//------------------------------// // Embers of Hope, Part one // Story: My little Short Stories // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// Embers of Hope, part one "Aaand that's all for today, class!" Sundance exclaimed, as all of her students got up from thier desks, and trotted towards the door. "Be sure to get your algebra homework in here by monday!" The bell rang, and the little colts and fillies all quickly exited the Dream Castle school room. Grabbing her own saddlebag, a lavender filly with a pink mane began walking her own way towards the door. "Excuse me, Ember?" Sundance called out from her desk, stopping the filly in her tracks. "Before you go, may I see you for a moment please?" "Yes, miss Sundance." With a heavy sigh, the little pony turned around, and sullenly trotted her way back to the front of the classroom. Normally a quiet student with some of the best grades in the class, the little filly couldn't figure why the teacher had singled her out. "What can I do for you, Miss Sundance?" "Ember, dear... there's something I wished to speak to you about." The teacher smiled at her eager young student. "You're at the age that many colts and fillies discover thier special talent..." Ember's eyes went wide, and looked down towards the blank spot on her flank- a spot where an image representing something should be. Covering the spot with her tail, the filly looked away with embarrassment. "Oh, dont worry, Ember! It's nothing to be ashamed of!" The teacher put a hoof on the little filly's shoulder. "I was even older then you when I earned my cutie mark!" "T-then why do so many ponies make such a big deal about it?" The downcast little filly asked. "Well, the fact your cutie mark hasn't apeared at this age wouldn't have mattered in old Equestria. But here in Ponyland, foals are normally born with thier marks, and 'blank flanks' such as yourself are a rarity in this day and age." The white mare with the pink hearts cutie mark told her encouragingly. "So that's why I've ordered a special assesment and aptitude test from Bright valley, for... 'special needs' fillies such as yourself." "W-what do you want me to do?" Ember asked worriedly. "Take this permission form home, and have your moth- er, have Twilight fill it out." Sundance handed her a sheet of paper the teacher had in her mouth. "We'll proceed from there." The little filly nodded, then trotted out of the classroom. In the hallway, her two friends Racer and Paws were waiting for her. "Hey Ember, what's up?" The yellow colt with the blue mane asked, trotting along side her. "Yeah, what did Miss Sundance want?" her other friend, a blue filly to a pink mane, asked. "Awww, it was nothin'." The filly snorted, looking away from the other two as she trotted on. "Don't worry about it, you two." "C'man, Emb. You can tell us!" Paws replied, smiling at her friend. "Yeah, we're your friends!" Racer agreed, nodding his head. "Welll..." The filly stopped, and sighed. "It's about my not having a cutie mark yet. She says I need to take a special test." "Oh, is that all?" Paws rolled her eyes. "That's nothing! I got a cousin in Fort Dash who didn't get hers until she was thirteen!" "Yeah, and even after you get it, it doesn't mean that you'll know what to do with it!" Racer agreed, looking back to the racing car on his own flank. "I always thought I was supposed to be a mechanic, till pop let me behind the wheel of his monster truck." "Don't worry about your cutie mark, okay?" Paws enouraged her, gesturing towards the brown puppy on her own flank. "I'm sure you'll get a totally cool one when you find you're special talent!" "Something totally cool, about you losers?" A conceited filly's voice chirped, as three fillies trotted right up to the friends. "Oh please, you three wouldn't know kewel if it came up, and bit you in the flank." As thier fellow students approached, the three foals looked away in disgust. The Jewelry sisters- Diamond, Ruby, and Shappire- three rich brats who transferred in from Bright Valley for the semester, while thier father was doing business in Dream Castle. The sisters enjoyed tormenting all the 'castle' ponies they looked down upon- particularly Ember and her friends. "Oh, look... you creep squad just arrived." Paws snorted, rolling her eyes. "What the hay you want, Diamond?" "Oh we just wanted to see the freak pony and her freaky friends." The white filly with the silver mane sneered. "The only freaks here are you three." Ember snorted, scowling at the ponies picking on her and her friends. "She's right though... it's not every day you get to see a blank flank, a pony so messed up she can't make up her mind on what she wants to be!" The pink filly with the red mane teased. "So nice of you to take pity on the little retard, and be friends with her!" "You shut you flank hole, Ruby!" Racer glared at them angrily, steam coming out of his nostrils. "Before I shut it for you!" "Oh, sure... a big strong colt hits a poor defenseless filly. I'd jut love to watch them drag you off to the soldier's barracks" Shapphire, the blue filly, sneered at him. "C'mon girls, I'm bored here! Let's leave this blank flank to her loser friends!" The three girls laughed, trotting away from Ember and her friends. "Ohhhh, I'd love to ram my hoof up those three smug filly's... urrrgghh!" Paws snorted, trying to contain her anger. "Don't let them get to you, Ember!" Racer told her, putting a caring hoof around you. "Those jerkettes don't know what they're talking about!" .... "Twilight, Tornado... will I ever get my cutie mark?" The question came out while we were eating supper, and both of us looked at each other. We both looked at each other knowingly, then the pink unicorn across from the table from me smiled at the questioning filly. "Ember, I've told before, you'll grow up to be your own special little pony." She levitated the pitcher over to my place, refilling the juice in my cup. "Your cutie mark we'll appear right when it's supposed to." "I wish someone would tell the jewel sisters that." The filly looked down, sighing. "Were those little monsters picking on you again?" My ears perked up angrily. "I told Sundance she had to reign those girls in! Just wait till I go talk to Majesty, and-" Twilight gave me 'that' look, and I fell silent. Nuzzling the little filly the two of us had brought up, she gave her a reassuring smile. "Sweetie, you can't let those mean ponies get to you. You're a better pony than any of them are- and some day, you'll show that to the whole world." We finished dinner in silence, then Twilight saw the little filly off to bed. Sitting back in the recliner, I opened my evening paper, and blew on my bubble pipe. "Tornado, do you think I'm not being sympthetic enough" My wife asked me worriedly. "I mean, maybe I could have done something about-" "My dear, it's just something she'll have to work out." I sigh, blowing bubblesall over the room with my levitated pipe. "Still, I am going to have a word with sundance about those bullies..."