Two Ponies

GloomGlimmer 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.