//------------------------------// // Cruelty // Story: The Look // by AnonyShy //------------------------------// The pink maned mare sighed as she stared herself down in her dainty mirror, her reflection was no longer her. It wasn't who she truly was. She had lost weight, at first she was joyful of this as Pinkie Pie's cupcake season always lead her to gaining a couple pounds. Then the real loss happened after an encounter with the other models. Fluttershy recalled the day clearly. The day she was finally going to meet some of Photo Finish's other models she had been helping to ''shine all over Equestria''. At first she was quite excited about the day but as soon as she saw three of the exquisite, expressionless models she thought otherwise. The first one introduced herself as Limelight, she sounded sarcastic and insincere as she spoke those words. She was light green in colour with a straight blonde and light blue mane. She wore an incredible diamond encrusted dress with satin bows, so beautiful that even a great designer like Sapphire Shores would be jealous of them. Secondly there was a deep blue coloured mare named Catwalk, Catwalk sounded very upper class and had a most gorgeous face. Fluttershy remembered how intimidated she felt when she saw Catwalk's cheekbones for the first time. Again, Catwalk looked Fluttershy up and down, then crinkled her snout in disgust. Fluttershy lowered her head so it had almost touched the ground that day, like the time she was bullied at flight school. She had never felt so unworthy to be in anypony's presence in her whole life than at that exact moment. Lastly there was Snapshot. This pony was different, she actually smiled a sincere smile at Fluttershy as she introduced herself. Snapshot had a luxuriously long purple mane and a violet coat, which reminded Fluttershy of her unicorn friend Twilight. That day, Snapshot was like Fluttershy's big sister. She showed her all around the place, cooked her up some fried hay and took her to her bedroom. She bought Fluttershy a huge plush teddy with her extra earnings and for the first time, Fluttershy didn't feel so homesick. Fluttershy loved Snapshot the most out of all the ponies in the whole institute because only Snapshot cared for her. However, she didn't just care for Fluttershy by buying things for her or showing her around. Snapshot was the only pony who informed Fluttershy about just what she had gotten herself into. She told Twilight how Photo Finish and the older models pressured her into losing weight dying her hair, going to places she didn't want to go to and that it would probably happen to Fluttershy too! And so it did. The light yellow coated mare stared at her sad reflection again, letting the memories flow. She flashed back and saw herself begging Photo Finish to let her see her friends again and how they would think of her as selfish if she didn't even get to see them. She saw herself trying to run out of the large doors of ''Photo Finish's Institution of Extreme Modelling'' but the tall, shady stallions grabbing her harsly and shaking and shouting and telling her to get back to her room. She kicked and screamed for hours. For hours and hours. She remembered how she couldn't escape then and how she still couldn't escape now. Unless she timed her escape, unless she waited for the right moment. Fluttershy drooped her ears slowly and sighed again as she stared at the bottle of mane dye on her dresser. It had a note scruffily taped on it which Fluttershy didn't bother to read after seeing the initials ''P.F'' on them. She knew what this meant as it had happened a hundred thousand times before. Quickly, she picked up the bottle and read the front, ''black ombre dye for extreme fashionistas''. When she had finished reading the gruesome instructions and following them carefully, Fluttershy wrapped her mane in a dark towel as she waited for the dye to take effect. She loved her pink flowing mane, she didn't want to turn it a different colour. After all, she liked mellow yellows and pinks! Black... it just wouldn't suit her, but she knew she had no choice. If she didn't dye it herself, Photo Finish would make her. She thought of Snapshot who had her mane force-dyed twice before. She thought of the ear splitting screams that Snapshot cried as the other models and Photo Finish tugged and yanked at her once beautiful mane. This gave her the shivers. After an hour, Fluttershy advanced out of her room wearing her usual assigned clothes and her new ombre mane. She was about to shut her bedroom door when she spied the crumpled note from Photo Finish again. The pegasus grabbed the note and read it. ''Just to... make sure she didn't want me to do anything else... l-like curl my eyelashes or something.'' She thought aloud. My prize model, Just to informing you zat I vill be travelling to Germaney zis veek so please be preparing yourself for ven I return. Photo Finish Germaney..? She was leaving for a whole week? Fluttershy couldn't help but smile as tears formed in her dazzling turquoise eyes. Maybe this was the opportunity she has wished and prayed for. Maybe she could finally escape this horrid institute once and for all... to see her friends again. She wiped away her tears, skipped down the large spiral stairs and called for Shapshot to inform her of the plan she was making to leave for good. She called ''Snapshot... umm... Snapshot?'' Only to be met with the response of a different mare altogether. ''Ah Flutters dear, there you are! Snapshot isn't... available right now and I'm here just to let you know that I'm boss while Photo Finish is away. So... what I say goes, okay? Teehee, bye now!'' Giggled none other than Limelight. Escaping with Snapshot was going to be harder than what naive Fluttershy had thought.