"Are you playing with your deformed ponies again?"
A shrill, annoyed voice exclaimed, kicking her wooden ponies without much remorse. She looked up, only to see a rather sturdy pony for his age staring at her.
Her expression changed to a completely depressed one.
"N-no... I was just... I was..."
The other laughed.
"Do you like fantasy stories?"
Sunny remained with her eyes down, feeling a strange sensation in her chest, ever growing. The other colt waited patiently for her answer... Which didn't seem to be coming any time soon.
"Sunny, don't be rude, or I'll tell the teacher that you're misbehaving again."
The little pony looked up, drawing her mane six toys to her. She smiled at him, more forcibly than for pleasure, and tried to get up to give an explanation.
"Fantasy stories are very pretty, I honestly really like them and they make me feel happy... T-they may be a little childish, but... They’re... Cute..."
Her classmate cocked his head, curious.
And then he laughed.
"I like normal things."
Sunny's ears fell at those words, accompanied by her eyelids... Which tried to hide the tears from the other's sight.
He just laughed, and sat down in front of her.
"Ponies with wings... Ponies with... Horns? Is that some kind of tumor or something?"
Sunny dropped to the ground, as she took one of the ponies between her hooves, staring at it. The other just kept watching the remaining ponies, bumping them into each other in obscene ways, and making weird noises.
Sunny didn't even deign to take them off. It had happened so many times that she didn't even bother to do so.
Tears fell as she felt the rejection and mockery affect her feelings and beliefs. Her thoughts could only make her cry in complete silence at that moment.
In front of the other pony, who only mocked her and her likes.
Not caring that the ground beneath them would begin to get wet from small drops... That were falling from little Sunny's face.
She still had hope that things would get better, her hopes were the only good thing she had left, she couldn't lose them, not now.
Her father was waiting for her at home with a bunch of unicorn cupcakes to celebrate her A+ at school.
So why did she feel so bad?
"Are you... Crying?"
Sunny didn't say anything, she just stared at the purple unicorn...
"What, are you feeling bad that your little fantasy games aren't going the way you want?"
She still didn’t answer, making the other colt angry...
"Then you won't mind if I burn them, will you!?"
She raised her head and tried to snatch the other five ponies that were now between his dirty hooves. She tried to do something, but by then her classmate had already pushed her back to the ground.
Her tears came out harder, as she screamed at him to stop.
The five ponies fell to the ground, and were trampled by the hooves of that bully, while she cried behind, trying to beg him to stop.
But he didn't.
Not until he appeared.
"Hey, stop!"
It was him, her best friend.
He galloped quickly up to the spot, skidding across the ground until he was face to face with the bully... He stood firm, with his hooves firmly planted in the ground and his head held high.
Then, Hitch spoke in a strong and authoritative tone...
"Leave her alone."
All was silent for a long time. The other foals only watched, some deigned to mutter... But there was no one but them doing anything to help Sunny who was still on the ground. No one wanted to get involved in the staring match between the foals.
The sturdiest colt narrowed his eyes, and walked away in annoyance, leaving the toys alone on the ground. They weren't broken, thank heaven, they were just a bit dented...
Hitch thus took the opportunity to pick them up one by one, and approached Sunny, leaving them in front of her. She just looked at them, a bit surprised to tell the truth. She looked up, and there was Hitch holding out his helmet, offering to help her...
... She thought about it for a while, but in the end decided to accept the help...
Thus, Hitch was the only one of them who agreed to help and protect the poor filly.... Who was now standing there trying to wipe away her tears any way She could.
She began to sob.
"Thank you Hitch... Thank you so much."
Ears drooping and head down, little Hitch walked over to the other filly, so he could give her a hug and show her she wasn't alone.
Everyone was still watching. Without saying anything.
"I... I can't let them hurt you like this. You're my best friend. I would feel bad if I didn't protect you."
At those words, Sunny felt helpless, unable to defend herself, but to tell the truth it didn't really bother her. She was just grateful that Hitch was able to do so much for someone like her. Feeling helpless was not always a bad thing, so she returned the embrace with a smile, while the sun was slowly setting not far from the horizon, beyond the sea.
However, her tranquility was interrupted when a glow appeared on Hitch's white side. A shimmer, a glow... That little piece of magic appeared in front of everyone.
And everyone was a witness.
Hitch was getting his cutie mark.
Sunny stood back, wide-eyed, staring at Hitch's side, impatiently. What would it be? A shield? A sword? Or a shield and a sword? The cutie mark was coming out after Hitch said he had to protect her, it had to be a protection thing, right?
But the glow wouldn't stop, the glow became so strong that it ended up lifting Hitch into the air, something no other pony had ever seen. Because their cutie marks only appeared from one day to the next, they didn't do an act of... Magic.
