Little Wing’s Home, Exactly One Year After Her Adoption

Little Wing yawned as she meekly opened up her drowsy eyelids. She stretched out her various limbs to force out the stiffness within the joints, her surroundings becoming clearer as her mind booted itself up. Her room had changed up a little over the previous month or two, ever since her parents had decided that she had outgrown her original cot, replacing it with a small bed fit for a filly. In retrospect, she had to be amazed at how quickly children in Equestria mentally developed, perhaps that’s why the alicorn had chosen to do what she did. Or at least one of the reasons.

The filly also had to see the bonuses of no longer being locked up every morning, having the ability to leave her bed at will. But then again it was still limited, being far too small to open the door and having been unable to fly properly since her magic surges had ended many months previously. Even if she was no longer confined to a cot, she was still a small child in body.

“Not that I can complain…” Little Wing muttered to herself, hopping off of her bed and then proceeding to smooth the covers over into a state which made it look like they’d never even been slept in.

She next examined the room, specifically looking over to the mountain of toys in one corner. She considered just sitting and playing with them until one or both of her parents came knocking. Alternatively she could have read a book until such a time, but ultimately decided she didn’t want to do either.

Little Wing walked up to the door and gave it a glance over. For a moment she acted as if her glare alone could cause the door to perform her bidding, but that would have been too easy. She propped herself up onto her hind legs and reached up at the handle, coming just short of her intended target. Next she tried jumping up to reach the handle, fluttering her little wings to give her extra lift. It took a few futile attempts in which she always reached the handle but in her floundering didn’t actually manage to pull it, at least until her final attempt where she found herself dangling from the handle and successfully pulling down. The problem was that she also too quickly slipped back to the floor with the handle springing back up, and with the door staying exactly where it was when she began. Closed.

“Oh… BWAH!” Little Wing shouted in irritation. “MUM! DAD! HELP!”

She received silence in return.

The filly groaned in exasperation. “Why couldn’t you have made me a unicorn, Penumbra?”

She considered for a few moments any conceivable way she could get her parents’ attention. She could have continued to simply shout, but she wanted to add a bit of padding to be sure. Simply put, she would make as much of a ruckus as necessary.

She propped herself up against the door again, furiously banging against the wood.

“Mum! Dad! Filly SOS! Heeeeeelp!”

After a little bit more noise making she finally got the desired result, the sound of hooves out on the landing beyond. The voice that originated from the sound of those hooves, however, was quite clearly not that of her parents.

“Alright squirt, no need to give Rarity competition for over doing drama,” the voice deadpanned.

“Rainbow Dash?” Little Wing called through the door. “Sis, I didn’t know you were here?”

The door opened, and since Little Wing was still propped up against it she promptly tumbled over onto her back with a startled squeak. The rainbow maned pony who emerged from that doorway saw the sight and couldn’t help but mirthfully roll her eyes. She shut the door again before her little sister could flee before helping the filly back to her hooves.

“I really got to teach you about a thing called style, Little Wing,” Rainbow remarked, sitting down next to her sister. “With that, even your fails make you seem unimaginably awesome!”

“How would you know that? You don’t fail!” Little Wing replied cheerfully. “You’re a Wonderbolt!”

Rainbow Dash chuckled sheepishly with a few of her less than stellar moments, including a certain incident with rainbow cookies and zombies, all coming to mind. “Well… thanks for the confidence.”

Little Wing happily glomped her sister’s barrel, Rainbow being briefly caught off guard before wrapping a wing around the small pony. When Little Wing pulled away she gave an energetic hop backwards, though she had a question on her tongue.

“When did you get here?” Little Wing asked. “I didn’t know you were coming over today, Mum didn’t say anything about it. Didn’t she know? No, that’s impossible… She knows everything!”

Rainbow Dash snorted at her sister’s ramblings, but answered nevertheless. “Sorry we didn’t give you a heads up, squirt. We had hoped you’d sleep in a little longer anyway…”

Little Wing had an air of confusion come over her. “Huh? Why?”

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with an almost nervous grin on her face. “Well…. No reason! We just thought you would is all. It’s nothing to do with anything!”

“You’re acting funny…”

“Hey! I’m a funny kind of pony when I want to be!”

Little Wing tilted her head. Back in her old life she would see references on TV to a game called Poker. She didn’t remember the rules, but she knew it had something to do with cards and keeping a straight face the entire time, a ‘poker face’. Rainbow Dash was the complete opposite of that.

