A Crystal Shines

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: Resurrection
Chapter 2: Heart's Desire
Chapter 3: Education
Chapter 4: Life in Ponyville
Chapter 5: Discovered
Chapter 6: Taken

Prologue

Long ago in the kingdom known as the Crystal Empire, there lived a Prince named Sombra, who was a fair and just leader who wanted nothing more than peace and tranquility for his subjects. He had everything a good leader should have, he had the love of the Crystal Ponies, a willing army to stand beside him in the case of an attack, a seat in the royal council beside Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and the affections of one Crystal Pony in particular named Sitári.

Prince Sombra also had a very intelligent mind, he would spend countless hours in the Crystal Library, reading every book, scroll and tome on the subject of magic he could find. But, one day, everything changed for the Prince when he picked up a book on Dark Magic and attempted one of the spells without fully understanding what it would do to him. It, of course, backfired and created an evil and twisted version of himself, his mane moved like a shadowy smoke, horn was curved, smooth, sharp at the tip and it went from dark gray to red. He had sharp teeth with two visible fangs and his eyes were the clear difference, his eyes were green with red irises and had a purple mist emanating from them. This duplicate announced that he was the living embodiment of every ounce of fear, hatred and jealousy that he'd ever felt in his life he then announced that he wanted the Empire and before the real Sombra could make his first attack to prevent him from doing so, the imposter vanished.

After he had recovered from his shock, he set out to the Crystal Palace and sent out his guards to track him down; ordering them to keep the Crystal Ponies inside, to search high and low throughout the Empire and the Arctic Ice. Within a few hours, Prince Sombra was alerted of his imposter's whereabouts and that he had turned two of his guards to stone. He was also told that he would only fight Prince Sombra and nopony else. Prince Sombra, thinking only of his subject's safety and the danger he had put them in because of his recklessness, accepted and met his duplicate on the Arctic Ice.

Sombra was prepared for anything, hostility, retaliation or both, what he was not prepared for was what he saw. His duplicate was standing on a frozen pond holding the most treasured artifact of The Empire with a levitation spell, he had the Crystal Heart. An ancient artifact that enabled the Crystal Ponies to spread their love and light across Equestria. Sombra was about to make his attack to retrieve the heart, the imposter made it disappear with a bubbling, black aura. Prince Sombra then knew he had to destroy what he unintentionally created. Thus, the battle had begun. Prince Sombra used every defense and attack he knew, but this being in front of him was part of him and thus, knew the counter spells for every attack the Prince threw at him. Prince Sombra would've had a victory after making a series of crystals grow out of the ice and sending the evil twin flying back a few yards in the process. The real Sombra then teleported to him and had him pinned down as the cracking ice came closer to them, the fake Sombra then saw this as his opportunity, and as the Prince readied his spell to destroy his mistake, the demon then turned into a shadowy smoke and tied him down as the ice cracks came closer. The ice broke from under him and he was in the chilling water, he felt his life slip away as the hole he fell through became more and more distant. His eyes slowly closed as the evil still surrounding him took over his body, blackening his heart and deforming him in the process.

When he emerged from the water, he was no longer Prince Sombra, he now crowned himself King Sombra. As soon as he was crowned he began his work on enslaving the Crystal Ponies, including the mare who had once loved him, she was now heartbroken that the stallion she held dearly inside her heart had become what he was.

King Sombra's rule lasted for a month before word got to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who then fled to the Empire and tried everything in their efforts to take Sombra down. They turned into shadow and banished him to the Arctic Ice, but before they could do so, he placed a curse on the Empire, banishing it and making it vanish into thin air.

1000 years later, the Empire returned along with Sombra and was defeated by the newest bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Prince Shining Armor, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and Spike the dragon. The leader of the group, the Element of Magic, had found the Crystal Heart and Sombra had almost won if Princess Cadence hadn't been thrown and hadn't caught Spike and the Crystal heart. Princess Cadence then gave the citizens the advantage by letting it be activated by them. Sombra was then obliterated by their love and light and everypony in the Empire celebrated for the next two weeks, for the tyrant King was finally deceased.

Or so they thought...

Chapter 1: Resurrection

The cheers from the ongoing festivities from the Crystal Empire could be heard from over 20 miles away, the ever glowing lights brightened the sky like the North Star pointing you in its direction. And it was 20 miles away from the Empire that the bits remained that was once King Sombra laid. The piece that was once his horn began to glow, the rest of the pieces began to shake before dissolving into the snow, a thick, black smoke then rose from the white powder and began circling above the ground. A transparent black bubble then began to form as a figure began to form inside of it; the horn then flung up as the shadows whipped past the figure like a small tornado, it then attached itself perfectly to its forehead as the winds stopped and the remainder of the shadows turned into his mane and tail. His eyes then opened, they were the eyes of the one and only King Sombra, he looked at the far off glowing lands that was once his and rightfully his. The sounds of laughter and cheering flooded his ears as his anger rose higher and his face grew hot; the expression on his face was only of hatred. Hatred toward Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, her friends and most of all: that dragon called Spike. He had almost won! He was so close! Only to have his plan foiled by a baby dragon! His anger rose, his blood boiled and his hatred was seething. Why hadn't his plan, everything he had set up beforehoof, worked? There was only one simple answer, Twilight was powerful and she had reinforcements. eight to be exact. Which to be fair, when he resurfaced, he wasn't expecting any reinforcements. But thinking of the fact that the Princesses had already been one step ahead of him only rose his anger and hatred even more.

"I will get the Empire back," he growled. "And when I do Prince Shining Armor...your wife and your sister will be the first to die!"

Even with this swear for revenge, he knew he wouldn't be able to tackle this alone or without some sort of fortress. As he looked around at his surroundings, he realized that he was now East of the Empire and not too far from the Crystal Mountains which was probably the most apt for somepony to go when they are in hiding and trying to figure out their next move. Sombra then turned himself into smoke and transported himself toward the mountains. He thought of plans, figuratively tossed them aside, thought about them again and ending with the same result. His frustration was becoming more and more apparent with every idea he threw aside knowing they would all end in his defeat. While he thought, he flew over the mountain tops he kept his eyes open for a place to build his fortress. After five hours of gliding past the pillars of glittering snow, ice and crystal, he was about to give up and search somewhere else, he then finally found a mountain pass big enough for him to build a palace. It was wide enough to build something suitable and it was deep enough for him to be hidden from the sight of the Empire. He was instantly satisfied with the location, landed and turned back into his deformed pony self. For cautionary reasons, he knew he had to keep his magic levels to a minimum or else he'd be discovered, building a fortress was no big task when it came to a unicorn with his level of magical talents so he wouldn't be discovered and nonetheless, he needed protection. He remembered the spell to use as his horn lit. The earth began to shake, at first Sombra thought the residents of the Empire might take notice, but remembered that large chunks of crystal and ice break off from these mountains enough so his worrying was subdued. As the world around him shook, black crystals formed at the bottom of the pass and slowly crept upward which created a palace that looked as if it was carved out of the ice of the mountain and given a black tint; when he finished, he decided to create his own army. His horn lit again once this was decided and he created twenty guards out of the same black crystal material. These guards were different from the ones in the Empire, these guards would follow his orders and his orders alone without any questioning from them. They were created with his magic and thus, they knew nothing else but to serve their new king, Sombra did this intentionally so he wouldn't risk being betrayed by any of them. If he had real, living and breathing guards, they would undoubtedly rush off to the Crystal Empire and tell the royals of his whereabouts. Sombra could not risk being discovered before his eventual plan could get into action. Once they were created, he ordered them to scope the perimeter for intruders and/or predators, in which they immediately saluted him and set off to do obediently.

