Los Pegasus was roaring with snow. They promised a little snowfall but then again they never kept their promises. It was a snowstorm, a snowwhirl, a snowfury. The white was omnipresent, swishing around, blocking the sight and the roads; one could easily bump into somepony without even seeing them. The snow culture was wild, unfamiliar to the city, the city that was only used to sun and warmth, and the ponies snailed, wide-eyed, through the thick white barrier.

"It's impossible!" Gliss shouted out, coughing up the wind, gulping on the snow that rocketed into her throat. "It's... It's an anomaly!"

Vinyl laughed, tugging at her scarf. "Come on, Slidey, you've just never been in Manehattan." She raised her head high, smiling into the weather. "Me and your mother used to have colder weather. Why, I remember one time we-"

"Mom," Gliss interrupted, "don't. Not making it any easier. Besides, I'm not in the mood for your romantic stories." With effort, she dragged on.

"Oh, come on!" Vinyl took a glance around her shoulder at her daughter. "My romance stories are awesome!"

"Your romance stories," Gliss countered, "always end up with you and Mother having sex. And not always in a conventional manner."

"Well," Vinyl reasoned, "you're sixteen. I thought you were old enough to know about that stuff."

"And I think," Gliss replied, barely following as they stepped on ice, "that sometimes you are just boasting." Though, she thought, there is something to boast about. Before your virgin daughter. ...yeeeaaah. "Oh buck!" With a grunt and a pop, the young mare fell onto the ground, hitting the ice with her back. "Fuuuck," she decided that the situation called for censorship to be dismissed.

"Glissando!" Scared, Vinyl ran up to her daughter as quickly as the tricky ice permitted. "Are you all right?"

"My head," the filly wailed. "It hurts like hell. I think I must have hit it." Or worse, her eager mind supplied.

"Oh buck oh buck oh buck..." Vinyl cursed, dancing around the filly and finally remembering to help her up. "Octavia will kill me. She will murder me and hide my body in a- uh!"

"Ugh. Don't worry, Mom," Gliss assured as she wobbled, a little dizzy. "I am sure Mother will act reasonably..."

***

"Vincenza Staccato! I will murder you and hide your body in a- uh!" Octavia yelled at the very shy Vinyl, who sat at the small kitchen table, looking at the floor. "How come you didn't- uh!" She hit her hoof against the table.

"Tavi..." Vinyl let out meekly. "You'll wake up Glissando..."

Octavia sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Vinyl... Why are you so irresponsible?"

Gliss resonated her mother's sigh as she eared in to the conversation that took place at the other side of the wall as she lay in her mothers' bed in their room and tried to make the dull ache in her head go away. Can they not argue for one day?

It wasn't the arguing that made her feel bad; it was the way her mothers argued, the quiet and disappointed way. When she was a wee foal, her parents used to argue, sure, but it somehow seemed more of a slapstick variety, more of a run-and-kiss kind of thing. Now, it was more of a rehearsed epilogue - and it was driving her mad with worry.

The whole household had been, for a while, in stasis, interrupted only by arguments. And the arguments themselves were part of the stasis too. All the members had their own anabiosis. Their interactions had become rare. Gliss ran into music. Octavia ran into reading. Vinyl ran into alcohol. Talk of divorce was floating in the air, unspoken, dangerous.

Gliss wanted to save the family. She needed to save the family. She could do absolutely nothing to save the family. So, she watched her mothers drift apart, tucked away into stasis, safe.

"Where has the passion gone, Tavi?" Vinyl asked in the kitchen, quietly, almost silently. "Where's our youth and... attraction?"

Gliss could her Octavia sigh in response. "Vinyl, love... We aren't young anymore. Our youth's run out, dear. All's left for us is late-night radio broadcasts and silent wine in the kitchen." Her voice didn't sound bitter; it was, if anything, accepting. "And raising Glissando."

Gliss winced. Raise your love first, Mother. Raise it from the dead, for hellsake. I - I'll manage.

"A quiet, peaceful life, huh." Vinyl sighed audibly. "With nothing but radio and our foal keeping us together."

"It's what they call 'getting accustomed to each other', I guess," Octavia replied. "First, there's love and passion. Then you just get used to each other..."

"And when you can't stand each other? When you constantly argue? When you get into quarrels over everything?" Vinyl was raising her voice considerably. "When you realise just how different your characters are? When you understand that, maybe, just maybe, you were drawn to each other because of hopelessness and, and not..." She didn't finish the sentence.

There was a long, thoughtful silence that seemed to have enveloped the whole flat. Finally, Octavia spoke, "I'll go check on Glissando. Seems like we'll have to share her sofa tonight. She needs to rest, if in our bed."

Gliss winced, half from the pain, half from disapprovement. As soon as her mother opened the door and entered carefully, she blurted out, "Mother, I'm fine. I can go sleep in my own bed."

Octavia furrowed her brows sternly. "Glissando Philarmonica Scratch. Have you been eavesdropping?"

Oh damn. Concussion doesn't make for good thinking. "Uhm." Gliss tried to fake a smile. "I just have really good ears?"

Instead of a scolding that never came, Gliss was surprised to receive a gentle pat on the head from the cellist mare, who had placed herself on the edge of the bed. "That you do," Octavia confirmed lovingly. "How much did you hear?" she asked cautiously.

"Everything," Gliss confessed. "I always hear everything." She paused. "You and Mom... Why don't you love each other anymore?" Now that sounded like a little foal talking...

Octavia sighed and put on a thoroughly fake smile. "We love you, honey. You're our little filly. And that's all that matters."

Uneasily, Vinyl stepped into the room. "Hey." She approached the bed, cautious not to touch Octavia, and ruffled Gliss's hair slightly. "How're you, Slidey?"

"Fine, Mom, thanks." Gliss closed her eyes, shapes of all kinds commanding her vision. Her eyelids felt heavy, and she slept, under the full moon that would soon crawl onto the sky, wondering what the whole commotion was about.