//------------------------------//
// Escape 
// Story: Dark life to light. 
// by Sugarcube66 
//------------------------------//

As Banana walked through the Ponyville streets; she shivered and grimaced as the skies above her cracked. Pulling her torn vest more over her back, so that the rip wasn't evident. She teared up as she looked at the sky. ''It's gonna rain......'' She muttered, frowning. Looking around her, she sighed. ''Not gonna get back...there in time......'' She looked down at her hooves, noticing some cuts that obvious Ruby hadn't spotted during their chat earlier. They seemed to start bleeding on notice alone, she sighed. Pulling a bit of the vest fabric, she formed a bandage to put around it, which she secured with magic.

Coming towards the outskirts of Ponyville, Banana finally relaxed a little. Well, she did until the rain finally decided to fall down. Her green mane began to stick to her face like creepy green worms. She sighed, forcing her hooves to run so she could get to shelter. As much as she hated her 'home', she also hated rain as it always meant something bad was gonna happen. She teared up a bit, as she began to think of her parents' reactions to her broken vest. ''How am I gonna hide it......'' She whimpered, as the image of Ruby Pinch popped in her mind. ''Ruby, help......''

Eventually the sight of her house came into view, the 2 story building loomed over her. As she stepped closer, noise from the inside reached her ears. The sounds included her younger brother's laughing and her father typing away on his computer. Banana always knew she had strong hearing, even though she was weak in many over things. She walked up to the door, shivering. She pushed open the door a notch and looked into the room. She breathed in relief when she saw that nopony was around. She gently walked inside, staying as quiet as possible. She looked around before slowly darting up at the staircase. She sneaked into her bedroom, grabbing the key that she had stolen a couple of weeks before and locked the door. Whilst she knew that her parents rarely came into her room, she rather be on the safe side whilst she sorted out how she was going to get her and Ice Howl out of this hell-hole of a home.

She glanced down at the key after she placed it back on her dresser. The key had been used lots of times to lock her in her bedroom, but obviously the key and lock weren't magic-proof because her parents didn't know she could use magic. With a lot of effort, she managed to use her magic to teleport the key and lock into her room, without unlocking the door at the same time. Of course, she'd place them back when her parents planned to lock her up so they wouldn't notice that she had stolen them.

''Now.....how...?'' She whispered. She then glanced at her bedroom window and then at her wings. ''Maybe, if I have enough strength.....'' She got onto her bed and jumped, making sure not to make any noise that would arouse her parents. Opening her wings was a problem, but eventually she glided to the ground without any pain or noise. ''Okay, that works.....just gotta be careful when carrying Ice...'' She grabbed a piece of paper with her magic and jotted down some ideas. ''Probably should steal mother's baby carrier.''

She looked out of the window and at the rainy skies. ''I can't wait to get out of here.....'' She whispered, tearing up. She smiled through her tears and nodded, finally giving a true smile. ''Just gotta wait, it won't be too long. I'm sure.'' She hopped away from the window, hid the sketched out notes and quickly unlocked the door, placing the key and lock back in it's original location. She sat down on the bed, leaning her head on the headboard. A loud group of hoofsteps filled her ears, as her eyes widened. The door quickly slammed open, causing her to jump and shiver.

Her father was standing there, looking absolutely mad. ''What have I told you about not noticing us about you arriving! I told you this morning that you are required in the kitchen! NOW GET DOWN THERE!!'' Banana nodded rapidly, before running past her father. Tears were formed in her eyes, but she refused to let him see them. She wiped her eyes quickly before she got downstairs. Her mother was in the kitchen, making dinner and she looked as angry as her husband. Sat in a highchair was Ice Howl, his blue hair and coat were quite bland and simple but his golden eyes were just as stunning as his sister's, if only her parents realized that.

Her mother, Ice Heart, looked back at her. She snarled. ''Get to work, you ungrateful brat!!'' The orange filly nodded, with teary eyes. She walked past her brother, who looked up at her confused. ''Ice Howl, don't even talk to her.'' This only caused more tears to form in Banana's eyes, but she quickly wiped them before getting to work with her jobs.