As soon as they were gone, Sombra escaped to his new study, which was small but still had all the books he would need to keep him entertained. But right now, he couldn't read, he had to come up with something, and he had to come up with something fast! He tried thinking about what went wrong the other times he'd tried taking over, what was it he didn’t have? His thoughts were then interrupted by one of his guards.

“You're highness,” he said bowing.

“Report,” Sombra ordered.

“There are no signs of intruders or Arctic wolves anywhere around the perimeter sire.”

“Good, and it better stay that way. Though, if you do catch an intruder, bring them straight to me, I shall deal with them.”

“Yes, King Sombra. Will there be anything else?”

“Tell the others to stand guard outside, in case we get some...unexpected company.”

“Yes sir, any other orders?”

"You are dismissed."

The guard bowed and left obediently; Sombra could go back to his thoughts of plans of how to gain the Crystal Empire back. As he went deeper and deeper into his thoughts, it seemed as if the only conclusion of what he didn't have: was a weapon. He needed a weapon of some sort, something powerful enough to assist him in battle, he'd need assistance, but where to obtain such powerful magic was the problem. Twilight Sparkle was out of the question, even though she had proven herself to be more powerful than him it was less than likely she'd join his side without resistance. The same went with Princess Cadence and Princess Luna, Cadence wouldn't be easily swayed as she is now crowned 'The Crystal Princess,' and as for Princess Luna, 'The Princess of the Night,' had shown in the past that she had temptations, but she had taken those temptations and buried them deep inside herself. By now, it seemed like his only choice was defeat, unless he raised a weapon himself. As that thought processed in his mind, an idea then came to him, he knew what he needed. A child to train, more specifically, a unicorn. He would train this child in the art of Dark Magic to assist him, gender did not matter in this situation. Male or female, they would be the perfect asset, ally and leverage to earn him the Empire back. He ransacked his study to find map of the current Equestria, as soon as it was found he rolled it out on a table and mapped out his course. Within a week, he began his search for the right child. Telling his guards to stay on duty and to throw trespassers into the dungeon and to keep them there no matter the circumstances. Sombra searched for the right unicorn to stand with him, to no avail, he had decided early on to inconspicuously look through the orphanages. By either making himself look like a normal passerby or looking in on the children at night. He didn't know what kind of magic he was looking for, the orphans he had come across clearly had nothing else to contribute, except being whiny about missing their parents. But Sombra decided on orphans because he knew that nopony would make as much of a fuss if an orphan went missing than if a foal that had parents went missing.

For weeks, months, years even, nine years to be exact, he searched through every corner of every town and city in Equestria and keeping a low profile in the process. He had almost given up his search, that is, until the fateful day he finally found his student in a small town called Ponyville.

And the filly's name was Heart’s Desire

Chapter 2: Heart's Desire

Chapter 2: Heart’s Desire

It was a bright, sunny day in Ponyville. The citizens had just finished Winter Wrap Up the previous day and were happy to be out of the cold. As they proceeded with their activities, trying to pick up from where they left off because of yesterday, a mare and a young filly walked through the town. The mare was a unicorn with a light, baby pink coat with a golden mane and grey streaks running through it. Her eyes an aging light violet and her cutie mark was two square fabric patches sewn with grey thread. The filly trailing behind her was a unicorn with the same gold colored mane without the grey streaks and the same eye color, the only differences between them were that the filly’s coat was a light, butter yellow, her eyes were framed by a pair of round grey black glasses, and had freckles on her cheeks. Her spirit was obviously full of utmost depression, a set of pink saddlebags rested on her back as her head was hanging low and walked with tears in her eyes. The mare, named Patchwork Quilt turned to see the filly lagging behind and finally stop.

“Sweetheart, come on, it won’t be so bad,” the mare said with a smile and a voice that was trying to be sweet and gentle, but was masking the sadness she was really feeling.

The filly dried her eyes and lifted her head, just yesterday she had been told by this mare that she was being sent away. This mare had taken care of her for as long as she could remember, for this mare leading her to the orphanage was her mother.

“I’m coming Mom...just-just give me a minute,” the filly responded, close to crying.

Patchwork Quilt furrowed her eyebrows sadly, she didn’t want to do this. But for her only daughter’s well being, she had to do this. She wasn’t giving her up because she didn’t care for her, it was because she couldn’t care for her. Patchwork Quilt walked back to her and lifted her chin with her hoof, "Heart's Desire...sweetheart...you know why I have to do this. I've just been laid off from my last job, I don't have the means to care for you and....you deserve better than this. You deserve to go to school, make friends, have a family adopt you that will care for you and most importantly - live the life you are supposed to. I just want the best for you, you know that right?"

Heart's Desire nodded, "Yeah."

Patchwork Quilt nuzzled her, "Alright, now come on, we're almost there."

Heart's Desire took her mother's hoof as they walked to the other side of town to the Ponyville Orphanage.

Once there, Heart's Desire was stunned by how it looked! She had been expecting a doom and gloom looking grey and black building with little to no happiness on it. The building before her was a bubblegum pink and sky blue, 7 story building with a playground and the foals actually looking surprisingly happy considering their situation. Heart's Desire looked up at her mother who smiled at her reassuringly as they continued forward to the entrance. As they came closer and closer, Heart's stomach began tying itself in a knot, she had no idea how her life would pan out now and to be honest, she was scared to know that it was going to be without her mother. Patchwork Quilt was about to knock on the door when a friendly faced, middle aged unicorn mare with a light lavender coat, pink hair with purple streaks and who was armed with a silver whistle around her neck, came out and looked surprised that there was somepony on her step.

"Whoops! I'm so sorry, can you give me a minute? I have to call them back in," she explained.

"Of course ma'am," Patchwork Quilt responded.

The mare nodded thankfully then walked down the stairs, she then blew her whistle and the fillies and colts came to her like dogs to their food. They lined up at the steps in 4 separate single file lines and looked at Heart's Desire curiously, the mare then opened the doors with her magic and they went inside with small whispers of small chit chat. When they were all inside the lavender mare gestured for them to follow. Heart looked around the inside and it was just as cheerful as the outside, everywhere she looked she saw murals made by the children there there were also bulletin boards that contained pictures of the children residented there. She was too busy looking around at the flowers, rainbows, volcanoes, stars and other objects on the walls to notice that her mother and the lavender mare were walking down the hall without her. When she saw this, she ran to catch up to them and she heard them talking.

"I can assure you Ms. Quilt, that's young Heart's Desire will be in the best care until we can find her a family. We'll just take her to her living quarters and you and me can settle things over."

"Alright."

