//------------------------------// // No Mom or Dad // Story: The Eventual Daughter of a Non-Brony // by BronyWriter //------------------------------// There's chocolate candy for dessert at the cafeteria today! Chocolate is the best. We never get chocolate unless it's Hearth's Warming or somepony's birthday. When I look around, I see some of the fillies and colts putting their candy in bags for later. Sometimes the other children don't eat theirs right away. Sometimes they trade it for stuff. Miss Hoof and the other adults don't like that, but most times, ponies don't get hurt by it. Except when they somepony tries to steal it. Then things get violent. You shouldn't steal. I always eat my candy right away so nopony steals it. If somepony tried to take my candy, I'd fight them. I'd have to. If you didn't fight them when they tried to take your candy, they'd learn that they could take your candy all of the time! That would be bad. I pop one of the pieces of chocolate in my mouth and smile. Yum. I still have three pieces left, so I need to think about if I should eat them now, or if I should save some for later. Not necessarily to trade, but just to make it last longer. Who knows when I'll be able to get more? I eat another piece, then set the other two aside. Yeah, I'll save some for later. "Hey, Screech, give me some of your candy." Ugh. I turn and see another filly named Diamond Dust with two of her cronies standing next to me. I glare at them and pull the candy closer to me. "Nuh-uh. This is mine. You have to wait until we get more." "No, I don't," she says snootily. "Give me one now, or we'll take them both." I scoot a few hooves back and bare my fangs, quietly hissing at her. "No, this is mine!" "Ooh, I'm so scared," Diamond Dust says, rolling her eyes. She walks up to me and pokes my side. "It's not like you need any more. You not exercising with those rat wings of yours?" I hop off of the bench and flare my wings, hissing at her louder. "Go away!" "You see that, girls? If we don't go away, the scary little vampony is going to suck our blood!" Diamond Dust says, draping her leg over her forehead while the other two laugh. "I'm not fat, and I'm not a vampony!" I growl, but tears are starting to well up in my eyes. "Go away, or I'm gonna tell Miss Hoof that you're being mean!" She scoffs and gives me a flat look. "Oh? Is that so?" "Yes, now fuck off," a voice behind me says. I turn around and see Rainstorm walking up to us. She steps next to me and puts a hoof on my back. "Leave Comet alone. If I find out that you've stolen a single nibble of her candy, you'll have to answer to me." "You said a bad word," Diamond Dust growls, narrowing her eyes. "I'm gonna tell Miss Hoof." Rainstorm scoffs and flips Diamond Dust the feather with her smaller wing. "Sure, go ahead, but in the meantime..." She extends her wing closer to them. "Fuuuuuck. Oooooff." Diamond Dust scoffs and rolls her eyes again. "Fine. Come on, girls. I have better things to do than talk to a gimpy loser and a rat-winged vampony." Rainstorm doesn't stop flipping them the feather until they'd walked out of the cafeteria. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hoof and sit back down. "You shouldn't say bad words." "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Rainstorm grumbles, waving a hoof at me. "Not like she didn't deserve it." "I guess. Thanks either way." I pick up a piece of candy and hold it out. "You want one?" "No thanks. Appreciate the offer." She sighs and shakes her head. "Hate ponies like that. Sorry you have to deal with her existing." "I don't hate her so much I wished she'd stopped existing, I just wish she wasn't so mean," I mutter, idly pushing one of the candies back and forth. "Sure. Guess so. Just hate ponies who make fun of other ponies because of their wings." Her ear flicks, and she shakes her head. "Whatever. See you around. Let me know if they bother you again." "Okay." Miss Hoof walks up a few seconds after Rainstorm leaves. She's doesn't look happy, so I guess Diamond Dust tattled. "I heard there was an incident with Diamond Dust," she says, sitting next to me and putting a hoof on my shoulder. "Want to talk about it?" I shake my head and grab the candy, popping both chocolates in my mouth. "No." "Hm." She begins rubbing my shoulder. "What she said was wrong. You're a wonderful filly." "K." When I don't say anything else, she stands up and turns my head to look