Two Poniesby VaniaSinclairSometimesChaptersSpeedy CrashFixing the ProblemsMotherMarks of A WarriorSpeedy Crash" Class, I'd like to welcome a new student named ShadowSpark Hooves. She transferred from Whinny Creek Intermediate just last week," the teacher-pony said as she pointed to Shadow. " Everypony say hi." A cacophony of hi's, boos, and groans were heard. The teacher glared at the jeering foals and rewarded the ones who said hi (and smiled like they were stuck with their snouts stretched out wide) with candy. She then walked towards Shadow and motioned for her to sit next to Speedster Dash, the yellow mare from before class. She turned and smiled confidently. " Hi. I'm Speedster Dash, great-grandniece of Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts, hence the name. Friends call me Speedy, Mama calls me Carrot Top. How about you, Miss Hooves?" Shadow murmured, " The teacher said my name already." At this, Speedster laughed. " Okay, then. I'll call you Sparky." Shadow grimaced at the nickname. " Then how about Shadow?" she proposed. " Okay." The teacher began passing out papers. " Today, we will be studying the anatomy of the pony body, including unicorns, pegasi, and alicorns. We will not be separated by body type today.I will choose the groups myself." She took out her seating chart. " Angelfeathers with SilverStreak, Sweetie Cake with Maud Slide...." Shadow zoned out until the last pair was made. "...Speedster Dash and ShadowSpark Hooves." The class erupted in snickers. Rude words were heard all throughout the room. While the teacher wasn't looking, a crumpled piece of paper was thrown at Shadow. She opened it and read it with nonchalance. In horrible, scrawly writing, was a note. Speedy Crash and ShadowWimp, the two weirdos! it said. Shadow folded it neatly and hid it under her diagram of a unicorn horn, hoping Speedster wouldn't notice. She did, unfortunately. " Who gave you this?" she demanded. Shadow kept silent. Angrily, Speedster stood up out of her seat and asked loudly, "Who wrote this? Well?" The teacher turned around, her eyebrow raised in curiosity. " Speedster, whatever is the matter?" " Someone threw a piece of paper at us! Look what it says, Miss Grafee!" The teacher took the paper and read it quickly to herself. " Well, I know that handwriting anywhere, and the filly who wrote this will be punished, but it is no reason for you to yell in class. You wouldn't want to be just as bad as the bully, correct?" Speedster opened her mouth to justify her act, then closed it, thinking better of it. At lunch, Speedster was showing Shadow around. "... and there's the lunch lines for food." Just as the two were about to find their seats, a troupe of three mares began to prance over to them. " What do you pricks want?" Speedster quipped. The main pony just laughed haughtily. " Move over, Speedy Crash. We don't want you and this cryfilly ruining our Tuesday spot." Shadow stood up and stared at the ponies. " It matters to you what day it is? " she asked politely. The pony laughed again. " We wouldn't be telling you to leave if it didn't. Now move over." She stepped closer to Shadow, her pink snout inches from Shadow's face. " Or else, I might make a mistake. Oh, whoopsies!" she exclaimed as she grabbed someone's milk and poured it all over Shadow's mane and face. Shadow stood there, numb and emotionless, oblivious to the fact that Speedster had taken her little cup of Caesar dressing and dumped all of it on the pony's designer dress. All Shadow was thinking was about her face makeup.Let nopony see the scars. Let nopony see the bruises... Shadow turned away from the fighting fillies and walked slowly to the bathroom. " That's right! Walk away, you little cryfilly!" Speedster pushed the pony to the ground. " We'll finish this later, Lacy Crochet." She rushed over to Shadow, who was already in the bathroom, washing her face and snout with water and soap. " Hey, sorry about Lacy and her crew. They're annoying, I know." Shadow just nodded, not facing Speedster. " Hey are you crying?" Shadow shook her head. Speedster frowned. " Yes, you are! Turn around." She pulled Shadow to face her, and gasped a little. She gingerly felt Shadow's face. Bruises on her forehead, her cheek, a scar on her snout and one under her eye. Cuts and scrapes visible all over her face, some on her neck. Shadow tried to hide her face, but Speedster was