Twilight Velvet and her husband Nightlight were out having a nice dinner together, reminiscing on the events that had occurred recently. Most importantly was the acceptance of their daughter as Princess Celestia's personal student. The matriarch had initially wanted Twilight to move into the castle immediately, something that Twilight Velvet had managed to stop as she wanted one last night of having her little filly at home, something that Nightlight was hoping they wouldn't regret knowing how unpredictable their daughter's magic could get.

“Nighty, you seem distracted. Is there something the matter?”

“It's just that I have a bad feeling about things, something doesn't feel quite right.”

“Oh honey, you're just nervous about letting Twilight go away to live with the princess.”

“Of course I am Velvet, no parent should watch as their child is taken from them at an age where they've barely gotten out of kindergarten. I don't care what you say Velvet but what I told the princess back there was the truth.”

“Honey, when she said she'd be taking Twilight away you called her an inconsiderate witch that deserves to be chained up in the deepest pits of hell.”

“Velvet you are acting too calm when the ruler of your land just came and took your child away. Not to mention her running record of what happens with her students.”

“Nighty she said we could visit anytime we want to, and I'm certain those silly rumors are just exaggerations.”

“Velvet, do you really trust a stranger to take care of our child the way we would, and give her the love that they deserve. You seem to be forgetting that Twilight will be growing up without her parents, without us. Celestia is a ruler honey, she doesn't have time to care for a little filly the way they need to be. She'll be taken care of by the castle staff and then what? She'll have become as spoiled rotten as the worst nobles out there., and before you say we'll raise her when the princess is busy we can't go to the castle daily, in fact we'd hardly be able to manage once a week with our schedules.”

“Don't worry so much honey, Cadence will be there to take care of our little filly, she'll make sure Twilight doesn't end up like those pompous political pricks.”

“That pink floozy has had enough presence in our lives already, if it wasn't for Twilight liking her so much she wouldn't have babysat past the first time.”

“Really now, are you sure it isn't because she likes Shining Armor.”

“Hah! Like Shining Armor, that's rich. That pink pervert likes anything that will bed her. Plus that dance she taught Twilight is just obscene, thank goodness Twilight is too young to know that right now or notices how Cadance looks back at her when she does it.”

“There's nothing wrong with their dance honey, and maybe Cadance is a little loose.”

“Yeah right, she's so loose a full grown dragon wouldn't have problems with her. That dance is not okay either, you may not have noticed but when they do that anypony from the other side has a full view of everything, whether or not they want to see it.”

“Maybe you have a point, but aren't you happy that Twilight was recognized for her talent?”

“Of course I'm proud of her, but I can't be happy with the fact that she's being taken from us. Do you even care that she's being taken from us.”

“Of course I do honey, but she'll get to see us regularly and Shining's training at the guard academy is going really well so he could watch after her, now eat before your food gets cold dear.”

<><><><>

“So is this the road we're supposed to be workin' on boss?” A tan earthpony stallion asked.

“Of course, and put out that cigar you can't smoke on the job!”

“Got it boss.” The earth pony said before tossing the lit item into a nearby trash can that was filled with newspapers.

As the crew started to work on the road outside of the Twilight residence the newspapers caught fire and started to burn. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal as the fire wouldn't have escaped the trash can. However the dry clothes hanging on a clotheslines of a few careless nobles above the trashcan managed to catch fire and spread along the lines and into the building. As the workers continued with the road they began to notice an orange glow permeating the area.

“Ash Grey are you lighting up another cigar? I told you no smoking on the job.”

“That's not me boss, Holy Celestia the building's caught fire!”

“Everypony get clear and get some help! We'll finish this once things have become safe!” The boss pony yelled.

A few of the workers ran off to get the fire squad while the rest stayed behind to help any ponies that were exiting the building. As time progressed only a few elderly ponies within what most ponies would call an apartment complex exited the building. Thankfully they were certain that all of the other residents of the building were out for the night. As the fire raged on the stones the building was made of began to crack and the whole mess crumbled just as the fire squad made it there.

What was left of the building was nothing more than a smoldering heap of debris, and what was left of the building gave off an ominous moan as a cloud of black energy seeped up from the rubble. The fire squad went and made sure the rubble was put out and checked on the victims and other houses to make sure things were alright before leaving the scene and making sure to file a report on the damaged property. All that was left were the construction ponies who had been working on the road who just started milling about.

“Phew, I haven't seen a wooden foundation in Canterlot in years, most of them are stone just like the rest of the place.” Ash Gray said.

“That building was likely ancient, the reason it's so cheap is probably because the foundation might have given out at any time.” Another worker replied.

The workers got back to work with cleaning up the road and preparing to restart while their boss looked over what was left of the building's foundation. After a few minutes the order to get back to work was given as their boss went to make sure that a replacement of the foundation was going to be done. While the workers started to get back to their jobs Twilight Velvet an Nightlight had started heading home.

“Honey, somethings wrong.” Twilight said to her husband.