"So...you must be Heart's Desire! I am Mrs. Serenity, I am the head matron here at the Ponyville Orphanage and don't let all those stories of all Orphanage matrons being mean, I can assure you that I will not lay a hoof on you. I can promise you that. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

Heart stayed silent, was there anything she liked to do? All she ever did in her childhood was talk to her pink sock monkey Fuzzy Hearts, she would make up games where her and Fuzzy Hearts would go off to new lands in search of some way to find money to give to her Mom so that they might be able to stay in one place. But, Heart learned early on that she couldn't really do that, after their houses being foreclosed over and over, her Mom being laid off over and over and having to start a new life in a new town over and over, Heart's Desire thought this was normal. Until one day while going through town in Appleloosa with her mother, she saw fillies and colts playing on a playground. One of the colts came up to the fence and asked if she wanted to play, Heart asked her mother who then explained to the colt that she didn't go to school there.

"Oh, okay, maybe you can go to this school sometime."

Heart then looked excitedly at her Mom, "Can I go to this school Mommy?"

Patchwork Quilt looked at her troubled and said, "Maybe."

Heart looked very excitedly at her as they continued walking and Heart said goodbye to the little colt and Patch's heart sank, her life shouldn't be like this, she wouldn't trade having Heart's Desire for anything. If only she hadn't made such a stupid mistake.

When Heart's Desire didn't respond to Mrs. Serenity's question, she giggled and said, "Seems that somepony's a tad shy! Well, that'll probably go away sooner or later."

They were then led up two flights of stairs and down a hallway to a dorm room, Mrs. Serenity knocked on the door and waited. The door opened to reveal a filly with a coat the same shade as the outside of the building, blue eyes and a curly pink and magenta mane and tail.

"Sugar Song, this is Heart's Desire, you're new roommate."

Sugar Song's eyes lit up with excitement, "New ponies! Come on in Heart, I'll show you around!"

Heart was about to enter, but looked up at her Mom, she gestured her head towards the room, "Go ahead sweetheart, I'll be back up soon."

She then entered and the door was closed behind her, as she realized that she only had hours before her mother left her for good, her heart beat faster.

The filly in front of her held out her hoof, "Hi! I'm Sugar Song!"

Heart looked at it nervously at first but then took it and shook hooves with this new filly.

"So, that's your bed..." Sugar said heading towards the only available bed in the room. The woodwork on it was a faded blue and had a plush pink quilt with a set of soft, baby pink, pillows. Heart walked over to it and set her saddlebags on it. The headboard was against the wall and pointed to Sugar's bed in the same position and in the middle of the wall next to them was a window with opaque pastel pink drapes. Heart sat on her bed looking out the window and seeing the small buildings of Ponyville below them. She opened her saddlebags and took out Fuzzy Hearts; clinging to him like a security blanket. Both Sugar and Heart sat across from each other on their beds in silence, Sugar hadn't dealt with ponies this shy before. As for Heart, she didn't know what to say in this situation, she'd always thought that socializing with other ponies was easy; that all you had to do was talk. The problem was that she'd never had practice and never had somepony who wanted to be her friend. Thus, she was completely new to this.

Meanwhile, down in Mrs. Serenity's office on the first floor, Patchwork Quilt was finalizing everything. During this entire time, she felt so cruel, she wanted so badly to say, 'Never mind, I can't do this,' take Heart's Desire back with her, hold her all night, cry in her mane at the thought of what she almost did and everything would be better. Except everything wouldn't be better, she would still be out of a job, with no money for food or a house or apartment, she had to do this. It was for her daughter's future, she deserved a whole lot more than the the measly bit that Patch was able to give her. She didn't deserve a lack of education or to move from town to town nor did she deserve the lack of meals for two straight days every week. Patch signed her name on the document that now gave Heart's Desire to the Equestrian government system. Mrs. Serenity then brought out another document and explained, "Since your record is clean, you do have a chance to make this less painful for you. If you sign this document, you will get visitation rights, the family will be required to send you photos and updates on how she's doing."

Patch's eyes lit up, she'd be able to see her daughter? But she forced back her excitement, she had failed as a mother and was now giving her up. As tears came to the poor mother's eyes she cried, "No, I can't...I don't deserve her after I've failed her..."

Mrs. Serenity looked legitimately sympathetic and with her magic, gave Patchwork Quilt a tissue. As she dried her eyes, Mrs. Serenity said assuringly, "I promise you Ms. Quilt, Heart's Desire will be in the best care until we find her a good family."

"Please, make sure they are at least kind to her..."

"You have my word."

Patchwork Quilt smiled as Mrs. Serenity put the visiting rights documents away.

"May I...see her...one last time?"

"Of course."

Patch was then led back up to Heart's Desire's shared room, she saw her sitting on her bed; looking around the room as if she didn't fit in there. Mrs. Serenity asked Sugar Song to go down to dinner, which she did obediently, Patch entered and once the door was closed she took a deep breath and approached Heart's Desire.

"How much longer do we have Mommy?" Heart asked.

"She told me that visitations are over in 5 minutes."

Heart sniffed as tears came to her eyes, Patch lifted her chin, "Hey now, none of that..." she said gently.

"But...I don't want you to go!"

Patch hugged her tightly and cried, "Neither do I sweetheart, neither do I."

Patch then released her from the hug, and pushing a piece of hair away from her face, she continued,"But listen, I need you to be a big, brave filly...can you do that for me?"

Heart lifted her glasses with her hoof and dried her eye with a sniff, "Mm-hm..."

"That's my big girl."

Patch then kissed Heart's forehead and looked at her with sad eyes, "Goodbye sweetheart..."

"Goodbye Mommy..."

Patch then turned and walked to the door, Heart frozen on the bed, waiting until her mother left to start crying again. Before Patch closed the door, she looked one more time at her precious filly with a smile to mask the worst unhappiness she had ever felt before closing the door behind her.

Heart sat there for another 5 minutes to make sure she was gone to lie down on her bed with her face in the pillow to start crying. It hurt to cry, it hurt not to cry, it felt right, she was now letting it out. Her mother was gone from her life forever.

Chapter 3: Education

Heart cried herself to sleep that night, she just couldn't deal with the fact that her mother was just - gone. Her mind was processing it all as she drifted and her mind went blank. She then began to dream; she woke up in the dream world to nothingness. She only saw darkness as a voice somewhere in the darkness called out her name.

"Heart's Desire..."

The voice was one she had never heard before, it was deep, gravelly and almost sounded demonic. Heart looked around to find where this voice was coming from, but everywhere she turned, she only saw blackness. The voice then laughed, sending shivers up her spine.

"Who are you?" she called daringly. Her demand was only met with a laugh that sounded like he was mocking her. This made Heart more and more infuriated, her courage rose again as she threw her head up.

"I don't know who you are, but...I'm not afraid of you!"

After she said this however, she heard a sound behind her. It was the sound of a light breeze; she felt this breeze drift through her mane as she stood there. She didn't want to look at who or what was haunting her, but part of her wanted to face this creature. She gulped and turned around, ready to face whatever it was. What she saw, confused her at first, it was a puff of grey-black smoke just floating there like smoke usually would. Heart approached it and soon found herself within the smoke, it swirled around her and she even felt a chill across her coat. She then had the feeling that something was watching her, she turned around to see a face with fangs, a crimson red unicorn horn and glowing green eyes with red irises and purple smoke flowing out from the corners. Her eyes wide, her jaw to the ground and her heart racing, she turned and ran; but she could never find an end to the smoke. It was as if it seemed to go on forever, she stopped to observe where the end of this fog might be, but when she did, she heard the voice say, "You're mine!"

