Chapters Through her closed eyelids, Diablo could feel the sunlight Tearing through her room, like fire, as Mother undid her blinds. The warmth of the sun delicately Kissing her face.
“Diablo, it’s Time for school It’s your very first day. So we don’t want to be late, do you understand?”
Diablo did not understand. She tossed, she turned, she Squirmed under sheets trying to find the haven that was, the cool side of the pillow.
“Diablo, come one now. Don’t go messing with me at this hour. Celestia will not be pleased. She brought the sun up just for you.”
Celestia? That’s a strange word. What does it mean? Diablo could only wonder. Is Celestia the sun? How is she so far up in the sky?
Diablo’s puzzled thoughts, and curiosity Eventually convinced her. She slowly, with beginning to wriggle her little eyes under their blanketed eyelids. Eventually prizing her eyelids open, she began to slowly sit up, and mothers eyes met with hers.
“ What is the sun?” Asked Little Diablo.
“ that’s for me to know, and you to find out. Come, lets go to school.” Replied mother.
Diablo was only a young filly. Six years of age. So little fillies like her must only attend school for 3 hours. They don’t learn much.
Hello,
Goodbye,
Civil manors are injected into their brains, like Robots.
So off Diablo went to the Robot factory . Carried by her Pegasus father. The Circus was currently posted in Manehattan. And so Diablo’s school would change again, and again, and again. As they travelled from town to town. Ripped from friendships. Torn from School.
Diablo was at the door of school, with her father. The buzz of the classroom work, pushing it’s way through the door. Shrieks of laughter kicked out every so often. A silhouette, emerged behind the translucent door. A unicorn horn was visible as the main feature of the pony.
The door, Shone, glowed, as a yellow aura surrounded the form of the door.
A Breath of silence graced the room behind it. Before it all kicked off again, screaming and hollowing.
“ah, this must be young Diablo, please. Come in.”
She was lead. Diablo was lead, into the classroom. And the very first social situation she had been in. the politics begins here. There stood the unicorn. A Mare. A Silver mane, was all Diablo could see. All she could remember.
“Well, Mr. Lunacy, lunch is about to begin, since you where asked to arrive late, Diablo doesn’t get much learning today. She’s in safe hands. So you can return to your home.” Said the Teacher. “ Thanks, mrs…?” Questioned father. “ Mrs Kian.” Replied the Mysterious Unicorn.
Off went father, through the door. Will he ever come back? Diablo could only hope.
The other fillies and foals where sitting with their school meals. The smell of steamed spinach danced through the classroom. Diablo was given a meal by the teacher, and had been asked to go find a seat somewhere in the class. Diablo scanned the room with her eyes to see that there was a table of ponies, she waved to them with a free hoof, but she could see that there was no room there. Diablo looked Around. She saw a group of other ponies sitting close by, she Went over and sat down, Nervously.
“ Hello.” Said Diablo. A Few looks where tossed around the table. Some confused, some frustrated. “ Who are you” Asked one pony, “why are you sitting here?” asked another. Diablo felt fright and nerves pinch her. “ Because I’m new, I was hoping we could eat together? My mother likes to eat with me, but she makes sure I get all my veggies, that means I have to eat spinach all the time. But I prefer cake to be honest.”
Diablo began to ramble. The ponies around her began to irritate. One pony got up and moved.
“ Please, be quiet!” one pony spoke up. “oh, I’m sorry, my mother says I speak too much. It reminds me of the time I… never.. mind.”
Diablo continued her eating. it was silent for a full 7 minutes. no talking. Very boring.
Diablo finished her meal. And took her tray back to the kitchen area at the back of the classroom.
Diablo was feeling low for the rest of her school day. Her eyes drifted to the window. For she had shamed her social life. They sat on the carpet to listen to the teacher. Other ponies sat away from her. Words from the teacher Dragged on. Something about different types of ponies.
Seconds felt like minutes, Minutes seemed to tear into hours. Hours Dragged on as if they where days. Finally The bell chimed, And father was waiting outside.
“ How was your day?” Asked Father.