“That's what I've been trying to tell you all night, but do you listen.”

“Shut up Nighty! Sir what happened here!” Twilight asked a worker.

“Oh, you must live here. It's a right shame the whole building caught fire and the whole thing came down, wooden foundation and all. All that's left is a pile of rubble.”

“Did a thirteen year old filly or a eighteen year old colt leave the building?”

“I'm sorry mam, if they were in there then I'm afraid they didn't make it.”

“No... No! There's got to be a mistake, please Nighty use your magic to tell us where they are!”

Nightlight quickly used his magic and a hair from both of his children to track their location. As the spell gave him it's results the stallion started to weep as he realized that both of his children were buried under a building. Twilight Velvet didn't take long to figure out what the spell indicated and she began to weep with her husband as well over the loss of their children.

<><><><>

The funeral was a dour affair with Nightlight and Velvet openly weeping while others paid their respects to the deceased children. The bodies of the two had been recovered and what was left of them was placed into closed caskets that were waiting to be placed into the mausoleum that most of their family rested in.

“I'm terribly sorry for your loss, I too am saddened by the loss of a student that I'd only had for a day.” Celestia said as she looked over the funeral of Twilight Sparkle.

“She was never your student.” Nightlight growled at the Celestia.

“I suppose you are right about that, I only met the filly for a day before she was ripped from this world. It's saddening to see ponies perish in the eve of their youth.”

“Stop pretending that you care, she meant nothing to you.” Nightlight responded.

“All my little ponies mean a lot to me, even your daughter who I only met once.”

“Stop lying to me Celestia, if you actually cared for everypony, after all of these years you'd be twelve different kinds of insane after experiencing so much loss. I'm nearly there with just this!”

“I know you're grieving right now Mr. Nightlight, but please trust me when I say I truly do care. If it makes you feel any better I'm prepared to pay for your family's relocation after the fire. Now please don't blame me for the loss of your children when it was clearly nopony's fault.”

“I don't want your money I want my children back you whorse! And I never said anything about blaming you... YOU, you did this!”

“'What!? Mr. Nightlight please it is simply a misunderstanding, I would do nothing to harm your children.”

“... M-maybe your right. It wouldn't make any sense anyways. Killing your own student, my daughter just after you accepted her... It just hurts Celestia, it just hurts so much that even blaming you for no reason makes things feel a little bit better... like it wasn't my fault that she's dead.”

“You could not have predicted what would have happened my subject... Would you like to know something?”

“What?”

“Your children can see you right now, you may not believe it but it's true. You're all so much more special than me or any other immortal in this realm. You ponies have a greater existence that you never seem to realize, that your consciousness does not need a living body to exist or survive. All the body serves as is a way to interact with the mortal plane and as a form of reproduction, when it decays the spirit moves on to a plane of existence even I can't enter, things of this world are not pure enough to cross over but your spirits are. True there are some who give themselves over to corruption and face a fate even worse than death, but you know to do right. Ponies look at me like some deity, but in reality I'm much lower than you all. You fear death because you fear judgment, I fear death not because of judgment, but because I will cease to exist entirely. Your kind are the true immortals, those for who death is merely a new beginning and one that leads on to something that has no end. I am merely a product of this world, magic given sentience through the power within it, but magic is of this world and like all things of this world it and I will fade into oblivion... Sorry, I was supposed to be making you feel better, instead it seems I started to get rather depressing talking about my own fate.”

“It's alright Celestia, I was paying more attention to eulogy at that point anyways, but thanks for trusting me enough to know that about you, and that someday I'll be reunited with my children.”

“Think nothing of it, I merely wish to see you recover from this loss.”

“Thanks I guess, and you don't need to give us any bits, we... we were getting ready to move at that point and we were merely waiting to get enough bits to move everything over, looks like we'll be using it to buy new furniture instead... But thank you for helping me, if there's anything I can do to make it up to you just ask.”

“All I ask is that you remember me.”

<><><><>
[eight years later]

“Mom!”

“Ruby... please let me sleep.”

“But today's my birthday!” The seven year old filly proclaimed.

“Yes I know dear, but it's seven in the morning. Why is it that you're up this early on days like today and never on school days?” The filly's mother groaned.

“Because school's boring!”

“What about all of your school friends?”

“They're fun, but we don't get to play much outside of recess.” The filly said as she hopped off the bed.

“Well, where do you want to go for your birthday huh?”

“Doughnut Joe's! Doughnut Joe's!” The filly yelled at the top of her lungs before running off to wake up her brothers and sister.

Twilight Velvet sighed as she lay there thinking about how similar and how different Ruby was from Twilight. She was the oldest of her siblings and was almost always as energetic as Twilight would be when she got excited about something. Ruby hated school though, and Velvet doubted the filly would stay in school much longer than what was required, but she seemed so much happier than what Twilight did at her age. The deceased filly was always too busy reading to have any fun, and even though she seemed happy Velvet wondered if she truly ever had been.

