Chapters Honey Almond gazed at a dandelion flower. It was the white and puffy kind, the seeds attached to the flower by a thread, daring to fly away. The wind gave them a nudge, and a few floated. The grass rustled as short gusts of wind crossed the field. It was Honey’s home.
Honey was homeless. The town she lived nearby to at age five was shut down. Now they were abandoned and vacant. Her parents? Nopony knows what happened to them. Her brown and tan mane and tail were tattered and torn and a deep scar was in her right leg. At first glance she looked like she was half-dead. She looked like a monster. Sometimes she acted like a monster although the mare inside her was kind and caring. Few ponies even passed the forlorn village, let alone pass through it. Honey Almond had been alone for years, and didn't plan on changing that. Little did she know she would be forced to soon.
Two royal guard officers were on lunch break in the Canterlot Castle. Certain rumors had reached one's ears, and obviously couldn't keep it in.
"Ey, Joe. There are reports o' a teenager roaming in Wellshadow. Brown mane, tan body...and a nasty infected scar that could use medical help. Seen 'er myself. Pretty 'lil thing, she is. Don't know of her folks. Wellshadow ain't a great place to be these days. Heard them buildins' are haunted."
"Nonsense, Parker. What kind o' pony would live in such a place? Besides, she may as well be a ghost. Many ponyfolk passed in that run-down heck of a forlorn crap."
Just then an alicorn entered the deserted cafeteria. her mane was light blue with white streaks, and her coat was sky blue. Her wings were blue-gradiented, and her eyes had a far-off look in them. Overall, she was beautiful. Magnificent. Expectation-defying, if you will. Her horn wasn't quite as long as the others, but a bit shorter than the Princess of Love's horn. The tip of it was white, indicating she could do specific magic.
Her graceful hoofsteps echoed on the crystal floor. Immediately the guards looked in her direction and were caught under her spell of beauty. Parker had an immense crush on her, not that any-pony needed to know. The princess cleared her throat lightly.
"Um...excuse me! Are you talking about Honey Almond?"
"Uh...yeah, why?" inquired Parker, blushing so red it could be the colour of blood.
"I've seen her before."
I admire her in a way, thought the alicorn, who was named Snowdrop.
"Oh yeah...well I've seen 'er too. She's pretty, not as pretty as you though."
The second the words escaped Parker's mouth he clamped a hoof over it.
Snowdrop giggled and went on.
"I think she needs a home...I don't like her living in a field. She very much well thinks she's alone, but wolves lurk in those forests. I'm afraid she might perish if we don't do something. Could you send the guards out for her? She might put up a fight...I just want her to live...in the castle."
Parker and Joe looked at each other. As soon as Snowdrop left, Joe blurted out, "Who does she think she is? Running around, let tin' homeless ponies live here."
Parker just shrugged.
Gazing in the mirror at her reflection, a normal occasion for Sugarsong. In every possible thing she could do, this one she enjoyed the most. Gazing at herself. In this seemingly vain form of entertainment, there was a real reason. Well, a very vain reason. She thought she was beautiful, beyond beautiful. More beautiful than the stars in the sky and the princesses themselves. She levitated the mane-brush from the dresser, and, stroking her mane ever so lightly, tamed it after a couple minutes of brushing. It was hot pink with a black streak. her coat was light pink. Her eyes were a brilliant green. Yes, she was indeed beautiful, but not as beautiful as she assumed. She was the most popular filly at her school. This was understandable, of course. They parted down the hallway when she entered. It was like being royalty, except being royalty to nerds, drama queens, nose pickers. You name it. But some were cool, like her 'gang' as I would call it of friends, followers. Her life was, yes, perfect, but not for long.
Sugarsong stopped mid-step when she saw the students glaring at her. They jeered and snickered.
"It's her, that weird filly."
"Hide!"
Soon the halls were empty. But one colt walked up to her.
"Fillyfooler." he spat, like it was a curse word.
Her eyes filled with tears at this remark. How did they find out?
She galloped at full-speed through the double-doors, whacking her head into the glass and shattering it. Then everything went black.
