“Did you hear?” asked a curly-haired colt to his white-maned friend. “There are potential parents coming in today!”
The colt looked to his jet-black coat and frowned upon seeing his Cutie Mark.
“I don’t see the big deal,” he said. “Nopony wants an older colt.” He then glared towards a filly with a tan coat and chocolate-brown hair. “Not when they can have a foal.”
The curly colt narrowed his eyes towards the tiny filly who had pigtails in her mane.
“Fall,” he growled. “The false foal.”
“Right,” grumbled his friend. “She ruins everything.”
“Not today,” the curly-haired colt stated while slamming his hoof to the floor. “Nobody can like what they can’t see.”
***
Fall was trying to flutter her undersized wings as she watched other children of the orphanage playing outside.
“They look so happy,” she sighed while trying to ignore the pain in her battered wings. “But nobody likes me.”
“Hey, Fall!” cried the curly-haired colt. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way!”
“Rawhide,” she gasped upon turning to see the colt who was assaulting her.
“Easy,” growled Rawhide. “Or hard.”
Tears formed in Fall’s eyes as she asked, “Why?”
The white haired colt stated, “Because you ruin everything!”
“But… I…,” stammered Fall.
WHACK!
“But, nothing!” snapped Rawhide as he pushed Fall to the floor. “You’re not going to ruin our chances to get adopted today!”
Fall could only cry. The pain from being knocked down only added to the ache she felt from when Rawhide and his friend, Moonside, mercilessly stomped her already tattered wings after the last visitation day.
“Oh, no you don’t!” snapped Moonside. “Crying only makes them want you more!”
Fall saw through her tear-filled eyes that the two bullies were about to do harm upon her again. Her instincts kicked in and she bolted for the door.
***
“Get back here!” commanded Rawhide.
Moonside spotted some other fillies and colts who he knew would aid him and Rawhide in getting Fall out of the picture for today’s visitations.
“It’s visitation day!” he proclaimed. “Get the false foal!”
A few fillies and colts grew angry expressions and joined in chasing down Fall. It wasn’t long before they had her pinned up against the fence of the orphanage.
“There’s a closet with your name on it!” stated Moonside.
“But first,” said Rawhide. “We got to make sure there’s no chance of you getting out of it.
Moonside looked to some of the other disgruntled children.
“Go distract the grown-ups while we take care of this,” he commanded.
Fall was scared beyond words. She had been bullied and hurt by these colts and fillies for as long as she could remember and none of the grown-ups seemed to do anything to help her. They saw her as a troublemaker when all she wanted was love and friendship.
Moonside turned to buck the cornered filly who now closed her eyes and braced for the pain in which was coming.
Moonside and the other kids were startled by a loud sneeze that came from the opposite side of the fence.
PING!
“Ouch!” groaned a purple-coated filly as a young unicorn suddenly appeared and fell on top of her.
“What the…?” asked Moonside as he noticed the scrawny, white coated pony who was dotted with Dalmatian-like spots.
“Leave her alone!” the unicorn exclaimed.
“You obviously aren’t from around here,” stated Rawhide. “If you were you’d think twice before telling us what to do and not do.”
“I do know it’s not right to hurt any pony,” stated the unicorn.
Rawhide, Moonside, and the other remaining fillies and colts turned to face the unicorn.
“You’re one of those false foals, too!” exclaimed Rawhide.
“Get him!” cried Moonside.
FWIP!
The unicorn dodged through the oncoming ponies and positioned himself beside Fall.
“Hold on!” he cried as he focused as hard as he could on getting the two of them outside of the orphanage’s boundaries.
Fall gasped as the short-haired unicorn’s horn began to glow brightly as he closed his eyes and put his all into casting a spell.
SHING!
“OUCH!” cried Moonside as he slammed face-first into the fence. “Wher’d they go?”
***
PING!
“Ah!” screamed Fall as she suddenly found herself rolling down a grassy hill along with the mysterious unicorn.
