Things like this weren’t supposed to happen. Cotton Tuft had always heard about disasters and tragedies, but they weren’t supposed to happen to her. She always assumed she was immune to these kinds of things. She never thought she’d come so close to losing one of her parents. And she could still lose her mom yet.

Every night since that horrible day, Cotton had had nightmares. Nightmares in which her mother didn’t wake up. Nightmares in which her family slowly fell apart. It was terrifying. The most terrifying part, however, was the fact that it could all come true. Then she’d never get the chance to tell her mom just how much she loved her. Her mom would die, and Cotton would never be able to apologize for all those awful things she had said.

YOU’RE THE WORST MOM EVER! I HATE YOU!

She winced and felt tears welling up in her eyes as she recalled what she’d yelled. What had she done?

If only…if only Confetti had never fallen off that cliff. She didn’t deserve this. She wasn’t the worst mom ever, she was the best mom a pony could ask for.

If only Chocolate Bomb had been born a Pegasus like the rest of her family. No… if only she hadn’t been so stupid to think she could fly. She was useless, and all of this was all her fault.

Cotton could feel burning tears boiling up in her eyes. She needed to find Chocolate and teach her a lesson.

Cotton found Chocolate sitting in her room, sniffling into a blanket. Cotton stood in the doorway, wings flared. There was no stopping her now. Her rage was just about to bubble over.

Slowly, Chocolate lifted her head and looked up at her sister. There were long tear stains running down the filly’s face and her eyes were bloodshot.

“C-Cotton?” Chocolate whimpered.

Cotton’s eyes dropped to the ground. “This…This is all your fault.”

A new wave of tears found their way into Chocolate’s eyes. “Wh-what?”

“You know what I’m talking about. If you hadn’t been so stupid, Mom wouldn’t be in the hospital right now.” Her voice was dangerously quiet and slow.

“I’m…I’m sorry. I…I didn’t know…”

There was a moment of intense silence. Chocolate continued to sniffle and cry while looking nervously up at her sister. Cotton kept her eyes focused on the ground as her vision began to blur with tears. She had never been so angry.

Suddenly, she snapped.

“ALL YOU ARE IS A STUPID, USELESS KID! YOU’RE AN EARTH PONY! YOU WILL NEVER FLY! WHY CAN’T YOU GET THAT IN YOUR HEAD?”

Chocolate flinched, squeezing her eyes shut. She bit back a sob. Cotton had always been… harsh, but she’d never said anything like that. Chocolate tried to choke out a response but found she couldn’t, so she resorted to burying her face back in her blanket.

“I…you…YOU’RE THE WORST! MOM MIGHT DIE AND IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!” Cotton continued. Her own tears were now flowing freely. She had completely lost it.

“Cotton!”

A voice from behind her brought Cotton out of her blind rage for a split second. Her twin brother, Cherry Fizz was standing there with a concerned look on his face.

“What are you doing?”

“I…I’m teaching Chocolate a lesson! If it wasn’t for her, none of this would have happened!” Cotton responded.

“Cotton, don’t you think Chocolate feels bad enough? You need to stop. Now,” Cherry said sternly.

He could just barely hear Chocolate crying inside her room, and he shoved past Cotton to get inside. Gently, he wrapped his hooves and wings around his little sister.

“Hey, it’s okay…”

“No, it’s not okay! Don’t you get it? Mom is in the hospital! She might never wake up!”

“Cotton, you need to calm down and think about this rationally. All of us are worried about Mom. All of us are thinking about her day and night, fearing for the worst. There’s enough stress on everypony right now.” Cherry turned back to Chocolate, stroking her back as she cried.

“NO, I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! I…I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU GUYS! IT’S LIKE YOU DON’T EVEN CARE!” Cotton screamed.

“Cotton, that’s incredibly selfish! We all love Mom, but screaming at each other helps nothing. Do you really think Mom would want us all fighting with each other? No! She’d want us to stay strong and get through this together! As a family!

“Yeah? WELL THIS FAMILY IS STUPID! I HATE ALL OF YOU!”

Cherry looked up at his sister, his own anger visible in his eyes. But besides anger, there was deep sadness. He was pleading with her, pleading with her to stop. Stop before it all got much worse.

“What is going on here?”

Lightning Bolt was now standing out in the hall, looking sternly down at his children.

Cherry said nothing. He looked away from his sister. It was too late to stop her now.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE THEM, DAD! It’s all Chocolate’s fault, can’t you see?”

“Cotton, I need you to take a deep breath and think about what you’re saying. How do you think this is making Chocolate feel?” Lightning said, trying to remain calm.

“I…I DON’T CARE HOW CHOCOLATE IS FEELING! SHE DESERVES IT! MOM IS GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF HER!” Cotton shouted back.

There was a sickenly heavy silence as what Cotton had said sunk in. Everypony stared at her, in complete and utter shock. Lightning eventually broke the quiet.

“Th-that’s enough, Young Lady! You need to go to your room, now!”

“I…I…I HATE THIS FAMILY!” Cotton’s face was now red from fury and damp with tears.

“Cotton, to your room. Now. You’re grounded. For a long time.”

Cotton tried to fire something back, but found she didn’t have the words. With a quick motion, she turned and stamped loudly up to her room before slamming the door.

*****

The sound echoed through the house, and Lightning was afraid the door was going to splinter with how many times it had been slammed. He stared off at where his daughter had gone, ears pricking at the soft sounds of Chocolate’s whimpering.

What was he without his Connie? She was the glue that held their family together. He didn’t want to imagine life without her. How had he ever gotten along alone?

He was so afraid he’d lose her. So afraid that it hurt. But he had to be strong, strong for his kids. He had to put this family back together, even if he had to do it painstakingly, piece by minuscule piece.

He just hoped he had the guts to do it.