Velvet put the thoughts out of her mind, knowing full well that there was nothing that could change the past, but at least her current four children helped with the pain. Of course Velvet couldn't forget her children, but she tried to remember them for the joy they brought, not the sadness that their parting left. That way of thinking generally left Velvet feeling a little better afterwords but she still missed them.

“A parent should never have to bury their child.” Twilight Velvet whispered to herself while getting out of the bed and rousing her husband.

As Twilight wandered down the hall after their daughter she briefly wondered how her husband was able to handle everything so well. As Twilight entered the kitchen she found Silver Dollop, their youngest daughter, giddily collecting the ingredients for pancakes.

Silver Dollop would be considered a genius by some at how early she earned her mark, but all the little filly ever talked about was pancakes and things that went into them. This was natural however as Silver Dollop's cutie mark was of a stack of pancakes with a few strawberries. The five year old filly had earned her mark when she helped her mother make pancakes one day. Of course the little filly was still too young to cook without supervision, but Velvet didn't doubt that she'd be one of the best cooks around once she got older.

The twin colts that were both six eventually came downstairs to join the family for breakfast. Streamline the energetic smokey gray pegasus of the two was wide awake and eagerly awaiting his breakfast, while his white coated unicorn brother known as Icy Haze looked like he was almost ready to fall asleep standing up.

As the entire family gathered for breakfast the light gray filly known as Silver Dollop began to bounce around excitedly at the prospect of finally getting breakfast started, and at the prospect of helping her mother prepare the breakfast. As the family started their meal Ruby couldn't help but notice that Streamline was nearly eating his breakfast while flying.

“So Ruby, Since tomorrow is the Summer Sun Celebration we've decided that we're going to be going to Ponyville to participate in all of the fun.” Nightlight said to the filly who instantly became excited along with the rest of her siblings... except for Icy Haze who was currently using a stack of pancakes as a pillow.

As the family went out to go have a fun time celebrating Ruby's birthday Twilight Velvet briefly shivered as she felt a ghostly chill pass by. The mare put the wind out of her mind as she summoned a light jacket and went on with the rest of her family to have fun. Nearby a floating book was gently placed on the ground and left there for a few minutes before floating again and flying off in the opposite direction.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Mornings for Apple Bloom never changed much, it was get up, go to school, work, eat, sleep, repeat. Sure the filly would have been considered rather boring by most ponies including herself, but she had a farm to run. Big Mac was already outside working as Apple Bloom downed her breakfast and started to work on the farm. Days like today were some of the more peaceful days for Apple Bloom as they were ones where she could think about things.

Once Apple Bloom got into a steady rhythm she let her body go into autopilot as her mind wandered over the things that she found to concern her the most. Granny Smith was likely still asleep and a good thing too, ever since Applejack's death the older pony had started ranting about spirits haunting the place. Normally this wouldn't be a bad thing if there weren't a few things that happened that couldn't be explained, mostly the leaves on the trees falling without any help and the sounds of crying coming from the part of the orchard that the fruit bats inhabited.

The locals had started this silly game where if you could spend the whole night in the haunted part of the orchard you would get something akin to brownie points or whatever they called them. Nopony could claim they'd done it though as they always run out screaming around two in the morning. Apple Bloom had attempted the feat only once, and afterwords she began to wonder if Granny Smith was actually right about the orchard being haunted.

Aside from the bad sales and the constant threat of the fruit bats leaving their part of the orchard Apple Bloom had the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration to think about. The whole event was going to take place tomorrow and she still had work to do before the rest of the family would even show up. It was typical of course, Granny Smith was too old to work and Big Mac was too upset about his sister to work past seven and instead went to grieve, of course Apple Bloom didn't hold that against him considering he lost his parent s and his sister at roughly the same time.

It seemed that the entire world hated Big Mac because his “marefriend” dumped him and left him with their daughter Apple Bloom after the funeral. It was a miracle Big Mac escaped being sent to an asylum after the ghost talk got him yapping about how he talks with Applejack's ghost. Apple Bloom sometimes wondered if she was the only thing that kept her father sane at times, but his fragile mental stat left Apple Bloom with most of the work around the farm.

Apple Bloom had found her mother at one point when she was overseeing the stall in the market. Things had escalated rather quickly between the two and Apple Bloom had the unfortunate experience of knowing what it was like to get arrested, and to be picked up later by her grandmother because her dad was a complete wreck. Although Apple Bloom was glad the police showed up, she would have hated to have been tried for murder.

At one point Apple Bloom had wanted to leave the farm entirely and just run away, but the acquisition of her cutie-mark had put an end to that before it even began. Her cutie-mark had shown up the day before she decided she would leave the farm. It was a day mostly like any other and Big Mac was out working while trying to forget everything that had happened to him.