Thankfully, she was sent upstairs after finishing all her jobs. She stayed up in her room till the night fell. She leaned against the walls of her room, listening in until she heard the sounds of snoring. She opened the door, making sure that nobody was awake that she hadn't realized when listening in. She sighed weakly, before sneaking out of her bedroom. She made sure that the door didn't slam close with her magic, before she sneaked into the nursery. She moved over to the toddler bed, where her brother was sleeping. She gently tapped him, causing the toddler to stir and look up at her curiously.

''Hey there, little one....'' She whispered, picking up the toddler. He giggled at her and tapped her nose with his hoof. She giggled gently as she picked up her mother's baby carrier. She gently laid it on her back. It was big but with her magic, she was able to secure it. She slotted the giggly toddler in the carrier, as she smiled. She looked at the window before running to it and jumped out. She looked at her brother, who looked both terrified and interested in the gliding. She landed on the ground, folding her wings in carefully to keep her brother snug. She then began to run towards the school, shivering from the night air.

As the school came into view, she smiled. But it only grew when she saw Ruby and Dinky waiting for her at the gates. She ran closer and closer, until she finally managed to hug Ruby, tearing up. ''I got out......I got out...'' She whimpered, as Ruby, whilst at first surprised, rubbed her back. ''Thanks, Ruby......'' Dinky smiled at the filly, which caused Banana to smile back. Ruby smiled at the smile, knowing it was a true one, and smiled more at the words Banana spoke. ''And you two, Dinky.....''

Ruby smiled, as Banana finally stopped hugging her. ''Did you get your brother out with you?'' The orange filly nodded, as she painfully lifted her wings to show the toddler, who giggled at the sight of the two new fillies. Ruby and Dinky awwed and giggled with the colt, who babbled and stumbled some cute words, only causing more awws. Ruby then looked up. ''You alright; don't think I can't see the bandages around your hooves?''

Banana looked down. ''I didn't get attacked tonight....b-but, these are from a a-attack from before. They just started bleeding on the way home earlier, so I wrapped them up.....'' Ruby nodded and asked if she could check the wounds. ''O-okay...'' The alicorn whispered, as she removed the bandages. Ruby's eyes scanned over the cuts, checking how deep they were and the blood lost levels. She sighed, looking up at the nervous green-maned filly.

She closed her eyes, before gently placing a hoof on the filly's shoulder. ''Banana, I can tell that they are just cut marks.........did you actually attempt suicide?....'' She spoke softly, frowning. She looked up at Banana, who whimpered and shivered. ''Come on, please don't lie to me, sweetie.'' All she got in reply as a jumbled mess of tears and mutters; she grimaced and hugged the filly. ''Relax, sweetie. Lets get to Dinky's, you can calm down on the way and then you can explain this. Okay?'' She got a teary nod. She smiled gently and gently stroked the filly's hair. ''Just calm down, alright?''

Dinky smiled. ''Come on. Mom and Sparkler are waiting for us to get back. Don't worry, 'Nana, all I told them was that 'I have a friend going through some issues with her family, can she stay for a bit?'. So you don't have to get mad.'' Banana nodded through her teary vision, as she looked down. Dinky frowned at the sight of the filly, as she thought. 'When Ruby told me...I couldn't believe it, but seeing her now. I very much understand that this is actually happening......the poor filly, she must have suffered for a long time.' She summoned a blanket and covered Banana with it. ''Here, you can warm up and hide your wings this way.''

''Thank you, Dinky.....'' Banana whispered, as she wrapped it around her and Ice, even if the colt was already snug. She whimpered a little as the blanket hit the more fragile parts of her wings. She didn't let the pain show too much as she walked next to Ruby, following the periwinkle unicorn. She wondered what Dinky's family was like, but at the same time she dreaded it. But only time will tell her what was to come, right?