Bramble woke up the noise of things inside the house moving, but only brushed it off as his father returning from work and went back to sleep.

A week had passed since that incident, and Bramble thought he didn’t need to be scared about it anymore, when one morning Bramble went downstairs and got ready for school, expecting his father and mother to still be in bed, or at work, as he never saw them in the morning. As he opened the fridge door, he completely disregarded the note that was specifically left for him.

After bringing his little sister to daycare like usual, Bramble rushed off to school, ready for another exciting day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eight hours later, Bramble had returned home from school, along with his baby sister. “Mommy! Daddy!” He yelled out, hoping for some response, but got none. He began to panic, as usually one of them were always home by the time he got home from school. He began to run through the rooms of the house, calling out for his mom and dad. “Mom! Dad!”

After 15 minutes of running around and crying, he finally found the note on the fridge and read it.

‘Dear Bramble and Autumn,

I want you to know that we love you very much, but due to some personal problems, your father and I thought it would be best if we left you in the care of the neighbors, as we know we are not fit to be parents for you. We hope you’re able to forgive us one day, but know that we’re doing this in hopes of you two knowing that we were never meant to be parents. I know this is selfish of us, but please, please, forgive us.

Love,

Mom and Dad.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bramble woke up terrified, and immediately began to cry. Within seconds of him crying, the door of the room that he was sleeping in, along with his baby sister, opened up. He looked up and saw a mare enter the room, but was unsure of who it was, his eyes clouded up from the tears. “Momma?” He called out.

The mare walked up to Bramble and held him close to her chest. “Shh, momma’s here Bramble, momma’s here…”

“Oh momma!” Bramble called out as he began to rub his face in the mare’s chest, continuing to cry as he did so. “I was so scared!”

“What about darling?” The mare asked, and Bramble answered.

“I thought you and daddy left me! I thought you hated me!” He said, his voice still softened by his face in the mare’s chest.

“Leave you? What made you ever think of such a thing darling? We love you!” The mare tried calming the colt, and ended up working. “We may not be around much Bramble, but we love you so very much!”

Bramble looked up from the mare’s chest, and saw a grey mare smiling back at him. “Really momma?”

Octavia continued to smile and nodded her head. “Of course dear. Now, do you want me to stay with you and be with you until you fall asleep?”

Bramble nodded. “You promise you won’t leave?”

Octavia nodded once more. “Pinkie promise.” With that, she tucked Bramble into bed once more, gave him a kiss on the forehead, and sat next to his bed, holding his hoof until he fell asleep, not realizing that she would end up falling asleep soon afterwards as well, still holding the colt’s hoof.

Fiery watched the entire event unfold, and grinned, his heart feeling like it melted. He pulled an extra blanket from the closet, sat next to Octavia, and threw it over the both of them, then fell asleep next to her, a smile still on his face as he did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~