She then turned and saw the face, coming toward her, mouth wide open: before she could see him swallow her, she woke up with a jolt! She was sweating and panting, luckily, it was time to get up for breakfast. She looked around and saw Celestia's sunlight coming through the window, she also saw that during the course of the night she had dropped Fuzzy Hearts she reached over the side of the bed and picked her up, clutching to her as she remembered the nightmare she had.

"Heart? Are you okay?"

Heart looked up and saw that Sugar Song was still there, Sugar only watched as she saw a light in Heart's Desire's eyes spin around her pupil and sort of sparkle.

"Whoa, how did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Your eyes...they...they sparkle!"

"Mom said they've been doing that ever since I was a baby. We never figured out why though..."

"But still, that's so cool!"

Heart's face lightened up a little, the sadness of her Mother out of her permanently and the fear and confusion of her nightmare had her a bit on edge. Sugar Song saw this expression on her face and came up to her bed, she then sat herself at the foot and looked at Heart sympathetically.

"I know how you're feeling..."

"You do?"

"Trust me, I was brought here when I was 6, and for 3 years, I was being bounced around by foster families and the family that brought me here cuz...well...they said that the house was getting too full to keep me. And I really liked them and I thought they were gonna adopt me, they were really nice, they took me to the park everyday, they fixed my favorite food on my birthday, and believed that everyday was a celebration...but...the thing was...they...they already had 3 other foals in the house and as much as they cared for me...they had to let me go."

Heart felt sympathy for this filly, she'd been moved between so many families throughout her life and was somehow able to keep her sanity and keep a straight head.

"So, how did you...get over it?" Heart asked.

"I just moved on, I made friends, went to school and tried my best to get up and move on with my life. But, it wasn't easy, every now and then the memories come back and I do cry sometimes."

"So...you're saying I should do that?"

"Yeah, try to move on, as far as I know, your Mom was doing the right thing bringing you here."

"I know, it's just I miss her so much...and it's going to take a while to..."

Heart was now on the brink of tears, she missed her mother, she missed their silly little games and the funny constellations she made up, she missed sleeping next to her Mom at night to stay warm in the dead of Winter.

Sugar saw this and hugged her, "If you need somepony to talk to, you can talk to me."

Heart's tears subsided as Sugar released her, "C'mon! We're gonna be late for breakfast."

Heart's eyes sparkled once again as she followed her newfound friend to the cafeteria where 3 long tables of seated fillies and colts filled the room. Sugar led Heart to the back of the line to get their breakfast, on the menu, they were serving: waffles, pancakes, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, and baked apples. Heart had heard of and smelled pancakes and waffles before but had never had them because her mother couldn't afford them, she took advantage of the opportunity and ordered the pancakes she then got an apple juice box, and waited for Sugar who was ordering waffles. Once Sugar had her food and drink, both fillies went to sit down in two empty seats next to each other and began eating. Heart took one bite of her pancakes and was immediately in love, they were so sweet, syrupy and fluffy but as she ate her pancakes, she decided to talk to Sugar as well, Sugar told some jokes and made Heart laugh, Heart told her some things she liked to do and found that Sugar liked a lot of the same things. They both liked to play pretend, checkers and Battleclouds Heart could already tell the two were going to get along great. Ms. Serenity then came out and excused the children to their classes, Heart remembered seeing classrooms in the building and was heading there when Sugar stopped her, "Where are you going?" she asked.

"School."

"Oh! I forgot to tell you, the older kids go to a school in town, the little kids go to school here since, the school in town is a one room and would get too full...plus, the little kids have to get used to a school's environment and learn at the same time!"

"Okay, that makes sense!"

"Plus, you'll love Ms. Cheerilee! She's so nice and sweet!"

Heart smiled as she followed Sugar once they were outside, they began talking and playfully joking with each other, Heart then saw the schoolhouse and the playground in front of her and felt excited with a twinge of nervousness. But she tucked the nervousness and wouldn't let it come back out. The bell then rang and all the children entered, as the two fillies tried to scramble inside, Heart was bumped by somepony and knocked over.

"Are ya okay?" a colt's voice asked with a southern accent.

"I'm fine."

"Here, lemme help ya up."

The colt took her hoof and helped her up, she then saw a colt with an apple red coat, orange hair and blue eyes.

"Thank you, I'm Heart's Desire."

"Lil Mac."

They both entered; once inside Lil Mac took a seat next to a freckle faced white unicorn with short curly blonde hair and a giant blue bow on the back of her head and green eyes. Heart saw an available seat next to Sugar, but before she could approach a sweet voice said, "Well, it looks like we have a new student! Can you tell the class your name dear?"

Heart looked over to see a purple earth pony with three smiling daisies for a cutie mark, green eyes and a purple and lavender mane; Heart concluded that this must be her teacher.

Heart gulped, realizing she was now being put on the spot, "Ummm....I...."

She could hear some of the classmates snickering, "Quiet!" Ms. Cheerilee ordered.

"I'm...Heart's...Heart's Desire..."

"Well, I'm sure I speak for the rest of the class when I bid you welcome dear."

Heart smiled at her then sat in the empty seat, Ms. Cheerilee then stood by her desk and asked the class to bring out their reading textbooks, she then gave one to Heart and politely told her that they were on page 39 and if she needs any help or has a question, to raise her hoof. Heart then began to panic, her heart started racing, '39?! What's and where is 39?! I didn't know I had to know any of this stuff! Oh, now I regret even coming here!'

All Heart could do was stare at her book worriedly, would anypony notice she wasn't opening it or looking at it?

"Heart's Desire? Is everything alright?" Ms. Cheerilee asked.

"I...um...."

Sugar then leaned over and flipped the book to where they were, Heart thanked her and looked at the page and felt the same wave of panic times two! The page was full of words she didn't know how to pronounce, spell or even give definitions to! She prayed to Celestia that Ms. Cheerilee wouldn't call her name as the class started.

"Alright class, now I am going to call your names one by one and spell a word on the chalkboard from your textbooks then I will ask you to describe what the word means."

Heart felt like she was going to faint! What would they think of her when they found out that she wasn't educated? Thankfully, the first foal she called a little colt named Zura, he had a grey coat, orange eyes and an orange mane and tail. He spelled 'Character' on the chalkboard and said, "A character is a pony in a story."

"Very good Zura, take your seat please."

Zura walked to his seat and sat down as Ms. Cheerilee called, "Heart's Desire?"

Heart gulped and slowly made her way to the front of the class, she was given the chalk and Ms. Cheerilee gave her a reassuring smile. Heart looked at the chalkboard and wrote the only thing she knew how to write, she drew 3 spirals and when she was about to do a third one the entire class except Lil Mac, his sister Lil Angel and Sugar Song were laughing. Then the voice of Zura came up and asked while he was in full laughter, "What are you? Stupid?"

Heart then dropped the chalk which then broke into two pieces, she then began to cry and ran out of the school building crying all the way back to the orphanage.

Chapter 4: Life in Ponyville

Heart ran through the orphanage with tears streaming down her face, 'Stupid?! I'm...stupid?!' she exclaimed in her mind. Her legs felt tired from all the running but she couldn't stop. She ran all the way to her bedroom and collapsed on her bed weeping, she looked at herself in the long mirror in the room and saw her eyes sparkle like they always did when she felt some kind of strong emotion. What if Zura saw that and called her something else? Something worse?