Apple Bloom had went into the barn to fix the roof before she left so that her dad wouldn't have to worry about it. As the roof was slowly fixed she had missed the fact that she had gotten her mark until her dad had mentioned it to her, an apple with a black gear in the center. Most ponies would have been happy when they received their mark, for her it only filled her with anger.

She had been found later that night repeatedly bucking the same tree with tears streaming down her face. She hated the farm, she hated the trees, she hated ever single one of the apples that she kicked out of the worthless pieces of wood that dotted the farm, and most of all she hated her cutie-mark. As Apple Bloom continued to think on this she barely noticed that she was now putting dents into the tree she was supposed to be bucking.

When the fantasy ended Apple Bloom picked up the baskets of apples that she had gathered and threw them onto the cart that was nearby. As she looked over the farm she was partially satisfied that her work for the day was done and she took notice of the one inch deep hoof prints on the nearby tree.

As Apple Bloom went inside for what would be her dinner her dad was already sitting at the table trying his best to act normal. Of course it was only so the rest of the extended family wouldn't worry when they came over, of course Apple Bloom knew he wasn't going to fool anypony.

As Apple Bloom started on her dinner Big Mac finally spoke up after having been quiet for a bit.

“Hey, Bloom, are ya feeling alright?”

“Haven't felt right since ah was three, so no ah'm not.” Apple Bloom grumbled.

“D-do ya... ya know. Want ta talk about it?”

“No. It won't change anythin' an' ah don't like thinkin' on it. Now ah'm goin' ta bed, if ya need me talk ta me tomorrow.” Apple Bloom said as she finished off her plate and stormed up the stairs.

As things started to turn to evening Big Mac merely sat at the table looking at his empty plate wondering why his daughter was so distant. As the stallion sat there he merely sighed and looked out the window, and wondered what Applejack thought of the situation. He reckoned he shouldn't ask her though, the spirit was morose enough as it was.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Sweetie Belle got up that morning with a spring in her step and a song in her heart. Sometimes her parents swore that she was a little too cheery for a filly, but she just couldn't help it, the world around her was just so magical. After the filly quickly prepared her mane she slid down the railing on the stairs and made her way into the kitchen. Her parents were there eating their breakfasts already so Sweetie just passed them by and got out her favorite cereal.

Sweetie's favorite cereal was a sugary concoction known only as Smart Cookies, and it was essentially like eating a bowl full of cookies and milk. Sweetie didn't doubt that this was the favorite cereal of other ponies, but she always found that adding marshmallows to it was much more interesting. As the filly wolfed down her breakfast her parents looked at her and were secretly glad that she didn't know where the bag of sugar was kept. Once the little filly finished she briefly wished her mom and dad goodbye before heading out of the house.

As Sweetie went through the town she waved at all of the ponies she passed by and even greeted a few of them as she went on her way. As she went down the street she noticed Spoiled Rich steering clear of the local apple stand, apparently the filly that works at it tried to kill her. When Sweetie Belle asked her about it she only replied by saying she couldn't believe she was related to her.

As Sweetie Neared the edge of Whitetail Woods she took some time to smell the flowers, especially her favorite one, poison joke. Of course she knew the flower was a trickster but she made sure not to touch them and they always smelled so different and pretty. Once Sweetie Belle was inside the woods she headed over to a clearing that was rumored to be haunted, but that was silly since Miss Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash practically lived there.

Of course they were ghosts, but Sweetie Belle didn't think of them as haunting the place since they were really nice. Miss Fluttershy would teach Sweetie Belle how to sing and take care of the animals, while Rainbow Dash would play with her. The two were really fun to play with and Sweetie absolutely cherished their time together.

“Hey Miss Fluttershy?”

“Oh, yes Sweetie, what is it? I mean if you don't mind of course, you never usually stop singing practice.”

“Why can I see you when other ponies can't?”

“Well... You see, it's because you still have your childlike innocence. When ponies get older they become blinded by their desires and thoughts, and because of that they simply lose the ability to see and hear us.”

“Well you won't have to worry about me Miss Fluttershy! I'll never grow up!”

“Everypony grows up someday Sweetie, but not everypony loses their childlike nature.”

Ever since Sweetie Belle asked that she made a deliberate choice to never become a mature adult, and so far it was working now that it had become second nature for her. In fact Sweetie was getting better at communicating with the spirits that she came across and she was well past the age some fillies and colts stopped seeing ghosts. With enough determination Sweetie didn't doubt that she could make her ability to communicate with Miss Fluttershy permanent.

When Sweetie Belle entered the clearing sh could hear the haunting melodies that the deceased pegasus sung floating in the air. Sweetie hoped she could only be half as good as Fluttershy at singing someday as she sat down in front of the rock she was perched on. As the melody ended Fluttershy looked over to Sweetie Belle and smiled.

“Oh, hello Sweetie, here for your lessons.”

“Yes Miss Fluttershy.” Sweetie Said to the ghost.

“We'll begin in a minute, Mrs. Bunny over there was wanting to talk with me so I'll be right back.”

