//------------------------------// // Act I // Story: The Story of Roseheart // by Roseheart //------------------------------// The Story of Roseheart Roseheart was a simple pegasus from Cloudsdale. She had a lovely, you guessed it, two-tone rose-colored mane and tail, which complemented her white-as-snow coat marvelously. The mare also had gorgeous blue eyes that shined like two beautiful stars. She was a filly who dreamed of being the greatest, fastest, and best looking flier in all of Equestria, just like the long-famous Rainbow Dash who succeeded the fame of even the legendary Wonderbolts. She practiced, day after day, almost always until she was sore. Her mind was startled at the fact that her cutie mark had not appeared on her flank yet. “I know what my destiny is, I know what I'm going to be! Why hasn't my cutie mark appeared yet!” Roseheart shouted angrily. It was at that moment that she came face-to-face with a group of four ponies. “We saw those stupid moves of yours that you call flying, Loseheart. What? Do you seriously think that you're the next Rainbow Dash or something?” said Solace, the obvious headstrong leader of the four equines. “Ha, you don't even have your cutie mark yet, you're nothing but a pathetic waste of valuable cloud-space.” The hateful pony continued. “You're wrong Solace, I will be the mo—” Roseheart started her reply before Solace rudely interrupted her saying, “Oh but you're the sad filly who's wrong Roseheart. My Celestia, even your name is horrible. Girls, lets show pitiful little Roseheart how wrong she is.” Roseheart then froze in horror as the four pegasi were charging straight for her. The ponies continued their charge, flying straight toward Roseheart. To her the mere seconds felt like hours, and yet she was still unable to move from the spot she stood in. For all of her young life, even though she was a daring flier, she never had the courage —or maybe the stupidity— to fight with other ponies. Roseheart could not move a single muscle in her small equine body, and Solace and her gang were closing in fast. The poor filly could only close her eyes and wait for an impact. That's when she felt time catching up with her, and that's when it happened. Wait, no impact at all? Her senses caught back up with her thoughts and she opened her eyes to see Solace, a mere foot and a half away from her, stopped in front of her. Solace's neutral expression turned quickly into a grin and said, “When I'm done with you, you won't even remember how ugly you were before I smashed your face in.” Solace lifted her right hoof high in the air and brought it down hard on Roseheart's delicate face. She kept still, taking her peer's first blow without difficulty. Solace, however, wasn't satisfied with just one punch. She lifted her hooves up, her wings supporting her, and went into a frenzy more nasty than a hungry Ursa Major with a missing cub. Roseheart could only take the first few hits, collapsing after the fourth. It was at this time that the rest of Solace's friends entered the fray, kicking and scratching and biting the poor pegasus, even mocking her as they pulled her barely-conscious body into a small trash can. The four young bullies laughed as they left Roseheart bruised and battered body covered in filth and rotting food. She found that she wasn't able to move, and shortly afterwards, she passed out from exhaustion. Roseheart awoke, still in the trash can. From the position of the sun, only an hour must've passed by. She climbed her way out of the trash can and limped her way home, tears slowly cascading down her beaten face. “M-momm...” Roseheart said as she gracelessly fumbled her way through the door of her cloud home. “Oh goodness look at you! What happened?” Her mother said. Roseheart was having trouble remembering her mom's actual name. “I w-was pr-r-racting an-and...” Roseheart stuttered. “Shh... it's alright, just tell me.” Roseheart's mother said, wrapping her front hooves around her, giving her a nice big hug. “S-Solace, momm...” Roseheart replied. “Her? Oh she's a sweet girl, it couldn't have been Solace. She's the mayor's daughter after all, you must've gotten hurt pretty bad to be making something like that up.” Her mother responded. “But mom! I'm telling you the truth! Solace and her gang — mom you've gotta believe me!” Roseheart yelled back, starting to regain her composure. “There's no need to use your outside voice inside, my little pony. Are you completely sure that it was Solace and her gang?” Roseheart's mother replied. “Yes mom, I'm sure of it.” Roseheart assured. “I'll talk to her mother tomorrow, it's starting to get late. Lets fix you up, you poor thing.” Her mother mentioned, walking along with her daughter to their average-sized medicine cabinet, now treating her daughter's injuries. Time passed, the moon rose, and Roseheart was all bandaged up. She thanked her mother for taking care of her and walked to her room. Mom didn't do too bad of a job. Roseheart thought, staring at herself in the mirror. She