//------------------------------//
// Scars 
// Story: The Mark 
// by dragonlover2864 
//------------------------------//

Cowering in a corner in a small apartment was an infant colt, hiding behind his unicorn mother, both covered with bruises and cuts. A large shadow loomed over the two as the mother tried to protect her offspring. This was a normal night in an apartment in the slums of Manehatten. 
The shadow grew. The monster that the shadow belonged to came ever closer to the ponies. 
“Daddy, why?”
Those were the colts first words, and if it weren't for his mother, they may have been his last. 
The mother looked at her colt and to the monster, then back to her colt. She kissed him on the forehead and smiled. “I love you Slen-Slen”
She leaped at the monster knocking him down. A loud UMPH was heard as both hit the ground. “Slen, run!!”
The monster struck the mother in the face. She let out a gasp and fell. The monster towered above her, chuckling. He reeked of liqueur. He has always been known to drink heavily, and tonight was no exception. 
The colt sat there and watched as his father beat his mother. He made no move to leave. He was crying as he watched the life slowly fade from his mother, even as an infant he understood that his mother was going to die. 
He could do nothing about the monster his father had become. He was useless. 
To this day that colt remembers everything that happened, everything that happened to him. He remembers most vividly what happened next.
His father turned from the colts mother to the colt. The stallion bashed the colt in the head and bit at the colts mane, ripping out what was little hair the colt had. The colt screamed, only to be bashed in the head again. The fathers sharp hooves cut and scraped the colts eyes, causing the colt to go blind. As if the child hadn’t been beat enough, the father slashed at the colts chest, leaving a long gash along the colts chest.
The colt was beyond screaming, only whimpering with every hit. He never noticed when his mother, having saved every ounce of energy left in her, jumped at the stallion, biting deep into his neck, ripping it to shreds. The stallion let out an awfull yell and bucked and kicked with the mare still attached to his neck. He locked his legs and stood still, having lost a lot of his own energy. 
The mother took this chance to quickly let go, aim for his jugular, and then leap at him again, biting into his jugular. Blood exploded into her mouth, but she didn’t let go. The stallion bucked again and kicked at the mother, but she didn’t let go. The stallions legs buckled and he fell, the mare still attached. The mare could see the light fading from his eyes, and in one last moment of sobriety, he locked eyes with the mare.
“I’m sorry.”
A single tear fell from his eye and he took one final gasp of air. Then went still.
The mother waited for a few minutes to let go, and when she did finally let go she set his head down softly. She looked over at her still whimpering colt. He couldn’t see her, he could barely even hear her over the sound of the blood rushing in his ears. 
She slowly limped over to him, collapsing next to him. “I love you Slender.” She hugged him close to her shaking body, crying. “I love you so much. Please, be happy Slen-Slen. I love you.. I.. Love.. Yo-”
With one last whimper she went still. 

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At a hospital near-by, a mare had been wondering as to why her best friend hadn’t shown up to work. After her shift has over she had walked to her friends apartment building. She inquired at the front desk about whether or not her friend had left the building. 
The attendant had replied no and sent the mare on her way. The mare was concerned, so she went back in, nodded at the attendant and rode the elevator to her friends floor. When the elevator doors opened, the mare could smell something rather foul in the air. Only a small hint of rot wafted from down the hall. The mare was hit in the gut with the sudden realization as to where the smell was coming from...
She bolted for her friends door and bucked it open. After the door had fallen she heard a small whimper come from the living room she had known for years. She slowly walked in to find what looked like a scene right out of a horror movie. Blood was splattered on all of the furniture and walls. Her best friend lay on the ground, with her back facing the mare. A few feet away laid a stallion. She screamed and was about to run away, when she heard it again. The whimper. Hope rushed to the mare as she thought it wasn’t to late for her friend.
It was.
She went to her friend and nudged her “Are you okay? Maybelle? May, wake up! May?!” By this point she was shaking her friend, not that the body was easy to shake. Riga mortis had set in and the body was stiff. But the mare was sure she had heard a whimper. And that’s when she noticed the little ball of white, tinted blood red, fur that was hiding under the deceased mare’s leg. 
“Hello little guy” the mare said shakily, “Slender was it?” The colt backed even closer to his mother, not fully understanding she could no longer protect him.
The mare held out her hoof and showed a gentle smile* to the colt, not knowing he was now blind. She lightly set her hoof on his head, causing him to flinch. She gently rubbed the top of his head as he began to warm up to her. She gingerly lifted the colt and hugged him close. She didn’t bother to check the father, she knew he was dead and was glad for it. The less of his type in the world, the better. She took the child down stairs and asked the shocked attendant to call 911.

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After the police had had cleaned up the apartment and questioned all ponies from the apartment floor, they began to worry about the colt. He had been sent to the hospital and was being treated for his wounds. An orange pony with a dark orange mane had been with the colt since the police arrived. They had questioned the mare and found out that she was not his mother, but that she was a close friend of the mothers. The colt was now an orphan, he had no home.
The police drove to the hospital and found the mare in the waiting room. She looked like she hadn’t slept in ages. She was crying as the police approached her. Her friend was dead and the colt wasn’t looking much better off.
The chief cleared his throat and asked “Do you know of any relatives that would adopt the boy?”
The mare shook her head and sobbed “No, Maybelle was an only filly and her parents passed away recently. Slender has no family.” The mare emphasized that the colt had a name and was not just “the boy”. She sobbed some more and looked at her hooves. 
The chief sighed and turned to his subordinates “Looks like Slender is going to the orphanage.”
“NO!” The mare jumped up and looked at the chief, eyes pleading and lip quivering. “I’ll take him. I’ll raise him. He’ll be my son.”
The chief smiled and pulled pulled some paper work out of his saddle bag. “First we’ll need your name miss.”
“I’m Carrot Top.”
As the chief was handing Carrot the paper work, a doctor came out through ER doors “Ms. Top? Ah! there you are,” he trotted over to the small group “Slender looks like he’ll make it. It’s a miracle. But he’ll be scarred forever. The smaller scars will be covered by his fur but the larger ones will be extremely noticeable.” He fidgeted “He’s also suffered severe damage to the hair follicles of his mane. He’ll be lucky to grow a single hair on his head. His fur should cover most of the scar from it.”
Carrot was listening intently. “What else?”  She could see something wasn’t being said.
The doctor sighed. “He’s blind. We tried our best to fix his sight, but it was no use. His eyes will most likely be sealed shut, but again, his fur should cover those scars. “	Carrot wiped her eyes and sniffed. “Well then... Guess we have some work ahead of us..”