She wept more at the thought of it, the thought of the names 'weird' and 'freak' tagged onto her were too much for her to bear. Sometime during the crying, she cried herself to sleep; she was awakened by the sound of knocking on her door. She looked up to see Sugar Song with Lil Mac and Lil Angel in the doorway, Sugar crossed over to her and laid a hoof on her shoulder, Heart looked up, her face still stained with the tears she cried earlier. Sugar was sympathetic immediately, "I'm sorry that happened, especially to you."

"Ya see, the thing ya gotta know about Zura is that he speaks his mind without thinking of how it affects anypony else and he loves bein in the center of attention," Lil Mac stated

Heart's sat up a little, she sniffed and asked, "Why would he say something like that for attention?"

"That's just Zura, he thinks he's so smart and yet, he always sleeps durin our history class!" Lil Angel answered with an amused tone. She was amused of the fact that Zura thought he was so great and smart, yet he slacked off."

Heart smiled at the thought, it did manage to lift her up a little, but then the thought of having to go back troubled her. Which led to her smile slowly turning into a frown, "But...what am I going to do about going back? All they're gonna do is make fun of me."

Sugar, Lil Angel and Lil Mac were then in deep thought, then Mac came up with an idea, "Maybe Ah can tutor you!"

Heart looked at him confused, "What's a...tutor?"

"You don't know what a tutor is?" Sugar asked surprised.

Heart shook her head, Sugar then realized how uneducated she really was.

"A tutor is somepony who can work with you by yerself with schoolwork," Lil Angel explained.

Heart then understood, Lil Mac wanted to help her with schoolwork. She smiled as Sugar hugged Heart tightly, "We're gonna make you the smartest filly in the class!" Sugar declared.

Heart felt a sense of comfort as she and her newfound friends formed a group hug.

Heart's new life in Ponyville was turning around over the next couple of weeks, Lil Mac met with her at his home at Sweet Apple Acres and was very patient with her. Heart's most difficult subjects were math, spelling and reading but showed a strong determination to learn it; in school though, Zura found ways to get at her and prank her from time to time. He would call her airhead, stupid, dunce and other names. Heart tried to not let it bother her, but when it got to the point where she was crying, her friends readily stood up for her. Heart loved her new life in Ponyville, it was better than moving around from town to town on a weekly basis. Even though Heart missed her mother dearly, she didn't think about her much, there was always a lesson to be done, tutoring to go to and friends to hang out with. It wasn't that Heart was trying to forget her mother, she was following Sugar's advice; she was trying to move on.

Everyday after Heart's tutoring at Lil Mac's home at Sweet Apple Acres, Lil Mac's Aunt Applejack would give them each a slice of apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. One day, after receiving their pie, Heart asked Lil Mac where his parents were and why she hadn't met them yet.

"Mah Dad is a bit...sad to be honest, Auntie AJ says he hasn't been the same since Momma died. She says that he was so in love with her that it broke him when she left."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Ah know, but Daddy's been seein' somepony fer help and he's been keepin' a journal ta help him."

"Has it been helping?"

"Yeah, it's been helpin' a lot! He's been lettin' us come into the orchard with him after school while he works and even his Ponytones concerts."

"Ponytones?"

"Yeah, it's a singin' group he's a part of, they're performin' at the dance this week. Speakin' of which, are ya goin'?

"I'm not sure yet, I don't have anypony to go with..."

"Would ya like ta...maybe go with...me?"

Heart blinked a couple of times, "Sure! I mean, yeah, but I don't have anything to wear..."

"Mah Aunt Rarity can fix that no problem."

"But what about-"

"Money?" Applejack cut in, "That won't even be a problem, we'll take care of ya sugar cube."

Heart couldn't help but smile with a glimmer of hope, she was going to feel like a princess for a night, not only that, but she felt like she actually had friends surrounding her who almost felt like family, a family she'd wanted since her mother left her life.

Chapter 5: Discovered

Chapter 5

Discovered

“We’re almost done, dear” Rarity chimed as Heart sewed up the dress. “You have been doing a very fine job.”

“Okay,” Heart squeaked, just above a whisper.

Heart wasn’t used to the kindness and generosity surrounding her and she certainly wasn’t used to being fitted for a dress. It was a tedious process, she had to stand for hours without moving and was sometimes accidentally picked by the pins. Though Heart was being put through a lot, Rarity let her take breaks to eat and stretch her muscles.

The first time Heart met Rarity was when Applejack took her to Carousel Boutique and the door opened to reveal her.

At first, Heart thought she was a lost princess, living among the common ponies because she didn’t want her crown. Heart told herself that one day she would look like Rarity. She even started carrying herself like Rarity, turning the other cheek when others were making fun of her and offering to help others when she felt they needed it.

It took two days to fit Heart for her dress, but they also talked, told funny stories, Rarity even talked about her first time at the Grand Galloping Gala which had Heart laughing on the floor. Rarity also took Heart out shopping for pins and supplies with her and taught Heart about types of fabric and sewing materials. And afterwards, Rarity would always get Heart some ice cream.

When Rarity announced that the dress was done being fitted to her, she was saddened by this. She wouldn’t be able to spend time with Rarity anymore,

Rarity saw the expression on Heart’s face when she announced this and offered for Heart to help her make the dress. Heart’s eyes sparkled in the peculiar way they always did, causing Rarity to raise an eyebrow at the strange occurrence. However, she quickly dismissed it when she saw how happy the young filly was.

Heart then realized she didn’t know how to sew and asked Rarity for sewing lessons, “Well, I don’t know darling…”

“Please Ms. Rarity?” she asked with a sweet smile and pleading eyes.

Rarity was more than hesitant about this little filly around sharp objects, especially with a sewing machine where she could easily get hurt. She looked at Heart with a look to kindly tell her no, but Heart looked at her with all the admiration she had and Rarity suddenly felt compelled to teach her. Rarity had gotten wind of her Mother dropping her off at the orphanage and the reasons why from ponies in town. She felt that she couldn’t let this filly down and say no. Heart had been through so much disappointment in her life, Rarity felt she needed to fix that.

Rarity had the patience of a saint teaching her, mainly because Heart was a little slow at first in learning and hurt herself a couple of times from the sewing machine, but Rarity urged her to keep going.

“Just be patient dear, you’ll get it eventually.”

“I keep trying but the fabric keeps slipping and when I try to catch it, I get hit by the needle.”

Rarity looked closer and found what was wrong, “Guide the fabric with your hoof, sweetie, it’ll make things much easier, trust me, this is very tricky material.”

Heart eagerly took every bit of Rarity’s advice, she wanted to do her best for Rarity and be just like her and not want to feel like she let her down. Rarity let her eat once every hour and sat and talked with her during her breaks, Heart like to talk about her friends and the fun things they do together. Even though some of the activities were ones Rarity didn’t exactly find suitable for a filly to be doing, like playing in mud puddles or getting dirty period.

Yet, she found some things slightly funny, like when she told a story about how she thought there was a monster under her bed once and shined a flashlight under her bed to scare it away, then slept under there to ensure herself that the monsters didn’t come back.

Rarity had to admit, she had become fond of Heart’s Desire and had to giggle sometimes at how she mimicked Rarity like how Scootaloo did for Rainbow Dash. She could tell that Heart admired her and Rarity felt compassion for her and never took advantage of it.

