Shade sighed. "I had to live in a home... I could never survive on my own. But I still hated it. My parents died in a chariot crash, and some nights I still wake up crying."
"I'm.. so sorry. It was easy for me. I didn't know them at all. Could you miss someone you didn't know?" she said, sadly.
"I do... I never got to know mine either, but I have heard about them. They sounded nice..." He said, more tears rolling down his cheek.
Eluuna opened her mouth to speak, and thought. "The nurse... at the hospital. She said my mother used to sing. She'd sing to the patients. They said that her voice was like a bird's song. I never knew anything about my father.." she said. She whistled softly, and a cloud floated up to her and Shade. It was pulsing with a golden energy, and it wrapped itself around Shade, drying the tears. It was soft, and surprisingly absorbant.
Shade smiled. "That sounds nice... My mom and dad flew packages from the princess around Equestria. There was nothing they were afraid of. And when the package arrived they would always learn a thing about that pony, so they would send some small gifts to them if they visited again."
Eluuna looked helplessly at the sobbing stallion. She patted his back reassuringly. "Oh...oh, it... it will be ok.." she soothed.
Eluuna waited for his sobbing to take its toll. She knew from experience that sometimes ponies just needed to cry by themselves.
Shade shrugged. "Colts... Especially future Wonderbolts shouldn't be sobbing like little fillies at everything..."
Eluuna was silent. She was looking out to the clouds. "When you live without parents, you never know what it is like. I never knew what it was to have someone looking after you. I never understood why people longed it so much." she said, finally. She paused before speaking again. "A long time ago, around where I first got my cutie mark, I was sitting in my home. It was...under a dumpster, but it was better than the orphanage, and that made it the best place I knew. I looked out into the streets, and saw a little white filly. She was known as the inheriter of this big business. As I watched, she came over to me, and offered me food. She said she'd take me out. I was shy at first, but eventually, we became friends. She let me stay in her huge house, and together, we found our cutie marks. I think that... that is the only time I've longed for my parents. But it stuck with me. I now have a bakery down on the ground, and it has very low prices. Sometimes, haggard looking ponies come in, and I give them a cake, and they become... so... hopeful. If I could bottle that up, and turn it into a cake, I suppose it would do very well. I like to see their faces, though, when I call them in, and they expect an angry hoof, and instead they get a cake. " she said thoughtfully.
Shade nodded. "I tried doing chores for the needy, but I always screwed things up. Sure, my flying's good, but I have butterhooves. So, I did what I do best." He looked at his cutie mark. "Stunts. It wasn't just the danger I loved, it was the little fillie's faces when they watched me. Their eyes had so much hope, and that translated to me. I was a role model of sorts, though their mothers never let them speak to me... That's why I joined the Academy. To be a better flyer. For the kids..."
Eluuna looked up into the sun. "Let's see what you can do. To the lunchroom. On your mark, get set, go!" she said, and with that, she fell, backwards from the cloud.
He smiled a bit and dashed towards the lunchroom, his mane leaving purple and black streaks through the air.
A sweet humming could be heard coming from Eluuna as she smiled. The humming increased in intensity, and suddenly, a cloud flitted in front of Shade's face. Then another. They didn't hurt, but only stopped him from a short while. Over the humming, a gust of laughter could be heard.
