Standing tall and Breakless dreams

     "But mommy! I don’t wanna go!!!" Canvas cried. It was like this every year when school started. They where all the same, and Canvas knew that even if she cried, it wouldn’t help anything. She was just going into fifth grade, her last year of elementary. This year, like every one, included her screaming, crying, and complaining about how life wasn't fair. Her parents just didn't seem to understand the concept of staying home and relaxing.

    "Sky! Shut your trap and listen to your mother. If your late again this year i will personally lock you in your room to be grounded." her father, as head trainer of the wonderbolts, had a low stern voice, mainly used to control. Canvas looked at him amazed as always by his powerful look. He was a tall, buff pony, with the most glorious wings in Cloudsdale. His coat was tangerine color and his mane ant tail sapphire blue. The same blue sat at the tips of his hooves, his ears, his muzzle, and loveliest of all, his large, gleaming wings. His cutie mark was a simple feather, but gleamed as white as snow, no matter in what light he stood.

    A magic aurora flowed over Canvas, directed from her mother’s horn. As she did every day, Canvases mother was casting the cloud walking spell on the filly. Her mother had a coat of emerald green and a sky blue hair streaked with pure white. On top of her head sat her pride and joy, her horn. Canvas sighed, wishing for a horn for herself. As soon as the green glow of her mother’s magic passed, Canvas was swept off of the floor and onto her father’s back.

    "And off we go!" Her father grinned happily as he dove off the step of their cloud home. Her father loved flying, no matter how often he did it, and Canvas seemed to have inherited that love, even if she couldn’t fly. Canvas closed her eyes as the weightless feeling made her adrenalin zip. Her heart seemed to leave her chest and leap right up to her throat, and she clung even tighter to her father’s neck. It left all too soon as her father elevated his flight and slowed down, trying to pry off Canvases hoofs from him at the same time. Canvas let go slightly and rubbed her front hooves together.

    "Daddy, why does mommy have to keep putting that spell on me? It hurts my hooves bad." She looked over her father’s wings and squeezed softly at the height. At that her father gave a soft chuckle, but just as quickly converted back to his usual straight face.

    "We'll darling. You’re special. You don't have wings or a horn, so mommy has to give you magic like a Pegasus has so you won't fall through the clouds." Then under his breath Canvas faintly heard him say "To bad she couldn't have both." Canvas frowned. Every once in a while she would hear mommy or daddy say stuff like that, making her feel like she did something wrong. It was bad enough that each year kids at school teased her for being the only wingless or hornless pony. Now it seemed that her parents disliked it to.

    "Where here. Have a good day." Canvas was so lost in thought, starting at the big blue sky, that she hadn't even noticed her father stop. He swiftly grabbed her saddle bag and lifted her off of his back. Without anymore goodbyes, he was gone.

Canvas turned from looking out to the sky, to see the view of her new school. Cloudsdale elementary. As most buildings in Cloudsdale, it was made of clouds. It had a big drop off area outside, covered in fillies and colts who where here for the first day.

    Before heading up to the school Canvas looked back over her shoulder, hoping to catch one last glimpse of her father. Instead all she saw was the big tower known to every pony as the weather factory.

She closed her eyes and sigh, and then took a deep breath before making her way into the school. As soon as she entered the doors, the voices of hundreds of ponies could be heard, and a crowd of students pushed behind and beside her. Teachers stood in the entrance, motioning all students to the cafeteria. Canvas made her way through the crowed, narrowly avoiding her head being hit off by a colt trying to fly over traffic.

    "You know Sky, they should make the building bigger if their goanna allow this many kids to come. " startled, Canvas looked over to see her best friend ditzy.

    "Guys! Wait up!" The two fillies stopped as their friend Roni strode through the crowd, her lion tail whipping back and forth.

    "RONI!" The two fillies said at once as the griffin entered their conversation. Canvas was grinning ear to ear and giggling with her friends as they sat down in the cafeteria waiting for the principle to make his beginning of the year speech as he usually did.

    "So then, right before their hair caught on fire, this other colt..."

    "Well well well. Isn't this a petty sight?" Canvas was afraid to look up, knowing the snotty voice as soon as it started croaking. She looked up from listening to Roni's story to find none other than  Valda Winds, or as Canvas called her, bald wings.

    "We have the Derp, the crooked beak, and you Sky. I have so many things to call you." Valda took a step closer putting her face right up to Canvases.

    " the disappointment, puke coat, moss mane, no wings, hornless, the failure." Canvas shriveled a bit at this last remark, but tried to stand her ground. She stared into Valda's big, frozen blue eyes, faintly seeing her own reflection in them. Like Valda he'd said, her coat was the color of brown yellow throw up, and her mane was a deep green moss color. But neither of those things found compare to her blank head, back, and not to mention flank. A sharp smack under her chin made her snap out of her trance, making her blink. Canvas jumped back just as another punch flew past her face. Her jaw hurt and she sat down, watching Valda leave, giggling, her cherry colored flank and wings, swaying as if she had swagger.

    Canvas blinked again, still in shock from the blow and looked over to see her friends had left her. She just sighed and got up, moving closer to the stage standing in the cafeteria as the principle trotted from behind the curtain. Canvas dropped her head down on a table and sigh. Why did she even try to go to school if she already knew all this would happen? She knew from experience that the first day was always the easiest. There were still 273 days until summer break next year. Her friend would keep away from her during school, only coming to join her when it ended so they wouldn't get beaten up. One time ditzy had asked why Canvas didn't want them to stay and stick up for her when she was being picked on. Canvas had replied that it was because she didn't want them getting hurt, which was partly true. The other reason was that she didn't want them to tell her parents about the towel treatment. It would only make them even more disappointed in her.

Canvas looked up again as the principle started his yearly speech.

    "Eight hundred years ago, when Cloudsdale was made, there was a massive problem in education...."