Mother

Mother

[I do not own My Little Pony; MLP is copy right of Hasbro and Lauren Faust]

By: Rainwater12

"Get out you street rat!" the store manager yelled, throwing a frying pan at the little girl who was running away from the store. Ducking her head on instinct, the pan flew over her head and clanged loudly against the back alley wall. Barely skimming her long, ratted, black hair.

That'll show ya!" The man shouted shaking his fist over his head.

The girl continued running, tears streaming out of her eyes like a river. She passed through the alleyway out to the street and was immediately swept away in the crowd of busy New-Yorkers. No one noticed the girl as she struggled to escape the evening crowd. She had forgotten about the mob of people in her hurry to escape the cruel shop owner.

Finally escaping the crowd, she walked into another alley and began rummaging through the dumpsters. Her stomach growled with the unending hunger that tortured her day and night.

While she was digging, she failed to notice the man standing behind her,

"Hello," he said. His voice was raspy with years of cigarettes. The pale girl gasped and turned around, the dumpster slamming shut with a loud bang behind her. The man appeared to be in his late fifties and had wrinkled tan skin. He looked at her curiously,

"The big bad streets of New Yawk ain't a place for a young little girl. Where're your parents?" the man croaked, his voice sounded with a Brooklyn accent. The girl's eyes widened with fear as she squeaked her answer, her voiced slipped and drawled due to her lack of education

"I-I don't h-have any."

"Do ya' live in an orphanage?"

The girl shuddered, horrible memories of being ridiculed and spending nights sleeping on the floor, no one had ever let her sleep in the cots. The mistress never lifted a finger to ever help her either. There was a reason why she ran away two years ago . She new there were other orphanages out there, ones that had friendly people and nice comfortable beds for everyone, but she was too scared to take any chances. So she roamed the streets looking for food and a new place to sleep every night. It wasn't the best lifestyle, but it was better than the orphanage.

"N-no sir." She murmured.

"What's yer name?"

"I-I don't have o-one," the girls voice was soft, slightly high pitched, and shy.

"What? No name? Okay then, how old are you?"

"Seven years old I-I think." She never knew her real birthday, the mistress never even told when she was found, she never bothered to give her a name either.

"Are you hungry?" The girl stopped looking at her feet and her head snapped up, her dark royal blue eyes looked up at the man with wary hope. He reached into an old potato sack and pulled out a McDonald's Happy Meal bag, the fatty smell of fries and chicken nuggets filled the musty polluted air of the ally. The hungry child's mouth watered and her stomach growled in hunger.

"Here, we can share, my name is Trotter by tha' way." Trotter opened the bag and handed her the small box of french fries and five chicken nuggets on a paper plate, he took the other five nuggets and began to eat.

The seven year old devoured the fries her pains of hunger ebbing away with every bite, but when she saw the nuggets she pushed them back to Trotter. He looked up at her and said,"No no, I ain't gonna take 'em, you need your food."

"Um I-I don't mean to be r-rude b-but I don't eat meat. You can have them." The thought of eating a creature that was once living terrified and disgusted the girl. She shuddered at the very thought of it.

The scruffy man look at her and scratched his long brown beard it seemed to be partly dyed a dark shade of blue. making sure she had made her final decision and took the nuggets.

"So," Trotter said coughing slightly, "How did ya end up on the streets? Are ya lost?"

The shy frail girl looked at the ground, tears fell freely from her eyes and the man instantly realized that he'd said something wrong.

"Oh um I'm sorry, I didn't..." his voice trailed off as the girl's shoulders lurched with every grief filled sob.

"I-I-I just want a mamma, I w-want to leave this awful city, I wanna find a-a real home. I want to go somewhere happy, where-where everyone has h-happy endings. Where I can have family; or at least a nice c-clean street to live on with plenty of f-food."

Her face was now red and wet with tears, her midnight black hair mopping over her face.

Trotter put his hand on the nameless child's shoulder,tears were dripping off of his cheeks now too,"I think that can be arranged," He sighed. A steadiness in his voice that his appearance didn't define.

"Follow me." he stood up and motioned for her to follow him and started to walk down to the back of the alley. She knew she shouldn't follow a strange man into the dark alleyway, but her curiosity got the best of her. Standing up, she followed the man into the dark, musty alley way.

As she followed Trotter, she remembered the day that she left the awful orphanage...

///

"Get back here you runt!" The mistress shouted as the pale skinned child jumped through the first story window.

" Get back here right now!" The girl's feet hit the roadside sidewalk and she instantly started to run. She was never going back there, to that terrible, cruel, orphanage. Once she had been safely swept away by the midnight crowd, she gave her self a moment to relax. Slipping into an alleyway, she sat down on a closed dumpster and caught her breath. Her stomach growled and she began to wish that she had taken some food from the kitchen before she left. 'But I'm never going back, never.' she thought rubbing her ankles.

"Well, who's this scrap? You got any money street rat?" Gasping, girl turned around to see a man standing behind her. He had tattoos covering his arms and legs, his shirt was torn and he wore a leather biker jacket. Pointing at her, he said,

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Do you got any money?"

Terrified the girl whispered,"N-no I don't h-have any money."

"Well that's to bad", he sneered, a devilish glint in his eyes,"Your lying to me, it's naughty to lie little girl."

"B-but I'm not lying," the girl murmured, backing up against an alley wall. This man was scaring her.

"Okay then, you won't willingly give me your money? I'll just have to beat it outta you." He reached into his large bag and pulled out a wooden baseball bat. Preparing to strike the five year old, he lifted it over his head.

Screaming, the five year old held her hands over her head in a defensive position. The bat came swinging down with a whistle, only for it to suddenly swerve to the left.