As Fluttershy went to where the rabbit was most likely at Sweetie Belle started trying to see if she could spot Rainbow Dash hanging around somewhere. As Sweetie looked around a grin crept up on her face as she quickly whirled around and yelled boo. The reaction the spectral pegasus behind her made was hilarious as Rainbow Dash backed up in alarm and nearly face planted into a nearby tree.

“Nice try Rainbow!” Sweetie said in between fits of giggles.

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up kid. Hey, how did you know I was there anyways.”

“I don't know, I kinda just sensed it.”

“Well it was awesome being startled by something for once, Fluttershy over there isn't exactly one for pranks.”

“Yeah, but she's really nice though... It's ponies like her that make me want to see ponies smile wherever they go.”

“I can respect that kid... Hey what have you been eating by the way? You look like you've started packing on some weight since last time.”

“...Mostly sugar...” Sweetie Belle answered back sheepishly.

“Yeash, no wonder you're starting to get heavier. With a diet like that you'll end up getting fat. Don't worry though, I'll help you lose all that weight in no time.”

“Thanks Dash, maybe I'll talk to you about that later, but it's time for my singing lessons with Miss Fluttershy.” Sweetie said as she positioned herself in front of the rock and started her lessons.

After a few hours of singing practice Sweetie Belle got up and started to help Fluttershy tend to the animals, which greatly helped Fluttershy since ghosts had a hard time interacting with the physical realm. Some day Sweetie wished to bring just as much joy to ponies as Fluttershy did to animals and when thinking of that an idea came to the young fillies mind.

“Hey, Miss Fluttershy? Do you think some of these animals would like to be adopted?”

“Oh, you mean like become some nice family's pets... I suppose some of them would.”

“I was thinking that maybe I could take some ponies here and maybe have them pick out some.”

“That's really sweet Sweetie, but I'm afraid most ponies won't adopt completely wild animals unless they've been taken into a shelter.”

“Oh... Well that's alright, there are plenty of other things that make ponies happy, like candies, and sweets, and sugar puffs!”

“Well, maybe you can make some treats for ponies then. I'm sure you can find somepony who can teach you.”

“Alright, I'm sure I won't be burning anything in no time. I'll go ask the Cakes since they seem really nice, and they kind of know how I managed to burn juice.”

“Wait... Juice?”

“Yup!”

“Well... I'm sure you'll do fine.”

“Thanks Miss Fluttershy! Well it's getting late so I'm going to head home, bye Fluttershy! Bye Dash!” The little filly yelled before scampering off.

On the filly's way home she made sure to stop of at Sugar Cube Corner and apply for some lessons in cooking. After she had made her request, and been accepted under the strict rule of being supervised the whole time, the filly purchased some fudge for her trip home and briefly looked at the for hire sign that had been on the wall for as long as she could remember, maybe one day Sweetie would be the one to take it down.

As the little filly entered her home she took note that dinner had been left out for her, and it contained her most dreaded enemy, Brussel Sprouts. The fiendish vegetable had made it's way back into her life and no matter what her parents said she knew they were evil. So in a quick motion she scooped the ugly monstrosities into the cat food, thereby saving what was left on her plate from a fate worse than death. If anypony had seen the tragedy that was about to befall the poor filly's dinner they would have gasped in shock and awe as she single hoofedly stopped their tyranny.

Once the theatrics were over Sweetie eagerly wolfed down everything on her plate, and even though she wasn't supposed to she managed to sneak in a few cookies as well. After brushing her teeth with her bubblegum flavored toothpaste Sweetie Belle flopped onto her bed that housed her stuffed animal collection. Once all of her animals had been read their bedtime story the filly snuggled up under the covers and drifted off into a dream filled with sugary treats and many other things.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

The day was going really well for Scootaloo, she was with her family in Cloudsdale visiting the weather factory. Their tour was going really well and they had taken a break for lunch outside in a picnic area. The filly's parents were talking amiably about the Wonderbolts and their upcoming performance, while Scootaloo was just happy to be walking on clouds.

The energetic filly suffered from a wing deformation that made it impossible for her to fly so these rare trips for her were always good ones. The Wonderbolts were an interesting group of ponies to be sure and they did all sorts of amazing tricks much like Scootaloo on her scooter, but the little filly wasn't all that interested in them since she couldn't fly herself. It was a lucky thing that Scootaloo's wings were strong enough to get her moving on her scooter though since it was what she considered her passion in life at the moment.

As the tour continued Scootaloo could swear she had seen a few blurs of color whiz around, but nopony else seemed to be paying any attention. While in the snowflake production facility Scootaloo got to make her own snowflake out of paper which was placed on a nearby wall for decoration until the tour finished. Of course not everything went well since a mare brought in a fan and ended up blowing the snowflakes everywhere, but Scootaloo liked the display of all the snowflakes whizzing around.

