Chapters the start of something new
“What is he up to now?” Angelus Amore said exasperated she had just found out she was pregnant and was about to tell her husband Ahli Kimia when he just rushed to the basement where all his chemist stuff was and said he would be right back. Now she stood at the top of the stairs to the basement and wondered what he was doing, just by standing at the top of the stairs she could smell the rancid smell of chemicals. When Ahli came up the stairs he was holding a vile of some form of a liquid, “Angelus, this is a new formula I have been working on, it is supposed to give the pony who drinks it immense beauty,” he told her excitedly. The liquid was a beautiful magenta colour but something seemed off to her about it, “does it work?” she asked. He shrugged and she felt something in pit of her stomach that it wasn’t safe to find out. “I want you to drink it so I can tell the professors that it could work,” he said. Angelus searched his face to see if there was any doubt in it, there wasn’t but she knew it wasn’t safe. She shook her head and said, “I’m sorry but I won’t drink it, I sense something off about it.”
‘It’s not harmful,” he argued. She just shook her head and left the house. Maybe its not the best time to tell him, she thought.
It was a beautiful day in Cloudsdale, Angelus thought. Sunny, no rain scheduled, yes, a beautiful day. She just couldn’t help but think about Ahli and his belief that it was safe for her to drink it, despite her belief that it wasn’t safe she so wanted to drink it just to make him happy. She was headed up to her friend Rose’s house.
“so how did it go with Ahli?” Rose asked while pouring some tea for Angelus.
“um, well…” Angelus couldn’t force the words out of her muzzle.
“You did tell him didn’t you?” she asked.
“No, I couldn’t tell him,” Angelus blurted.
“Why not?” Rose asked, setting the tea pot down.
Angelus told Rose what happened and how she had a gut feeling the formula wasn’t safe. Rose just sat there, expressionless, motionless and silent. After Angelus finished there was a long pause and then, “are you sure it could not be safe?” Rose asked.
Angelus nodded, “or at least it’s not safe for the baby. What am I to do, Rose? I want to make him happy, but I’m not sure it’s safe for the baby.”
“How about you tell him at dinner while you’re eating and then he may understand,” Rose said soothingly.
“Okay, I will tell him at dinner,” Angelus said.
When Angelus got home Ahli greeted her with a smile, at least he seems happy, Angelus thought. Ahli made dinner and hey sat down at the table. Halfway through dinner Angelus breached the topic, “listen I have to tell you something.”
“No, I have to tell you something. I don’t know why you refused to help me but I understand that you may have been frightened for me to want you to test it,” he said.
“Look, the reason I turned you down is because,” she took a deep breath, “because I’m pregnant and I had a feeling it wouldn’t be safe for the baby,” she said in a rush. He stared at her in shock. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?” she asked puzzled.
“I-I put the formula in your food,” his voice was wavering slightly. She was shocked, there was no other way to describe it she was just shocked that he would do that.
“Well, then I guess we see what happens,” she said as she calmed herself down and went to bed, she felt exhausted.
***
"I hope nothing happened to the baby because of me," Ahli said to himself while pacing in the waiting room. Angelus was now giving birth to their child that could be damaged because of him and if anything was wrong with the little baby then he would blame himself.
"Ahli, you may come and see your wife and new filly," announced one of the nurses. Ahli quickly made his way to the hospital room Angelus was in and stopped dead at the door.
He couldn't believe his eyes, the little filly seemed healthy, but there was something off about her. Ahli forced himself forward and once he was closer he saw what he found was a little off about her; there were hearts decorating her wings, a strange heart that curled in on itself on her chest and on her ears, and the white parts of her eyes were hearts.
"Her name is Valentina," Angelus said looking at Valentina lovingly as if not seeing the errors in her otherwise perfect features. Ahli couldn't help but smile at the name, it seemed to fit the little filly perfectly and he hardly knew her.
the start of something new
2. The Dangers Of Being Different
"Hmm," Ahli was looking Valentina up and down and measuring her to see how the elixir affected her, putting aside the strange birthmarks. He had been doing this for a few years now and Valentina had showed no other signs of being affected. Valentina was now old enough to go to school and today was her first day of school."Nothing seems to be any more out of usual," Ahli said to himself.
