Sparky has a tough childhood in the orphanage. This is because she is a different species from other ponies. To make it worse, after her third or fourth birthday, she didn't grow any taller or bigger. She was stuck at 2 feet (60.96cm) in height which was much shorter than adult ponies. As she watched other orphans grow taller, she started to hate her condition. The orphanage staff has took her to a doctor to find out if anything was wrong with her. The doctor diagnosed her with a growth disorder. Her height disadvantage led to other orphans to often bully her, be it physically or psychologically. Due to the fact their punches were not making an impact on her, they mostly focused on giving her the hardest tasks and not giving her a lot of time to rest. The bullies also started to call her by nicknames like 'Shorty', '61' and 'Little Spark'. She managed to survive 18 long years of constant bullying before being released into Equestrian Society.
During the 18 years in the orphanage, she became fairly adept at walking on two or four legs by watching other ponies and also learn to speak in equine helping to integrate her in Equestrian society.