Much to the annoyance of Scootaloo the more dangerous parts of the factory were off limits especially where the liquid lightning was stored because of an incident a few years ago. Apparently a worker had tried to taste the stuff and wound up in the hospital after managing to survive the experience. Although there was one last bit of the tour where they got to see something cool, it just so happened to be where they got to see where the raw liquid rainbow was made in the factory.

The tour stood on a catwalk with high rails overlooking a bunch of multicolored vats that were mixing the initial ingredients for what would become one of the spiciest things in existence. As the tour proceed it was mentioned that the vats they were over contained a slurry of highly acidic ingredients that would later be diluted into a nontoxic and safe form. Of course Scootaloo, wanting to get a closer look, managed to squeeze her head through the bars and look over into a vat.

The swirling mixture was almost hypnotizing to watch as the young pegasus was nearly put into a trance. Unfortunately her lapse in concentration sent the young filly plummeting into a vat of, fortunately, mostly diluted rainbow. The liquid stung all over her body and as the filly opened her eyes she could barely make out a cyan mare with a rainbow mane trying to grab her... but her hooves just seemed to never catch on anything.

“Hold on kid, just don't swallow or open your eyes!” A nearby worker yelled to Scootaloo as they grabbed a rope with a loop on the end.

The rope was tossed into the vat which Scootaloo hugged for dear life as she was pulled free of the vat. Her fur and mane had been stained a vibrant green and it continued deep into the filly's flesh likely permanently tattooing her skin green. Unfortunately the order to not open her eyes had been received a little too late as Scootaloo had managed to get a good bit of it in her eyes when she had went under at one point.

Scootaloo coughed up any of the green that had managed to get into her mouth, revealing the same thing that had happened to her skin on the inside of her mouth before anypony could get a good look at everything. When her eyes were revealed she was immediately rushed to where her eyes could get washed out and had to endure water being used to flush out her eyes.

“Hey... Is the stuff out of my eyes? I... I can't see anything... hello?” Scootaloo asked, confirming the fears of some of the workers that had rescued her.

Scootaloo instantly felt the embrace of somepony who started crying as they got a hold of her. It was Scootaloo's mother who had flown down after seeing the filly fall into the vat. Scootaloo returned the embrace, even if it was a bit painful.

After Scootaloo was completely rinsed off and sporting a very green look she was taken to the hospital for a thorough examination. It was there that she was told that physically she would recover, but the green wasn't going to go away as far as her skin was concerned. Scootaloo's main concern was why she couldn't see anything, and for that matter why the doctor hadn't said anything about it yet.

It was the next two tests of taste and sight from her incident that threw a wrench into the filly's life. As far as her sense of taste was concerned she was fine and would recover from any oral damage, her eyesight was a different story. Her retina and several other words that Scootaloo didn't recognize had been eaten away and wouldn't recover, leaving Scootaloo permanently blinded.

Scootaloo sat quietly listening to the world around her, it was something the filly did a lot of considering she was blind now. It was rather unfortunate considering she couldn't go anywhere without a cane, and that she wasn't able to ride her scooter as fast as she liked. It wasn't her fault though, not entirely at least since she became blind due to an accident. Sometimes she wondered who the ghostly mare that tried to save her was, or if the mare was just her imagination.

Scootaloo got up and walked over to her cane as she readied herself to go down the stairs and out into the town. As she wandered through the streets she came upon what she was looking for, which just so happened to be the local orphanage. Scootaloo hadn't been interested in the place for many reasons, and she still wasn't all that interested in the place. The ponies on the other hoof were a different story entirely.

She had first started coming to the place in order to get to know another blind little filly that lived there. After the first year the filly got adopted and Scootaloo just stayed at home for while afterwords until her boredom brought her back to the orphanage. That was when Scootaloo began to get to know the other ponies that lived in the orphanage and she had even managed to become friends with Mrs. Good Heart, the owner of the orphanage.

It was a way to ease her boredom and stressed mind at times when she visited the orphanage, and the ponies there had started to anticipate her visits. What Scootaloo did was always different based on what was happening on any particular day, but she usually helped out with serving the meals and other things around the place. Of course the newer ponies to the place occasionally asked her what was up with the green mouth, to which she always made some joke about eating too many limes.

As Scootaloo walked up to the reception desk she paused and let the pony at the desk fill out her visitors form before moving on and heading towards the main office. The office wasn't all that large, and Scootaloo had once thought that maybe there were a few bookshelves here and there before finding mostly filing cabinets. While waiting for Mrs. Good Heart to arrive Scootaloo sat down in a chair and started to hum to herself.

“Oh, Miss Scootaloo how is everything going!? The little fillies have been chatting nonstop about you recently hoping for you to play with them again.”

“I'm doing alright Mrs. Good Heart, and I'm just doing what comes naturally to me.”

“Well Miss Scootaloo your help around here has been very appreciated, I'm starting to think that you deserve some form of paycheck with how often you help around here.”

“Thanks Mrs. Good Heart, but I really don't have any use for money at the moment.”