“ not good.” Replied Diablo.
“ come with me, lets talk about it.” Cooed father.
And he flew her home.
Diablo and her father had returned from school in what felt like a hurry. Speeds that small Diablo had not felt before. Flying fast is very fun. Perhaps the little Pegasus could fly very fast herself someday. Father dropped Diablo and hurried behind the curtains inside the tent. She could hear rustles of material and clothes being put on. Come to think of it, Diablo could hear an awful lot of talking coming form the main performance area.
Diablo wondered in a daze towards the curtains, hearing buzzes and voices. Do we have guests around?
“Diablo?” Came a squeak from behind her
Hoops was there, He looked worried. “ Diablo, I’m performing for the first time. I’m scared.” Diablo Thought for a moment, her eyes scanned the floor in hopes of finding some sort of reply. There is a flat silence, nothing could be heard except the murmurs behind the curtains.
“Diablo?” Came the voice again. She looks up. “Hoops.” Begins the blue Pegasus. “you don’t have to worry, please pretend I am with you okay? I’ll watch from the bars…”
“the bars?” replied a confused Hoops. “ yeah. The bars. All the way up there!” pointed Diablo, up to the metal bars that held up the tent. “ and I’ll tell you what, I’ll wave at you too” Diablo smiled.
Hoops chucked. “Alright then, Have faith in me, Diablo!” He Chuckled. “oh, Shoot, that’s my que!” He interrupted his laughter. As the crowds roars Stared to bellow louder.
“I have faith in you! Good luck!” Diablo said As Hoops went through the curtains, Her gaze left the arena, And she looked up to the nearest Set of bars. “hm… I won’t be able to reach if I flutter… oh, The Diabolo!” She Exclaimed, as she glanced to it leaning up against a spare rack of lights. She grabbled the Two sticks and slung them over a pole, She shuffled her way up, And re-slung them quickly. She managed the flutter along a more Horizontal Set of bars. She saw the audience over the top of the tent walls and bounced over a few more so she could see hoops.
He looked nervous, Very nervous. His hoop was sat lazily on his hips and a few linked together over his arm. Music began to play. Happy music, jolly music. Diablo began to sway to the music, it was so enticing!
Hoops Reared onto his back legs and slowly swung his hips around, Motioning the hoop into a circular movement around him.
Soon enough the music began to pick up its pace, and so did hoops, His hips began to swing faster, And the hoop began to look like a disk because of the speed.
Diablo began to hum and sway to the music, and hoops didn’t look to nervous anymore, in fact he was smiling!
What Diablo didn’t realise that with her swaying, she was loosening nuts and bolts on the poles, and soon enough the structure around her began to move.
“Wah.. oh!” She panicked to herself quietly, as she would not shout. She frantically turned around and Attempted to fix the screws. “ Father, other, help.” She whispered powerfully at the people bellow, a string from the tent came loose and the sheet flapped about in the night air, she couldn’t climb down the structure now and look for help in fear she would bring down the whole tent.
She saw the gap in the tend that had just formed and fluttered out of it. She bounced off the tent’s walls and hit the floor. “ Nyah.. Oh. My. “ she moaned as she recovered from falling a few feet. “ Mother, Father Help!” she shouted louder, since she was outside now”
“Diablo, what in Equestria are you doing here on the floor!” Mother said
“I.. Tent.. Poles are.. loose, gonna.. fall. “ She panted.
“Diablo, What did you do.”
Diablo caught her breath. “ I. I Was on the Bars, and they loosened!”
DONG
Could be heard from inside the tent, Mother didn’t reply, She just Galloped into the tent. Diablo got up and dashed in behind her, One of the poles had fallen, luckily not in the performance arena. Father grabbed the pole and temporally wedged the pole back into its place while he went to get his tools.
“Diablo. You are a disaster” Her mother huffed at her in Disbelief.
“Um. Hoo hoo..” Diablo chucked nervously, in attempts to mend the situation.