transfixed. " Who did this to you?" she whispered. " Promise you will tell nopony?" Speedster nodded. " Swear, even if Nightmare Moon knocks on your door?" A nod. " Even if Discord tries to take your cutie mark?" Another nod. " Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?" " Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Speedster responded. " You know how people go to their mothers when they have problems?" Speedster nodded. " My mama did this to me. She gives me problems." And that's when Speedster almost screamed. Fixing the ProblemsGloomGlimmer walked with ShadowSpark home. As they were walking, Gloom noticed Speedster running towards them. " Shadow, that your friend?" ShadowSpark looked up and saw the familiar mare bumbling towards them. " Shadow!" the pony kept crying out. Shadow spotted Speedster and moved to get her. " Are you alright?" Speedster nodded, then pointed to the school. " Mrs. Grafee....you.... bullies...abuse...janitor... found out..." ShadowSpark grabbed Speedster Dash and pulled her aside from a perplexed Gloom. " What did you say to her, Speedster?" Speedster began to stutter. " I... uh, I-I was scared, so, um, I just, like, said a few things, is all." Shadow stared into the mare's green eyes. " What. Did. You. Say. To. Her." Speedster looked as if she was going to get killed. " I....saidthatyouwerebeingabusedbyyourmotherandthatyouhavevisiblescarsandmarks!" She winced, thinking she'd get killed. Shadow just stood there for a second, not speaking. She was hatching a plan for how to avoid any problem with her mother tonight. "Speedy?" "Yeah?" " Show me a little bit of your great-grandaunt's speed. Run to your house with Gloom and ask if we can spend the night. Mother'll do some pretty bad stuff if we go home. If your mama's skeptical, tell her about our... situation. She'll bring us right in." Speedster nodded and was about to rocket away when she turned back to the grey-coated unicorn. " What about you?" Shadow was silent for awhile, inspecting her hooves. After a minute, she rose her head. " I'm gonna talk to my mother, say a little somethin' or other." She shook her purple tousled mane nervously and added, with false confidence, " Besides, if I don't talk, the drunkard'll be askin' where we've gone." Shadow arrived at the dilapidated house. She was surprised her mother could afford what once was a lovely two-story home. She opened the front door, only to see an unconscious, mare covered in liquor. Of course. She constructed a pencil and paper with her magic and began to write a note. Mother: Gloom and I went to a friend's house. We'll be back in two days.You said we could go last week. ShadowSpark used to feel guilty when she did this, but now, she couldn't care less. What's done is done. She set the note next to her wine closet(the only place she would look, anyway) and made sure she left as discreetly as possible. Cher Donnaye was NOT a heavy sleeper. " Mom, please?" "No." Speedster's mother was busy in the kitchen not turning around, unaware of Gloom lagging behind. " They have a situation." " What the hay do you mean by that?" " It's a little... disturbing. If you could let us come and talk, maybe you'd understand." " Us? You brought them?" " Only one. Please! They're new and have no friends!" " For a couple of hours, I guess." Speedster's mother, Breezy Gale, turned around to see her foal standing next to a scrawny, bruised filly. Oh dear, she thought. The foals' mother doesn't take care of them, obviously. Breezy Gale's exasperated frown turned into a sympathetic smile as she invited GloomGlimmer to have a cup of hot cocoa and talk a bit. As Gloom sipped her chocolate, she relayed the information as formally as she could. Explaining things was more of Shadow's forte. Speaking of Shadow, it had been about an hour. Where was she? Just as the thought entered her head, a soft knock at the door was heard. Breezy Gale briskly swung the door open, to be greeted by Mrs. Grafee, a janitor pony, a spoiled filly, and a nervous pony with a few scars on her face. Oh, dear Celestia. " ...and then I overheard this fine mare's daughter say somethin' about crying." The janitor stallion was explaining his side of the story. "Turns out, the little unicorn here was being buckin' abused by her own mama. Ponyfeathers! I had to go tell somepony about this." His foul language was on account of his crassness. Mrs. Grafee