did however notice that she'd probably be stuck with a black left eye for a couple days, not to mention that her torso still scratched up a bit and that her wings felt horrible. Roseheart slowly made her way over to her window, and looked out upon the moon and the stars. A shooting star sprinted across the night sky, reflecting off of Roseheart's big blue majestic eyes. She looked down woefully, climbed into bed, and drifted off to sleep. Roseheart awoke to her mother at noon, standing across from her bed. She had overslept, and it was most likely her weariness to blame. “So, I spoke to the mayor, and she said that Solace couldn't have done that to you. She told me that Solace was at home all day.” Her mother said. “She must've sneaked out mom, I swear her and her gang were bullying me, please believe me.” Roseheart replied. What if mom isn't going to believe me? What's going to happen if she doesn't? she thought to herself as her heart began to race. Suddenly, right in-front of her eyes, a shadow formed around her mother. When the darkness surrounding her mom dispersed, Roseheart was very disturbed by what she saw. It wasn't her mother. No, it was not her mother at all, it was Solace. “Aww, did the pitiful filly feel too hurt to wake up in the morning? I think maybe you should go back to sleep, you aren't about to look so well.” Solace expressed, as she leaped from the end of Roseheart's bed right at the her. “No!” Roseheart yelled, as she sprung up from her bed. Solace wasn't there anymore. The lights were off and outside the sky was completely dark, excluding the moon and a few stars. It was all a horrible nightmare. Sweat ran down Roseheart's already tear-saturated face, as she covered herself completely up with her blanket and laid still until the sun rose. Roseheart awoke at noon. No.. not another nightmare.. Roseheart thought to herself. As she began to focus on reality, she recognized a familiar figure at her bedside. It was her mother. “Darling, I talked to the Solace's mom and—” she said, stopping mid-sentence because of the horror-stricken look on her young daughter's face. “Did you sleep okay last night my pretty Rose?” Roseheart could only gather up enough courage to look at her mother with her eyes closed and shake her head. Suddenly Roseheart had an idea. Her eyes opened quickly and she looked at her mother with a smile and said, “Mom, can I go outside and maybe practice or something?” Her mother looked at her quizzically. “How are your wings feeling?” her mother asked. “Uh..” Roseheart replied, as she got up on all fours and tried to flap her wings. She started to hover over her bed, but suddenly she felt excruciating pain in her right wing, and fell to her fluffy, soft bed. “I think you should rest in bed today, little one.” Roseheart frowned, and rolled over facing away from her mother, who ran her hoof through her daughter's mane, and started to walk away. It only took a minute for Roseheart to realize that she forgot to ask her mother something important. She had forgotten to ask about Solace! “Mom! Wait!” she quickly yelled, turning back around. Her mother revolved back toward Roseheart, saying, “Yes dear? what's wrong?” Yet, in all honesty, She had been baffled by Roseheart's strange behavior since yesterday. What wasn't wrong? “Uh... Solace... mom?” Roseheart asked. “Oh, of course. Her mom said that she was out playing yesterday with some of her friends near the school's playground. Is that where you were practicing yesterday?” Roseheart nodded her head, “Yes! Mom I told you she did—OWW!” She had gotten too excited and her wings had shot up, unfortunately causing agonizing pain in the process. Roseheart laid back down in her bed. “Her mother called Solace down from her room. Solace said that you had crashed pretty hard, but that when her and her friends had tried to help you, you told them that you were alright and that you didn't need their help, trotting off to somewhere else.” Roseheart's mother replied. Roseheart could not believe her ears. Solace lied to mom! she thought to herself as she quickly sat upright and her ears pointed upwards. “She lied mom! I know she hurt me, I know it!” Roseheart screamed. The frustration was beginning to eat away at her. “Okay, okay, calm down. I think we should go over to Solace's house later and sort all of this out, but for now you need your rest.” Roseheart sighed, “Okay mom. I'm sorry for yelling.. I..” “It's alright, I know, now get some rest.” her mother replied, taking her daughter by the chin. Roseheart listened to her mother and got herself comfortably into bed. Her mother looked at her and smiled as she left the room, giving her some peace and quiet. Roseheart looked out her window from her bed at the beautiful sunny day, daydreaming about soaring up in sky. She imagined Rainbow Dash making a visit to Cloudsdale, seeing her perform her awesome stunts, and asking her to be her flying sidekick. It was though, only a dream. A daydream that she wasn't too sure about anymore.