Heart went home a lot of times daydreaming about what it would be like for Rarity to be her new Mom. But what if Rarity didn’t want her? What if she asked her and she just laughed in her face?

‘Maybe I should just keep it to myself and not say anything, it would probably be best.’ she thought to herself as she fell asleep.

The next day after school and tutoring, Heart went straight for Carousel Boutique. She knocked on the door and was greeted by somepony she had never seen before, she was a white pony with a curly purple and pink mane with green eyes.

“Oh! You must be Heart’s Desire! My name is Sweetie Belle, I’m Rarity’s sister. I’m sorry but she’s out getting some more supplies for your dress but she said you could come in and color if you want.”

“Thanks.”Heart entered with a smile, this pony was really nice and Heart immediately trusted her.

Sweetie Belle was very pretty with a velvet soft voice. She had Heart sit down at a table in the boutique while she got her some crayons and paper. When Sweetie returned, she laid the materials on the table and sat in the chair next to her. Heart then began to draw, she drew her friends, flowers hearts, she also drew Sweetie Belle a picture. Sweetie herself found that this filly didn’t talk much at first, but while she drew, Heart asked her a couple things like what Rarity was like as a sister and Sweetie answered sweetly and with charm and soon Heart and Sweetie were laughing at each other’s stories.

Sweetie told her about Rarity competing in the Sisterhooves Social with her and covering herself in mud. Heart laughed because she couldn’t imagine Rarity doing such a thing.

“She really did that?”

“Mm-hm! She did it for me because it was something I wanted to do that day with her.”

Heart then smiled and went back to drawing and drew what was haunting her mind at the moment. She drew herself and Rarity face to face, when the picture was finished, Heart couldn’t help but let a tear slide out from her eye and land on the paper.

“Heart, what’s wrong?” Sweetie asked.

“I...I just...Rarity has been so nice to me and...she’s taught me a lot and I’ve been hoping that she’d want to be my Mom from all the time we’ve spent together but...nothing.”

“Why don’t you just ask her?”

Heart rubbed the back of her neck, “Because she might laugh at me! I mean, she probably just sees me as some cute little orphan who’s annoying her.”

Sweetie put a hoof on Heart’s shoulder, “She doesn’t think that!”

Heart looked up at Sweetie Belle, “How do you know?”

“You wanna know what she told me? She told me that she thinks you are a very smart, loving, kind, and wonderful filly.”

“Really?”

Sweetie nodded.“You know, my friend Scootaloo had the same problem as you did, only this mare she wanted to be her big sister.”

“What did she do?”

“Well, Scoots finally couldn’t take anymore of hiding it and just told her outright and this mare didn’t laugh or turn her away at all...she took her under her wing and was like a big sis to Scootaloo.”

“So, you’re saying I should do the same for Rarity?”

“Yes, just don’t be upfront about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it means not to ask her about it right away, hint at it and maybe she’ll get it.”

“Okay, I’ll try…”

“Good girl.”

Sweetie then hugged Heart tightly, if Rarity said yes, Heart knew she would enjoy having Sweetie as an Aunt.

When Rarity returned, Sweetie got up and left to go to Sugar Cube Corner with her friends. But before leaving, Sweetie turned and winked sweetly at Heart.

“Ready to get to work Heart?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah.”

Heart got up from the table as Rarity approached then the both of them went to the work room. After about a half hour of working, Heart decided to start dropping hints to Rarity by asking questions, Heart was pinning the skirt to the bodice of her dress when she said “Miss Rarity…”

“Hmm?” Rarity replied cutting the lavender colored tulle that would go over the skirt.

“Have you ever wanted to be a...Mom?”

Rarity looked at the filly a little stunned and confused by the question, “Well, I...I guess so...but the thing is Heart, I’m not married and I would like to be a mother after I’m married.”

“How come?”

“You see, Heart, a mare and a stallion should not even think of children before marriage. It makes things more difficult.”

“Well, what about...adopting before marriage?”

Rarity was even more stunned at this question.

“Why are you asking me all this, Heart?”

Heart then couldn’t face her, she turned around and said quickly, “No reason!”

“Heart, what are you not telling me?”

Heart sighed and walked to the table where her drawing of her and Rarity was, which now had the word ‘Mom?’ sloppily written in red crayon on the bottom. Heart picked up this drawing with her mouth and with the most cheerful and hopeful face she could conjure, she showed it to Rarity.

Rarity took a step back, she had never been in this situation but she soon got over her surprise by feeling some compassion for this filly. But Rarity knew she couldn’t make up her mind just yet, she had to think this over.

“Sweetheart, I know you want me to make a decision right away, but I have to think on this.”

Heart’s ears drooped and her smile turned to a frown and the paper dropped to the floor.

“Heart, how about you go home early and I’ll finish the dress,” Rarity answered quickly, “You’ve worked hard this week and you deserve a break. It’ll be done by tomorrow, I promise, I will deliver it tomorrow and make sure it hangs right and everything.”

“O-ok...” Heart responded while trying her best to hold her tears back.

After Heart left sadly for the orphanage that day, Rarity got ready for bed and began pacing and thought of how happy she was making this filly. She then thought of Heart’s picture and began to feel guilty, she wanted to give Heart the mother she deserved. But the thought of it was a bit daunting, she just couldn’t picture herself as a mother.

The more she thought about it, she felt it would be the best thing for Heart’s future and ever since Sweetie Belle moved to Manehattan things have been lonely in the boutique since then and she had learned a lot about raising children from Sweetie Belle.

Her mind was then made up. The day after the dance, she would legally adopt Heart’s Desire.

The night of the dance, a streak of black smoke flew past the moon so quickly that few ponies noticed it. The smoke then took a nose dive for the ground on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. When the smoke landed, it turned into King Sombra.

He looked at Ponyville with scorn, he had been here numerous times looking for a student with no luck whatsoever.

“What is this town good for again?” he asked to no one.

He then heaved a sigh, “All these years of searching, there has to be something.”

He turned back into smoke and took off into town and to the orphanage. Once there, he looked through all the windows, watching for any unicorns and any signs of powerful magic which so far he wasn’t finding. He then stopped in front of the window to Heart and Sugar’s room, he saw Heart in a purple dress with her hair done up. She was spinning around in front of a mirror happily she stopped and smiled.

She barely recognized herself and felt like she should be going to ball rather than a dance. Rarity had not informed Heart of her decision, wanting to keep it a surprise, instead, she told Heart that she needed to think a little longer on this and though this set a small depression and a twinge of impatience in Heart, she took it in stride and didn’t want to let it spoil her night. She then looked at Sugar who was on her bed studying, “Are you sure you don’t want to go, Sugar?”

“Yeah, nopony asked me and I’m not really into dances.”

Heart looked in the mirror again to marvel at the dress she and Rarity created.

Sugar’s voice then spoke, “He likes you - like, a lot.”

Heart looked at her bewildered, “Who?”

“Lil Mac, he likes you!”

Heart blushed, “How do you know?”

“Lil Angel says that after you leave your tutoring sessions with him...he can’t concentrate for 2 seconds on anything plus she asked him and he came clean.”

Heart looked confused at Sugar as the pink filly continued studying and Heart pondered this information for a moment. Why did Lil Mac tutor her? Because he wanted to be helpful, but was that really the reason behind it? As Heart thought more, it became more and more clear to her that what Sugar was saying was true. Lil Mac liked her, and not just as a friend but as a crush, Heart’s excitement built up and that excitement went to her horn, which then began to glow.

