The rain poured down in heavy bucketfuls, pelting a young red filly. Her ruby coloured coat was soaked to the bone, her yellow and orange mane clung to her small skull, her tail dragged lifelessly behind her collecting mud.
Down the streets of Canterlot she walked, completely ignored by the upperclass ponies. They trotted right past her, noses in the air, as if she didn't even exist. The little filly, cold, hungry, and dirty, kept marching past.
She found a small box, not too small but big enough for her to settle into. She curled into a ball and rested her head against her hooves. Her red body convulsed in a mixture of cold shivers and hunger spasms. She began to fall into a dreamless slumber, when her box began to rock back and fourth. Scared that it might be a tornado or some other dangerous weather, she darted up and dashed out.
To her dismay, it turned out to be a group of foals. The biggest, most likely the leader, was a light brown with a solid dark brown mane and tail, was standing on his front legs bucking the box with his back legs. The other two, a foal with a grey coat and a red and black mane and tail, a white, slightly smaller foal with a light green mane and tail, stood off to the side laughing. The box toppled over into a puddle and became a mushy brown slop.
The brown foal trotted over to his friends and joined in on the laughter. Anger swelled up inside the young filly.
"Hey, what was that for!" she shouted, stamping a foot down on the ground.
The group of foals stopped laughing and looked over at her. The brown one, with a smirk, gently walked over with his head up high, and walked around her in a circle, "Well, well, seems we have a stray on our hooves."
The word 'stray' angered the ruby filler even more.
"Stray?" She growled.
The foals laughed. "Stray, mutt, runaway. Whatever you wanna call yourself."The white foal snicked.
"Look at yourself. You HAVE to be a stray." The brown foal picked up her tail between his teeth, to which she jerked away, "You're all dirty!"
She scowled, "S-so what!"
The grey foal stomped at a puddle and covered her in mud. The foals all laughed and took turns soaking her in mud.
"S-stop it!"She cried.
"what's it matter?" The grey one chuckled, "You're already dirty!"
"Stray, stray, stray" They all chanted, dancing circles around her and sloshing mud all over her red coat.
She fell into a ball, a midst all the rain an mud, and fought back the urge to cry. She never cried. Crying, to her, is weakness and she didn't like to seem weak. She knew she wasn't weak.
"What is going on here?" said a voice.
The foals stopped suddenly, their eyes widened. "M-mother Gracious!" They all said in shocked unison. A tall, slender, elderly mare of golden sheen stood there. Even with the pouring rain, the mare still held a large magnificent aura. A pale yellow forelock peeked out from under the white shawl she wore around her head.
The filly raised her head, her body visibly shaking. The group of foals stood absolutely still, tails not even twitching. The golden mare walked past the foals and up to the filly. She knelt in front of her, dirtying her beautiful coat.
"What is your name?" she asked.
The filly lowered her eyes, "Lionheart..."
The mare gave a gentle smile, "That's a mighty big name for such a small filly."
Lionheart glared. "I'm Mother Gracious. Where are your parents, Lionheart?"
"I don't have any..."
Mother Gracious' eyes softened, "That's quite sad. How long have you been alone?"
"A year," Lionheart answered, head buried in her hooves.
"Mother..." The grey foal whispered.
"Yes, Heartstone?" She replied, voice ever kind.
"Me and Mintshine...We'd like to apologise." the grey foal, Heartstone, and the white, Mintshine, stepped foreward with their heads lowered.
Lionheart refused to look up. Mother Gracious nudged her, "That's not very polite."
Her head shot up, green eyes flaring with anger, small red wings rose from her back. "You want me to be polite to those foals?! After the just humiliated, insulted, and just....BULLIED me?!" Her young voice screeched.
Mother Gracious was silent for a while. She eventually nodded, "Yes, I do understand. I, however, believe Mintshine, Heartstone, and Blisten owe you an apology."
Lionheart was amazed.The elder mare was able to hold a firm and commanding tone, all while her voice remained soothing and kind.
It was the brown foal, Blisten's, turn to be enraged. "Why should we apologise to her?! She's no different than us! No one apologised to us when they beat us up!"
The young red filly looked at him oddly, " 'The same as us'?"
Blisten looked at her with hard eyes, "Homeless. Orphans. Like you."
Mother Gracious stood up, helped Lionheart out of the mud, and shook the mud from her forelegs. The rain began to fall down harder, creating a grey curtain inbetween them all.
"Come, come dear filly. You can come home with us." The golden mare smiled.
Mintshine and Heartstone flocked to her sides. Blisten lingered back, anger still flaring. Lionheart timidly joined.
"You coming?" Heartstone asked, "You'll get sick in this rain."
Blisten just ignored the grey foal and trotted off in an opposite direction.
Heartstone shrugged and joined Mother Gracious and the others who already started to leave. Lionheart forced her head up, even though the pouring rain tried to push it back down.
"Where are we going?" She shouted over the rain.
"Mother Gracious' Orphanage." Mintshine answered.
