Red June had never really been comfortable with the title of princess, even after she married Valiant Heart. She never wore the crown, hated the flowery dresses, and prefered tromping around in the garden than sipping tea with her in-laws. She got along well with Shining Armor, although she didn’t really know what Cadance thought of her, even if Valiant Heart expressed that her mother-in-law adored her.
 
She never really felt that she fit in, even after Valentine was born. Red June was a bit older than most mares when she had her filly, so she received many an odd look when she was seen around the empire with Valiant on her hoof and a baby carriage. Valentine was an adorable unicorn filly, freckled and warm in her hooves. She could never get over how much she looked like her father and how much she looked like herself. Even though she knew that the filly wasn’t, she could never shake the feeling she saw the shimmer of crystal in her eyes or in the sheen of her hair.
 
Valentine grew up alongside her friend’s children, Apollo and Oasis and Idie, and they were all great friends. Valentine was a very friendly filly, even if she had a hard time paying attention during class. She was a social butterfly, but also somewhat nosy when she heard of ponies in relationships. She adored Hearts and Hooves day, and even set up a lemonade-esque booth where she sold romance advice to ponies who were having a hard time admitting their feelings to their special somepony. Red was embarrased by this sometimes, but Cadance seemed overjoyed that her granddaughter seemed to take after her talent-wise. This caused both mothers to bond, and make Red June feel more at home.
 
As the years passed and Valentine seemed to be begging for her cutie-mark, Red June began growing too old for the planet. At long last she left Equestria quietly in her sleep, found by her husband the prince.
 
The funeral was held in Ponyville in Sweet Apple Acres, her birthplace and home. Prince Valiant Heart thought she would appreciate going home before being settled into the earth.
 

 
Prince Valiant Heart slowly made his way through the uncut grass of Sweet Apple Acres towards the apple acres, the sweet smell of ripe apples tickling his nose as he neared her grave. It had been months after her death, and it seemed he was unable to go any longer than a month without visiting her grave once. This was his third or fourth time visiting her, and it was always almost too hard to bear.
 
Why? Why did she have to die? She had so much life inside her. He still remembered the mud she used to track in from the garden inside the castle and over the rugs. Sometimes he would see the hoof marks left behind, unable to be scrubbed out by magic. He remembered the scent of freshly squeezed apple cider that seemed to follow her wherever she went, on her mane and coat, and how her green eyes went cross whenever he surprised her with a kiss.
 
He bowed his head to the grave, his knees feeling like jelly. But he couldn’t collapse. He had to be strong. For her.
 
Tears stained his coat as he heard the soft sound of tiny hooves approaching him from behind. He knew it was his daughter before even looking back. Red June used to say that Valentine was so much like her grandmother, but Valiant knew she was also so much like her mother. The way she cocked her head and was willing to get dirty. She might appear to be outgoing, but she was also very self-conscious about the opinions of others. Whenever he saw these things that Valentine would do to remind him of Red, he had to duck his head and bite his lip to keep that lump in his throat from growing into tears.
 
Valentine stopped beside her father, not looking at him. She stared at the grave with a small frown on her lips, as if she were unable to comprehend that her mother was below the headstone in front of her. It seemed so odd, so… unfeasible for her mother to be just… gone. But she knew that wasn’t the whole truth. She knew her mother was still here.
 
It was in the air around her, the rustling of the leaves in the orchard, the scent of apples and fresh rain. She could remember the feeling of mud under her hooves as her mother taught her how to weed the garden and plant the saplings of apple trees, how to recognize poisonous plants and edible ones. She could recall the thunder of rain as they would run around and skip in the downpour, laughing and flipping their manes out of their faces.
 
How could that mare that she knew somehow end up six feet under in a grass hill? It just couldn’t be so.  
But she knew it was, no matter how much she wanted it not to be. She couldn’t stop time or change the past, and the day was still growing long towards the evening.
 
“Dad?” She asked quietly. The wind seemed to quiet as she spoke, as if wishing to hear what she had to say.
 
Valiant took a moment to respond, almost unable to wrench his eyes away from the grave. “Yes, Val?”
 
It was a long time before she would speak again. She herself seemed to be unsure what to say. She just wanted something, anything to break this moment of silence and loneliness between them. They were almost strangers living in the same castle. They had been so close once, as daughter and father should, but the death of Red had slashed a hole in their hearts, so large that they couldn’t reach each other.
 
She bit her lip before turning to her father once more, “She’s still with us, you know?”
 
For Valiant, it was hard to even think about Red being gone. Every day he woke up, expecting her to be by his side, nuzzling into his chest or his back, but to be greeted by a cold bed instead. He dreamt of her every night, of coming into the garden to see her planting like usual, to be surprised when Valiant began sobbing about how much he had missed her and how she would smile and say she had never left. Valiant would always wake up wracked with tears, and curl up into bed with the covers tangled in his hooves. This was the price of immortality, of these wings.
 
But, whenever he began cursing them, he would remember he would have left Valentine behind if he had joined his beloved wife. That was one of the only things that kept him sane, that kept his heart pumping. Even if they were not as close as they once were, he loved his daughter. He was proud of her and everything he knew she could accomplish. She was her mother’s daughter as much as his own.
 
Swallowing back the lump in his throat, he looked back up at his daughter and smiled a soft, sad smile, a tear escaping the corner of his eye.
 
“Yes, of course she’s still with us, Valentine. She’s right here.”