reprimanded him soundly. " Please, refrain from profanity in the future, Mr. Blue Blow. There are foals present." The pony tipped his hat in remorse. " My apologies, Callie Grafee." The teacher just rolled her eyes in response. " Anyways, it appears that ShadowSpark here," she pointed to the unicorn, " ... is being maltreated. Apparently, we wouldn't have found this out had Miss Crochet here not been bullying her all day." The spoiled filly wearing a dress with lace trimmings scowled. " The cryfilly was in my spot," she huffed defensively. Mrs. Grafee was having none of it. " I'm sorry, but do you own the lunch tables? I don't see your name on them." Lacey was about to speak, then shut her mouth. " And even if it was, that would be vandalism." It was now Shadow's turn to talk. " Well, our mama had been pretty sad about the, uh, loss of our father. He divorced her and ran away to another country....somewhere in Zebrica.... Since our nationality is from there, he was probably seeking refuge there for some reason. " Our mother turned to drugs and alcohol for support, and became an alcoholic. Me and my sister, we worked hard to keep our family alive, despite our... difficulties. Of course, two little fillies can't really do much to uphold a house." Shadow continued on, speaking of worse situations and points where, it seemed, the two fillies tried to run away from home. The whole group of ponies were silent during this revelation, making sure not to interrupt Shadow's tale. When Shadow finished, she spotted all of the adults on the brink of tears, even the hardened janitor. Lacey was trembling , tears smudging her eyeliner. "Why didn't you say something?" Lacey said, her voice quivering. " You-you l-let me act so.. so rude to you... and y-you just stood there..." The filly broke out into sobs, gasping for air. Moving to comfort her, the teacher tried to place a hoof on the pony's shoulder. Speedster was silent the whole time, standing in a corner, her face expressionless. She spoke up after Lacey was done sobbing. "Look at us. Standing here, crying and worrying about the bucking past! We should be calling the police, getting help! And we just sit here and talk like we need to interrogate them. Their scars are evidence enough!" Everyone was shocked at her sudden outburst. " Nopony is calling FPS, or even 911? Really? Are we gonna stay here until, Celestia forbid, their bucking mother shows up at our doorstep? Well?" " Young lady, that's quite enough!" Breezy Gale was saying strictly. " To your room!" Speedster Dash knew better than to protest. She stomped up the stairs silently. Breezy Gale sighed and turned back to the assembly of ponies. " Now don't let nopony blame her outburst on me," the janitor joked. Everypony was too tense to laugh or even smile. Mother"I'm sorry, Mother." GloomGlimmer's voice was barely a whisper. "Like Tartarus you are!" Mrs. Hooves shouted in a drunken slur. " How many times do I gotta tell ya? DON'T MESS WITH MA APPLEJACK DANIEL'S!!" GloomGlimmer convulsed fearfully. " I was only throwing away the bottle, Mother , honestly!" To this, Mrs. Hooves screamed. " I refill my BOTTLES, ya stupid foal!" She started to grope around the broom closet, searching for alcohol or some pills to dose herself with. Turning back, she glared at GloomGlimmer with angry eyes. " And DON'T call me Mother. I don't know who in the hell you think you is, but it sure ain't my daughter." GloomGlimmer sniffled. "Yes, ma'am." ShadowSpark walked over to a bruised GloomGlimmer. "Gloom, did Mama do somethin or other?" GloomGlimmer felt her face. " Not more than usual. Why?" ShadowSpark peered closely at her little sister's snout. " Today's school, and your foundation's smudged. You can see the scars..." She reached over and began to reapply the liquid makeup. " Thanks, Shadow." Shadow mumbled a "no problem," as she and her sister walked to school. As they were approaching the schoolhouse, Shadow spotted a bright yellow pony zooming past them, as if she were a pegasus. She galloped so fast, her hooves never touched the ground. Her fiery orange mane was cropped short and pulled into a tight ponytail. Her actual ponytail was also cut short. She made a sudden stop, her hooves skidding on the road. The pony tripped and fell flat on her muzzle. Other popular ponies crowded around her, laughing at her. " Speedy Crash, Speedy Crash, thinks that she is