"Val, where r u? your going to be late!" Angelus called for her daughter, she never liked it when Ahli did tests on Valentina and would rather not know about them.
"Go on upstairs before your mom worries," Ahli whispered to his daughter. Valentina hopped off the table she was on and ran up the stairs.When Valentina reached the top of the stairs Angelus let out a breath, she often held her breath when she didn't know where Valentina was because she was so frightened but didn't want anyone else to know that she was always scared for her daughter.
"Oh, good, your okay. Now come on, your going to be late for your first day at school," Angelus said while rushing her daughter out of the house and into the wagon. Valentina's saddlebag was already in the wagon and put it on as Angelus strapped herself in and started off to the school. The school wasn't far but Val wouldn't be able to find her way there because she has hardly been anywhere without her parents. Val didn't know why her parents always had to be with her constantly.
***
"Okay, we're here," Angelus said as she unstrapped herself and let Valentina out of the wagon. Valentina couldn't believe her eyes as she hopped out of the wagon. The school was huge and Valentina all of a sudden was glad her mother was there to help see her off because she was now a bit frightened to be going to school and started worrying like crazy.what if these fillies and foals don't like me, she thought to herself. Angelus held the door open for Valentina and they made their way to the office. "I am here to drop off my daughter," Angelus said to the lady there who had a nice light pink coat and a brown curly mane and tail.
"Name?" The lady asked.
"Valentina," Angelus said shortly. The lady looked up and looked over the desk at Valentina and stared, eyes wide and gaping. She said nothing but just recovered herself and told Valentina's mom that she could leave and that she would take Valentina to her class. Angelus left not knowing what her daughter was going to face that day and how it would damage her throughout her life.
"So, Valentina, my name is Mrs. Wingsure, and your class will be taught by Mrs. Wingeth," the lady said to Valentina.
Valentina simply nodded but didn't say a word, it's not that Valentina couldn't talk, she just didn't like to talk because everypony who heard her voice were amazed at it and thought she was way too different and would shy away from her.
"Can't you talk dear?" Mrs. Wingsure asked.
"Of course i can, i just don't like to," Valentina snapped out with her musical-like voice and immediately regretted it because, like everypony else, she stopped dead and was mesmerized by her voice and stood still and staring. "Please, stop staring at me like that, Mrs. Wingsure, i don't like it and it makes me uncomfortable," Valentina said.
"O-of course, let's go to your class," Mrs. Wingsure quickly recovered herself and they made their way to the class. Mrs. Wingsure never said another word to Valentina, for she feared that if she did Valentina would speak again and she didn't know what to think of that voice yet.
When they got to the classroom Mrs. Wingsure told Valentina to wait outside while she got Mrs. Wingeth. Valentina just nodded and Mrs. Wingsure came out with Mrs. Wingeth right behind her. Mrs. Wingsure wasn’t that observant of Valentina’s looks but Mrs. Wingeth was, Mrs. Wingsure gasped when she saw Valentina.
“H-hello there, Valentina,” Mrs. Wingeth said recovering herself quickly, almost as quickly as Mrs. Wingsure, if not quicker. She looked at Mrs. Wingsure and said, “you may go now, thank you.” Once Mrs. Wingsure was out of sight Mrs. Wingeth looked at Valentina with horror stricken eyes with a mix of worry in them. “Come on, Valentina, I will introduce you to the class,” Mrs. Wingeth said knowing what would happen because of how Valentina looked.
When they walked in everyone in the class stopped and stared at Valentina, none of them looked pleased. Why are they all staring at me? Valentina thought. “Class, this is our new student, her name is Valentina,” Mrs. Wingeth announced, “I have to go talk with another teacher but while I'm gone I want all of you to be nice to, Valentina.” The students all responded with a yes but Valentina could see the lies in some of their faces.
