Prologue

When you’re young, everypony tells you that you can be anything when you grow up. Sure you could say that you want to be a baker, a princess, a librarian, a Wonderbolt, an animal caretaker, a fashion designer, or a farmer. But what if you wanted to be something else? What if you wanted to be something that not many ponies would see as normal?

In the Ponyville Schoolhouse, all the little fillies and colts sat at their desks waiting to say what wanted to be when they grew up.

“What do you want to be when you grow up, Cheerilee,” the teacher asked the young filly.

With a smile on the filly’s face, she replied, “I want to be a teacher like you when I grow up!”

The teacher smiled, “That’s very good, Ms. Cheerilee. I have a feeling you will be a wonderful teacher.”

Sitting to the right of Cheerilee was a light blue Earth pony. Playing with her silver mane, the filly was poised and ready to be called on by the teacher but what everypony didn’t expect was what the filly would say.

What are you gonna’ tell ‘em, a disembodied voice asked. Looking around the filly wondered where the voice came from.

“What?” Confused, she continued to wait to be called on.

You and I both know what you’re going to say. Go on and-

Before the voice could finish speaking, it was her turn. The students directed their attention to her as the question was now directed towards her.

“And what would you like to be when you grow up, Sapphire Gray,” the teacher asked her.

“When I grow up, I want to be… a dog!” the small filly exclaimed with a proud smile on her face.

The silence that followed Sapphire’s answer brought everything in the schoolhouse to a halt. Seeing all the odd looks, the fillies smile slowly turned into a confused frown. This lull was then followed by a mix of whispers and chatter accompanied by scattered snickering. The silence was then killed by a single comment.

“FREAK!”

This insult came from a colt sitting in the back of the room. Before the teacher could reprimand him, the room erupted in a crescendo of laughter and scattered insults. With the classroom descending into disarray, the teacher had to let the troublemaker’s comment slide to maintain order in her classroom. Amidst the chaos, Sapphire Gray grabbed her saddlebag and fled from the schoolhouse. No matter how hard she tried to shake off what her classmates called her, the words couldn’t escape her head as she galloped over the bridge and into Ponyville.

“Shut up! I’m not a freak! Shut up! Stop yelling at me!” she screamed as the voices in her head grew louder.

Ponies stopped in their tracks as Sapphire Gray darted past them; barking at ponies to get out of her path. The day quickly turned into a blurred memory. After blinking her tear filled eyes for only a brief moment, she found herself standing in the middle of Everfree Forest.

How did she get there? Her hooves were sore and covered in dirt and mud. It felt as if she was running for hours. Scared and alone, the only source of light was the moon in the night sky above her. On the face of the moon, the imprint of a mare looked back down at her; lighting her way. With the voices gone, Sapphire became aware of her surroundings. She felt alone. The only friends she had was the voice in her head and the moonlight guiding her way.

The light glowing around her illuminated the muddy moss covered trail. On both sides of the path were areas shrouded in almost unnatural darkness where the canopy of trees was so thick that moonlight couldn’t even shine through. The only lights that could be seen was the glowing of countless eyes of various threatening hues (red, yellow, purple, and green). With every glance to either sides of the path, ominous growls turned into threatening snarls. Ghastly faces formed on the trees from the dark void of foliage and glowing eyes.

On the verge of tears, Sapphire ran down the path as fast as she could. She wanted to go home. Better yet, she just wanted to be alone. As she ran down the muddy path, she approached a large clearing. In the center of the clearing was a statue of an Alicorn that towered over the filly. The stone Alicorn fashioned ornate armor with its wings extended outward as it stood on its hind legs on top of a pedestal.

Staring up at the statue, Sapphire could hear distant laughter which was followed by distant howls from both Timberwolves and wolves alike. Frightened by what creatures could be watching her, Sapphire turned back and galloped back down the beaten path which seems like it went on forever. She ran without any intention of stopping to look back. The sounds grew louder and louder until even the voices that haunted her returned. With tears in her eyes, she galloped down the path until she could see the lights illuminating from Ponyville. As mysteriously the sounds came, they were gone. Silence. The only thing she could hear was the sound of her heart racing, her heavy shaking breathes, and the chirping of crickets hiding in the tall grass.

Running…running from ponies that judged her for being different... barking as she fled… this was something that would carry on for years to come.

Author's Note

I think I spent more time trying to come up with a name for Screwloose than anything else. I couldn't come up with anything. Making Screwloose her name right off the bat just messed with the flow of the story and made it near impossible to progress. Since I couldn't find any preexisting ideas for what Screwloose's birth name, I had to do tons of studying. I first thought of making her and Shoeshine the same pony but decided keep them as separate entities. I then tried putting my knowledge from Color Theory class to use and settled on the name, Sapphire Gray.

Making a flashback the prologue would help set the mood of the story and give a bit of an origin.

I hope everyone enjoys my take on Screwloose's story.