Diablo lay there, in her bed. Nothing but simple candlelight warmed the room with a dim crimson light. It was her time to sleep, but not quite. She waited for her mother to return, With a book. She loved stories before she fell asleep, happy stories, Sad stories. Anything that would let her mind drift. Mother returned with a Dark blue book. It was graced with a light dusting of blue glitter, and dazzled the room from any light that may have reflected from it in a blue glow.
“Mother” Diablo started. “ What’s that book you’ve gotten’ There?” She asked, Excitedly. She leapt out of bed and gave the book a closer look, upon closer examination the book was titled: “Bringing home the storm”
Diablo dismissed the fact that there was no name as to who had written it. “ Settle down now, my filly” Mother began. She tucked her filly under her bed sheets, and sat to rest on a neighbouring rocking chair.
“Bringing home the storm” Said mother.
“Once upon a time there was a pony who was a white as snow, her hair was as red as blood and as Dark as night. This was an unhappy pony. Life had not treated her well. She ran and hid from her father, who was not a loving pony.
YOU ARE A FALIURE. They would shout at her.”
Mother stopped reading, and looked at the next sentence. She took a deep breath before reading:
~'They are all just echoes, voices from long ago. A different time, a different place, a different lifetime.’ ~
She had rid all chances of ever becoming a good flyer. She was after all, only a young flyer.
She was a strange one. Always talking to herself, She Suffered from nightmares, they say. An unknown creature infested her dreams. Taunting her, Mocking her. She never knew where she could call home. All she wanted was a friend. By the time she had Reached her special talent, All she was good at where Taking on the nightmares this creature had conjured up for her.
Then one day, She met a princess. She had been talking to this princess in her mind, But never for real. The princess sought out for her, And she saved her. She had special Dream walking Abilities like no other pony had ever seen, and together they worked hard on trying to defeat the creature of nightmares.”
“Wowsie!” Diablo jumped up. “ I Want to meet the white pony from the story, Mother, I want to meet her tomorrow!”
Mother lightly chucked at her fillies exclamations. “ My filly, you know those are only stories. Goodnight.” She kissed her filly on the forehead and silently closed the door to her room, to let her sleep.
“How dismissive!” Diablo Argued to herself. “only stories. Pah. I’ll prove her wrong. I’ll ask Mrs Kian!”
Diablo had noticed that mother had ‘foolishly’ left the book on the tableside. Diablo made no haste or stealthy moves to retrieve it. She Went full fledged mental, And jumped onto the table.
Diablo read through the Book, Taking in each word carefully.
~‘I'm still waiting for the day when I get a friend that is true and will not just leave me and stay by my side forever..’’~ (Chapter 1)
“huh..” Diablo Let out a sigh of understanding. She had never had a friend either. “ pah, nonsense”Diablo Told herself. “ you have plenty of friends like mother, father, hoops, and your family.”
“let me just be grateful for that.” She smiled to herself. “ But, I guess it would be good to make my own friends, Would I be friends with my family if they where not my family?” She pondered.
Still, She had a feeling of empathy in her gut. “oh, I don’t think it’s out of neglect I feel this way, it’s something different, like. Ignorance. Yes. Ignorant ponies.” She Concluded. And with that, Diablo fell asleep.
It had been a few months now, and it was time for the Lunacies to pick up sticks and move onto another town, Diablo was happy, as she didn’t have to Go to great lengths to talk to the fillies in that particular class anymore, she can now start fresh, Word in the tent is that they’re heading for canterlot, My how sophisticated!
‘’and now it’s time to show em’ our stuff!’’ Diablo Said proudly to father, who she helped roll up the last of the main tent with the rest of the family. It’d been a long day, and they’re not done yet, Diablo’s gotta carry the tent pegs on a small carriage, all the way to Canterlot. That’s on the other side of Equestria!
“Make sure, they’re neat and stacked well, make sure the bag is tied correctly, and don’t trip or fall, okay?” Father Briefed to her as he Piled the bag of pegs onto her small carriage, she backed into the front, and he bolted her in, ready for action!
The rest of the family carried hevier objects, like the poles, the chairs, the base, and all other aspects of the tent that you could possibly imagine, on top of that, all props and apparatus, like mother and fathers acrobatics trapezium.
