"Had enough yet, Eyeless?"
Nightshade grimaced in pain, Both due to her attackers and the name. Was it so wrong for her to be different this way? Sure, ponies like her didn't come along very often, but it wasn't unheard of.
"Mmph!"
She cried out into a gag as another hoof slammed into her stomach. The wind was knocked from her lungs, and she curled up on the ground in agony.
"Look, guys! She wants to play hoofball!"
Nightshade panicked. She couldn't take much more of this. Quickly she tried to fly away, but one pegasus pony blocked her, and she slammed into him.
"Hey! did you guys see that? She attacked me!"
"And she ruining our game!"
"I think she's had enough time with two wings!" shouted a voice from behind. Without warning, the colt behind her grabbed a wing and twisted, hard. She felt a bolt of adrenaline, then pain beyond anything she had ever felt before. She managed to push a sound out past the gag.
"AAAHH!!" Her wing was broken in two places, and she passed out.
An hour earlier...
Nightshade was nervous. Her project lay on a large table under a sheet, and the judge was slowly making his way nearer and nearer.
Nightshade was small for her age, a maroon pegasus pony with and ebony mane and eyes the color of magnesium fire. She had no cutie mark, but she had become very good at memorizing the placement of various objects, and she could hear really well. This was her first school project, and she had taken half the school year to make it.
Caught up in her thoughts, Nightshade didn't realize the judge had reached her table.
"Miss Nightshade, are you ready to present your project?"
"OH! Oh, sorry, I'll... Yes, s-sir." She felt for the sheet beside her, and slammed her hoof into the table.
"Ow!"
The judge seemed unimpressed, and let out a yawn.
Hearing the yawn, the young pony trembled slightly. She took a deep breath, and pulled off the sheet.
The judge gasped. "What... What is it?"
"It's a pencil sharpener. I built it in the form of a Rube Goldhoof machine."
"You... It's a... Can I see it work?"
Nightshade picked up her pencil and set it into the sharpener end of the machine. Then, praying for luck, she flicked a switch beside it.
"Please work this time," she whispered softly. "Don't stop at the marble."
A small pendulum swung down and knocked over a domino, in turn causing a domino chain. At the end of the chain stood a small block of wood with foil wrapped around one end. The block was pushed onto a mousetrap, which was hooked up to a battery, and the foil completed the circuit. This caused several things to happen. First, a miniature Ferris wheel began drawing little knots on paper, via pens pushed and pulled by electric pistons. Next, a fountain began pouring water through a tiny waterwheel, which then started turning a little mill with real seeds inside. Finally, another piston pushed a marble onto a long metal track,which was what Nightshade had been listening for the whole time.
Hearing it at just the right time made her sigh in relief. She had memorized the exact timing of every little action her machine made, and the marble had always been late to happen, or didn't happen at all. As it rolled, she watched in her mind as it settled into a nook with little battery pads, and quickly grabbed the pencil just as it began to turn. She felt it stop once more as her reset kicked in, and the marble was pushed into an elevator, the Ferris wheel printed it's sheet of paper, and hydrolics set the dominoes back up. She would have to reset the mousetrap later.
"Amazing... Simply amazing. However did you manage this, young lady?"
"I remember things really well, and my big brother actually read me some books about hydrolics and wiring."
"You can't read?"
Nightshade fidgeted a bit. "Well, it's not that I can't read, exactly."
"The books were complicated for you?"
"Let's go with that, yeah."
The judge seemed curious still, and Nightshade said quickly, "I'd rather not talk about it."
The judge shrugged, then walked off to evaluate other projects.
"Gather around, everypony!" called the judge. "It's time for rewards."
Everyone walked over to a large platform, where the judge stood patiently. When everypony had reached the platform, he began giving the awards out.
"In third place, with the talking pudding battery, is Mister Flan Funnel."
Clapping ensued.
"In second place, with the, uh, volcano..." the judge rubbed a burn with his hoof tenderly, "is Miss A.J. Yearling."
More clapping, accompanied by a light brown pony leaping up and shouting, "YEES!"
"And finally, in first place..."
Nightshade tensed, hoping beyond hope that the next words out of his mouth would be-
"Miss Nightshade, with her amazing pencil sharpener."
She let out a soft sigh, and stood as the auditorium filled with the sound of clapping hooves. Everyone seemed impressed by her machine.
The exception being those who had just beaten her up. It was the sound of clapping that she heard just before blacking out.
She awoke in an empty shack about an hour's walk away from home. Nightshade grunted as she got up, then cried out as her wing jerked in response. She quickly searched around, and found a stiff stick, a wrench, and some cables. Nightshade splinted her wing carefully, then tried standing again. This time she only felt the pulse of blood, and relaxed.
Listening carefully, she heard cars and other sounds associated with the big city of Manehatten, where she lived. She set off, thinking what her brother would say when she got home.
"Just where the FUCK have you been, and what the HELL is that on your wing?!" she muttered, accurately impersonating Wolfsbane. She had learned the hard way never to repeat her big brother in front of anypony else. He tended to curse a lot.
Nightshade eventually reached the city, lost in her thoughts, and searched for the scent of perfume. The alleyway to her apartment was right across from a shop owned by a very friendly mare, Coco Pommel. She made perfumes, and posed for various magazines and newspapers.
Opening the apartment without being seen wasn't going to happen. Nightshade was yanked inside by her brother the moment she touched the door.
"Just where the FUCK have you been, and what the HELL is that on your wing?!" Nightshade was surprised by his tone. He wasn't usually this quiet.
"I got lost on the way home, and there was this cliff, and-"
"Like HELL you got lost!" he shouted. "You get the FUCK into your room, NOW!"
Nightshade sighed, and resigned herself to his shouting. Again.
The little maroon filly retreated to her room, which was little more than a pantry. She had a shelf, at least. Her shelf was filled with tiny, hoof-carved wooden figures of ponies she had heard about. There was Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, Coco Pommel, Cheese Sandwich, and dozens more. Her favorite was a tiny ebony Princess Luna.
Snuggling the Luna figure, Nightshade sunk down into a corner padded with blankets, and wept silently. She had built up a lot of stress and anxiety over the day, and at last had the opportunity to release it all. As small convulsions wracked her body, she felt suddenly drowsy, and all she could do was fall asleep.
Nightshade awoke in a tangle of vines and roots, feeling cold shadows all around. This must be the Everfree, she thought, but how?
From her left she heard a twig snap, and heard a terrifyingly familiar voice.
"Hey, Eyeless! How about some hoofball?" A pencil flew straight at her head, and she dodged just before her head was pushed into the ground. "Out of my way, BITCH!"
Nightshade realized she was dreaming, and she knew how to force herself awake. Before she could, however, she saw something to make her heart stop, Firstly because she was actually seeing it. The second reason was because she was seeing Nightmare Moon!
Nightshade trembled as Nightmare Moon looked at her, and grinned a toothy, evil grin.
"Get down, Nightshade."
What? Nightmare moon raised her horn, and the young filly decided to obey. As she ducked, she heard a flash of magic, and the screams of her tormentors fading into the distance, as if on the moon. Nightshade was confused about the nightmare pony's help. She was evil,... Right?