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Ten years earlier

It was hard for Flora to chew the crustless daffodil and daisy sandwich that had been prepared and plated by her mother for dinner that night due to her recently-pulled tooth. It was one of her main teeth that she used to chew, so she had needed to improvise by moving her bites around her mouth to grind the food to a swallowable state.

The bread was the easy part, it was mainly the two other occupants rested between the soft and delectable wheat slabs that gave her trouble, but, being headstrong and confident in any feat, she managed to beat the challenge of chewing the contents to small and soggy pieces that could glide down her throat easily.

Upon finishing her challenging meal, she raised her arms into the air at her success, to which her mother seated to the left of her smiled. Flora was happy to see her mom smile, considering that things hadn't been the best lately.

Lily had lost her job due to the company have to cut some employees, a job she had worked for over ten years. It was a sad day for her, but just like anypony should, she let it go and moved onto figuring out a new plan to keep food on the table.

She didn't even waste her breath on her husband, knowing it would only result in another beating and potential near-death. That had happened five times in her seven years of marriage, and, out of fear for her life, just told the doctors some fake story of how she had gotten the many wounds and broken bones.

It's not like they could do shit about it anyways, and Darwin knew that just as much as she did.

Their relationship hadn't always been so strife-driven; it actually had started very happily and carefree, up until the day Lily had announced her pregnancy. That had caused a switch to flip in Darwin's head, and, on several occasions, had tried to kill Flora when she was still in the womb.

He had had several opportunities, but, for some reason, had stopped at the very moment he could've, having laughed evilly in Lily's traumatized state and just said something along the lines of "as long as you keep your mouth shut, this thing won't end up bleeding to death on the floor, and you won't end up in prison for murder."

It's only for that very reason that Lily has never spoken a word or attempted to seek help; for Flora's safety. She could care less about her ending up in prison; as a mother, it's her job to protect her daughter no matter what, so she wore fake smiles to keep Flora safe and unaware of the horrid truth.

She was truly miserable, but she'd take the hits and threats until some miracle saved her. Flora had heard the screaming and shouting, but she was too young to catch on, thinking it was just a natural thing mommy and daddy did.

Lily's smile would only last until her daughter left the kitchen to go watch television or play in her room, watching as Flora slid her plate towards her own and took off to her room to play with her new dolls and playset she'd gotten for her birthday one week prior.

Upon the door to Flora's bedroom closing, Lily's fake smile turned back to a static expression of depression, fear, and misery. It wouldn't be long before Darwin walked through the door in a drunken state and the misery began, so she just did her best to eat her own dinner.

She had just started to lift the sandwich when the door opened and unsteady hoofsteps entered the house.

Lily wouldn't finish her dinner. She had a daughter to protect.

The heavy scent of whisky and body odor permeated the kitchen upon the sight of a very drunk Darwin Flare stumbling to the table. It was suffocating, but Lily knew if she said anything she'd be in for a painful night, so she just composed herself and played "happy wife."

"Welcome home, darling," she faked. "How was your day at work?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," he responded coldly. "Where's my dinner, Lily? You'd best not be slacking!"

Lily gulped, getting up and quickly prepping the plate she had saved for him. Once the sandwich was prepared, she returned to the table and placed the plate before him, trying her best not to gag at the suffocating stench wafting from his body.

"What the hell is this?" he questioned threateningly. "This ain't no dinner! This is a foal's meal!"

Lily gulped again.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have any money to go out and buy things for a big meal," she explained, her voice starting to shiver at his tone of voice. "This is all I could manage."

Darwin wasn't listening, rising from the chair with clear anger. He then grabbed the plate and hurled it across the kitchen, shattering upon contact with the far wall and creating a big hole.

"Go out and buy some real food or things are going to be bad for you, Lily!" he growled.

Lily was against the wall frozen in fear, trying to think of another way out of this. She thought of the things in the pantry, piecing them together to try and come up with something to calm the raging stallion before her.

Then something else made her immediately panic, hearing the cry of her daughter's voice.

"Mommy are you okay?" Flora questioned with clear concern. "W-why is daddy so mad?"

Immediately, her motherly instincts kicked in, knowing she had to act.

"Everything's fine honey," she assured in her best calm voice. "Daddy just dropped his plate on accident. Nothing to worry about."

It worked, up until something else replaced Flora's reason of concern.

"Ewww, what is that smell?" Flora asked, covering her muzzle to relieve her nostrils of the clear pungent odor wreaking from Darwin's entire body.

Lily worked quickly, a solution coming to mind instantly.

"Oh, daddy had a little accident at work and he got covered by some stinky stuff. He's going to shower tonight to get it off, right daddy."

The closing statement came with a wink and clear tone of voice for Darwin to catch as a reminder to just agree with her.

Darwin didn't catch it, too drunk to think logically, and instead formed a grin that spoke evil intent. Lily's heart instantly skipped a beat, knowing that, for some reason, Darwin wasn't just following the usual protocol when Flora caught them fighting.

