//------------------------------//
// Lies. 
// Story: I'll Find You. 
// by Adorkable 
//------------------------------//

Tiara gazed down to her dinner with a melancholy gaze, hoof poking at her peas in a lackluster fashion. Her spare hoof rested upon her cheek, that one sentence from today echoing in her mind.

“Princess, what's the matter?” Her father spoke up from her left, lifting a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

Tiara flashed a blank stare across the dinner table towards Spoiled, the mare giving a raised brow in reply a air of ice wafting from her. The child shrugging in silence as she lifted her own fork upward, plunging it deep into her salad upon her plate.

“Was mom ever on any medicine?” Tiara took the plunge, speaking from her heart towards her father.

“Can't say she was?” Her father gave his child an odd look.

“From what illness has claimed her, I doubt anything could help her!” Spoiled gave her own two cents on the matter.

“Not true honey, remember they tried those whatchamacallits?” Her father flaunted his hoof in place boredly.

“No idea love.” Spoiled gave a sudden shrug in a defensive manner, lifting a glass of wine swiftly to drink.

“What those hippie ponies eat…” Filthy gave a snort aloud, ready to give up on the matter.

“Natural Remedies!?” Tiara felt the words nearly explode from her mouth, Spoiled flashing an hateful glare to the young filly.

“Those are the ones, they tried like six or so of those! Expensive they were!” Her father spoke in a blunt tone of voice, as if it had been a bad deal.

“Did they work at all?” Tiara questioned with sparkling hues.

“Dear, leave your father alone!” Spoiled huffed.

“Don't think so, I was out of town and Spoiled met with the doctor.” Those words stabbed the child in the chest like a razor blade.

“Well mother, did they have no effect?” Tiara snapped her head towards the mare, eyes locked on her own in fiery passion.

“Oh course dear, otherwise she'd still be on them…” Spoiled lifted a fork of salad towards her lips.

“Would she?” Tiara spoke in a clear voice.

Spoiled lowered the fork down with a callous frown across her muzzle, Tiara's father casting a glare in his daughter's direction.

“What would you be suggesting child?” The mare popped her lips loudly.

“What are you suggesting Tiara!” Her father chimed in on the growing tension within the room.

Tiara knew something was awry, yet until she had hard evidence to prove otherwise. She knew deep inside her heart, that he'd take his wife's side every time.

“Nothing at all, I'm just feeling sad.” Tiara folded her ears back in growing sorrow, her father leaning over to kiss her forehead.

“Go get some rest my princess, I'll bring you up some dessert later.” Filthy flashed a wry smirk and chuckled.

The child giggling as she tried to pass Spoiled, only to have a icy hoof clutch her shoulder tightly. The cold distant mare yanking Tiara into a smothering embrace, whispering hollow words into the child's ear.

“Sleep well.” Spoiled squeezed Tiara firmly, locking her in a vice grip as she nearly felt faint.

The horrid embrace releasing her as she began to rush upstairs, Tiara taking a few inhales to catch her breath. 

The icy words of Spoiled dancing loudly through the air, as the filly stood in the abyss of the stairway.

“I feel the child is spending too much time at that institution.“