A Gem to Brighten the Darkness

Scootaloo was used to the bullying she would get from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but she wasn’t ready for Tiara to take a jab at her parents. Before she had time to react a shadow had covered her. She looked up at it’s owner and opened her mouth, but before she could ask who he was his angry voice rang out through the hall.

“Well it’s no wonder you're so stupid, you never had any parents how to teach you to be normal!”

Those words echoed in Quill’s head as he turned and walked down the hall the group of girls. Inside him a fire that he believed was dead had come back to life. He stopped as he reached the three girls. He put himself between the girl with the tiara and the girl with purple hair.

“You have 7 seconds to leave her alone. Am I clear or do I need to repeat myself!”

The girl looked up at the weirdo that had interrupted her fun. She was about to tell him off, but then he spoke. The anger and malice in his voice sent a shiver down her spine. She hid the fear and turned to her silver haired friend. “Come on Silver Spoon, lets go. This was getting boring anyway.” She grabbed Silver Spoon’s had and pulled her off quickly. She wanted to get as far away from this weirdo as she could. She could feel Silver Spoon’s hand shaking in hers.

Quill looked back at the purple haired girl and found her smiling up at him, it was then he realized what he had done. His body moved without him thinking, and his emotions spoke for him before his mind could even register what had happened. He left the girl there and hurried off to his class. Whatever had happened with him to make him want to help that girl, was something that he did not want to think about. He didn’t want to help the girl but something inside forced him to move. He left the orange skinned girl there in the hall as he hurried down the hall.

Scootaloo watched as the weird guy ran away from her. She called out to him. “Hey! wait up!” She ran after him and shouted out to him as he turned a corner. “Stop running! I wanna thank you!” As she turned the corner she found that the weird guy in the hoodie was gone. She sighed and went back to her locker. “Who was that guy?” She asked herself as she gathered her things.  She looked at the clock and her eyes widened. “Crap I’m gonna be late!” She took off the hall. “Oh god Ms. Cheerilee is  gonna be mad at me for being late again.” She hurried off to her own class to meet up with her friends.

She walked into class just as the late bell rang, she sighed in relief and smiled at her teacher Ms. Cheerilee, A kind looking women with pinkish skin and dark purple hair. “You can’t get mad at me this time Ms. Cheerilee I got here right on time!”

Cheerilee sighed but smiling slightly. “You got here on time by a few seconds. Next time lets try and make it by a few minutes ok?”

Scootaloo gave her a cheeky smile. “I’ll try!” She hurried off to the back of class and sat in between her two friends; to her left was a girl with shining white skin, with long pink and purple hair with curls on the ends. She had a white and purple striped top with a yellow dress. She wore purple boots with two golden bands near the top and bottom of the boots. To her right was a pale yellow girl with long red hair with a dark pink bow. She had jeans on with the legs rolled up to her knees, and a belt with a golden buckle. She word worker style country boots.

The girl to her left whispered to her. “Were you off watching Rainbow Dash practice again?” She smiled slightly. knowing Scootaloo idolizes Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo looked at her. “I don’t always do that Sweetie Belle!....besides she was busy racing with Zero.”

The girl to her right chimed in with a slight southern accent. “I’m still surprised that Zero is datin Twi instead of Rainbow. Rainbow is like a girl version of him!” She spoke a little too loudly and Cheerilee glared back to them.

“Apple Bloom quite down! You all need to know this information for your next test!” Cheerilee said before turning back to the chalkboard.

Apple Bloom sighed and shook her head, they were learning about the founding of Canterlot . “I already know this stuff, my family did most of it for pete’s sake!” She muttered to herself before looking to Scootaloo. “So what were ya doin before ya got here?” She asked with a tilt of her head.

Scootaloo sighed before looking down at her desk. “Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were making fun of me again .”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Them again? Ya would think they’d get bored of it by now.”

Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement before asking, “What did they say this time?”

Scootaloo went silent for a few seconds before she spoke. “They made fun of me for not having parents.” She said before closing her eyes and sighing sadly.

Apple Bloom’s eyes went wide, and Sweetie Belle covered her mouth in shock.

Before either of them could say anything, Scootaloo spoke up. “Before I could say anything back this weird guy in a green hoodie got in between us and scared them off. He ran off before I could thank him.”

Apple Bloom looked to scootaloo and asked “So he just told em off, and ran away? That’s really weird.”

Sweetie Belle nodded before smiling a little. “Well it’s good to know that there’s someone here to stand up to the bullies, other than Zero.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Yeah but Zero is always busy trying to be the best at everything, and we don’t even know who this guy is.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked across at each other and they smiled. “Well looks like the crusaders have a new mission! Find this mystery guy!” They said at the same time.

Cheerilee walked to the back of the class to the three girls. “You three get to stay after class to help clean things up. Next time don't be so noisy while I'm teaching!”

“Sorry Ms. Cheerilee.” The three girls said at once. As Cheerilee walked back to the front of the room they looked to each other and they smiled at their new goal.

Quill sighed in relief when the bell rang for the end of the last class of the day. The class wasn’t why he was glad it was over. He actually liked the lesson they had been learning, it was on old legends and how much they influenced history. Quill had learned about an old wizard in medieval times called Star Swirl the bearded, who apparently had invented music. Quill would’ve enjoyed the lesson to….. If it hadn’t been thinking about what had happened in the hall with the group of girls. He couldn’t understand why his body had moved on its own to defend a girl he didn’t even know.

He walked down the hall towards the front of the school, trying to focus on something other than why he defended the girls. He passed by a girl with white skin and purple hair heading in the opposite direction of him. He got an odd feeling in the back of his mind that he had seen her before. He shook the feeling off and headed out of the school.