"Absolutely. However, daddy got something cool for you at work, honey," he started, walking to the stove and working his hoof to the knife holder upon the counter.

"Really daddy!?" Flora exclaimed in excitement. "What is it?! What is it?!"

Keeping the sight of his hoof sliding the largest knife from is home from his daughter, he continued to hold his devilish grin and play with her youthful naivety.

"Oh, it's really cool, but you have come over here to get it. It's a surprise!"

He was absolutely serious, and Lily knew he wasn't just messing with her. The grin spoke his intent alone, and now, she had to act before he could harm her.

Flora was already on the pounce, so she knew it was do or die. Dropping every bit of her fear and paranoia of the stallion before her, she lunged at Darwin with all her might, knocking him down instantly.

He had been surprised at the attack, not having expected Lily to actually act, but he still had the knife, and she was far from having the advantage. A sharp burning pain inflamed her left side, the knife having been stabbed into her flesh, causing her to scream, but her motherly instincts didn't let her fall, slamming her head down into Darwin's before he could get the knife out of her body for another stab.

Darwin hadn't expected Lily to be so quick to act, his head being hit hard again and again, until he was to a state where he was stunned. Lily saw that as her que to escape, the knife still in her and her warm blood leaking onto the kitchen floor as much as Darwin's, his nose bleeding and broken from Lily's skull.

Getting off of Darwin's body, she looked around for Flora, finding her in a shocked and horrified state.

"Flora, come on, we need to go!" she demanded.

Flora was still frozen at the sight, so she just proceeded to grab Flora, but stopped at a hard kick to her right set of ribs, knocking her to the floor and shifting the knife deeper into her body. The blade attacked her organs like a blazing fire, causing her to lose focus long enough for Darwin to get up and subdue Lily to a position where she couldn't fight back.

His hooves then wrapped Lily's neck and squoze with a force that was the equivalent of strength of a Boa constricting its prey. She choked and gasped for breath as Flora watched in horror, not knowing what to do.

Lily attempted to yell out to Flora to run, but the force of Darwin's hooves was too much, and no matter hard she tried to fight against it, Darwin only tightened his grip on her neck.

Her lungs burned for air, but none came, and just as her vision started to blur to black, the pressure around her neck lifted. All of the air her lungs begged for returned, and she coughed as she attempted to breathe. Her vision was blurry, but through it she could see Darwin in a hasty struggle.

Then she saw his neck, something around it and holding on for dear life.

"Get off you brat!" Darwin yelled, trying his best in his drunken state to unhinge the hooves wrapped around his neck.

Flora had jumped onto him and gripped his neck in an attempt to save her dying mother, clinging her small body to the entirety of his neck and holding on as if her life depended on it.

And it did.

He slammed against the counters and table to get his daughter off, his lungs begging for oxygen and blood blinding his vision. Plates fell from cabinets, pans collided to the floor, and the knife set met the floor as well, its occupants of several sizes being freed from their homes.

Just as Darwin was close to losing consciousness, with a slam to the fridge, Flora lost her grip, her hooves having lost their strength. She fell hard onto her back on the glass-covered floor, immediately feeling the shards slice her flesh, but the pain was mute to her, more focused on her delusional monster of a father raging towards her with murderous intent.

Before she could even back up, she was pinned and her tiny neck was in a tight grip. Lily saw the horror through her blurry vision, but was too weak to interject the scene, still catching her breath and regaining her strength.

Flora could see spots starting to fill her vision as she reached out for something in hopes of saving herself. She reached and reached, and, through her little strength, found something on the kitchen floor. Without thinking and having only survival instinct as her drive, she gripped and attacked her father with whatever she had in her hoof, praying for her weapon to save her.

It did.

Flora had shoved one of larger knives through the side of Darwin's neck and out the other side repetitively, causing warm blood to bathe her face and upper chest as her father let go to cut off the bloodline spraying from his neck with every beat of his racing heart.

He fell from atop Flora and attempted to get up and run, but the amount of blood he was losing and his heart rate had forced him into shock, and he couldn't act.

He choked on and gurgled his own blood on the floor as Flora attempted to catch her breath, unaware of what she had just done out of instinct of survival.

When she had regained enough oxygen and could focus again, Darwin Flare was dead in a pool of blood, and Flora's response had only been a chaotic mix of sadness and guilt.

"Daddy! DADDY!!!" she screamed in absolute chaos.

Lily had recovered enough, and at the sight of Flora's mad cries for her dad to wake up and her innocence being shattered, she only cried and held her daughter in her hooves as the sounds of sirens could be heard approaching the house.

Flora had killed her own father in defense of protecting herself, but that's not how Flora saw it, too young to understand.

From that moment, Flora's life had changed, and it would take a long time for her to understand that while she had killed her own father, it wasn't her fault. And only until she could understand that, Flora's first life would remain immobile.

Up until the day she would meet Sarah Darkmist.