Nightshade

"It's a girl!" The doctor's

voice resounded clearly through the delivery room.

The young father, a unicorn stallion, stood next to his wife's bedside holding her hoof.

"Did you hear that dear? It's a girl! Why, she looks almost as beautiful as you," he remarked, grinning from ear to ear as the nurses took the foal to be cleaned up.

"That's wonderful sweetie," the mare managed between deep breaths, still winded from delivery. "Whose side does she take after?"

"She's a unicorn like her dashing young father," he responded with pride, leaning in to kiss his wife on the forehead.

"Great, counting you I'll now have two kids running around the house playing with magic," she stated with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice.

The nurses soon came back with the unicorn foal and placed her in her mother's care. The new parents sat admiring their little miracle for what seemed hours. She had a gray coat like her mother and a silver mane that glistened when the light shone upon it. Her blue eyes were wide open, examining this strange new world that she had just been plunged into with a look of wonder.

"Have you decided what you want to call her?"  enquired a nurse pony who had just entered the room.

The new mother pondered for a moment, looking at the foal who had now fallen asleep on her forelegs, then gave a response.

"Let's just stick with something simple then. I'll call her... Flower. She'll bloom into a beautiful, talented young mare one day, just like her mother," she said, returning her husband's earlier joke.

The pony took a few notes and walked out without another word, leaving the couple to themselves again.

After a few minutes the father spoke once more. "Alright, Daddy's got to get back to the factory my little Flower; he's already an hour late for his shift. You take good care of your mommy for me." The young stallion gave both his wife and new daughter a kiss, grabbed his things, and headed out of the room.

The young mother laid the foal in its cradle. She sat back and watched the foal's quick, rhythmic breathing until she too began slipping into her own dreamland.

--Four years later--

"Alright Flower you can go play outside for a few minutes." Flower’s father said as he finished his dinner.

"Yay!" Flower shot up from her seat at the table and hurriedly ran outside. Every night before she went to bed her father would let her go outside to pick some of the beautiful flowers he had told her she was named after. Sometimes she liked to pick some to give to her mother but usually she just ate them herself. She decided to give some to her mother tonight though since she had eaten them all the night before. After she picked what she deemed a sufficient number she decided to take some white ones, yellow ones, and red ones to her mother.

"Here, I picked these for you!" She offered them up to her mother who was sitting on the sofa reading the paper.

"Hmm? Oh, thank you dear," she said halfheartedly, patting Flower on the head before returning to her reading.

"Are you ok, Mommy?" Flower leapt up onto the sofa and nuzzled up close to her mother.

The mare let out a deep sigh before responding, "Yes dear I'm fine, mommy's just tired is all. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be getting to bed?"

"Ok..." Flower hugged her mother. "I love you Mommy."

Her mother returned the hug tightly. "I love you too my little Flower."

Not long after Flower had gotten cozy in her bed she heard a familiar disturbance.

"Uh oh..."

She didn't like when her parents yelled at each other. They said they weren't angry but Flower wasn't so sure she believed them.

"You're never here for her! You're at work from dawn 'til dusk and hardly get a chance to spend time with either of us!" The voice of Flower’s mother rang out through the halls, breaking the silence of the night.

"Well I'm sorry but somepony's gotta bring home the bits around here and you sure as hell don't!" Flower's father snapped back.

         Flower's mother began sobbing.

"That's because I'm raising our daughter! You think I just sit around on my flank all day?! Once she gets into school I can start working part time but until then I have to be here for her; we can't afford a sitter right now!"

Flower tried her best to block out the yelling with her pillow, but to no avail. It continued for what seemed like at least an hour before Flower finally managed to cry herself to sleep.

-Seven years later-

Flower didn't want to go to school today. Not one bit.

The cries of the bullies still echoed within her head. "Blank flank! Blank flank!"

Her parents had been fighting again last night too. They had stopped for a while when she first began school but after several years she was starting to notice it happen nearly every night. It didn't keep her from sleeping anymore; she had learned to tune it out. Their fighting still made her feel sick though, especially because her parents acted like it never happened when she asked them about it. Because of that she assumed there was nothing she could do to help, so she just continued ignoring it. She wearily forced herself to get out of bed. She let out a large yawn and prepared herself for the day ahead before walking into the kitchen.

"Morning, dear." Her mother was in the kitchen, brewing coffee.

"Morning Mom." Flower sat down at the kitchen table and watched the sun coming up over the peak of the evergreens that grew near her home. She could feel its warm rays beating down on her face through the windows and as it sent a comforting warmth through her body she couldn't help but smile a little bit.

"How's dad doing?" she asked her mother, still soaking in the sun's therapeutic warmth.

"Still has that nasty cold; he won't be going to work today." She poured some of the steaming hot coffee into a mug and delivered it to her husband, who was half asleep on the sofa, then returned to the kitchen. "Would you be a dear and take care of breakfast for me before you go?"