at her. She's smiling. "Hey, you have an interview. That's what I came over to tell you." I give her a small smile and straighten up a bit. "Yeah?" "Mhm. Let's put all of that behind us and meet these nice ponies, whaddya say?" Maybe this time... I hop off of the bench and follow Miss Hoof to the interview room. Yeah, I shouldn't let Diamond Dust get me down. What does she know anyway? She probably doesn't like herself and is just proji... proj... what was that word? Projecting! Definitely. Miss Hoof opens the door, and, like usual, there is a stallion and a mare sitting on chairs and smiling. I just don't want them to stop smiling the second they see me like a lot of other ponies do. Buuut not every prayer gets answered. Son of a bitch, as Rainstorm might say. Well, first impressions are a lot, but they aren't everything. I'll just have to make them like me. All they know is that I'm a bat pony. That's it. I force a smile on my face and wave. "Hi, I'm Comet Screech!" They force smiles onto their faces. Just like everypony else. Sheesh. Might as well stop now. "H-hello, Comet," the mare says. "How are you today?" "Pretty good." "Good. Us as well," the stallion replies. The room is quiet for a few moments before he speaks again. "So... a bat pony. Or... thestral? Which do you prefer?" I shrug. "Everypony has always said 'bat pony.'" "Good to know," the mare says. She glances at me, then back to her husband, then leans in and starts whispering into his ear really, really quietly. Quietly enough for some ponies, maybe. Not all. "Weren't bat ponies on Nightmare Moon's side during that whole business?" "I think so," the stallion whispers back. "What would the neighbors think? Everypony would talk." "You know, since there aren't a lot of bat ponies around, especially in Canterlot, most ponies don't know much about us, but I think we're really cool!" Both of them look back to me and the stallion starts to talk. "Oh, well I'm sure--" "'Blind as a bat' is a ridiculous myth. It's actually the opposite. I see really good. I smell really good, too." I point to the mare. "You use strawberry shampoo." The mare flinches back and blinks in surprise. "Why... yes, I do. That's quite--" "And another good good thing bat ponies have..." I look the mare dead in the eye and don't blink. "Hearing." Both of them instantly blush, but whatever. Their fault. The stallion clears his throat. "Well, Comet, I don't--" "Go to Tartarus." With that, I push the door open and start walking back to the main room, passing by Miss Hoof, who looks surprised. "Comet, you weren't in there long. What--" "They want you to pick a foal from a tribe that didn't support Nightmare Moon. What would their neighbors think?" Miss Hoof's jaw drops, and she tries to talk to me, but I don't care. Maybe I should listen what she has to say. She's the only pony who likes me. Her and maybe Rainstorm. As I get closer to the main room, I hear what sounds like... cheering? What's going on? I walk into the main room and see everypony surrounding Diamond Dust, who looks really, really happy. "What's going on?" I ask a foal beside me. "Diamond Dust got adopted!" the foal squeed. She pointed at the two grownup ponies beside Diamond Dust. "Those are her new parents!" "Oh..." I take a deep, shaky breath. "Good for her." "Thank you everypony, thank you!" Diamond Dust says. She nuzzles her new mother's leg. "I'm going to miss all of you, but I'm sure when you all get adopted, we'll see each other again!" She starts going through the crowd and hugging the other ponies with talks of "I'll miss you" and "Congratulations." When she sees me, her smile doesn't drop an inch. That's a first. "And you, Comet. I know we didn't always get along, but I'm going to miss you, too!" She pulls me into a hug, and I don't need to see her face to imagine the nasty grin on her face. "Imagine feeling wanted with a mommy and daddy who love you. Guess you'll never know what that's like. Good luck once you age out of the system, rat wing." With that, she hops over to her new parents. * * * * The door to my room opens, and somepony walks in. I'm just lying on my bed, hugging my pillow with tears streaming down my face. "Hey, at least you won't have to put up with her anymore," Rainstorm says, putting a wing on my back. "It's not fair," I whimper, holding my pillow tighter. "It's not fair." I start crying too hard to say anything else as Rainstorm picks me up and holds me.