Rainbow Dash, tried to fly, in the sky, fell on her snout, now watch her cry!" The pegasi chanted their hurtful jeer over and over again. The gutsy pony seemed to pay no attention, but yelled back, " I can fly better than the lot of you with my eyes closed!" as she trotted over to her class. GloomGlimmer pointed at her. " That pony's strong. I bet she could beat Mother in a fight." ShadowSpark snickered at her sister's remark. " Better not tell Mama! Hey, race ya to the halls!" ShadowSpark said as the two ponies cantered into the schoolhouse. Marks of A Warrior" So... is it like a never-ending sleepover?" Speedster asked, her voice raising in excitement. " Call it what you will," her mother replied. " Aw, yeah!" the filly exclaimed as she reached out to hug her newly made sisters. " This is gonna be the best time ever!" Shadow smiled at the earth pony's ecstatic happiness.Maybe... this isn't so bad, she thought. GloomGlimmer was ecstatic. " This is going to be great! I can't wait!" she cried, holding her duffel bag of belongings. Not much was in there , of course. A ratty teddybear, a book, and a little small tool box. The chest of tools was a gift given to GloomGlimmer by her father...before he left. It gave her hope...and her cutie mark--three gears interlocked with a glitter pattern around them. The filly sniffled with remembrance, then followed her new family. The little filly ran to her sister's rescue, who was frozen with fear. An angered mare was swinging a broken bottle haphazardly, threatening to use it on the foals. Her eyes stinging with tears, the little pony gathered all her strength and headbutted into the intoxicated mare, stopping the larger pony from using her magic to wield the alcoholic drink. Thinking quickly, the brave filly threw her sister onto her back, racing out the door. She didn't notice the bright flash blanketing her flank until her little sister squealed," Kyoooteee!" Shadow woke up with a start. The same dream had visited her again. That horrid memory...She looked to her flank. A large eye with a single teardrop. This was her mark. A reminder of how horrible life is...or, was. No matter how hard she tried, ShadowSpark would never escape her past...never get over it. If only it didn't exist.
Speedy Crash" Class, I'd like to welcome a new student named ShadowSpark Hooves. She transferred from Whinny Creek Intermediate just last week," the teacher-pony said as she pointed to Shadow. " Everypony say hi." A cacophony of hi's, boos, and groans were heard. The teacher glared at the jeering foals and rewarded the ones who said hi (and smiled like they were stuck with their snouts stretched out wide) with candy. She then walked towards Shadow and motioned for her to sit next to Speedster Dash, the yellow mare from before class. She turned and smiled confidently. " Hi. I'm Speedster Dash, great-grandniece of Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts, hence the name. Friends call me Speedy, Mama calls me Carrot Top. How about you, Miss Hooves?" Shadow murmured, " The teacher said my name already." At this, Speedster laughed. " Okay, then. I'll call you Sparky." Shadow grimaced at the nickname. " Then how about Shadow?" she proposed. " Okay." The teacher began passing out papers. " Today, we will be studying the anatomy of the pony body, including unicorns, pegasi, and alicorns. We will not be separated by body type today.I will choose the groups myself." She took out her seating chart. " Angelfeathers with SilverStreak, Sweetie Cake with Maud Slide...." Shadow zoned out until the last pair was made. "...Speedster Dash and ShadowSpark Hooves." The class erupted in snickers. Rude words were heard all throughout the room. While the teacher wasn't looking, a crumpled piece of paper was thrown at Shadow. She opened it and read it with nonchalance. In horrible, scrawly writing, was a note. Speedy Crash and ShadowWimp, the two weirdos! it said. Shadow folded it neatly and hid it under her diagram of a unicorn horn, hoping Speedster wouldn't notice. She did, unfortunately. " Who gave you this?" she demanded. Shadow kept silent. Angrily, Speedster stood up out of her seat and asked loudly, "Who wrote this? Well?" The teacher turned around, her eyebrow raised in curiosity. " Speedster, whatever is the matter?" " Someone threw a piece of paper at us! Look what it says, Miss Grafee!" The teacher took the paper and read