“Of course, young ponies like you don't have much to worry about financially. Well maybe you could save it for something later like treats or for when you get older, anyways there is a pony I'd like for you to get to know.”

“Really? It's not very often that you recommend ponies to me.”

“That is true my dear, but little Miss Berry Pinch is a new pony to the system and it was a tragedy that she ended up here. Her mother is known to be a bit of an alcoholic and things finally came to a head in her situation and Berry Pinch was removed from her mother's care. I know how much everypony here loves you and that they feel better when you're around, so I was hoping that you'd be able to help Miss Pinch adjust.”

“Oh my, I'll do what I can Miss Good Heart.” Scootaloo said before allowing herself to be lead to where Berry Pinch was at.

The filly known as Berry Pinch had been located at the far side of the room sitting in the corner. She wasn't crying and had likely gotten all of that out of her system earlier. She was just sitting there drawing something on a piece of paper from the sounds of it, and Scootaloo thought that it might have been a drawing about her mother.

“Berry Pinch, this here is Scootaloo, she'll be showing around the place okay?” To which Berry Pinch didn't respond, but must have nodded to.

“Well I'll leave you two to mingle, I've got to go check on few things.” Mrs. Good Heart said before leaving the room.

Berry Pinch looked over the pony that she had been placed with for the day and immediately noticed three things: one she wore shades inside, two the inside of her mouth was entirely green, and three she had a cane with her. The pony known as Scootaloo smiled in her general direction, although she seemed to be looking slightly to the left.

“So... are you supposed to be the pony that is to show me around?”

“Yep! Whenever you're ready to go I'll start showing you the place.”

“Hey, what's with your mouth? It's all green.”

“It's what happens when you eat limes everyday, but at least it keeps the scurvy at bay.”

“... It's not that funny...” Berry Pinch mumbled.

“Well it's not easy to come up with a joke about that, so where do you want to go first.”

“I-I'm kinda hungry.”

Berry Pinch followed her escort down the hall and out into a large room that held several tables where some other ponies were already sitting. Her escort seemed to be reliant on tapping her cane in front of her for some reason and it was an odd sight she had never seen before. After the filly had selected her lunch she sat down with her guide who was groping the air until she found the juice carton.

“Hey... why do you have a cane? Are you hurt?”

“Na, I'm completely fine. I just need it to know where I'm going a lot of the time, especially in crowded places.”

“How does a cane help with that, and why don't you just take off your sunglasses if you have trouble seeing where you're going?”

“The shades are just to keep ponies from seeing my eyes, they tend to creep them out. As for the cane I'm blind so I can't see anything and the cane let's me know where things in front of me are, it gets a little trickier with stairs but it's not that bad once you're used to it.”

“Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't know you couldn't see anything, I just thought you were weird, I mean cool!.”

“It's alright, really. The weirdest thing about me is that my mouth is permanently dyed green, and someponies think it's actually cool instead of weird.”

“Right...”

The rest of the conversation devolved into nothing more than questions asked by Scootaloo, to which Berry Pinch merely grunted at. The filly had went back into a state of melancholy that Scootaloo had seemed to pick up on, but she didn't say anything until after their lunch was finished.

“So Berry, how about I take you somewhere that I know you'll like.”

“Sure...” Berry said while still in her funk.

Berry followed the blind filly hoping that this whole tour thing would be over soon and that she could just lay somewhere. Apparently Scootaloo had the exact opposite thing in mind as she was taken into another large room filled with play equipment where other ponies were busy playing.

“I...”

“Come on! There's a little game I want ta show ya that I'm sure you'll love!” Scootaloo said interrupting anything Berry Pinch was trying to say.

“oh... alright, but how will you play?”

“It's more of a game based around imagination, I'll get a few of the others and run you through the rules.”

After a group of ponies was gathered together the game started and to Berry Pinch's surprise it was actually kind of fun. If Berry Pinch had been older she might have considered the whole thing to be role playing, but being as young as she was she had never heard of the term. Scootaloo was surprisingly good at the game and Berry was grateful that she was acting as more of a mediator of some sort.

Berry didn't know at when she had began smiling, but by the time the game ended she had been smiling so much that her face felt slightly numb. Scootaloo was waiting for her with a juice box once she finished and she accepted it gladly. For once since entering the orphanage Berry Pinch didn't feel unhappy, and instead she was enjoying herself.

“Felling better yet?”

“Y-yeah... but it won't change anything.”

“Listen... It may not look all that great now but you can't let something like this define you. When I lost my eyesight I was a complete wreck and I would hardly leave my room and when I did I was usually angry about something.”

“H-how did you... you know?”