They had been trekking for around five hours, through the woods, and they where heading for the hollow shades to rest, a small Forest village, smaller than ponyville.
Diablo Hurried her pace as she was lagging behind the moving family. She slid between several cousins, and hurried past aunts and uncles in order to catch up with mother. Diablo looked up to mother and asked “ Mother.. Why can’t we take a.. t…. the train?” She stuttered. Mother chuckled. “ Diablo, look how big our tent and poles are!” She said, looking back, presenting Her large carriage, along with the rest of the Lunacy family and their carriages. “there’s no room for the likes of us getting on a train.. Besides. It will keep us tough.” She reassured her.
Diablo slouched under her carriage. “ouf.. So far. How long until we get to the shades?” She asked.
“ An hour and a half walk, sweetie.” Mother told Diablo.
“ An hour and a half? Awh! No fair!” Complained the tired filly.
The hours dragged on, Diablo had fallen behind again. The only light that was worth being near was the torch strung from her carriage. The Lunacy family’s torches where too far ahead for her to see well. She slung her head down.
“Yo Diablo” Came a voice “ Yeah, Hello!” Said another, Her head came up, to her right was Hoops, To her left, Warlock, Her favourite cousin, a unicorn who was the lead assistant for the magic show, he was Quite a bit older, he was 13. “ Why have you slowed down? Are you tired?” Asked Warlock. Diablo nodded lightly.
“well, we can’t have that then can we? Hoops, Unstrap her, for my next trick, I will Carry… Two Carts!” Hoops and Diablo gasped in Sarcastic ‘amazement’. They both chucked. Hoops unbuckled the Weak Diablo from her cart, And used a tent rope to tie it onto the back of Warlocks cart. “Thank you warlock.” Sniffed Diablo.
“oh, Anything for my Silly filly!” He Winked.
''Hey, What do you suppose the big hoof will be like?" Hoops asked Warlock
"The big hoof?" Questioned Diablo
"Yeah, Canterlot" Hoops replied.
Warlock thought over his words. "well, I went there once, I was very little though. just under one year of age. just two years before you where born, Hoops. This was back when auntie crackerjack was doing her own show, I was with her at the time. she said it was, big. and royal. and everyone there speaks posh.. That's all I can say about it really."
Diablo and Hoops look at each other in delight.
" But, Crackerjack always told me about the statue garden. her favorite is the magic statue, she used to go there when she was younger. she told me it inspired her to study magic tricks." He continued.
Diablo's eyes widened. " Statues? of ponies? Are they still alive?"
Warlock chuckled. " No, i'm sure they're just stone. hey, I Tell you what, let's see if crackerjack can take us there after we set up the tent."
As they say, Doesn’t time seem to fly when you’re having fun?
“oh, I see it!” Said hoops, The other two looked ahead to see an orange glow in the distance, The Lunacy family Where already there.
The Hollow shades was right ahead!
The three picked up the pace, And made their way towards the warm village in the woods.
It Was a rainy day, once. The small ponies could not practice in the Rain.
It was too wet, and cold to play outside. Though this saddens her, Diablo was determined to make her family Smile, and perhaps practice their tricks once more.
Hoops Sat there. On the edge of the tent, Staring inventively out towards the cloudy smog. His eyes, Flickering as the rain fell. His pupils Dancing with each individual Raindrop that fell.
“ Hoops.” Diablo Called to him. He cast aside his glare, his eyes met with hers. “ Do you want to practice again? Don’t sit there, with your hoop so sad. The sun will come out to play soon.” She said, innocently.
“come, sit, Sister.” Said hoops. Though he was her brother, she couldn’t help but to feel uncomfortable. There she sat. Next to him. His eyes, withering. “ why is everything Grey.” He said, with Sadness biting his tone.
“ Well.” Diablo said, as she put a hoof on her Older brothers shoulder, Feeling his cold, Damp fur on her warm, Dry hooves. “ sometimes things are grey Because the sky is sad. That’s what aunt crackerjack said. But the sky is always happy eventually. Because they have to. Nobody is Sad forever.” She said. Confidence striking her voice. positive energy lit up her voice. Like fire.
