A Blooming Hope

September 17th, 10 years ago

I grabbed my stuff and began to pack my bags, hope in my heart. I tried to remember good things, like how I’d get to see my friends today. It was hard to ignore all that had happened to me, but I knew that I had to try and be optimistic.

I grabbed my bags and set them on my back, it was early morning, I was set to leave at this time so I would be able to get ready for school. Cella and my parents had tried to lift my spirits, but nothing really helped, nothing, but Lumius. Caring for the sweet bird that I now called my own helped to keep me distracted, maybe it’s because, like me, Lumius never had, and would never have a symbol telling him where to go in life. He rode on his own ingenuity, his own wings, and it made me feel better to not be alone.

I whistled the call I had taught him in all my free time and he flew from his perch to my side, I gave him a gentle scratch on his chin and set him on my bags as I stumbled out the door.

Lumius tried to help me keep my balance with his large wings, but it didn’t do much help with how little he weighed. Despite being futile I appreciated his efforts.

I stepped out the door and took a breath of fresh air, almost immediately feeling better as the sun shone on my fur. I trotted to my house to drop off my stuff before leaving for school.

Since Lumius had helped me so much, my parents registered him as an official support animal, so I was allowed to take him to school, and boy did that make me happy. As always, I wore the friendship necklace around my neck, but I also wore a couple of bracelets and the sweater. I stuck a single hair clip in my hair and headed out the door, slowly walking to school, my scars covered by my bags.

***

“Wiiiillooooow Blooooom!” Cella shouts as she comes tumbling over the hill near the school, she nearly runs into me but stops just in time, “I’m so glad you’re back! We missed you so much!” She said with a smile, as we walked to the building together.

I stepped inside and sat down at my desk, immediately the pony beside me, Apple Bloom, started asking questions.

“What was it like being so close to an Ursa Minor?” She asked me, sitting on the edge of her seat, “I’ve seen one before, but only from far away, what was it like?”

I again shudder at the thought of the beast, “it was big, like, huge, and it was blue, it looked like it was made of stars. It looked at me like a foal does to a new toy. But most of all it was terrifying.” I say.

“Wow!” I hear Pip Squeak say on the other side of the room, “you’re so brave! I’d never be able to face something big like that!”

“I was terrified, I didn’t face it actually, I tried to run,” I say.

“It didn’t go well did it?” I hear sweetie bell ask sympathetically, “you poor thing, it musta hurt so bad!” She squeaked.

“I would bet!” Scootaloo interrupted, “but Willow Bloom’s tough! She made it out alright!”

“How’d ya ever do it?” I hear Ditsy Whooves ask me with a walleyed stare, she looks near identical to her mother.

“I guess I just did,” I say with a small laugh.

“May I pet your owl?” Silver Spoon asks politely and quietly, “he’s very pretty,”

“You may, just be careful, he does get spooked if too many ponies are near him at once,” I say as she gently pets Lumius.

“All right little ponies, that’s enough, it’s time for class.” Miss Cheerilee says with a smile.

***

Once class is over, every pony is allowed to ask questions. That’s when a certain Cherry Gumdrop walks over and asks me the question I’ve been dreading.

“Is that scar like a cutie mark or something? My horn is picking up a magic aura from it.” She says.

I look at her and then the ground, “um- yeah, actually it is. The doctors told me that this is my cutie mark.”

“So does that mean your talentless or something?”

Those words broke me, I hadn’t even thought of it that way, but now it was all I could think of.

“I mean, not to be rude but a cutie mark is a symbol of your destiny, so if your destiny was that scar, then it’s already past and now you have no destiny.”

I barely heard her as I sat in shock, I stood up with my head down and turned to the door.

“Willow! Where are you going?” I hear Cella call after me.

I say one word, “home,” and then I leave, walking at first but accelerating to nearly a run my back leg hurting from all the pressure as tears stream from my eyes. I burst through the front door of my house and before my mom can even welcome me I’m up in my room, I sit on my bed, feeling worthless I lie down and press my muzzle into the mattress. Tears stream from my eyes as my mother creaks open the door and walks in.

“Willow Bloom, honey, what’s wrong?” She asks in a gentle tone as Lumius Glides through my window, I’d left him behind.

My owl snuggled close into my face to try and comfort me, and after a bit, I look up at my mom, “Mom, am I talentless?” I ask her, tears in the corners of my eyes. My mother stops for a moment, and that’s all it takes to break me. “I am aren’t I?!” I wail burying my head back in my pillow.

My mom gently sets her wing on my back, “Willow Bloom, a filly who doesn’t have a cutie mark still has a talent, they just don’t know what it is yet. You’re no different from that, your’s just lasts longer.

I know that with those words my mother was trying to comfort me. But all I could think was that it meant that even if I did have a talent, that I would never know, and that didn’t make me feel much better.