Starshine's Sadness
It was Monday when school started, Bubble, Jacinto, Hugh and Moonlight stood outside the school building, waiting for Starshine to appear. After five minutes, she appeared later than usual but instead of walking her head down with shyness around the other foals, she was walking with sadness on her face.
"Hey Starshine!" Bubble yelled with excitement with a smile but it faded when Starshine didn't even lift her head or give a smile.
"What's the matter, Star? Why are you so sad?" Jacinto asked with concern and Starshine looked at him a little.
She had bruises under her eyes (as in bags under the eyes. It's what I use for any story I write) and she looked really tired.
"It's nothing, I'm just tired and I'm not a morning pony." Starshine replied in a tired voice and she yawned a little.
"Well, none of us are morning ponies either and we have to get up for school at seven." Hugh said with a smile and Starshine smiled a little. At least she gave a smile to them or else it would make them sad. Their first class was as usual, Writing class with Mr Marker. Everypony sat at their desks and Starshine was the last one to be sitting down.
"Starshine, may I talk to you for a little?" Mr Marker asked and she looked at him with sad dark purple eyes and nodded slowly.
Mr Marker then walked out with her and they stood outside in the hallway.
"Starshine, has something been bothering you at home?" Starshine shook her head slowly and looked at the ground.
She then sniffed and started crying then she galloped off, sobbing loudly with Mr Marker calling after her but she didn't turn to look him and continued galloping away. Mr Marker walked back into the class with concern and surprise on his face.
"Where is Starshine, sir?" Moonlight asked with surprise and he looked at her with the same expression.
"She just galloped away from me, crying. Can you look for her after school?" Mr Marker replied and Hugh, Jacinto, Moonlight and Bubble nodded their heads slowly.
It was after school when the four friends walked to Starshine's home and knocked on the door. Svetlana answered the door and she gave a look of confusion at the sad expressions on their faces.
"Is Star here?" Jacinto asked with concern.
"She galloped away from our Writing teacher today and never returned back to class for the rest of the day." Hugh continued as he finished Jacinto's sentence as a lot of twins would do.
"What?! She galloped away from school! We must find her!" Svetlana replied in a panic and she rushed back into her house to grab a few things and they all went off to search for Starshine.
Hugh and Jacinto searched the park, Bubble searched at the fashion shops and Moonlight searched at the different houses, asking if they had seen Starshine anywhere but they didn't see her. Svetlana was sitting at one of the park benches, calling for her daughter but to no answer as a result.
"Look, Starshine, I'm sorry for pushing you so hard into your maths studies! I just don't want you to fail school and end up homeless and having no job to support you! Please forgive me and come home!" Svetlana called out then she broke down in tears and sobbed.
"I think I know where she could be." a stallion's voice was heard near her and Svetlana looked up to see a unicorn stallion with a similar appearance to Starshine apart from the mane and tail and she gasped in shock.
"What do you want? Here to insult me for being a bad mum?" Svetlana replied in anger and she crossed her forelegs and turned away from him.
"No, I'm here to help you find our daughter. I know I wasn't there for her entire life but I want to help and want to see her." the stallion said and he put his foreleg around her shoulders.
"Alright, you can help me, I just want her to come back home. She's the best thing of my life ever since she came to this world and now I pushed her so hard into her maths studies that she galloped away from school." Svetlana replied with light blue eyes that were tear streaked.
"I think I know where she could be. Come with me and get her friends." the stallion replied and they both stood up and called for the others.
They all arrived at Colleen's farm and she looked at them with surprise.
"Howdy, partners, what are you all doing here?" Colleen asked in surprise with a smile on her face and she lifted her purple cowgirl hat out of her face. "Svetlana? Is that you? I haven't seen you in years!"
Svetlana then gasped and the two mares gave each other hugs and they all struggled to say anything else.
"We're here because we believe my daughter, Starshine, might be here after she galloped away from school because I pushed her so hard into her maths studies." Svetlana said with a sad voice and Colleen nodded and was about to lead her into the grapevine area but the stallion stopped her.
"I'll go talk to her as she is my daughter and needs to know who I am." the stallion said and Svetlana looked at him for a moment then nodded slowly.
The stallion walked to where Starshine was and sat down beside her.
"What do you want?" Starshine demanded in anger and sadness.
"I just want to know why you just galloped away from your class." the stallion replied and she stared at him then sighed.
"I JUST CAN'T DO MATHS, OKAY? Everytime I'm asked a question, I can't even count or work out the problem at all!" Starshine yelled in frustration.
"I think I know what you have since I have the same problem as you," the stallion said and she widened her dark purple eyes.
"You and me have a learning disability called Dyscalculia. It means that you have trouble with maths stuff like with counting and figuring out problems. If you get help then you will be fine with maths." Starshine still had her eyes widened then she got up and trotted off to see her friends and mum.
"Oh, Starshine, I'm so sorry I pushed you so hard into your studies! I hope you can forgive me." Svetlana said as she cried and hugged her daughter close.
"It's okay, Mum, I just need to get some help from my friends with maths homework and I'll be able to pass my maths class. Not sure how I'll handle with exams because I might not be able to get help and everypony else will think I'm cheating." Starshine replied with confidence.
"Don't worry, we'll help you out with maths and hope you'll pass." Moonlight said with a smile and Starshine and the rest of the friends all joined in a group hug.