Of course the worse conclusion came to mind first, the filly wilting slightly. “Did I do something bad? Am I in trouble?”

“Huh? Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know, you’re just being weird.”

Rainbow Dash ruffled her mane a little. “Nah, I suppose I’m just in a silly mood. So now stop being all mopey, we want you to have a good time!”

“A good time? With what?”

Rainbow Dash facehooved. “Ugh, and I thought AJ was terrible at this…”

Little Wing tilted her head. “AJ?”

Rainbow Dash saw a chance to change the subject and took it. “Oh, that’s what I call Applejack sometimes. You met her once, I took you to Ponyville.”

“Yeah, I remember. Was she the one with the funny accent?”

“Yeah, that’s her,” Rainbow confirmed. “And you remember that? I thought small fillies and colts were bad at retaining memories for the first few months or something…”

Little Wing shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I just have a good memory…”

“Hm, well I don’t remember much from when I was that age. Flashes mostly,” Rainbow mused. “To be honest I don’t have that good of a memory anyway. Unless I’m flying, I never forget a detail when I’m in the zone!”

“The zone?”

“Uh… When I’m focused and confident. At my very best!”

“But you’re always the best!”

“No wonder you and Scoots get along so well…” Rainbow muttered. She liked cheers and praise very much, but also liked to think she was modest enough to know when she didn’t really earn it or it was untrue. Mostly.

She couldn’t deny that she was flattered though.

“Can we go downstairs?” Little Wing asked. “I’m actually kind of hungry…”

“Uh…” Rainbow Dash looked up to a clock on the wall. “Maybe in another ten minutes or so. Why don’t we do something with those action figures you like?”

“Why?” Little Wing questioned. “Why can’t we go downstairs?”

“We just can’t right now. Don’t think about it.”

“But why?”

“You ask too many questions.”

Roughly Ten Minutes Later

Little Wing had finally been released from jail, and was instead comfortably nestled on her warden’s back. She hadn’t gotten any answers from her elder sister, and so had simply shrugged it off for the time being. Maybe she would learn what all the fuss was about when she saw her parents.

She was thusly carried from her room and across the landing until they reached the stairs, Rainbow Dash descending down with Little Wing safely secured between her two wings. When they reached the ground floor they were met with silence. Little Wing had expected to see her parents waiting for them, but they were nowhere to be seen on her initial examination. She peeked into the nearby and partially open living room door, and likewise could see no sign of life within.

“Rainbow? Where’s Mum and Dad?”

“Oh, they’re through there,” Rainbow replied, gesturing towards the front door.

“Outside?” Little Wing questioned. “Why are they out there? Is Dad working in the garden?”

“Something like that,” Rainbow coyly stated, walking up to the doorway in question.

Sunlight flooded in as Rainbow Dash opened the front door up, revealing the day filled view of Cloudsdale. She saw her parents out there, as expected. What she wasn’t expecting was to see Misty Gust and her parents, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, a table full of food and a large cake, and a sudden bang to herald a stream of confetti to land on her from above.

Suffice to say, Little Wing found herself suddenly hiding between Rainbow Dash’s legs rather than sitting on her back.

Laughs emanated from the adults, including Rainbow Dash, as Little Wing cautiously peeked through from her hiding spot.

“Happy Birthday, Little Sis,” Rainbow Dash stated, pushing Little Wing out from under her.

“B-birthday?”

“Were you surprised!?” a pink missile demanded to know as it landed on the ground in front of the filly. “When they mentioned it was your birthday I just couldn’t resist getting involved especially since you’re Dashie’s sister and everything and it was you’re first which meant I had to get you started with a bang so I had a party cannon on the roof for a literal bang which was the confetti you saw and I hope that didn’t scare you too much and I’m really really sorry if it did I hope we’re still friends and-”

“Pinkie!” Rainbow abruptly interrupted. “Breathing. Do it.”

The bubbly mare took in a deep breath, and then let it out again. “Heh, sorry.”

“What’s happening?” Little Wing asked. “Do I need an adult?”

“It’s your birthday, honey,” Windy Whistles stated as she approached and picked up her daughter, placing Little Wing on her back. “Remember, you attended Misty’s party last week.”

"Yeah, we worked really hard on it!" Scootaloo added in. "Did we do good?"

“But… I’ve never had a party before…” Little Wing stated, eyes wide as she took everything in.

“Well of course not, you’re one!” Bow reminded his daughter.

“…Right.”