"Sure thing Mom." Flower got up from her seat at the table and took a step outside into the cold winter air. The frigid wind was a harsh transition from her warm spot by the window and it sent an uncomfortable chill down her spine. They couldn't afford to buy much food lately, so she usually had to forage for flowers and berries for their meals. She didn't mind it that much though, since she had always loved the varying plant life that grew in the area behind their home. She picked a wide variety of flowers and even found a few new ones today, which she would add to her collection later.

Flower didn't have much of an appetite today; there were too many other things on her mind for her to worry about eating. The anticipation of the inevitable bullying about her blank flank at school and the fight her parents would probably have tonight was making her feel sick. She wished she could make things better for her parents so that she could see them smile again.

She stepped back inside and left the wicker basket, which was now filled with a colorful plethora of different blooms and berries, on the table for her parents. "I'm going to head to school now Mom. Breakfast is on the table."

"Alright, have a good day."

Flower started to head out the front door but then stopped and called back.

"Love you Mom, love you Dad." They didn't seem to hear her though, as they simply continued with what they were doing. Flower headed out into the busy streets and started trotting to the schoolhouse. A lone tear fell from her cheek as she went.

School went as she expected it would that day. She was bullied about her blank flank during recess, her classes were a bore besides herbology, and she sat with the few friends she had at lunch. It was routine to her now.

Why should I be popular? I’m poor, I don't play any sports, and I don't even have a talent for crying out loud. I’m simply a nopony and I have to accept that.

After what seemed like an eternity the school bell finally rang and she was free to head back home where at least she knew she was loved. Even if it wasn't the best situation, it was her haven.

When she walked down the street she liked to observe some of the lives of the townsponies. Bakers were setting out freshly made pies, gardeners were watering their crops, and the town guard were attending to emergencies. Everypony seemed busy, but they all seemed happy too. She wanted her family to be happy like that. Maybe, she thought, if she got a talent that made a lot of money, she could make her parents happy too.

When she was nearing her home she noticed that there was some activity going on inside. Two royal guards were coming out of the door each carrying what looked like lumpy sacks on their back.

"Halt!" A guard blocked her as she made her approach. "This is a crime scene; nopony is allowed on the premises until further notice."

"C-crime scene?" Flower stammered. "But this is my house sir. I wanna see my parents."

The guard's face quickly changed from serious to a look of genuine pity. "You'll want to come with me honey." He led her inside.

Flower was on the verge of tears. She was sure that something had happened to her parents; that somepony must have hurt them. She hoped it wasn't true but she knew it was deep down.

The guard led her to a mare in a long black coat who was standing in the kitchen examining a small baggie which was on the table.

"D-did somepony hurt my parents Miss?"

"I'm sorry my dear but they were poisoned. They're gone," the mare replied rather matter-of-factly.

The tactless response cut deep into Flower's heart like a knife. She stopped holding back the tears upon it being revealed that her parents weren't hurt; they were dead. After a few minutes of sobbing she gained the composure to speak again.

"W-who poisoned them?" she asked, swallowing back the lump that had formed in her throat.

"We aren't sure who but we know what they did it with: this plant. A deadly nightshade." She held the baggie containing the plant where Flower could see.

Flower's heart nearly stopped. It was one of the new plants that she had picked that very morning before leaving for school. She had forgotten to set the new ones aside for herself. Her parents must have eaten them. She didn't know what to think or say; her mind was going in all different directions and she was starting to hyperventilate. An odd tingling sensation in her body and a bright flash of light startled both her and the mare in the dark coat, who let out a mortified gasp and stared bewildered at Flower.

Why now? What could it possibly be? She didn't want to look but she knew she had to. She turned her head slowly and looked back at her flank with trepidation. Sure enough, a cutie mark had appeared, one looking exactly like the flower the mare had just shown her. A deadly nightshade.

What does it mean? What kind of talent could the flower that just killed my parents possibly represent?  It was too much for Flower to handle. She couldn't think coherently anymore and the room started to fade. She blacked out.

-Several years later-

Flower sat alone in the darkness staring at the ground and considering the last several years. She had been sent to an orphanage after her parent’s affairs were settled, as she had no other family to take care of her. When she turned eighteen though she moved out on her own, and had been scraping up enough bits to survive since then,but just barely.

Flower thought back to the few friends she had made during the years. Her best friend had died in a house fire a few years before. Some of the other ponies she knew started ostracizing her when a rumor began spreading that she had been responsible for both the death of her own parents and the death of her friend. It eventually caused her to lash out and hurt one of her classmates unintentionally. After that fiasco the ponies in town started giving her strange looks and the fillies and colts in her school started to avoid her out of fear that she might hurt them too. She had given them something that they thought confirmed the rumors about her. Finally she lost the will to continue trying to make friends.

Every time she grew close to somepony something happened. Every friend, every classmate, even her own parents. When she loved something, it never lasted long. That day she finally decided what her cutie mark represented; the only thing it could possibly mean.

Everypony I form a relationship with soon fades away... This mark on my flank is an eternal reminder to me; an eternal warning to others... I am like the nightshade... I am cursed... This is my lot in life.