“What happens if a pony is sad forever?” He Asked. Bitterly. Diablo looked out into the grey, foggy, endless Rain. She paused. And focused on her words. The light pitter patter of rain, intensified into a louder Bump, Smack, Boom. As the rain hit the circus tent. The rain began to cluster, on the tent, and fall together, creating a waterfall. Diablo refused to speak, as she saw this rain.
“you see how the Rain falls, Hoops? Imagine the rain is the Sad in the world. The sad eventually vanishes, like the rain does on the floor. The water supports flowers, to bring happiness to ponies. If a pony is sad. They could maybe be making somepony else happy at least. So if there is ever a pony who is always sad. It is not in vein.”
Diablo Leaned her head outside of the tent, and smiled at the rain. “ hello, Rain” she said. “ Lovely to meet you. Are you off to see flowers? They would appreciate that.”
Eventually the rains thumps, Silenced into pitter paters, and eventually. The rain went back home. And the sun came to play again.
“ wow, sister, did you make the rain go home?” questioned her older brother, clutching his hoop. “ I guess I did.” Said Diablo as she Looked out of the Tent, to what is now the sun.
‘’We can go and play now. We need to make our tricks look good, remember?’’ She said.
So off went Diablo, and Hoops. And they played in the sun.
One Day mother Tried to Teach Diablo how to use the Diabolo properly. Diablo saw her. Her spins. Her turns. How the Diabolo glided so gracefully across the string. How it bounced from one stick to another, effortlessly. Like sixth sense. “ you see, my Diablo, if you master this. You can headline our performances!”
Diablo stared, confused at the Diabolo. “ mother, What is a headline performances?”
Mother kneeled down to her filly. “ my dear Diablo, you will be leading the show some day. Though you can only walk. And just about talk. Soon you will grabbing the plant by the stalk. I know you can handle that.”
She handed her Daughter her sticks. And placed the Diabolo on the floor.
“ now I want you to pick up that Diabolo from the floor.”
Diablo hit the Poor Diabolo with her sticks, in attempts to please her mother for moving the Diabolo. “I Did it.” Sneered Diablo, cheekfully. “ do I have to do it. I do not want to do it.” Exclaimed the small filly. “ you have to do it. For the circus.” Replied her mother.
The small filly protested. But she had no choice. This pony was the future of the circus. No circus means no fun. And that would have made Diablo more sad than anything in the world. “ can we have music? I would feel a lot better if there was music, mother.” Said Diablo
“ how about I sing to you? Start with the Diabolo on the floor. And you must have your Diabolo in your string by the time I finish, Fair?” Bartered the mother.
“okay..” Said Diablo, With the Diablo on the floor, as requested.
Mother began to hum,
Mother behan to sing,
Soon enough, Diablo was flapping her wings. The song’s beat went in time with her fluters. The music was so soft, that mother made no stutters.
“ My small Filly, My young filly.~
I Believe in you, that you’ll bring this circus to gold, ~
And out of shame.~
For the times come to prove now.~
What we are worth.~
That we are the Lunacy’s~
And we are Equestria circus~”
“ mother.” Diablo stopped. “ hm..hm- yes, my Diablo?” mother said.
“is the Circus in danger?” Diablo asked. “ oh, no, of course not. With your help we will be fine.
“ then why are you singing that song?” Pushed Diablo. “it’s just, we ..” Mother began to Stutter. Which is an unknown skill. Mother walked away. Out of the room. Why did she do that? Diablo wondered.
Well. I must continue to practice. Let me go find Hoops And Warlock. Thought the filly. As she stepped outside into the glow of the morning sun.
Meanwhile. There was her mother and her father, Aqua and Velocity Lunacy.
“How are we looking, Velocity..” Murmured Aqua.
“Where have you been? I’ve just finished calculating the Bills we owe to the landlord for setting up here. It’s not looking good. We’re going to have to fully sell out if we want to Scrape past the bills.”
This was a Dark Day, for the Lunacy Family.