“And we thought you were only a week or so old when we brought you in, so that day might as well be your birthday,” Bow added in. “So… happy birthday!”

“She didn’t need to know that bit,” Windy scolded, kicking her husband in the shin. “But yes, I hope we didn’t frighten you too much…”

"Pfft, Wing can handle this," Rainbow dismissed. "Now if it was the birthday bash Pinkie and Cheese Sandwich pulled for my eighteenth..."

“I have a present!” a younger voice came from down beside Windy Whistles, and when Little Wing looked she saw Misty gleefully holding up a small wrapped box.

Windy allowed Little Wing to hop back down from her back, Misty passing the present over to Little Wing.

“Can I open it?” Little Wing asked.

“Well, of course!” Windy remarked. “You are the best birthday filly after all!”

“You stole my title, squirt!” Rainbow Dash teased.

“Oh, I’m sure we can make it a tie,” Windy teased back in Little Wing’s stead.

While that was going on, Little Wing ripped open the paper and looked at the gift that laid within. It was a small necklace broken into two joinable halves, a heart in the foreground with two flying pegasi fillies in the background, one on each separate half.

“What is it?”

“Mum said we could both wear it, so we’d be friends forever!” Misty explained, before appearing timid. “I wanted to get you a new Wonderbolt toy, but… we will always be friends, right?”

If Little Wing were some silly child only interested in the next big best toy, she might have thrown such a gift cruelly back in Misty’s face. But she was no such child, and such a sentiment resonated deeply for her.

Especially with what happened… before.

“I love it!” Little Wing exclaimed, opening up the box and hoofing over one of the halves to Misty. She placed her own on, looking at it proudly. “I’ll never take it off!”

Misty’s eyes glinted. “Never? Well neither will I!”

“You will when you take a bath,” Bow pointed out, receiving another kick from Windy despite his protests.

“Um, I’ve got something too,” a gentler and extremely kind sounding voice added in. “But I didn’t wrap it, I hope that’s not a problem.”

“Fluttershy wanted to give something as well for your birthday,” Rainbow Dash explained as the yellow mare approached. “She likes to do things like that. Element of Kindness and all.”

“Element?” Little Wing questioned.

The mare in question chuckled. “I’m sure Rainbow will explain someday,” Fluttershy stated, gently hoofing down a small white plush bunny. “I hope you like it.”

Little Wing examined the little white bunny, then looking up at Fluttershy and giving her an enthusiastic nod.

“Oh good, I’m glad you do.”

“Don’t forget, you still have more presents to open,” Windy casually reminded her daughter.

"You should see mine," Scootaloo spoke up enthusiastically. "I think you'll agree that it's the coolest."

Little Wing excitedly looked over towards the present near the table, but her rumbling stomach caused her eyes to move towards the cake instead.

“Cake!” Little Wing pointed at the calling mass of sugar.

“Dear, I think it’s a little early to have it yet.”

“Cake!” Misty agreed.

“See! Cake!” Little Wing concurred.

"I'm in!" Scootaloo said her piece.

“It’s never too early for cake,” Pinkie Pie added in her support. “It IS her birthday.”

Windy Whistles rolled her eyes, but ultimately gave in. “Fine. But just a little for now!”

“Yay!” both Little Wing and Misty Gust shouted, making a beeline for the table.

Little Wing stopped however, catching something out of the corner of her eye. When she turned, she saw a familiar sight awaiting her. And a wholly unexpected one.

Penumbra.

The alicorn was staring right at her, her eyes seemingly glad and yet… expecting. Almost foreboding. Little Wing reluctantly tore her eyes away from the ancient pony to see if anypony else was seeing what she was, but none of them had given any reaction to indicate they had. Perplexed, Little Wing looked back towards Penumbra.

Only to see thin air.

Little Wing stared for a few moments more, before being called back over to the table by her mother. She obeyed, but couldn’t help but feel a little unnerved. She was eternally grateful to Penumbra for what she did, so much so that she would never be able to repay such a debt. And yet there was something about that alicorn that sent a chill down her spine.

Author's Notes:

She considered for a few moments any conceivable way she could get her parents’ attention. She could have continued to simply shout, but she wanted to add a bit of padding to be sure. Simply put, she would make as much of a ruckus as necessary.

She propped herself up against the door again, furiously banging against the wood.

“Mum! Dad! Filly SOS! Heeeeeelp!”

Drama award goes to Little Wing! (Rarity gets a bronze)

And then there's Penumbra. Hope you didn't think she was gone for good.