A light breeze was felt through the room, even though the window was closed. Sugar felt this breeze and looked at Heart, when she saw Heart’s horn glowing the way it was, she was stunned. But before Sugar could say anything, a beam shot out of Heart’s horn which ricocheted all over the room. Sugar then opened the window and the beam shot out and just missed Sombra who was still watching outside their window.

He watched as it flew into the Everfree Forest and there was a glow with a small explosion, he followed it and saw that it left a blackened crater, he then looked inside of it and saw three yellow crystals growing out of the ground. He had never seen this kind of magic before, not even in the books he’d read, but this kind of magic could be his advantage. He looked back in the direction of the orphanage and grinned, he had found what he was looking for.

But, he had to be sure that this filly was the one, he flew back to the Everfree Forest and turned back to his demonic form. He then lit his horn with Dark Magic as it swirled around him, changing him into a normal looking unicorn stallion with a brown coat, red eyes, and dark brown hair. He was dressed in a tux that showed that his cutie mark was still there which was some grey crystals with red and black sparks of lightning scattered around it, but he could create a reason for that later. He instead grinned in the direction of the dance, conjured up some bits to get into the dance, then made his way to the center of town.

Chapter 6: Taken

Chapter 6

Taken

Heart left the orphanage glowing with happiness. When her mother left, she felt like her world had ended and that she would never find happiness in Ponyville. She had been proven wrong, despite school being her biggest weakness. She was meeting Lil Mac at the dance, and couldn’t wait to spend the evening with her newfound coltfriend. As she went, she was careful to not ruin her dress or her hair since Rarity was going to be there as well,and she didn’t want to approach her looking ragged.

At last, having made it to town hall, she groaned upon seeing a line, but with no other way in, she stood patiently waiting to get in, Applejack had sent Lil Mac to school with enough bits for the two of them to get in. As much as Heart would’ve liked Lil Mac to escort her to Town Hall, she wanted to see his expression when he saw her. While waiting in line, a well dressed brown unicorn stallion with red eyes stood behind her; he was looking at her with intense curiosity.

She looked back at him and he looked back up to the ticket booth, “How long will this line take?” he asked a bit irritated.

“I’m sure it won’t be long.”

He groaned. “It’d better not, or my date is not going to be happy.”

Heart looked up at him. “She can’t be mad at you for that.”

“Try telling her that.”

There was a small silence and the line moved a few steps then the stallion spoke again, “I’ve seen you around town a few times, what is your name?”

“Heart’s Desire…”

“Such a pretty name.” he grinned.

Inside, he was groaning, Of course, she had to have a name representing some sort of purity...we’ll have to fix that

Heart then looked at him curiously, knowing she had never seen this stallion in Ponyville before, something told her that there was something off about this stallion, and turned her head away not wanting to converse with him further.

Meanwhile, he inconspicuously performed a spell to see where her magical surges were at. He then saw the amount of magic surrounding her like a golden halo seeping out of her, this was very powerful magic and one that he knew he could easily corrupt if she cooperated. If she didn’t, he had ways to make her and force her to believe whatever he told her without question. Heart kept her eyes forward, the little voice in her head telling her to avoid contact with this stallion for the rest of the night. Heart then began to feel a bit scared and freaked out by this stallion behind her, she quickly looked back at him and her eyes sparkled the way they always did when she felt strong and powerful emotions.

The stallion looked at her curiously, peeking his interest, “What was that?”

Heart quickly looked away, “N-nothing!”

‘Come on line! Move faster!’

“Only those with powerful magic in them can do that…”

Heart turned her head towards him in surprise, “Powerful magic?”

He nodded, “Yes, and I think you may need help learning to harness it…”

“Well, Princess Twilight lives in Ponyville, maybe I could ask for her help?”

“Maybe, but sometimes your tutors come to you…”

Heart flinched, then turned back around, she wanted this line to go faster, she was officially ready to be away from this stallion. To her relief, the line moved, she paid for her ticket then moved to the entrance to the event and gave it to the stallion standing there. He then put her ticket in his pocket and let her in with a grin. She entered and looked around at all the nicely dressed adults and foals, she then looked around for Lil Mac, hoping he was here.

“Hey Heart! You made it!” she heard Lil Mac’s voice call out.

She looked to the side and saw him in his little tux made to fit him, “Sorry I took so long, got stuck in line.”

“No problem! As long as you made it!”

She then saw the stallion that was in line behind her come through the entrance, he didn’t look at her as he passed by, which Heart was thankful for. She just focused on the colt in front of her, he offered his hoof as he blushed, she smiled at him blushing as well and gently took it.

He then led her down to the dance floor, she caught a glimpse of his Dad and he looked at the two of them warmly, he looked happy for them and this assured Heart that she was welcomed by him. Her hoof was then released and Lil Mac was standing in front of her as a slow song played, Heart tensed and saw Mac do the same. He looked over to his Dad nervously, who was standing off to the side of the dance floor and urging him with gestures to make a move. Lil Mac gulped and gently took her hoof again and pulled her close and began dancing with her, both were nervous and it showed in their dance movements. But they soon got the hang of it and they started shedding their nervousness and began enjoying their evening.

“You look great by the way,” Lil Mac commented to Heart.

Heart giggled, feeling herself turning even redder, “Thanks...Rarity helped me make it…”

“You two did a great job! You look beautiful!”

Heart looked shyly to the side while smiling, “Thank you...”

She looked nervously over at Big Macintosh, who seemed to be taking a break from live singing and let Vinyl Scratch do her job. Heart tensed at the sight of the mountainous stallion, his presence made her tremble.

Lil Mac noticed this and said, “Don’t worry about my Dad, he likes you...Plus he’s a gentle giant. It’s when he has a reason to use his strength to stick up for ponies that you should be worried.”

She nervously nodded. “Noted…”

Little Mac smiled and rubbed Heat’s shoulder. “Trust me, he would help and stick up for you in a heartbeat if it came down to it.”

Heart relaxed, “Okay, that makes me feel better…”

The mysterious stallion watched from afar, and felt a sharp pain in his head, he shook it off probably from his disguise wearing off. But then, he heard a familiar voice say faintly in his head, “I will be released, and you will pay for what you’ve done…”

He was angered by this and locked the voice away deep in his mind like he always did. He then left the dance and went to the Everfree Forest to wait until the dance was over and for Heart to go to bed. He would stay there until midnight, that would give her time to go to sleep and for him to remove her from this town and take her to the Crystal Mountains. He left in a huff and nearly knocked a few ponies over.

Heart saw this from the mysterious stallion, and shrugged it off, figuring his date must’ve stood him up. Instead, she leaned back into Mc’s soft fur until he stopped dancing and tensed up.

“Mac?” Heart asked, pulling away. “ Is everything ok?”

Mac didn’t even respond, he was looking directly at a pegasus colt from their class named Ocean Breeze. The colt that Lil Angel was supposed to be coming with, but Angel was nowhere to be found.

“Mac?”

“He stood her up didn’t he?” He growled. “He was supposed to pick her up an hour ago!”