it quickly to herself. " Well, I know that handwriting anywhere, and the filly who wrote this will be punished, but it is no reason for you to yell in class. You wouldn't want to be just as bad as the bully, correct?" Speedster opened her mouth to justify her act, then closed it, thinking better of it. At lunch, Speedster was showing Shadow around. "... and there's the lunch lines for food." Just as the two were about to find their seats, a troupe of three mares began to prance over to them. " What do you pricks want?" Speedster quipped. The main pony just laughed haughtily. " Move over, Speedy Crash. We don't want you and this cryfilly ruining our Tuesday spot." Shadow stood up and stared at the ponies. " It matters to you what day it is? " she asked politely. The pony laughed again. " We wouldn't be telling you to leave if it didn't. Now move over." She stepped closer to Shadow, her pink snout inches from Shadow's face. " Or else, I might make a mistake. Oh, whoopsies!" she exclaimed as she grabbed someone's milk and poured it all over Shadow's mane and face. Shadow stood there, numb and emotionless, oblivious to the fact that Speedster had taken her little cup of Caesar dressing and dumped all of it on the pony's designer dress. All Shadow was thinking was about her face makeup.Let nopony see the scars. Let nopony see the bruises... Shadow turned away from the fighting fillies and walked slowly to the bathroom. " That's right! Walk away, you little cryfilly!" Speedster pushed the pony to the ground. " We'll finish this later, Lacy Crochet." She rushed over to Shadow, who was already in the bathroom, washing her face and snout with water and soap. " Hey, sorry about Lacy and her crew. They're annoying, I know." Shadow just nodded, not facing Speedster. " Hey are you crying?" Shadow shook her head. Speedster frowned. " Yes, you are! Turn around." She pulled Shadow to face her, and gasped a little. She gingerly felt Shadow's face. Bruises on her forehead, her cheek, a scar on her snout and one under her eye. Cuts and scrapes visible all over her face, some on her neck. Shadow tried to hide her face, but Speedster was transfixed. " Who did this to you?" she whispered. " Promise you will tell nopony?" Speedster nodded. " Swear, even if Nightmare Moon knocks on your door?" A nod. " Even if Discord tries to take your cutie mark?" Another nod. " Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?" " Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Speedster responded. " You know how people go to their mothers when they have problems?" Speedster nodded. " My mama did this to me. She gives me problems." And that's when Speedster almost screamed.
Fixing the ProblemsGloomGlimmer walked with ShadowSpark home. As they were walking, Gloom noticed Speedster running towards them. " Shadow, that your friend?" ShadowSpark looked up and saw the familiar mare bumbling towards them. " Shadow!" the pony kept crying out. Shadow spotted Speedster and moved to get her. " Are you alright?" Speedster nodded, then pointed to the school. " Mrs. Grafee....you.... bullies...abuse...janitor... found out..." ShadowSpark grabbed Speedster Dash and pulled her aside from a perplexed Gloom. " What did you say to her, Speedster?" Speedster began to stutter. " I... uh, I-I was scared, so, um, I just, like, said a few things, is all." Shadow stared into the mare's green eyes. " What. Did. You. Say. To. Her." Speedster looked as if she was going to get killed. " I....saidthatyouwerebeingabusedbyyourmotherandthatyouhavevisiblescarsandmarks!" She winced, thinking she'd get killed. Shadow just stood there for a second, not speaking. She was hatching a plan for how to avoid any problem with her mother tonight. "Speedy?" "Yeah?" " Show me a little bit of your great-grandaunt's speed. Run to your house with Gloom and ask if we can spend the night. Mother'll do some pretty bad stuff if we go home. If your mama's skeptical, tell her about our... situation. She'll bring us right in." Speedster nodded and was about to rocket away when she turned back to the grey-coated unicorn. " What about you?" Shadow was silent for awhile, inspecting her hooves. After a minute, she rose her head. " I'm gonna talk to my mother, say a little somethin' or other." She shook her purple tousled mane nervously and added, with false confidence, " Besides, if I don't talk, the drunkard'll be askin' where