Since that fateful day when she was dropped off, the little filly grew up alongside complete strangers. The other kids were taller, smarter, faster, and definitely louder. The little filly would stay in the sleeping room until she had to eat, and she would sit with the adults. Otherwise, she'd get kicked around, or used as a hoofball when the boys had outside time. She had but one escape. The owner who picked her up that day would always talk to the filly. She'd call her the 'Shining Star' of the orphanage. But still, the little girl tried to stay to herself, unless someone was hurt.
One day, another filly, a year or two older than her, was pushed to the ground by the boys while roughhousing. The little filly ran up to the injured pony and put a hoof out to her to help. The older one looked at her in disgust, getting up quickly to run away from her. She went up to her friends saying, "Ew! Ew! The crazy-maned girl tried to touch me!" From then on, all the filly heard was day after day of "Why do you look so small?" "Why is your mane so gross looking?" "Can you even talk?" But she didn't know how to talk. She was never taught. From then on she started listening to the kids play without her, laughing and talking, she began to mimic what sounds they were making. Soon enough she knew how to talk, finding new words out all the time, and asking the owner of the building what each word meant.
A few months later, the owner of the building, Mrs. Buckington, became very ill. She died soon after she was sent to the nearest hospital. The filly was all alone now. Every single pony in that building hated her. She had nowhere to go. No one to help her. Especially not when the new owner came...
"EVERYPONY LINE UP!" Her voice boomed across the courtyard. The boys and girls stopped and ran to their positions. Youngest to oldest, girls then boys. The owner, now Ms. Violet, walked down the line, counting heads until she came up one short. She became furious, her whole face turning red. "NAMELESS!?!" She shouted to the sky. Violet turned back to the lined up ponies, "Don't. Move." Storming back inside, she searched and searched for the missing filly, until she saw a peck of color from inside one of the cabinets- her tail was barely sticking out. "THERE you are!" Violet ripped apart the cabinets and grabbed the filly by the mane, dragging her outside through her kicking and screaming to throw her down in her spot. "How many times must you need to be taught this lesson, young lady... When I call. You come." The elder mare glared right into the filly's eyes, scaring her worse than ever before. "Children... circle up." Violet told the others. The two oldest boys nodded and ran inside to get something, while the others circled around Violet and the filly.
Her ears drooped down, and she backed away from Violet. "No.. No, please, no! Not again! I won't do it again! I- I promise!" Tears welled up in her eyes, more so when the boys came out from the house, one holding a leather rope, the other a water bucket. They gave the materials to Violet and backed into their places in the ring.
As Violet reached down, she said, "You know what happens when you disobey, Nameless." She dipped the leather in the water. "Yet you disobey anyways!" She pulled herself back and swung at the small filly. The others watched, some eyes filled with fear, others filled with joy from seeing the small filly hurt so badly.
The filly screamed again and again, "NO! PLEASE! IT HURTS! SOMEPONY HELP ME, PLEASE!" WHAP! Another hit. WHAP! Another hit. WHAP! Another hit. Over and over again until her back was bleeding and she couldn't move. Violet broke the circle, "Go inside and wash up. Dinner will be served in an hour... for all but one." She turned to the filly who laid there crying, wanting it to finally be over.
Violet stood over her and with a gentle hoof, lifted her head up to meet her eyes. In a low, growling tone, "Keep this up, and nopony will ever adopt you." She threw the filly's head down to the ground and walked inside, leaving her there.
And there she stayed until she started to hear the Timber Wolves in the forest. It was only then that she crawled her way back inside to the kitchen. She knew well by now that any food that was supposed to be hers was gone. She dug through the trash, eating the rotten pieces of rolls tossed away, eating the vegetables that nopony here liked. It was gross, but it was something. She made her way to the showers, knowing that she'd probably scream. She took a used towel, probably by one of the girls, and bit onto it as hard as she could. She turned the shower on, the water stinging the second it hit her skin; but she knew she needed to be clean. She screamed into the towel, muffling it so she wouldn't wake the other ponies. Once finished, she knew where she was expected to be the next morning- in the box. So that's where she went, and laid down to sleep.
The next morning was better to say the least. Since she was in the box, she didn't have to help around the house, so she got to sleep in a bit. But she only needed a little while. Hours seemed to pass after she woke, and she knew she couldn't get out of the box unless Ms. Violet came to get her. It was almost one in the afternoon when the box flaps finally opened, a bright light shining in, blinding the filly. Violet looked much calmer than she did the night before as she took the filly to the kitchen. "You're going to be washing all the dishes today, and then we can talk about what you did." Violet glared down at her in disappointment. "I'll be back for you when I think you're done." She walked away, leaving the filly to do the dishes. She cleaned them up and stacked them nicely in a fair amount of time, but Ms. Violet wasn't back yet. The filly tried to examine her wounds but couldn't see much without a mirror. She sat and waited until Violet finally came back to inspect her progress. "Hmm. You seem to have an edge on these things, you did this job very well in such a short time." She stated, looking at the plates with a straight face. "Now come with me, we must talk." The filly lowered her head and ears.
"Y-Yes Ma'am..." They both went into the only office there was, and Violet sat the filly down.
"Now... you have been a wonderful example of what not to do. But that's not going to get you away from me, so you need to stop all of... this." Violet said, gesturing to the filly.
She looked up from the big chair at Violet. "But... you just pointed to all of me..."
"I know. You need to change or you're never getting out of here. Dismissed."
The filly left and went up to the sleeping room. To herself, she muttered, "I'm not gonna change for anypony..." She watched as the other kids were playing outside, thinking about what she was gonna do. She laid down on her bed, and slowly drifted off to sleep.