Sugar woke up to a pounding in her head and an ache in her face. Blood stained her whole head and it was roughly bandaged. The hospital room was empty, no doctors or nurses. Sugar groaned as she looked at the window. It was sunset, the time she came home from school. It reminded her of what happened. Cards from her teacher and family lay on the bedside table along with a bouquet of flowers...from her best friend Silvia Star whom she was madly in love with. Then Sugarsong got to thinking: Did Silvia like her back? Probably not. She was probably the only fillyfooler in the school, knowing her terrible luck. Her thoughts began to get darker. And then she cried her heart out. Cried until she couldn't anymore. Not like it would do anything.
"Luna! Luna! You'll never guess what happened!"
"What, my student?"
"I'm going to have that homeless teenager live here! In the castle!"
Luna was taken a bit aback.
"Do you know what you're doing? Celestia won't agree. She'll trash the place, and you don't even know who she is. She could have a disease, she could be a murderer...and did you even ask Celestia?"
Snowdrop squirmed.
"No, but I..."
Luna became stern.
"You know space is limited. With my filly coming soon and you here now, and Duchess Summersunset here, you should very well know we don't have the room for another mare. We would have to build another bedroom, and..."
"She could just stay in mine."
Luna paused. She could see the look of amusement in Snowdrop's eyes when she did this.
"You must ask Tia first."
"Oh, I will!" cried an ever-happy Snowdrop as she trotted to the throne room. She arrived there abruptly and peeked over the door-frame.
"Yes, and have Rarity make that 'glamorous' or what they call it...Pinkie for party decorations...Definitely, Applejack for refreshments...Rainbow for the entertainment, maybe...Oh, I don't know. This baby shower needs to be perfect. As long as Luna is happy, I'm happy. You know how depressed she's been since Sombra disappeared...Yes I know we shouldn't bring that up."
"Princess! Princess!"
This brought Celestia's attention, as well as the pony she was conversing with. They both turned to face her.
"Yes, young princess?"
"Can I have a teenage mare come and stay with us I know we don't have the room but she could sleep in my bedroom she's homeless and I don't want her to live in a homeless shelter so can she live here I promise I'll teach her to be good and I really need a best friend so yeah."
Snowdrop fell on the floor gasping for breath, and Celestia laughed lightly, not quite giggling or laughing.
"I don't know, Snowdrop. Are you sure? She may be rowdy. She's been homeless for Faust knows how long.Plus you don't even know her and she could be dangerous."
"We have magic! We can defend ourselves. Besides, we could just throw her out if she's mean. Although I bet you she's not. And it's not like we don't have enough space! We have the guest room, and my room, and--"
"It's all right with me, then."
Snowdrop gasped. "Really?!"
Celestia nodded.
Snowdrop smiled.
"Thank you!"
Snowdrop trotted happily off to tell Luna the good news.
Honey Almond blinked. That's it. She blinked. Then closed her eyes again. With the, um, joys of waking up came a messier mane than before and, this...new feeling. The feeling of a...bed? She sat up and prodded the mattress with her hoof, her eyes still unopened. She opened them in alarm when she realised it was a mattress, and she was not dreaming. She glanced around the room, her heart beating too fast for her to be relaxed. She noticed another bed with a neatly tucked in unicorn, snoring lightly and occasionally stirring. Honey Almond became alarmed again when she realised it was the young princess Snowdrop, and quickly turned around, covering herself with the feathery blanket.
"Um...hello?"
Honey Almond woke up yet again to a soft, polite voice whispering in her ear.
She opened her eyes to slits and opened them wider when she saw it was Snowdrop talking to her.
The princess was beautiful.
It wasn't normally her 'thing' to be attracted to girls. Normally she was straight. Normally. It wasn't set-in-stone that she was straight. Nope. She even had a marefriend before her parents died, and sometimes she blamed her fillyfooling for her parents' death. But Honey Almond knew better than that. Maybe. Well...if you consider cutting yourself knowing better, then there you have it. Honey Almond knew better.
"You're in Canterlot Castle, you know that, right?" As soon as the statement escaped Snowdrop's lips, a piercing shriek echoed through the infinte hallways and rooms of the castle.
"Who brought me here?!" she shrieked.
At the sight of Snowdrop's beautiful face again, she allowed herself to calm down.
"W-why am I here?"
Snowdrop giggled. "I brought you here. Guess I'm kind of pitying you..."
"You're so beautiful..." whispered Honey Almond.
"Hmm? I didn't quite catch that."
Honey's cheeks turned a deep shade of red.
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