we've gone." Shadow arrived at the dilapidated house. She was surprised her mother could afford what once was a lovely two-story home. She opened the front door, only to see an unconscious, mare covered in liquor. Of course. She constructed a pencil and paper with her magic and began to write a note. Mother: Gloom and I went to a friend's house. We'll be back in two days.You said we could go last week. ShadowSpark used to feel guilty when she did this, but now, she couldn't care less. What's done is done. She set the note next to her wine closet(the only place she would look, anyway) and made sure she left as discreetly as possible. Cher Donnaye was NOT a heavy sleeper. " Mom, please?" "No." Speedster's mother was busy in the kitchen not turning around, unaware of Gloom lagging behind. " They have a situation." " What the hay do you mean by that?" " It's a little... disturbing. If you could let us come and talk, maybe you'd understand." " Us? You brought them?" " Only one. Please! They're new and have no friends!" " For a couple of hours, I guess." Speedster's mother, Breezy Gale, turned around to see her foal standing next to a scrawny, bruised filly. Oh dear, she thought. The foals' mother doesn't take care of them, obviously. Breezy Gale's exasperated frown turned into a sympathetic smile as she invited GloomGlimmer to have a cup of hot cocoa and talk a bit. As Gloom sipped her chocolate, she relayed the information as formally as she could. Explaining things was more of Shadow's forte. Speaking of Shadow, it had been about an hour. Where was she? Just as the thought entered her head, a soft knock at the door was heard. Breezy Gale briskly swung the door open, to be greeted by Mrs. Grafee, a janitor pony, a spoiled filly, and a nervous pony with a few scars on her face. Oh, dear Celestia. " ...and then I overheard this fine mare's daughter say somethin' about crying." The janitor stallion was explaining his side of the story. "Turns out, the little unicorn here was being buckin' abused by her own mama. Ponyfeathers! I had to go tell somepony about this." His foul language was on account of his crassness. Mrs. Grafee reprimanded him soundly. " Please, refrain from profanity in the future, Mr. Blue Blow. There are foals present." The pony tipped his hat in remorse. " My apologies, Callie Grafee." The teacher just rolled her eyes in response. " Anyways, it appears that ShadowSpark here," she pointed to the unicorn, " ... is being maltreated. Apparently, we wouldn't have found this out had Miss Crochet here not been bullying her all day." The spoiled filly wearing a dress with lace trimmings scowled. " The cryfilly was in my spot," she huffed defensively. Mrs. Grafee was having none of it. " I'm sorry, but do you own the lunch tables? I don't see your name on them." Lacey was about to speak, then shut her mouth. " And even if it was, that would be vandalism." It was now Shadow's turn to talk. " Well, our mama had been pretty sad about the, uh, loss of our father. He divorced her and ran away to another country....somewhere in Zebrica.... Since our nationality is from there, he was probably seeking refuge there for some reason. " Our mother turned to drugs and alcohol for support, and became an alcoholic. Me and my sister, we worked hard to keep our family alive, despite our... difficulties. Of course, two little fillies can't really do much to uphold a house." Shadow continued on, speaking of worse situations and points where, it seemed, the two fillies tried to run away from home. The whole group of ponies were silent during this revelation, making sure not to interrupt Shadow's tale. When Shadow finished, she spotted all of the adults on the brink of tears, even the hardened janitor. Lacey was trembling , tears smudging her eyeliner. "Why didn't you say something?" Lacey said, her voice quivering. " You-you l-let me act so.. so rude to you... and y-you just stood there..." The filly broke out into sobs, gasping for air. Moving to comfort her, the teacher tried to place a hoof on the pony's shoulder. Speedster was silent the whole time, standing in a corner, her face expressionless. She spoke up after Lacey was done sobbing. "Look at us. Standing here, crying and worrying about the bucking past! We should be calling the police, getting help! And we just sit here and talk like we need to interrogate them. Their scars are evidence enough!" Everyone was shocked at her sudden outburst. " Nopony is calling FPS, or even 911? Really? Are we gonna stay here until, Celestia forbid, their bucking mother shows up at our doorstep? Well?" " Young lady, that's quite enough!" Breezy Gale was saying strictly. " To your room!" Speedster Dash knew better than to protest. She stomped up the stairs silently. Breezy Gale sighed and turned back to the assembly of ponies. " Now don't let nopony blame her outburst on me," the janitor joked. Everypony was too tense to laugh or even smile.