Magic, so magic was real? Sunny's eyes lit up, and her whole soul came to it’s senses. But of course magic was real! And the last thing that would fall now would be her hopes! She was witnessing something that would unconsciously become one of her reasons for moving on as well, what if Hitch was full of magic? What if unicorns were real? What if pegasus lived in the clouds?
And better yet, were there still alicorns alive?
The gleam in her eyes grew even bigger.
While Hitch began to panic.
"E-eh... Sunny?"
He pointed, acting normal even though his blank was glowing quite brightly, and Sunny turned to where his friend had pointed.
Her blank side was glowing too... Her blank side was glowing too!
The magic then... For Sunny it was becoming more of a reality than a farce. Every tale told by her father now seemed more like historical accounts, now she had one more proof to say.
Magic is real!
Happiness ruled her heart, as she floated in front of her best friend. His only friend. The one who had shown him that the last thing you lose is hope.
Hope...
A bang erupted, a whitish glow traveled across much of Maritime Bay, leaving the school they were in. Then, hooves on the ground again, they both rubbed their eyes after that act of magic.
Sunny was the first to peek out to see Hitch's new cutie mark. Hitch simply let out a sigh from the fright he gave himself.
His cutie mark... It was beautiful.
It was hard to describe it, but she could tell it was about the whole protecting others thing.
She smiled.
"Your cutie mark is amazing, Hitch."
He looked at her, and smiled more than happy about it.
"Yours too!"
He exclaimed, pleased, as Sunny finally deigned to look at the mark on his side.
A shooting star, traveling in the sky.
That mark would now be her reminder to never give up hope.
The galloping of the two foals playing in the central plaza of the bay could be heard. They were laughing, happy. It had been a strange way to get their marks, but at least it made them special. They felt special, like the only land ponies who had flown and had been surrounded in glitter and an incredible explosion.
They would both tell their parents, and believe them or not, they couldn't take away the joy of their new brand.
Sunny ran down an alley and Hitch followed.
"You'll never catch me!"
The other sped up his gallop just to try to catch up with Sunny. Their games were always the best when they were together.
And so it would have been that time, except that he ended up pulling Sunny's tail to stop her from going any further. She whined, but he immediately covered her muzzle.
"Wait, I heard something."
And sure enough, they were hearing murmurs not far away.
They both stealthily peeked through all the streets nearby, until they managed to find the cause of the murmurs. There were three men talking, for a moment they thought it was about business, but the idea was dismissed when one of them punched another in the face.
It was then that they both saw Sunny's father fall to the ground, while his nose was bleeding.
Sunny backed away, but Hitch stopped her. The men were suspicious that someone was watching them.
They hid.
And silently, the poor filly's sobs could be heard...
"Sunny..."
He whispered, pulling her close for a hug, and she didn't refuse. At the end of the day, he didn't want to make things harder than it already was for her.
A while passed, until the men decided to stop talking. "If you keep hiding it, we'll deal with you, Argyle." It was the last thing they said before walking away.
The pony picked up his glasses, broken again because of the blows. He stood up and ran his hoof over his nose. He didn't know what to do at that point. He had a daughter to take care of, and he couldn't go on with his magic games because he might end up dying, leaving his poor sunny sky alone.
He felt his heart ache. He didn't want to give up everything he had fought for, but he also didn't want to give up his only reason for staying alive. His little daughter didn't have to pay the consequences of his actions, but...
There had to be a way to bring the magic back. And he knew it.
He looked up, meeting his little girl face to face, staring with tears falling from her eyes...
His eyes widened, and he put his glasses back on to strike a more animated pose.
"S-Sunny-bunny... What are you doing here?"
She didn't answer, only showed her blank side, which was now covered with a magical mark on it. Argyle felt his heart breaking... Shattering into a thousand pieces as the girl ran away from there.
Hitch tried to stop her, but was unable to follow. He felt he had to leave her alone for a moment.
Now the two stared at each other.
Argyle just flashed a sad smile.
"Got her cutie mark at last, huh?"
He remembered a couple of hours ago a beautiful glow traveled across the bay, leaving a trail of stars in its path. He knew his daughter was special, but he didn't know that at these levels.
"... Actually..."
Hitch whispered, approaching the man, pointing to his also new cutie mark.
The two of them... They had gotten them together. Were his beliefs still real? That meant... There was still hope? But if so... How much time would he have to help his daughter become the salvation of all ponies?
He looked down, with a smile more than sad on his face.
"Please... Protect my daughter... When I’m gone."
Perhaps it was a very big command for a little pony...
But he also knew what he was capable of.
"... I promise, sir."