As Quill walked outside he heard two people yelling at each other by the horse statue in the front of the school. It was Rainbow Dash and Zero Gravity. Quill was surprised he remembered their names, but then again it was hard to forget the name of a walking skittles commercial and the living embodiment of annoyance. Quill smiled to himself at his own joke. He caught a bit of their conversation.

“I won that race Rainbow! Theres no way in hell you beat me!”

“I totally beat you! No one is faster than me!”

Zero rolled his eyes, “Oh hush up skittles you can’t win all the time”

This is where Quill stopped caring and left the two to shout at each other. Before he could get more than 2 feet away the orange skinned girl jumped out from behind the statue with two other girls Quill didn’t know. Quill stopped in his tracks and he looked down at the girls. “You're that girl from the halls….”

Scootaloo looked up at the guy and she smirked. “Thats right and you ran away before I could thank you!.

Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah and we wanna thank ya to for helpin Scootaloo out!”

Sweetie Belle smiled happily. “Not that many people help us out when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon start picking on us, so we’re really grateful!”

He looked down at the three girls and he sighed.“Listen…. girls I just want to go home ok? So please move aside.” He tried to walk past them only to have Scootaloo get in his way.

“Wait!” She said loudly before smiling, “I just wanna know why you helped out. It’s not like you know me or anything So why did you help?”

He looked down at her, then to her two friend smiling up at him.“I helped because I know how it feels.”

He said simply before standing up. “Now I really do need to head off girls Oh and.. my name is Quill.” Quill turned and walked off from the girls.

Apple Bloom blinked and he looked to Scootaloo. “He knows how it feels? What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked with a puzzled look on her face,

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment. “Maybe he’s been bullied like us before?”

Scootaloo looked at Quill as he walked away and she smiled a little. “Crusaders we have a new mission! Find out what happened to Quill!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded and they smiled.

While the girls planned for their mission they failed to notice the fact that Rainbow and Zero had stopped fighting. They had overheard the girls talking to Quill. Rainbow Dash looked furious. “Those two little runts are messing with them again! I thought Celestia was putting a stop to that!”

Zero rolled his eyes. “You can warn them as much as you want, you gotta scare them straight, but look on the bright side. They have a new friend to watch their back.”

Rainbow looked to him. “I guess you're right, but what do you think he meant when he said he knows how they feel?”

Zero shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know it all depends on what Diamond said to Scootaloo… maybe we should look into this. You can bring in the girls and I’ll do what I do best.”

Rainbow looked to him. “Be annoying and loud?”

Zero glared at her. “No hound him until he tells me what's up”

Rainbow nodded and she smiled. “This might be fun, it’s about time we get a new face here. I just hope he’s not another egg head”

Zero rolled his eyes. “Tomorrow we’ll try and help him. It's too late today.”

Rainbow nodded in agreement and the two headed off to their houses.

        Quill went home With Stone who met up with him along the way. Stone looked at Quill. He still felt hurt about how Quill talked to him before, but he knew that deep down Quill didn’t mean it. “So how was your first day of school?”

Quill looked to Stone slowly spoke. “It was...good”

Stone’s eyes widened slightly, he didn't expect Quill to say something so… positive. He slowly smiled and he patted Quill back hard enough to make him stumble. “That’s great bro! Glad to hear you had a good time. Did ya make any friends?”

Quill went silent for a moment as he thought about scootaloo and her friends. He looked to Stone and he nodded. “I think I did, but it doesn’t matter anyone can make friends.” He said as he walked into their house. “I’m going to take a nap, wake me up when dinner is ready.”

Stone looked to his little brother and he smiled a little. “So you're going to start eating right again?”

Quill rolled his eyes. “Just because I don’t clean out the fridge everyday like you doesn’t mean I don’t eat right.” Quill turned and headed upstairs leaving Stone standing like a statue in shock.

Lila walked over to him and asked , “Heart Stone are you ok? Did something happen with you and Quill?”

Stone looked at his mother and he slowly stuttered out, “I..I think Quill just… made a joke.”

Lila’s eyes widened and she looked up stairs to Quill’s room, a small smile spread across her face. “He’s finally starting to open up!”

Quill tossed his backpack in the corner and put his hoodie on his dresser before laying on his bed and closing his eyes. It wasn’t long after when he fell asleep and the dream began yet again. Quill found himself back in his old home eating dinner with his mother and his father. Quill began shaking in the dream, he knew what would happen next. The bang noise resonated through the house and Quill’s mind. Quill’s father vanished from the dinner table. Quill’s shaking grew more violent as the second bang rang out through the house, his mother vanished as soon as the noise was heard.

Quill’s dream body forced him to run to the door to get help, but the same figure from every dream blocked his way. The dark figure with the glowing red eyes. Quill turned and he ran up the stairs away from the figure. Quill began to feel the heat from the fire the figure made with each step.

Quill ran to his room and slammed the door. He closed his eyes and he braced for the pain in his stomach and the burning sensation he would feel. Before either could come, Quill heard a noise in his room he had never heard in the dream before. He opened his eyes and found Scootaloo standing beside him whispering something he couldn’t hear just right. Quill look at her in confusion as the dark figure bursted into his room. Quill turned to it and he slammed his eyes shut again as he heard the third and final bang. Right before Quill could feel the pain, he heard what Scootaloo had been whispering to him.

“You’re not alone.” Quill heard the words and he felt the pain in his stomach. Not to long after he felt the fire on his skin, but...neither hurt him as much as they did in the other dreams.

Quill’s eyes opened from the dream as he woke up, he got off his bed and walked into his bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror, he could see new light in his eyes. Light that hadn’t been there the night before. It was faint but it was there. As Quill looked at his reflection he slowly spoke to it.

“You're not alone”