When the two reached the bottom of the hill they stood up and found themselves facing towards a playground.
“Wow,” remarked the unicorn. “I actually did it.”
“Who are you?” asked Fall as she tried to make sense out of what just happened.
“My name’s Pint,” he stated. “And there’s nothing I dislike more than meanies.”
“You…” she said while facing the unicorn. “Saved… me?”
“Yes,” Pint stated proudly while rubbing his horn. “And I’m apparently getting better with my teleportation magic, too.”
“Why?” she asked. “Why would you save me?”
“It’s as I said,” stated Pint. “I don’t like meanies and when I saw you being bullied I had to step in and do something about it.”
Fall said nothing.
“What’s your name?” asked Pint.
“My name?” she asked timidly.
“Yeah,” he said. “That thing used so other ponies know who you are and can get your attention and stuff.”
“I’m…,” she said meekly. “They call me Fall.”
“Fall?” asked Pint. “Like the season or like what we just did down that hill back there?”
“Well…,” she said. “My real name is Fallen Angel.” Tears formed in her eyes as she looked away and said, “They call me Fall at the orphanage because of how they feel it’s my fault they don’t get adopted. So I guess I, umm, take the fall for other fillies and colts not getting adopted.”
Pint looked at Fall. He could tell she had been bullied for quite a while as her body appeared bruised and her wings were far from what he was used to seeing on an otherwise healthy Pegasus.
“You don’t believe that, do you?” he asked.
Fall said nothing.
“You know what,” stated Pint. “I’m glad we met as I believe you need a friend and my friend and I would be so happy to add you to our team.”
“Your… friend?” asked Fall.
“Bucky,” stated Pint. “I was actually on my way to meet Bucky at this park when I saw what was going on at that place.”
“But…” said Fall. “The orphanage isn’t near any parks.”
“It is for me,” announced Pint. “I like to explore and I heard trouble I couldn't just let that happen now could I. I like to go new places every now-and-then to see if anyone there needs a friend.”
“A friend?” asked Fall.
Pint nodded.
“And now you’re our friend,” stated Pint.
***
Pint worked patiently with Fall to get her to follow him into the park. It was here they were greeted by a very jovial, chubby, yellow colored pony.
“I wondered where you were!” the amber-maned Pegasus stated. “Who’s your friend?”
“Hey, Bucky!” greeted Pint as he gestured towards the filly beside him. “This is Fallen Angel.”
“Fallen Angel, huh?” he asked as he took notice of her bruised body and wings. “You definitely look like you fell from Cloudsdale.”
“Actually,” said Pint. “I found her being beat up on by a bunch of fillies and colts.”
“You can't keep away from a foal in trouble can you,” teased Bucky. “No wonder you’re late for our play date. Again.”
“Not now, Bucky,” stated Pint. “Fallen Angel needs our help.”
“You know me,” said Bucky as he pranced in place. “I’m all for helping.”
“Fallen Angel needs friends,” said Pint. “Friends like us.”
“I get ya’,” Bucky agreed with a smile. “Adding a filly to our fun will certainly make things interesting.”
Fall said nothing.
“You don’t need to be so bashful,” comforted Pint. “Now that we’re friends you won’t have to worry about those bullies ever again.”
“I… won’t?” asked Fall.
“Nope!” exclaimed Bucky. “We have ways of dealing with bullies.”
“You...?” asked Fall. “Aren’t going to hurt any pony… are you?”
“No way!” announced Bucky.
“But we do have ways to teach them why it isn’t nice to be a bully,” stated Pint with a smile.
***
The three talked more-and-more. As they did, Fall felt more confident and comfortable with Pint and his Pegasus friend, Bucky.
Eventually it was time to get Fall back to the orphanage before it was noticed she was gone. But not before Pint and Bucky taught her some tips on how to defend herself. They also learned of when Fall could be outside so they could arrange for additional meetups to help her work on her self-esteem, confidence, and trust.