"what the..." The man looked at his bat, it was covered in a dark blue glow. He dropped the it and looked at the girl, stupid enough to forget about it and go back to the child. She was still cowering against the wall. He snarled and tried to bring a fist down on her. Only to see it become engulfed in an eerie, blue fire. It was his turn to scream now as the flames completely engulfed him. They didn't burn, but they were enough to terrify the man. The bat flew up and hit him in the foot.

He instantly lost it.

Screeching like a madman, he ran out onto the streets. Once he reached the open space the fire immediatly dispersed, people looked as the man ran down the street,screaming that he was on fire.

///

They walked through the alleyway for what seemed to be an hour.The alley should have ended by now, The child thought,why is it so long?

After another five minutes, they came up to an abandoned staircase, it led downwards to what seemed to be a subway tunnel.

"Come on," Trotter said,"this way."

He began to walk down the staircase, the girl followed.

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, the narrow tunnel opened up to a large subway station. The girl looked at it with fascination, this station had to be over fifty years old.

"Over here," Trotter said, a far away look on his face. He seemed to be lost in memories of his past. As he walked towards the track the girl finally had the courage to ask, "Uh mister Trotter,"

"Trotter is fine." He said.

"why did you take me here?" She questioned, tensing for fear of what he would do to her. During her first few months on the streets, she had made the mistake more than once of following strangers into an alleyway and paying dearly for it.

"You will soon see." He murmured, the faraway look still in his eyes, "This tunnel brings back so many memories, I haven't been here in twenty years." A smile came across his face, hinting to the girl that those memories must have been good ones. "Come over here," the man motioned for her to come towards him, she obeyed. Holding out his hand he said,

"now hold my hand." Looking up at him, the child saw kindness pity in the man's eyes. No one had ever looked at her that way. She clasped his rough hand in her frail bony one. He gave her a smile, "I only have enough power left for one last trip, I am making a sacrifice for you. I'll never be able to go back and I assume you'll never want to. You will find what you seek, But don't worry about me. I'll once again start anew." He spoke those kind words with a noble voice that was nothing like the one he had spoken with before. Taking in a breath he added, "I want you to think about all the happiest moments in your life, think about leaving this place. Put all your heart into it."

Struggling to remember the few happy moments of her life, the day she escaped the orphanage. The time she met Trotter a few hours ago, the meal he shared with her. It wasn't much for happiness, but it was enough for the girl. A warm happiness began to fill her.

When she opened her eyes, a bright, red glow had begun to surround her. Shocked, she looked at Trotter. He too, was surrounded by the beautiful glow.

At first she was terrified and the glow began to weaken.

"Stay happy." He said, "or it won't work."

When she realized that the glow couldn't hurt her, the joy began to fill her again. The glow strengthened, But this time it came from the tunnel. A loud rattle of a subway car filled the station.

This subway tunnel was too old for any trains to come through, the other end of the tunnel was cut off by a warning sign and a wall.

"Trotter," the dark haired girl whispered, "where did that subway come from?"

"Far away." He answered, "Very far away."

When the subway car pulled up , the child was surprised to see a small train, it didn't even look real, like a cartoon one that she sometimes saw on billboards.

Trotter, the child's hand still in his, stepped onto the train as it stopped in front of them. A sudden rattle seemed to shake the entire station and a strange black and white spiral opened up. Trotter stepped through it without hesitation and the two homeless people were sucked through with a thwipping sound. The girl screamed at the top of her small voice as a sickening spiral sent her spinning into oblivion.

She opened her eyes seconds later to stare face to face with a terrifying wolf , made completely of wood. For a second she believed it to be a statue. Until it growled and lunged for her.

She screamed and tried to run away, but her leg was stuck underneath a root that hadn't been there seconds before. The root then lurched up, swinging the poor child up by her ankles, and swished her back and forth. Screaming all the time, she flailed her arms about in attempt to release herself from the monstrous tree. The wooden wolf below her jumped up and swung it's claws, trying to catch the girl.

Losing all hope that she would escape from this, the girl closed her eyes and began to cry. The sounds of the creaking tree and howling wolf filled her ears and she felt nothing but despair wash over her. The tree seemed to strengthen itself and began to shake her more furiously.

Suddenly, the howling stopped and was replaced by the sound of splintering wood. The root's hold on the girl was also weakened, allowing her to pry herself from it's grasp. Falling to the ground into a pile of sticks and logs, the girl thought that she was safe for the moment. She then crawled underneath a bush to hide herself from any other predators.

She was scared, didn't know where she was, and had just been attacked by terrifying monsters. Curling into a ball, she whimpered and cried in fear. A loud, booming voice sounded from a short distance away,

"CURSE THEE TIMBER WOLF AND ENCHANTED TREE! I WILL NOT ALLOW SUCH BEASTS TO LIVE IN OUR PART OF THE FOREST! RETURN TO THE EVERFREE WHERE THEE BELONGS!"

The child gasped at the intense loudness of the voice and shifted farther into the bush, unintentionally causing it to shake. The voice, now much quieter, spoke again. "Whose there? We do not appreciate those who hide from us in bushes. We order thee to show thyself." The sound of footsteps coming towards her made the girl curl into an even smaller ball. Rustling leaves and a small gasp told the girl that the person had seen her. She then whispered, her voice barely audible,

"P-please, don't hurt m-me."

The voice spoke again, but this time it wasn't shouting or angry, it was regal and kind. "Why would we hurt you? It is our duty to take care of all our subjects, young one."

The child looked up to see two beautiful, teal-blue eyes that sparkled like the stars. Looking past the beautiful eyes was an elegant, dark blue pony with a mane that waved and glowed like the nighttime sky. The pony then spoke to her with the royal voice she had heard seconds before, "We are Luna, who are you?"