“Move past it? Well it wasn't easy. My parents took me here because there was another blind filly here at one point that I could talk to. I really didn't want to speak with her and we ended up just sitting with each other mostly... Then she taught me to smile. It was just a silly game really but it got me feeling good enough to actually listen to anything she had to say. She told me that things may look bad now, but that things didn't have to stay bad... That we could move on and have a brighter future than before because of them, as long as we don't let them drag us down... and she was right.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Well after becoming blind even though I couldn't do some of the things that I liked before there were new things that I could do and experience that I never thought to try before. I learned to read brail and ironically I read more now that I'm blind than when I still had sight.” Berry Pinch giggled a bit at that before listening to Scootaloo once again, “I learned to play with others more instead of just doing my own thing and I even found a new passion in life. I learned to cook and I learned so many other things after everything that I never would have otherwise, now tell me do things look all that bad anymore?”

“N-no? But how does that apply to me?”

“Well, have you ever had all that many ponies to play with?”

“Y-no... All I had was mom and she slept most of the time.”

“Well here you have all sorts of ponies to play with and you get three meals a day, and some ponies even get adopted and find a new family.”

“Well... three meals a day does sound kind of nice... mom usually never brings food home.”

“So do you think you'll be able to make it around here now?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Well I'm sure you'll be fine then, hey do you want to hang out with me tomorrow? I know it's the Summer Sun Celebration and all but I thought you might like to hang out and have some fun with all of the festivities.”

“I... I'd like that, thank you.”

Scootaloo proceeded to take Berry Pinch on a tour of the rest of the place and where everything occurred at. Berry Pinch was amazed at how big the place was, while Scootaloo merely answered any questions she had about the place. After the tour ended and it was time for Scootaloo to go home she went back to the office to speak with Mrs. Good Heart before the day ended.

“Ah, Scootaloo! So how was Miss Pinch?”

“She's doing better now and she seems to be excited to stay here.”

“I'm glad to hear it Miss Scootaloo and I look forward to seeing you again. So do you know when your cutecienera is going to be, because I know every pony here would want to attend!” Mrs. Good Heart said with excitement creeping into her voice.

“Well I'd have to get a cutie-mark first, once I get mine I'll let you know.” Scootaloo said in confusion.

“Oh, silly me! You must have been so busy with Miss Pinch that nopony noticed.”

“Notice what?”

“Why you're cutie-mark of course! You must have gotten it sometime during the day.”

“Oh... So what does it look like?”

“It's the silhouette of a pony on a heart. You know what it means don't you?”

“Yes Mrs. Good Heart I think I do.”

“That's good Deary, some ponies are just out there getting a mark and completely missing the meaning behind it. Quite frankly I think that's quite silly, being so caught up in the mark itself that you forget what the meaning behind it is.”

“I guess so. Well I'll be coming by tomorrow to take Berry Pinch around the town for the festival, and I'll let you know when my party is.”

“Alright Miss Scootaloo, I'll see you then deary. Oh, here's a little something for you, there's a good bit of candy in here and if you're sure you don't want it you can just give the bits to your parents. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.”

“Thanks Mrs. Good Heart, you're too kind.”

“Think nothing of it my dear, now you better run on home before your folks get upset.”

As Scootaloo walked out of the orphanage and walked on the path that would take her home she began to smile. She had secretly enjoyed working at the orphanage even if she did nothing but pass it off as doing her part for getting to play with everypony there. Now her cutie-mark showed that it was what she was supposed to do with her life, and she was happy about it.

It was funny in a way to Scootaloo, she had previously never though much of others lives the way she did now that her vision was gone. If she hadn't lost her vision Scootaloo would have never found this great thing, she never would have found this much love. In a way she was blinded by her own ability to see and now she had what she felt to be a much better outlook on life.

Once Scootaloo entered her home she quickly showed them her cutie-mark, to which a celebration was set to occur next week. Then Scootaloo brushed her teeth and went to go lay down for the night. While Scootaloo drifted off into the land of dreams she knew that her and Mrs. Good Heart were going to be friends for years to come.

Author's Note

Well the first chapter has been completed and I'm feeling really good about this one. This story is supposed to focus on Apple Bloom the most as a character, but with backstories being so drastically rewritten it was hard not to have this chapter jump around a bit. Also I have a feeling I could write a reasonable story focusing on this Scootaloo, but maybe I'll save that for another time.

For those of you wondering why all of the cutie-mark crusaders are acting so OOC I was hoping that everything in the story would have covered it at this point. Apple Bloom is bitter about everything, she grew up with only a granny and a father who was never really there for her because of his own issues.

Sweetie Belle, well she likes sugar, sugar, stuffed toys, and sugar. Being an only child has lead to Sweetie Belle being her own mare instead of looking up to Rarity and trying to emulate her, in essence she became a bit of a girly filly before becoming a bit Pinkie-ish in an effort to not lose a friend.

Scootaloo... well her backstory ended up being the longest and I'm almost certain everything that explains who she is now was covered in story, but if you're confused please feel free to comment.

Also any comments on Celestia's weirdly religious musings?

Well with the first chapter finished and five of the six elements of harmony introduced it looks like things can only go up from here.

As always I enjoy reading you thoughts and ideas on my work and I would appreciate it if you left a comment telling me how you liked the story and what I could do to improve the story.