Scarlet Sunrise

Chapter 1
Introduction

Ponyville. Yet another new start in a new town.

Things had been this way for quite some time now, after growing up as a young, scraggly colt in a run-down orphanage on the south side of the large, busy city known as Phillydelphia. Realizing from the start that most ponies don't like outliers with barely any vibrant colors in their manes, I slowly sunk into a depressive rut, my psyche being damaged constantly by others bullying me for having ugly skin, or an uncool hairstyle and colour, to the cooler mares and colts bringing me into their circles of friends only so that they could laugh at me behind my back, and ultimately destroy any self-confidence I had managed to build up by telling me I was a fool to think I could really be one of their friends.

Around the age of ten, I had realized not only were red streaks starting to take hold in my mane, but I was devoid of the bane of mostly everypony's existence - a cutie mark. Growing up being called insulting names like "Dirt" and "Mudball" sort of became a normal thing for me after a while, but the constant ridicule and derogatory comments, whilst going through a low-income school without a cutie mark was humiliating to say the least.

After I had passed the age of 18, and still had no cutie mark, my mind started to enter a state of extreme paranoia. Even if everypony was silent at the time, I could still hear their voices, in mocking tones, laughing at me. After several violent encounters with bullies, I was quickly expelled from the school. Even the principal of the school could not stand the shame of having a student without a cutie mark. After being rejected from several schools after that, I quickly began to give up on life, as I spent 3 years living on streets, moving around between several cities and towns in search of somepony who would accept a twenty-one year old, dark colored pony with no cutie mark. This brings me to the latest location in my search, a town called Ponyville.
As I wearily approached it from the south, all I could see were wonderful views, the royal palace of Canterlot situated on the side of a mountain in the background, and a small, but busy village sprawling out before me.