Heart looked at Mac with surprise, then back at Ocean, heart beating, blood boiling, she began to squeeze on Mac’s hoof as she glared at the colt. She had just been talking with Lil Angel about how excited her friend was to be going on her first date all week. All week at school, the only thing Angle would talk about was her excitement for the dance and how many favors, pleading, and begging she had to do with her father just to go. She had even twisting Big Mac’s arm and promised to clean the pigpens just to go with this colt. All that excitement and hope was shattered for Lil Angel,

Heart’s eyes sparkled with her anger and before she could move towards Ocean and his friends, which included Itazura and two other colts Heart didn’t quite know yet, Lil Mac trudged angrily towards them. Heart followed behind him and when he reached them, he began yelling at them, “Ocean Breeze! Where is my sister?!”

Ocean’s face went pale, he knew he was busted. “Hey, hey Lil Mac, look...she’s just not my type ya know? Plus, I never asked her out in the first place!”

Little Mac sarcastically chuckled. “Oh yeah? Then why was she talking about going out to this dance with you all week?” With each word Mac spoke, the tone and anger grew only louder. “She had to beg my dad for days, promise to do more chores than any of you lazy bones will do in a lifetime, and you, stood, her, UP?!“

“Whoa, chill,” Ocean mumbled, starting to shrink back. “I… I mean, I didn’t think she’d have that big a—

“Oh, don’t even!” Mac spat. “You knew she had a crush on you. Every, single, filly, in class, knew she had a crush on you!”

To Heart’s horror, Ocean began to laugh. and not in a worried kind of way, but as if he found what Little Mac was saying to be amusing.“And so do almost all the fillies in our class, man. Your sister is just another one of them!”

Heart noticed that Zura’s expression towards Ocean was only of pure rage, “You...you stood her up didn’t you?”

“Shut up Zura! This doesn’t involve you!” Ocean yelled at him.

Mac noticed the same thing Heart did, both had never seen this side of Zura before, it was if he actually cared about Lil Angel.

Ocean Breeze huffed. “Whatever. Besides, she isn’t as pretty as everyone in town is praising her to be...so I could really care less about her.”

With that, Lil Mac pounced with a wild cry of fury. He then pinned Ocean down and began slapping him and throwing punches, “You filthy, spoiled, rotten, BRAT!!!”

Heart then heard Ocean crying as blood began flowing from his nose. She turned around and realized they had gained an audience, and Mac’s father was moving quickly through the crowd towards them, Heart looked fearfully up at him, thinking that she was in trouble as well. He only looked at her softly and gently nudged her to the side saying, “Excuse me, Heart, thank ya.”

He then turned his direction to the two colts still fighting, he then began peeling his son off of Ocean, “Mac! Son! That’s enough! He’s had enough!”

Lil Mac, however was not ready to back down so easily, “NO! DAD! HE STOOD HER UP! HE STOOD UP LIL ANGEL, AND I’M NOT LETTING HIM GET AWAY WITH IT!”

His Dad could only look at Ocean Breeze with disgust, “Yer lucky Ah can’t give you a beatin’, come near mah daughter again...you will be sorry…”

Ocean breeze nodded still shook up and scared of the sight of Big Macintosh, the mountain of a stallion himself. He then put Lil Mac down and said to him, “Yer gonna take Heart home, then straight home is where yer goin’ as well. When Ah get back, you and Ah are gonna talk about this.”

Little Mac’s jaw dropped. “But Dad!”

“No ‘buts’ about it! Walk!”

Lil Mac groaned, then took Heart’s hoof and led her out, looking disappointed in himself.

He didn’t speak the entire time walking to the orphanage, and Heart began to get a little scared. Once the orphanage was reached, she started heading up the steps a little when she heard him speak for the first time since they left the dance, “Ah’m sorry ya had ta see that...Ah messed up our date…”

Heart turned around and shot him a warm, soft grin, “It’s ok. I forgive you, mac. Besides, you were standing up for your sister...I can’t blame you for that. If anything, if I was a bit braver… I might have joined you.”

Little mac chuckled. “Thanks Heart, and you are brave. Ah just can’t believe that jerk.”

Heart casted him a wicked grin. “Hey, maybe there’s some way we can get him back.” she kicked a nearby pebble. “Well… Maybe if we don’t do anything, we can all get together sometime and ‘imagine’ things to do to Ocean Breeze.”

Little Mac beamed. “Oh yeah, Ah was thinking tying him to a tree in the middle of the everfree.”

Heart stuck out her tongue. “Oh, is that the best you got? I’d say, we cover him in honey, then bang a few pans to make sure he attracts some hydra’s.”

“Yeah, but they say zap apple jam is the best way to attract a manticore.”

The they bursted out laughing, and Mac began to smile a bit, “Thanks Heart...that makes me feel a little better…”

Heart nodded while smiling. “Yeah… but some other time, I should get going.” She turned towards the door, but something in her head told her to turn around and go up to him, she did this and approached him, kissing him on the lips.

Mac’s eyes were wide open in surprise, they were still wide open when she let go. He was frozen as she blushed and turned towards the building and went up the steps. He slowly turned around, and as soon as she was inside and the door was closed, she heard him cry out loud, “YES!!”

Heart giggled and went up to her dorm, still blushing when she entered, and she saw that Sugar Song was dead asleep on the bed with her textbook on her belly. Heart took her dress off and hung it up in the closet. She then turned off the lights off and took the book off of Sugar’s stomach and placed it in her Saddlebag. Sugar then woke up, and said groggily, “Hey, how did it go? What time is it?”

“It’s 9:30 and I came home early, Lil Mac beat the snot out of Ocean Breeze because he stood up Lil Angel.”

Sugar’s eyes widened, “I would’ve loved to see that!”

Heart giggled, “His Dad had him take me home, he went home as well.”

“Well that stinks, but, oh well…” Sugar looked to Heart who was still flushed red and gazing forward dreamily. “Oh… I suppose your walk home ended well?”

Heart’s eyes widen, and she threw herself under the covers. “I’m gonna go to bed, you get some sleep too.”

Sugar shook her head. “Yes mother! But you’re giving me more details in the morning.”

Heart playfully stuck her tongue out at her and the both laughed as Heart took off her glasses and clung Fuzzy Hearts, “Goodnight, Sugar.”

“Nighty, night, Heart.”

Both fillies snuggled under the blankets, slowly falling asleep.

Meanwhile, in the Everfree Forest, Sombra, who was now out of his disguise, he was pacing and wondering where exactly that headache came from and why he was being released. There was something odd about that filly, it seems her magic is able to corrupt him.

“Seems as if there’s a race to corrupt her before she does so to me.”

He looked up and saw that the moon was in the middle of the sky, he turned himself into smoke and quickly maneuvered through Ponyville’s skies like a snake. He then reached the orphanage and located Heart’s room with Sugar Song. He slithered through the window cracks and turned back into himself once he was in, he looked over at the sleeping, butter yellow filly and placed a spell on her to keep her asleep for their trip to the Crystal Mountains. Once the spell was cast, he heard the other filly begin to stir and saw that she had awakened a little, he performed the same spell on her causing her to drift asleep.

When she wakes, she’ll think it was nothing but a nightmare…

He then slowly picked up Heart, who was still clutching her doll and he got her glasses, placing them on her as she still slept. Sombra then turned towards the window, opening it slowly so he wouldn’t wake anyone up again. He dissolved into smoke, still being able to carry Heart and left. The window closing behind the two of them.

And with that…

They were gone.