“Go kill yourself emo!”
“Pft! Like anypony would care!”
I couldn’t help myself... the insults... they became too much. I lay on the floor and sobbed softly to myself as the taunting went on and on. I felt something hit my head, and looked to see it was a small piece of paper with the word “Loser” Scrawled onto it in pencil. It became too much... I felt the tears slip past my face as they kept shouting on and on...
“Yeah that’s right! Cry you wimp! Cry like the little sissy you are!”
“Yeah! Maybe now you’ll finally just kill yourself and stop just being annoying!”
I couldn’t take it anymore, I pushed past the crowd of laughing kids and ran into the school bathroom sobbing to myself. The bell rang and the noise of the kids outside began to fade as they all went to class. I continued to sob to myself at their insults. I stared into the bathroom mirror to find the same, pink mare staring right back at me, with flat, darker pink hair. My greyish blue eyes quivered with sadness and agony.
Why was I different? Why did they pick on me? Just because my family could only barely scrape by with a rock farm didn’t give them the right to pick on me? Why did the fact that I could never have the nice things they had entitle them to make mean?
I sniffed... my mother had always told me, that what I gave to the world would come back, but no matter how nice I tried to be, no matter how hard I tried to ignore their taunts and meet some ponies, it just... didn’t work!
… Why do I have to be so different... why couldn’t I just be like everypony else? WIth friends, and possessions... to not fall asleep on a half empty stomach every night. I cried harder at the thought that I lived off of school lunches that the principal had so kindly let me have.
Maybe it was my fault? Maybe I had done something so unimaginably horrible, that as punishment, I was forced to live this way? I tried to remember if I had done anything bad... but I couldn’t think of any... I’m probably just too stupid to remember...
Maybe what they said was true... maybe the fact that I couldn’t understand the algebra as well as the other students meant I was stupid... maybe the fact that even though other earth-ponies could lift the desk when we moved classrooms but I couldn’t meant I was weak and worthless...
More tears fell as things became increasingly clear. It wasn’t just a coincidence... I deserved every bit of teasing that I got... I was just a waste of space... something that just stole air from those able to do things... maybe that’s why I should kill myself...
I thought back to the house... and I knew where my mother kept the knifes... I could just... make a small cut and I wouldn’t be a waste of space anymore... I could finally do something that would help the rest of the ponies...
“Um... excuse me...”
I turned to see a grey pegasus filly with a darker gray mane messy and unkempt. Her sparkling blue eyes shone with worry.
“Um... are you alright...” She asked me.
I wiped the tears from my eyes “Y-Yeah... L-Look if you’re going to make fun of me I-”
“No no... I actually came to um... apologize...” she said to me
“Wh-What?”
“Well I um... I saw what happened...” She said rubbing the back of her head with her hoof “I just... thought you needed a friend.”
I thought carefully... Did she really want to be my friend? I’ve had ponies pretend to be my friend just to make fun of me before. She seemed so... sincere though...
“Look um... I’ve been there... I’ve had ponies bully me a lot before as well... and I know how much it stinks... but I have a table with a few friends if you want to come eat with us...”
“I... I guess I can do that...”
“Great!” She said flaping her tiny wings and doing a tiny hop “I’ll find you and show you to our table! My names Water Lily by the way!”
“My names Pinkamena... but you can call me Pinkie if you want to...”
“Alright Pinkie!” she said “I have to get back to class! I’ll see you later!”
Then she skipped back outside...
Maybe she was sincere... I hoped to myself. Maybe I could actually have a friend...
0)-----(0
“Finish cutting yourself you emo!?”
I stood in the cafeteria, which looked like any other typical middle-school cafeteria. A bunch of loud kids all talking and laughing as they took a break from their schoolwork. This did nothing to hinder the insults however, and I heard them clear as day.
“Come on! Let’s see the scars!”
I was grabbed from behind and my lunch was tossed to the floor as an eighth grade stallion grabbed my hooves and held them up, revealing the four scars on each arm.
“Ha! She really does cut herself!”
“I didn’t doubt it for a second!”
Suddenly, a voice rose over all the others.
“Hey! Leave her alone!”
I glanced to see it was the same mare that I had met in the bathroom earlier that day
“You have no right to judge her for what she did!” She shouted.
“Ha! How cute! The freak standing up for the emo!”
“Come on freakazoid! Take her and run back to your little club of freaks and weirdos!”
Lily grabbed me by the hoof and dragged me away from all the insults to the other side of the cafeteria. Where I could no longer hear their taunts.
“Sorry about that...” She said to me “It took me a bit to find you, here...”
She reached into her backpack and pulled out a small red apple and handed it to me “You can have some of my lunch”
She led me over to the table in the back of the cafeteria, where everything appeared to be sort of... quieter.
“This is our table...” She said “Here let me introduce you to everypony! That’s Ditzy Doo! But everypony just calls her Derpy.”
A gray pegasus with a blonde mane looked up at me with a wall-eyed-stare and waved.
“Hello!”
“And this is Applejack” Continued Lily “She lives on an apple farm, and is the most honest pony you’ll ever meet!”
“Howdy partner!” Said an orange earth pony with a blonde mane and a stetson hat to accompany her obvious southern drawl.
“This is Pinkie everypony! She’s... well you’ve all been there...”
“Welcome to the club Pinkie!” said Derpy said smiling “I’m awfully sorry for what happened, but just know that we're here for you!”
The words hung in the air only a few seconds but they stuck... I could only imagine what Derpy had been through with her eyes... Yet with these ponies she seemed... happy... maybe I could have a chance...
Then something clicked. A chance... these ponies gave me one... could there be more? Could I have a chance to mean something as well? Could I have a chance to make something of myself unlike my parents?
Then I felt something inside of me... something that I hadn’t felt since I went into this school. Hope... it glowed in my heart like a torch lighting my path. It was small, but I knew that if things kept going this way it could grow into something more. Happiness.
“Hey... um Pinkie... your fur just got brighter.”
I did a quick rundown and after a few checks I realized that she was right... my fur got... brighter somehow.
“Huh I guess it did...” I said “Maybe it’s because I’m happy I have freinds?”
“Well I ain't never seen that happen” Said Applejack “But I reckon it’s possible?”
“Well either way it won't matter... come on let’s sit down and eat something.” Said Lily “I’m starving!”
We talked as we ate, mostly just random things that came to our heads. We laughed and ate as we talked, swapping stories as I got to know the three mares as well as I could. All the while I cherished that small speck of hope and comfort. It wasn’t happiness but it was a start, and I was so glad to have it and the friends to help me with it. I envisioned myself in the future, accomplishing things, making my friends and family proud. If one thing was certain... I didn’t want to die anymore, in fact, I was excited to see what life would hold.
Remember, bystanders are bullies too, you can make a difference just by making a friend, you never know when that might be your last chance.