Once Mrs. Wingeth left three fillies walked up and said, “so, Valentina, what are you? You sure aren’t a pegasus. Your too different. I mean look at you, then look at us. You aren’t one of us, you are just a pathetic excuse for one.” Valentina was tearing up and wanted to run away but she felt nailed to the floor as she continued to stand there and take these words.
“Mrs. Wingeth is coming, wipe her tears!” A foal said, as one of them wiped away the tears streaming down Valentina’s face. Valentina spent the rest of the day thinking of those words and when school was over she ran to her mom and jumped in the wagon. Angelus was surprised but didn’t question it and took off to go home, Valentina was glad to be away from that school and would be fine if she never went back.
the start of something new
When Valentina got home she told her mother she was going to her room and she nearly made it there so she could go cry -she was a more sensitive filly than most so a lot of things could hurt her, but after what those other fillies said it felt like holding back a lake trying to get through her eyes- when her father stopped her at the top of the cloud layered stairs. “Where are you going in such a hurry? How was school?” He asked. She didn’t trust herself enough to speak because she was sure she would bawl her eyes out, but then she wasn’t sure she could hold the tears back much longer or that she could avoid answering him with words because they were answers that required words. “Is everything alright?” Her father asked genuinely curious, she couldn’t hold back the tears much longer and the started spilling down her face without her violation. Her father knew that she didn’t like to cry in front of ponies, not even her parents, so he guided her to her room. As she stumbled to get there her father said very quietly, “you can come down stairs when you’re ready.” Once he left Valentina was crying like she never cried before, it was probably the worst crying any pony has ever heard come from a filly.
***
“She’s been up there for hours,” said Angelus feeling distraught and worried, “I should go up there and-“
“No, she needs to let it out,” said Ahli putting a wing around her.
Angelus knew he was right, but she thought she ought to do something. But, what? She thought, it’s not like I know anything of what happened, so I cant soothe her feelings, how am I anything else but useless in this situation? It had been 3 hours since Valentina went upstairs and started crying, and every now and then a loud harsh sob would float down the stairs and feel like a slap in the face to Angelus.
“But-“ she broke off as another loud sob came down the stairs and Angelus winced.
“She will be alright, Ange, she’s strong,” he squeezed Angelus tighter as another loud sob came down.
Angelus realized then that this was not just destroying her but it was destroying Ahli as well.
They sat there, in the kitchen and waited in silence; both wincing whenever a sob came down, until the crying stopped but neither of them moved a muscle as they waited for Valentina to come downstairs.
***
It had been three and a half hours and Valentina just couldn’t stop herself from crying, she felt like she would cry on forever, of course that wasn’t possible. I have to stop sometime, she thought to herself while tears were still streaming like a river down her face. Her heart rate was slowing and she found it was easier to breathe, now. Valentina walked over to her mirror that was in her room, looked at herself and thought, I am different, but why is that such a bad thing? She looked down at her hooves; they were the same light cyan blue they always were, but somehow she saw them different, almost as if they were strangers hooves. She looked back up, saw herself clearly as if for the first time and noticed all the differences between her and other ponies including her mother and father. A realization dawned on her, she always knew she was different; her parents never kept that part a secret. What they did keep secret was how she got this way, how she got the hearts on her body, and why she felt more strongly to others, never yielding to help no matter who it was.
“Why am I like this?” She asked herself in a whisper. She studied herself carefully the tears had finally stopped coming and now questions she always thought about but pushed to the back of her mind whenever they came up were flooding her head now. The questions came in a voice that was not her own, the voice was familiar, though not immediately identifiable. Valentina tried to push the question back but they kept on coming, why were you born like this? What happened to you? You know it had to have happened before you were born, so what happened? Why won’t your parents tell you? Why do they keep it secret? How did- abruptly agitated by the questions she never asked she screamed as loud as she could and felt her energy all of a sudden leave her as the questions faded and died away. Before Valentina slipped away into unconsciousness she saw her mother and father rushing toward her looking worried and then she slipped away and let the darkness take her.