Mother"I'm sorry, Mother." GloomGlimmer's voice was barely a whisper. "Like Tartarus you are!" Mrs. Hooves shouted in a drunken slur. " How many times do I gotta tell ya? DON'T MESS WITH MA APPLEJACK DANIEL'S!!" GloomGlimmer convulsed fearfully. " I was only throwing away the bottle, Mother , honestly!" To this, Mrs. Hooves screamed. " I refill my BOTTLES, ya stupid foal!" She started to grope around the broom closet, searching for alcohol or some pills to dose herself with. Turning back, she glared at GloomGlimmer with angry eyes. " And DON'T call me Mother. I don't know who in the hell you think you is, but it sure ain't my daughter." GloomGlimmer sniffled. "Yes, ma'am." ShadowSpark walked over to a bruised GloomGlimmer. "Gloom, did Mama do somethin or other?" GloomGlimmer felt her face. " Not more than usual. Why?" ShadowSpark peered closely at her little sister's snout. " Today's school, and your foundation's smudged. You can see the scars..." She reached over and began to reapply the liquid makeup. " Thanks, Shadow." Shadow mumbled a "no problem," as she and her sister walked to school. As they were approaching the schoolhouse, Shadow spotted a bright yellow pony zooming past them, as if she were a pegasus. She galloped so fast, her hooves never touched the ground. Her fiery orange mane was cropped short and pulled into a tight ponytail. Her actual ponytail was also cut short. She made a sudden stop, her hooves skidding on the road. The pony tripped and fell flat on her muzzle. Other popular ponies crowded around her, laughing at her. " Speedy Crash, Speedy Crash, thinks that she is Rainbow Dash, tried to fly, in the sky, fell on her snout, now watch her cry!" The pegasi chanted their hurtful jeer over and over again. The gutsy pony seemed to pay no attention, but yelled back, " I can fly better than the lot of you with my eyes closed!" as she trotted over to her class. GloomGlimmer pointed at her. " That pony's strong. I bet she could beat Mother in a fight." ShadowSpark snickered at her sister's remark. " Better not tell Mama! Hey, race ya to the halls!" ShadowSpark said as the two ponies cantered into the schoolhouse.
Marks of A Warrior" So... is it like a never-ending sleepover?" Speedster asked, her voice raising in excitement. " Call it what you will," her mother replied. " Aw, yeah!" the filly exclaimed as she reached out to hug her newly made sisters. " This is gonna be the best time ever!" Shadow smiled at the earth pony's ecstatic happiness.Maybe... this isn't so bad, she thought. GloomGlimmer was ecstatic. " This is going to be great! I can't wait!" she cried, holding her duffel bag of belongings. Not much was in there , of course. A ratty teddybear, a book, and a little small tool box. The chest of tools was a gift given to GloomGlimmer by her father...before he left. It gave her hope...and her cutie mark--three gears interlocked with a glitter pattern around them. The filly sniffled with remembrance, then followed her new family. The little filly ran to her sister's rescue, who was frozen with fear. An angered mare was swinging a broken bottle haphazardly, threatening to use it on the foals. Her eyes stinging with tears, the little pony gathered all her strength and headbutted into the intoxicated mare, stopping the larger pony from using her magic to wield the alcoholic drink. Thinking quickly, the brave filly threw her sister onto her back, racing out the door. She didn't notice the bright flash blanketing her flank until her little sister squealed," Kyoooteee!" Shadow woke up with a start. The same dream had visited her again. That horrid memory...She looked to her flank. A large eye with a single teardrop. This was her mark. A reminder of how horrible life is...or, was. No matter how hard she tried, ShadowSpark would never escape her past...never get over it. If only it didn't exist.
